War of the Fathers by Dan Decker

  Chapter 24

  Jorad held his blaster ready but the reassurance wasn’t enough, he doubted it ever would be, especially with Soret in danger. Instead of trying to push away the fear, he let it remain and ignored it. Soret was beside him, and he could almost hear her shivering. He breathed and focused on what was important, protecting Soret and finding the others again. He hoped that it didn’t come down to using his blaster, the weapon was loud enough that anything within a mile would hear, the situation would have to become desperate before he took that risk.

  They had left their camp earlier that morning after escaping from Zecarani. Jorad was still a little bit shaken by the experience. He had come within a hairsbreadth of dying when an arrow had whistled by, just missing his neck. The incident had been bothering him all day. Not only had Tere managed to ruin their chance to get the tablet, he'd almost gotten Jorad killed in the process.

  At one point, while they were still fleeing, Karn had lost his temper with Tere. Surprisingly, it was Adar who talked Karn down. Jorad had been hoping that Karn would just solve the problem for them. For his part, Adar hadn't spoken a word to Tere since the incident. It was obvious that Tere had gotten himself mixed up in something far more involved than what he claimed. It was also obvious that any attempt to get more information from Tere would have to involve physical force.

  Instead of focusing on Tere or trying to find another way to get at the tablet, Adar has chosen to focus on getting them to the Arches. They'd left the road several hours earlier and had been following a trail that only existed in Adar's mind. After traveling all afternoon, they’d stopped to make camp at a comfortable spot. At Adar’s insistence, everybody had split into patrols before resting. Jorad had partnered up with Soret. He hoped it would be a good opportunity for some time alone with her but not long into their patrol, they had spotted a ship.

  Dusk was setting in and he was feeling exposed. The surrounding countryside wasn't as thick as most of the forests they'd been traveling through recently. They were standing at the base of a thick oak tree, using the canopy of leaves overhead as cover to keep the Hunwei ships from finding them. They'd already hid from two. If anything were on the ground though, the tree wouldn't help them much because the branches were too high to hide them. Jorad scanned the area, trying to determine if it was safe to move yet. He wanted to get back to the others before it was dark.

  Jorad gritted his teeth and prepared for a long night, they couldn't stop to rest now. Adar would want to push forward to the Arches.

  Soret stifled a cry as another ship flew by, the roar of its passing surprising both of them. Another ship followed. The others would have heard the ships and should now be on their way back to camp as well.

  Jorad wished that they were in Rarbon where he could stop worrying about Soret's safety and be working on getting into the Portal. Just a few more days—if Adar was to be believed—and he could make his claim and get this whole thing started. The perpetual knot in his stomach was starting to consume him. He just wanted to get the claim over with.

  After waiting a few more minutes, they set out. They hadn't made it very far before Soret slipped, saved only from falling by grabbing the trunk of a sapling birch tree that bent under her weight.

  Jorad’s heart rate quickened as he turned to her. She shrugged her shoulders apologetically; he wished she’d be more careful. When he noticed the hurt look on her face, he reminded himself that she didn’t have the benefit of his training and was scared to the point of paralysis, it was a miracle she’d been able to pull herself together as much as she had. He patted her shoulder but she shrugged his hand away.

  After that, Jorad moved slowly and took extra time to make sure that Soret was doing all right. She was already tired and it was going to be a long night.

  When they returned to the clearing where they’d intended to make camp, they found it empty. A stream ran by the edge of the clearing and there were several large willow trees. Jorad led Soret behind a large rock that was covered with moss. The overhanging branches of a willow tree provided excellent cover.

  “I’m sorry,” Jorad whispered once they were hidden.

  “It’s not like I want to make it easy for them to catch us.” Soret spoke louder than he would have preferred.

  “I know you don’t. You’re doing well.” He lowered his whisper while he spoke hoping she’d take the hint. She did.

  “We’re not going to rest tonight, are we?” Her voice was barely audible.

  “No.”

  Soret sighed and he wished that there was something he could think to do for her, but try as he might he couldn’t come up with anything that would help. Sometimes you just had to push through, regardless of how you felt. They’d been doing a lot of that recently but there was an end in sight. He didn't mention that to her though. Adar's announcement earlier of their change in plans had been received with quite a bit of doubt. Even Karn had looked uncertain about Adar's claim he could get them to Rarbon quickly.

  There was a rustle in front of them and Jorad brought up his blaster.

  “Get that thing out of my face!” Wes appeared from the undergrowth. “If you two were any louder, the Hunwei would have killed you by now.” Soret glared at Wes and then back at Jorad.

  So much for trying to make amends, Jorad thought as he leaned against the rock, scraping his burn and stifling a yelp the best he could. What a fool he’d look if he couldn’t follow his own admonition.

  “If you guys don’t shut up,” Tere whispered coming around from the other side of the boulder with Tarner close behind, “I’ll kill you myself. A group of forty Hunwei is less than five hundred feet away.” That shut them up while they waited for the others.

  Several more ships passed overhead, the sound of their passing startled a flock of birds from a nearby tree. They weren’t close enough for Jorad to tell if they were pigeons or crows.

  When Adar returned several minutes later, with Xarda and Karn in tow, a low flying ship nearly brushed the top of the willow tree. It was a tall tree, but it was disconcerting to see how close the ship had come. For Jorad, he still marveled at how easily they controlled the sky. He wished for the technology of their ancestors that was supposed to have been able to do the same thing.

  “We’ll be lucky to see another sunrise,” Adar said when it had gone. “I won’t be coming back for stragglers. Let’s move.”