Page 65 of I Married Amreth

His companions nodded, their expressions grim.

“And we’re going to do everything in our power to make sure it doesn’t happen,” I said reassuringly. “Let’s go back to the village, test this stuff, and destroy it.”

Chapter 16

Amreth

We gave chase to the vessel in stealth mode. Judging by their flight pattern, they seemed to have a very specific destination in mind. I entered a few instructions in my navigation board so that the artificial intelligence would calculate their potential trajectory.

Sitting in the copilot chair, Aku suddenly muttered a string of curse words in his language. I glanced at him inquisitively.

“That map your device is showing is pointing directly to Lenph,” Aku said angrily. “It is another temple similar to Svast but located in another territory. We are close to crossing the border.”

“Is it illegal?” I asked carefully. “Are there any conflicts between your territories?”

He shook his head. “Kreelars are a peaceful people. We would all be one if the land wasn’t so vast and the distances so great. We’re all an extended family. But it would be unrealistic for every tribe to attend the same temple. The journey would be too long.”

“How many such temples do you have?” I asked Aku.

“Three in total. But those two other territories—Lenph and Durgh—have not been touched by the sickness. Only the tribes that worship at Svast Temple have been affected. The disease has not traveled beyond our territory.”

I nodded grimly. “The berries have not spread beyond your borders, yet. Let’s make sure they never do.”

I increased our speed to further close the gap with our quarry. I wanted to be able to intercept them before the Raithean could begin to release his poisoned stones in the river. The gods only knew what damage had already been done at Svast Temple.

A glance at the overlay display from the drone’s camera feed showed me the area that the enemy ship was flying in, as well as a ghostly outline of the vessel itself. From our current location, we couldn’t see through its camouflage.

I tapped a few instructions so that as soon as we were five hundred meters from them, the autopilot would kick in and maintain us at a steady distance from them. The goal was to sneak up on them as soon as they lowered their ramp. Judging by their previous actions at Svast Temple, they were fairly careless and overly confident that no one was onto them.

“What are you doing?” Aku asked when I began typing a message on a different screen.

“Sending images of the two intruders to my friend,” I replied. “We have facial recognition technology that might help them find their identities and hopefully locate any accomplices they might have or maybe even who their employer is. We need to find the source before they attempt to strike again.”

“Good. They must answer for their crimes,” Aku snarled. “We would know—”

An incoming com request interrupted him, startling us both.

“What in Tharmok’s name…?!” I whispered.

There shouldn’t be such a quick response, let alone a direct com request. There were no relays or satellites nearby. Or at least, in theory…

“What is it?” Aku asked.

“A communication request from my friend. I’m going to accept it,” I replied.

He gave me a stiff nod, his tension almost palpable.

A million thoughts fired off in my mind when Maeve’s face appeared on my screen as soon as I accepted the communication. She said she would be away on a different mission. And yet here she was, in close enough range to have a live vidcom in an area where that should not be possible.

“Maeve,” I said in greeting. “This is Aku, the leader of the tribe hosting us. Aku, this is Maeve, my friend.”

“It is a pleasure to meet you, Kald Aku,” Maeve replied.

“Likewise,” Aku responded in a non-committal fashion, his voice polite but cold.

“I do not mean to be curt or rude, but I cannot maintain this connection too long,” Maeve continued. “We’re analyzing the data you sent, Amreth. What’s your status?”

“We’re closing in on them. We intend to confront them as soon as they land. We believe they are headed for another temple,” I replied before glancing at the overlay of the drone’s camera feed. “In fact, I can see it in the distance. They’re almost there. We need to hurry.”

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