Five…
Two…
One…
And now we were on the first floor. It was cloaked in darkness and I couldn’t see a thing.
Waev took position behind a square object I thought was a box. I doubted it could stop a blaster pistol shot but it was better than nothing.
I joined him, only to find it wasn’t big enough for two men.
Waev motioned toward the staircase.
He forgot to mention I was supposed to watch our rear.
I moved to the stairs and aimed up. I refused to take my eyes from it.
Waev made a sweep of the first floor before joining me. He made a bunch of hand signals that meant nothing to me. He rolled his eyes and whispered in my ear.
“Follow me,” he said. “And aim the pistol at the bad guy.”
“I heard you the first time!” I said.
Man, he had a long memory. You accidentally shoot a guy while hunting in the forest and they hold it over you forever.
He ascended the stairs first. Silent, swift. I followed behind, making twice as much noise and going at half the speed.
We made a sweep of the second floor together, then the third.
We came to the section of the stairs that’d fallen away or else been blasted out. We hopped over the broken steps, already crumbling and threatening to give way beneath us.
Now came the final flight of stairs.
Waev motioned for me to stay where I was. He ascended the steps by himself, his uber-powerful rifle clutched tight to his shoulder.
He took the steps slowly and poked his head above floor level and immediately lowered back down again. He crept back down to me, so swiftly, so silently, he might have been a shadow.
He whispered in my ear.
“They’re here,” he said.
I breathed a sigh of relief at hearing the two most beautiful words I’d ever heard.
They’re. Here.
“The kidnapper?” I whispered back.
He nodded. He was there too.
“How many kidnappers?” I said.
He raised a single finger. One.
“Is he asleep?” I said.
Waev shook his head.
“Drifting off but not asleep,” he said. “He has a blaster. Stay here. I’ll try to take him. If I fail, you come up.”
It would give us two chances, I realized. But it meant putting Waev’s life on the line first. He was far more qualified than I was. Still, I didn’t like the idea of him taking all the risk.
Still nervous and unsure, I nodded.
Waev took one slow step after another until he reached the top.
I clutched the blaster to my chest.
Waev took a deep breath and rounded the corner.
A bolt of plasma slammed into his shoulder and he fell back on the stairs.
No!
Waev struggled to raise his rifle.
“You made so much noise coming up the steps, I could have shot you in the dark,” the kidnapper said as he stepped forward.
He lowered his pistol at Waev.
His eyes flickered up and found me.
He’d heard me coming up the steps but hadn’t expected a second man.
His grin faded.
I trained my blaster pistol on him and squeezed the trigger.
He fell back and his arm flew out. A shot issued from the tip of his blaster.
It could have struck Bianca or Cleb.
Desperate to ensure he didn’t let another shot go off, I ran up the steps and fired three or four or twenty times.
At least a couple found their mark, leaving him lifeless and unmoving.
Cleb whined.
I turned to the pair of them, Bianca and Cleb both. She clutched him close, holding him tightly in her arms.
I dropped my blaster and wrapped my arms around them. I’d never been so happy. But concern for my friend was forcing me to hurry the reunion along.
“Get up,” I said. “We have to get Waev help.”
“Don’t hurry on my account,” Waev said, limping over to join us. He slumped beside me.
“I saw you get shot…” I said.
Nobody recovered from a blaster pistol that fast.
Not even a Titan.
That was when he removed his blaster proof vest. The shot had almost burned a hole through it.
They didn’t give such expensive armor to just any soldier. He must have once been in the elite special forces. They were dispatched on the most deadly—some would say suicidal—missions across the galaxy.
And this entire time, he’d been my butler!
“I’m going to have to find you a new position,” I said.
“Not for all the money in the empire,” Waev said.
I turned back to Bianca and Cleb. I wrapped my arms around them and kissed them on every bare piece of skin I could find. Cleb was in tears and Bianca kissed me back. She was so relieved to see me, she ignored the questions Cleb would doubtless have about us later.
We crouched on that dirty floor hugging each other. I pulled Waev down to join us. He was the real hero. He was the one who brought us back together again.
And I would never forget it.
Bianca
All the way home, Cleb wouldn’t let me go.
It was understandable given our recent experience. He clung onto me tightly, his arms and legs wrapped around me, his back and head pressed against the arjath’s soft fur. I rode in the saddle, my arms on either side helping hold him in place.
Comforted by the warm arjath fur, Cleb fell into a deep sleep. He murmured, turning his head from one side to the other, disturbed. I hushed him back to sleep and gently ran my fingers through his hair.
We were heading through the forest, back toward the house. The arjath didn’t need me to guide him. He could have found his way back with ease.
I glanced across at Traes who sat high in his saddle, eyes wary and alert, looking for any sign of danger. Tears sprung to my eyes.
It had been my decisions that brought this whole situation down on Cleb and Traes. If I’d just done things differently, if I could have been more honest from the start, none of this would have happened.
I turned away and tried to focus on something else. Our arjath had a missing
