The Zero Stone by Heppner Vaughn

Author:Heppner, Vaughn [Heppner, Vaughn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Amazon: B0BBPJBXX4
Goodreads: 62332142
Published: 2022-09-08T07:00:00+00:00

-27-

The rest of the day was torture as I waited to see if Styr Mordel showed up with his people.

The Shrulls repaired their clothes and did other chores, and spent many hours arguing with each other about seemingly inconsequential things.

I remained in the center of the compound, left to my own devices. Mainly, I slept. I’d been hiking hard the past few days. I needed this. In fact, I slept most of the day and evening away. I’d have figured I’d be so wound up about seeing if Mordel arrived or not. Instead, I slumbered until someone toed my shoulder.

I raised my head from where I’d slept, saw that it was dark and then saw Rud’s rat-face in the light of the first moon.

He held a package in his hands.

The realization that it was night, and that Mordel hadn’t arrived galvanized me. Was something good taking place? I scrambled to my feet. Rud thrust the package at me. I removed a rag and saw my Colt, the magazines and box of shells on a board. Rud, or someone, had found the items in the tree where I’d hidden them.

Grinning, liking the implication of this, I took my Colt and bullets. Mordel hadn’t arrived. That was fantastic. I wondered what had kept him. I wondered how he’d been communicating with the Shrulls in the first place. I felt like a new man with my weapon again. And it proved to me once again the truth about never giving up until you were dead. I hadn’t despaired, but had tried to convince my enemies. Yes. I’d been lucky stumbling onto information that Rud and Kincar knew about mechs. But I wouldn’t have gotten lucky like this unless kept my wits and kept trying.

I would endeavor to remember this for the next time I seemed to hit a wall.

“Come,” Rud whispered, “but do not say a word and walk softly.”

I followed him as we moved out of the center and past the first ring of sleep-holes with their leather coverings. Rud laid a warm, slender hand on my forearm, silently bidding me to halt.

I did, and I saw guards farther away. They walked the perimeter as a group, watching outward. What would happen if they saw me?

After a minute passed, the guards moved behind scrub-trees and out of sight. Rud tugged my arm. We crept again, slipping past more covered sleep-holes.

After what seemed far too long of a time, Rud and I left the Shrull encampment and headed in the direction of the river. Rud moved stealthily through the night, with the stars and a half moon providing light. I followed close behind as we hurried past bushes and scrub-trees.

Had that been too easy? A sudden nagging doubt tapped the back of my head. Why had I slept so hard during the day? Was that strange in any way? How did Mordel communicate with the Shrulls? Shouldn’t he have shown up today if this was so important to him? Wasn’t letting me go

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