Dark's Savior (Dark World Mates Book 2) Read online

  The other lygin moved the sluth body with his foot and looked under it with his light. "No. If anything, he would have killed her himself if he found her down here, and he won't take kindly to us lurking around. Yva is right, we should go. Likely, the sluths got to her first, anyway."

  The band was in agreement. They swiftly left for the nearest elevator. Ryziel waited until they were fully out of sight before he moved. He slid off the rock where he had been sitting and took out Aly's techband from his bag.

  It hadn't taken him long to find it, and when he had, he’d quickly unlinked the tracer system before the enforcers got to the mark where their tracer said it was supposed to be, leaving them to think it ended there. Let them think she was dead for now until he could figure out what the hell he was going to do.

  Because he certainly couldn't keep her in the lair. By now, she might even be healed, and if she had rested enough, she would have to go back up toward the surface. Because she shouldn't be near him. He saved her life, and she certainly would be too afraid to come back down a second time, so he would need to take her back up without being seen. He would have to reactivate her techband and decide whether or not to give her a memory pill, which could potentially alter her memories completely, or risk trusting her not to go telling everyone that he had a ship. Especially Marzin, who would definitely want to know what happened to her.

  Ryziel bared his teeth as he trudged back to the lair. He’d put the whole mission at great risk just to save this human woman. But he had no time to decide what he should have done once he saw the techband had belonged to her. His mind had already been made up, whether he cared to admit it or not.

  He could imagine what his brother would think if he had seen him racing to save a non-nillium female. He would have been amused, somewhat, but also greatly concerned.

  What, now you are the savior of the lessers, Ryziel? Don't forget who you really are. Because they won't.

  But then Aly didn't know who he was or of his past. So, maybe it didn't matter. And it wasn't like he had saved her out of some sudden need to be heroic, he had done it because...

  Because he still didn't have her figured out. That was all.

  Ryziel slipped through the tunnelway that led to the hidden metal door several paces inside. When he got to the door, he paused, standing before it for a moment as if to prepare himself. His receptors began to vibrate, making his brow tingle. He closed his eyes and caught the scent of something sweet, reminding him of the velblum flowers that grew in the gardens of the First House. His brow furrowed at a single memory in those gardens, and he brushed the vision aside. Now was not the time to think about the past.

  Opening his eyes, Ryziel went for the lock on the side of the door and plugged in the code to unlock it. The door began to rise before him, spilling blue light out into the tunnelway. He ducked inside then closed the door before it reached the top, hearing the sounds of Nar shouting nearby.

  "No, for the last time, human, I don't need your help! Your impatience is astounding. Just sit down, will you!"

  Ryziel looked around and stopped as his eyes scanned over to the ship and saw the human, Aly, standing before it, the light from the ceiling casting down on her like the moon had the night he first encountered her. She turned her head, a smile playing on her lips, until it fell as soon as she saw him, her eyes going wide, fear paling her features. She clutched at a mender in her hand, her body tensing as she stared at him, her lips parting ever so slightly. Ryziel caught himself staring back and took a step to move, only to still as he noticed her flinch. Her eyes skimmed down to his hand and her face seemed to pale more as she saw her techband dangling in his fingers. She opened her mouth to say something when she was sharply interrupted.

  "Ryziel, you're finally back," Nar said from the top of the ship. "This human of yours," he pointed down to Aly with the end of his wrench, "can't just sit down for even five minutes. And she won't stop asking questions. I can't even get one part done without her interference. I knew it was a bad idea to bring her here, but would you have listened? No! I was this close to tying her up and gagging her, you know? This close!" The urk disappeared back into the ship with a huff, the sounds of banging and shuffling continuing as usual. Ryziel looked back at Aly, who smiled sheepishly, her face now red.

  "I, um, I wasn't sure how long you would be," she said softly. A lock of hair brushed at her cheek, and she quickly curled it back behind her ear. Her body was still tense, the mender's end pointed at him, perhaps unconsciously, as if ready to use it as a weapon. Ryziel didn't respond. Instead, he took a few quick steps toward her, ignoring her nervous response. He held out her techband, and she looked at it for a long moment then gazed back at him as she carefully took it from his grasp.

  "Thank you," she said.

  Ryziel watched as she placed the band back on her wrist, checking for any lasting damage.

  "I thought it was lost for good," she said casually. "I figured I was royally screwed."

  Ryziel got most of her meaning. "You’re lucky the sluth didn't get far with it."

  She looked back at him then. "Sluth?"

  "The things that attacked you."

  She made a silent 'oh.' "The things...you saved me from."

  It sounded almost like a question, like she wasn't entirely sure if he had meant to save her or if he had just taken her with a plan to do something worse than the sluths, and she hoped that he could confirm or deny her fears.

  Ryziel felt compelled to answer honestly. "Yes."

  Her body seemed to instantly relax, the mender in her hand even going a little slack, causing the robe to slip ever so slightly off her shoulder. "Thank you."

  Ryziel clenched and unclenched his hands and nodded, trying desperately to look anywhere but at her. Because if he did, he knew his eyes would fall right to the curve of her neck then downward to stare at her small frame. He already had an image of what lay behind the robe. A body not so unlike nillium women save for the color and texture. He had gotten a good glimpse of everything when he had been forced to undress her then mend her wounds. His mind had been a blank slate then—only a few times did he have to leave the room to keep his Drega relaxed but otherwise, he kept his mind somewhere else completely, focusing only on the need to fix what was before him.

  Still, that had taken tremendous willpower on its own. Now that she was before him, alive and well, he dared not even cast his eyes down to her nor meet her gaze, in fear his mind would go wandering somewhere he didn't care for it to.

  "Your wounds should be almost healed. If you need to bathe, I can show you the washroom," he said, turning away.

  "I would like that," she said.

  Ryziel nodded and started toward the ship, moving around its right wing over to a wide, open alcove in the back, walled off with various sheets of metal and a curtain. He drew the curtain aside, revealing a large mineral barrel abandoned at some point by miners and now used as their makeshift tub. Ryziel went over to the empty barrel and brought up a hose from the tank beside it, filling the tub up with hot water. He knew she was behind him watching, but he made no move to look back at her as he waited for the base to fill. When it was through, he turned off the water and drew out the hose then stuck his hand in to make sure it wasn't too hot. When he was satisfied, he took up a bar of soap sitting on top of the tank and handed it to her without looking.

  "I will bring your clothes and set them just outside. When you’re done, we will discuss getting you back up to the surface." When she said nothing, he braved a glance at her. Their eyes met, and he thought she looked a little awestruck.

  "That's it, then?"

  Ryziel blinked. "What?"

  "You...you aren't going to punish me?"

  As juvenile as that sounded, Ryziel could see she was serious. She really thought he meant to harm her.

  And how could she not, you idiot? You threatened her at Shadowpoint.

  Ryziel turned his head to hide the grimace on his face. "No. I'm not going to punish you,
" he said quietly. He rubbed his jaw then looked back at her. "But you were a fool to come down, almost getting yourself killed."

  She frowned, her eyes dropping. "I didn't do it to challenge you or upset you, trust me." She glared back up at him, her eyes more fierce and bright than before. "My techband dropped all the way to the bottom, if you can believe it." She laughed a little. "And wouldn't have been an issue if it hadn't been for that stupid ruling Marzin decided to place on us. On the humans, I mean."

  Ryziel straightened, raising his head as he looked down at her. "What ruling?"

  Aly lifted the techband up. "He gave us new techbands and said if we lost them or broke them, we would be punished under Xolis law." She dropped her arm and shrugged. "I don't know what the punishment would have entailed, but I was afraid that I would be taken away from the others. So, when my techband fell...I decided to take the risk and go searching for it."

  Ryziel's eyes narrowed. Of course, the enforcers didn't want the human techbands destroyed. Otherwise, they couldn't trace them. Still, he was curious as to why.

  "So, yeah, I can't tell you how relieved I am you found it because—" Aly's eyes widened. "Oh, no." She looked at him as if she had yet again done something wrong. "They are tracing it. They said they were going to watch us. The enforcers might..."

  Ryziel shook his head. "It's taken care of."

  Aly's brows furrowed. "Taken...care of?"

  "I unlinked the tracker system. They won't find you here."

  "Oh." Aly brought up her techband, brushing her fingers over the screen as she looked over it curiously. "Damn, if I had known it could be turned off, I would have just done it myself!"

  "It's not as easy as just switching it on and off," Ryziel said. "It takes at least some knowledge of a techband's programming system. I learned to keep mine untraceable for some time."

  Aly glanced up at him, her mouth curving slightly at one side. "Ah. Don't suppose you could teach me that little trick, huh?"

  Ryziel turned his head to the side to look over at the ship. "No. Once I get you back to the surface, it will have to be turned back on."

  Because the more he thought about it, maybe it was a good thing the enforcers were watching the humans closely. As long as she didn't return to the bottom, it meant someone would be looking out for her when he couldn't, meaning he (hopefully) wouldn't have to worry about her getting hurt again. And distracting him from his work with the ship. Why should he care or worry about the reason she was being watched? At least someone was, meaning it didn't have to be him. And that was a good thing because he couldn't waste any more time.

  Still, something at the back of his mind was troubled by the enforcers’ sudden attention on the humans, namely of the one before him. But he had to put the feeling aside. He had other things to worry about.

  When Ryziel peered back down at Aly, he couldn't help catching the look of disappointment on her face, which she quickly hid when she saw him looking at her.

  "Of course," she said, smiling. "I understand." She went to turn for the tub then paused. "Thank you again, Ryziel, for saving my life."

  He met her eyes again. He didn't bother to ask how she knew his name. Nar was never good at keeping information to himself.

  "The water is getting cold," he said, unlatching from her gaze and turning fully away from her. "When you’re done, I will take you back." He stepped out of the washroom and pulled the curtain closed, leaving her.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Aly sat in the now lukewarm water, contemplating what she was going to do. When she first stepped into the tub, she had accepted Ryziel's need to take her back to the surface, understood fully that it was absolutely necessary, so the others would know she was okay. That she wasn't dead or lost in the caves and that she could continue on working as if nothing had happened.

  She accepted this fully and understood it needed to happen.

  But then she started thinking about the ship, which she could see the top of just over the edge of a metal sheet of wall. As she soaped herself up and rinsed her hair, she continued to glance over at it, and her mind kept on turning and turning.

  Because while she had been waiting for Ryziel to return to the lair, Aly had turned to studying everything around her, from the ship to the map on the console. She observed the large tanks sitting by the one wall, with a large machine attached to a laser head next to them, and the tools on a table nearby, and it didn't take long to put two and two together.

  They were fixing the ship. They were harvesting minerals and using the tanks and the laser machine to create the materials needed to rebuild the ship. They were trying to escape Lethe Maws.

  And as much as Aly knew it would be hard to convince them, she also knew she couldn't leave without trying to persuade Ryziel to let her and her crew on the ship.

  Unless the goblin was telling the truth and did have a memory pill, Aly wasn't going to forget what she saw, and if she left without saying a word, she knew she would regret it.

  This was their chance.

  So, once she made up her mind that she was going to say something, she then thought about how, exactly, she was going to convince them.

  The first thought that popped into her head was blackmail. She knew they had a ship and were trying to fix it, and if they didn't let her and her team on, she could go to the enforcers and tell them about it.

  But she quickly threw that idea out the window. One, because Ryziel could probably find a way to warp her memory if he liked. Two, if he couldn't, he could just tie her up and leave her in the underground until they were done. And three, he could have thought of these very same ideas (and he probably did), yet he still was adamant about taking her back to the surface. He either somehow trusted her (which was unlikely) or he had some other reason. Regardless, how could she blackmail the very person who had just saved her life? She wasn't heartless. Desperate maybe, but not heartless.

  So, here she was trying to think of other ideas. The water was turning cold, and she knew she was running out of time. As she rinsed one last time, Aly stepped out of the tub and padded over to the curtain where her slipsuit lay just outside, mended somewhat with sealing tape. She pulled it in through a slip in the curtain then quickly began to dress, putting her techband on last. Once secure to her wrist, she glanced down at it and frowned.

  If she couldn't convince Ryziel to let her on the ship, perhaps she could persuade him to at least teach her how to turn the tracking off. He seemed very adamant about not teaching her, but Aly thought maybe she could move him without begging.

  Once she had her belt in place, Aly stepped from the washroom and silently made her way around the ship. As she heard voices, she slowed, until she saw Ryziel and his companion beside the console with their backs turned, looking at the map.

  "I'm telling you, Ryz, it isn't a good idea," said the goblin, looking over the map from a high chair. "Unless you want every nasty beast in a ten-mile radius to hear."

  "We could set traps, here and here." Ryziel pointed to places on the screen Aly couldn't see. "And if I can acquire a few drillbots, we could set up a distraction point some distance away."

  "That will only work for so long. And some creatures are smart enough to go looking elsewhere and avoid traps."

  "Me and Xilya should be able to get at least a container full before anything too bad shows up."

  "And if something 'too bad' does show up?" the goblin said, looking up at his companion.

  "Me and Xilya can handle it."

  The goblin didn't reply to that. Instead, he said, "Where is Xilya, anyway? I thought she was supposed to be down here by now."

  "I had her wait when I noticed the enforcers lurking around."

  "Ah."

  "She will be down again soon enough, once..."

  "Once your little human is back where she belongs. Got it."

  Ryziel crossed his arms. "Xilya and I can start on this end of the cave system and work around. There is a blockade here and only two entrances. One
we can watch while the other can be trapped. There's no other way in unless something can fit into the smaller openings. But anything that size won't be looking for a fight."

  The goblin snorted. "Says you. You've never gotten into it with a pack of nighthorns." The goblin crossed his arms as well. "And speaking of fitting into small spaces, we still don't have any way into those tighter areas because, I'm sorry Ryz, placing explosives is just asking for trouble, We had a load of it when we blew our way into this very cavern, remember?"

  "We might not have a choice," said Ryziel. "Unless you can get one of your own to—"

  "And, again, I'm telling you it isn't going to happen!" The goblin threw up his arms. "I really don't see why you don't just go up above and recruit some lone miner. Any of them would probably do what you say, and you could threaten to keep their mouth shut through the whole process."

  "Because most of the miners are also too big to fit," Ryziel responded. "Even the smallest lygin would have to squeeze their way in. And likely, they will get stuck in the process..."

  It was then Aly realized she had slowly snuck her way behind them, listening to every word they said like it was some kind of beacon in the dark.

  It was so obvious what they needed. If she believed in any higher power, she would almost take it for a sign.

  "I could do it," she blurted aloud.

  The goblin jumped and turned toward her, scowling, while Ryziel dropped his hands to the console and slowly turned his head to fix her with a sharp gaze.

  "I could do it," Aly repeated.

  The goblin made a strange grunt. "Firstly, it's rude to eavesdrop, human. Secondly, hell no."

  Aly glanced at Ryziel then back at the goblin. "Why not? I've had to fit through small spaces before when working above. I might be able to help—"

  "Because you’re a walking liability and probably the least durable species on Xolis by far," the goblin stated. "Your skin looks more breakable than the pillows my mother made for den children before they were old enough to walk. One bad fall or cut on a rock and you will probably be bleeding all over the place. Trust me, I saw enough when Ryziel brought you. And I am not helping to patch you up again."