“I’m not leaving you out here. Didn’t you hear that giant boom?” Topper demanded. “They’re armed, Stark. You’re not.”
Stark patted his side. “Of course I’m armed. I have a replica of my standard Star Ranger issued weapon. It was in the luggage you retrieved. I wasn’t comfortable walking around a strange land without protection.”
“You carry a gun on my planet?” Topper asked, stunned by the news.
Stark nodded abruptly. “Topper, I carry a weapon on every planet… specifically for occasions like this.”
“I see,” Topper said, but she didn’t really. Did Frost carry a weapon too? Did a Star Ranger ever stop being a warrior? Questions she probably should have asked before committing herself to an alien for life.
Since she couldn’t argue with the reality of someone intentionally blocking their passage with an avalanche of snow, she said nothing more about his declaration of being armed.
Stark dropped a hard, concerned kiss on her mouth, and then her husband went striding off to deal with whoever was blocking them. Maybe she could help Stark. Maybe she couldn’t. The cold seemed to be making her magic do unexpected things. It would not be useful to bury them all in the avalanche.
Panicked for the first time since their adventure began, Topper closed her eyes and finally called for help.
“Goddess Gaia, hear my plea.
Too many things power cannot see.
Help I need now, send someone to me.
As I will this day, so mote it be.”
Topper opened her palm to send a small shower of purple sparks into the air as an offering, and as a way to get the attention of a goddess who might have more important things to do than come to her aid. Instead of a handful, the purple sparks puffed into a large glitter cloud that fell around her head and made her cough.
Like the fire she’d lit in her room, the result was larger than she intended. But conjuring the straw bed had been fine last evening. As had the dog beds she’d conjured. She’d have Evanna look at her when they got home. Something was affecting her magic. She’d seen such failures in other witches, but had never experienced it herself… until now.
Wait… there was that time when Stark first came. The Fates had taken her magic from her for his sake. Surely they wouldn’t do that to her now when she and Stark were in the midst of trouble. They were under attack for Gaia’s sake. She’d never feed them again if they’d done this to her intentionally.
By now, Stark’s strides had taken him half-way to his destination and he was starting to fade from her view. Topper climbed from the sled, and following her all but frozen instincts, she began unhooking the dogs. They would stand a better chance of finding their way home if they weren’t shackled to an empty sled they had to drag behind them.
She bent and hugged Mercury, wrapping both arms around his body. “Thank you for everything, my friend. If this doesn’t work out well, make sure you all get home safely. May you find yourself blessed with a corral of horny Malamute bitches after this is all over.”
She didn’t have Stark’s ability to talk to animals, but a lick on her face and a soft whine told her Mercury had understood perfectly.
Stark veered to the left of his destination, crouching low and running the last five hundred feet. Chanting a few words, he hoped the cloaking gift Icela had given him worked here on Earth as well as it did on Glacier. He needed the element of surprise and a good deal of luck that his one weapon would suffice to defeat whoever was trying to stop them from returning safely.
Now that he was close enough to see his target more clearly, Stark saw a figure dressed in Glacieran ice field clothing. The suit literally covered him from head to toe. The person—male or female, he couldn’t determine yet—had even pulled the face protector into place. Obviously, it was someone not used to battling frigid temperatures. The Alaskan cold was mild compared to the temperatures in the ice fields.
Ducking behind a small strand of trees, the only landscape big enough to hide him, Stark could now see the person held a Glacieran Sound Blaster in his hands. The avalanche of snow suddenly made perfect sense. At full power, the blaster could send out an earthquake-like wave of sound creating a near sonic vibration in the process. That same level of power aimed at him could decimate his unshielded body, instantly breaking every bone and rupturing all organs. Even dialed down to the lowest setting the weapon possessed, it could still render him unconscious… and therefore of no use in protecting his mate.
Stark looked around, scanning for anything in the environment that might prove useful in distracting the person. He needed to get closer to take an accurate enough laser blaster shot capable of penetrating all that protective clothing. He’d barely stepped away to look further when the tree he’d been hiding behind exploded. Pieces of it went flying in all directions. How it kept from hitting him was unexplainable.
“Come out in the open, Coward. I want to look you in the eyes.”
The voice was definitely male. And the greater weapon was not something his small laser could fight. Any positive outcome required him to get a lot closer.
Not having any choice except to obey the male taunting him, Stark tucked his small laser blaster in the back of his pants, concealing it under the jacket Topper had insisted he wear. He walked out into plain view afterward, hands raised to show his concession to the male’s demands.
“Coward seems a bit unfair since I have no weapons capable of fighting yours,” Stark told his masked attacker. “What honor is there in killing someone who cannot defend himself?”
“I’m not looking for honor. I have all the honor I need,” the voice behind the mask sneered. “What I don’t have is a mate because of you. I would be doing two planets a great service by ending your female-stealing life.”
Stark kept his hands in the air as he stared. The man was obviously delusional, or had him confused with someone else. Mental illness was not common on Glacier, but it did occasionally happen.
“Did I fail to show proper empathy for your unmated plight at some social function? Glacierans don’t usually kill each other over females. And I assure you… I stole no one’s female… ever. For centuries, I dutifully checked the status of every female who asked to share my bed.”
“You lie. You stole my mate from me,” the voice insisted.
“You may kill me, but that will not alter the truth of this matter. Only in my youth was I indiscriminate. Beyond that brief time of fifty years, I’ve purposely only bedded unmated females.”
The mask was ripped away to reveal an angry scowl. “Liar,” the man declared.
“General Arctic?” Stark asked in shock. Arctic had stepped in to take the position Stark had turned down. He’d briefly served with the egotistical male and had felt great sympathy for those serving under him. “I don’t understand this attack on me, General. Why would you think I did anything with your mate?”
“Because she described you… all of you… in great detail with emphasis on the size and talent of your… organ. I will be tormented to the end of my days by her tales of your expertise. No one could make all that up.”
Stark’s eyebrows shot up as his hands dropped. “Sir, I assure you… I did not sleep with your mate. Whatever descriptions she gleaned, it was derived from rumor alone.”
Arctic growled. “I know you bedded her. That’s why I ultimately killed her. She refused to shut up about you.”
A cold shiver ran up Stark’s spine. No wonder the male standing before him had developed mental problems. Murder of a female was never done… never. What kind of male thinking degenerated to the point of finally taking the life of a woman you’d mated?
“Forgive my rudeness for speaking ill of the dead, but your mate told you an untruth, General. I cannot explain why she chose to do so, but it is possible I rejected her advances and she thought to torment both of us by her fabrications. If so, I apologize for the trauma to her female ego, but for that only. I did not bed your mate. Nor would I ever have done so.”
The sound blaster fired at full force and Stark instinctively dove to the ground. Power rushed over him, pressing him to the cold, snowy Earth beneath his body. The resonating wave churned up the snow and debris for several miles behind him. White flakes and crystals flew and drifted before the powerful vibration finally died off.
Stark let out a long held breath as he realized the shot had not been in the direction of Topper and the dogs. He climbed to his feet and moved farther away from that direction in case Arctic fired unexpectedly again.
“I did not bed your mate, General Arctic. This is the only truth I can offer you. Any revenge you anticipate will be hollow because it will be based on a lie told to you by your deceased mate. You will die with this great dishonor staining your spirit if you take my life.”
“Your nervous ramblings do not make me quake, Stark.”
Stark dusted the snow from his clothing. “Goddess Icela will not accept you into her realm. Your essence will wander the ice fields of Glacier for a millennia before she will send you back to be born again. Do not let that be your fate, General Arctic. You can still make a different choice.”
“Pray to your goddess all you want, Stark. She will not come to save your worthless life and I have no need of her,” Arctic declared.
When Arctic lifted the weapon again and prepared to fire, Stark braced himself, ready to dive again to the ground. Behind Arctic, Topper suddenly appeared, her hands lifted as she chanted.
“No,” Stark whispered, fear for his mate overruling his self-preservation.
He took a run at Arctic, diving to knock the man off his feet. Unbalanced, Arctic fell just as the weapon’s blast once again echoed in the distance. Stark couldn’t tell which direction the blast had taken, but he had no time to care.
Suddenly millions of white flakes shot straight up as a volcano of snow erupted around them. It whooshed by with a force strong enough to keep both him and Arctic pinned to the now barren ground.
“Topper,” Stark called desperately through the uproar, wrenching the weapon angrily away from Arctic.
Furious and scared, he used the blunt end to bludgeon the surprised Glacieran male trying to roll away in the thick veil of white now falling back around them. He hit Arctic several times with the handle of the weapon until the male who’d caused his problems stopped moving.
Taking the sound blaster with him as a precaution, Stark stood and walked into the middle of the still falling white, looking through the snowy blur for his mate.
“Topper!” he yelled again.
But there was no answer to his call.
He waded knee deep now through the rapidly accumulating snow, fighting his way to where he’d briefly seen Topper before the upheaval. Panic assailed him as the snow started to drift into larger and larger piles. He’d been less worried about his own life than he was for the witch he adored.
Stark stopped when a hologram image of a woman appeared in the snow filled air above him. Saying nothing, she pointed down and Stark struggled through drifts until he found a rapidly accumulating mound.
“Thank you,” Stark said to the visage. He tossed the sound blaster aside to dig at the snow with his hands. Two minutes later, the mound was higher and he realized more effort would be needed to free Topper from under it.
He was stepping back, preparing to use his power to move the snow away, when all the sled dogs raced past him. They barked, and yelped, and furiously pawed at the still loose snow. So much digging by so many canines sent even more white flakes into the air, blinding him as he fought to see what they were doing. Holding an arm up to shield his eyes, Stark could barely make out Mercury tugging and pulling at something. Once more he fought his way through the white until he finally saw Topper’s crumpled, still form hanging from Mercury’s teeth.
Stark fell to his knees and checked her breathing, before taking his mate from Mercury and gathering her arms. “Thank the goddess I found you,” he whispered. The dogs, sensing the couple needed space, all turned and trotted off.
Topper’s eyes opened slowly and with great effort. She reached up a bare, cold hand to touch his face. “Stark… the snow exploded. Goddess, my head hurts.”
Stark hugged Topper tight and kissed her forehead. “I know. But everything’s going to be fine,” he whispered. “I promise.”
“Why do you torment her? We all know what your promises are worth, don’t we, you Terlorian balled bastard?”
Stark turned his head to see Arctic standing a few feet from him and Topper, waving the recovered sound blaster at them again. Swearing at his foolishness for casting it aside, Stark glared back at Arctic.
He couldn’t get to the laser blaster behind him in time to outdraw the crazy Glacieran General. He also couldn’t lay an unconscious Topper back on the cold, snow covered ground with her so weak and depleted of power.
He swallowed hard, seeing nothing but their deaths in any choice he made. His prayers were fast and silent. He prayed for himself and Topper, calling on both their deities for any miracle they could provide.
“I hold an innocent in my arms. Let her go, General. Killing my mate will only bring you more dishonor,” Stark said.
“What others don’t know can never bring dishonor, Stark. My men will stand by me. The Directors will never question my coming here to investigate the strange portals that keep opening. I will live long on Glacier and die an extremely satisfied male. Vengeance is the food of true heroes.”
Stark ran a hand over Topper’s hair. If he was going to die, he wanted to go while looking at her and not Arctic. “The true hero is the one who one day will end the life of a male like you. May Icela send me back soon to avenge the wrongs you commit today.”
“The great Stark brought down while weeping over a woman. This is a fitting end for you.”
Arctic’s laughter was loud and maniacal as he took better aim. It had Stark’s head swiveling despite his resolve not to look at his would-be killer. Arctic was so intent on killing him, that he didn’t notice anything else.
But Stark did.
Perhaps Arctic saw something in his eyes at the last second because he turned his head instead of firing. A piercing burst of energy hit Arctic, knocking the sound blaster to the ground as he fell over. Another male—one dressed in cold weather clothing from Earth—walked over to look down at Arctic’s now still body.
Relief crawled up his spine as his Goddess-sent deliverer kicked Arctic’s body with the toe of his boot, seemingly pleased to see blood essence covering the ground. A Glacieran weapon that hadn’t been used in a century hung at the male’s side. Star Ranger issue, Stark noted, but that didn’t necessarily mean a Star Ranger had wielded it just now. That kind of rescue was too much to hope for, wasn’t it?
The male finally turned to him and pulled off his face-mask. “General Stark? It’s a pleasure to see you again, sir. I almost didn’t recognize you.”
“Thor?” Stark said in shock, everything inside him unwinding. “Goddess, you are a sight for my worried eyes.”
Thor nodded. “And you for my concerned ones, sir. When Sandra sent me out to rescue ‘two blue-haired idiots’ stranded on the practice run, she neglected to mention one of them was from my home planet. Of course, she doesn’t really know I’m not from here. No one does.”
Stark snorted. “Everyone on Glacier thinks you’re dead, Thor.”
Thor shrugged. “Yes. If they knew of my crimes, they’d want me to be. Being thought dead was a beneficial thing a century ago. It’s recently stopped being beneficial, and finding you here… well, now I see that I didn’t change fate… I just delayed it. I’m here and you’re here. I’ll explain my situation when we’ve gotten you and your female to safety.”
“Fine, but do not count me as one of those who would malign you. Today you’re my hero in every sense of that word and I will honor this always. I meant what I said to General Crazy over there. By the way… is he completely dead? Or do I need to make sure of it? I thought I’d taken him do
wn, but he got back up.”
Thor looked at his hand and raised his weapon to stare at it. “I’m pretty sure I got him clean. My blaster’s a bit ancient, but I managed to put a hole straight through his head. Can he regenerate his brain?”
“He’s a Glacieran male. Let’s hope not,” Stark said, standing up with a still unconscious Topper in his arms. “This is my mate, Thor. She’s a female from Earth… and the reason I’m here.”
“Did Arctic kill her?” Thor asked, frowning at the limp woman in Stark’s arms.
“No,” Stark said. “She overexerted herself. She’s a… she used powers that she shouldn’t have used to try and save me… save us. Now her body pays for the effort. That snow explosion? It was something she did. I doubt it was what she intended, but it did buy us time for you to reach us.”
“I actually saw it happen and hustled here to investigate. Let’s get her back and warm her up. My sled’s around the other side of this avalanche area. You can hold her and keep her warm. I’ll pilot and come back for the other sled later. Mercury met me and brought here. He’s a grand animal.”
“Indeed he is,” Stark agreed. “Will you hold my mate for a moment? I need to do something.”
“I am honored that you trust me to help you care for your female,” Thor said, holding out his arms.
Once Topper was in Thor’s arms, Stark pulled the laser blaster from the back of his pants. “Take the dogs and Topper and move behind that drift.”
When Thor did as he asked, Stark dialed up the laser to its fullest capacity. He removed all the other weapons from Arctic’s body and then pointed the laser at the lifeless corpse.
“May Icela guide you to a life of greater good next time you return,” Stark said as eulogy.
One squeeze later and what was left of Arctic got instantly incinerated. Stark took his boot and kicked snow over the burned area of ground created from the laser blast. By the time the snow thawed in the spring, the Earth under Arctic’s ashes would have absorbed him and repaired itself. Or so Stark chose to believe.
Magic, New Mexico: Touching Topper (Kindle Worlds Novella) (My Crazy Alien Romance Book 2) Page 6
