"No!" I ran top speed through the rocky outskirts of the airfield

That psycho, Bold Step, ripped open the ship we were hiding in and snatched an injured medic.

"You won't get away!" I sniffed the air and stalked a trail of pale pink razkur blood smeared along the dirt leading away from the monastery.

The others scattered and I heard Arctic Haze shepherding them to safety when another wave of minion dogs ran toward the commotion.

Fuck... I refuse to let that dishonorable maggot slip away again!

It was infuriating to no end that this pissant tidy razkur was correct about our group's hobbled state. Preserving the remainder of our group was paramount, but I was already too far out ahead to turn back and give up the chase.

Every instinct inside me proclaimed that Bold Step was toying with us and intended to dismantle our group one gruesome death at a time.

"He must die!"

There was still much to learn about the internal power structure between the network of Graven, but the latest intel indicated that this specific Corrupted Slayer was an essential lieutenant.

His will or the presence of a Graven would keep the mindless minions organized and focused on our scent. Killing Bold Step was the only sure method for giving what few of us remained a better chance of survival.

Fresh blood streaked off toward a ravine just beyond a tall outcropping of rock spires.

I was alone but the medic's scent clung to the air.

CRICK

The stones behind me snapped, and one of the brown towers collapsed behind me.

I dodged and caught the faint flick of something black, slithering away behind the rock fall.

"Victory will be mine!" I didn't hesitate to double back up the tumbling stones and spotted the tail-end of Bold Step's shadow darting off into a maze of hoodoos.

The narrow stone passageways were obviously a deathtrap. I had no choice but to climb up one of the pillars.

"Nothing," the higher vantage point offered little benefit.

A woman screamed.

I took off, leaping between the pillars toward the fleeting echo of the female razkur.

Suddenly, the base of the pillar I landed on gave way and I lost my footing. Undoubtedly a result of Bold Step's tampering.

"Show yourself!" I landed with a graceful roll and twirled my scorch-pike.

The abomination remained silent.

I knew the Slayer would cling to deceitful tactics, and was fully prepared to undo his inevitable ambush.

"This game will end shortly!"

I followed the sound of trickling of gravel to the edge of the hoodoo labyrinth cut off by a sharp unstable ridge sloping off into an empty dry gulch.

A pack of large minion dogs came snarling up behind me. I slid down the steep incline and crawled up the other side, only to find more of the mutated hounds waiting for me on the other side.

"You do not see it," I growled at the dogs and positioned myself in the center of the dry riverbed. "But I have you right where I want you!"

Red rabid froth dripped from the beast's uneven jaws as they twitched erratically with each encroaching step.

The first one jumped, and I pierced its skull midair, then tossed it away. The next three I eviscerated, and another I stomped its ugly red maw straight into the ground. It was easy once they gave up the high ground and hopped down into the slippery gravel. The pack may have arrived in the dozens, but I quickly cut them down until there was only me.

On the other side of the dead riverbed, I found only rocks and emaciated trees.

Strange...

I glanced back at the silhouette of the monastery and then at the brown patches of scrub grass crackling beneath my feet.

There shouldn't be any vegetation, alive or dead.

The hint of a shadow slunk off behind a nest of large boulders.

I followed, but not directly.

It took every fragment of my training to enter the obvious ambush and not completely compromise my strategic posture.

This is why Oru chose you...

I steadied my breath and heartbeat.

Many are dead but I will sever Bold Step's head...

Graven and Corrupted remains always melted shortly after death, but I didn't need a trophy to attain victory. His blood on my blades would satisfy Jahaa's vengeance.

"AHHH!"

I whipped around at the sound of the scream, then something large and cool wrapped around my mouth.

I bit down as something coiled around my arms and yanked me down into a hollow burrow between two stones. I strained to break free, but whatever had a hold on me only tightened.

Then I realized the tethers holding down my arms were wrapped in the long elastic white sleeves of a razkur lab coat.

"Shh!" Arctic Haze hissed in my ear.

I knew razkurs were anatomically stronger than their lithe form suggested, but to feel it and be locked inside it up close was extraordinary. That little shit was packing serious muscle beneath his sleek razkur garment.

Arctic Haze pointed with his ear.

There was a scuffle above and just beyond our hideyhole.

I lurched forward, but Arctic Haze had me pinned.

A mass of twisting tentacles entered the clearing above.

It was Bold Step twirling the injured female razkur in his arms. He laughed and spun her around like he was dancing victoriously.

Let me go so I can kill that monster!

An involuntary thrum rumbled in my chest, but I was silenced by Arctic Haze's teeth nipping into the nap of my neck.

I squirmed but calmed my natural impulses, then I relaxed my fangs and wrapped my lips and quills around his hand to hold in the scent of his blood.

Above, Bold Step continued in his almost affectionate embrace, nuzzling at the female razkur's nose as she snapped her teeth at him.

"Not the same," Bold Step came to an abrupt halt.

He sighed at the dangling razkur, then plunged a serrated tentacle into her ear and out the other.

The razkur went limp and Bold Step smiled. Then he stabbed her corpse several more times in the torso until her skin stretched apart and spilled out glistening organs.

"Patience..." Bold Step frowned. Then he dropped the body and slithered away.

Warm droplets tickled over my shoulder.

I had stopped struggling, but Arctic Haze clung to me, trembling with his wet eyes pinched shut and ears folded down.

Did he know her?

I touched his leg in sympathy. Had there been time, I would have liked to express a similar sentiment for my Adjutant Vina.

Arctic Haze released me, and we climbed out from the hole.

"The others are this way," the razkur bandaged his hand with a strip of fabric dangling from his lab coat. He wiped his eyes and returned to his typical acerbic posture.

"That's the direction of the sentinel's stronghold," I quirked my head.

"It's empty," Arctic Haze snapped back at me, not bothering to look at me. "The minions are loose. They've got nothing to hide or protect."

The little shit led the way, keeping his ears wide for any sound of Bold step or other minions until he abruptly stopped.

"Not this way," he knelt and craned his head upward.

It was peculiar seeing this once fussy neatnik sneak on all fours, sniffing instinctually into the air.

"Sulfur," Arctic Haze dragged his nose along the dirt. "Can you feel it? The breeze is warm."

"There weren't hazardous pockets noted in this area on the original scans," I crouched next to the razkur. "But nothing on this planet at the moment is what it appears."

We climbed up an outcropping of boulders and spotted the source of the rancid scent. It was a noxious steaming bog blocking the fastest route.

How is it that this little shit is so attentive to this sort of subtle danger?...his dossier did mention he had spent a significant portion of his professional career underground. Awareness of chemical pockets would be vital for such an occupation.

Several hours later, after we circumvented the bog, Arctic Haze and I arrived at the entrance to the underground tunnel leading into what was formerly the minion sentinel's stronghold. They were protecting something of unknown value, but now the horde was rampaging across the valley.

We were well beyond the central monastery grounds, and the damp tunnel led deep into a chasm below the surrounding mountains.

A prison...?

The tunnel opened up into a pitch-black room lined with rusted cages. Everything reeked of death.

"There's a staircase going up," Arctic Haze sped up.

Neither of us cared to linger in this foul, desecrated place.

"It's us," Arctic Haze knocked on the barricade, blocking the narrow stairwell. "We're ok."

The survivors within opened up and let us inside. Two of our original group were missing, the female razkur Bold Step kidnapped and a male Zhaguai mechanic.

The level above had airflow, but the decor was equally ominous. There was a wide slab table stationed in the center of the chamber with the long slender grooves spoked out and cut into the floor. Similar to one built into the Hall of Judgment for draining the blood of the condemned. The obvious function of this room was to perform sacrifices.

No one bothered asking if I was successful in my search for Bold Step and his victim.

"Primary," the razkur soldier, First Thunder, guided me to a makeshift central hub that he and the others had crafted from a variety of sensory equipment.

"We're still lacking any means to transmit long-range," First Thunder explained as he opened up the viewscreen of a small tablet. "But we've located a stationary military transport shuttle just beyond this ridgeline."

"It's no guarantee for success," Arctic Haze stepped up beside me. "But at the moment, we have no other options. Jahaa is clueless about our status."

Arctic Haze held his ears level and tranquil, but his tone reclaimed its usual accusatory timber.

It was surprising that the tight-laced razkur had recovered so quickly from his initial freak-out when the attack began.

Those concealed biceps weren't anything to shirk off either...

My quills squirmed, and I forcibly shook off the unwanted visual of Arctic Haze locking me in a vice grip.

"Do we have any means to communicate with each other?" I turned to First Thunder.

"Yes," he nodded. "We set up a short-range network between our few remaining helmets."

"Then we should assess who can physically make the journey," I commanded. "Connecting the signal booster is our priority."

"We can't leave the wounded, defenseless," Arctic Haze complained.

"We're all dead if we fail to deliver a message," I hissed in the razkur's face. "I don't intend on leaving our crew without weapons, but we must be prepared for casualties while we travel."

"Our numbers are our only advantage," Arctic Haze contested while rubbing the dried blood from his claws. "Only two or three of us should leave while the rest remain to protect the injured."

"The longer we stand around arguing," my patience was running thin. "The more opportunity we give Bold Step to make us as his personal playthings."

I will not be prey to a madman!

"Then don't play his game!" Arctic haze shouted. His deep, melodic voice ricocheted throughout the chamber.

"Making us cower in the dark is that asshole's game!" I growled.

The fastidious razkur twitched his ears and scrubbed his fingers along his lab coat.

"Stop preening yourself!" I slapped his hands down. "Who precisely are you trying to look pretty for?!"

Arctic Haze snapped and grabbed my hand.

"The others were right about not going out to find you!" His teeth glistened in the dim light of the electronics and still-functioning tablets. "I should have let you run headfirst into that fucker and get yourself killed!"

"I wish you had!" I roared and coated his face in spittle. "Bold Step would be dead right now and we would be free to travel with as few or as many people as we desired without worry of what the psycho has in store!"

"You're out of your mind if you legitimately believe you had even a remote chance at taking that creature down!" Arctic Haze whipped his arms at the others. "We'll take a vote. I'll go along if everyone else is willing to submit to the insanity."

"This isn't a democracy!" I took hold of that little shit's throat and lifted him off the ground. "The chain of command is clear."

"The chain will break..." a soft voice whispered behind.

Pale pink liquid splattered across mine and Arctic Haze's faces.

One of the injured male Zhaguai stood over a dead razkur drooling black bile with his claws coated in razkur blood.

The cut on his leg was pulsing black and his eyes were glazed over like half-melted marbles.

"He's infected!" Arctic Haze croaked.

I dropped Arctic Haze and released my scorch-pike, but our response was too slow. The corrupted Zhaguai was already running rampant in a murderous frenzy.

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