Page 6 of Warrior Rescued

But what went wrong?

The last thing he remembered, the volcano belched, unbalancing the cruiser. He thought he’d given it a wide enough berth, but then the alarms were blaring, and the cruiser was plummeting. He hadn’t even pierced the atmosphere enough to catch a glimpse of a Miran Sona crash or the tormenting Jurou Biljana. In vain he had tried hailing Scala but there was only static. Then everything around him exploded and oblivion claimed him.

Scuffling captured his attention. His gaze swung and met a pair of terrified big brown eyes. The little human female, dressed in rags, was frozen halfway between a mangled storage compartment and the hole in the hull. Her eyes grew even larger when they met his, she dropped her armful of supplies and darted out.

“Wait,” he called after the frightened female and scrambled to get out of the seat, ignoring his pain.

Apparently, someone survived the crash.

Payim stumbled out of the cruiser, his head throbbing, making his vision blur. He blinked, but that didn’t change the fact that the female was already a quarter of a hectare away.

“How in the goddess’s name?!” He gaped, shocked and more than a little impressed, as he took off after the startled female.

The cracked muddy earth sucked at his boots, hindering his progress. Thankfully the terrain quickly changed, although it wasn’t a change for the better. Avoiding the deep craters in the crusty ground was tedious since they were everywhere. The female was obviously familiar with the pock-marked, rocky terrain the way she adeptly dodged this way and that. Suddenly a fountain of boiling water erupted in front of him. He drew to a halt and stared up at the towering plume, but swiftly gathered his senses as searing rain came showering down.

“Son of a…” He ran like his life depended on it, because it did, unless he wanted the flesh boiled from his bones.

Another burst, then another slowed his pace, and it was harder to keep his eye on the fleet-footed human through the abundant mist. The stench of sulfur in the air threatened to choke him. Still, Payim pushed himself faster, ignoring his pain, dodging the geysers that kept erupting.

He practically ran right into the ridge that seemed to appear out of nowhere. Payim peered left and right, but the little female must have gone up the short rise. He leapt and was slightly surprised to see the land on the stepped flat was different. Instead of geysers it was covered with meandering steaming pools separated by bridges of rocky earth. They were stunning, a rainbow of colors ranging from blue to green to yellow and orange.

Where is she?

Carefully, he stepped, balancing on the narrow path between two pools as he hunted for her. Then he saw movement in one of the larger hot springs.

She fell in!He watched in horror as she climbed out of the pool.

“I’ll help you!” he shouted as he hurried forward.

Payim mis-stepped, his boot splashing down into one of the shallow pools. The spray of water hitting his calf burned his skin.

“Torment!” he barked.

He nearly overcorrected, falling into the opposite spring, but regained his footing.

She has to be burning.His concern for the poor female spiked.

“Dammit, why didn’t I bother to grab supplies, a med pack, something?”

He could kick himself for not thinking ahead, though in his defense he’d been surprised to see her and his brain more than a little rattled from the crash.

The little female looked back at him, then swiftly grabbed the bag she’d tossed across the pool and started running along the maze of paths, as if there was nothing wrong.

How?She should be incapacitated.

As fast as he could, he followed, but it was becoming apparent the female was taking him on a merry chase. He grumbled in agitation, more determined to catch her. The years of warrior training aided him as he ran the narrow trails steadily following her. The goal was in sight. He was nearing the base of the steady rise that led up the dormant volcano. That had to be where she was going.

He spied a shortcut, a larger swath of land and leapt onto it. No sooner has he landed on the smooth ground than it gave way beneath his feet, like ice. He scrambled for solid ground but the crusty layer broke when he grabbed hold.

“Torment!” he snarled when he landed in hot water that came to his waist. It was nearly unbearable but thankfully not boiling.

Aggravated, he stared at the ground overhead. It was as thin as vellum, a sulfurous crusty bubble atop the spring. From inside he was able to see the edge of the pool was several paces ahead. Payim leapt, easily clearing the thin dome, then slammed his fist down, shattering the crust. He coughed from the wretched cloud of dust, but repeated the move until he reached the edge, where the ground was again solid.

He hopped out in time to see the petite human grab something from her bag then rub herself all over.

“Not again!” he bellowed when she took off running.

With a frustrated sigh he took chase, following her up the rapidly rising mountainside. He sprinted over a hill and was slightly surprised to see she’d slowed. Rather than running, she briskly walked between dirt mounds as tall as she was.

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