Chapter 72

Onaria did her best not to flinch. The voice tried to warn her. Told her to slow down. But when she heard the rushing of water, she'd hiked ahead, eager to have a bath.

She never expected the man who attacked her. He sprang from nowhere and, before she could scream, had his arm around her body, a knife at her throat.

He held her to his chest and shouted, "I have your wife."

Jool - not the same man she'd met ages ago in a city, but a fellow wearing his face with a harder physique and attitude - stepped into view, empty hands held away from his sides. "What do you want, Niimmo?"

Having heard the story of how this man tried to kill her husband, she trembled.

"I'm going to need the gears you put in your body. Hers, too." The nonchalance belied the severity of his request.

"I'm afraid we can't do that. You know we'll die without them."