The Ruins of Karzelek (The Mandrake Company series Book 4) by Ruby Lionsdrake

watched the dark skyline, but he didn’t engage in the banter or move from Kalish’s shoulder. During a brief quiet moment between laser fire and explosives, he nodded to her and said, “Once the danger is past, I’ll patch up your wound. You doing all right for now? Not hurting too much?”
    “ It’s not bad,” she said.
    He glanced down at the splotches of blood darkening the pale soil all around her. Maybe she shouldn’t have looked. There was more of it than she would have expected, especially since her shirt and jacket had to be absorbing quite a bit. His blatant concern and protectiveness made her feel guilty about lashing out at him. It wasn’t his fault he had been lying on that cot while she had been blathering to her mother. If she had wanted to have a private conversation she could have done it outside. Although, now that she knew what lived outside, she wouldn’t be in a hurry to go anywhere by herself out here. She had investigated the underground creatures they might face while flying through the caverns, but had done a poor job researching the species that inhabited the surface of the planet—maybe the twenty-foot-high wall the miners had around their compound had more to do with keeping the wildlife out than with thwarting spies.
    Sedge sneezed, then rolled his eyes at himself. His earlier medicine must have worn off.
    “ Glad the LT is doing his part to keep us safe,” Striker said. “Planning to scare off our attackers with his nostril horns.”
    Sedge clenched his jaw, but didn’t otherwise respond to the teasing. Kalish had an urge to insult Striker back, or at least tell him to pay attention to what he was doing, but another screech sounded first, this one from behind them. She and Sedge spun at the same time, raising their pistols. A dark, scaly figure with four powerfully muscled legs leaped over their heads toward Tick and Striker. Kalish shot the creature’s underbelly at the same time as Sedge blasted at its throat. Its attack screech turned into a cry of pain.
    Tick and Striker jumped to the side, whirling in the air to blast it.
    “ Look out,” Sedge barked, pointing behind them. Two more predators sprang out from behind boulders and raced toward the men’s backs.
    Kalish couldn’t shoot at the animals, not without hitting Tick or Striker. The first creature landed, wounded but not killed by her and Sedge’s laser blasts. The two men had moved to avoid it as it dropped, but it whipped a thick tail around, smacking Striker in the back and knocking him to the ground. Tick looked like he wanted to help, but he had dropped to one knee and was firing at the two racing toward the group.
    While Kalish was trying to find a target she could shoot without worrying about hitting any of her allies, a spacecraft flew out of the night, brilliant white lights illuminating the camp like a noon sun. A new terror clutched her heart, the fear that Striker’s grenades had allowed the miners to locate them. She almost jerked her pistol up toward the craft, but the lights were blinding her, keeping from seeing it, not that a handheld weapon would have done anything against a spacecraft. Besides, the predators were the more immediate threat.
    She had no sooner had the thought than the ship’s laser cannons fired.
    Kalish stumbled backward, her shoulder blades thumping into the boulder. She envisioned the entire camp and everyone in it blowing up. But the bursts of energy were short and precise, taking first one predator in the side and then the other. The third one had already fallen to Sedge’s steady fire. Striker had scrambled to his feet, another grenade in his hand, but he had nothing to throw it at.
    “ Alpha squadron, this is Commander Thatcher,” came a calm voice over the mercenaries’ comm-patches. “I do not detect further lifeforms around the tent that are capable of attacking. Please clear the area so our shuttles have room to land.”
    The bright beams shifted in another