Page 54 of When Darkness Falls

Darkness took her.

26

Creative

Miya broke free from the cold grip of unconsciousness with a greedy intake of air. She could breathe again! She was alive!

At first she couldn’t feel her limbs, as though she was trapped in her own head. Black spots were dancing in front of her vision, so she couldn’t see either. Sounds were muffled as if she had stuffed her ears with cotton. All she was capable of doing was breathe in and out, but boy was that progress.

Then her hearing returned at full force as abruptly as water rushing out of a broken engine cooler. The clearest of all was the sound of something heavy hitting a hard surface.

Her vision was the next to recover, the black spots giving way to smudges of colors amid bright artificial light. It was enough for Miya to be able to tell she was lying on the floor. And lying at the base of the opposite wall was a big, mostly-purple smudge.

Solais. Unconscious or dead, he wasn’t moving. The loud thud she had heard must have been from his body being introduced to the wall with great force. Or had he been pulled away from her and thrown across the room, the wall breaking his flight?

Had Garfis decided to help her? Miya looked in the direction she had last seen the Aldebian.

He was out cold on the spot where he had been standing. Blood was dripping from the side of his head. Judging by the bloody butt of his blaster that lay nearby, his head had met the weapon from up close and personal.

That left only one person who could have saved her life.

Except Therak was nowhere to be seen.

With sensation gradually returning to her limbs, Miya realized her wrists were no longer bound. She pushed herself into a sitting position. From here she saw the examination bed better. It was empty, with a small puddle of yellow blood in the upper part and unlocked cuffs in the lower. The metal restraints were unlocked too. The piece of cloth that had covered Therak’s eyes lay discarded at the base of the bed.

He was free! He had awoken and somehow freed himself and her. But where–

A shimmer at the corner of her eye made her look in Solais’ direction again.

Therak, in all his naked glory, appeared out of thin air looming over the Cordalian, claws extended. Gone was the unreadable expression he wore at all times. In its place was a look that would send any smart creature running for its life. If Solais was still alive, Miya did not wish to be in his place right now.

Turned out he lived still. As if sensing the looming danger, the Cordalian moved with a pained growl. He pushed his upper body off the floor with one arm, the other bent at an odd angle. And that was as far as he got before Therak stepped on his back and got a hold of his tail, essentially immobilizing and keeping Solais pinned to the floor.

“Your job is to protect civilians, soldier.” Therak’s tone cut like a laser blade. “Not harm them.” He bent until his face was right over Solais’ and bore his fangs menacingly. “In other circumstances I might have let you live, but you hurt Miya.” A sharp tail tug made Solais whimper. “You tried to kill my sapphire.”

The soldier whimpered again and… did he just pee himself?

Therak raised his hand, claws at the ready to deliver a killing cut–

“Wait, don’t!”

Therak froze. He and Solais both looked at Miya.

Yeah, Miya was shocked herself. Here she was, asking Therak to spare the life of the person who would have taken hers and enjoyed every second of it. But it was one thing to want Solais to pay and another, to watch him get executed. There had to be another way. One she could live with without being plagued by guilt.

“Don’t kill him, Therak. Please.”

Stormy eyes met hers from across the room. “He was going to kill you, Miya. A few more seconds, and you would have died.” Another tail tug made Solais mewl pathetically. “A quick death would actually be too merciful.”

“Perhaps.” Miya got up slowly, not trusting her legs yet. “But I don’t want his blood on your hands over what he did to me. And… I might have a better idea for his punishment.”

The idea took form as she walked toward Therak. Her gaze met Solais’, who was shaking like a leaf. “We’ll let him live but won’t take him with us. He abandoned his team, now we’ll abandon him. Let him fend for himself against the predator he doesn’t believe exists. See how it feels to be weaponless and at another creature’s mercy.” She placed a hand on Therak’s arm before she finished. “Let fate decide whether he lives or dies, Therak, not you. You’re no longer an assassin, remember?”

Maybe Solais would survive until a ship came to pick him up. Maybe he wouldn’t manage to hide from the megagull in the upcoming storm. Either way, he was going to experience the fear of looking death in the eyes that he had caused Miya.

And just in case he escaped Xera, Miya – provided she survived herself – was going to file a report on his transgressions that would have him kicked out of the military, if not worse. The claim of a pilot had its weight, and she would use that privilege to make sure Solais never had the authority to hurt others.

Therak stared into her eyes for several seconds, as if all the answers to the universe could be found in there. Then, in one swift movement, he knocked Solais out. Miya couldn’t even tell how he’d done it – her man had movedthatfast.