Conquered by the Alien Warrior

by Hope Hart

  Water drips down the walls toward the back of the cave, but the front is dry and—if I can build a fire—should allow us to stay relatively warm.

  From the small pile of furs on one side of the cave, I’d say it’s been used as a hunting cave by one or more of the Braxian tribes near here—likely why there are no animals to be seen.

  My shoulders slump as I blow out a breath, and I walk back to where the mishua is being surprisingly patient as she waits.

  “Korzyn?”

  I keep my voice low, but I shake the commander. He groans, and I poke him until he manages to crack open one eye.

  I gasp.

  The white surrounding his silver eyes has turned bright red. He lifts his head slightly, and I curse.

  His nose is bleeding.

  It’s just a little blood, but from his condition, it’s evident that whatever poison he was given is fast acting.

  I’ve lost too many people. I refuse to lose any more. Even the commander who drives me insane.

  “Get off the mishua,” I order.

  “Leave me.”

  “I can’t until you’re in the cave.”

  His movements are painstakingly slow, but I manage to get him off the mishua, where he collapses to the ground. Anxiety makes my voice sharp.

  “Get up.”

  “I thought there would be peace in death.”

  “You thought wrong. Let’s go. I don’t have all day.”

  I urge him to his feet, although I’m almost carrying him as we move into the cave.

  “You know, this is the second time I’m saving your dumb ass.”

  He lets out a weak laugh at the reminder of the way I saved his life in the marketplace. I brought him the head of the Zinta that stabbed him, and my cousin almost threw up at the sight. Next, I’d love to get my hands on whoever decided to poison our food.

  But revenge plans are for later.

  “I saved you too, vicious female. You were wandering alone and bleeding through the forest when Arix and Vivian were attacked.” He lets out a low growl at the thought.

  “That’s different. I’d already taken care of the asshole who thought he could hold me hostage, and I was making my way back to the castle. Duck,” I say as we get to the cave entrance.

  He lowers his head, falling to his knees as soon as we’re in the cave. I’d prefer for him to be further inside, but he’s once again unconscious.

  If I don’t find that plant, he’s dead.

  I leave the mishua tied to a tree. I’ll need to find water for her later. Actually, since we can’t trust our own rations, I’ll need to find water for all of us.

  I stalk through the forest. After Zoey taught me about ortar—a plant used as an antiseptic—I pointed to a plant sitting by the sun in her poison kradi. “What’s that?” I asked, and Zoey smiled.

  “That’s the only hope for anyone who happens to ingest one of my poisons.”

  Which means it’s the only hope for Korzyn as well.

  I crouch, examining a group of plants pressed up against the trunk of a tree. I’m looking for a plant with leaves so dark they’re almost black. The underside of the leaves are distinctive—with light- and dark-green stripes.

  I can do this. I just have to go to the empty place inside myself where there’s nothing except logic.

  That empty place is why it’s likely I seemed cold and unfeeling when everyone else was falling apart on that ship. I wasn’t unaffected by our circumstances. I was just already attempting to figure out how the fuck we were going to survive. I didn’t have time to fall apart.

  And you don’t have time now, so get moving.

  My hands are shaking as I lean down and check under the leaves of a plant that’s similar to the one I need. Zoey told me the name in Braxian, and it’s almost unpronounceable, but I’ve mentally dubbed it the zebra plant.

  An animal rustles nearby, and I take out my knife again. I’m a city girl through and through, and the sounds of the forest put me on edge. There are all kinds of critters out here, many of them with sharp teeth, scary claws, and/or deadly poison.

  I bend again, using my knife to push up the leaf of a plant so I can check beneath it. Zoey taught me not to touch anything I don’t recognize. God, I wish she were here now.

  I wish anyone were here now. If the commander dies…

  Head. In. The. Game.

  The forest floor is beginning to rise in an incline, and I peer through some of the trees at a large hill. If I can climb up the hill, I can try to get the lay of the land. Hopefully, I can use it to figure out where the Dokhalls are.

  But first, the plant.

  Zoey said it tends to grow near the base of the white trees, so I begin focusing my attention there. I don’t know how long it’s been when I finally find what I’m looking for, but triumph floods my body.

  I dig up the plant, brushing off the roots. I need to boil the roots in water and then make Korzyn drink the water, or he’s toast.

  Water. I can hear the bubbling of a stream close by, but I’ll need to find something to boil the water in first.

  I clutch the zebra plant in my hand. The poison struck so fast…

  I walk as quickly—and as quietly—as I can through the forest and back toward the cave.

  The sun is already going down, and I’m panting when I get back. I give the mishua a pat on the head as I find a small pot for cooking in one of Korzyn’s saddlebags. I spin around and head back toward the area where I heard the water before crouching on the side of the stream and filling the pot.

  I carry it back to the cave and almost drop it as I stare down the commander.

  At some point, he stripped off his shirt, displaying smooth muscle and golden, tan skin. I can’t help but examine the scales across his chest and shoulders. The blue-green marks him as a descendent of dragons, reminding me how different we are.

  And yet my hands itch to stroke those scales.

  Whoa. Obviously, stress and exhaustion are getting the best of me.

  I force my gaze back up to his pale face, letting out a rough curse. He looks…dead.

  I lean my face close to his.

  “Still breathing,” he mutters. “Or were you hoping to kiss me before I died?”

  I jerk away, my face coloring. “I was trying to see if it was worth wasting my time saving your useless life,” I snap.

  His eyes are still closed, but the hint of a smile plays around his mouth. He may look worse than he ever has, but at least he’s regained consciousness.

  “Rest now ’cause soon you’ll be drinking this water like your life depends on it.”

  Because it does.

  He ignores that, falling back to sleep, but his breath is shallow and uneven. It hitches occasionally, and I find myself listening for him to take the next breath, and the next.

  I force myself to back away and get to work making a fire. It takes a few trips to find the right kind of wood, and I mentally high-five myself for buying the expensive fire-starting coils I found in the marketplace.

  Within about half an hour, I have the water boiling, and I put some clean water aside for me to drink later. Then I drop the roots of the zebra plant into the rest of the water to let it steep. The roots are a dark red, and they stain the water until it looks like blood.

  Gross.

  I check on the commander again. He’s shivering, but his forehead is damp with sweat.

  Fever.

  I can’t wait any longer.

  I take the water off the fire, dipping a cup into it. It feels like it takes forever for it to cool down enough to drink, but as soon as it’s no longer scalding, I shove one of the commander’s saddlebags beneath his head so he can sit up.

  “Korzyn?”

  No reply.

  Roaring fills my ears.

  “You don’t get to check out after I’ve gone to so much effort to keep you alive,” I snap. “Open your damn eyes.”

  I cajole. I whine. I attempt to pour some of the water down his throat, bu
t he starts choking.

  “Come on, Korzyn. Please.”

  He cracks open his eyes, and they’re so red they match the color of the water.

  “Never…thought I’d hear…you say…please. Must…be…dying.”

  “Yeah, yeah. You’re not dying. Now hurry up and drink this.”

  I make him drink most of the water. He attempts to stop, and I threaten to pour it over his head.

  He glowers at me, but his color is slightly better when we finish. Is his breathing more even as he closes his eyes?

  I’m exhausted. I feed the mishua, drink some of the clean water I put aside, and curl up next to the commander, watching his chest rise and fall.

  Chapter Five

  Sarissa

  The aliens jeer at us, poking their sticks through the bars. We fight over space as we all attempt to flatten ourselves against the wall, but we know how this ends.

  We’ve been on this ship for days, and it appears our captors are bored because they’ve decided we’re their entertainment.

  “Dance, human, dance!”

  Blaire bares her teeth. “Fuck you.”

  This makes one of the purple aliens incensed. He slams his palm print on the screen by the door as if ready to come into the cage and drag her out.

  I step to the front of the group. If he comes in this cage, I’ll rip out his throat with my bare hands. From the expression on some of the other women’s faces, they’re thinking the exact same thing as me.

  One of the other aliens pulls him away from the palm screen.

  The first alien lashes out. He reaches his stick between the bars, catching Kelly in the shoulder. The expression on his face is savage as she screams, falling to the ground with a smell like burning hair. The other aliens pull him away, but the damage has been done. I slump to my knees, my brain going blank as I stare at the beautiful young life that has just been snuffed out for no reason at all.

  The aliens are fighting amongst themselves, with one of them screaming and waving his hands at the bastard who just killed Kelly. A door opens, and all the other aliens go silent as the one who is clearly the leader walks down the steps. He takes one look at Kelly lying dead in our cage, and he gestures at the alien next to the one who killed her. I’m so numb I can’t even feel happy when the alien who killed Kelly is killed in front of us as well. I turn my back on all of them as women erupt into sobs around me.

  The aliens leave us alone with Kelly’s body. One of the women next to me looks like she must only be sixteen or seventeen. She curls up into a ball on the floor, rocking herself as she whispers something under her breath over and over again. I lean closer.

  “We’re going to die, we’re going to die, we’re going to die.”

  My heart breaks for her. I was seventeen once. And while life wasn’t good, it certainly wasn’t this hell.

  “Hey there, what’s your name?”

  She glances at me, still repeating her words on a loop. “Winter,” she says. “We’re all going to die.”

  I survey the cage, the pale faces, the trauma clear in everyone’s eyes. And I get to my feet.

  “Listen up,” I say. “What just happened to Kelly should never have happened. She deserved to live. We all deserve to live. We need to play this smart. They want us to dance? We’ll do a fucking jig if that’s what it takes. We are going to get out of here alive, and when we do, we are going to make the Grivath pay for everything they’ve done to us. And we’re not going to stop there. We’re going after these purple bastards. Humans are no longer going to be sitting ducks. They may have taken us unaware, but I promise you, if we work together, this will be just another shitty memory we bury under our beds with all the others.”

  “And how, exactly, are we going to do that?” a voice pipes up.

  “We need to make plans. So far, all we’ve done is be victims. And that’s okay while we’re stuck in the stupid cage. But it won’t always be like this. These bastards want to sell us, which means that one day, we’re walking out of this cage. And we need to be ready. Who’s with me?”

  I jolt awake, certain I can still smell the unwashed bodies of the other women around me. But it’s another scent that fills my nostrils, a masculine scent. I sit up, examining the commander’s face. He’s still so pale he looks like a corpse, but when I place the back of my hand against his forehead, it seems as if his fever isn’t quite so high. He’s no longer shivering anyway.

  “Korzyn,” I say, but he doesn’t respond. Well, at least he’s still alive.

  The light in the cave is dim, and I roll to my feet, my entire body aching. I wander out of the cave and check on the mishua, who eyes me, obviously displeased with her situation. I refill her water and stumble off into the bushes as my bladder howls at me. I need to get to the top of that hill. The Dokhalls were close yesterday. We didn’t make it far from where they were hiding near the main path.

  I don’t want to leave Korzyn for long, but I should probably find some more of the zebra plant anyway. I keep an eye out for it, feeling the muscles in my legs stretch as I make my way back toward the hill. The sun is rising over the forest, and I’m surrounded by the scent of greenery. Okay, maybe Zoey was on to something when she insisted the forest was peaceful. As long as I don’t worry about exactly what else could be out here with me, I can admit the silence is good for thinking.

  The hill is steep enough that I have to lean forward, concentrating on where I put my feet. The ground is crumbly and dry, and I curse as a prickly bush slices across my ankle above my boot. The sun is high in the sky by the time I get to the top, and I’m out of breath, no longer used to being this active after so long lounging around the castle. In the distance, the water beckons, and Rakiz’s camp lies behind me—northwest of here. I survey the forest around me, scanning it for threats, and my mouth goes dry.

  To the northeast, smoke curls above the trees. I’ve learned to listen to my intuition, and it’s screaming at me that the smoke doesn’t belong to Dragix. Of course, I won’t know for sure until I can get closer. And I can’t do that until I’m sure the commander won’t die on me.

  I pull my map out of my pocket and compare it to what I can see in front of me. I crowdsourced most of what’s on my map from people who know the topography and geography of this planet much better than I do. It means I can pinpoint approximately where I am in comparison to everything else.

  I gingerly make my way back down the hill, careful not to slip. The last thing we need is for me to break an arm or leg. I find another zebra plant and take it back to Korzyn, who’s still asleep. He’s not unconscious though, and I managed to bully him awake and pour more of the gross plant water into him. He wrinkles his nose, which I take as a good sign.

  He immediately falls back to sleep, and my stomach rumbles. This is not good. We can’t trust any of our food.

  I’ve gone without food before. In fact, the human body is remarkably resilient when it comes to going without food. My body will go into ketosis around forty-eight hours after my last meal. That means it’ll start living off my fat stores. Unfortunately, my time on the ship with the Dokhalls wasn’t good to me. I’m still putting on some of the weight I lost in captivity.

  I rake my eyes over Korzyn’s body. Something tells me it takes a lot of calories to feed that huge body. At the very least, I should be able to find some fruit, maybe a handful of nuts. I leave the commander sleeping and make my way toward the smoke.

  Korzyn

  I blink open my eyes, groaning as light seems to stab into my brain. I slam my eyes shut, then slowly crack them open, my head pounding at the effort.

  I stare up at the ceiling above me, noting the rocks. I’m in some kind of…cave?

  It all floods back. Losing consciousness on the mishua. Stumbling into the cave. The certainty I was dying. Sarissa, forcing me to drink bitter, slightly musty water.

  She saved my life.

  I grit my teeth.

  And I doubt the hellion will let me forget it.

&n
bsp; I attempt to sit up, but I can’t even raise my head without the world spinning around me. I growl. I’m weaker than a babe.

  Where is Sarissa now? Has she…left me?

  No. The female may be vicious, even diabolical at times, but she is loyal to her core. Her words as she bullied me onto the mishua run through my mind.

  “Sadly, your well-being is now directly tied to mine.”

  So where is she?

  Uneasiness curls through my gut. I fall back into a light sleep, but I’m restless, continually waking and listening for her footsteps.

  Finally, I sense her near, and I open my eyes.

  Hers are a cool, clear green today, and the dark circles beneath them make it evident she had little sleep.

  “Well,” she says. “You’re still alive.”

  “Where were you?” My voice is hoarse, and I curse how weak it sounds.

  “Scouting the area. We have a problem. First, you should probably have more plant water.”

  I scowl at that, and her lip trembles before she firms it. She’s obviously amused by my disgust.

  “It’s one of the only plants on Agron that’s used as an antidote to many poisons. I have no idea what they used in our food, but it’s all we have.”

  It burns to admit it, but… “You saved my life. Thank you.”

  Her eyes widen slightly at that. “Well.” She clears her throat, her gaze darting awkwardly. Then she leans over and picks up a cup, bringing it to my mouth. I reach for it myself, but my hand is shaking too much to hold it.

  “Just let me do it,” she says, and I clench my teeth but allow it.

  Fear winds through me. What if I don’t recover? I would prefer death to this weakness and lethargy.

  “Your eyes are looking better.”

  I must look confused because Sarissa smiles slightly. “The whites of your eyes were completely red, and you were bleeding from your nose. I thought you were a goner when you passed out that last time.”

  The knowledge of how close I came to death doesn’t sit well with me. If I am to die, it should be in battle with a sword in my hand or while protecting my king.