Emma's Heart (Brides of Theron 3) (33 page)

“I would rather die
in a fiery crash then let you run off from whatever it is you are running from.  I can see from your determination to flee, it is something pretty damn bad.” Zirlo sat back in his seat as the fighter continued to tremble and shudder as it flew the atmosphere.

“It’
s not as bad as what is will happen to us if this hunk of junk doesn’t hold together through the atmosphere.” Lars was desperately pushing buttons and flipping switching trying to get the automatic landing cycle off. This function was normally activated only when a ship was disabled in some way and could not be manually steered. Once activated, it was impossible to cancel.

“I hope you a
re happy now. If we survive the landing it will be a miracle.” Lars had stopped trying to deactivate the landing cycle and turned his attention to securing himself the best he could into his seat. “If you have any shred of hope for survival, I suggest you sit your ass down and strap yourself in!”

Zirlo immediately pulled the seat straps
over his chest and pulled on them as tightly as he could. The fighter was still flying at full speed and shaking violently. The fighter would have been able to handle reentry better if it was coming in at the right angle. Zirlo realized that if the fighter didn’t get through the rest of the atmosphere soon they could both kiss their ass goodbye.

The area
outside the windows of fighter started to clear of the orange flames that had been surrounding the ship. Through the window, the world was slowly turning a blue and purple color. They were finally coming through the atmosphere of Theron. At least they weren’t going to burn up. Crashing was going to be inevitable, but at least they weren’t going to be incinerated.

“Slow the ship down
, Lars!”

“I can’t.
I already told you. The ship’s no longer under my control!”

Zirlo swallowed convulsively as he watched the groun
d of Theron approach faster and faster. If the Gods were at least watching over him, maybe the ship might skim across the tops of the trees to slow their descent. They definitely didn’t want to come in nose first. There would be no way to survive a crash of that magnitude.

The fighter hit the first of the tree tops with a scratching sound
and a branch had pierced through outer shell of the ship and was now the leaves and splintered wood rained over them. Both men had to put their hands over their ears to block out the sound of the trees as they attempted to try to saw through the belly of the fighter. Their altitude continued to drop rapidly. They were no longer skimming the tops of the trees anymore, but rather were shooting through the branches. Without much warning the ground suddenly appeared outside the window. The men had just a few seconds to brace for the impact.

****

Dawn was just starting to break when Emma was awakened by the sound of a loud roar. Not only had the sound startled her awake, but the rest of the forest was caught up in a nervous chatter. Through the gaps of the branches of the shrub that provided her cover, Emma caught sight of a streak of something that was extremely large flying overhead.

“What the hel
l was that?” she said out loud. To her it sounded just like an airplane that was coming in for a landing. “Wait a minute…” She rolled back onto her stomach then crawled out from under the shrub. “If that was some sort of airplane or ship, I might be able to follow it to where ever it lands.” The thought had popped into her mind as she stared up at the trail of white smoke following the aircraft.

She went to stand up and take a step forward when pain shot through her lower leg. She had to grit her teeth together until the waves of pain finally ebbed away. She h
ad forgotten about the injury she received to her leg. She fell back down onto her butt and pulled up the leg of her jeans. The gash that she had tried to clean so carefully the night before now looked angry, red, and swollen.

“Oh my God…” s
he said through clenched teeth as she pressed gently on the skin surrounding the wound. “Shit…” how in the world was she going to be able to walk and follow the aircraft? If she didn’t find that aircraft or if someone didn’t find her soon, she was going to be in a lot more trouble. She could survive a few days without food and there was plenty of water in the forest, but there was no way she would be able to survive for long if her leg was infected as she suspected it was.

She had no choice
, but to get up and try to find where that craft went. She crawled over to the nearest tree and used it as leverage to stand up on her one good leg. Once on her feet she looked around the immediate area for anything she could possibly use as a walking stick or crutch. She spied a long thin stick about twenty feet away lying partially under bush of beautiful red flowers. Balancing on one foot, she hopped over to the bush and retrieved the stick, leaning on it as she straightened back up.

“Got
cha…” she announced as she looked at the stick. She returned her gaze to the sky to get the direction of the lingering trail of smoke, and then set out at a very slow and agonizing pace. It wasn’t long before she was panting and sweating from the excursion of the trip and the pain from her leg. A sob burst forth from her chest as she leaned against a tree to take a short break.

“How am I going to do this?” A second sob escaped along with a trail of tears. Her leg was throbbing uncontrollably now.
“Brylon where are you?” she called into the forest. She was definitely sorry now for walking off without telling someone where she was going. All she could hope for now, was that Brylon had come back home and discovered that she was missing.

Brylon and the others had been out searching for Emma all night. They had picked up her trail several times only to lose it again when it started to rain softly. He was starting to lose hope of finding her alive. Spending the night out deep in the forest wasn’t even the best idea for someone who knew the forest much less someone who was entirely new to the planet.

He had been in constant contact with Zeb all during the night when his communicator sounded.

“Brylon, any new news yet,” Zeb’s voice sounded so loud in the quiet forest.

Brylon stopped walking, “No nothing yet. We haven’t picked up her trail again. The rain last night has just about wiped out any traces.”

“Ok, keep me informed of any changes. Also, be on the lookout for a fighter that entered our atmosphere without clearance. We are positive it crashed somewhere in the area that you are searching,” Zeb replied.

“We heard a fighter just a little while ago
, but did not get a visual on it.”

“Understood
, just keep your eyes open.” Zeb paused, “Brylon?”

Brylon continuously scanned
the area that they were in for any kind of evidence that Emma had been that way. “Yeah Zeb?”

“She will be fine. Our women from Earth are very strong. You will find her.”

Brylon closed his eyes for a moment. “I hope so Zeb. I hope so,” he said then closed the communicator. “See anything Ceran?”

“Nothing over this wa
y, how about you Manko, any signs near you?” Ceran called over to where Manko was searching through the brush.

“Just
a few animal tracks that’s all,” Manko replied back.

“Alright warriors, let’s spread out a little further and continue searching.” Brylon instructed his search party.

The groups spread out further and continued to search every square foot of the forest that they thought Emma might have possibly passed through. Even though it had rain slightly the night before, it still should not have been enough to completely erase any trace of her footprints. That was the odd thing about the whole situation, but he still held out hope that he would find her unharmed.

They must have been searching for over an hour when Manko called out from his position near a tree stump.

“Brylon, I found something over here!” Manko called out as he kneeled on the wet ground.

Brylon came crashing through the branches and bushes
to Manko’s side. His heart was beating so hard now, and his stomach was in knots. He prayed that whatever Manko found, it could direct him to his mate.  He looked down to where Manko was pointing, and sure enough there was a small hand print pressed in the mud that hadn’t been washed away.

“That’s her hand. I would know it anywhere. Gods, how in the hell did she get way out here?” His fingers trail gently through the impression in the mud. This was the closet
that he had been to his mate in almost two days, and his heart was breaking.

“Brylon, I found another print.” This time it was Ceran who called out to him.

Brylon went to see if the new print would help him figure out where she was headed. But this time the print from her shoe, had an unexpected print right next to it.

“Please do not tell me what I think that is.” He looked at Ceran than back to the animal print that was alongside Emma’s shoe print in the mud.

“This definitely is not good if she was being chased by an olaffub out to here. There is a sharp drop up ahead that goes virtually straight down,” Ceran stated.

“Emma!” Brylon shouted as loud as she could. “Emma!” No reply came back.

“The prints continue this way,” Manko started to walk past them as they were crouched down examining the prints made in the mud. “Brylon!” he shouted.

When Brylon got to where Manko was standing, he immediately saw the trail of disturbed mud that lead down the incline.
Manko pointed down the incline at the trail that showed obvious signs of someone or something sliding down and tumbling at points at a speed that was most likely very fast.

“Oh shit,” Brylon’s heart skipped a beat, “Emma!” He
sat down on the ground and attempted to scoot down the side of the steep drop, but Ceran grabbed hold of his shirt before he could any further. “Let go of me!” He tried to shake his arm loose from Ceran’s grip.

“No,
Brylon.” Ceran looked his friend in the eye, “You need to step down slowly and carefully or you may get hurt. Emma is down there, but we need to be safe about how we get down.  Otherwise, we won’t be helping anyone.” His eyes darted to the bottom of the drop off.

Brylon nodd
ed his head in agreement, “You’re right, I am sorry.” He took a deep relaxing breath in order to try and slow down his racing heart. He wanted so badly to go charging down that slope and see if his love was at the bottom of it, but he also realized that it wouldn’t do any good if he ended up slipping and careening down the slope the same way as Emma had. He forced himself to take slow cautious steps downward. He held onto whatever he could reach to slow his pace and stay on his feet. Carefully following behind him, Ceran, Manko and Zane grabbed along the same path using the same foot holds he was using.

Once they were at the bottom, Zane held up a torn piece of blue material that he found clinging to the side of a very large, dead tree stump.
“She has definitely been down this way.” He gave it to Brylon.

“This looks like a piece of material from the pants she was wearing the last time I saw her.” He r
ubbed the piece of material between his fingers. “It looks like there is some blood on it.” He looked over to Zane.  He was really starting to become fearful for his mate’s life. The cold realization that any moment he could possibly find his mate severely injured or dead was starting to play hell on his mind. He was relieved to have found something that belonged to her.  It told him that they were on the right path. But, he knew she was injured, and he didn’t know how badly.

The group continued
to explore the area, finding even more signs that Emma had been there. The leaves and underbrush of the forest were disturbed and there were several more hand prints scattered in the mud around the edge of a big shrub. Thankfully they did not see any evidence of the animal that had been chasing her. Her falling down the steep slope to get away from it, whether intentional or not, may have saved her life.  They just didn’t know yet.

****

Emma followed the trail of smoke for hours. She couldn’t move very fast, but she made steady progress through the forest with her sturdy walking stick. Her wound was throbbing constantly now and she could feel a trickle of blood run down leg every now and then. By now her sock and shoe was covered in blood. Periodically, she had to stop and rest her leg, but she would force herself soon after to keep moving on. She really didn’t want to spend another night alone in the forest. It was the thought of sleeping underneath a bush again that urged her forward.

She tried not to let her thoughts stray to Brylon
, and why it was taking him so long to find her. At times she would have long drawn out fights in her mind about the crazy and illogical thoughts that she kept repeating in her head. She would sometimes find herself talking out loud, saying that Brylon didn’t really care about her and probably didn’t even realize she was gone. Then after crying for a few minutes, she would tear her mind away from the negative thoughts and scream out to herself that Brylon did want her and that he would surely find her.