It retreated a step, still confused, but its confrontational attitude lessened.
Their attention shifted upward as a screeching L’Odo was lobbed off what remained of the observation ridge.
A group of gladiators heckled as the tormentor that had plagued and oppressed them landed with a bone-snapping thud.
The L’Odo groaned, spine broken, riddled with lacerations.
Claw marks across its snout revealed how its eyes had been gouged out.
It convulsed, squealing, choking on its own blood.
Then it was still, and the rancorous mob moved on for fresh meat.
Lumen jerked her face away. “The fuck stand here? We go.”
“Hush, dearest.” Venomous glared at the a’Rä. “We are leaving.” He scooped his skittish mate into his upper arms. “Lead on.”
Other Rä closed in then exchanged glances with Great Voice to Roar.
Unsure of what to do, the battle group did not move.
They remained still, and stared with distrust at Lumen even as a ground-shaking boom reverberated through the blood-soaked arena, and earth crumbled from the ceiling.
“What is going on?” The warrior that had fallen when the transport came under fire elbowed through the gathering, tapping his helmet, so his visor sprung back.
A fang-filled grin spread across his face when his gaze settled on the disturbance. “Venomous! It is you!” He thumped a fist to his chest and bowed, expression alight with joy. “Praise Zython.”
“Fiercely?” Venomous was stunned. Fiercely Comes the Night had been a friend when they were hatchlings. His hearts soared. “It has been a long time.”
The a’Rä chuckled. “Too long, and to think I grieved you all these solars when you are here, whole, and Rä’Vek! Where is your Rä’Na? The beacon did not indicate there was a female Rä to save....” His gaze drifted to the terrified being in Venomous’ arms. His brow scales climbed to his quill line in surprise. “What is it?”
“She, Lumen of the Stars,” Venomous growled, maddened they dared call her ‘it’ and denounce her as lesser. It was clear she was female! “My life mate.”
Fiercely lost colour. “Venomous.... You cannot think this creature is yours.”
“Right,” Lumen snapped. “I no understanding, but I see look on face and hear tone. He be rude. I know shock and blah, blah, but move on, or I be mad.”
Fiercely wore an appalled, yet fascinated look on his face. “What did it say?”
Venomous cursed. “You cannot understand her?”
“I am not wearing a translator, so, no.”
“She cannot understand you either. The translators we have are at least three generations old.”
The thwoop-shwoop of sonic blaster shots echoed through the cavern.
Venomous plopped Lumen on her feet then shoved her behind him.
The deadly weapon used sound waves to shake apart the molecular structure of solid mass upon impact.
Instead of exploding outwards, the negative charge broke the particle bonds then imploded the matter, obliterating it into nonentity.
Destabilisation and annihilation occurred within a nanosecond.
A bright flash of light then nothingness.
Venomous’ matured anima could deflect a glancing blow.
Those clad in hardsuits could withstand a point-blank shot to the armoured textile.
Lumen would evaporate.
Vanish.
Nothing left to piece back together.
Alarmed, he searched out the source of the gunfire.
The blaster was yanked from the claw of the L’Odo slaver wielding it to corral a faction of Zozon.
Now armed, the vengeful rabble killed the slaver then attacked another who frantically cracked a whip trying to restore order.
Lumen attached herself to his side, tremors of fear rattling her small frame.
He stroked her hair, and assured her he’d keep her safe, keeping his arm tight around her hunched shoulders.
The raid escalated as more of the rescuers fought their way into the inner sanctum.
A legion of roaring Veraks with braided manes, and painted blue for war exploded from the murky tunnels to swarm the arena.
They battled the L’Odo cudgels and whips with singing labryses and pyreblades that razed their victims to ash with a single, brutal slice.
The enslaved Verak rallied to them. “Great One,” they yowled. “The Great One has come for us.”
The L’Odo commander assigned to hold the arena signalled a retreat.
Fiercely grabbed Venomous’ stiff shoulder then shook it. “Enough of this. ThunderClaw has arrived. This planet is about to be torn apart.”
“Yesss, too dangerous for my Lumen.”
“You will leave it. We are your people, and we have come for you, and you alone, not some alien refugee that has twisted your mind.”
Infuriated at the heartless instruction, and the casual dismissal of his mate, the one most precious to him, Venomous thrust his face into the space of the a’Rä who used to know him better than any other. “I am not leaving my Rä’Na. Either help us, or get out of my way, so I may seek asylum with the other species who have come to liberate their people. You see I am male.” His seed stem was bared to view. “It might be ancient law, but it is still law. I am her, she is me, and even if that were not so, the likes of you cannot naysay me.”
In the silence that followed, Venomous feared Fiercely would not relent.
Face creasing in frustration, the a’Rä jerked its chin. “The transport had to land, but commed me coordinates. Follow me.”
They stampeded across the arena then ducked into a tunnel, passing skirmishes of slavers being viciously set upon by the gladiators.
Venomous tried to keep Lumen from seeing, but there was carnage at each angle, every turn, and she refused to close her eyes and let him carry her.
They dashed past the charred corpse of Vardermon.
Next to him lay Yofk, chitin crushed into his chest valves, his bulbous eyes sightless glass.
“Oh, no,” Lumen choked her feet slowing.
A furious howl snapped them from their shock.
Fur bristling and catching the light from laser fire further down the passage, Griergermon battled a team of seven L’Odo.
His giant paw crushed the heads of those who got too close.
He picked up another then broke its bones by slamming it into the wall, a tortured keen of grief pouring from his throat.
Lumen yelled, “We help him! We–”
A L’Odo jumped and clubbed the Yoni across the back of the head.
Crumpling under a hail of punishing blows, Griergermon’s head was left a bludgeoned mess of shattered bone and pulsing brain matter.
Hissing to articulate the menace boiling his blood, Venomous bared his fangs, glands swelling.
Mind wiped clean but for the need to kill, he crouched to lunge, prepared to fight to the death to avenge his allies.
“To the transport,” Fiercely bellowed. “There is nothing you can do for them now.”
Lumen protested, shouting at the a’Rä it was none of his, “bloody business,” and that, “they his friends,” and “let him fuck them up.”
Her hysterical voice alone brought Venomous back to sanity, reminded him it was better to survive not only to protect his mate, but to see the Yoni and Yofk avenged in truth.
Each pull of breath was a razor in his lungs, but he turned from the dead, snatched his Lumen into his arms then ran.
She kicked and bucked moments later.
Lost in a haze of grief for his friends, panicked because his mate was vulnerable and in the middle of a battle zone, he lost his grip on her wriggling body, and he dropped her.
Lumen landed on all fours with an oomph.
She did not accuse him of being inept, even as he shakily apologised and helped her up, her attention focused elsewhere.
Cooing into a murky crevice, she knelt.
Glancing behind then skidding to a
stop, Fiercely called the battle group to a halt.
He barked profanities at the delay, pacing the short width of the passageway.
Anxious, Venomous clasped Lumen’s hand and tugged.
She yanked back to stand her ground.
She reached a slow, careful hand to the snivelling ball of limbs Venomous recognised as Grol’s Vudwani whore.
“Come,” Lumen coaxed. “Come. I take. Promise. We go and no look back. Take mine hand.”
Creeping forward, wary, the haggard female looked his mate in the eyes.
She froze when she noticed him, yet her gaze slipped back to Lumen.
Gaunt face vacant, her gold ingots sparked bright in recognition of a kind face, a slender hand proffered in a gesture of peace not a meaty palm raised to strike, but the hurt of the past was too great, too terrible a burden, and the glimmer of life died.
The female grabbed a blaster from the grasp of a dead Zozon crumpled near her, its pants around its ankles, flabby member seeping seed as its thin body stiffened in death.
Hearts exploding into a furious beat, imagining his life mate disintegrated because she cared enough to try help, Venomous reacted.
He shoved Lumen aside to absorb the blast, knowing it would blow his chest away, cause indescribable agony.
The Vudwani squeezed her eyes shut.
Screamed an eerie wail as she lifted the blaster to her temple and–!
Venomous slapped a hand over his mate’s eyes then dragged her towards the fortifications to avoid falling debris.
The tunnel quaked under another explosion.
Lumen slumped, legs failing as she cried in broken gasps.
Venomous picked her up, draped her over his shoulder then sprinted after the others.
As much as he’d rather cradle her, he needed one set of hands free to defend her.
His joy was strong.
He was moments from freedom, and in the presence of his people, but he did not trust them.
Not with her, not after their aversion and doubt.
Surrounded by the battle group in arrow formation, they exited the black mountain to pandemonium.
Hovering shuttles descending from battle cruisers seen only as scintillating droplets amongst the stars, jammed the blue and pink vista.
The air was choked with the bitter stench of death and smoke.
Flies buzzed over burnt corpses, and streaks of laser fire crisscrossed the sky in a sporadic neon webbing.
Fiercely barked a rousing command then led the charge towards an edgeless Rä terrestrial craft visible across the heaving landscape.
Creatures poured from the tunnels fleeing the confused slaughter.
L’Odo stood posted through the jungle, massacring those who thought to hide until their people found them; killing the witnesses that might testify to the Intergalactic Alliance.
A L’Odo barked, and pointed towards their group.
The Rä didn’t slow, ploughing through those that dared attack.
Slavers toppled under the enraged onslaught of the Rä battle group, so retreated to hunt weaker prey.
They reached the transport, sprinting the length of the sloping ramp as the engines hummed to life.
Venomous’ mind was awhirl, senses scrambled after the laser fire, sonic blasts and acrid smoke.
Unused to being airborne, he experienced the pitch and roll sensation of vertigo as the ship launched in a brutal vertical ascent.
Even less accustomed, Lumen mumbled about ‘g-force’ then swooned.
He pressed his mate’s cheek to his chest, her choppy breath against his scales soothing.
Blinking lights from the dashboard splashed over them.
Radio static scratched a hole in Venomous’ fugue, and he jolted, looked around in disbelief.
Lumen was free.
Grandfather’s hood, he was free.
The battle group filling the area to capacity hiss-snarled, exultant one of their own had been liberated from enslavement.
Coming to, Lumen’s hold on him tightened at the demonstrations of triumph.
Rä thumped fists to chests, and grabbed the necks of hardsuits to crack skulls, celebrating their strength and cunning.
The trip from planet surface to outer space in the crammed terrestrial craft took less than a quarter-span.
Unsettling, the shudder, bump of it docking with the larger spaceship had Venomous releasing a wobbly hiss, yet he squatted on his haunches, tense.
Too many solars of being on edge.
It was better than before, as his Lumen was not in peril, but only once their feet touched Rök would he relax.
He curtly refused offers for Lumen to be put in stasis, repressing the aggressive response of punching at the insult.
She was not live cargo.
He shot possessive glares at the Rä craning their necks to better see her within the shield of his arms.
Holding his head high, Venomous stepped into the metallic landing bay.
The air was cool and fresh.
Subtle vibrations of the engine beneath his feet and its droning resonance created an unexpected purge of negative emotion.
Sparks of hope Lumen fanned to life within him flared bright.
He strode to a stack of metal crates filled with merchandise.
This explained the swift rescue.
The Rä warriors were already offworld on a routine trade expedition.
Sitting on the freightage, he stroked his Rä’Na’s hair, muttering assurances, now believing it auspicious she couldn’t understand the others.
He wanted to ease her fears before they advanced further into the vessel.
There would be a sizeable contingent of warrior Rä onboard, and she needed to understand she’d come to no harm despite the unfriendly reactions.
To his surprise, her mind did not play upon her new surroundings.
“All those people,” she whispered. “The Yoni. Yofk.” She trembled and choked back a sob. “The Vudwani.”
The compassion of his mate touched him.
She was so gentle, so caring, yet her morals would have her snapping at him, a most feared warrior, if he crossed her.
Guilt swamped him.
Had he not called for rescue those beings, his friends, might still live.
“I vow to you, dearest. The L’Odo will suffer for the pain they have wrought. They. Will. Suffer.” He nuzzled her hair. It smelt like bitter smoke. “First, I will bring you to our home world. There I may rest easy knowing you are far from danger.”
Lumen clung to him, trembling, body pressed into his as if she’d die without the contact.
Puffs of breath were hot and damp against his throat, a single heart drumming against his ribs.
She lay rigid in his arms, and the sounds of the Rä disembarking, roughhousing and shouting amongst themselves made her jump, grasp him tighter.
He rubbed her back in long, slow strokes. “I have you. You are safe. Safe now.”
Scowling, Fiercely halted before them.
He studied their intimate clinch in bewilderment then blew a weary sigh. “What is it?”
“She is human.”
“We are not prepared for an offworlder. What do you want us to do with it?”
Venomous gave the warrior a short, annoyed look before refocusing on his mate. “Treat my Lumen as you would an honoured Rä’Na, except better because she is mine and treasured by me. Take us to quarters so we may bathe, eat and rest. Truth, I wish you to do nothing. I detest how you look and speak of her.”
Dismissing the narrow-minded a’Rä from his mind, resolving to find a secure place to nest on his own, Venomous did not see the underhand deed coming.
Certainly, he never thought such a thing could occur, so did not imagine to be on guard for it, thinking himself secure amongst his people.
Lumen stiffened then made a pained noise.
Eyes watering, she peered at him with betrayal as her gaze unfocused.
Dark lashes fluttered clos
ed as her head lolled and her body sagged.
“Lumen,” he bellowed, cupping the back of her head, supporting her motionless limbs.
He did not understand!
Had she fainted?
Was the blood, gore and terror too much for her poor human sensibilities to take?
“Waken. Wake–”
A pressure injector darted towards his neck.
Venomous snarled, but couldn’t move fast enough with his hands on his fragile, unconscious mate, nor could the lethal blades of his anima rise with her flesh pressed to his.
Fiercely caught Lumen as Venomous’ body went limp and slid toward the metallic floor.
The vilifying glare he speared at the a’Rä promised death upon his waking.
Then nothing.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Fiercely Comes the Night realised the moons of home world had circled three times since the alien came aboard.
Still she did not drink.
Nor did she eat.
Talk.
Sleep.
The edgy silence she dwelled in disturbed their healer.
Her inexplicable rages more so.
He, Nāga Shadowed by the Bluest Moon warned should she continue the physical deprivations, and mental isolation, her emotional state would deteriorate.
Her mind would shatter.
Being a good warrior was what Fiercely wished to be remembered for in the chronicles of his people, not for reducing Venomous One’s Rä’Na into a drooling husk ailed with space madness.
Tired from the long voyage, and eager to return to quarters for an interval of rest and recuperation, Fiercely’s patience withered.
A twitch of fingers signalled to a Sylph.
It belonged to an androgynous, quadruped species that willingly dedicated their lives to the servitude of others.
It was the only offworld species tolerated on Rök.
The pale creature waited on its double-jointed knees by the haze, cocking its smooth head when signalled to, and then scuttling to attention.
Fiercely ordered, “Schedule the implant replacement.”
Bulbous, multifaceted eyes fixed on the human.
The servant lowered its forelegs in a bow to indicate acceptance.
Obedience of the Sylphs was unimpeachable.
What made them remarkable was they refused to blindly follow unethical commandments.
Venomous: (Alien Warrior Book 1) Page 16
