"All right," Lana said then. "I will help you, if I can. What do you need me to do?"
Corden considered his words carefully, not to give himself away before he was certain he could trust her.
"First," he said. "I need you to tell me everything you know about his plans."
Lana looked at him suspiciously. "Don't you already know?" she asked.
"You wouldn't believe it, but he doesn't share his every motive with us," Corden said, smiling.
Lana's own smile lit up her face, making her even more gorgeous.
"I guess," she said. "I can tell you what I know. But what then?"
"Then," Corden said, "we'll figure out how to get me close enough to kill."
CHAPTER FIVE
Lana
Lana wasn't entirely certain why she chose to trust the warrior, or even if she really did. All she knew was that for the first time in weeks—maybe since she heard about Worgen—there was a chance. The slightest hope that something could be done, that the horrible general hadn't already succeeded in whatever sinister plan he had.
The odd warrior with his easy smile raised many questions, but Lana wasn't about to complain when he basically offered to solve all her problems for her.
There was just one thing.
"You said we need to figure out how to get you on the flagship and in his presence," she said carefully. "Why is that difficult? I assume the fighter in my bay is yours."
"It is," the warrior said. "Let's just say that me and the others, we aren't on the best terms. It's better if no one sees me, if no one knows I'm here."
Warning bells were blaring in Lana's head, but she forced them away. So, the guy was a troublemaker. And? It was exactly what she needed—some problems in the enemy's ranks.
"All right," she said. "What do you propose we do?"
"I think it's wise if we have someplace safe and private to talk," the warrior said, the same mischievous smile still on his lips. "A patrol is nearing. You better make up your mind fast."
"What?" Lana asked, looking around in a hurry. "How do you know that?"#p#分页标题#e#
The man had been right, it was too dangerous for her to go see the women herself. If they started asking questions, really searching the ship, her crew might be found.
"I can hear them approach," the warrior said as if that was no big deal. "So far they sense nothing, their pace is calm, in rhythm."
It's true then. Brions could hear a feather drop.
A guilty thought crossed Lana's mind—that she hoped the man didn't hear how fast her heart was beating near him—but that was a fool's hope. Brion warriors had impossibly keen senses. She didn't think he was lying about the patrol.
"You have hidden yourself on my ship," she offered. "You must know a quiet place and if you can hear the patrols..."
"It wouldn't be the same with you," the warrior said, taking a step closer. "I can hide myself if I need to, but not you. And your absence would be noted."
Damn, he's right. Someplace quiet, someplace quiet...
"We need to move," the warrior said absently, as if the danger they were in was amusing.
The realization finally fit Lana. Her glare must have been something, because the man laughed, taking another step, coming almost in contact with her. His scent enveloped her, catching Lana off guard, clouding her mind. He had a magnetism to him that was pulling her in despite her will, despite her better judgment. Which was why what he was suggesting was such a phenomenally bad idea.
"You mean my quarters," she stated. "You're unbelievable."
"So they say."
"You—"
Lana never got to finish her sentence before the man grabbed her and pulled her into the shadows of the hallway. A second later, a patrol emerged from behind a corner, three warriors with the same cold look in their eyes. Lana found herself pressed tightly against the man from the shadows, whose name she didn't even know. It felt like her heart was trying to beat out of her chest.
She hoped it was the fear of getting caught in the part of a ship she had no business in, rather than lust. The body inches from her was strong and firm, obvious even through layers of armor. Lana had to suppress the desire to run her hands over his muscled arms, resisting by reminding herself that she was compromising the safety of her friends.
They stood still, the long moment stretching.
"This is where the sounds were coming from," one of the patrol said. "A man and a woman."
The voice and the way the Brions spoke unsettled Lana. There was an odd undercurrent of simple disinterest there. She could well imagine those voices spoke of their own deaths as impassively as if they were discussing breakfast. Even now, searching for her, they sounded almost bored.
A part of her felt sorry for them. Only the man she was currently practically embracing seemed to still be sane.
"The woman was Captain Cormac," another replied, making Lana wince.
Her warrior—she couldn't think of him in any other way, though something about the man made her feel safe after the initial fright—looked down at her. There was a question in his eyes, but Lana didn't know what to say. She'd fucked up.
"The man..." the first man was saying again, sounding puzzled.
It was the first true emotion Lana had heard from any of them. She thought it was like they were walking around in a dream, speaking in that hollow voice, not completely awake. When they mentioned the man next to her, for the first time the voices sounded alive.
"It was a Brion's voice," the second finished. "But all wrong."
Now her warrior tensed up too.
"There's someone here that shouldn't be. I think—" one of the warriors got to say.
Lana had been so entranced by his presence that she yelped when he dashed past her, out into the open. The captain barely registered the speed with which he drew his gigantic battle spear. The patrol seemed to move in slow motion compared to him, although they were Brion warriors too.
His cuts seemed to pierce air itself, lightning-fast and bloody. Lana's eyes went wide, seeing the precise artwork of death. Like a blade himself, the warrior first slashed at the patrolmen's wrists, where their communications devices lay. That Lana could understand; he couldn't have them call for aid. But the next ones targeted their mouths. Easily keeping all three in line, an unstoppable blur in the middle of them, her warrior cut long gashes across their faces.
Killing took time, Lana knew. He was trying to silence them. What could they have said? The fear rose in her heart anew. Who was that man and how was he making three Brion warriors look little better than children with sticks?#p#分页标题#e#
Blood was flowing down from the cold warriors' faces, but their eyes were finally alight. Lana watched the lone warrior dodge between their blades, cast in haunting red light, while the valor squares on the others remained dead. The floor was dirty with blood and teeth and broken bone. The smell was nauseating and the captain couldn't understand for the life of her how the Brions could keep fighting with their jaws hanging only by skin.
Satisfied that no word would ever leave their mouths, her warrior slowed down. Lana could see his movements again, almost lazy now that he'd achieved his first goal. He kept moving, trying to hold each of the other three spears in sight, but the fight was already over. Lana saw the hesitance in the others, the pain in their motions. One by one, they attacked their lone opponent and one by one they died.
In less than a minute, all three lay dead on the ground, in a pool of their blood. The victor was standing over them, unharmed, not even out of breath.
Lana agreed with the dead warriors. There was something wrong with this new one. All her crew couldn't bring down one Brion—they'd tried—and this man killed three like it was nothing.
Could he really do it? Lana thought. Could he kill Worgen?
She stepped out of the shadows, picking her way between blood and the three corpses.
"I wish you hadn't seen that," the warrior said, sheathing the spear. "Brion fights are never pretty. I had to make sure they didn't say anything about us."
That I can understand, yes.
"And the thing they were going to say about you?" she asked with sudden courage.
The man looked at her, for once without the cocky grin.
"The less you know about me, the better," he finally said. "If something goes wrong, if you are questioned about me...it's better if you really don't know. Brions can tell these things."
"I don't even know your name," Lana said.
"You shouldn't know that either."
Lana sighed. "Don't give me that mysterious crap," she said, "how do you expect me to trust you?"
He laughed.
"That is fair," he allowed. "You can call me Corden."
"Like that general?"
"Pure coincidence. It's a common name. Now, what do you suppose we do with these bodies?"
That snapped Lana back to reality, not in a pleasant way.
Good question. How do I explain three dead Brions?
"We have to get rid of them," she said, "in a way that would damage the bodies so they couldn't be examined."
The warrior nodded, a smirk on his lips.
"Very good," he said. "Anything nearby that could do that?"
"The engine room is nearby. We can leave the bodies there and I could create a small explosion."