There isn’t any movement that I can see. Best stay where you are, Serelath replied.
Keep your eyes open and stay close, he said back to the dragon flying overhead. He needed to get into the building to find out who took a pot shot at him. Testing his luck, he peered around the corner again. Nothing moved in the window behind the curtain then suddenly a bright flash filtered through the broken glass. He took that as a sign to make a mad dash for the building across the street. Keeping his head low, he ran for the door leading into the two storied structure. He followed the sounds of scuffling up the stairs and down a long narrow hallway. The sound of flesh being smacked then the groan of pain came out of the room at the end of the hall. Just as he was entering the room with his laser gun drawn, one of his men was throwing a boy to the ground.
“Get off me you dirty rotten ass!” The boy struggled until his arms were forcibly restrained behind his back and he was hauled to his feet. The boy jerked his arms but was unable to free himself from the two men that held him still.
“Here’s your shooter, Commander.”
Kharis slipped his gun into the waistband of his uniform pants as he stepped closer to the boy. The kid couldn’t have been more that fourteen or fifteen years old and was small for his age. By the looks of the boy’s complexion, he was definitely Lephusan but why was he alone in a building that was now falling apart.
“What’s your name boy?”
‘I’m no boy! I am a man, a warrior!” The boy glared at him with eyes that could have burned straight through him.
“Ummm…a warrior you say. If you are a warrior then where are the rest of your troops?” Kharis folded his arms and waited for a reply.
“I…I am the only one left.” The boy stilled and a look of sadness fell over his young face.
“Where is everyone else?” He hoped to gain some information from the boy no matter how small or inconsequential it might be.
The boy refused to answer the question. He just stood there glaring at Kharis as if he expected Kharis to suddenly put him to death. He needed to find out what this boy knew but how could he get it out of him without scaring the crap out of him?
“Look, I respect you for being a warrior and for trying to protect yourself. But staying alone is not the answer. If there isn’t anyone left here, then why are you still here?”
“They left, they all left and I didn’t want to go.” The boy held his head up high as if he was trying to prove his point.
“But, tell me why you didn’t want to go. You have to have a reason,” Khari said.
“I,” the boy was stalling. “I didn’t want to go with them because I don’t want to be a Lephusan anymore!” A tear slipped down the boy’s dirty, pale cheek.
The boy’s answer took him by complete surprise. He thought maybe he had been left behind by mistake or something, but not this!
“Let him go,” he said to the men holding the boy’s arms. One of the men cut the boy free then stepped away. “Come here,” he said. The boy had hesitated for a moment before he took a tentative step towards him. “Tell me what happen. I won’t let anything happen to you, I promise. First, tell me your name.”
The boy looked up at him then said in a low voice, “Luco. My name is Luco.”
“Well, Luco are you hungry?” He snapped his finger at one of his men who produce a silver wrapped protein bar from inside his uniform shirt. He took the bar and unwrapped the top portion then handed to the boy.
Luco eagerly took the offered food and began to shove the entire thing into his mouth.
“Whoa there. You are going to choke. Slow down, we have plenty more.” Kharis took the boy by the arm and steered him to an overturned bench. “Now tell me why you didn’t want to go with your people. You have to have a reason.”
The boy chewed then swallowed the mouthful of the protein bar. “I…I didn’t want to part of another madman’s idealistic dream! That’s why! There aren’t many of us left. I want to live a free life and make my own decisions, not be told how to live and I definitely want no part in raping females just to supply troops for a war that we cannot win!”
“War? What war are you talking about? Ruehar is dead.” Kharis was confused with the boy’s words and actions.
“I know he is dead! It’s Captain Zol’tsa who has taken control of us. He’s even gone as far as to find us a new planet to live on, but I didn’t want any part of it. I want to live a free life, not one controlled by another dictator.”
Kharis’ problem was growing bigger by the second. If the Lephus people had a new leader, which he had already suspected, then their problems hadn’t ended with the death of their previous leader.
“I tell you what,” Kharis addressed the boy, “You can come with us, not as a prisoner, but as a new citizen of Qetera.”
A procession of emotions played across the young boy’s face and Kharis could see the boy was torn between his two options. It was not unheard of for a Lephusan to defect from his or her culture and join an entirely different one. There were the rare ones that believed there was more to life then warring with different races, but not many.
“What will it be then, son?” Kharis asked again. The boy stood still as if he was weighing his options. He would like to have the boy join them, that way the boy could be trained as a Qeteran warrior and grow up to the man he wants to be.
“I will come with you,” Luco replied. “But, may I bring some of my things with me?”
“Of course. Tell me, Luco, are there any others like you hanging around?” Kharis hoped Luco would tell him the truth so that he could cut their time short on the planet.
The boy shrugged his shoulders. “As far as I know I am the only one. It’s been a few days since they left and I haven’t seen anyone else.”
“Ok then, let’s go.”
Kharis, Luco, and his men went back outside to find that nothing had changed. Everything was still just as quiet and deserted as it had been before the group had been fired upon by the lone Luco.
Serelath, take another fly around with Parath just to be sure there isn’t anything we missed, Kharis sent to his dragon.
As you wish, Serelath said.
The group started to walk again on the street to out the remaining area before turning back. Kharis wasn’t easily spooked, but walking down the empty street was creepy. Trash blew in the breeze that had been stirred up, animal searching food occasionally ran across their path, and the abandoned building continued to give the feeling he was being watched. He would be happy to get off the Lephusan planet once and for all and never return.
Everything appears to be clear. The boy is the only individual I have been able to see.
Thanks, Serelath. You and Parath head on back to the ship and we will meet you there.
Directly above his head he saw the dragons fly off in the direction of their ship. It would take them seconds to travel to where the ship was parked but for the group of men and one boy it would take about thirty minutes to retrace their steps.
As expected, the dragons were waiting for them. They were eager to be off the dying planet and were the first ones onto the ship once the door had been opened. Kharis had to chuckle to himself as he watched the smaller, newer dragon follow Serelath. It was still a shock to him that his mate had a dragon!
The ship took off without incident and returned safely to his ship. It felt good to be bad on his own turf again. He needed to inform Etor of his findings and of the new member of his crew.
“Take Luco to the medical bay. Jonik might want to quarantine him until he gives the all clear that the boy is free of any pathogens that are known to inhabit Lephus.” Kharis nodded to the boy who was standing several feet away staring at his new surroundings. “I’ll be up on the bridge if he needs me.”
“Yes, sir.”
Kharis left the docking bay and headed to the bridge. He should go tell Kelly that they returned before informing his brother, their leader, about his findings came first. He may be mated to Kelly n
ow, but his duties still had to come first. Once he was in his office he placed the transmission call and waited for Etor to appear on the screen before him. It took several minutes for the signal to reach Qetera and bounce back.
“What have you found out?” Etor asked without greeting him.
“Not much. The planet was pretty much deserted with the exception of one boy we discovered.”
“Where is he?” Etor sounded angry.
“He is being delivered to Jonik as we speak.”
“What was he doing there? Are you sure there wasn’t anyone else,” Etor snapped.
“Brother, is there a problem?” If his brother was angry at something, he wasn’t about to let Etor take it out on him.
“Problem?” Etor shook his head. “Oh sorry. Maggie and I had an argument right before you called. Please continue.”
He was right! “The boy said everyone else left the planet with Zol’tsa. He didn’t want to go and hid. He says that Zol’tsa has taken over as their ruler.”
“By the gods! I knew the man was weasel but, damn! He didn’t waste any time filling his dead lord’s shoes, did he?” Etor slammed his fist on the table he was sitting behind.
“Apparently not. I kind of figured he would return to Lephus when he escaped, but I didn’t think he would do it this soon. There’s not a soul left on Lephus as far as we could tell. Even the dragons didn’t find anything.”
“Dragons?”
Kharis chuckled to himself. He had forgotten all about informing his brother about Parath. “Yes, dragons. It seems as if a young female dragon has claimed my mate as her own!”
Etor’s eyebrows rose up in surprise. “How is that possible? Females don’t have dragons?”
“I’m not exactly sure, but apparently it’s a rare thing.” Kharis smiled into the screen in front of him.
“Well, I’ll be damned! A female with a dragon! Now that is definitely something to report!” Etor’s demeanor changed with the news of Kelly’s dragon. “Do you have any idea where Zol’tsa took the people?”
“Not yet. I’ll have to do some poking around and see if anyone knows anything. We’re heading to Nimbus 3 now.”
“Excellent. Someone on Nimbus 3 has got to know something. Every criminal, trader, and freighter goes through that place. Just don’t let the dragons out. There’s bound to be someone on Nimbus 3 looking to make a few quick bucks by capturing a dragon.” Etor leaned back in his chair. “Call me after you search the place. As far as we know Zol’tsa could be taking the Lephusan people to the opposite side of the universe.”
“That’s what I’ afraid of. I don’t want to have to fold space and go on a wild ghocken chase. Until then,” Kharis nodded then cut the transmission. He leaned back in his own chair and rubbed his hands over his face. It was going to be a long, tiresome journey. If he were lucky, someone on Nimbus 3 would know exactly where Zol’tsa went, but he had a feeling it was going to take some time to find the new ruler of Lephus.
Chapter 11
Kelly lounged about their living quarters the entire time the ground party was gone. There wasn’t much for her to do on board Kharis’ ship and with Parath being gone too, she was bored to tears! The hours drug by slowly as she stared out the window that overlooked the dingy looking planet spinning below her. She just wished she could have gone with them! Damn it, she was a cop after all and know how to take care of herself?
“This just sucks!” she said out loud.
What sucks?
The strange voice in her caught her off guard. Parath?
Who else would it be?
When did y’all get back?
Not long ago. Kharis went to file a report with Etor and should be returning soon.
Kelly breathed a sigh of relief. Anything interesting happen down there?
We did come across a young boy who Kharis took back with us. He is currently in the medical until being checked out by Jonik.
A boy? Is he okay?
He appears to be. Kharis just wanted the boy checked out in case he needs to be quarantined. I heard Kharis say that Lephus has may pathogens that could pose a threat.
That thought had never occurred to her before. Even when she and the other girls landed on Qetera, the thought of deadly pathogens never crossed her mind. I guess it’s no different than like on Earth. Some countries where I come from have diseases that other countries do not. Way back in Earth’s history, explorers brought diseases to new places that had been untouched. Thousands upon thousands of people died because of these new pathogens.
Yes, it’s something that needs to be taken seriously. There are so many planets of here that we don’t know what harm some may hold for us. It’s best to be cautious. Ah, Kharis is on his way back now.
Where are you? Kelly was surprised that her dragon hadn’t come bounding to her with excitement. She had waited hours for any news from the planet below.
I am going to feed with Serelath. I will return shortly.
Okay, see you in a little while. She was glad Kharis was on his way back. She wanted to know everything that happened down on Lephus. She felt like the cop in her was coming out with wanting to question her prisoner.
Just as she disconnected with Parath Kharis walked through the door. He looked dirty and tired, but it wasn’t going to stop her from questioning him.
“Hello, my love.” Kharis greeted her with a smile.
“Hi! How was it?” She might as well dive right on in.
Kharis plopped his huge body down onto the sofa then leaned his head back to look up at the ceiling. “Sad. Really sad. I can’t believe that a ruler would let his planet go to hell the way Ruehar had let his. The planet is barely livable which is to say a lot. Ruehar ran Lephus in the ground.”
Kelly moved closer to him and put her hand on his thigh. “Really? Why would someone want to do that to their people? I mean, isn’t it better to take care of your people?” Wow, that sounded really stupid! Of course, it is!
“We already knew Ruehar was harsh and cruel ruler but we didn’t know he was as extreme to the point of letting his entire planet suffer immensely. But, we got bigger problems now.”
She curled her legs up underneath her body and leaned into Kharis as they talked. “What?”
Kharis wrapped one long, muscled arm around her and drew her closer to him. “We came across a young boy who came back with us. His name is Luco and he informed us of the new ruler of the Lephusan people, Zol’tsa.”
She felt the blood leave her face at the sound of that man’s name. The chances that their escaped prisoner was now the leader of their despised enemies was phenomenal. She wasn’t ignorant to the fact that they expected the old captain to show up somewhere sometime in the future but not this soon. Several times she had thought about the vanished man, especially she had been forced by Kharis to move to his city, even though she didn’t mind now. With being a cop she wasn’t about to let her guard down, but come on, she was living on an entirely different planet and was worried about a man from another species coming after her. It really wasn’t so different in space after all.
“What…what are you going to do? Do you know where he is?”
Kharis pulled her closer until he could kiss the top of her head. “For now, we are headed to Nimbus 3, a known haven for people who are hiding or who don’t want to be found. Chances are someone there will know where he is headed. We’re just hoping it isn’t clear across the damned universe!” He turned her face until he could look into her eyes. “There’s nothing to worry about, my love. We’ll find the bastard and see what he is up to. For now though, I need a shower. Can to join me?” He slipped free of her embrace and stood up. He held out his hand and waited for her to take.
She debated whether or not she want to join him in the shower. Any other time she would have raced him to the bathroom, but, for some reason, she didn’t feel as if she should. She’d gotten some of the answers she had been impatiently waiting to get while Kharis had been gone and now she wished sh
e hadn’t been so nosy. She actually felt like Maggie did when her ex tracked her to the convention center and saw her board the ship.
“Come on, my love. There’s nothing we can do right now and a nice, long, hot shower will do us both some good.” He took her hand and tugged her to her feet.
Reluctantly she went with him. Kharis was right, she needed to put Zol’tsa out of her mind for the time being and concentrate on other things. Other things like his body!
Chapter 12
Zol’tsa deposited his unconscious female on the bed in his quarters. Yes, she was a perfect specimen for what he intended her for, but he’d have to keep her unconscious for a bit longer until he had the extra time to explain everything to her. It really didn’t matter whether she wanted to be with him or not, she didn’t have much of a choice now that they were back up on the ship. He just wanted to give her the opportunity to come to him willingly rather than by force. He had to admit he did have his own set of morals and didn’t actually prefer rape.
Living among the Stars (Sky Riders #2) Page 10
