I’d feel bad, but I hated traitors.
Still, I felt a little bad for being short with my weird traveling companion. He was loony, but he’d given me no real indication of being any kind of threat. It was a bit hard to when the little guy made a game out of hopping over every stone in the road and snapping his fingers in mid-air.
The vrak turned around and offered a little smile. It was a peace offering, I knew. I had an idea.
“Keep your eyes open for anything that looks edible,” I said. “Even if the edible thing needs to be killed.”
“Yes,” Skrew said, clapping two of his hands together as he grinned widely. “Yes, kill and eat some delicious food. Yes.” His mood brightened considerably as we continued. He began turning his big head back and forth as he scanned the woods for something to kill.
Unfortunately, his search turned up empty.
“We are here,” Skrew said after a good hour. His voice was quiet, timid, and his expression showed he was feeling stressed.
I looked around, but all I saw was more forest and a fork in the path. One went to the left while the other meandered to the right. Both sides looked equally woody and lacked distinguishing features.. There were no buildings, no signposts, nothing indicating that we’d reached Brazud a full day ahead of schedule.
“We’re where?” I asked.
“At the shortcut.” Skrew pointed to the junction of the fork, straight ahead.
I stepped closer and inspected the ground. There was a path, but it was faint and seemed rarely used. I couldn’t see where it lead, but it did appear that someone had taken the narrow trail no more than a week before.
“I don’t like the idea of a shortcut,” I said. “We should go whatever way isn’t a shortcut.”
“No!” Skrew grabbed his stomach with all four of his hands. “It will mean more walks. More walks, and Skrew is hungry. More times of walks. A half-day of more walks! Skrew will die of not eating!”
I inhaled, ready to tell him to grow up and quit acting like a baby but decided against it. Doing so wouldn’t accomplish anything. He hadn’t mislead me so far, and I knew I had to start trusting someone, or life on this planet would likely become very difficult.
I was also worried that if I pissed him off, he’d leave. I could force him to stay, but then I wouldn’t be able to trust his advice. Plus, he wasn’t a slave. If he wanted to leave, I’d let him. I decided it was a better tactical decision to allow him to lead me down the shortcut rather than risk trying to navigate alone.
After losing the trail and having to double-back to find it again a couple of times, it became easier to spot. Also, the air temperature began to rise again, as did the humidity. It made me think of the jungle, of Enra, and of our night in the cave. I wanted to see her again, but there were priorities, other things to take care of first, like finding my crew.
The sound of a tiny branch breaking drew my attention. I immediately crouched and raised a hand to warn Skrew. Rather than see my signal, the gray-skinned alien was happily stomping through the underbrush without a care in the world.
I drew Ebon halfway and waited, searching for the source of the noise. A second later, a sparkly skinned alien in dark green leather clothing stopped between Skrew and my hiding spot. It looked like the same species as the female I’d saved from the Enforcers the day before. It had the same iridescent scales on the back of its neck and wore the same kind of clothing. The alien turned its head and regarded the happy vrak for a moment. I held my breath and prepared to cut our visitor in half if it showed the first indication of wanting to harm my guide.
It didn’t. Instead, it turned back to its destination and soundlessly hurried into the woods.
I got goosebumps when I realized how close I’d come to being surprised. The alien was skilled at stealth, something I needed to impart on Skrew before too much more time had passed. Stealth wasn’t something I’d ever seen any of his kind display, and I was more worried about his life than I was my own. I could take care of myself.
Another sound stopped the vrak dead in his tracks. He crouched, which made me feel like there might be hope for him, after all. What I heard, however, washed all the good feelings away. It was the sound of battle.
Shouts—orders, commands, and acknowledgements—mixed with the grunts of strenuous activity echoed from deeper in the woods to our right. I wasn’t sure how many there were or who was fighting whom, but I was able to identify five distinct voices. They all had the same urgent tone, and I detected the same accent among them. It seemed they were fighting a common foe together, and I suspected one of them was the lizard-like individual who had passed across our trail earlier.
Skrew looked back at me and waited.
I realized he wanted to know what I would do. He knew I was tempted to go see what was happening. He also knew we were on a mission. And he was right. I found it difficult to walk away from a fight, even when I wasn’t involved. I found it difficult to avoid watching, collecting data, and understanding those who might be my foes someday. It was a real struggle to decide whether to continue down the path and leave the fight behind us or get closer so that I could see what was happening.
Skrew was staring at me. It was time to make a decision. I
