Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 80439 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 402(@200wpm)___ 322(@250wpm)___ 268(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80439 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 402(@200wpm)___ 322(@250wpm)___ 268(@300wpm)
“Stay close,” Thor instructs me. “The last thing I need is you wandering off just as rescue arrives.”
“What if Drako runs?”
I immediately feel guilty, because I can tell that Thor wasn’t really thinking about that. His brow furrows as he considers that as an option.
“Don’t start with me, Golden Boy,” Drako drawls.
“If you run, we will hunt you.”
“Good luck with that. If I run, you will be eaten by something far better at hunting than you are. And this time I won’t save you from your cowardice.”
Drako hits that nerve in Thor without a moment’s hesitation. I know that incident with the troll in the mountains is a source of shame for him, and I know he went to the ship in part to make up for it. And he has. He’s gotten us rescued! But Drako’s barb hits deep and true.
Thor leaps on Drako, which is stupid, but they don’t care. Two big men fighting in a small cave is a recipe for disaster. It is all I can do to try to get out of the way as they tumble around like a pair of fighting lions. Golden hair flashes, then dark, tattooed flesh and then muscular clean lines.
He did not just bring back chocolate fudge and a radio from the crash. He brought a pair of handcuffs.
The pair of them wrangle around wrestling in a rough and tumble, fighting for dominance. Drako is probably fighting for his life, because if he gets put on our ship, they’re going to try to blame him for everything. Mostly because he did it, but still.
I know I am being disloyal to the crew, but I strongly feel as though he has made some amends since he gave the order to shoot at our ship. I don’t know that he intended for almost everyone on the ship to die, and I don’t… fuck, I know I am rationalizing something that can’t be rationalized.
By some act of amazing strength, and fighting prowess, Thor is the one who bests Drako. He snaps the cuffs on one wrist, then wrests the other arm behind Drako’s back and clicks them closed. He stands up, panting and sweating heavily, running his hand through his tangled blond mane as he looks down at his vanquished foe.
“You’re going to answer for your crimes,” he says.
“Am I,” Drako drawls, rolling over and sitting up, crossing his legs in an almost casual way. “We’ll see, Golden Boy.”
“Another word out of you, and I’m going to gag you,” Thor says. “I’m not interested in being baited until we are rescued. I might gag you anyway. You may as well get used to being captive.”
He walks outside. I stay where I am, crouched in the corner of the cave.
“You will be in chains too, soon enough,” Drako says.
He’s not wrong. I am not responsible for the deaths of an entire crew, but I was a stowaway on a ship, and that’s a crime. I am in trouble. Just not as much trouble as he is in. They’re going to kill him. They’re going to take him to the square in the middle of Weltheim and they’re going to execute him. It’s not going to be pretty.
There aren’t a lot of executions anymore. When you have chewing gum and electronic mail, public executions stop feeling contemporary. But I have a feeling they’re going to bring the old ways back for this. It’s going to be a brutal, bloody spectacle, and we all know it.
“I’m going to let you go,” I say. “I’m going to get the key, and I’m going to make sure you can run.”
“Don’t worry about me,” Drako says. “You’re sweet, but there’s no need to be concerned. I can take care of myself.”
He’s being stupid and male about this. He doesn’t want to acknowledge how vulnerable he is, so he’s concocting some kind of fantasy where he doesn’t need help escaping Vikar justice.
“Survivors. Prepare for extraction.”
The radio crackles an announcement that tells me it is over for Drako. I hate this. This can’t be how this ends. They’ll hang him, for sure. My eyes fill with tears as I desperately try to think of some way to save him.
“They’re here. Let’s go out and meet them,” Thor says.
He grabs Drako by the arm and escorts him out of our cave. I have been going through numerous arguments to ideally help Drako’s sentence be as minimal as it possibly can be.
We stand in the clearing between the cave and the forest, and we watch as, true to Thor’s words and the radio’s heralding, a dark dot that at first is nothing more than a speck in the sky quickly grows.
It comes down close enough to the planet that we can see the massive white underside of the vessel. It is the size of a small town. I’d forgotten how large spaceships are.