“I don’t advise it, but Idon’t suppose anyone wants to go for days without water,” Benraysaid.
In the middle of the night, Zacclimbed out of the sinkhole. He stood still letting his eyes adjustto the moonlight and listening for any sound that might indicateCadmus’ men were close by. The air felt fresh after being in thestuffy cave, which was beginning to smell from so many people beingstuffed into a small space.
The only sound he heard was thehoot of an owl, but his nerves were as tight as a drawn bow ready tolaunch an arrow. He squatted at the edge of the hole and signaled toBenray to pass up the group’s three collapsible plastictwo-and-a-half gallon water containers. Once the containers were up,he helped Benray and Richwood climb out of the hole.
Benray stood as still as a statuefor a moment, alert and listening. Then he led Zac and Richwood tothe nearby mountain stream, walking quieter than Zac thought possiblefor such a large man. Kneeling by the gurgling brook, Zac dipped hiscupped his hands into the cool water. He drank a few handfuls untilhe’d quenched his thirst, then he filled one of the containers andadded a water purification tablet to it. He stood guard while theother two men finished filling their containers, then the small groupcarried the water back to their hiding place.
While Richwood lowered down thewater containers, Zac and Benray returned to the stream and used pineboughs to wipe away their footprints. They worked without talking,knowing Samrat scouts could be nearby searching for them.
***
Queen Koriann walked out of thepalace with Baymond in her arms. Arriving at the ocean shoreline, shelaid a blanket on the sand and sat down, placing Baymond so he satwith his back against her leg for support. She handed him a rattleand he cooed as he clutched it in his hand and shook it.
Her heart always lightened whenshe played with the baby. It took her mind off the deep dread andanxiety she felt for Erling and the others. Day after day she waitedfor news. Koriann put her hands on her belly, wondering for thehundredth time if her baby would be born without a father.
She heard footsteps and looked upto see Captain Orneil approaching. He squatted down beside her. “I’msorry to interrupt you, your Majesty, but I finally received anelectronic message from a Resistance member on Alandra.”
Koriann’s chest tightened,fearing the worse. “What did they report?”
“The message was from a personwith the code name Aurora—I assume, a woman. She didn’t knowabout the rescue mission ahead of time or take part in it. She livesin Tismus and heard the explosion when the Resistance broke into anearby concentration camp. Aurora said many prisoners ran out of thecamp. Some were killed in the escape attempt; others were rounded upand returned to the camp. A few escaped.
“Aurora went into the forestwhere she’d met contacts from the Resistance a few times in thepast. She found the remains of two blown-up spacecraft and the bodiesof six Resistance members there. She didn’t find the leader, Slick,among the dead. Slick is Jake Renheart’s code name. Aurora thoughtit was possible some Resistance members escaped into the forest,though it’s also possible they were arrested and imprisoned.”
“Are you sure she said all thedead were Resistance members and not civilians?” Queen Koriannasked.
“It was a short encryptedmessage and that was how the encoder interpreted it. We know littlemore than we did before. It’s possible Erling, his family and theothers made it to the Jaiparian ships, but found them destroyed andwere forced to hide in the wilderness.”
Koriann stared out at the ocean.“I wish I knew for sure. This uncertainty is the hardest part. Notknowing if Erling and the others are alive.”
“We could send a team toAlandra and try to extract them.”
Hope rose for a moment, thenfaded. “We wouldn’t even know where to start looking for them.”Her throat tightened as a wave of sorrow swept over her. “Stillit’s worth sending a couple of undercover operatives in to see whatintelligence they turn up.”
“There is something else.”
“Why don’t you sit down?”She gestured to an open space on the blanket.
The captain sat down and smiledat Baymond. “Do you might if I hold the baby? He reminds me of myboys when they were little.”
“Go ahead.”
Captain Orneil picked up Baymond.The baby babbled and reached out to grab the captain’s beard. “He’sa fine, healthy-looking boy. Have you given thought of what willhappen to him if his parents don’t make it back?”
“I hate to even think that way,but he hasn’t any relatives that I know of, so I’d raise him asmy own. I’ve already become quite attached to him. What else didyou want to tell me?”
“We’ve watched King Zanton’smovements closely, but he’s not imprisoned and still has ways ofsending and receiving electronic messages. We’ve gone through someof his communications and discovered he’s been corresponding withsomeone in the domed city of Henotaux on the moon Devil’s Eye. Thiswas in the months before Toemeka was kidnapped and during the timeshe was there. We further discovered that he is now correspondingwith someone in Tismus, Jelmur on planet Alandra. We suspect he’sin contact with Commander Rochambeau.”
“I want him questioned. I wantto know everything he knows and he’s not to have any furthercommunication with anyone outside his palace. He’s dangerous andhas ties with Samrat Condor. That monster should be imprisoned. IfErling wasn’t so opposed to breaking his word to Zanton, he’dalready be behind bars.”
“Imprisoning him could cause awar with Haklute. It might be better to keep decoding the messages.If we succeed, we might find out more from his messages than we wouldby questioning him.”
Her lips tightened. She wanted tohurt Zanton for all the harm that poisonous snake had done, but therewas wisdom in Captain Orneil’s advice. “All right, we’ll wait,but if they don’t break the code soon, we’ll break Zanton.”
“Agreed.” He handed her thebaby. “Thanks for letting me hold Baymond. If I hear anymore fromAurora, I’ll contact you immediately.” He rose and headed back tothe palace.
Koriann watched him walk
