Page 41 of Orange Town
“Of course, you’re not even listening to me,” Roqs said exasperated. During his rant, I found myself standing looking at Brin’s balcony. Roqs is now the one pacing the wooden pavement. He stopped pacing and looked at me. Hands on his hips, he looked me in the eye.
“Fine,” I said. “If we’re going to hash this out, we better do it in the desert where we don’t damage anything.” I strolled away. Away from the inn.
“You’re leaving Brynn?Her?” he asked quietly beside me. We always match our stride. To others it’s uncanny. To us, it’s a sign how we are so compatible to be mates.
“She’ll be safe there. I placed a tracking crystal on her as soon as I realized she’s here.”
I quickened my pace. We’re not going outside of the town. Just enough so we don’t damage anything and make us memorable. We both have tempers. The rocky hills should be enough to get us some cover.
“You still have no idea what’s happening to you?”
“No,” I said curtly. “I don’t want to analyze anything unless we get the result of Axad’s lab. For sure, the aliens who abducted her placed something inside her body.”
“Not counting that manasty who abducted her from the Blue Tribe?”
I stopped and looked around. It is not yet sunset. We can feel the heat from the two suns directly behind our backs. I looked to my side.
“She gets abducted fairly often,” Roqs said more to himself than to me. “And you only placed a tracker on her?”
“What makes you so sure I only placed a tracker on her?”
Roqs took a step back.
Yeah, he knows exactly what I’ve done.
“You - you,” he sputtered. He is rarely at a loss for words. I smirked and took a few steps ahead of him.
“Are you out of your mind?,” he shouted. Yes, we can shout at each other with no one hearing us at this distance from the town. “You actually placed ahishion her?”
Thehishiis an ingenious device from the White Tribe. It’s very expensive but effective. When activated, it can encapsulate the area within a few feet from the person and then boom. No witnesses. The White Tribe is long gone, but their weapons are way advanced. Nobody can exactly replicate them except for the few hiding White Tribe manasties who survived.
“You worry too much. I only placed a small amount on her,” I said. I can hear Roqs following me, but at a slower pace. He’s still thinking. Which infuriates me sometimes.
“Hah, who am I kidding? Your version is small and will probably wipe out the inn and another structure or two within its vicinity.”
That’s probably true.
“And she doesn’t even know it. I have a feeling her kind is not keen on you making decisions for her.”
I stopped. Now that intrigued me. “What makes you say that?” I asked without turning. Looking at the vast wilderness.
“She may be clingy. But she possesses intelligence and knows what she wants. She wanted to be near you, Zirc. What makes you so sure she’s not an enemy?”
He just voiced my biggest fear. What are the chances that everything that is happening is not a coincidence? That is she planted by our enemies to blindside me?
I turned to him. He worries for me. Again.
“I’m not the naive boy you knew years ago.”
“No, you’re not,” he stepped up to me. “But you have this soft spot.” He pointed to my heart with his forefinger. “This spot here. You always take on strays, aliens, manasties, even small animals. Why do you think the Elders made you their underdog?”
“I like to work for the Elders because I’m useful.”
“You are useful to me,” he said with heated eyes. “I took those strays. In our tribe. Because the Elders are threatened by you Zirc. You have the power to unite the Tribe.”
I smirked. Roqs looked ready to explode. An age old argument.
“Even the Purple Tribe is watching you.”
