14. Shana

14

SHANA

T he trip back is slower than the one out thanks to having a captive. The gusters aren't able to carry two so there's no choice but to travel at a pace he can keep up with. Kosh tries to camp when night falls, but I convince him to push on. I want to be home. I have no idea what the next step is, for my fellow survivors or me.

The sway of the guster lulls me into an almost hypnotic state that combines with sheer exhaustion. My thoughts run away while I'm half-dreaming, half-awake. Fleeting imaginings take over until a sudden motion jerks me back to wakefulness.

I see Kosh and I with our child. I'm holding the bundled baby in my arms, feeding it, and Kosh is at my side, staring with beaming pride. It feels like time passes and we're happy watching our baby grow. Taking its first steps then something explodes. We're under attack.

"Gah!" I yelp.

"Shana?" Kosh yells, turning in his saddle.

I wave my hand and shake my head. He frowns deeply then the captive says something in their language. Kosh turns his attention to him. They talk back and forth too fast for me to even try to follow.

"What's he saying?" I ask. Kosh growls and jerks on the lead causing the captive to stumble. "Kosh?"

"He says that he can help," Kosh says.

"Help what?"

"Probably lies," Kosh says.

" What are Kosh? It's not like we have a lot of options," I point out to him.

Kosh grumbles and his wings rustle.

"He claims there is a larger Order post, but it was abandoned."

"Where? Close?"

"It sounds like it is within reach."

"Why was it abandoned?"

Kosh talks to the prisoner. I wait impatiently as they go back and forth yet again.

"He says that there were not enough of them left to hold it," Kosh says. "They lost some to a zemlja and then your ship crashed, and they decided to move closer so they could study you in preparation for orders to capture the females."

Cold spreads through my guts. They were studying us? Ready to capture the females? And what? Leave behind the males? Kill them? I swallow the bile that rises in my throat.

"Oh," I say, numbness spreading over my limbs. "So, it's further away."

"Hard journey with the humans," Kosh says. "Have to scout, explore, plan."

I nod thoughtfully. Silence falls again as we resume traveling but now my thoughts are dwelling on how to move all the survivors and supplies across the desert. We have a lot of stuff I'd hate to leave behind, but I also don't know what is waiting for us.

A few ideas come and go but nothing solidifies into something workable for some time. The primary sun creeps over the horizon and the temperature climbs instantly. Sweat pours into my eyes until I finally dig in a pack for an extra shirt that I tie around my head.

"Do you think the equipment we need would be there?" I ask.

Kosh asks the prisoner.

"Yes," he says, "that and much more."

"Then we have to do it," I say.

"Probably," Kosh agrees.

"Probably?"

"Make sure not lie," he says, motioning towards the prisoner with his head.

"I thought Zmaj didn't lie," I say.

"I no know him," he says.

My stomach rebels out of nowhere. I turn to the side and get sick. It's like the suns coming up is a signal to my belly to purge. I spit out the last of that and sit up. Kosh is at my side with a water skin waiting. I take it gratefully, swishing a little of the precious liquid around my mouth and spitting it out before taking a long swallow.

"Thanks," I say, wiping my mouth on my sleeve.

"Treasure," he says.

"This could work," I say.

"Will work," he says.

"Tajss provides?" I ask.

He smiles broadly and nods.

"Tajss," he says, taking a sip of water himself before sealing it and putting it away.

I lean back in the saddle and watch the second sun cresting on the horizon. The long red rays of the double suns reach their warm arms across the planet embracing it in their fiery love.

And I know, he's right. Tajss provides.