Wildling of Ravia (The Elation Wars Book 1) by L.A. Holloway

Author:L.A. Holloway [Holloway, L.A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-10-06T16:00:00+00:00

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Ekhor

“Ekhor,” Bev’s voice was low but urgent, snapping him to attention. She was supposed to be keeping her distance from him so that if he was captured, she would have a chance to hide or escape, but she’d crept up on him in the underbrush and was now peering at him intently not even six nhik away.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, resisting the urge to chastise her. She was no fool—if she’d defied his instructions, she must have a reason.

“I found something,” she explained in a hushed voice. “I… I think it was one of your people.”

Ekhor’s blood ran cold and his back stiffened.

“Show me,” he commanded, and she turned and vanished back into the jungle. He followed, underbrush crushing and snapping under his feet where Bev had passed soundlessly. When he caught up with her, she was crouching near the remains of a soldier in the scraps of an Alliance uniform. Approaching slowly and glancing around the jungle around them, Ekhor knelt cautiously by the corpse and inspected the insignia.

“Officer Lorabi,” he stated with a frown. There wasn’t enough left of the aboxan to have identified him without the patch on his uniform. “So far from the crash site, he was either pursued or brought here by the rha.”

Bev frowned deeply and stood up, first looking back in the direction of the wreckage of their camp, and then off into the jungle on the opposite side.

“Where was the ship you were trying to get to?” she asked at last, and Ekhor pointed over his left shoulder.

“Half a day’s walk in that direction,” he replied, and Bev again took her bearings and frowned.

“He wasn’t fleeing toward the ship if he ran here on his own,” she observed. “Maybe he got scattered, like we did. Couldn’t find his way back to your people.”

“Or maybe he was captured and dragged this far before he fought back and the rha killed him,” Ekhor observed.

“If that’s the case,” Bev continued, pointing into the jungle, “then the base is somewhere that way.”

He followed the gesture with his gaze and plucked thoughtfully at a tusk.

“We’ve been searching for days now, and this is the only clue we’ve found,” he observed solemnly. “We could continue walking the circuits, looking for more clues, or we could head in that direction alone. Either way, if we’re wrong, we risk losing precious time.”

“We could move our camp closer,” Bev suggested. “Start a new circuit from here.”

That was worth considering. Mulling it over for a few qin, he gave her a nod. “Find a suitable location nearby and set up another camp. I’ll return to the old one and recover our supplies. Nikki?”

The creature chittered and turned her wedge-shaped head to study him.

“Stay with her,” he instructed, hoping he was right and the alien could understand him. “If anything happens, come find me.”

Nikki chittered at him then moved immediately to Bev’s side, the woman reaching out and stroking her companion’s plush fur absently as she looked down at the body on the ground.

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