Caldar: Warlord Brides by Nancey Cummings & Starr Huntress

Author:Nancey Cummings & Starr Huntress [Cummings, Nancey & Huntress, Starr]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-10-24T18:30:00+00:00

SONIA

So, this was different.

Instead of being dragged out of the pod and tossed into a crowded cell with the other passengers, where they’d have a bucket of water, a bucket of gruel and a hole in the floor for waste to share among a dozen or more people—movies were pretty bleak—she got this. A hedge maze.

A freaking maze.

Sonia tilted her head back and stared up at the night sky. Well, she assumed it was a sky. There were stars against an inky black backdrop—very sky-like. The air was fresh, lacking the staleness of filtered air mixed with chemical perfumes to recreate summer fields, beach summer, or anything else that sounded like a fancy candle. Not that she assumed the Suhlik were concerned about their hostages’ olfactory experience while in a holding cell.

A warm breeze dried the sweat off the back of her neck.

The sky looked real. The air smelled real. The breeze felt real. The chirping insects sounded real.

If she was still inside a ship, the space had to be cavernous. From what she understood about aerospace engineering—nothing—the larger the ship, the slower. Suhlik raiders needed a quick and stealthy ship. Tooling around in a ship with a hedge maze in a stadium-sized hanger just didn’t seem practical.

This had to be real. The Suhlik ruined her cruise, grabbed her pod, and dumped her on some random planet.

Sure. Why not? That made as much sense as anything else.

It was so hot for the middle of the night. At least the insects sounded peaceful.

Despite the sweltering heat, she kept Caldar’s jacket on. Sweat rolled down her back. Yes, it was silly to wear it, and yes, she was still upset with him, but it was a comfort thing. She needed all the comfort she could get.

Sonia didn’t know how she got here. Her best guess was she had been dosed with drugs when the Suhlik opened her pod, then they dumped her here. On a planet. In a maze. For some reason.

There was just enough moonlight to make out the leaves of a hedge. They were nearly black, glistening pearly white where the light caught. The hedge went well over Sonia’s head. Too tall to climb? Behind her, the hedge stretched. In front, more hedge. The walkway was wide enough for her to stretch out her hands.

Sonia looked up. How tall could it be? She might as well try to climb up and find the way out. She reached into the hedge to grab onto a branch and sliced open her palm for her trouble.

“Motherfucker!” She cradled her bleeding hand to her chest, ruining Caldar’s jacket and her formerly white blouse. Her hand tingled. Was it supposed to tingle?

The razor-sharp leaves of the hedge glowed softly in the dim light, almost majestic if they weren’t clearly a vicious murder plant in a murder maze. She half-expected the 1980s David Bowie to saunter out as the Goblin King in too-tight pants. That was the vibe of the place.

She wished Caldar were there. He

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