Suddenly, he heard a thump.

The female had collapsed into the sand.

He fell to his knees beside her, tapping her cheeks. “Human. Human, wake now.”

She was still breathing, but it seemed she would not hold on for long. In a desperate effort, Tiegan called Korben—his terros and comrade.

The terros appeared in a holo before him. “Tiegan, why have you not returned? Surely, getting the seal from the sacred damas should not have taken so long.”

“Is that Tiegan?” A sharp, excited voice rang in the background of Korben’s comms. Tiegan gritted his teeth when Leel entered the holo. She was a small human with thick brown hair. Though human females were generally chatty, Leel seemed to speak more than the others.

“Tiegan, are you okay? I was worried sick!” Leel exclaimed.

“And she made it known to us often,” Korben mumbled.

Tiegan knew his terros would much rather spend his time coupling with his mate than dealing with the silly petitions of the other human females.

“Korben,” Tiegan said intently, “the Healer is not answering his comms.”

“He is in a meeting with the West tribas. You knew of this.”

Tiegan jutted his chin at the fallen female. “There is a problem.”

“Is that…a human?”

Leel gasped.

“She appeared in the sacred damas when I was passing by. She seems to be suffering fromjidezi.” His gaze travelled down to her missing arm. “I think she was tortured as well.”

Leel pressed a hand to her lips. “Oh no. That’s horrible.”

“I’ll contact the others.”

“Inform Ga Eun as well.” Tiegan thought of the female with the narrow eyes and fragile features. “As a human who has been on this planet the longest, perhaps she can be of assistance.”

Korben agreed.

Leel stared at him with liquid in her eyes. “Be safe, Tiegan. What if the monsters who tortured her come after you too?”

He gave her a tight-lipped nod and signed off.

At that moment, he heard footsteps hurrying outside the sacred damas. A Plutonian with a long beard stepped into the cavern.

“Healer? Were you not with the West tribas?”

The Healer shot a resigned look at the female in his arms. “I felt their arrival.”

“Their? As in…” He gently shifted the female in his arms. “There are more of them?”

The Healer beckoned him to follow and marched down a dark corridor.

“Do you know something?” Tiegan asked, his voice urgent.

The Healer kept moving at a brisk pace. “Rune is on his way. We need his technology to get the impurities out of her system.”

“Can’t you heal her?”

Because of the Healer, Plutonians could live to be near immortal. He could mend any wounds and kept sickness at bay.