The spine crests of the warrior facing her quivered aggressively as his lips pulled back from needle-sharp teeth in a grimace above the beet red spine descending from his chin. Unlike the other spines, which turned red only in shows of sexual arousal, the facial apex spine was naturally red, the length and hue of it often signaling a male’s virility. The male facing her had a five-inch scarlet spine dropping from his chin, and Frankie would bet anything that he’d risk his left nut to keep it intact.
If he had a left nut. She hadn’t paid enough attention to Agraak reproductive anatomy while she was studying the species.
She tracked the movement of his hand as he brought the narrow end of his rifle down, swinging at her wrist, seeking to disable her shield. As his arms dropped, she brought her saber up, fully initiating its laser blade. Stepping to the side, she followed through, swinging her blade in exact precision as she lopped the tip of his facial spine. The male recoiled with a bark of alarm as he let out an ear-piercing shriek. Frankie stepped back as he stumbled back in surprise, drawing up her plasma rifle the moment that there was safe proximity between them.
Without hesitation, she fired her blaster, the bolt taking him to the ground with a blood-curdling cry. She didn’t know if she killed him, but the stench of burned flesh and the horrible way he twitched were enough. She whirled around in time to fire off several more rounds as she skidded over to a low wall and ducked behind it. Her eyes scanned the crowd every time she peeked out and exchanged shots, desperately trying to pick out any sign of her crew.
All she could see was a hostile sea of warriors. Every now and then, she’d see one of her allies surge up with a battle cry before he was taken low. A VaDorok roared in the distance to her left as he was brought crashing down by a dozen Agraak even as Grish succumbed, falling to the ground beneath the weight of several males who leaped upon him.
She could only hear Rodriguez as he shouted her name.
“Martins!”
He called it again, but she couldn’t pinpoint his location.
Frankie squeezed her eyes shut and fired another round, pushing back her terror. She’d been in plenty of combat situations since joining the Fleet, but few had been as savage as this. The Agraak were attacking with an almost crazed fervor, blood splattering everywhere, sounds of pain and fury echoing around her.
At least the warriors seemed more inclined to painfully disable their opponents rather than envenomate them unlike the civilian youths. Several of her combat unit might end up severely injured, but she only hoped that most would make it out alive from the battle.
She froze as she felt the muzzle of a weapon press against the back of her neck. Frankie cursed. She hadn’t heard anyone come up behind her. Another Agraak moved into her line of vision, his nostrils expanding as he crouched closer. The spines of his crest between his dark braids began to blush with sexual interest.
With a snap of his hand, he yanked her helmet off and tossed it aside, his other arm bringing his weapon against her head. The world spun and she sagged before she was pulled back upright, her weapon wrenched painfully out of her arms, and yanked back once more against the blaster. She didn’t dare move as it pressed against her spine. She was forced to watch through blurred vision as the male crouched lower, his face dropping by her jaw as he inhaled her scent.
A low growl rumbled forth and he pulled away.
“Female,” he rasped. “I claim you as my spoils of this battle.”
He reached for her, but as his hand approached it was ripped away from his body at the same time the weapon at her neck was jerked away. She could feel the heat of the weapon as it fired harmless into the air just behind her head even as dual male howls of agony screamed around her. Several loud crunches permanently ended the cries.
Wiping away the blood on her face, she breathed a sigh of relief. Exeri stood over the corpse of the Agraak warrior who’d threatened her. Another of his packmates slipped from behind her with a limp. Both males looked at her, their ears tipping toward her.
“I... I’m fine,” she croaked.
Exeri suddenly dropped into a crouch in front of her.
“Frankiee, female, go. They capture us for their use against the Council. You will not be shown such consideration. Flee.”
He shot to his feet and turned as the other male yelped and fell to the ground from a projectile dart fired at him.
“Go!” Exeri snarled at her as he turned away and leaped back into the fray.
She didn’t want to leave the battle. She wanted to help her squad. But she knew he was right. Her protection was gone. The spray had worn off and every male among the slowly gaining enemy would easily scent her the moment they came close enough.
She stumbled away from the square into a lower street, her hand steadying her against the wall as she hobbled away from the battle. The world swam dizzyingly around her, spinning like a kaleidoscope.
She shied back when she saw Agraak males approach her. One wore long robes and the other wore a simple loincloth cinched at his hips. Her ears buzzed so loudly that she couldn’t make out the words they exchanged. But the male on the left, rippling in and out of focus—breaking frequently into double forms in a nauseating fashion—surged forward to capture her just before she dropped to the ground.
Frankie stretched out a hand and for a moment the image of the male sliding in out of focus coalesced into a singular strong, dark face marred with a concerned frown before darkness consumed her vision and the world dropped away, taking him with it.
Chapter 7
The priest looked up from where he sat at the female’s side, a damp cloth in one hand and med scanner in the other. His faded eyes bore an expression of concern and the pale hue of his pigment spoke of the male’s age that seemed to weigh upon him in recent revolutions. Kaede stepped closer, glancing down at the unconscious female. A strange sensation stirred in his breast.
“Kaede, it is good of you to come.”
“How is she?”
“Better over the last turning. According to my scans, she should wake soon. Perhaps by early evening.”
Kaede stepped away from the small form sleeping on the pallet.
“Have you had any luck reuniting her with her crew?”
Long braids crimped with metal clanked as the priest rose to his feet.
“I am not certain that is the wisest recourse.”
Kaede’s brow dipped in confusion and the priest chuckled.
“Her people are spread out in shelters throughout the city, most of them manned by young, lonely males. Do you think it serves her best interest throwing her in amid them, even if it reunites her with some of her crew?”
“No,” Kaede agreed. “The males will hound her, even if well-meaning.”
“Precisely. This is why I have not told anyone she is here with us. But she cannot stay here. Some of the males among the brethren are uncomfortable with her presence, young Dremek included, who just recently came of age.”
“You have summoned me for a reason, Priest Crix. What would you have me do?”
Crix raised a hand in objection.
“You were the first I thought of, Kaede, and you were the one who found her. You seemed determined to keep the female safe. I thought perhaps you would be more comfortable being the one to hide her away. Whichever male does will have to remain with her, caring for her in the depths of the swamp. Whether that male is you or another is entirely up to you. But know this, Kaede; there is no way to know how long you will be isolated with her. Getting word to the other members of the Fleet will not be easy with the comm lockdown in recent revolutions.”
Kaede opened his mouth, prepared to tell the priest that he had too many responsibilities that he couldn’t abandon, but he could not utter the words. The idea of another male in his place filled him with distaste. She brought to his mind the image of the honorable human who aided him in the facility.
“No, I will care for her. My responsibilities...”
“They can wait.
You do great good here, but now she needs you. Through you, perhaps we can be redeemed in some small part for the atrocities that have been and are being committed upon other human females by our species.”
“Very well. I will return just before nightfall for the female.” He spun away to head toward the stairwell that would take him to the temple entrance on the floor above them.
The priest inclined his head and then paused. “Oh, and Kaede?”
Kaede stopped at the door and turned his head. “Yes?”
“You are an honorable devotee and great friend to our cause. Your compassion is great.”
“Thank you, Crix,” Kaede said, bowing his head to the priest, honored by the praise.
“But sometimes you are a bit... unapproachable to those who don’t know you. It may be best if you make an effort to be more friendly with this human. You will be stuck with only each other for company for a long time.”
Kaede grimaced as he left the room. His thoughts were in turmoil as he left the temple for the hidden streets beneath the city. He wasn’t known for his social skills. Although his mother had drilled into him rudimentary social graces, he wasn’t by nature an expressive Agraak. Since his father’s death, he hadn’t known much of affection and kindness. Unless he were lucky enough to find the ancestral tribe, there wouldn’t be anything else for a great many days but the two of them.
The idea sparked in his mind. The tribes.
For some time, he’d had the idea to search for the tribes for help in overthrowing the ruling families. The tribes, even the ancestral tribe of Aminae, were elusive and had refrained from contact since the time of the erection of the dome-cities. The tribes had retreated then with warnings about the madness of abandoning ancestral roots.
His responsibilities had kept him from searching the deep swamplands for them, but if he was going to be there with the human, he had a chance to look for his father’s grandmother’s kin. During her lifetime, she never spoke of where her tribe was located. All he knew was that she’d met her mate at an unknown waterfall that she’d called Amwalee.
All he had to do was find the waterfall and he would know that he was going the right direction. In discovering the whereabouts of the tribe, he would not only potentially gain allies, but also find a suitable family to leave the human in the care of. He would then be able to return with his kin to Aminae that he may fight and see with his own eyes the fall of the noble house of the Western Province.
Kaede smiled as he emerged onto the main street of the lower district. Caring for the human would be a minor inconvenience that he could bear until then. Tossing a credit marker to a youth leaning on the wall of a small courtyard for his service, Kaede made his way into the garden where his flyer was hidden. If all went well, the female would be secure, and he would be on his way back to the city with warriors within days.
Chapter 8
The first thing Frankie noticed was the smell of leather and parchment beneath a strange bittersweet musk perfume that bore a bite of citrus. It was so strong that she could almost detect the aftertaste of lemon meringue on her tongue. The low whispered growl of voices was the next thing she became aware of.
Where was she?
Frankie opened her eyes, the light of the room blurring and swinging as her belly rolled nauseously. She took several deep breaths and waited for the room to stop spinning and come into focus.
A loud sound to her right preceded the pale green face that came into view. White braids hung down over his shoulders as he leaned over her. Frankie wanted to shrink away from the Agraak, uncertain of his intentions but was surprised at the dispassionate, almost clinical, prodding she received. Dry, thick fingers pushed her eyelids up as he peered into her eyes, his faded yellow gaze narrowed thoughtfully.
A small light was flashed into her eye and she winced, a headache beating behind her eyes. He grunted as if satisfied and lightly tapped her cheek.
“You seem to have recovered, human.”
His face wrinkled into a mellow smile as his hand drew away and he stepped to her side, one arm bracing under her as he helped her sit up. For a terrible moment she thought she was going to be sick, but then her stomach settled, and she looked around the room.
Wherever she was appeared to be subterranean and weathered with age. The walls that had obviously been once brightly colored with murals were faded and cracked, but she could still make out the figures of Agraak males and females in what seemed to be simple variations of their traditional garb.
Many of the murals seemed to depict a female who, rather than wearing a full lipini dress, wore something more of what she would call an extended dupar with a high waist that cinched just below her breasts. In several scenes, she appeared to be holding out bowls of water or food. In others she held a long sword as she faced a number of warriors with her hand upraised.
What struck Frankie was that the Agraak in all the scenes had long, curling green tails.
The elder turned his head, his ornamented braids clinking softly as he looked over at the mosaic. He hummed in his throat and nodded as he filled a cup from a pitcher sitting near her cot.
“You see our ancestress, Agmuk the Amin.”
Experimentally, Frankie licked her lips. Her mouth felt sticky. The elder pressed a cup to her lips and she gratefully took a long drink before she tried her voice.
“Amin? That isn’t translating for some reason.”
The elder chuckled and set the cup she returned to him back down beside a pitcher.
“It is a word from the old language. Amin means merciful. Aminae was named for her as the city of mercy. Not that you would know it by the state of things in recent generations.” He clicked his tongue against his teeth and shook his head, sadness weighing down his features.
“Where am I? Where is my team?”
“We found you at the edge of the market and removed you once we understood the danger you were in. An unclaimed human female in Agraadax would have triggered a most unwelcome response in many of our unmated young males. No doubt several of the Union forces were taken prisoner, but many others who could be rescued have been smuggled away like yourself in alcoves spread through the city. The Imperial House claims that they are returning the soldiers they captured, but we are not so gullible as they like to think we are.”
“What do you mean? The Imperial House would harm representatives of the Intergalactic Council? That would be tantamount to a declaration of war.”
She tried not to scoff but the entire thing was so absurd. Her laughter died in her throat at the solemn look the elder gave her.
“They will claim that your warriors attacked first and that it was in defense of their young civilian males. They are adept at skewing vid footage for their benefit. All the Union will see is the condition of the square before the Agraak warriors arrived and young males being beaten back. How easy would this be to repudiate, especially if there were no surviving witnesses off Agraadax?”
He was right. If there were no one left to give witness account, the Imperial House could make almost anything up and it would be another endless investigation. Her heart ached at the possibility of losing her teammates. Rodriguez, Borth, Grish, Emagul, and Mi’yar had become important fixtures in her life. The idea of any of them being executed tore at her. The Arobi she had no doubt would be enslaved.
There would be no one to tell the tale of what really happened.
“I don’t understand. Why risk yourselves to help us?”
“Some of us keep close to our hearts the memory of what our race used to be. We will hide your people away however long it takes until we can find a way to get them off Agraadax. We will provide sanctuary. However, you need to leave Aminae. You will not be safe here. A female is too much of a temptation.”
“Where will I go?” The words escaped her as a pained whisper. She worried for her friends, who may be forced to live in captivity for years before they’d be able to escape, but she feared for her safety too. If she had no sanctuar
y in the dome-city, what else was there?
“Kaede will take you into hiding. He knows the outer swamps better than most of us. He has the ability to brave the deeper swamplands of our ancestors to hide you where no one will find you. He has a coded comm that connects directly to the main temple here.”
“Who’s Kaede?”
A loud bang from outside the small chapel room followed on the heels of her words. It was so unexpected that she jumped a little, but the elder didn’t so much as twitch. Instead, he smiled.
“That would be Kaede, I imagine.”
The sound of heavy footsteps on stone thumped closer, and Frankie’s heart felt like it was going to burst out of her chest with every footfall. That was Kaede? Whoever was walking toward them sounded humongous. She couldn’t help the dread that filled her, an instinctive urge to flee.
The elder continued to go about his tasks unconcerned, his light robe rustled with his movements, but the footsteps became louder as they neared the door. Her heart picked up like a jackhammer and her muscles quivered with the rush of adrenaline flooding her system. Finally, the heavy door in front of her slowly creaked open and a large dark silhouette filled the doorway. He didn’t move, but she could see the glint of yellow eyes in the dark.
“Come in, Kaede. Our guest is awake.”
“Priest Crix,” a voice from the shadows rumbled. “That is welcome information.”
A large male stepped into the room. It had been no wonder that she had trouble seeing him in the dark doorway. He was a shade of green so dark that it came just shy of black, like the dark striations on malachite. His coloring seemed only a hair lighter around the bridge of his nose and running down to his jaw, drawing her attention like an arrow to a long red facial apex spine. It was easily as thick as two of her fingers put together and nearly seven inches long.
Heart of the Agraak Page 5
