“Are you all right?” Terri whispered.
Azan swallowed and her hand tightened around the butt of her blaster, but she jerked her head in a short nod. “I am not a fan of heights, I admit, but I will be fine. That is… quite a drop.”
“How the hell is a pirate scared of heights?”
“There are few opportunities to dangle over impossible ledges unless one is stuck somewhere in engineering of a war class fleet ship. Not even the great monstrosity that we crew has any such expanse as that. Fighting in space involves little in the way of heights,” Azan replied with the hint of a smile.
“We’ll be fine. Just take it slow and we’ll make our way over there,” Terri said as she swallowed back her own fear. She normally didn’t have a fear of heights, but she didn’t typically test the whims of fate by walking along ledges with drop-offs that were hundreds of feet deep.
Veral’s vibrissae expanded, a soft click rattling from him even while his vibrissae hissed with their own vibrations as he shook his head in the negative. “This ravine is much like the gorge of Ilathitankyu on Argurumal. Best to move quickly. Erosion will make some footholds unstable. The trees and vines will give some added stability, but do not trust that it will remain so. Move as quickly as you can as you pick out your hand and footholds. Stay close to me if you can. I will identify what appears to be the most secure route. I cannot guarantee how long it will hold, but if you are at my side there is a high probability of safe arrival at the ledge.”
Azan let out the breath that Terri hadn’t even noticed she was holding. The Blaithari circled her head, releasing the tension with tiny cracks and pops.
“I am to trust my life to a male who half a rotation earlier threatened my wellbeing… Very well then,” Azan mused with something close to her normal cheer, a crooked smile pulling at the corner of her mouth.
Veral narrowed his eyes on the pirate and made a sound like a dismissive growl mixed with a laugh before turning away to address the more immediate problem: the climb down.
Terri wrapped her fingers around the horn protruding from his elbow, clinging to him, though his arm didn’t move away from her as he angled them at the edge of the chasm. Glancing down, his glowing blue gaze met hers and he squeezed her, trying to comfort her.
“You will do well,” he assured her. “Remember the training.”
“Of course,” she agreed and took a deep, steadying breath.
This was part of the game of being a salvager. In space, she prepared for months for situations such as this. This trip would prove what she learned. The pirates were an unanticipated addition, but having to climb from great heights was something that she did over and over again in the simulations, in addition to the physical training Veral had her do in the cargo bay on the obstacles he had constructed.
It was just climbing. She had this.
Still, she couldn’t hold back the tiny squeak of distress that left her when Veral released her and stepped away. His eyes pinned on her, his vibrissae stirring with their vibrations as he peered down at her.
“Close behind,” he reminded her.
He didn’t move until she nodded and followed him to the ledge. Immediately, Veral gripped one of the higher branches of a nearby tree and began to drop down its length. The moment he let go of the branch, Terri followed, the weight of her mate’s eyes on her as she trailed his path.
She was only vaguely aware of Azan lowering Garswal to the branch until she heard Egbor’s angry shout from above. She tilted her head up and looked beyond the young Blaithari trembling on the branch to the sight of the pirate captain leveling a blaster on his second-in-command. Terri continued to inch toward Veral, but she couldn’t look away, her breath caught in her throat at the sudden hostility.
“He is mine, Azan! He will not be going down without me. You are clearly forgetting your place,” the captain shouted.
“He will not be able to do anything for you on this climb,” his second-in-command retorted.
“I will go next then. By all rights, he is to remain by my side.”
“You want him by your side? For what purpose? Never mind, Captain. I yield to your wishes, as always. If you insist on following at his side, I will carry him.”
Egbor’s mocking laughter could be heard even above the hollow sound of the water and wind growing louder now that they were within the ravine. So could Veral’s impatient growl when he turned and noted that Terri wasn’t directly behind him. She shot him an apologetic look as she began to move to his side, but half her attention remained on the standoff between Azan and Egbor.
“You wish to be burdened by him? Who am I to object? That he is at my side is all that matters. Just watch your tongue, lest I be tempted to remove it from your mouth. Do not forget that as much churlishness as I tolerate from you, Azan, I will not allow insubordination.”
“No insubordination intended, Captain,” Azan interjected smoothly. “I am merely unwilling to lose a youngling due to carelessness when it can be avoided.” The way the boy had been bitten came to Terri’s mind, and she had little doubt that the Blaithari female was also thinking of it as she spoke. “He is not strong enough for this climb alone.”
“It would be wise forsomeoneto descend,” Veral snarled loudly. “Delaying defeats the purpose of staying together.”
Egbor let out a bark of laughter, as if amused by Veral’s foul temper, and holstered his blaster as he waved Azan forward. The female didn’t acknowledge the gesture outside of a tight smile before she gave Veral a half-salute and dropped quickly into the tree.
Whatever fear the pirate had hanging above the ravine, Terri couldn’t see a trace of it as Azan climbed quickly over to Garswal and helped him slide onto her back. The boy clung tightly, his tiny claws hooking into her thick vest and his legs wrapping around the female’s hips.
“Come, anastha,” Veral murmured, the glow of his eyes warm on her.
Terri licked her lips, steeling her nerves, as she slid from the branch she gripped onto another vine-laden tree, her feet scraping against the rocks. Small pebbles broke loose and fell, and small plants tore away. She scrambled when the large stone beneath one of her hands broke free and dropped, the sound of it hitting rocks and branches loud enough to make her freeze until she forced her muscles to keep moving.