As the snow crunched beneath their feet, she marveled again at the beauty of the forest in the moonlight. The trees were slender and tall, stretching high into the sky. The air was cold, but it wasn’t as frigid as it had been higher up on the mountain.

  “The water is this way,” Evindal said from behind her, pointing toward where the sun would rise in a few hours.

  A wide river stretched out before them. It was eerily silent under the thin layer of ice. The only frozen water she’d seen before was from magic, and it hadn’t been even a fraction of this scale.

  Evindal cracked some of the ice with the hilt of his knife, and Galaeron laughed.

  “What?” he asked sharply, looking up at the elf.

  Galaeron raised a hand, and the heat from the fire in it tickled across Irielle’s skin before he melted a strip of ice wide enough that all of them could fill their water containers.

  Irielle removed hers from her pack and filled it before washing her hands and splashing some of the water on her face. It was still cold, but not icy, and she was more awake when she finished.

  The others did the same, then the other elves broke out some bread and cheese from their packs. Irielle bit into it, marveling at the flavor.

  Evindal smiled at her reaction. “It’s an herb that grew on Melamar. Some of the originals brought it and grew it here, but it only grows inside the shield.”

  “It’s delicious. What does it do?”

  “It dulls hunger and thirst.” He laughed. “You know what? In all my eleven hundred years, I’ve never needed it until now.”

  Irielle started at the mention of his age. There had been a few elves in Renwyn that old, but they were rare. The king had been one of the very few.

  She quickly finished their food and washed it down with fresh water, filling her container a second time.

  When they had finished, Simban took the lead, and they headed up the next slope, south toward Renwyn. There was a hitch in his step, but he strode forward resolutely.

  They hiked for hours, climbing smaller hills, but generally progressing in a downward direction. The sun rose and climbed higher, and she was content with the knowledge that each step was taking them closer to home.

  Home.

  Where she would have to face her spoiled sister and her faithless ex-intended, and perhaps the wrath of her parents when she showed up with a cyborg. She raised her chin. She’d rather be with Simban than with any of the elves who’d stayed behind and refused to fight. He had more honor and strength in his little finger than they did in their whole bodies.

  A horrible rumbling sound came from overhead.

  “Hide!” Simban ordered, and each of them dove toward a tree trunk. “Ardak ship.”

  Irielle looked into the sky, and fear overtook her. Her legs began to go numb and her body became hot. Dizziness began to overwhelm her.

  “No,” she whispered as the ground came up to meet her.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Simban

  Simban watched helplessly as Irielle’s eyes rolled back in her head and she went limp. He sprinted toward her, catching her before she crashed face-first into the ground.

  What happened?

  “Irielle?” he said softly, shaking her. He checked her breath. Still breathing. It took him a minute to remember her warning him of her blackouts. She had said it happened in times of stress. Did it happen because of the ship?

  Evindal crouched beside them. “What’s wrong with her?”

  “Blackout. I think.” Simban searched the sky, but the ship was gone.

  “Are you sure that was an Ardak ship?”

  “Yes.” He was absolutely sure since no other beings on Aurora utilized technology like that. “Going slow.”

  “And almost in our direction,” Rydaeron commented. “Just slightly out of the way. Should we check it out?”

  “Yes.” Fuck. He knew they had to. The king was coming back with an army soon, and that ship would probably have information about their battle plans. He couldn’t afford not to get that information.

  At the same time, he couldn’t just leave her there. Keeping her in this situation would be stressful. He stared at her for a few moments, unsure what to do. He hoped she wasn’t reliving her time in the Ardak torture chambers, but by the pained expressions that crossed her face, he was afraid she might be.

  Then she screamed, a loud, shrill shriek of pain. It echoed through the forest around them, and he covered her mouth, hoping the Ardaks didn’t hear it.

  He gazed at his elf, taking in her unconscious form. He didn’t want to wake her, and didn’t even know if he could, but he knew they needed to move. So, he scooped her into his arms and made sure her face was tucked against his neck. That way, if she cried out again, it would be muffled a bit by his jacket.

  “Shh,” he said as she struggled in whatever nightmare she was locked inside. “I carry you.”

  She relaxed at the sound of his voice, but her eyelids didn’t flutter and she didn’t wake.

  Evindal led them up to the top of the next hill. At the crest, he and Rydaeron ducked, with Galaeron falling to a knee a second later.

  The ship must be on the other side so Simban stayed down behind the hill enough to block himself from view, setting Irielle on the ground, still in the blanket.

  She remained unconscious, dark circles below her eyes looking like dark purple bruises.

  He crawled up to the top of the hill, looking over it with the others. The Ardak ship was positioned in the center of a bowl of mountains, five peaks emerging in different directions.

  “Why don’t we get out of here?” Evindal asked from beside him.

  “Can’t. Army coming. With king.”

  Evindal’s eyes widened slightly. “How do you know?”

  “Ardaks told us. And information from other ship.” He nodded toward the smaller craft. “More information there.”

  “And you need that information.”

  “Yes.” Simban scanned the area around where the Ardak ship had landed. They had wisely placed the ship in a small meadow with only grass and flowers, with no cover between it and the tree line a distance away. With the mountain peaks and passes that surrounded it, they had landed on perhaps the only flat area around. It would take at least five minutes without cover to approach from any direction.

  From his mission with Aria, he had learned a lot about how the Ardaks communicated and where they stored their mission information, and his chip would allow him to download files directly.

  As they watched, the bay door opened and Ardaks began walking down the ramp, gathering on the ground below. Ten Ardaks emerged, carrying weapons and day packs.

  Disbelief filled him. Could they really be this lucky?

  Simban and Evindal ducked down as they began walking toward the north. He hoped they were downwind enough that the Ardaks didn’t smell them.

  The two brothers crawled back to where he had placed Irielle, but he didn’t leave and Evindal stayed with him. There might still be one or two aboard, so it would still be good to scan the ship.

  Simban smacked his temple a couple of times. He had vision penetrators that would allow him to scan the insides of objects. He was the only one he knew of that had the sensor, probably because it was rarely useful and almost never worked. But he knew it was there and tried to activate it.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Sensor. Make work.” Once in a while, he could force it to work if he hit it in just the right way. It blinked on and off a couple of times, and it was enough for him to think that there was no one left aboard.

  “All gone,” he whispered.

  The Ardaks were at the top of the northern pass, crossing over to the other side.

  He crawled backward several feet before he scrambled up, sprinting back to the others.

  “Ardaks gone,” Simban said, his eyes locked on Irielle, who was awake and trying to sit up. “Going north. Ship empty.”

  “What are they doing here? Why did they come?” Irielle asked.

  “Don’t know. Must find out.”

  “How can we do that?” Galaeron broke in quickly.

  “Must go on ship.”

  “What? No!” Irielle was on her feet, eyes wide with shock. “Simban, that’s a suicide mission.”

  “Maybe. Maybe not. Ship empty. Must work fast.” He gently pushed her out of the way to put on the last of his armor.

  “We can also understand their language,” Evindal broke in. “They speak a derivative of ours.”

  “Yes, but . . . I can download files.” He hit his forehead. “Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.”

  “Stop!” Irielle said, rising and grabbing his hand. “What is it? What’s wrong?”

  “Chip . . . broken. Not fast. Takes long time.” He hit the wide trunk of a tree, shaking it. “Why me? Fuck!” He was not the one to do this. Any other cyborg would have been faster. But they had to know. If the king was coming back with an army like he’d first had . . . he shuddered. The only way they would survive was by going into hiding. And they had to know.

  “We don’t have time for this. We’ll guard for you, make sure they don’t come back until you’re done. Dru’ut!” Evindal ran a hand through his long blond hair. “We shouldn’t have told Theoduin and Ryoduin to go. I don’t know what the hell we’re going to do to distract those Ardaks if they decide to come back with you still in there.”

  Simban took of his pack and checked his weapons. There was no time to lose.

  “I’m coming with you,” Galaeron said, glancing at Irielle.

  Simban didn’t like that idea. He didn’t enjoy watching the elf flirt with Irielle, but he didn’t want him to die, either. And he thought Evindal would be a better fighter.

  He looked up, and Galaeron was already heading back up the hill toward the pass.

  On the other hand, he had to leave someone competent with Irielle. If he couldn’t be there, Evindal and Rydaeron would be the safest to leave behind.

  “I’m coming, too,” Rydaeron seconded.

  “No!” Evindal said harshly. “We have ten Ardaks out here and possibly none inside the ship. I need at least one of you.”

  Galaeron turned to his brother. “You stay. I volunteered first, and you know I want to go.”

  “Fuck!” Rydaeron exclaimed, “This is not a game, brother. Those things will kill you.”

  “I know. But someone has to do it. We’ll be back before you know it.” Galaedron saluted his brother.

  Simban leaned forward and drew Irielle into a hug. She looked small and sick and afraid. Against his will, he placed a kiss on her forehead. “Back soon, little elf. Hide well.”

  Then he looked straight at Evindal. “Hide her.” It was a command. Nothing could happen to her while he wasn’t there to protect her.

  Evindal nodded, so Simban headed up the pass after Galaeron. “Let’s go.”

  Evindal grabbed his bow. “We’ll cover you until you reach the ship.”

  “Thanks.” He glanced at Galaeron, noting the other man’s weapons. “You ready?” At Galaeron’s nod, Simban turned and jogged up to the rise, hearing the others follow behind him. When they got over the rise, there was no cover until they reached the ship.

  He took a deep breath and kept running, hearing Galaeron’s steps behind him. He hoped they could finish the mission before the Ardaks returned.

  Chapter Twenty

  Irielle

  Irielle held her breath until Simban and Galaeron reached the ship. Once they were inside, she relaxed slightly.

  Evindal turned to her. “I need to know everything you know about the Ardaks.”

  “You saw them. They’re enormous, and they have claws and fangs, and I’ve seen them jump the length of ten men if they got a running start.”

  “Yes, but how do we fight them? What weapons do they have?”

  She raised her hands. “We never figured out how to fight them effectively. That was why we were all captured or killed. They have ray guns. The beams can paralyze you or kill you if they hit you, and they can shoot from great distances. To be honest, the only thing that saved us was the dome that covered Renwyn. It blocked their weapons.”

  “Dru’ut.” Evindal cursed and hit his leg. “Anything else?”

  “I don’t know. They can also use swords and knives, but I don’t know why they bother. Sometimes, I thought . . .”

  “You thought what?”

  She shrugged. “I thought they liked to play with their food before killing it,” she said miserably. “They tortured me seventeen times . . . and after the first few times, it was clear I wasn’t going to break. Most of the time, I thought they were just doing it for fun. Or they were bored.”

  “Great. So we have ten sadistic jungle cats with long-range weapons and nothing to defend ourselves with but swords, arrows, and magic. And none of us are great shielders.” His eyes scanned the grassy meadow and the mountainsides around the ship. “Would that we could just bring that whole damn mountain down on top of them.” He pointed at one of the peaks to the south.

  Irielle spied the boulders at the top of the mountain and then examined her hands. “I could have before they captured me. But now I don’t have that much magic,” she said sadly. A thought occurred to her. “You don’t have any crystals, do you?”

  “No. And it was just a comment,” he replied. “You need to save your strength so your body can fight the Red Death.”

  “If we can gather some kindling, I can make some fires.” Rydaeron’s voice was thoughtful. “Maybe a wall blocking them from the ship, and one blocking them from reaching us. I doubt it will stop all ten for long, but it might give us an edge.”

  “All right, you two start gathering dried branches and twigs from the forest behind us and get them down into a line blocking the ship from the north in case we need a fire to hold them back. I’m going to check for underground fissures. If we’re lucky, there will be some water up here I can use.”

  They worked solidly for at least two hours, creating two fairly large lines of branches.

  “These will make reasonable fires with a little magic,” Rydaeron told her. “None of them will be able to get through it, unless they go around. How high can they jump?”

  “I don’t know. But I think it would be pretty high. Maybe we should gather more?”

  He shook his head. “No. I can build substantial fires with this. I doubt they could jump it.”

  After that, there was nothing to do but wait and wonder what was happening inside the ship. She was curious about the elven village, and their king. “What is the village like?”

  “It’s the most boring place you can imagine, but the elders never want to let us leave. Since the red stuff clouded the sky and a few elves came back sick, no one has been allowed to leave at all. I finished studying several hundred years ago, and since that time, there’s been nothing to do.”

  She smiled weakly. “So you came with us to find some excitement?”

  “Well, yes, but this isn’t exactly what I was looking for,” he said dryly.

  “The winter festival is soon. There is a feast and dancing and all the single women will be there.” She paused. “Well, at least that was how it used to be. Before the invasion.”

  “I’m sorry about my brother,” he said suddenly. “You’re the first woman he’s seen outside the village, and he doesn’t know how to act.”

  “Don’t worry about it. I’d probably be the same way. When he gets to Renwyn, he’ll find a lot of other unattached women to focus on.” It was the truth, and while she liked his laughter and his boyish enthusiasm, she didn’t get the same feeling about him that she did around Simban.

  Rydaeron’s expression was doubtful. “Maybe. Galaeron might seem young for his age, but he isn’t flighty. And once he sees something he wants . . .”

  He didn’t finish because Evindal returned to the ridge. “There’s no water anywhere near here, not even underground where I could reach it. I thought about hiking back for some snow, but I don’t really have anything to carry it if it melts. I’ll have to use arrows. And perhaps, we could all bring down those boulders together if we need to. If it’s life-or-death.”

  “Sure,” Irielle agreed, trying not to think about the life-or-death aspect for a moment. She wanted to learn more about the village. “Elsifan seemed fairly . . . angry,” she commented delicately. “Does everyone want to follow him?”

  “No. It’s pretty much split evenly down the middle, which is saying something since most of the elves who believed in staying on Aurora left to form Renwyn.”

  “It seems like Geeeroo was just as powerful as Elsifan.”

  “He’s more powerful.” Rydaeron’s voice became passionate. “But Elder Geeeroo doesn’t want to lead and claims he’s more of a scholar than fighter. He could change everything if he wanted to. People would follow him, I can feel it! Everyone follows Elsifan because there is no other leader.”

  “Geeeroo was one of the original elves on this planet and the peacemaker. He’s old. And he doesn’t want to fight a war.” Evindal’s voice was tired, as if they’d had this argument many times.

  “But there’s been a war, and we lost. We lost when the Renwynians broke away from us. And now that the Ardaks are here, we’re losing again. If we don’t band together as a people now, if we don’t have a leader, we are going to fall. It’s up to Geeeroo now.”

  “I’m telling you, he won’t do it.” Evindal replied.

  “If not Geeeroo, then who else could do it?” Irielle asked.

  Rydaeron’s eyes went to Evindal, and at that moment, Irielle knew who the new leader could be. Evindal had a quiet strength about him, he spoke out when the moment was right, and from what she had seen so far, he seemed to be fair-minded. There was something hidden about him, though. Something dark in his eyes that she sensed he would have to overcome before he could lead his people.

  “Let’s make some arrows,” Evindal suggested. “I think we’re going to need them. And no one is going to lead anyone if we don’t make it out of this alive.”