Leti. And his young. It was his young, he knew it had to be.
The females hauled him up. His feet obeyed this time and he ran. He ran for Leti. Because not seeing her again wasn’t an option.
Leti helped run Zandian crystals from the Crystal Bath to the exhausted pilots who had docked on the palatial pod for refueling.
Their plan had worked. The pilots heard them and were cycling in to refuel and recharge briefly before going back out.
“Did you see the battleships that departed from this pod?” she couldn’t stop herself from asking. “Paal and Cambry and Lily’s?”
The human pilot beside her whipped his head so fast she startled backward. “Cambry was on one of those ships?” His face turned pale. Now that she inspected his haggard face, she saw a resemblance. He must be Cambry’s brother.
“Wh-what is it?” she barely forced out a whisper.
A haunted look came into his eyes. “Those ships went down on the west side of the planet.”
Her breath whooshed out of her, leaving her empty lungs quivering for several interminable moments.
No. It couldn’t be. Paal couldn’t be dead. He wasn’t dead.
Cambry’s brother’s expression held the same level of terror mixed with denial and a dose of irrational hope.
“They’re not dead,” she declared stubbornly when she finally regained the ability to speak.
“They can’t be,” the pilot concurred.
Behind them, Lamira breathed, “It’s done.”
Every being on the dock stopped speaking to listen to her prediction.
A broad smile split her face. “Fluut is dead. Without his leadership, Zandia will soon be won.”
Leti joined the others in a great cheer. If Fluut was dead, that meant Paal had been successful. Which surely meant he was still alive, right?
The pilots who’d been resting surged to their feet. “Let’s get back out there and take our planet,” one of them said, running for his battleship.
“Oh! It’s nearly ready,” cried the servant refueling it.
Other warriors ran for their ships, waving off the servants hustling to finish. Within a few moments, they’d all departed and the energy on the deck was decidedly different.
A vibration buzzed through every being. The stale taste of fear and desperation faded, brightened by the cheerier notes of hope.
Winning Zandia was still possible.
All might not be lost.
Bringing the mine down around Fluut was one thing. Considering the way the entire mountain imploded, Paal was fairly confident of their success.
But now getting back to civilization posed a problem.
He, Cambry and Lily had hiked the remainder of the planet rotation, but without mapping equipment, he wasn’t certain he was leading them in the right direction. Basically, he’d kept his sights on the battleships in the sky and figured they must be over the capital. But he hadn’t seen one for a long stretch.
Which coul
d mean the battle was over.
But who had won?
“Look!” Lily cried, pointing toward the sky. “It’s the palatial pod!”