Chapter
28 (Catching up)
Jekor opened his mouth to ask
another question, probably his millionth.
Whinnying screams echoed in the
distance.
His mouth snapped shut. I should stop bothering her. The memory is
clearly painful. He glanced at her from the corner of his eye. I should be comforting her, but something
deep down just want to write it all down. And how can I do that if I don’t know
the whole story? He bit into his lower-lip.
Bang! What was going on?
Jekor snapped his reins and set his
horse into a gallop. He glanced left then right. “That has to be —”
Bang! A second gunshot rang across
the open wastes.
Jekor pulled his horse to a stop and
pointed towards a large hill. “There.”
Ikiffar turned her horse and trotted
off towards the hill without saying a word. Her downcast eyes and tight grip on
the reins made her appear small. Was she scared? Or upset that he had asked so
many questions?
“I’m sorry,” he said.
Tears welled up in her beautiful
black eyes.
Pain spiked into his chest. “I didn’t
mean to pester you with so many questions.”
She shook her head. “I should be the
one apologizing.”
“Not at all.”
“For all that you did for me, I
repaid you with lies.”
“No. For all that you went through,
it was the least I could do for you.” Jekor placed a hand atop hers and smiled.
“Don’t cry. I’m here for you now.” That
sounded really corny.
She wiped her eyes, and her lips
turned up into a smile. “Thank you.”
Bang! A third gunshot? What were
Kkaj and his women fighting against?
Ikiffar glanced towards the sound. “Do
you really think he will reveal the other members of the Empty Bottle Cult?
Even if we torture him?”
Torture?
Icy fingers raced down his spine, and he shivered. “He will tell us. Though, I
think there are better ways to make those responsible pay for what they did.”
“No.” She gritted her teeth. “Their
lives are the only payment I seek.”
Jekor found himself nodding, unable
to argue with what was owed to her. “Let’s hurry up that hill and set up camp.
We should be able to use your spyglass to see what’s going on.”
“Good idea.”
They held hands and rode in silence
to the top of the hill. After tying the horses to a stump of a tree-like thing,
the started a small fire. Using rocks, the create a wall to prevent the
firelight from giving their position away. A cold wind rips across the top of
the hill.
Ikiffar squealed.
A grin crossed Jekor’s face. “Still
not used to the waste’s freezing cold nights?”
She bit into her lower-lip. “How
could I be?”
“Then come sit by the fire.”
“One moment.” She pulled out her spyglass and extended it. “I have to
make sure my target is down there.”
Target,
huh? Jekor grabbed his vodka flask and took a shot. As his master’s letter
indicated, he folded the earth energy in on itself and crafted grains. He
repeated the process until he had two sacks of grain to feed the horses.
Ikiffar glared at the fire below,
and a rumbling growl climbed up her throat.
Jekor strolled to her side and
patted her on the back. “Calm down.”
“How can I calm down with that
bastard so close?”
“By taking a deep breath.”
Her jaw relaxed. She inhaled through
her nose and exhaled from her mouth several times before the tension in her
muscles vanished. A sigh deflated her lungs then she smiled. “Thank you.”
“You seem to be saying that a lot
recently.” He leaned over and kissed her on the forehead.
“I could say it in a different way.”
Jekor blinked.
Her smile turned into a lopsided
smirk.
He opened his mouth to question her.
He was clearly no relationship expert.
Ikiffar wrapped her hands around his
neck and pulled him into a kiss, thrusting her tongue into his gaping mouth.
His body melted in her embrace. The
world around them vanished, and he found himself moaning. When she pulled away,
his chest heaved for air, and his heart raced.
She glanced towards Kkaj’s fire. “Maybe
I should just give up.”
“No.” Jekor placed his hands atop
hers. “Though, I do think you should change how you’re going about it.”
“Change? I think you’re right.”
“If we could get enough Lucidity … .”
“Then, even if Kkaj doesn’t talk, we
will be able to use its power to discover the true culprits behind the
desolation.”
Not
exactly what I had in mind. “Something like that.”
Her stomach grumbled, and she looked
towards the fire.
Jekor grinned. “I’ll heat up some
food.”
“Thank —” She burst into laughter.
He made his way to the fire and set
a pair of spits over it. He skewered dried meat and onions then placed them on
the spits.
Ikiffar once again studied Kkaj’s
camp. She nodded. “There it is. I guess it’s time to make a change.” Her left
arm twitched, and the spyglass turned to the north, deeper into the wastes. She
gasped. “Impossible.”
“What is it?” Jekor turned the
skewers. Should he go have a look?
“A-a-a nightmare. A m-m-massive
nightmare.”
“What could —”
“Something with black scales and a
massive jaw.” She scrambled to her feet and grabbed her long-barreled rifle. “I won’t let that monster have him.”
Monster?
Black scales? Massive — “A crocobear!” Jekor drank tequila and snuffed out
their fire. Shit! Has it already caught
our scent? “We need to —”
Ikiffar gulped down some whiskey
then, holding the spyglass above the sight, took aim. Was she going to wait for
the crocobear to get closer to Kkaj’s camp before taking a shot?
Jekor stepped forward.
Ba-bang! She pulled the trigger and
used the metal energy to shove the bullet. The echoing crack filled the night,
and she leaped into her saddle. “Rotten meat! I missed!” She waved at Jekor. “Let’s
go!”
Jekor stumbled to his horse, unable
to bind his thoughts together.
Next: Chapter 29
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