Bolt

23

Kara, Elle, and Hashmat were gathered under Razia when he got there. She was gasping, her face red, but she had stopped screaming. He looked up and saw she was hanging by one leg from a rope that stretched high up into a tree. Suspicion rose in him immediately, and he scanned the area quickly, listening for enemies approaching.

There were none. His confusion grew.

Something’s not right.

“It’s okay, Razia!” Kara yelled. “We’ll get you down!”

“Shh!” he nudged Kara’s arm, putting a finger to his lips. “We’ve already made enough noise. We have to get out of here before that scream brings predators as well as bad guys.”

Kara nodded, understanding. Elle and Hashmat were standing right under Razia, trying to reach her even though she was high above their heads.

“Are you hurt?” Hashmat called. Razia shook her head, sweat pouring from her face.

“Get me down!”

“We are. Just hang tight.”

“I’m hanging, that’s for sure,” Razia muttered. Bolt frowned. He wouldn’t expect a woman caught like this to be cracking jokes. He tried to put it out of his mind and focused on the problem at hand. The best way to do it was to climb the tree a little, jump to the rope, and cut it.

The knot was too high for him to climb all the way up. It would take too long. This made him suspicious too. Someone had gone to a lot of trouble to set this trap, but it wasn’t really that dangerous.

“I’ll have you down in a few minutes,” he said, running around the back of the tree. He shifted his hands and climbed up, his claws digging into the bark. Once he was at a height level with the rope, he leaped from the tree, shifting his hands back. He grabbed the rope and clung to it, swinging both him and Razia back and forth on a wild arc.

“Oh, dear God, make it stop,” Razia moaned. “I’m gonna barf.”

Again, it disturbed Bolt that she was cracking jokes. He told himself that people dealt with trauma in different ways, and it didn’t mean anything. He pulled out a knife and held it next to the rope.

“Brace yourself,” he called down. Razia barely had time to yell “for what” before he cut the rope. They fell, Razia screaming all the way. Bolt did a neat flip and landed on his feet. Razia wasn’t so lucky. She fell in a nasty heap.

The others gathered around, helping her up. She was shaken and had a few bruises but otherwise fine. Bolt was relieved, but he still had a bad feeling.

“We should camp here,” he said. “This rock face will give us shelter as well as a defensive position.”

Kara nodded, hurrying to set up tents. Elle started a fire, promising Razia that she would make her some tea. Bolt went for a prowl around the campsite, stewing.

The trap had been terribly basic. It wasn’t lethal. He knew the bad guys following them would have no problem killing every single one of them to get to the gem. He couldn’t understand who would set a trap like that or why.

It could be intended to delay them or make them change course. Losing a member of the party would probably make them go faster and less likely to stop to rest.

Maybe that is the purpose, he thought. To make us stop and spend the night here.

He came back to the camp, still happy with the position. He was sure no one could sneak up on them here. He was disturbed by the fact that Razia had not seemed worried by the trap, nor had she fought it that much. He shook his head as he moved toward the fire. None of that meant anything, really. He didn’t know the woman very well. It was entirely likely he was being paranoid.

He had a good reason to be. He had trusted the wrong people so often in the past, and all it had gotten him was betrayed. He couldn’t count the friends he’d lost to treachery. A little hyper-vigilance certainly didn’t hurt in his line of work.

He sat with the others, eating sparse rations and drinking tea. He could tell that Kara and Elle were quite shaken up, whereas Razia seemed to have recovered completely. He kept an eye on her. It was better to be a bit paranoid than to trust the wrong people. Now, he was far more invested than he had been before. He had to keep Kara and his sister safe.

Bolt left the others after dinner to prowl the perimeter again. By the sounds and scents, he could tell that he was the biggest, baddest thing moving around out here and that nothing could threaten them. He trusted his senses, but he did not trust the night. This mission had surprised him far too much already.

When he returned, he noticed the others snuggled up in their tents. The fire had been doused, left with only a few hot coals glowing. He took his sleeping bag and laid it down not far from the tents. He wanted to make it look like he was going to sleep when he actually wasn’t. He was going to stay on watch, all night if need be.

He settled down, stretching out. It felt good to lie down even though he knew he wouldn’t be able to sleep. A sigh of pleasure escaped his lips as his tired limbs let go and relaxed.

Then, he heard light footsteps coming toward him. They were short and quiet — not a predator or a bad guy. Just as he was about to leap up and face them, he caught Kara’s scent.

He stayed still, almost frozen. He couldn’t believe this was happening. It wasn’t until she crept right up to him and slipped into his sleeping bag that he believed it was real.

Her body slid against his as if they were made to fit together. Her hot lips found his, and everything else melted away under the passion of her kiss.