Viridian Skies (Rim Jumper Book 2) by Tim Rangnow

Author:Tim Rangnow [Rangnow, Tim]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Vagabond Publishing
Published: 2021-07-01T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twelve

Kole had more fun on the quad bike than he could have imagined. A kind of childish joy suffused him as they navigated the obstacles of the dry, cracked land they traveled through. Each time the bike bounced through a gully or over a rise he had to hold back a whoop of glee.

Neela felt no such need for restraint, and she shrieked with joy each time as her arms squeezed tightly around him. She laughed when the bike went up on two wheels as they hit an uneven bump, and even screamed laughter when Kole had to gun the engine to jump over a half-meter wide crevice.

McGrath and Lewis didn’t share that same thrill of danger and excitement. The archaeologist was stone-faced, concentrating deeply on keeping their quad bike on all four wheels as often as possible. The guide closed his eyes early on, keeping them that way as his arms were rigidly locked and his hands maintained a white-knuckle grip on the wheel guards.

After two hours, McGrath waved to get Kole’s attention before holding her palm out flat and lowering it. He nodded in recognition of the symbol, throttling down the engine to bring the quad bike to a stop. Neela almost moaned in disappointment as she released her grip on his midsection and slid off the seat.

“We’ll take thirty minutes for lunch and to let my nerves recover,” McGrath said, standing on wobbly legs beside her bike.

Kole examined their surroundings as the others dug meal bars out of their packs. They had stopped in a low depression, with the land ahead and behind rising up several meters in a long slope. It was a good place to take a break, he reflected, where they were safe from being spotted by anyone else traveling toward the ruins, unless they followed the very same path.

Which prompted a question. “How come we’re going cross country? Wouldn’t a road make for an easier trip?”

“Very much so,” McGrath said with a wistful look. “So few people wish to get closer to the ruins than Flowside, that there has never been a reason to build roads leaving the city.”

“You’ve made this trip before?”

“Only once, on my own,” she said. “The teams I was with on my previous journeys up the river refused to get closer. You noticed the towering building on the ridge in town? That was the observation tower, and from the top you can see the ruins spread across the land in the distance.”

“I wish I would have been satisfied with that,” Lewis muttered. When he didn’t continue speaking, the others released held breaths. All of them were curious to hear his story, but they knew that pushing him to tell it would just make him clam up even harder.

“Too many people are,” McGrath said. “I begged the leader of my last expedition to venture closer, but he refused. The dangers were too great for him to even consider it. I barely managed to get him to agree to wait while I made the journey myself.

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