Emma's Heart (Brides of Theron 3) (32 page)

“You know man,
you have left me speechless. I can’t wait to see what Theron looks like post-war, but for now, I’m tired. Would you mind very much if I closed my eyes for a bit?” Zirlo didn’t wait for a reply before he closed his eyes and fell into a deep sleep shortly after.

Finally some peace and quiet, Lars thought to himself. The old man was driving him crazy. The only good thing about the conversation was that he didn’t have to lie about most of it. Everything had occurred just as he had explained it
, of course, with the exception of his capture.

But for now, he had the perfect opportunity to figure out a new plan and get rid of his passenger. He would
have to get into the computer system and see what his options were. There had to be something that he could do, without causing Zirlo to suspect he wasn’t on the level. The former commander may be older and weaker after being in a prison for nearly ten years, but he wasn’t stupid.

****

Emma was in a heap of trouble now. Not only was she lost in a forest that she knew nothing about, she also had to deal with the injury to her leg that was going to make it impossible for her to a climb back up the steep hill that she had just come crashing down from. She wasn’t sure what she should really do at the moment. Her hasty decision to take a walk had turned into a nightmare, just like her jaunt in the air circulation vents.  She was all turned around because of some damn freakish looking pig that wanted to make a meal out of her.

The light from the two moons was still shining down
through the trees enough for her to still see by, but she knew it had to be really late.  The span of a day and night were much longer on Theron when compared to earth. She wondered if Brylon even knew that she was missing yet. She doubted he knew, because when he left, he had said that if she needed him he would up on the ship. It was possible he wouldn’t even come back home until sometime tomorrow, leaving her out in the forest for God only knew how long.

She was so tired from running through the forest
to escape the pig, and her long day of walking around in the market. She wanted so much right now to be curled up in the big bed that she shared with Brylon, even if she was still furious with him. She needed to get up, and at least find some kind of shelter away from the eyes of potential lurking predators that might be around. Her energy level was bottoming out, so it was now or never to find shelter.

Grabbing onto the branches of the shrub, she pulled herself up and tested
a small amount of her weight on her injured leg. It was starting to throb, but it wasn’t anything that she would allow to stop her. She took a step forward with the full weight of her body resting on her foot, and felt the stab of pain shoot up her leg. “Oh crap!” She sucked in her breath as she waited for the pain to subside. “Great, this is really freaking great,” she said to herself. She scanned the area for anything she might be able to use as a crutch or walking stick. Not finding anything within reach, she sank back down in front of the shrub that had broken her fall. She could at least get underneath the shrub for the night and use its branches as some form of cover from the animals that might be in the area.

Rolling back onto her stomach, she peered under the low hanging branches and hoped that
she wouldn’t be invading a critters home. She stretched out her arm as far as she could and stirred up the ground that was under the shrub, hoping that anything in there might get the point and leave her future camp site, no questions asked.

She listened intently for any s
igns of movement around her. When she was satisfied that there wasn’t anything sharing the shrub with her, she shimmied her body underneath the branches of the bush, and then flipped over onto her back. There was nothing she could do right now, but lay there and hope that Brylon was out looking for her, rest, and think.

“You should have listened
to him this one time, stupid,” she spoke to herself. “You should have known better than to take off in a place that you don’t know. You either get caught or something bad happens every time. You really are a fool, Emma.” She could feel the tears that were beginning to burn her eyes and threatening to spill over. “Why does it seem to be your goal to keep pissing people off? Aren’t you ever going to learn that you aren’t good enough for anyone? Nobody will ever want you.” The tears spilled over the edges of her eyes and dropped to the already damp underbrush. “Stop crying Emma, this is nothing to cry over. You have dealt with this situation your entire life, so why would you think that things could change now?” She squeezed her eyes tightly together to stop the flow of tears. She took a couple of deep breaths to calm herself enough to be able to relax and maybe get a little bit of sleep.

Right before she fell asleep she mumbl
ed, “You know he wants you, so there is no need for this self-pity.” She tucked her arm under her head and fell sound asleep. She didn’t even hear the rumbles of thunder that sounded off in the distance.

****

Brylon and his search party maneuvered their way through the forest following the barely visible footprints that Emma had left trailing behind her. She obviously had no idea where she was going, because her trail meandered drastically the entire time. A few times they had lost her trail entirely when it would cross through a shallow part of the stream.

“Over here Brylon,” Ceran called from b
eside and tree. “I think she picked up a follower over here.” He pointed to the hoof prints in the mud then looked up.

The color had drained from Brylon’s face when it registered what the hoof prints in the mud were. Of all the animals out here in the forest it was one of the rarest to come across, the
olaffub. It was basically a very enormous, aggressive pig. The Therons had thought they had gone extinct a few years ago, but a small group of them had been spotted much deeper and higher up in the mountainous part of the forest, far enough away to not really be a bother to anyone, but now that seems to have changed. If Emma came across one of these animals she was in more danger than what Brylon had originally thought. The olaffub was an animal that could chase its prey relentlessly. Its stamina was incredible and it could run for hours at a time. There would be no way that Emma would have been able to out run one. Her only hope would be to find something to climb up on and wait for someone to find her.

“The prints go off in that direction,” Ceran pointed to the part of the forest that had thinned out.  “We need to hurry if you have any hopes of finding her alive. Emma will not out last an olaffub.” Ceran stood up then took up the led.

Brylon stood motionless for a moment and offered up a quick prayer to the gods of the forest, “Please, if you can hear me, please keep her safe.” He then rushed off in pursuit of the other warriors who were as determined as he was to find his missing mate.

The fighter heading for Theron was making good time. While Zirlo had slept, Lars had scanned and searched the computer systems for a possible route that would lead them away from Theron. If he couldn’t find a way to get rid of the former commander then he would just have to kill him, something that he really didn’t want to do. He did have some respect for the old man, because at one point in his career the commander had saved his father’s life. Not to mention, he had managed to survive ten years of hard labor in a Drylon prison camp. He thought if he could just get the man to a nearby space station, he could dock and release Zirlo, then be on his way.

A loud beeping noise started to shriek through the
main cabin of the fighter, waking Zirlo in an instant. A computerized voice then came over the speaker, “Your destination is now within range. The planet of Theron is fifty thousand miles away.” The voice went silent after its announcement throughout the speakers of the fighter.

“Almost home my friend,” Zirlo said as he reached out and slapped Lars on the shoulder. “It will feel so good to be back on Theron aft
er so long an absence.” Zirlo was smiling as spoke to Lars.

Lars was still searching
the perimeter for a way out, and as Zirlo spoke to him, his eyes came across the one thing that he never expected to find out here, a worm hole had formed near their planet recently. This was perfect. He could drop Zirlo at the Theron space station then immediately set his heading for the worm hole. He couldn’t have asked for a better route.

“Thirty minutes until approach,” t
he computer announced.

The planet
grew in size as the fighter approached. It had been so long since Zirlo had last seen his home that he couldn’t seem to take his eyes from it.

“Fifteen minutes until approach.”

Without warning a different voice came over the speaker, “Unidentified fighter, please identify yourself.”

Fuck
, Lars hadn’t expected this problem. He would not be able to truthfully identify himself without causing alarm and bringing attention to himself.

“I repeat. Identify yourself fighter or you will be shot down.”

Zirlo started to raise his voice, “Why aren’t you responding to them? Just tell them who we are.”

“This is your last warni
ng fighter. Identify yourself and make your intentions known.” The voice coming over the speaker spoke slowly now, as each word was annunciated clearly, one at a time, in order to prevent any kind of miss communication.

“
Lars! Answer the request! What’s the problem, Lars?

Lars ignored the voice and Zirlo
, as he hastily jerked the steering shaft to the left, away from the current heading that the fighter was currently on. Theron slowly moved out their line of sight and off to the right as the fighter flew by the space station Lars had intended to dock at.

“Lars…”

“Shut up old man!” Lars spit back at Zirlo with venom in his voice.

Lars could see the entrance
of the worm hole as it loomed to the side of Theron. Its entrance was small, but still large enough for a fighter to go through. Using a new worm hole was not the smartest thing to do since they were known to be unstable until they grew to their full size. But Lars had no choice in the matter. It was either take the chance and use the worm hole or be thrown back into a prison, and there was no way he was going back to prison.

He was trying to steer
the fighter further away from the planet when out the corner of his eye he got a quick glimpse of the fist that was coming towards his head. It was too late to dodge the punch all together so he tried to duck his head as far as he could so that it wouldn’t hurt him as bad. His head snapped to the side with the force of the punch which actually took him by surprise since it came from such a weak looking man.

Zirlo swung his clenched fist as hard as he could at Lars. Unfortunately, the younger warrior was able to see it coming and deflect some of the force he had packed into it. The next best thing he thought to do was throw his entire body on top of Lars. This way he might be able to get in the way of Lars’ hands and maneuver the ship back into the direction of Theron. He might even be able to have a chance of being able to notify the space station of who he was. But, Lars was younger and hadn’t been starved in the prison camp for ten long years, so he still retained just about all of his strength and was able to fight the attack. Zirlo had put Lars at a disadvantage though. By trying to put his body on top of Lars while he was still sitting in the pilot’s seat, meant that Zirlo had to put his body mainly on him and in front of the control panel and steering shaft.

“Get off m
e!” Lars screamed as Zirlo fought for control of the steering shaft.

“Over my dead
body, you liar,” Zirlo yelled back, as he fought with every ounce of strength he had left in his withered body. His fingertips grazed the loose shaft as the struggle continued. At one point he was able to grasp the shaft and jerk it to the side in order to bring the ship back in line with the planet.

“G
et off of me old man, or I swear I will kill you!”

“Boy, I may be old and weak
, but I am still a Theron Warrior and I will NOT go down without a fight. I have waited far too long to return home, and I will not sit idly by as my planet flashes before my eyes.” He rammed is head backwards in an attempt to head-butt Lars’ face.

“
Owww, you son of a bitch… Get the FUCK OFF ME!!” Zirlo’s head went back again and he could hear the bone of Lars’ nose crack beneath the force of his skull.

Lars seemed to be s
tunned by the hit to his nose. In the time that Lars was trying to regain his composure, Zirlo had steered the craft closer to Theron.

“Shit you old fool! Look wh
at you have done!” Lars shouted as Zirlo continued to fight. “You started the automatic landing cycle!” The fighter gave a violet shudder as it entered the atmosphere of Theron, halfway knocking Zirlo off Lars. “I don’t have control of the ship now.”

Zirlo took the chance and looked out the front wi
ndow. Lars was absolutely right, they were in serious trouble now.