Page 62 of Orange Lake
“I’m sure,” Jigen said smoothly. “Zirc almost lost all his blood. The stubbornmusatrefused to back down. Good thing Roqs and my mates were there. But the most important thing Coone, it looks like their target is Zirc.”
“What do you mean?” Coone changed his stance, coming closer to Jigen.
“Crix told me personally that they tried to beam Zirc up to their ship. But a slave got in the way and pushed him out. Zirc owes his life to that slave but no one really knew him or saw him clearly. We might have some information from the freed slaves on who he might be. But it’s good that Zirc is safe.” Jigen moved his hands on the table and I saw a map, a location of where they might had been fighting. Smoke and some mangled vehicles or ship was there when a video popped up.
“As you can see, things are still standing. Meaning Zirc did not go into his beast mode. But they used the Shura.”
“Were they able to destroy it?” Coone asked. I stepped further to the table, trying to see more and maybe catch an eye on Zirc on the landscape. But it was zoomed out.
“Not exactly, see here,” Jigen moved his hand again and the screen zoomed in.
I gasped. I saw he was fighting that woman-guy. That bitch. Zirc’s arm was severed. No!
Jigen’s smiled was crooked. “It was a bittersweet ending. They won, got the Shura, freed more slaves, but at the cost of Zir’c arm. If not for Brynn’s help here, Zirc could have died,” Jigen said of matter of factly.
I looked up at Jigen and Coone, my eyes big. “Surely, you jest Jigen,” I said.
“No,” Jigen crossed his arm in front of him, shaking his head. “Zirc is very lucky to have you. If not for the healing crystal, he will be dead. His arm was severed at a very critical level.” I gasped. Coone placed a hand around my shoulders.
“How can the crystal help?” I asked and leaned towards Coone’s hard body. He pulled me tight against him, my back towards his chest.
“The crystal has many healing abilities. It requires a certain type of person to handle it. Volks is the best with that crystal. He can make his arm grow. Right now,” he swiped his hand again on the table and another picture showed up. I tried to control my vomit. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m okay,” I said thinly. There’s a stump where before I saw exposed bones and muscles.
“Your kind is not exposed to this kind of wounds?” Jigen looked intrigued.
“N-no. There are some people who specialize in this though. We have,” I paused. How to explain our doctors? “We have healers. They are called doctors. I am not usually exposed to this. My specialty lies in another area.”
“You should stop showing her pictures, Jigen,” Coone said behind my back.
Jigen sighed. “Very well.” He brushed his hands on the table and everything was turned off. I can now clearly see the metallic table. All the maps, information, photos, hovering above the table are all gone.
He looked at me and explained, “I get a feeling that war or violence is something that doesn’t happen in your world every day and I envy that.” He uncrossed his arms. “You are lucky. The stump you saw earlier stopped all the blood from flowing out of Zirc’s wound. It will not surprise me also if a number of manasties have given Zirc their blood. That took just a few hours to heal what could had been days.”
I slumped against Coone. The top of my mind is, Zirc is saved.
“When do we see them?” Coone rumbled behind me.
“Another hour at most,” Jigen said. I can feel him hesitating looking at me and Coone. He settled with Coone. “Crix needs to know about the hiscat.”
Coone stiffened. What’s wrong about the hiscat. In fact, they are so cute!
I felt Coone nod his head. His chin brushing mine. “They will need to know.”
“Crix will find a way do damage control about the hiscat. But what happened, we cannot control. There will be whispers. We cannot sensor them about it. The old guy with Brynn yesterday knows and witnessed it himself,” Jigen said as if explaining it to Coone.
”Is there a way for that information not to reach the Elders?”
“It will reach them Coone,” Jigen warned with a glint on his eye then he looked down at me.
Then I got it. The hiscat. And me.
“What’s so wrong about the hiscat?” I demanded. When Coone tried to wrap his arm around me, I stepped out of his hold and looked at them both.
“It’s better if the others are here for this discussion,” Coone said trying to reach out to me at the same time. I can’t think with his arms around me so I stepped back further.
“You said we had an hour. We have time,” I insisted.
