Chapter 39

My breath is rapid yet still barely keeping time with the thundering of my heart. I hear them talking outside the dark, dank, too tight confines but it's in Urr'ki so I have no idea what is being said. Panic is rising and it's all I can do to keep it contained to a slight trembling.

I want to scream. To break out of here and run like hell is on my heels and let's be honest, hell is here. All around me and closing in tighter with every passing second. Right as I reach the point I don't think I can take it anymore Rani runs a hand down my side and leans in close.

"We are fine," she whispers. "They inspect all the carts."

I bite my lip and nod, too afraid to speak. I don't want to be the cause of us getting caught. Someone or something slaps the side of the cart and I can't help but jump but there's no room to move. All I do is bounce off the General and into Rani.

It sounds like someone is scraping along the side of the cart with something sharp. I can't see and don't know what's happening but then Rani gasps. It's a soft sound but arch with pain. I can't even turn to offer her any comfort. I'm trapped in the position in which I entered the space, on my side and smashed between them.

"Down with the Shaman!"

Dilacs? How? What? No…

I know his voice the instant I hear it though. There is no mistaking it or the way my heart speeds up hearing it for an entirely different reason. He's here. He's alive and he's rescuing me. Us.

There is a lot of commotion, shouts, screams, scraping of steel, then before I can say or do anything the cart lurches forward so hard and fast that the three of us slam painfully against the wall at our feet. Cracking whips echo back as the beasts that pull screech in protest. We're tossed up, down, and side-to-side relentlessly.

I bang my head hard and stars dance in the darkness. The General says something in his language that sounds like a string of cursing. It probably is, I wish I knew more curse words. This hurts and is terrifying.

Dilacs… don't you die. If you die I'll find you and kill you again. Damn it.

The cart leans hard. The General falls into me and I fall into Rani. All three of us cry out in surprise and us girls in pain as his much bigger frame crushes us. Poor Rani must be totally crushed with both of our weights on her.

"Gada," the General curses. He's scrambling, swinging his legs which means he's kicking the shit out of me.

"Stop!" I yelp when his boot connects even harder with my shin.

"Lean," he growls.

Then I figure out what he's trying to do. The cart is about to tilt over and he's trying to shift our weight to force it back down onto its wheels. I grab onto his waist and pull myself up against him. Rani gets it too and does the same to me. He throws his weight but now we're working together and the cart crashes down.

We're bounced harder than ever. I crack my head again. The creaking of the cart, the screeching of the beasts, the cursing of the drivers and the moans and grunts of my fellow passengers fill my head becoming a jumbled, incomprehensible mess.

I don't know how much more of this I can take. We bounce and toss a while longer then the cracking of the whip stops. I don't know when it stops, but I do eventually recognize its absence when the cart begins to slow.

The drivers are cursing less, the beasts are no longer screeching, then we come to a stop. Silence falls like a weighted blanket. My heart is loud in my ears, drowning out the subtler sounds. I hear creaking followed by the protest of abused springs and then someone taps on the side of the cart.

"Open it," a voice growls.

A moment later there is a click and the hidden door drops open. Torchlight blasts our darkness away, searing my eyes. Someone grabs my foot and pulls. I kick with my free leg as hard as I can and there is a satisfying grunt of pain and they let go of my foot.

If this is it I'm not going down without a fight. That is what my Dilacs would do and I can do no less. Maybe I can buy time for Rani to get away. I shimmy myself towards the opening and drop out of the back of the cart into a crouch. The first shape that comes close I rise off the ground bringing my fist from the ground with me.

"Woah," Dilacs exclaims, leaning out of the path of my fist at the last possible instant.

"Dilacs?" I ask in surprise my eyes only now adjusting to the torch light.

He doesn't answer with words, pulling me tight against his hard body and claiming my lips. The only really proper greeting I could ever want anyway.