Page 56 of Broken Triad

Isit at the edge of the cave, dangling my legs in the open air, one of their black robes draped over my shoulders. It smells like Bolden. It calms me a little, thinking of the three of them. I try to keep my thoughts as empty as possible, because the only thing my mind can dwell on is the terrifying darkness of the mines, the skitters of Scorp, so much worse than the claustrophobia I and the other servant girls endured in the cellar before our rescue.

The sun is slowly setting, when I see the jet-black Reaver blasting towards me at full speed, and my heart pounds. I stand up and back away from the cave edge, not sure whether to hide.

Was my triad caught? Did they torture my location out of them, and send out a Reaver to collect me?

It turns, the angular ship piloted expertly as it hovers a foot in front of the cave edge. The side doors open, and to my relief, the three men leap out, robes flowing in the wind. They’re no worse for wear, covered in dust and dirt, but unharmed.

“We found him. He’s safe.”

I break down crying instantly, all the emotion I kept bottled up flooding out in a messy, ugly cry, the kind that makes your nose drip and your eyes turn red, but Krazak grabs me tight, holding me against his thick, black robes.

“I’m getting your robes all messy,” I manage between gasps, flooded with relief.

“It’s okay,” he says, stroking my hair. “Everything is okay now.”

I pull myself from his arms, looking into the Reaver. “Where is he? Is he hurt?” I want to run into the med-bay to find him.

“Ridgetown. He’s staying in the Longhorn, waiting for you. We’ll bring you to him now.”

“Wait. But you took the Reaver right here. Won’t someone have noticed?”

“We’re not coming back here.” Bolden strides past me and starts packing up, while my head reels. It was a cave, a cage, but it was also a place where I made memories with these three. Some part of me will be sad to leave.

I bite my lip. “I know you bought jewels for me…and everything…but could I give them to my father? It’ll set him up for life. He won’t have to work in the mines any longer.”

“Give him these,” says Krazak, reaching into his robe and pulling out four thin, black bars, so shiny that they gleam. Paulus showed me one once, bragging. A hundred-thousand-credit bar. “This will give him a new start.”

It’s more than just a new start. It would replace everything we lost, tenfold, and they give it like it’s nothing. “That’s too much.”

“Nothing’s too much.”

“I can’t thank you enough…I…” I don’t know what to say. I had hoped that my father was okay, but I’d resigned myself to them giving me the bad news. In the time spent as a servant, I changed. I don’t even know if my dad will recognize me when I come back. I’m a different person, and the time he spent in the mine hardened him.

The tent furls up small enough that Bolden can carry it in his arms, the hard structure somehow turning soft and malleable with alien technology. Krazak reaches out his palm, and I take it, letting him help me over the gap to the hovering Reaver.

I wipe my eyes. “Are you okay?” asks Krazak.

“Yes. More than okay. I think I just need to sit down, though,” I say, weakly, and he takes me the opposite way from the bridge, down a hallway. There are three white doors, and one opens automatically as he nears, and he helps me into a bedroom with a huge bed, a table made for the alien species, and a drawer. It makes me feel tiny.

“I must go pilot. Do you need Khra or Bolden to stay with you?” He’s not used to dealing with crying women, and he’s not sure what to do.

“No, I’m okay,” I say, drying the last of my tears, and he leaves. I sit on the bed, flooded with emotion.

It’s not just relief for saving my dad. I’m feeling something else.

My triad saved my father. I can’t pretend for another moment that what I feel for them is only transactional. I have to confront the reality that the boat trip was one of my most perfect memories, our first time as the moon watched us united together, conversations with Khra where he knew me deeper than anyone ever has.

I’ve seen who they are, underneath the brutal surface. They are so different from when I first saw them, when the only thing they felt was rage and tortured lust.

Will they be the same people when they return from the war?

How long will they be gone to the battlefield? Years for me are like months to them. They could spend a decade fighting against their own species, killing honorable Aurelians, hardening their shells, becoming the incarnate of brutality and rage like when I first saw them.

The door opens. “It’s okay. He’s safe,” says Khra, his brows furrowed in concern. He gives me a light smile. “I can’t read your thoughts, don’t worry, but I could smell your anxiety from the bridge.” He sits down next to me, and I put my hand on his huge thigh. He’s got a bag with him.

“He wasn’t injured?”

“No. But they had no food, little water. He’s gaunt, but he’s a fighter. Healthy and hale,” he says, with approval in his voice.

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