This is where Riot would burst into even more tears. She’d get up and walk out on him forever. These events would haunt her until she’d buried them down deep. She’d focus on drinking and her career as a Marine in the years to come.
But something was different now. This time in her dream, Riot actually had control of her body. A feeling of strength and contentment started in her left shoulder and slowly coursed through her body.
For whatever reason this time, she wasn’t doomed to repeat the events, only watching out through her eyes like a caged captive. Riot lifted herself off the ground. She waved his hands away. She spat blood as he continued to apologize and try to gather her in a hug.
“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, Gertrude,” he said with panicked, drunken eyes. “I don’t know what happened. We can fix this.”
Riot massaged the left side of her face where his clumsy strike had hit her. She was still in awe that she actually had control of her body at this point.
“Gert, are you okay?” He came to her again, trying to touch the area on her split lip where blood still gushed. “I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry.”
His right hand reached for her face. Riot grabbed his pointer and middle fingers with her left hand and cranked them to the side so hard she felt his fingers break right before his entire body followed in that direction.
“Ahhh!”
It felt good to hear him scream. In fact, it felt great.
Riot still wasn’t sure why this time she had been granted the power to control her body, but she was loving the freedom it brought with it. Tears, not of pain or sorrow, filled her eyes.
“You—you—” He struggled to his feet again, his inebriated state dulling the pain of his broken fingers. A madness crossed through his eyes as he collected himself from the floor and charged. “You made me do this!”
Instead of side-stepping his charge, Riot crouched against his larger frame and leveraged him back a few steps like an offensive lineman. She grabbed both his arms and sent the crown of her head into his nose, once, twice, three times just for good measure.
Crimson red oozed from his broken nose. From both nostrils, the blood splattered everywhere. His pressed suit and tie were soon dyed red by his own bodily fluids. Riot released him as he slumped to his knees, dazed.
“You did this,” Riot said, looking down at his swaying form. “This wasn’t my fault. This was never my fault. Or maybe it was. Maybe it was on me for letting myself ever give you a chance. Either way, I’m done now. I’m not going to let your memory handicap me for the rest of my life.”
“Gert, Gertrude!” He grabbed on to her right hand, unable to rise from his knees. “You’ll be back. You’re mine. You belong to me.”
Riot grabbed his perfectly combed hair and lifted his already blackening eyes to her own. “My name is Riot.”
Riot drove her right knee up into the bottom of his chin so hard his head snapped back. He fell to the wooden floor, motionless.
The feeling of happiness and closure that had started in her left shoulder was stronger than ever, and more hot tears splashed down Riot’s face. Even in her dream state, she knew something special had just taken place.
Riot woke, lying on her right side. How long the smile had been on her face was impossible to tell. Tears of happiness streaked her chin.
Ketrick’s steady breathing was constant behind her. During the course of their nap, he, too, had rolled onto his right side. His left hand had found its way to her shoulder, his large palm placed gently on her.
Riot wiped her eyes and rolled over onto her left side to look at the Trilord Prince. His hand slipped down from her shoulder as she moved. He opened his red eyes, looking into hers.
Sleep still clouded his eyes he gazed at her. “Have you just been watching me while I slumber, Sorceress?”
Ketrick yawned, showing off his long, canine teeth.
“I don’t know how that translates on your planet,” Ketrick said with a mischievous grin, “but here on Hoydren, that would indicate you care for me. That, or you are plotting to kill me in my sleep.”
“I think we’ll keep you around a little longer.” Riot leaned in and pressed her lips against his. “We need someone to control the dragons when the Karnayers come.”
Ketrick moved into a sitting position. “How long have we been asleep?”
Riot moved to sit next to him. She followed his gaze to where Hoydren’s twin suns set in the distance, their bright rays just now sinking under the horizon. Noise this high up was almost non-existent. Far down below, Riot could hear the faint voices of guards and soldiers doing their part to prepare for the fight to come.
“General Armon will have arrived by now.” Riot stood up, stretching. Memories of her dream came back to her, for once vivid and clear. “We should get down and see what needs to be done. If Alveric and the House of Karn don’t attack soon, I imagine we’ll be on the offensive shortly.”
Ketrick stood beside her, reeling in her gaze from the setting suns that cast a red glow on the sky far above.
“Were you crying? Are you all right?” Ketrick asked with nothing but genuine concern.
“Yeah,” Riot said, smiling over at him. “For the first time in a very long time, I can honestly say I’m all right. But one way or another, a fight’s coming. It’s time to reel in touchy-emotional Riot and bring out the beast. You know what I’m talking about.”
“I do,” Ketrick said, leaning down and kissing her on the forehead. “Just give me one last moment with my Riot before you lock her away.”
Riot felt his warm lips touch her skin. She let herself be vulnerable for a moment longer.
BOOM!
Riot was ripped from the moment of comfort, her eyes darting to where the noise had come from. Far below and to the south of the city, a plume of smoke rose through the dense jungle brush.
BOOM!
The same sound came again, shattering the silence, even at her current altitude. Riot strained harder to see what could be causing it, but just like before, only a plume of dark smoke rose up from the jungle floor.
BOOM!
A third explosion erupted, right next to the first two. A third curl of smoke rose into the darkening sky.
“What are they doing?” Riot asked, straining to see, willing herself to see something in the distance.
“I don’t know, but it’s not good.” Ketrick’s eyes were full of worry. “Let’s go.”
Riot and Ketrick ran down the same stairs they had ascended when climbing to the top of the Trilord pyramid.
The few hours of sleep Riot had taken with Ketrick had been truly amazing. Whether the nanites aided in her body’s repair, or maybe her muscles and joints were just grateful to get a handful of hours of sleep, Riot didn’t know. Either way, she felt refreshed and ready to enter the fight once more.
Riot tapped into the nanites that acted as her comms as she took stairs two at a time with Ketrick. “Evonne, report. What’s going on out there?”
“It seems the Karnayers have begun their assault, or at least the preparation to do so,” Evonne answered back in her even, matter-of-fact way of speaking. “Should I have the rest of the team meet you somewhere with armor and weapons?”
“Yes,” Riot said as her mind went down a mental checklist of places to gather her men and change into her armor. “Have them meet me at the entrance to the pyramid. I want to check in with General Armon and Colonel Harlan before I get ahead of myself.”
“Understood,” Evonne answered. “I’ll let them know.”
Riot and Ketrick finally reached the bottom floor at a run and raced through the ground level of the pyramid.
The booming in the distance neither grew in volume nor became more rapid; it was just a constant boom that somehow brought a feeling of dread.
Ketrick and Riot almost ran right into Rippa and Admiral Tricon as the two Grovothe headed for the main throne room in the palace. Each of the Grovothe wore a look so serious, Riot didn’t even want to ask wh
at they knew.
“I know I’m going to regret this, but—” Riot looked from Rippa to the admiral. “What’s out there? What have the Karnayers brought with them now?”
“Abominations,” Rippa said, swallowing hard. “They’ve brought Abominations.”
92
Maybe just lie to me for a second,” Riot said, trying to prep herself to hear whatever it was Admiral Tricon and Rippa knew. “Tell me they brought some kind of mutant kittens with them.”
Admiral Tricon either didn’t understand Riot’s humor or was too focused on what he was doing next to joke. “We’re heading to Queen Revna’s throne room now where General Armon and Colonel Harlan are waiting. The general came in north of the city a few hours ago but insisted we let you and your squad rest. He said we’d need you at your best very soon.”
“Good to know,” Riot said, falling into step with Admiral Tricon and Rippa as they headed to meet the others. Riot looked over at Rippa with a raised eyebrow. “Abominations, huh? Worse than the Devil’s Hand? Who comes up with these names, anyway?”
“I am unsure.” Rippa shrugged. “Someone with a lot of time on their hands. But the Abominations are … not like what we have seen before.”
“Well, that just makes me feel all warm and tingly inside.” Riot sighed. “Just tell me they bleed. If they bleed, we can kill them.”
Before Rippa could give Riot an answer, they reached the door leading into the palace room. The massive doors were wide open, giving them a clear view of Queen Revna speaking with General Armon.
The two broke off their conversation as Riot and her party entered. General Armon and Riot traded salutes.
“From everything I’ve heard, you’ve done one heck of a job here. I’m sure I’ll be reading all about every detail from Doctor Miller soon in a report the size of an encyclopedia,” General Armon said to Riot with a nod, his perfect, graying buzz cut intact, and as military as ever. “I didn’t want to wake you when we arrived. You and your team deserved the downtime. I wish I could give you more.”
“We’re ready to roll out whenever you need us, sir.” Riot returned the nod to the general. “I think Admiral Tricon and Rippa may have information on the noise coming from the jungle.”
All eyes in the room swung over to the two Grovothe. Admiral Tricon traced the scar on the right side of his head, as if by touching the wound, it would bring back memories of the aliens they now faced.
“Alveric is deploying Abominations across the battlefield.” Admiral Tricon looked past everyone in the room as if he were seeing, somewhere against the far wall, the events he now explained. “I’ve only encountered them once before. I didn’t think Alveric would have been entrusted with the Karnayer unit. The Abominations are like the Karnayers’ ultimate weapon. This is why Alveric wasn’t worried about allowing us to gather en masse. He wanted all of us together to unleash the Abominations on us all at once.”
“What are they?” Riot asked. “What are the Abominations?”
“Something half-dead, half-machine, brought to life by magic.” Admiral Tricon snapped out of his distant memories with a start. “One of them gave me this scar when I was a corporal in the Grovothe shock troop division. We were sent out to investigate a dead planet. There wasn’t supposed to be life there. All of a sudden, we were getting pings of energy readings. I was sent in with my division and what we found there were … monsters, more machine than organic.”
“Anything can be killed,” General Armon said in a soft but stern tone. “Were there any weak points on these Abominations? Where did they come from? What weapons do they use?”
“They’re not an alien species,” Admiral Tricon said, back to his normal gruff self. Whatever memories had been dredged up by the mention of the Abominations had been locked down once more. “They were experiments done by the Karnayers on the dead. They melded machine parts to dead beings and somehow brought them back. When we engaged them, they just kept coming. They cut my unit to shreds. They walked through blaster fire like it was nothing more than rain.”
“How did you get out?” Queen Revna asked.
“We called for heavy artillery drops once we evacuated the war zone.” Admiral Tricon cleared his throat. “We lost more than half the unit for nothing. Archangel transports picked us up, and we sent orbital strikes covering the entire area. When we went back in, they were gone. There was nothing left—no body parts, no machine parts; they just disappeared. We told ourselves we had destroyed them in the orbital strikes, but I think everyone who was there had an idea that they could have escaped.”
“Air support will be difficult,” General Armon said, looking at everyone in the room. “They’ll know that we’ll counter against these Abominations with strikes from the sky. Alveric will move against us with his fleet as soon as we take to the air. He doesn’t even have to beat us in the sky; he just has to keep us busy enough to allow his ground forces to overrun the city.”
“With respect, sir,” Rippa said, turning to the admiral. “I’ve never met an enemy that could stand up against a squad of mech warriors. Let me lead the mechs we have left and stand with the city.”
“Not even a question.” Admiral Tricon’s eyes shone with fire. “Don’t mistake my memories for defeat. We’re going to give the House of Karn a fight. My resolve has not changed. Rippa leads the mechs, as well as a ground contingent of Grovothe shock troops.”
“We’ll see how we fare against the Abominations.” General Armon looked to Queen Revna and Admiral Tricon for consent. “If we’re in danger of being overrun, then we take to the sky and fight it out there.”
“Alveric will be doing the same,” Ketrick said from his spot beside Riot. “He’ll hold his fleet in check, waiting to counter our move if we try to perform bombing runs on his ground troops.”
“We have the intel Admiral Tricon has given us about the Abominations, but we should have eyes on the targets as soon as possible to monitor their movement,” Riot said. “Let me take the War Wolves out into the jungle and get eyes on target. We’ll be better equipped to defend against them if we know their exact force size and movements.”
Ketrick opened his mouth like he was about to protest, but was silenced with a stern stare from Riot.
“Agreed.” General Armon looked to the queen and the admiral to make sure there was no opposition to the plan. When they nodded, he continued. “Take your crew into the jungle and report back. We’ll stay here and prepare to defend the city.”
“Roger that,” Riot said, saluting, and turned to leave the room. Ketrick and Rippa fell in stride beside her.
“I’m not letting you go alone,” Ketrick said in a hurried whisper. “This could be a trap. Alveric has to know we’d send a force out to gather intel.”
“For once I agree with the oversized child-man.” Rippa had to lightly jog to keep up with the other two. “This is a dangerous plan.”
“Listen,” Riot said, traveling through the doors of the room and heading for the entrance to the pyramid where her gear and unit would be waiting. “I’m not asking you two to come. My unit is more than capable of lying on our bellies and viewing the enemy through a pair of binoculars. We can handle this.”
“I need to go grab my weapons,” Rippa said, ignoring Riot’s words. “I can meet you in a few minutes. Don’t leave without me.”
“As do I,” Ketrick said without pausing for Riot to respond. “I’ll be back before Rippa. Her tiny, child-like legs do not accommodate fast travel.”
The Grovothe and Trilord went off in opposite directions before Riot could reply. A part of her was grateful to be surrounded by friends unwilling to allow her to brave the threat of the jungle at night. On the other hand, she wished they would let her go by herself. There was no need to put everyone in danger. If it were an option at all, she would have volunteered to go take a look at the Abominations herself, leaving her unit behind, but she knew General Armon would never go for that.
Riot reached the entrance to the pyramid
as the last light of day died to the coming darkness. A million and one stars twinkled overhead in the clear sky. The giant moon that reigned over Hoydren’s night seemed brighter than ever.
So, what’s the word? Rizzo signed. Let me guess: We’re going to go see what that ominous booming sound in the jungle is.
“You’re smarter than you look.” Riot grinned, looking at her men and Evonne, who stood next to them carrying Riot’s armor and weapons. “You all geared up and ready to go?”
“Good to go,” Vet said, dusting off the shoulder of his own armor. “What’s the plan?”
Riot chose a place to change just inside the pyramid entrance, where the alcove would protect her from two sides. She immediately went to work undressing to her underwear and accepting the armor Evonne handed to her. The AI stood right in front of her, blocking her from any prying eyes.
Vet, Wang, and Rizzo turned their backs while Riot changed and explained the plan. “Word on the street is those booming sounds in the jungle are the Karnayers unloading their apex soldiers called Abominations. We’re to go in, not engage, and collect as much intel as we can.”
“Abominations, huh?” Wang said, shaking his head. “Why can’t we ever go up against an enemy called the ‘puppy people’ or ‘butterfly beauties’?”
“That’s what I said.” Riot grinned as she pulled her boots on.
A patrol of Trilords walked by, nodding to the men, then trying to get a look past them at a changing Riot.
“Nothing to see here. Move along, move along.” Vet scowled at the larger alien species with his one good eye. “Keep going.”
“Hey, my eyes are up here, perverts.” Wang extended his arms to try to make a larger shield to block Riot. “You’ve never seen a woman change before?”
Rizzo ushered the amused Trilord patrol along with a wave of his hands.
“Some people,” Vet huffed.
Riot smiled to herself as she grabbed her warhammer and placed it in the holder on her back. The handle of the weapon stuck up over her right shoulder. The armor that had been torn and punctured a few hours before had now been repaired.
War Wolves: Boxset 1-3 Page 47
