Ricko Daggerheart's Arc

Chapter 10 of 18

The camp lay quiet under the full moon. Tomorrow they would ride for the wall and the tunnels beneath it. Ricko lay in his tent and stared at the canvas. Sleep would not come. His cut forearm itched where Kelli's blade had marked him. He heard the ropes creak in the wind and the lizards shift on their tethers. Somewhere in the dark, Kelli could not sleep either. He knew it the way the pack had known things, without words. Ricko left his tent and crossed the cold sand. The palms stood black against the sky. He stopped at Kelli's tent, the one with the weathered fabric and taut ropes. He should have turned back. Instead he pushed the flap aside and stepped in. Kelli sat cross-legged, her knife on her knee, braid loose. She did not jump. She had heard him coming. "You should sleep," she said. "Slow partners get us killed. You taught me that." "You said it to me," Ricko answered. "And you're awake too." She set the knife down. In the dark her eyes caught the moonlight through the flap. Ricko crouched across from her. His heart pounded the way it had on the training field, close and sudden. He did not look away. "I've fought beside people before," he said. "I buried all of them. I told myself I wouldn't care about anyone again." He touched the cut on his arm. "Then you put me on the ground three times and chose me anyway. I've grown fond of you, Kelli. More than fond." For a breath she said nothing. The wind pushed the canvas. Then she laughed, low, the same surprised laugh from the sand. "You take a hit to land one. In fights and in this." She reached out and pressed her palm flat on his chest, over his drumming heart. "Fool hyena." She did not pull away. Ricko did not either. He leaned in and she met him. The kiss was quick and hard, like everything she did. When she drew back, her hand stayed on his chest. "Here's the trouble," she said. Her voice dropped. "Tomorrow I guide you under the wall. If I'm watching your face instead of the dark, I'll miss a guard. I'll get us both killed." She took her hand back. "I can lead you through those tunnels cold. I don't know if I can lead you through them like this." Ricko understood. He had wanted to close the gap, and he had. Now the gap was closed, and it put the whole heist at risk. The sultan's jewel waited past a passage only Kelli knew. "Then we fight cold," he said. "Both of us. Until it's done." Kelli studied him in the dark. She nodded once, and he saw it cost her. "Until it's done," she said. "After, we'll see what's left." She picked up her knife. "Now go. Sleep if you can. The moon won't wait." Ricko left her tent. He had won what he wanted and made the morning harder.