Page 35

“What is it?” Alliana’s voice rang with intrigue.

I knelt to the ground and picked up one of the remaining shards, flipping it around in my fingers. I glanced at Alliana over my shoulder and held it out for her to inspect from a distance. “This metal looks just like the type we found destroyed near the crash site.”

“Really?”

Footsteps shuffled behind us. I bolted to a standing position, making sure Alliana was covered.

A cluster of creatures wearing dark crimson cloaks approached us, huddling around us in a circle. I instinctively cupped my hand over my battle axe.

I could tell immediately these creatures weren’t Zunatorian. As soon as they reached up to remove the hooded shrouds from the top of their heads, I took a step backward in shock as I realized who they were.

“That’s them. That’s them.” Alliana pointed.

“Payu spagun”

“What?”

I felt Alliana’s burning, expectant gaze, but I didn’t take my eyes off the beings in front of me for a single second. They looked just as surprised as I felt to see us standing there. Their black, beady, oval eyes trailed from us, then panned down to the ground where the destroyed drone was.

“They’re pirates,” I murmured to Alliana.

The lead pirate approached me. He had elvish ears, olive green wrinkly, scaly skin. “Hand over the drone, Zunatorian.” He nudged his chin at the partial pieces I held in my hand.

I glance down at it and then blinked up at him, saying nothing. They had killed my uncle and crash their ship and all they could do was ask for a crappy drone.

“We are lost,” the lead pirate explained after I failed to offer a response. “Drone. And then we vacate the premises.”

“That’s not how this works.” I dropped the pieces of the drone and then frowned and looked up, almost daring any of them to come closer.

I stared at the pirates with rising fury, as I grabbed the top of my axe ready to unsheathe it at a moment’s notice. It was time to avenge my uncle, but I needed to get Alliana to safety first. I couldn’t lose her in the process of killing these savages.

I pressed my sack to her chest and gave her a nod in the direction of the colony. “Go. Keep running north-east until you reach the colony.”

Alliana’s face collapsed. She looked like she wanted to protest but I gave her a stern look and subtly shook my head, warning her not to test or question me right now.

“Gǔt,”I repeated.

She cast a reluctant glance between me and the pirates before turning swiftly and then briskly jogging away in the direction I commanded.