Kelan: Talonian Warriors

by Celeste Raye

  Before she could respond to him, the ship began to descend, and she looked out to see that they had arrived at their destination. It was not a planet she had studied much about before, mostly because it was mineral rich and often being taken over by other races. It had little of its own identity, but it was beautiful from what she could tell at that angle.

  Alexis ran to the window to sit and watch as they passed below the line of the faraway sun and moon and into the gap that separated it from another planet that was closer than she had ever seen one planet to another. The fact that they passed across each other but never crashed or knocked each other out of orbit was baffling. Human history had been so certain that planets could never survive being so close.

  The ship came down gently onto what looked like sand. There seemed to be sand as far as the eye could see, and she doubted she would get a chance to find out if there was any more to the planet. All the men lined up, ready for battle, and King Shene led them off the ship without saying much else to her. She did not know how long she would be alone this time, but she dreaded it. Nabvan was left to guard her again. All that time would be spent in painful silence.

  The sounds in the days that followed were the sounds of war, and Alexis had felt a pang of guilt in her gut for whoever was lost in the process. She was, after all, a Milisarian now. She was known as the mate of the king, though they had not actually mated. She doubted anyone beyond herself, the king, and Nabvan knew that, however. She was part of a culture that was happy to destroy and enslave other planets, other races, but when she thought about it, Earth was not much different.

  The sounds had stopped that day when the ship opened up its mouth to reveal the returning triumphant knights, including King Shene. Most of them did not even look worse for the wear besides a little sweat on their pale skin. If there was an argument at all for survival of the fittest, the Milisarian knights fit the bill.

  “You’re back,” she noted when the king came up to her, looking satisfied, following another one of his victories. He had turned the army into a well-oiled machine with the help of Nabvan’s training. This generation of Milisarian knights was unstoppable.

  “Disappointed?” he asked in a joking tone before letting it go. “Here, I have something to show you.” Alexis felt nervous as he took her arm and began to lead her out of the ship. She looked back to Nabvan for help or an explanation, but he had gotten lost in the celebratory crowd. For all she knew, he wouldn’t do anything to save her if the time came anyway. Until that moment, she had not accepted that it was all over with him, but there was some finality to the ship’s door closing behind them. The sorrow was so heavy, she almost didn’t notice the scene around her. Almost.

  Alexis stood still on the now quiet planet. She didn’t know if they had landed in an area that was not that populated or if many of the inhabitants had died in the fight to take over the planet, but serenity was the only way to view what was before her. Beyond the sand was more sand, but out from the sand jutted several tall rocks. Some resembled mountains on Earth while others looked more like towers and spires made of a dark mineral she had never seen before. She wanted to touch it, but she had no way of knowing if it was safe.

  King Shene took her arm again and led her through a crack between two towering rocks, and the view got even better. Her feet struck a body of water that was shining and glistening, its tides coinciding with another pool of water across a bridge of rock and sand. The water shined so much, she was sure it had to be cold like ice, but as it lapped over her feet, she could feel a supreme warmth coming over her, as if it was fed from a volcano. And perhaps it was.

  King Shene reached down to hold her hand as he led her on a walk along the warm, glistening shores, and she let him. He had let her have a taste of what she always wanted. She had to give her gratitude.

  "I thought you might enjoy this," King Shene said finally, dragging them back towards the ship far too soon. "I saw the way you watched out the windows like you longed to see what was out there. I can give that to you if you would just let me."

  Alexis felt that chill again, and she let the silence be her response. She was going to let fate decide for her what she was meant for.

  Chapter 12

  Alexis gazed at herself in the mirror and thought she had never looked so stunning. On Earth, she had rarely worn beautiful things or worried about her looks. She didn’t get too much crap about it either. She had always been told she had one of those naturally beautiful faces; blemish free and soft. She didn’t need makeup. Not that it mattered much to her. She was in a career field with ninety-nine percent men. She didn’t need to be pretty; she had needed to be taken seriously.

  Now that she was the king’s mate, practically a queen, the perks were that she got to wear lavish things and be taken to meetings and parties with leaders of other planets. Some were on Milisaria, some were in the ship, and others were on planets friendly with the Milisarians, though those were few and far between. It had not been that long since he had first taken her off the ship to show her one of the most spectacular planets she had ever seen, but it had all become a blur of a long string of time with everything they were doing.

  Alexis had no idea what they would be doing next other than sitting down to a conference with a few leaders about trade deals and that she was to wear the beautiful blue number she had been given. She was almost positive it was made from silk or something similar, and she wondered where it had come from. The Milisarians didn’t make any of their own stuff, after all.

  “Are you ready?” The voice almost startled her and made her jump. She wasn’t used to the king popping in and out at will: only Nabvan, who did it with silence nowadays.

  Alexis nodded in confirmation and walked past Nabvan, who was standing guard and pretending like nothing was happening. She offered her arm to King Shene, who took it formally and wrapped it up with his own, taking her out of the room. She dared to spare a sad glance in Nabvan’s direction. It was something she just could not help.

  “I have some joyful news to share,” the king said, pulling her back in with conversations. They walked towards the conference center where the meeting would be held. She hoped she would not be the only partner at this one, as she often was. It got rather lonely.

  “What news could that be?” she asked, feigning interest.

  “There will be a wedding to celebrate very soon between one of the women from your ship and one of my men. I am happy to report that for a few of the men, the matches are working out very well. Three women will be giving birth to a child soon, and this one very soon.” Alexis perked up at that, wondering if he could be talking about Destiney. That would be wonderful to get to see her and celebrate with her. Alexis was thrilled that her friend had gotten the right draw of cards finally.

  “That is good news,” Alexis expressed as he stopped to raise his eyebrows at her.

  “I am glad that makes you happy. I was afraid it might not.”

  “I do not wish unhappiness on any of those women, even if I disagree with the methods by which they were brought to this planet,” she told him honestly as the wind picked up and blew her hair into her face. King Shene swooped it back behind her ear like he had the first time she had seen him, but the gesture was much sweeter this time than it had been before. His effort was clear. It made her think about her future there and what she might be able to accomplish by his side if he would allow it. Maybe it was time to let go just a little bit.

  “Can I talk to you about something for just a moment before we go into that meeting?” Alexis asked, trying to hold him in place for a little while longer.

  “Of course, I have some time to talk with my mate. What is on your mind?” he asked in a serious manner.

  “I want to know if there is any chance you would consider letting me do some scientific research. I know you don’t do it now, but it is what I love. I think I can help Milisaria become less dependent on other planets.” King Shene looked contemplative at that, and she wondered i
f she had said the wrong thing.

  “I do not know much about science or technology myself. Most of us do not. I cannot say that everyone would be immediately accepting, but that was one of the reasons we wanted to breed with humans: to have more knowledge and possibilities. It is something we can discuss later down the road.” Alexis nodded her head, knowing it was the best answer she could ever hope for. It was not a no, and that was the hope she held within her as he took her into the meeting.

  Chapter 13

  Nabvan watched as the ceremony was set up outside the inner city. Destiney and Siefer had wanted an outdoor wedding, and he couldn’t blame them. Milisaria was beautiful, and there was no reason to waste that by being indoors all the time like they often were.

  There was a makeshift stage lifted in the middle of the courtyard where he could see King Shene and Alexis talking. He could actually only see Alexis’s back, but it filled him with so much sadness at how he had reacted to her. Things had been different ever since they had fought, and he hardly recognized her since King Shene had started spending all his time with her. He had a bad feeling about it too, the way the king was suddenly taking so much interest. He was desperate, watching some of the other women already carrying children. He wanted in on it too, and he must have realized he wasn’t going to get it the way he was acting. But somehow, Alexis seemed to be falling for it, and Nabvan couldn’t help but think he might have something to do with that.

  He had been ignoring her, and he thought it had been what was best. He had been wrong. It had driven her right into the arms of a king that was good at charming others. It was how he had become king in the first place.

  Nabvan watched with an indescribable pain as Alexis openly laughed with King Shene so close to her. It was the loveliest sound, but it had nothing to do with him. He had been so foolish to think that not mating with her would mean he could just get over her. It wasn’t that simple at all, and yet, here was a king who had a handful of more women in waiting for him, and it didn’t faze him at all. He could easily go back and forth and miss nothing about any of them other than their beauty or their willingness to submit. For Nabvan, it was more than that.

  Nabvan saw that Milisarians were beginning to file into the seats provided, ready to see the wedding between a human woman and a Milisarian knight. It was a very special time for those on the planet. The Milisarians saw this union as a sign of hope for the race and another kind of victory beyond what they were used to. He should have been happy as well: happy the experiment was working and happy that his friend was in love and having a child. He just couldn’t be, though, now that he had seen exactly what was going on with these women. Destiney was the exception to the rule. Until the day he and Alexis had seen them in chains, they had not been allowed to shower or eat three meals a day like they were used to, and he suspected that Alexis was the one who put her foot down. But what was King Shene expecting in return for giving in to her requests? Nabvan could not stand to even think about it.

  King Shene would be taking care of the ceremony, and eventually, Alexis would have to go into the crowd on her own to watch. He knew that she would want to witness her friend getting married in the first human-like ceremony they would perform on Milisaria, but he kept thinking that he needed to get her away and talk to her at a time when the king wouldn’t notice. And this would be the only time. He was almost always with her now or somewhere waiting for her. Nabvan’s services had been needed less and less, and he feared they would be separated before he even got a chance to tell her how sorry he was for his reaction to her suggestion. And he needed to find a way to get his assignment back. He needed to be her keeper because without her around, he felt like something was missing inside of him. It was a frightening sort of illness that he had only heard described by Milisarians most in love. They were few and far between.

  Nabvan saw King Shene running his hand up and down Alexis’s right arm, and for a moment, he wanted to trade places with the man. Being King of Milisaria was not an easy job that he would wish on anyone, but Nabvan thought he could handle all of it if it meant he got to have Alexis as well. But instead, a man full of trickery and manipulation that did not deserve much of any woman got to have the woman that had sent Nabvan’s world crashing down around him just for her to build it back up. How was that fair?

  What killed him the most was that Alexis was smiling through it all. It didn’t matter whether it was real or not. It mattered that King Shene believed the smiles were real and directed at him. He got the best of her even if she was faking it.

  Alexis gave King Shene a kiss on the cheek, and Nabvan watched as she walked away from him, trying to find a seat in the large crowd. Nabvan waited until King Shene looked away and walked up to her, grabbing her by the arm and sitting her down in the back row. “You can be the first one to see Destiney from here,” he whispered in her ear. She looked up at him suspiciously before he fell back into the line of small trees that grew out from the mossy grounds around the inner city. If King Shene looked back, it would just seem that he was doing his job to guard her and keep her safe, but he could also pull her out at the most distracted moment to talk with her.

  Nabvan did nothing but set his gaze on the back of her head while the ceremony began. King Shene presented Siefer to everyone and talked about his accomplishments, including being the first of the Milisarian knights to impregnate a human female. It was a little sad that that had to be the focus of the day instead of the love between the two. He had seen the way those two looked at each other and was so amazed that even one of the pairings had worked out. It was that day in their room, when Alexis was talking to her friend, that made things shift for him with Alexis. He had been attracted to her from a distance since he started getting to know her, but then he started to see that there could be more than that. That it wasn’t so impractical to have a Milisarian and a human together.

  Destiney was finally announced, and she appeared, walking in a beautiful green dress that had probably been bought off another planet or off someone in the village who knew how to sew. The inner city was helpless when it came to those things, but some people in the villages were learning to do a few things of their own before he had left. They were limited, but it was great for them. Relying on the inner city to send them the things they scored from other planets was not always an option.

  As Destiney came through with her obviously round belly and beautiful dress, she had a happy smile on her face that could be nothing but genuine. Alexis reached out to her, and the two women held hands for a moment in a show of emotion he had only seen from these humans. Friendship meant something very different to them than it did to Milisarian knights. They did favors for one another, but they did not cry and celebrate over each other’s triumphs and losses.

  All eyes were on the bride as she made her way down the aisle to Siefer, who was ready to receive her hand. They blocked his view the moment everyone settled in to listen to King Shene preside over the wedding. Nabvan knew this was his chance, or he would have to give up on it. He bent over and tapped her on the shoulder to get her attention, and she looked back at him with knowing eyes. He nodded towards the side of the final tier, which spun out into the marshes surrounding the building behind them. They would be unseen there but could still hear the ceremony.

  Nabvan disappeared first, only having faith to tell him that Alexis would follow him there. He turned around to find her heading towards him as quietly as she could manage through the sloshing marsh. She looked regal and unreachable, and he wondered if he would ever convince her he was worthy of forgiveness.

  “What are you doing, Nabvan? You have not talked to me at all in a long time, and now you have pulled me away from my best friend’s wedding, which the man that is meant to be my mate is presiding over. I don’t think this is a good idea. We could get caught. I need to get back,” she told him, sounding angrier than he expected, but there was also a touch of pain in there. It was a pain that both hurt him and made his heart soar at the
same time. Pain meant she still felt something. He grabbed her hand and spun her into him, not daring to let go until she heard him out.

  She was so close to him, and all his words fell out in silence as his lips were drawn to hers. The kiss was just as passionate as the first time but more desperate. There was a sadness to it that hadn’t been there before. He pulled away to see a confused expression on Alexis’s face. “What is this about?” she breathed, not trying to move away. Her chest was rising and falling like she had been running.

  “I am sorry for what I said before. This is my home. This is my life. Leaving it did not seem like something I could ever do for any reason. I still don’t know what the future holds for me, but I have seen what you mean. I have also seen what I feel for you in every contact you have with the king.” It came out like a plea. He had never heard himself sound that way.

  “I don’t know what you want from me. I have settled for my fate with the king. With the power he gives me, I might be able to save some of these women. I get a freedom I never thought I would be allowed to have, and he is talking with me about science. He could give me a life a little like what I wanted. What can you give me?” Alexis’s words stung him severely, but he could see there was little conviction behind them. Sure, she was probably enjoying her new freedom, but she felt nothing for the king. He could tell they still had not mated by the way she spoke of him and by the way she was still looking at him.