Stolen Stars (Intrepid Saga Book 2) by Tim Rangnow

Stolen Stars (Intrepid Saga Book 2) by Tim Rangnow

Author:Tim Rangnow [Rangnow, Tim]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Vagabond Publishing
Published: 2024-04-26T00:00:00+00:00


22 - Ballard

Alina squinted against the harsh orange light of the setting sun, which was reflected hundreds of times across the patchy surface of the marsh not far away. She dropped her binoculars and then crawled backwards until she was below the rise of the small hill.

“I counted seventy-three,” she said softly.

“Seventy-six,” Okune’s voice said through her earpiece. He and LoTur were set up half a mile south of the Golmorung village, while she and Gundar had posted up to the north. “There was a trio of them watching from the windows of a hut, but they were outside your line of sight.”

Alina grunted in response. Seventy-six was a large number, but not as many as she’d been expecting. “What do you think they were gathering for?” she asked.

“It kind of looks like some sort of sun worship, doesn’t it, lieutenant? The way the Golmorungs are clustered in total silence while the sun sets, it’s almost like they’re praying or something. That huge stone monolith they circled could be some form of altar, I suppose.”

She’d had similar thoughts, but it seemed so incongruous to what she’d been expecting to find based on everything Tamma and Elder Hamman had told them about the invaders taking over their planet. This was almost the opposite of the armed encampment she’d been expecting, bristling with weapons and a sturdy wall constructed as defense against attacks.

Alina ran the tip of her tongue across her lips. Nothing about this world matched her expectations. From the moment they’d set out at dawn the day before, there had been a series of discoveries forcing her to shift her view of the situation.

The first had been the stunning vistas, which had taken her breath away as soon as her small scouting party stepped foot outside the cavern. From their position, they’d been able to see for at least a mile, and the land around them was filled with tall trees marching up and down hills that seemed to spread out like ripples on a pond. Those trees made her ache for home, with their orange and yellow leaves that vividly reminded her of fall. The blueish color of their trunks had been slightly unsettling, though.

“I don’t see any scorched areas,” Okune had remarked in a whisper only she could hear. The six Kitanes tasked with guiding them and ensuring they didn’t stumble across the Golmorungs wouldn’t have understood their words, but she felt the same desire to keep their comments under wraps.

“Perhaps the bombardment occurred on the other side of the mountain?” she’d asked, glancing over her shoulder at the gentle peak rising above them.

“Why would they travel that far to find a safe place to hide?” Okune responded. “We should be able to see at least some sign of the orbital bombardment from here.”

That concern had been swiftly banished by the steady concentration she had to give to the ground in front of her feet when they began trudging through the forest. When Cantu had told her it



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