Free Elemental by Emily White

This
wasn’t right. I could tell Meir was trying to hide something from
me. There was no reason for us to be stopped so long. I didn’t dare
move as we waited what seemed like hours. Instead, I stayed tight
against his chest, feeling his hot, unsteady breath pour across my
scalp, saturating my hair.
    More time passed… slowly. Too slowly.
Eventually, my knees began to shake and I leaned my full weight
against Meir, letting him support me. His arms tightened around me
in response.
    The ship wobbled for a couple beats, and
then steadied. I dug my head into Meir’s chest to keep from
screaming.
    He stroked my hair. “It’s okay. We’ll be all
right,” he repeated.
    I wanted to believe he was right, but…
    The intercom crackled to life. “This is
Inter-Planetary Escort Malik Abad-i. Submit your code,
Tarmean.”
    Meir set me on my cot and went over to the
keypad. The door slid open and Malik walked through. I stifled a
whimper when I saw his ashen face.
    Malik looked back and forth between the two
of us before finally resting his gaze on Meir. He nodded toward the
far corner of the room and walked away. As we followed him, I noted
with some satisfaction that my stomach had decided to give me a
break. My racing heart, on the other hand, was a different story.
The blood it sent rushing to my head made me dizzy and I leaned on
Meir’s arm for support as we wove our way through the labyrinth of
crates.
    When we had reached the back wall, Malik
turned to face us and leaned in to whisper, “Not good.”
    My heart decided to use my stomach as a
springboard as it jumped into my throat.
    “What’s wrong?” Meir remained composed. That
was good. Someone needed to.
    “Do you remember what I told you earlier?
About… ships?” He raised one eyebrow.
    Meir nodded.
    “They’re following us.”
    “Why?” He said it slowly, drawing it out.
“The Luminarium?”
    “We’re not sure. Maybe, but it seems
unlikely. From what our sensors can pick up, their propulsion
systems are not Luminarium-based.” He paused, likely pondering how
much information he was willing to disclose in front of me. “This
freighter is as fast as any Mamood Star Class warship, but they’re
gaining on us.”
    Meir murmured something underneath his
breath.
    I looked up to read his face. He was pulling
at his beard and the crease between his brows had returned. The
gesture surprised me, actually. I had expected much worse news.
Already, I could detect the acceleration of the ship. We were
leaving.
    Honestly, who cared if we were being
followed? My concern was the Mamood, not a couple mystery
ships.
    But Meir seemed worried, and that was enough
to keep me from breathing a sigh of relief. Malik, too, was very
much on edge. His eyes were restless as they shifted from Meir and
me to the open door at the front of the cargo hold. Even after all
that we’d gone through, I’d never seen him this upset. He couldn’t
seem to stop fidgeting. It was like he couldn’t decide if he should
stay with us or leave.
    “As worrisome as all that is,” Malik said,
“we’ve actually got bigger problems.”
    I should’ve known. I dropped my head against
Meir’s arm and sighed.
    Malik ignored my little theatrics, and
continued, “The spaceport’s Delsa-Prime is on the Meridian with us. He insisted on accompanying us with two of his fighters.
‘Protection,’ as he called it.”
    When I looked up again, Meir’s lips were
drawn into a tight line. “Not good.”
    “I’ll think of something. The man’s not all
that bright.” He smirked. “Money only bought him the position, not
the know-how to wield it.”
    He started walking back to the door, leaving
Meir and me alone and dumbstruck. Before he got halfway through the
room, Malik turned around and whispered, “I won’t come back here
again until we dock. Don’t worry about anything until then. Like I
said, I’ll think of something.” His dark robes swirled around his
ankles as he turned and left us. The