Chasing Shadows (The Star Hunters Book 1) by K. N. Salustro

Author:K. N. Salustro [Salustro, K. N.]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
Published: 2014-02-24T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 16: Flight

The oasis at the center of the Yuni city beckoned to Lissa and Blade with all the seductive power of cool, deep water in the middle of sun-scarred wastelands, its scent hanging on the night breezes like unfinished promises. Thirst scraped at Lissa’s throat, but she forced herself to hold her raging lust for water in check. There was danger at the oasis, and not just in the unfiltered toxins of Yuna’s water.

The Seventh Sun hung over the city like a poisonous cloud. They glided through the streets dressed in dark clothes with hoods that concealed their faces and strips of cloth wrapped around their noses and mouths, not an uncommon sight on sand-blasted Yuna, but Lissa picked them out at a glance. Their postures were stiffer, their steps sharper, their glances harder. There weren’t a lot of them, but they were combing the city, searching. Yuna’s locals and visitors alike paid no attention to them at first, but the Sun was aggressively hostile and it didn’t take long before the city began to eye them with distaste.

The areas closest to the oasis were thoroughly searched, but the main starship ground port was of special interest to the Sun. They chased off incoming ships and forced their way on to the grounded crafts. They left most of the crews alone when they failed to find anything, but a few of the more physically assertive captains were left broken and bleeding on the ground, their crews too stunned to retaliate.

Lissa watched the ship raids from the flat roof of one of the sandstone buildings. Blade crouched next to her, watching the sky for the Phantom and everything else. Lissa and the arkin were relatively safe up there. They were just two more dark shapes among the hundreds of creatures that leaped across the rooftops at night, chattering and hissing and yowling at each other and at the crowds in the streets down below. Once in a while, something would saunter up to Lissa and Blade, but the arkin chased it off and there wasn’t any trouble. There was one incident when a wild arkin dropped out of the sky right next to them, but it was small and sand-colored and just looked at them curiously before slipping away again.

Ignoring the creatures as best she could, Lissa watched the Seventh Sun move over the port. They had managed to completely ground the docked starships. Lissa could hear the captains yelling in protest, but they had learned from the mistakes of the others and kept their distance from the Sun’s operatives.

The control could not last. The Seventh Sun was deadly, but Yuna was another breed of danger. If the visitors didn’t lash back, then the Yuni natives would. There was no affection between the Yunis and the travelers and traders that came in to port, but there existed an unspoken peace treaty that the Seventh Sun was threatening.

Lissa could almost feel the tension crackling through the dry night air as the crews of the grounded starships began to form bigger and bigger packs.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.