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“Is that all of them?” My heart skipped a beat.
Tuga nodded.
“Blanting bastard.”
Five short darts spread before us. Yagras’ best weaponry experts had designed each tip to explode upon impact and shower our opponents’ lungs in bloodroot fungus powder. Tuga had been at my side the last time I’d taken down a hellsna on Yagras. We’d watched it writhe in agony for the span of three breaths as the thin lining of its stomach absorbed the poison. I ran my fingers over the precious contents.
“One spare shot…” I snarled. “That shrunken-headed fool only sent us one spare.” A knot of fury tightened under my skin. “No problem. I’ll keep this one to fire into Devile’s lying, cheating heart.”
Tuga’s forehead ridge furrowed into a vee. “Be thankful he prepared this when he thought there were five hellsna, not four.” He kept two darts for himself. With care, he placed them into slots on his belt and passed the remaining three to me.
That bastard better not be anywhere near Ginger. I secured the darts in the band of the knife belt, wrapping one leg. Hill’s crew would keep him at bay.
I jerked as Nebula flew from my shoulder and pounced on Tuga’s duffel, which leaned against his feet. That’s odd.
“Ah, you’ve found RitRat.” Tuga’s deep laugh scared a nesting woodskie, sending it flying.
Pinned beneath Nebula’s front paws, another dorat floundered, its camouflage dissolving into a solid sable color. Nebula’s tail stood erect, and her long fiber-optic fur flashed a rainbow of colors even in the sunlight. Her head dipped to RitRat’s, and she licked his face from chin to ear while her tail swished a happy rhythm.
“I think she’s excited to see him.” I smiled at her domination over the smaller male. “She may have escaped theFires That Cleansebecause she was inside the volcano. I haven’t seen another.” When I lived on Yagras, a dorat had yet to claim Tuga. Now, Devile’s extra covetous behavior made more sense. In Tuga’s and RitRat’s presence, Devile would be driven mad with the reminder that he didn’t have the integrity to be claimed.
Nebula returned to the perch on my shoulder, and I patted the darts on my thigh. I powered down the notifications on my wristport, ensuring there would be no further distractions. Side by side, we strode over volcanic rock polished to a glossy finish from annums of use.
The arch overhead was remarkably similar to the soldier’s graveyard on Yagras. I swallowed hard. A wall of heat and humidity consumed us as we slinked under the forbidding entrance.
“This is it,” I whispered to Nebula.
The stench of decomposing flesh assaulted my senses as we passed deeper into the volcano. My nostrils flared at the rancid odor. The scent grew unbearable as the tunnel opened into a large bowl encircled by a flat ledge. With a quick scan, I oriented myself.
Tuga and I would have to communicate via hand signals to be understood over the hissing and sputtering magma, loudest beyond the smooth shelf ahead. That meant the rock wall to my immediate left also belonged to the enormous cavern the enforcers occupied, though much farther in. Sure enough, whenI cast my gaze upward, I spotted the same small opening I’d investigated what seemed like an eternity ago. If I’d had a say in planning…
Tuga knocked my elbow with his and jerked his head toward the bowl. There, four worms slept tangled together. Long, oozing gouges pierced their transparent white skin, and their open mouths secreted strings of saliva that smeared each other in a paste of half-consumed mantu.
We worked as equals. Tuga’s index finger circled his palm, then tapped once under his left eye. I snapped my head to the left and brought my arm down in a slash.
As signaled, I crept along the platform of the bowl to where the closest worm’s giant maw gaped open. My stomach soured at its reeking breath. Perspiration dripped down my spine and pooled in the divot above my ass.
Tuga maneuvered into position, locked eyes with me and raised three fingers.
In half a breath, the cool dart was in my careful grip. My lips pressed against the hollow launcher tube. Heart beating a steady thud, thud, I narrowed my gaze at my target. A long string of drool dripped from its mouth.
The timing had to be perfect. We would only have a moment. Tuga dropped a finger.
Thud.
The beast’s mouth widened. The second finger on Tuga’s hand closed.
Thud.
Target acquired. His final finger curled inward.
Thud.
A sharp blow against the launcher.
Thud.
Our darts released in unison, firing through the air. Straight as an arrow, they pierced the soft inner flesh of two mouths. Bullseye.
