“I must accompany you to find Fury.” He stood tall, his voice low.
Was he her mate?
“We leave now.” Jordan gave the Crais man a nod.
“I am ready.” Luiz smoothed down his leafy belt.
I gathered my energy as everyone fell in close, mentally preparing myself for the drain. It was worse now that I knew the suns’ intensity.
“Fury can’t stand in the sun at all. Even with the leaves, she will not have made it far,” Jordan said as he hit the side of the rock wall and it opened. Daylight flooded the area we were in. “We must climb to the surface. We will wait for you at the top.”
The men started to move up what looked like a rock ladder. I spread my shield around everyone, knowing we had no choice but to trust these men and follow them out into the sun. I let my friends go ahead. That way I could keep an eye on my shield coverage. I had to be diligent because as we ascended the air would no longer be breathable.
We were definitely nowhere near as fit or dexterous as the tribal leaders; they scaled the rock ladder quickly, while we lagged much further behind. Lucy seemed to be the one who complained the most and took the longest. I continued to find myself clinging to the edge of the rocks waiting for those above to move it. The tips of my fingers were slightly abraded, but my Walker healing fixed that up quickly.
The light grew brighter as we moved; I managed to shift the glasses that had been resting on my head back down over my eyes. I noticed Lucas reach up to help Lucy do the same. I hated it when he was thoughtful; it was easier to detest an arrogant asshat. Finally we reached the edge, and with a deep breath I followed everyone up into the burning brightness.
Chapter 6
The surface of Crais looked exactly the same as before: dead, with red and black splashes of contrast. In fact I couldn’t tell if we were in the same spot where the dragon had attacked us or somewhere different.
We followed the tribal leaders as they ducked in and out of shaded areas. They seemed able to withstand very small portions of direct sun.
I hoped they knew where they were going, especially if we only had an hour until the sun eclipse ended and everyone had to be back in the caves. My shield would last longer than that, but there would be no point in us staying out there. We’d never find anything without their help.
The silence seemed unnatural inside our shelter; I could almost feel the heavy thoughts. Well, maybe not Lucas’s. I doubt he had many thoughts besides where to find his next bimbo. His white teeth flashed at me. Either he’d read my mind or the fact I’d been kind of staring in his direction had prompted the smile. I flipped him off in return. His smile broadened. Lucy and Talina snorted with laughter.
“Acting like an ass is not going to deter me,” Lucas said.
“Oh, so we’re talking now? Thank god. I hate forced silence. I feel like all these thoughts are going to burst from my head.” Lucy chattered away.
I shrugged. “Since we only have an hour and we know the air lasts longer than that, I don’t see why we can’t chat.” I shifted my eyes to Lucas. “And I’m not trying to deter you; I just simply don’t like you.”
He actually laughed out loud. “You don’t hate me. You want to hate me; there’s a difference.”
He might have a point. I more hated the attraction I had toward him. It felt disloyal, despite the fact there was not one ounce of doubt in my mind that I belonged with Brace. But for some reason Lucas was hard to push away, and I desperately needed him out of my personal space. So for now the hate would continue.
“Are you all getting a weird vibe from these people?” Talina asked.
Lucy snorted. “Yes! First they started with that friggen water induction. And now this little adventure seems all too planned. Co-incidence? I think not.”
“Yeah, but what is their end game?” As I said this I noticed my shield was a little close to Talina. Without effort, I expanded it.
“I think they’re counting on your power to help them recover their lost tribe members,” Talina added quietly. “That’s what we would have done on Spurn.”
That did make sense.
“Considering I have a vested interest in finding Fury, they might just get lucky today,” I said.
We had to increase our speed to keep up with them. They were running flat out now across an exposed plane toward a mountainous cliff face. It had to be the largest rocky overhanging area that we had seen since arriving on Crais. I noticed the dark entrance first, a large opening carved deep into the mountain.
“Do you think these nomads live in that cave?” Lucy sounded nervous.
I couldn’t blame her. Dark caves were creepy. And I was kind of sick of being in them.