I sank back onto the chair, the thought of Vassim being killed taking all the wind out of me.
“But that’s not going to happen,” Tara said. “They can’t take him anywhere, with two hordes battling it out with the empire overhead. It’s too dangerous to get a transport through that. Kaalek and I took a huge risk flying down, and we took the smallest ship possible. No way our horde ships would let an imperial transport through.”
“Which means we have time to rescue him.” Fenrey unfurled the garment he’d been stitching as they talked. It was a moss-green jumpsuit with a draping, cowl neckline, and even from across the room, I could tell that it had been tailored to fit my curves. “Which means we need a plan, and we need it fast.”
Coxley tapped a finger to his chin. “No time for explosives this go-around.”
“No need.” Raas Kaalek took a step closer to the healer and threw an arm around his shoulders. Coxley looked pained as the huge Vandar thumped his arm. “This mission needs to be about stealth not a loud distraction, and I think the doctor here can help us with that.”
“Me?” Coxley asked, his voice high. “What can I do?”
“You administer sedatives, correct?”
Coxley peered up at the Raas, his bright-blue eyes widening with understanding. “If the situation calls for it.”
“Trust us.” Tara winked at him. “The situation calls for it.”
Coxley’s cheeks once again tinged with pink. “You wish to sedate the imperial soldiers? In the past, our village chemist has ground a powder into their drinks.”
Kaalek shook his head. “We don’t have time for that. We need something faster. Something that can be administered by a needle or dart.”
“A dart?” Lebben grinned. “I’ve got darts from when I was a boy. My friends and I used to play all the time on the side of this building.” He stole a glance at Fenrey. “It used to drive my father mad.”
Fenrey made a harrumphing sound. “All those tiny holes in the side of my shop.”
His son’s smile grew as he hurried to the stairs. “I have them upstairs in a box.”
Coxley drummed his fingers on the leather case he wore across one shoulder. “I suppose I could fashion something that might work. The sedative itself would have to be highly concentrated.”
“We only need to knock them out long enough to get the Raas away,” Kaalek said, releasing his grip on the healer and putting a hand on the hilt of his axe. “If they wake, I will take them out.”
“It sounds like we have the start of a plan.” Fenrey stepped out from behind his table with the garment and pointed at me. “While they work on darts and strategy, it’s time for you to look a little bit less like a damsel in distress.”
I eyed Tara, who looked every bit the warrior, in her snug pants and leather vest with a blaster on her hip and a blade strapped to her thigh. I’d never look as tough as her, but Coxley was right. I couldn’t help save Vassim in a dress that had belonged to a pleasurer. It was time to stop looking like a timid female from Kimithion III and start looking like a woman who could hold her own with a Vandar warlord.
Hold on, Vassim, I thought as I followed the little Carlogian to the back of his shop and the others hunched over the large worktable discussing the best route to the beach. We’re coming.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Vassim
The energy field that held me upright between the two metal arches didn’t hurt like the shock that had knocked me out in the forest. It did, however, make it impossible for me to move. Even curling my fingers into a fist was impossible, and after a while I gave up and let my body go limp.
The indignity of being held captive by the Zagrath burned like raw fury inside me, as I watched the helmeted guards pace around me. Occasionally, they would laugh and jeer at me but mostly they talked with each other, making plans to drink after the battle or hoping to meet up with some female at a Zagrath outpost or colony.
At least my rage kept me awake. Now was not the time for me to slip into one of my torturous nightmares that left me drained and exhausted. Despite the pain from their energy weapons, sleep still threatened to overtake me if I didn’t keep my anger stoked hot, the desire to kill the Zagrath prickling like fire across my skin. I could not slip into madness, not if I was to escape and return to Juliette, so I focused what was left of my strength on the enemy and their movements.
It was their general I watched most closely. He was impatient to leave the planet, unbuttoning his uniform jacket and swiping at sweat on his large forehead caused by the humidity. But every time he received a communication from the imperial battleships above telling him to stay put, he would stomp around and kick at the sand. He reminded me more of a child than a military leader, and not for the first time I wondered how the Zagrath had gained so much power when their people were so weak and cowardly.
When darkness started to fall, he let out a torrent of Zagrath curses, stalking over to where I was being held and addressing the soldiers guarding me. “We’ll have to stay here until morning. Take shifts watching him.” His thin upper lip curled. “Not that the brute can move. Still, I do not want him escaping. Not when I’m about to provide a live Vandar to put on trial.”
I couldn’t move, but I managed to growl, the noise rising above the hum of the energy field. He twitched at the sound, but then laughed. “A barbarian to the end. You Vandar don’t disappoint.”
I distracted myself by imagining how
