Moonrise ✔ [Complete]

48 Beauty (Part 1)

Reo was losing his mind.

After the Nomenian gunships had managed to subdue the first Wobeck strike, two rescue transport crafts landed on the outskirts of the Beran village. They had only minutes before more Wobeck would arrive. Men and women garbed in Nomenian green colors sprinted out from the aircrafts to provide aid.

Reo cast a wary glance at the foreign soldiers as they hurried the villagers on board. One Nomenian ran past him, and Reo noticed that on her left chest, she bore the ancient crest of the Nomenian kingdom--a crown encircling the hilt of a sword. There was no mark of the Iron Prophet.

The Nomenians acknowledged Reo when they saw his battlesuit, which they understood designated him as a celestial. But he ignored them all as he entered one of the transport planes and procured a spare satchel and an assault rifle.

There was only one thing that drove him insane with worry.

For the past half hour, all that Reo could see replaying in his mind was Maeyune as she was tossed into the air and over the cliff. He had run to the edge to find her, to catch her with his power, but she'd fallen into the river and had not surfaced again.

Too much time had passed since then. She was without her powers, unarmed and alone. There was a chance she was hurt—or worse.

No, he refused to consider it.

He had stepped off the transport craft again, when a hand clapped on his shoulder and prevented him from leaving. He glared at the young man who held him back.

Reo saw from the young man's bedraggled uniform that he was a Nomenian captain, perhaps only two or three years older. Reo stood roughly two inches taller, but the captain was broader in build.

"You must be the Sun Prince," the captain said with a cheerful grin.

Impatient, Reo shouldered his pack. "Feel free to wait in line for an autograph."

He turned, intent on leaving.

"Where's your Moon Princess?"

Reo paused at the captain's words. He turned again to frown at him. "Moon Princess?"

The captain's eyes scanned the heads around them. "She likes it when I call her that. You know, the pretty, mysterious Suolani girl, your Moon God incarnate--"

"You know Maeyune?"

The captain smiled. "Well, I'd love to get to know her better."

Reo clenched his jaw. He didn't have time for this. "Maeyune fell into the river, and I am leaving to find her."

His words drained all the humor from the captain's face.  "We need to send a search team," the captain insisted.

Reo was ready to refute, but he realized that the more eyes he had, the better chance there was of finding Maeyune. He disliked the idea of bringing the Nomenain captain along--particularly because of some familiarity between the moon warrior and this man--but it was nothing compared to the concern he felt for her safety.