Endless Frontier: The Hunter and the Knight by Lurie Brett

Author:Lurie, Brett
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Brett Lurie
Published: 2024-06-14T00:00:00+00:00

XIV

Old Fires

“How—?”

“I don’t know.” Kasta cut off Dresco before he could finish his question.

“Yes, but how could he even know that we—?”

“Hold on!” Kasta stuck a finger toward him. Her back thumped against the wall. “Just let me think for a minute.” Her eyelids fell shut.

Dresco’s feet scraped over the gravel on the floor. “Kasta, we need to consider—”

“Keep your voice down,” she hissed. “There’s a gang of murderers out there looking for us, remember?”

Dresco froze in his steps, shoulders sagging. “Good point,” he uttered. He took a delicate stride toward Kasta. “I just want to know what our next move is.”

Kasta sighed. Her back sank down the wall. “For now, we wait.” She rested her hands on her knees and sat down. “And we make our exit once Dast and his gang have moved on.” Her upper lip twitched. “Or until they find us. And we at least go down fighting.”

“How did he find us in the first place?” the knight asked with a sideways glance.

“Could have done it a few ways. Could have been informants in Vulture; he has spies everywhere. Hell, he could have just tracked us. It could be any combination of methods with the funding that your Imperial friends are giving him.”

Dresco spoke over Kaiar’s husky groaning. “There is no chance he could be tracking our data systems or communication devices?”

“Unlikely,” Kasta said. “Communication devices are nearly untraceable; their signals are scrambled when they pass through the satellites. And my data system uses an encrypted code to transmit. Yours on the other hand—” Her mouth remained open as her sentence halted. “Yeah, you should probably turn that off.”

“I should?” Dresco asked, panicked.

A grim smile fell on Kasta’s face. “Don’t worry. Even if they could trace your data system, it would only give them a general circumference. But just to be safe, I’d deactivate it.” She reached into her vest for her utility tool and a cigarillo.

“Oh, indeed,” Dresco said with a single nod. His hands fumbled about his body, patting his armor down. “I left my new data system in the pannier on Crevallus’ back. At least they can’t track it now.” The knight frowned and bowed his head. “Oh Crevallus, poor little bugger.”

Kasta nodded, lighting her cigarillo. “Rest in peace, Crev,” she said, gazing upward. Her eyes examined the dark room. Empty sockets that had once held gems lay scattered across the wall, though the sarcophagus at the opposite side rested undisturbed.

“Kasta,” Dresco said, a slight crack in his voice. “Why would the Imperium hire Dast to seek Vellon’s Blade?” He sank to one knee, bringing himself to her level.

Kasta rubbed the nape of her neck. She rested her forearm atop her knee. “Breylu has always fancied himself a treasure hunter. And he has studied my tactics. I could see how the Imps figured he’d be the man for the job.”

Dresco swallowed.

Kasta’s head tilted back and forth, her lips pursed to the side. “As soon as he caught word that we were looking for the sword, I’m sure he developed an obsessive urge to find it as well.

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