Among Galactic Ruins (6 page)

But Dathan was. And judging from that fading
black eye, he bore the brunt of Brocken’s bitterness himself.
Lexa’s heart ached for him. She knew what it was like to want your
father to be proud of you. For a long time she’d done everything
she could to get her father to see her, to recognize her
achievements.

She knew her father loved her in his own
way, and he’d never abused her like Brocken did his son, but she’d
realized very early on that if she didn’t do things exactly her
father’s way, she couldn’t make him happy. At least her brothers
were proud of her career.

Dathan shook himself. “Let’s get this hunt
on the road. You going to tell me where we’re headed? What’s the
first clue on this map of yours?”

“First off, we want to know why Lexa got
attacked in the inn last night,” Damon demanded.

“What?” The young man’s eyes widened and
swung to Lexa. “Are you okay?”

“Yes. There were four of them, about four
feet high. I didn’t get a good look at them because they wore
hooded robes, but they had furred hands.”

Dathan’s face turned grim. “They’re Primas,
an ape-like species, fast as hell and very good thieves.”

“They were after the map.”

He frowned. “You think I sold you out?”

There was a brief, uncomfortable silence.
“We considered it. But after meeting your father…”

Dathan rubbed the back of his neck. “I
wouldn’t put it past Dad to sell the information in a heartbeat, or
at the very least be loose-lipped in the Desert Dragon.” The young
man’s shoulders slumped. “Wouldn’t be the first time.”

“Well, others might try to come after the
map,” Damon said. “We protect it and Lexa, whatever it takes.”

Dathan nodded. “I’m pretty handy in a
fight.” A small smile. “I suck at cooking though, so don’t expect
gourmet food on this treasure hunt.”

Lexa was glad to see the sadness fading from
Dathan’s face. “Well, I didn’t hire you for your cooking.”

A megawatt grin this time. “So, where
exactly are we headed? Sea of Dunes is a big place. Time for you to
share a bit more about your mysterious map, Dr. Carter.”

She nodded. “The map was etched onto a vase
from the Temple of the Divine Goddess.”

“No shit.” Dathan’s eyes narrowed. “The
Orphic priestesses were popular around here centuries back. And
they worshipped a lot of Terran artifacts.” He patted the ballo
beast beside him. “But most people think the Temple of the Divine
Goddess is just a myth. There’s never been any sign of it.”

“The vase had a series of clues to locations
on Zerzura leading to the temple…and a fabulous treasure.”

The young treasure hunter’s eyes lit up.
“Gonna tell me what it is?”

She hesitated. But she was trusting him with
their lives, and as he was risking his own as well, he deserved to
know. “A Fabergé egg.”

Dathan went incredibly still. “There have
been rumors of a Fabergé egg around here for years. No one’s ever
found one.”

“Then we’ll be the first.”

“Worth a real lot of e-creds.”

“Which doesn’t matter a bit. Its true value
to history is immensurable.”

Dathan got a resigned look on his face.
“God, you astro-archeologists are all the same. Okay, so the egg is
off-limits. But I get the right to anything else we might
find.”

Lexa hated giving anything away, but she
knew she couldn’t save everything and he was a part of this hunt.
“One artifact. The rest will be secured for my patron, and the
Galactic Institute of Historical Preservation will also want their
share.”

Dathan crossed his arms. “Ten.”

“No!”

“Five.”

“Two,” she offered begrudgingly. Beside her,
she saw Damon hiding a smile.

“Three,” the treasure hunter said.

She sighed. “Fine. Three.”

He slapped her on the back. “Don’t worry,
Dr. Carter. It’s unlikely we’ll even find the place, let alone any
artifacts.”

“We’ll find it,” she said firmly.

He shook his head. “Your optimism is…a bit
sickening.”

“You’re too young to be so cynical.”

He sighed. “I wish.”

There were a thousand broken hopes and
dreams in that sigh. “The first clue says we have to cross the Sea
of Dunes under the Manifestor’s guiding light.”

Dathan rolled his eyes. “That’s it?”

“There are more clues, but that’s the first
one we have to follow.”

He scrubbed his hand over his face. “Okay,
well, the Manifestor is a well-known constellation, also called
Phanes. We follow it, it takes us west.”

She smiled. “Great.”

Muttering something nasty about optimists,
Dathan said, “Let me help you mount the ballo.”

Damon sidestepped and blocked him. “I’ll
help her, kid.”

“Roger that, old man.”

Damon muttered to himself and gripped Lexa’s
waist. His touch burned through her khaki shirt. She took a deep
breath and, as he lifted her, swung her leg over the massive beast.
Damon had made it very clear last night that he had no trouble
resisting her. She was chalking the experience up to an overload of
adrenaline from the attack.

Today, it was business as usual. Two
colleagues who didn’t like each other much doing a job.

He patted her leg. “All set?”

God, his touch was still burning, making her
nerve endings tingle. “All set.”

“I have something for you.” He held out a
brand-new Sync.

She took it. It was an even better model
than her old one. “I’m not going to ask where you got this.”

He just smiled.

“Thank you.”

He inclined his head and headed over to his
ballo. She watched him and Dathan mount their animals. The treasure
hunter glanced at the sky, then at the Sync he’d pulled off his
belt and tapped the screen.

“Okay, we’ll start by following the Ruins
Route. It’s a well-known caravan route through the Sea.” A serious
look came over his features, making him look older than his
eighteen years. “Now, the Sea is full of dangers, so don’t go off
the path. The desert is filled with sand traps that can swallow an
entire herd of ballo beasts. Not to mention the wolves.”

“Wolves?” Lexa asked.

“Yes. Desert wolves. Don’t worry, they don’t
attack during the day, and for the nights, I have a deterrent
system.” He patted the packs hanging from his beast. Then he nudged
the ballo forward. “Okay, let’s get moving.”

With the bright-blue sky stretching overhead
and the suns warm on her back, Lexa soon adjusted to the shambling
rhythm of the ballo she was riding. It wasn’t that different from
the horseback riding she’d done as a girl. Dathan told her the
ballo beasts were herbivores and ate any and all vegetation they
could find…with a special fondness for the sweet date fruits that
grew on the trees at the planet’s oases.

Damon cursed under his breath every so
often, and while he looked comfortable enough on the ballo, he
didn’t appear to enjoy riding. She smiled. It was kind of nice to
see him not be perfect at something. Made him seem more human.

She watched the town shrink behind them, and
the dunes grow from small mounds to giant, incredible mountains of
sand. Excitement was a low-level hum in her blood. Finally, she was
on an honest-to-God treasure hunt. She loved working in the museum,
loved handling, restoring and studying priceless artifacts, but…an
adventure like this was something she’d hoped to do for a long
time.

Hours later, they traveled through a valley
between two enormous dunes. Lexa stared around in wonder. Up at the
windswept peaks of the dunes, and down at the trail beneath them.
It was a paler color than the rest of the sand, beaten down by the
hooves of who knew how many animals over the centuries. She
imagined vast caravans of ballo beasts moving through here, people
heading off on adventures, colonists off to new lives.

Ahead, something nestled into the side of
one dune caught her eye. She sat up straighter on her ballo.
Ruins!

“The Temple of St. Theresa,” Dathan told
her. He moved easily on his ballo and looked like he’d been riding
for years. “Said to have been built by the very first Terrans to
ever land on Zerzura. Some say she founded the cult of the Orphic
priestesses and other legends say she was the one who brought the
Fabergé egg here.”

“Fascinating,” Lexa breathed. She couldn’t
tear her gaze off the remains of the graceful columns spearing
upward. What must it have looked like in its heyday?

She moved her head and saw Damon watching
her.

“You’re eyeing those ruins like other women
eye priceless gems,” he said.

“I like gems, too.”

He snorted. “Yeah, if they came from some
ancient empress’ crown, or from some priceless Terran
necklace.”

She smiled. “Well, that would just be a
bonus. All girls love as least a little sparkle, Mr. Malik.”

Lexa knew she would have been showered in
gems if she’d entered the loveless, stuffy marriage her parents had
wanted for her. She stared at the ruins, her blood pumping from
being on this adventure. This was much, much better than all the
jewels in the galaxy.

She thought of the men her father had always
forced her to socialize with. Smart, for sure, but mostly pretty
boys. They wore the latest suits, got manicures every week and
spent more time on their hair than Lexa did. Without her permission
her gaze strayed to Damon.

No pretty boy here. He was good-looking, but
he also had that fascinating edge that drew a woman in. He was
dangerous, of that she had no doubt, but he was also a protector.
She’d known that when he’d saved her last night, and again this
morning, when she’d found him sitting outside her door.

She tried to dredge up the annoyance that
had sparked between them the first day they’d met in Marius’
office. For some reason, it proved elusive.

At that moment, he turned his head and their
gazes collided.

It was like being hit by an electric Tase
weapon.

She looked away and refocused on the dunes
around them. A flash of movement caught her gaze, and she stared up
at the dune peak. She was certain she’d seen multiple shadows up
there, moving around.

She blinked and saw…nothing but sand. She
shrugged to herself. Maybe the desert was making her imagine
things.

“So, would you like to hear more about the
fascinating history of Zerzura?” Dathan said, interrupting her
musings.

She glanced again at the empty dune, then
turned her attention to the young man. “Of course.” That sounded
like a much better way to pass the time than desert mirages.

“The first Terrans arrived here thousands of
years ago, when their ship crash landed.” Dathan’s voice took on a
dramatic edge. “Even then, there were already some alien species
living here, and already many ancient ruins from species long
past.”

The kid had flair, that was for sure. Damon
directed his ballo over some rocky ground. He suspected this speech
must have been one the treasure hunter practiced for his
clients.

“I’ve seen lots of Zerzuran artifacts,” Lexa
said. “Some of the ancient cultures were so old, they have no
identification. We have no idea who they were.”

“That’s right. And after the destruction of
Earth, more Terrans came. They intermingled with the locals and
built a thriving culture. The climate was much better then, similar
to Earth in its prime.” Dathan rode with a steady hand, leading
them through the dune valley. “They built cities, farms and
temples. They gave the planet its current name. Zerzura was an old
myth on Earth. A lost city in the desert.”

“It must have been something to behold,”
Lexa said. “And I’ve researched the Terran myth of Zerzura a
little. There isn’t much information about it, but apparently it
was a lost white city in Earth’s largest desert. It was said to be
filled with treasures and fair-haired men.”

Damon smiled. The excitement in her voice
was infectious. He listened to her pepper the kid with questions
about the local legends, and Damon shook his head. He could listen
to her talk all day. Despite the smelly beast he was riding, he
felt…easy. For the first time in what felt like forever.

It didn’t change the fact she was
opinionated, and a magnet for trouble, and didn’t hesitate to
complain when she disliked something he did, but he was actually
starting to find all of that a bit endearing.

He watched her as she rode ahead of him,
looking extremely graceful atop the ugly animal. You would have
thought she was riding some prized thoroughbred horse. It gave him
thoughts of her riding him, rising and falling above him, her
beautiful breasts bouncing and her back arched.

Shit
. He shifted. That was all he
needed, an erection while riding this shaggy monster.

“The climate changed,” Dathan was saying,
“and it killed off the Terrans’ attempts at creating another
Earth.” The young man looked back over his shoulder. “Many people
here have Terran blood. Or so they claim.”

Damon scanned the magnificent dunes. Here
the sands were a multitude of colors—bands of cream, yellow,
orange, brown and red.

Lexa was talking, something about the temple
ruins, when her words drifted away.

He frowned. She was staring off at the top
of the dunes to the right. “Lexa?”

“I…think I saw something.”

He glanced in the same direction. Nothing
moved, except a small stream of sand whipped off the top of the
dune by the wind.

“I thought I saw something earlier, too.
Shadows.” She shrugged. “Figured I was imagining it.”

Damon stared at the dunes again. Still
nothing. But he felt that familiar tingle between his shoulder
blades. The one that had saved his life many, many times before. He
whipped out his high-powered binocs from his pack and scanned the
dunes.

“Anything?” she asked nervously.