Page 12 of Hope Forged
She managed to croak, “Oz, shields up.”
A shimmer formed at the entrance. And in the silence while she studied the horizon, not daring to blink, hers and Seba’s breathing slowed. Maybe the ucdeas couldn’t reach her? It made sense since she couldn’t get to them unless she climbed. But she didn’t know the area as well as they did. Padya’s drone scan had them on a flat rock, mirrored to the right with the waterfall and lake between them.
She sank her fingers into Seba’s fur, scratching behind his ears as they waited. “Oz?” she asked.
“What you suspect is chasing you is not showing on the sensors.”
She slumped, releasing an exhale with a muffled chuckle. “Good,” she rasped, kneeling beside Seba. She threw her arms around his neck, giving him a kiss on his cheek. “My guardian.”
He grumbled but leaned into her embrace, resting his full weight against her. She fell, her aching legs unable to keep her balanced. With a squeak, she landed on her backside, then laughed, exuberant, no doubt from being alive.
“Guardians deserve ceaza; you hungry?” What she wanted, no, craved, was a hot tisane.
His ears perked.
“Come.” She grinned. “Lower the shield, Oz.”
As she headed to the lake, Seba padding behind her, she couldn’t help but glance north every few minutes. She half expected a pack of ucdeas to be chittering at her. Even whilecleaning and cooking the ceaza, her senses stayed alert. And that night, she and Seba slept behind the shield.
Just in case.
Ittookcouragetohead out to the crevice days later. This was as far as Ziamee dared to go. She didn’t venture as north as before but kept checking the cliff’s edge in the distance. Seba was nervous since he prowled back and forth, keeping between her and the ucdeas’ den.
When she peered into the crevice, the foul air blasting her braids back stank worse than Seba due for a bath. No matter where she searched, there wasn’t a way in. So how had her father disappeared into the caverns below? He could’ve tumbled in, but she tried not to think like that.
Her voice had yet to recover, made worse by her mad dash home post-meeting a few fanged ucdeas. She stroked her throat, trying to soothe the constant tickle.
“Padya,” she rasped. “What have you done this time?” Of their home, they had yet to explore the mountains north of the lake. If only she could climb, swim, or descend. “Padya,” she whispered. “What do I do?”
If he didn’t return— No, she couldn’t dwell on the worst possible scenario.
Clattering stones had her scanning the craggy rocks. A white shape shifted, almost blended with the pale rock.
She smiled. “Seba, what are you doing?” She hadn’t heard him venture off.
He mewled, balancing on a tiny pinnacle without a hint of fear. His agility knew no bounds.
“I’m heading back,” she said. “Would you like ceaza for evening meal?”
He growled and leaped across to a narrow ledge before shimmying along it.
Swiveling on her heel, she clambered down the rock face, using a natural crevice for added support. The odd angles she had to place her feet made her thigh throb, sending twinges of sharp agony up her leg. And she’d run helter-skelter down there, endangering herself even further.
She pinched her lips and pushed on. The view before her showed metallic twinkles of where the engines had rested, now overgrown with plant life. Hidden by the trees, she couldn’t see her home, but the pathways leading to it were clear. Anyone smart enough could find her…when she was most vulnerable. She’d talk to Oz about how best to bolster their security.
Each step was excruciating. She wished she had a sliver of poipoi to ease the pain, but she hated how it scattered her wits. Instead, she sucked on a taisra petal while unpacking her weapons onto Padya’s untouched desk. Stacks of notes gave her pause. Not once had she documented anything since his disappearance. Doing so without him was like giving up hope of ever finding him.
“Greetings, Ziamee,” Oz said.
“Any changes?” she asked him.
“No, not for the weather or from any sensors Amet planted.” He cleared his nonexistent throat. “No sign of him either. Nor a call for aid.”
“And you’re certain he headed northwest?” She’d asked him this a thousand times.
“Yes. The last known location of his marker was near the crevice.”
The endlessness of her existence loomed if she didn’t find him. Alone on a dwarf planet…
