by Vi Voxley
The truth was clear in his heart. He was destroying the greatest thing that had ever happened to him. The fact that they were both equally guilty now didn't help in the slightest.
He set the lantern down before releasing her and stepping out of the door. Ashley dashed for him, but Zar closed the door from outside and locked it with an old, simple switch. The place was so ancient it wasn't even automatic.
"Zar!" he could hear her screaming in the cell. "Zar, come back! If you go now, don't bother to return! I won't have a word to say to you if you want to lock me up like some animal!"
His hand moved to the door release, but the harbinger knew he couldn't let her go. With The Reaper raging, there was no safe place for her in the midst of Nayanors in the Black Hall.
It hurt deeper than he could ever have imagined that he couldn't trust her.
Zar turned and left. Ashley's screamed echoed in his ears long after he left the dark passage behind.
24
Zar
Zar thought he could physically feel leaving Ashley behind.
Every second that passed, every step he took toward the throne room, the harbinger could feel a cold snare closing around his heart. It was as if being away from Ashley tormented him, which Zar could very well believe to be true.
As for The Reaper, what he'd just done to Ashley dulled anything the Lord of the Black Hall could pull against him.
Stepping into the throne room, Zar noticed the other warlord at once.
The Reaper was waiting for him with a very flattering number of warriors, sitting on an actual throne. Zar didn't bother counting them all, but there had to be at least fifty fully armored men there, guarding the one who thought he could order him around.
Zar stopped in the middle of the hall, refusing to approach The Reaper like some pilgrim come before a god.
"I have come to say only this," Zar said before The Reaper could open his mouth. "I am a harbinger. The next time you take it into your head to summon me like some novice, you need to be prepared to lose your tongue."
The Reaper glared at him, the hard features of his face contorted with rage.
"Where's your little whore?" he demanded.
Feeling his fingers curl into fists, Zar forced himself to stay cool. Nothing could come from anger, he'd believed that in ages long past now it seemed.
"Since when do you deal with females?" he asked instead.
"Since they expose us to the fucking Galactic Union!" The Reaper roared across the hall, standing from his throne and coming toward Zar. "Since your mate finally gave the Union a clue as to how to react to our raids!"
"I think you better start from the beginning," Zar said, shrugging. "I couldn't perfectly grasp what has happened with your screaming and threatening futile revenge on me. What does the Union know?"
The Reaper breathed heavily, his nostrils flaring. He came to a stop about ten feet from Zar, the hateful look in his eyes telling Zar how close he was to setting the guards on him.
"As if I need to tell you with your mongrel mate having orchestrated it all. We don't know exactly," The Reaper snapped. "All we get is reports coming in from all of our raid ships. Suddenly, the Union is a lot quicker to react. Our raiders have been under attack, Zar! Can you remember the last time that happened? Females have been lost!"
"I still haven't heard anything factual, only the whining of a warlord who should adapt to the new situation instead of crying to me about it," Zar said calmly, feeling his usual grin returning to him.
Provoking The Reaper always had that specific kind of charm for him.
"The wormholes," The Reaper hissed at him.
Zar could see the warlord's hands aching for the sword on his back.
"A captured Union soldier confessed the truth after a little bit of persuasion," the warlord growled. "The females you let go, the ones your mate let go – they told the Union their suspicions were founded, that the wormholes are the method we use for traveling. I bet suddenly those fucks are very sorry they didn't believe the Palians!
"So what now, your guess is as good as mine! It didn't take the Union long to figure out some way to track the wormhole portals. It probably took the slimy Palian assholes five minutes to come up with some type of detector!"
Zar listened to him, the anger growing in his heart.
Ashley had confessed to as much, but a part of him hadn't wanted to believe her. That the female had managed to do so much in the five minutes of freedom he'd given her was insulting. In his lust and desire for her, he'd let his guard down and that was his price. The destruction of the system his people had used to survive for decades, centuries.
"Fine," he said out loud, a warning in his deep voice. "So now they know. It was only a matter of time and you know that. The Palians are clever fucks, as you said. They would have figured it out on their own eventually. Now we just need to adapt."
"Adapt!?" The Reaper bellowed. "Have you been outside lately, Zar? Of course fucking not! You've been buried balls deep in the cunt of your bitch of a mate while our world is buried under the wrath of the storm! It is the worst one yet and this is the gift you've brought us? We need to adapt at a time when our people need the females the most!"
"I'm not going to pretty it up for you," Zar replied, shrugging, drawing his sword.
The Reaper's bodyguards tensed up to the man.
"The timing's not ideal," he went on. "Nothing you and I could say is going to change that. So are you going to keep whining like a child or are you going to buckle up and face this new trial?"
The Reaper eyed the sword in his hands, his cruel eyes boring into him.
"No," he agreed quietly. "You're right. There is nothing to be done about the Union. You better pray now that they don't find Luminos or discover how to use the wormholes themselves. Although that needs to be a very quick prayer.
"There isn't anything to be done. Except for revenge. I warned you, harbinger. At a time like this, we don't need fickle hearts and spineless leaders. You and your domain and that fucking bitch are going to pay. Kill him!"
Zar moved long before any of the guards did.
He charged right into their midst, putting his full strength into each blow. It felt like cutting through sheer metal, but that was the only way.
In a fight like that, outnumbered to a ridiculous degree, causing mayhem and terror was vital. Right in the middle of them, Zar's only comfort was that no matter which direction he attacked, there was an enemy. Swinging the massive sword around, he cut through blades and armors and flesh. The reinforced blade of his sword was battle-tested a while ago and Zar wasn't the sentimental type.
He'd made sure it could cut through Nayanor armor as the first thing. What use was a weapon when it couldn't protect his back?
It wasn't all fun and games, though. Zar was an expert swordsman, one of the greatest fighters of his kind. None of that made him invincible, especially against fifty trained warriors.
Their blades cut almost as well as his did and he couldn't dodge every blow. Blood ran from his wounds, trickling into his eyes when a particularly nasty blow almost took his head off.
The horror he was sowing was working, however. Warriors with their arms hanging on by a few strips of flesh backed away from him with their eyes full of the insanity of pain. Others slumped to the ground, clutching deep wounds. They fell on their knees, the broken sharp edges of their armors digging into the flesh, spraying the floor red with blood.
Zar couldn't see The Reaper anywhere, but he could guess quite well. As he fought, with the world slipping more and more out of focus, the harbinger gritted his teeth, hoping.
In his mind, hoping was as useless of an action as getting angry was. It implied relying on someone other than himself and that didn't sit well with Zar.
Now he had to hope that Roagh and his captains could protect his people in the Hall, as well as those still behind the gates that were no doubt closing even as he fought on.
And somewhere, there was Ashley.
Somehow, Zar saw her in the midst of the diminishing line of warriors around him. Screaming in the darkness, he could almost make out her face before she disappeared again.
One thing was for sure, though. She definitely wasn't smiling.
The last of the warriors were as battered as Zar was when he fell on one knee, a treacherous blow from behind coming to knock his leg out from under him. His gigantic sword stopped the death blow coming for him, but Zar had to twist himself almost in double to dodge the second before he struggled back on his feet.
With every step, he lost more blood, the armor growing heavier to wear. His hand moved slower, but so did those of his opponents. In the end, there was only one facing him, looking at Zar over a pile of corpses on the floor.
"Go," Zar growled at him. "Go to The Reaper. Tell him that I will not bury him, because men who abandon a battle with such force of numbers are not worthy of their blades.
"Then go to everyone else you find and tell them that I am coming for The Reaper. His time is over. A man like that will not decide the fate of Nayanors.
"I will take the Black Hall for myself.
"Let them make of that what they will. Very soon, every man needs to decide where they stand. Long night or not, I will rule this Hall if I have to kill every man who stands against me."
25
Ashley
At first, Ashley thought Zar was going to come back.
That, like dealing with a child, he had only set out to scare her straight before letting her out of the box and telling her that everything was fine.
After screaming her voice hoarse, Ashley waited patiently. She sat down on the floor, trying to keep a positive mindset. The ground was cold, however, and the lantern Zar had left her was nothing more than a spark in complete darkness so black she couldn't see her feet when she didn't illuminate them with the light.
Her breath misted in the air and Ashley couldn't help but to think of death. The idea was quick and easy to come, given that the harbinger had made it very obvious only he knew where she was.
If something should happen to Zar, she'd be trapped there. Not just that, either.
She'd die there.
Alone, in the dark, dying of thirst and cold. It wouldn't be a pretty way to go and just that morning she'd told the man who did that to her that she loved him.
Ashley laughed when she realized that she had, in fact, heard footsteps going away from the cell door. She had even heard the carrier start up and drive away. All of that meant that Zar wasn't playing a prank on her, something that she would have at that point been happy about.
No.
"Gwen was right," Ashley whispered to herself, resting her head against the wall and trying to calm her beating pulse. "This is what happens to women who think they can tame monsters. They get to see his true face. What in the name of gods was I thinking!?"
Hours passed.
Ashley tried every trick she could think of. She moved around to get warm, going so far as to do some exercises, given that the temperature really was rather chilly. It wouldn't kill her, not on that day, but she'd definitely end up catching pneumonia in the long run – if there was a long run in store for her.
She tried to count the time, focus on Zar's return. No matter how badly things had ended between them, Ashley didn't believe the harbinger had left her there to die. If he was alive, he'd return to bring her something – food, drink, heat.
It meant her life hinged upon a Nayanor warlord correctly estimating his strength.
The laughter came again, hopeless this time.
"I'm as good as dead," Ashley told herself, shaking her head then. "No, I'm still alive. No such nonsense. Zar will be back and when he returns, I'll have a thing or two to say to him."
After a few more hours, her hands were cold as ice and she was really beginning to feel the sharp pain of thirst. Ashley walked the entire outline of her cell, finding that there truly was nothing there. It was empty of everything. Even the walls were metal, not stone. She couldn't hope for an underground spring to save her.
When time kept ticking by, Ashley tried screaming against all odds and reason.
It wasn't the best idea.
When her voice broke, the tears finally came. There was something about the hopeless attempt to communicate with someone who hammered the last nail in her coffin.
"It's no use," Ashley whispered, hearing how her lonely voice echoed in the dark, sounding weird and hollow. "There is no one around this godforsaken place. That's why Zar chose it. I will just have to wait. Just wait. He'll be back."
After a little bit more, the desperation set in. If Zar was such a great warlord, how much time did he need to get back to her? Ashley had no idea how much time she'd actually spent in the solitary cell, but she knew it had to be long, long hours.
It left her with very uncomfortable and unpleasant answers. Either Zar was dead and couldn't come for her, or he was alive and had simply chosen to leave her to suffer until he deemed fit to help her.
She didn't want to consider either of them. Ashley honestly couldn't tell anymore which of the two options would have been worse. To lose the man she'd come to love and die soon after? Or to accept that she'd fallen for a monster who had no problem torturing her?
"Well," she told herself. "At least he was honest about it when we first met."
The truth was lurking nearby, however, the only thing that could keep her company. Ashley didn't want its harsh lessons, but there they were, right before her very eyes.
She refused to believe Zar had left her. The harbinger had been mad, angrier than she'd ever seen him, but he hadn't been uncaring. Ashley didn't think he'd lied to her that morning either. Life had simply gotten between them, twisted their attempt to love each other without complications into the ugly monstrosity she was in now.
Gwen had been right after all, in her own pessimistic way. A Terran and a Nayanor could only be together under the circumstances that didn't tear them apart. Joslyn and her mate, for example, were free to be happy because they managed to exist outside of the problems that tore at most people.
It hurt Ashley unbelievably deeply to think that she and Zar hadn't been able to do that.
As the minutes dragged on, every emotion in her body became sharper. The anger she felt toward him, all the things Zar had ever done and been a part of. And the love she felt for him, strong as the foundations of the planet below her feet.
She wanted to see that maddening grin on Zar's lips one more time, just as badly as she wanted to wipe it off his face for the pain he was putting her through.
It was then that she heard a carrier.
Ashley's breath caught in her throat. She didn't know if she should cry out. If it wasn't Zar, if somehow one of The Reaper's men had come close to finding her, could she risk calling to him?
The carrier stopped and after a moment, Ashley heard footsteps.
They were slow, like someone was dragging themselves along the passage. The heavy breathing sounded monstrous, magnified by the echoing of the tunnel.
Ashley got up, backing away from the door. If it was an enemy, there was no weapon for her to defend herself with.
She grabbed the lantern. It wasn't a blade or a gun but it was at least something.
The door opened after a deep, dark grunt of pain. Ashley recognized the voice.
Zar collapsed on the doorstep, falling atop of the bag he'd been carrying. The huge sword he'd been dragging tumbled from his grip.
Ashley noticed all that only as an afterthought. At first, she could only see blood.
26
Zar
Zar opened his eyes to see the most beautiful woman in the world.
A lot of emotions kicked in and they brought along the truth. Long before irritation and anger, before the loathsome feeling of being betrayed, before pain – there was relief. In his fever dream, Zar had been lucid for a few moments, realizing that he was drifting in and out of consciousness.
In t
hose bitter moments, realizing how badly he'd been wounded in his battle with fifty men, Zar had only wanted one thing.
It wasn't to survive, although that was definitely high up there on the top of his wish list.
The absolute first was to see Ashley again. To look into her stormy, gorgeous eyes that had won his heart within seconds of meeting her.
He could still see her in that measly little station. Pointing a gun at him, stubborn defiance glinting in her eyes, gorgeous as a goddess and his, all his.
"Ashley," Zar said, hearing how harsh and broken his voice was.
Someone must have wounded him near his throat. He'd hardly noticed in the midst of battle where his bloodlust was up and the battle hormones were running wild in his system.
He looked around. The cell was still dark, but now there seemed to be some light too and he wasn't just talking about Ashley. The harbinger could distinctly remember packing some items to bring to Ashley, more lanterns included.
They sat in a semi-circle around him now, illuminating him, lying on most of the warm furs he'd packed for his fated. Some parts of his armor were discarded, for example the armor plates. His wounds were tended to, feeling like they were on the mend. The diadon in his chest was glowing more brightly than usual, keeping his vital organs working as his body healed.
Ashley had done all that, he realized. Only when Zar looked at her, the eyes he loved so much were cold and accusing.
"What happened?" his fated asked him quietly, almost impassively. "With The Reaper? How many people did I get killed?"
Zar groaned, trying to speak. It hurt a bit to breathe. There must have been some damage to his lungs as well.
"I killed many," he admitted. "The Reaper ran, the coward. I challenged him. I will kill him."
Ashley chortled.
"Like this? I don't think so."
