The Soul Eaters (The Thin Hex Line Book 1) by Gwyndolyn Russell (e reader txt) 📕

and using his legs to pull on the bands strapped down behind him.

Fenris was sitting on the floor not too far off, watching them in silence. Yaaranam, rubbed the back of her neck.

"I just talked to the Capta---"

"Yeah, he told me." He didn't even look at her. "I'll be going down with you."

She glared at him. "Just us?"

"Mjolnir, too. Just in case there's trouble."

"There shouldn't be. Fleebeeron and glurone are quite peaceful."

"Captain's orders." He stated. He unhooked his legs. "If I could have it my way, we'd leave you there."

"Oh, when are you going to grow up?" She put her hand on her hip. "By the Emperor's Will, I am trying to be patient and nice with you."

"And I tolerate you."

"What's your fucking problem? Our teamwork will suffer if we can't get along."

"Hah!" He grabbed the bar hanging above him. "Me and you? We'll never be a fucking team."

"First thing's first, Lieutenant," she had that tone as if she were pulling her rank. "You don't fucking know me. You don't know a damned thing about me. You can hate my people all you want. I get it. We kicked your fucking ass in the war. I'm not happy about being here either. Your food is shit. Your clothes are shit. Your ship is utter garbage without a single weapon in sight! You don't even have fucking gravity! I may think the way you live your lives is fucking disgusting, but that's because you're primitive, and that’s forgivable. You treating me like I killed your mother and forced you to watch isn’t. So, why don’t you cut the shit, get the stick out of your ass, and act like a lieutenant.”

Jackal watched her with a blank expression. She made a few good points though he would never admit it. He couldn't get a thought out of his head. It felt like Spectre was yelling at him again. Boy, how she loved to yell. She could turn anything into an argument like it was an art form. Yaaranam sounded just like her with less cursing and less physically in your face. Spectre was always itching for a fight and most verbal ones turned into physical fights with her.

He smiled at the memories.

"You look awfully happy for being yelled at." Yaaranam raised a bony brow.

"Hopefully it's not insulting her, but you remind me of an old friend. Talk just like her."

"She sounds like a good soldier."

"One of the best." He pointed at her without even looking. "Put you and your champions to shame."

Yaaranam snorted.

Jackal's attention suddenly went to Fenris who had been sitting quietly just out of the way.

"Because that's the way it is." He said.

Two of her ears twitched to listen in better, but she heard no voice from the valkyrie.

Jackal let out a sigh and shook his head.

"How can you hear him? Is it a certain frequency only humans can hear?"

"What? No. I...don't know how, but I can hear his voice in the back of my head." He gestured at his head. "I'm the only one that can apparently."

"But he has a voice? I could have sworn I heard him speak before."

"He doesn't talk much." Jackal frowned. "It hurts to speak."

"Strange. Anyway, I'll see you when we head planet side, Lieutenant. Hopefully you'll be more relaxed then."

"No. I'm not done." He said to Fenris as she walked away.

Mjolnir and Yaaranam chatted on the way down to the planet. They shared a few stories of battle. How they got some scars and how they triumphed against the odds. Then they discussed the plan. She had no idea if her father ever came here. She knew of the colony and knew that many traitors flocked there. It took too much time to reach typically, so the eldiravan never bothered to come out this far.

There were rumors of a group of people here that helped AWOL soldiers with new identities and new jobs outside of the eldiravan empires.

Yaaranam felt they had a good chance at finding a trail. She hoped so anyway.

Large trees were used as buildings and homes, though most were not big enough for the glurone who were big, four legged creatures with two prehensile appendages in place of a nose. They lived in tent like structures well reinforced to withstand the winds.

Yaaranam asked around if anyone saw someone matching the description of her father. Not good at pulling on heartstrings, she failed to stir any emotion to help her cause. As far as they were concerned, she was going to kill the man she was looking for, or bring him back for execution.

After getting nowhere for an hour, Jackal finally piped up with an idea.

"Y'know the Black Wolves paint their sigil on walls and buildings. Maybe there's something similar here?"

"I have noticed an interesting sign cropping up throughout the town." Mjolnir stated.

"Really? I haven't noticed anything like that." Yaaranam said.

"It's a hammer and a wing." He scratched his beard. "There's a gray one over there."

They nearly missed it. Both looked for something gray, but what they found was something red. It blended into the bark of the tree like any other stray mark. The hammer and a wing crudely painted by hand.

"It's red," Jackal said.

"Looks more brown for me." Yaaranam stated.

"It's obviously gray." Mjolnir frowned.

"Wait." All four of her ears folded back. "Don't you see ultraviolet?" She pointed at the ardrizi.

"Oh! You're right. You guys don't see that spectrum, do you?"

Jackal put his palm to his face. "How could we forget? This is basic."

Yaaranam laughed. "I'm sorry, I'm not used to dealing with other races." She gave a soft, toothy smile. "I never took political classes. Humans have quite limited vision, don't you?"

"I'm not sure." Jackal shrugged. "Naturally, we're somewhere in the middle."

"We see closer to longer waves," she nodded.

"Why don't we see where the sigil leads?" Mjolnir suggested.

"Which way do we go? There's not exactly an arrow there." Jackal said.

"I see another one over there." He pointed.

"Maybe that's the trick!" Yaaranam started ahead.

When they reached the next one, they