The Last Narkoy: Gathow: Book 2 by Elizabeth Price (find a book to read txt) 📕

all I loved are now dead and that I’m truly alone. It’s hard to fathom knowing you are the last of your species.”

Danstu offered his hand for her to take. Hesitantly she took it. “You’re not alone. You have friends who’ll watch your back and give their lives for you… I among them. If you need to talk, I’m here for you. Please, please, consider me in the same regards as a big brother. I’ll watch out for you as I hope you’ll do the same.”

She squeezed his hand tenderly, surprising him slightly. “Big brother, hum? Nom’kel knows I need one. I still don’t understand why you’ve come to stay in Gathow. Rumors I’ve heard about you suggest that you may want a more… enlightened career. I’m not sure if I have the translation correct.”

“Innocuous would be a better translation,” he corrected.

Sedom thought about the word, scowling. “If that is the case, you’ve better leave now,” she joked.

“Too late,” he said smirking back. “I am where I’m needed. Did I ever expect to be second in command of a Narkoy military base?” he asked, shaking his head no. “But I am here now.”

“I appreciated everything you’ve done for Gathow. But understand I don’t want any more of my friends’ blood on my hands. I have difficulty making decisions that could put their lives in jeopardy.”

Danstu released her hand, tucking his hands behind his back. “Unfortunately it’s inevitable. The entire point of opening Gathow is to go to war. Death will happen, it’s only a question of when… and how to keep it to a minimum,” he pointed out.

She ran her fingers through her long white hair, her eyes distant as she thought. “I know.”

He turned to her, resting his hand on her left shoulder. “I can never imagine what you went through. In a way, I wish I could somehow. Your past fuels your passion for making Gathow and the Tasgool great.” He pulled his hand away as he shook his head in frustration. “I was only privy to the reports that came across my desk. I am… humbled by the sheer thought that you managed to stay alive. No one in this galaxy knows how you managed and no one would want to. The thought is too horrific, even for me to think about. I have yet to meet anyone who’d have the strength as you do to survive,” he admitted.

Sedom shied away. “I had no option,” she pointed out.

“Yes you did, to give up, but you didn’t. There is a reason you were spared. Because you were spared makes be believe this is a cause to fight for,” he added.

“Keriney!” Rosanheer called from a distance away.

Sedom turned to Danstu, caressing his cheek as a Narkoy would to a friend. “Thank you.”

He flinched suddenly seeing the night Sedom fled from her home perfectly as if he had lived it. His mouth opened to scream, but the sound failed to come. Everything felt real, the smell in the wind thick with burning flesh, the energy of panic in the air, even the horror of seeing her own family dying.

“Be careful what you wish for… Brother,” she whispered, noticing tears filling his eyes. She continued to walk on as Rosanheer rushed over to Danstu.

Rosanheer stood next to Danstu, feeling his emotional torment. He grabbed hold of Danstu, hearing him weep. Danstu turned to him, tears welling in his eyes. He wiped his tears aside, looking into the concerned face of his friend. “I’m… okay,” he sniveled. “I wasn’t ready for that.”

“For what? What happened?” Rosanheer asked.

“No one told me she was an AO,” Danstu said in shuddering words. He closed his eyes, seeing the images Sedom had given him play in his mind. “Everyone… dead,” he gulped.

“Whoa, it’s okay,” Rosanheer comforted, feeling just how emotional his new friend was. “She really got to you? What is an AO anyway?” Rosanheer questioned. “That power thing she does to heal people?”

Danstu nodded as he attempted to center himself. “She can transfer memories to someone too. She just shared with me the night the city of Talisan was destroyed. It’s…” he paused, holding onto Rosanheer from keeping his legs from buckling, “a lot to take in, especially from her perspective.” He rubbed his forehead as if it would somehow clear his mind. “She a… listened to her family being brutally murdered.”

Rosanheer looked away in contempt. “Yeah, by my father,” he snarled. “I’m not sure whether to congratulate you or pity you. She gave you a piece of her past, which means she trusts you a great deal. Though… Talisan? I wouldn’t want to witness that first hand,” Rosanheer said. He turned back to Danstu, seeing the tears well in his eyes. “How about I help you back to your quarters?”

Sedom watched from a distance away as Rosanheer walked with Danstu back to his housing. She wasn’t certain why she gave him the memory, only that she felt a deep need for someone to understand what she had gone through. And perhaps, someone who could speak her language, and who knew Narkoy, was the closest thing she had to kin. Not that she thought of Danstu as kin. She barely knew the man, yet she had given him a lot of trust.

She didn’t want to return right away to her own quarters, so Sedom decided to check in the infirmary. Inside the infirmary, Evolanc and Ratisha were in Noral's office. Both were leaning over a desk, looking over readouts on a computer pad.

“Of all the odds? If this is true, she isn’t going to take it well,” Ratisha spoke.

“I don't want to tell her,” Evolanc said as she began drumming her fingers on the desk. “I mean, what would it accomplish other than upsetting her? And I'd rather not upset her.”

Ratisha took a computer pad from Evolanc. “You've been