Ki Book One (17 page)

“
I’m not going to shoot myself,” she
reached her arms out.

Wary, he made a quick decision. Hovering
over her, he handed the gun down. He did not drop his guard once.
If she twisted that muzzle towards her head, he would act.

She did not. She fumbled with the butt,
twisting it around, cheeks flushed with concentration. Finally her
fingers depressed over a hidden button near the rear of the gun.
Immediately and almost silently a scope popped out, locking into
place.

It was unlike anything he’d ever seen. It
was not a simple red cross-hairs over a magnifying lens. It was
electronic. Blue and white lights zipped around on a seamless glass
screen.

It reminded him of the scanner, albeit a
small version.

Grabbing the gun as she handed it back to
him, he shunted it into his shoulder and looked down the scope.

Somehow it showed the wall before him and
beyond, penetrating several meters into the rock.

Buoyed, soul soaring, he turned it up to the
roof. He could see the cavern above. It was huge. He could also
detect more metal tracks.

That was not all the gun allowed him to see
though. It showed how dense and interconnected the sections of rock
were.

He came up with a quick and hopefully not
suicidal plan. “I’m going to try to shoot us a way up there. If I
get it right, I’ll be able to bring down just enough rocks for us
to climb up on.”

“
If you’re wrong?”

He answered with a cautious cough rather
than words. Turning to her, he looped the gun back over his
shoulder and held out his hands.

For a second she watched them warily, lips
thin with concern.

He kept them there, despite the fact his
shoulder ached.

Finally she grabbed them.

He pulled her up, and instantly she
gasped, the sound loud in his ears. He wrapped an arm around her
and supported her before she could fall back down. He helped her
forward, propping her against a stone more than thirty meters away.
He wanted to be cautious here.

When he was satisfied she was far enough
away, he walked back to the hole in the ceiling, toting the gun,
settling it hard against his shoulder as he stared through the
scope.

Quickly growing accustomed to those blue
outlines, he assessed the whole ceiling with the scope’s scanner.
If he’d known it had one of those last night, it would have taken
the guess work out of shooting that floating soldier at the
cabin.

It was yet more evidence that Jackson really
had no idea what he was up against. He was going about this whole
thing wrong. He was jumping to conclusions instead of searching out
more facts. He needed to spend less time looking for a reason to
condemn Ki, and more time finding out what was going on here.

Steeling himself, stiffening his shoulder
and ignoring the pain, he backed off. Saying a short, quick prayer,
he fired.

Holding his finger on the trigger, a beam of
hot blue light slammed into the ceiling. Jumping back before the
ceiling could cave in, he ducked behind a stone to survey the
damage.

Huge chunks of rock fell down from the
ceiling, slamming into the ground and making the whole room
shake.

After several anxious seconds, he realized
the whole roof was not going to fall on his head. Letting out a
trapped breath, he stumbled to his feet.

Somehow he’d done it. He’d shot the roof in
just the right place. Now there was a path of boulders and rocks
leading up to the cavern above.

He checked the mound experimentally,
climbing up it and darting his head into the room above before he
went to get Ki.

One problem had just been solved, but a far
greater one was looming. If he didn’t get Ki some proper medical
help soon, she would likely die.

Chapter Ten

He’d carried her up the mound. Locked in his
arms, they’d slipped with every step, but somehow he’d done it.

He’d also been right about the cavern. It
was a shaft, with mining tracks dotted through it. More than that
though, there was a ramshackle hut of sorts at one end. When
Jackson had seen it, he’d placed her down and sprinted towards
it.

Resting on the thankfully flat rock
underneath her, she’d waited. Jackson had taken the gun with him,
and the further away he’d run, the more the shadows had loomed over
her. In the dark, she’d dared to pull her robe up and run her hands
over her legs. They were painfully hot.

Seconds ticked on into minutes, but she
couldn’t go over to find him; she could not walk. Any pressure on
her legs felt like standing on white-hot coals.

So she waited.

Eventually he returned, that swinging blue
light heading towards her through the massive cavern they were
in.

It was far colder up here. Unlike in the
caverns below, air moved through this shaft. It forced the bitter
cold to bite harder at her bones. At least it served to cool down
her legs though.

It also served one other purpose. It gave
her hope. If the air was moving, it had to be going somewhere.
Which meant this cavern could not be blocked off. There had to be a
way in and out.

“
Ki, you okay?” Jackson called out to her
before he reached her.

His voice was so obviously filled with
compassion that it made her want to choke.

How could this be the same man that had
turned on her in the cavern just below them?

He seemed so different.

Warming her frigid fingers against her
throbbing, hot legs, she tried to make sense of it.

Was she meant to trust him? Was it foolish
to hope he could change?

Before she closed in on herself, before she
yielded to her suspicions, a single thought stopped her.

This was not meant to be easy, and she
should stop pretending it should be.

They were two people from two warring races,
thrust together by nothing but circumstances. Trust would take time
to build, it would also take sacrifices. It would be all too easy
to conclude from his brutish behavior that he couldn’t be trusted.
She would have to ignore all the times he’d saved her though.

Forming a bond with Jackson would not be
like forming a friendship with an ordinary Tarkan. She would have
to start accepting the trauma her people had inflicted on him. She
would have to realize she couldn’t wipe it all away with a smile
and a tale of legendary soldiers.

He finally reached her, his breath heavy and
punctuated, echoing through the enormous cavern around them.

“
I’ve found a map. It shows the shafts.
I’ve also found some strong alcohol.”

“
Jackson, I’ve told you—”

“
I’m not going to make you drink it. It’s
for your feet. We need to treat them. There’s a table back in the
miners’ hut. There’s other tools and supplies too. Come on.” He
leaned down to help her up.

His cheeks were flushed from action, his
breath sharp and percussive from sprinting back to her. As she
accepted his hand, she felt how warm it was compared to hers.
Instead of yanking his fingers back, he laced them further into
hers, supporting her as he turned around, leaning down. “You’ll
have to get on my back; I won’t be able to carry you in my arms.
It’s too far away.”

Awkward, wanting to say no, he told her to
hurry up.

Pressing her lips together, she shifted
forward, falling against him.

He grabbed hold of her legs and heaved her
up. She yelped with surprise, locking her arms around his
throat.

“
Hey, I can’t breathe,” he pulled her arms
back.

“
S-sorry.”

He didn’t say anything more. Just held onto
her legs and pitched forward, jogging as fast as he could towards
the mining hut.

She could see the ramshackle building more
clearly as the light from the gun reached out to it.

Why they needed a hut underground, she
didn’t know, though she guessed it would be a handy place to lock
up supplies and keep the dust off any documents or supplies the
miners would have to bring down with them.

As Jackson ran towards it, footsteps heavy
and jolting through his body and into her tender legs, she
distracted herself from the pain by staring up at the ceiling
above. It had to be almost fifty meters away. This room really was
cavernous.

Soon Jackson reached the hut, kicking open
the door with his foot. The rifle swinging at his side, it sent
waves of light washing over the room, illuminating snatches of a
table, dusty documents, chests, and several broken oil lamps.

Jackson did not hesitate. He brought her to
the table and let her down, turning and ducking over to one of the
chests.

Her feet dangled over the edge as she
watched him.

He ripped open one of the chests, using the
butt of the gun to knock off an old rusted lock that was chained
around it.

Rooting around, he snatched up a pick.

She shivered as he brought it towards
her.

“
Ki, I’m not going to hurt you,” he looked
at her seriously.

“
I know that,” she whispered
back.

Nodding, he got down on his knees, clutching
one of her legs securely. He brought the pick down and used it to
try to cut through the fabric binding her feet.

“
Why don’t you just untie them?” she tried
to keep her leg as steady as she could. She could see how sharp
that pick was; its edges glinting in the light.

“
You’re feet have swollen too much. They
are pushing against the knot. It will be impossible to untie. Just
try to hold as still as you can.”

Gripping her hands onto the edge of the
table, she did as he instructed, looking away so she didn’t have to
watch.

Biting her lips as hard as she could, she
waited for him to finish. The pain was unbearable.

As he managed to unwrap one foot, she heard
the stone that had been her shoe fall to the ground.

Her leg immediately throbbed harder.

Digging her fingers
into the table, the nails bending against
the hard wood, she waited for him to untie the other.

He did it. Then he dropped the pick,
jumping to his feet as he grabbed a bottle of light-colored liquid
from on top of one of the many chests that dotted the room. Opening
the cap, he smelt it, coughing suddenly. Wiping a hand against the
back of his nose he nodded. “That should do it. Those miners
definitely knew how to drink.”

Pulling down one of his rumpled sleeves,
he made a cut in it with the pick and ripped off a large section.
Then he dosed it in alcohol
. “This is going to hurt like hell.” He shifted towards her
hesitantly.

She managed a nod.

“
Okay...” taking a deep, fortifying breath,
he brought the cloth up to one of her feet. Wincing, he started to
dab at it.

She screamed. She couldn’t help it. Blasting
hot pain ripped through her legs.

“
Just hold still,” he begged, locking her
leg under his arm as he continued to clean the foot. “God, I’m
sorry for dragging you through that field,” he added under his
breath.

She couldn’t reply. She could hardly
breathe. Crumpling her body in, squeezing her eyes shut, she waited
for it to be over.

When it was, she felt him rise beside her.
“It’s okay. It’s done....”

She winced open her eyes.

His expression was muddled and anxious.
“We need to find a way out of here quickly.”

She looked down at her legs. They were pink
and round. She couldn’t shift them up to look at the feet, despite
the fact she was usually flexible. They were too turgid and stiff
to move.

She understood what he meant.

“
How are we going to...?” She couldn’t
finish. There was nothing worth saying. They couldn’t get out of
here, not soon enough. She was no doctor, but she understood basic
biology and first aid. Her feet were infected. Combined with her
fatigue, other injuries, dehydration, and lack of food, her chances
were preciously slim.

It was a miracle she was still awake. If it
hadn’t been for her desperate fight with Jackson, she would
probably have slipped into unconsciousness long ago. She could feel
its promise dulling her senses. Her mind was foggy, her body tied
down by pain, her senses blunted.

It looked as if Jackson had been wrong after
all. Giving up down there had been the sane thing to do. She was
going to die anyway.

Shifting back, she struggled to bring her
legs up onto the table, then she moved to lie down.

Jackson snapped forward and caught her
shoulders before she could. “No, no, don’t give up.”

“
It’s over, Jackson. I can’t move anymore.
Just go. Leave me here. Save yourself,” her words became long and
slurred as the promise of sleep drew closer.

“
No,” he shook her gently. “Stay awake,
stay with me. We have to find a way out of here. You see that map
on the wall?” he turned her, shifting out of her way as he
did.

She blinked its way, but her bleary eyes
could hardly register anything.

“
Ki, it’s a map of the tunnels, it will
show us a way out of here.”

“
Then what? No Ashkan hospital is going to
treat me.”

She felt his grip falter as he held her.
Then it firmed
. “I’ll
find a way to treat you. Just don’t give up.”

It was no longer an option. She began to
black out.

The last thing she heard was Jackson calling
her name.

Then she slipped away, back into the arms of
a dreamless sleep.