by Presley Hall
“She’s still sluggish from the drug,” one of the guards says, and Alkul smiles broadly.
“Good. I’ll be able to fuck her any way I like then, without her fighting too much.” He leers at me, and I feel my stomach knot. “I spend my days fighting, I like a subservient female in bed.”
Buddy, have you got the wrong girl.
I feel less heavy, the prickling in my extremities fading, and I figure it’s now or never as the guards start to haul me up to my feet, ostensibly to strip me so this monster can have his way with me. There’s no fucking way I’m letting that happen without a fight. The moment one of them lets go of me and draws a knife, preparing to cut away my shirt, I rear back and headbutt the one on my right as hard as I can, wrenching my arm away to try to get loose.
The one I headbutted snarls, letting out a string of curses, and the one with the knife lunges forward, socking me in the stomach so hard that I start coughing, my knees buckling.
Forget technique. I’m acting on pure instinct now, anger and fear driving my actions.
I kick out at the one holding me, trying to get my foot around his leg and bring him down, but that only earns me another punch to the gut. They’re not hitting me as hard as they probably could, which is a good thing, but the second punch finally brings the roiling nausea in my stomach to a head, and I curl over, retching and vomiting.
Good, I think with bleary satisfaction as I fall to my knees. Maybe I’ve grossed them out.
“Clean that up,” Alkul snarls. “And get this whore on the bed. I’ll show her what happens when she strikes one of my—”
Something crackles to life on the screen behind him, and another deep voice comes through a speaker. “Alkul, you and your men are summoned to Sector Eighteen immediately. Command has ordered an attack on the Kalixian planet as soon as reinforcements to the main battalion arrive. Send coordinates to Orkun headquarters so that we can estimate your arrival.”
Kalixian? Orkun? Planet? None of this makes sense.
These men are obviously not human, but what are they? And what do all those other words mean?
Alkul curses, his lips curling up in a sneer. He looks at me, clearly disappointed.
“The mating will have to wait,” he growls, giving me one more long look from breasts to groin and back up again. “I want to take my time breaking her in properly. It makes a difference,” he adds casually to the two guards. “Break them in right the first time, and they’ll do anything you want after that.”
I can’t help myself. “How would you know?” I ask mockingly, looking up at him from where I’m still crumpled on the floor, all the strength gone out of me. “I hear you haven’t been allowed a human female before.”
I feel the guards on both sides of me tense, and a brief flash of triumph surges in my chest. I might be punished, but from the expression on Alkul’s face, they won’t get off easy either for gossiping about their commander.
“My lord—”
“Get this slave on my fighter,” Alkul snarls. “Put her in the cage. I’ll deal with you two later.”
“Yes, lord,” they both mumble.
One of them yanks me up to my feet, securing my hands behind my back with some kind of smooth strap, pulling it tight until I can almost feel the blood leaving my fingers. The other gags me with a black leather strap that resembles nothing so much as a muzzle. My attempts to bite him only earn me a hard slap across the face.
Alkul follows us as the guards drag me down the hall once more, all the way to some kind of docking bay where the fighter ship is stored. It’s sleek, black, and looks extremely high-tech—at odds with the gross, barbaric, lumpish appearance of the creatures who have abducted me.
As they prepare to haul me aboard the ship, something crystallizes inside my shell-shocked mind. Whatever this is that’s happening, it’s real. I’m not hallucinating, I’m not imagining it. I don’t know where I am or what’s going on, but that light took me somewhere… else.
Somewhere far from Earth.
Somewhere alien.
Is this where Emma wound up? Is she out here somewhere too?
The vastness of it overwhelms me, and for a moment, I stop struggling as the men drag me up into the ship. If I’m truly in space, somewhere out in the universe with some alien species I didn’t even know was real until a few minutes ago, then the possibilities of where Emma could be are endless.
I was already starting to lose hope this morning, but now it feels truly impossible that I’ll ever find her, even if I could get free.
The ship Alkul’s guards drag me onto isn’t large; it looks like it’s intended for only one or two passengers. They put me in a cage that resembles a dog kennel, but with much thicker bars. The floor is flat and hard, in view of the piloting controls for the ship. I shiver as they toss me in, and one of the guards smirks at me, his lips curling around his tusks. His friend reaches down, cutting my hands loose but leaving the gag in.
“Good. I don’t want to hear her whining,” Alkul says as he takes a seat at the control panel. “Now get out of my sight.”
“Yes, my lord.”
The guards bow deferentially to him, probably trying to make up for how they mocked him earlier. Then they turn and leave the ship, their heavy footsteps echoing on the smooth floor. Not even bothering to watch them go, Alkul begins to press buttons and pull levers on the control panel. The vessel rumbles to life, and I watch in terrified fascination as he maneuvers it out of a wide opening in the side of the larger ship we were just on. Once we’re in the clear, we pick up speed, hurtling forward through the black emptiness around us.
He doesn’t say a word to me, or even look at me, until it feels like hours have passed. By that time, I’ve come to accept that we’re somehow in space. The view from the front of the ship is unmistakable, and I can’t see how they could be faking any of this.
They mentioned tribute brides. Are they abducting girls from Earth?
It makes sense, in the weirdest sort of way. Emma was a loner. She only had me to miss her or notice she was gone. And now I’ve been abducted too, for asking too many questions, they said. Which means… Emma is likely with aliens like the ones who have me, given to one of their warlords like Alkul as a bride.
The idea of my sweet, timid friend being handed over to one of these monsters would make me vomit again, if there were anything left in my stomach. Rage boils in my gut as I watch Alkul, considering his movements and trying to think of the best way to get free. It’s better than thinking of what these awful creatures might’ve done to Emma.
After another interminable amount of time, my captor gets up from the controls and lumbers toward me.
“Time to take you to bed,” he says with an awful, hungry smile. He unlocks the cage door, reaching to undo my muzzle.
The second he unties it, I turn my head sharply and bite down on his hand… hard.
Greenish blood spurts out from the wound, and I dry-heave. It tastes like rotten fish and smells worse. The taste and smell throw me off enough for me to hesitate, and he backhands me so hard that I’m thrown back in the cage, my head hitting the bars.
“You’ll stay in here for the rest of the journey,” he snarls, “until you learn who your master is! I’ll take you when our victory is complete, as my prize. And don’t worry, little one.” He licks his lips as he slams the cage shut. “I’ll make sure it hurts.”
The rest of the trip is endless. I’m glad I’ve been granted a reprieve, although my actions mean that I’m given only enough water and rations to keep me alive, but certainly not enough to keep me healthy.
I know why he’s keeping me hungry and thirsty. It’s both a punishment and a means of making sure I’m too weak to fight back.
Ha. Joke’s on you, asshole. It’ll take more than that to make me lose my fight.
With that grim thought, I settle in for the long haul.
I have no idea how long this journey will take. All I know is that we’re headed to some place called
Kalix. I lose almost all sense of time as days pass slowly, and I watch Alkul every moment that I can, waiting for the chance to escape from him. The next time he opens this cage, I’ll be ready.
Finally, after what feels like weeks, I see the blackness of space outside the ship’s window give way to something else. A planet looms ahead of us. Its surface is covered with patches of green and blue and brown, similar to pictures I’ve seen of Earth. As we start to enter the atmosphere, I get my first glimpse of this place called Kalix. It’s the most lush-looking place I’ve ever seen, the forests beneath us so thick that I can’t make out anything but trees.
And then I hear Alkul calling out coordinates, and my heart plummets as I see other ships appearing next to us. I remember what the voice over the speakers said when Alkul was called to his ship.
Battle.
I’m about to be caught up in the middle of a fight. In space.
Alkul gets up and stalks over to my cage, looking down at me with a predatory smile. “No kiss for your husband, you ungrateful wretch, since you’re determined to be so violent. But just wait, little one. Once this battle is won, I’ll fuck you in every hole you have until you obey me.”
Husband. What a joke. As if I could ever be any kind of wife to a creature like this.
I sneer at him, pulling back my lips in a menacing grin as I stay as far on the other side of the cage as I can. “Maybe you’ll lose.”
He just laughs and turns back to the controls.
And then I hear something that sounds, incredibly, like cannon fire—and the ship jolts backward. The impact of it sends my cage sliding backward, and as the whole ship shudders again, the cage is thrown violently against one wall, tipping over onto its side.
For a minute, everything is blurry again. I can hear Alkul cursing. And then I see it.
The lock on my cage broke when it was thrown across the room. The door is hanging open. And my captor is distracted.
I push it open slowly, careful not to make any sound. The moment I manage to crawl out, I lunge toward Alkul and the controls.
My only hope is to wrest control of the ship away from him. I’m no pilot, even on a human aircraft, but I’ve been watching him carefully this entire time. I should be able to manage something. And it’s a spaceship, for fuck’s sake. It ought to be able to fly itself.
I have the benefit of surprise. He doesn’t even hear me since he’s so focused on what’s happening outside. Determined not to waste my one advantage, I leap at him, locking one arm around his thick neck as I drag him backward out of the seat.
After weeks of being locked up and underfed, I’m nowhere near as strong as usual, but I manage to get enough leverage to pull him down to the floor with me. His bulk pins me down, but I snatch the knife at his belt free. It’s not easy to cut him with it. His skin is thick and leathery, but I manage to drive it in a few inches—enough to make him snarl with pain and roll away from me.
He grabs me, pulling me under him. For one horrible moment, I feel his bulk pressing against me, and I have some idea of what it will be like later if I don’t get away from him. That’s enough to overcome my exhaustion, hunger, and fear. I can’t be here when the battle is over. I can’t be forced to submit to this awful beast.
Never, never, never.
I have to get free and save Emma, wherever she is.
I punch him as hard as I can, the knife still gripped in my hand, slick with that horrible-smelling blood. I stab at him again and again, wriggling out from under him, and the moment I get to my feet, I do the one thing I’ve always been better at than anyone else… I kick him as hard as I can.
Right in his ugly head.
With Alkul dazed, I run for the controls. I manage to grab hold of the steering mechanism, but the vicious alien is on his feet again, staggering toward me, shouting and cursing. His hands cover mine, trying to peel them away, but I hold on with a death-grip, knowing that this might literally be the difference in how today ends. Now that I have the controls, I can’t let go.
The ship veers wildly, almost doing a barrel roll as it careens away from the formation of other fighter ships in the air. Shouts echo from the comms device, voices yelling for Alkul to get back into formation, back into the fight. I can hear the sounds of firing, the noises of battle, and my heart pounds in my chest as I wait for our ship to be struck at any moment.
But I can’t worry about that. I can’t let go of the controls, no matter how hard it is to hang on with Alkul clawing at me.
As we grapple for control of the ship, it goes down into a nosedive, spinning wildly as it plunges out of the atmosphere and toward the lush greenery below. My stomach flips, and that familiar nausea comes back as the ship veers from side to side while Alkul and I yank the controls back and forth.
We don’t even see the trees getting too close. It all happens too fast for us to pull up and avoid them. The impact is hard and sudden, sending both of us flying back. I feel myself strike the wall, my body flopping like a rag doll as the ship crashes through the forest, and I no longer have any control.
I’m going to die. The hazy realization penetrates my mind. I’m going to die on a planet called Kalix, without ever knowing what the fuck that even means.
My last thought before the ship hits the ground and everything goes black is simple.
I’m sorry, Emma.
3
Brele
I’m crouched behind a rock deep in the woods, scanning the terrain around me.
After fifteen years, the dangerous wilderness of Kalix feels as comfortable and familiar to me as my old home ever did. I know how to walk softly, how to use trees and bushes for cover, how to sneak up on wildlife without the animals ever hearing or seeing me.
I’ve become a part of Kalix’s landscape, a wild thing like they are.
Somehow, I belong more to my home planet now than I ever did before. The irony of it sometimes feels so strong that it hurts.
I lift my head slightly, scanning the area around me. My vision is clear on the right, the normal eye of a Kalixian male. On the left side, my robotic eye makes a small sound as it begins to move in the socket, highlighting the thermal signatures of anything warm-blooded in the area. It’s especially useful at night.
It’s been days since I’ve been out hunting. There’s something going on in the capital city of Jocia, something that’s had parties of warriors out making sure the borders are secure. I’m far enough out that I hardly ever encounter anyone, but whatever’s going on, it’s sent scouts out into the farthest reaches of Kalix where normally nothing but wildlife ventures.
I managed to avoid them, but that meant hiding out for some time.
That’s nothing new though. I’m used to it.
I haven’t seen or spoken to another Kalixian for fifteen years. The only beings I’ve had occasional contact with are off-world traders I’ve managed to barter with for various tech and building materials.
At first, I thought I would go mad living like this. The isolation seemed impossible to bear, the life sentence stretching out in front of me interminable. After my banishment, I expected to die within weeks. At that age, I had never fought outside of a training arena, never hunted for my own food, never had to fend for myself so completely.
But the urge to survive is an incredible thing, and somehow I did exactly that.
If anyone I once knew saw me now, they wouldn’t even recognize me, I think to myself as I move soundlessly through the tall grass, following the thermal signature of a breit, a small furry creature that moves quickly and tastes delicious. They’re hard to catch, but I’ve gotten better at it over time.
Where I once had the body of a male whose muscles are cultivated with careful training, I’m now lean and carved, my muscles hard and sinewy under my bronzed skin, the color deepened over years spent under the baking suns. I tried to keep my hair in the short style that I was accustomed to for a long time, but after a while, I simply gave up. Now it falls to my shoulders, thick, wavy, and
black, with my long black horns rising up out of it. I avoid my reflection in rivers these days, but I know what I look like.
I look untamed. Wild.
Nothing like the regal prince I once was. And to be honest, by now I don’t even know if I miss the old version of myself.
It doesn’t matter anyway.
I can’t go back to being that person. I can never go back.
I’m so lost in thought that it takes a minute for me to notice that the breit has sprung away through the grass. A second later, I realize why.
The sound above me is one I haven’t heard in years—the sound of multiple ships entering the planet’s atmosphere. As I look up, crouching behind a massive boulder, my heart tightens in my chest as I recognize the style of the ships breaking through.
Sleek, black, and elegant, some of the best tech in the galaxy—and nothing like the misshapen, hulking creatures who pilot them.
Orkun ships.
“Krax.” The curse falls from my lips as I clench my hands. “They’ve returned.”
Our worst enemies have come back.
Adrenaline like I haven’t felt in a long time seizes me, my heart pounding in my chest as I watch them. The pang of hurt I felt at remembering my former self is nothing compared to the ache that washes over me now, a deep longing to be up in the sky fighting off the invaders, or joining the ground forces that Khrelan is no doubt amassing right now. I might have lived out here alone for nearly half my life, but deep down, I will always be a Kalixian.
I will always want to defend my people.
I close my eyes tightly, trying not to imagine the anguish of the citizens in Jocia, the fear they must be feeling right now as the Orkun attempt to invade our planet for the second time. I don’t know why they’re here again, or what made them decide to attack now, but I want more than anything to be able to defend my people. If I were in the city, I could fight as fiercely as any of them. I was once a warrior too.
I was more than that.
