Snatched by the Alien Dragon

by Stella Cassy

  “No. Nothing that could bother some real warships. This little rust bucket you have me in could be harmed though.”

  “I see. So probably — what — six warships would do it?”

  “I’m sure four would be enough, but with six my revenge could be enforced with greater swiftness and the appropriate level of wanton destruction.”

  Ranel nodded, slowly. “As you know, we of course have a lot of rebuilding to do. Our strength is not what it was…”

  I used a low growl to signify my anger. Not at Ranel, but at how I’d been wronged. It was to let him know the strength of my feelings on the matter rather than to threaten him.

  “But if your mission has been such a success, and if you truly believe your honor was sullied, then perhaps we could spare a small force for a short amount of time. After all, you are a representative of the Hielsrane—”

  “—and the royal family,” I reminded him, interrupting.

  “Yes. I think this could be arranged. It would send a signal to the rest of the ‘verse that despite our recent tribulations we are still a force to be wary of.”

  Good. Things were coming together nicely.

  “When I return we shall arrange for this to happen as soon as possible.”

  “Yes. Humor me — what is the name of this planet?”

  “Does it matter?”

  Ranel held up his palms in another gesture he must have learned from his mate.

  “As I said, humor me. Where is it?”

  “It’s the little blue planet, Earth. Its decadent people are insolent and full of false bravado, unaware of their own weakness and depravity.”

  “Earth?”

  “Yes. They attacked me without warning and without trial. They assaulted me and my crew and lightly damaged my ship. They acted dishonorably and their remorse is almost non-existent.”

  “No. Absolutely not.”

  I glared at the screen. Everything had been going so well.

  “Why not?”

  “Do not dare question me, Rethryn. Stay aware and take heed of our respective positions.”

  “But my honor was sullied!”

  “As you said, they are insignificant, so unless you go around telling the whole ‘verse about how they wronged you, no one is even going to know. They do not communicate with the other inhabited planets and species. I command you to leave the planet alone.”

  “But—”

  There was a swishing noise as the door to the rec room slid open. When I glanced over, I saw that it was Talia, dressed only in the blouse which she had been wearing when I took her back from Earth. She had fixed one, single, solitary button in the middle — the rest having been lost somewhere in the cargo hold. Her body positively screamed to be released from even that small covering.

  “We shall talk when you return to Thirren. You have heard my final word on the matter. Ask not again.”

  As the screen blinked off, Talia yawned widely, staring at me. As she raised her arms, the damaged blouse rose with it, baring her lower parts and teasing my eyes.

  “What’s going on?”

  “Nothing. I requested some assistance with a small matter, but it was denied. I shall follow up on the situation when I return to Thirren.”

  “Anything interesting?” she asked, slowly walking toward me with swaying hips. Even though it had fallen back down, her blouse barely reached the top of her thighs.

  “An insignificant matter.” I walked toward her. “Not nearly as interesting as this.”

  I wrapped an arm around her waist and tossed her over my shoulder.

  “Hey!” she complained.

  I gave her a firm swat on her behind and marched out of the rec room.

  She should have known what would happen if she walked into the rec room dressed like that.

  And she probably did.

  28

  Talia

  Talia

  It was decided. I was going to live on Thirren with Rethryn, and his former betrothed was going to be kicked to the curb.

  If they even had curbs on Thirren.

  It was lunch time, and Rethryn and I were sitting back in the rec room, having another meal that tasted worse than it looked. And it didn’t look all that great.

  “What’s it like on Thirren?”

  Rethryn’s spoon hovered in the air between the table and his mouth. Slowly, he placed it back down again.

  “Didn’t they teach you anything on Minapolis?”

  “About Thirren? Nope. I mean, I heard the name, but that’s about it.”

  “I suppose as a slave you wouldn’t have received much of an education. Well Thirren is like… it’s…”

  I guess it was difficult for him. When you grow up somewhere it’s tricky to describe its essence to someone else in a way that truly does it justice, since all the things that make it what it is, seem normal to you. Putting those things, those unique aspects — the sounds, the smells, the way things are made, the way light is cast and shadows are formed, the taste of the air and the beat of daily life — into words can be nigh on impossible.

  “It’s wonderful,” he finally declared.

  I rolled my eyes at him. “Wonderful, huh? Are we talking Manhattan wonderful, or more Tahiti? Paris or Oahu?”

  He frowned at me. “I do not know those places.”

  “Exactly. And I don’t know Thirren. So give me something to work with here. Something to imagine.”

  “No.” Before I could complain at the abrupt response, Rethryn was standing and making his way to the video screen. “I will show you.”

  “Did National Geographic do an episode on it?”

  He glared at me. He hated it when I made references he didn’t get, which was the main reason I made them.

  “I shall show you a video that was created by some of our geographers. For a time we were trying to attract some off-world investment, but it was later decided that it was a bad idea.”

  “It didn’t become the galaxy’s next hot resort spot, then.”

  As the video began, Drakon writing rolling down across the screen, Rethryn came and sat down opposite me again.

  “It is hot. Well, some parts of it.”

  I watched the film with interest. According to the text it was also available in a fully immersive three-dimensional version, complete with vibrations and smells. But this ship didn’t have the facilities to play anything like that, so we were stuck with the two-dimensional version which was like watching a documentary back on Earth.

  As the film began, I realized that the Drakon documentary makers simply weren’t very good. It was like the low budget stuff you saw back on Earth, produced in the seventies or earlier.

  “Ahh, I can almost smell the sulfur,” Rethryn said as the first images of his planet showed on the screen.

  It began with us zooming in from orbit. If Earth was the blue planet then, from space, Thirren could be the gray planet. As we zoomed in though, more of it came to life on the screen. We descended through light grey clouds, toward its cracked and shattered ground level.

  The ground of Thirren was uneven, full of crags and mountains, canyons and lava fields, soaring cliffs and dramatic drop-offs.

  “Beautiful, isn’t it?”

  It was, in the same way that some of the harsher parts of planet Earth can look the most beautiful. The most remarkable aspect of it seemed to be the mountains — they were all over the place, great conical lumps soaring out of the surface of the planet, one after the other, on and on seeming without end. “Lots of mountains.”

  “Fire mountains. Volcanoes. We call them the hearts of our planet. The source of life, energy and power.”

  “They’re all volcanoes?” I asked with a frown.

  “Yes. Some are living volcanoes, flinging up globs of molten rock and pouring rivers of thick red lava, while others — the grandfather mountains — are long since passed that stage of their life, having become still as they petrified with age.”

  “Neat.”

  I’
d seen volcanoes in Hawaii, and they were… fine. Last time I’d been there I’d been much more interested in the beaches and clubs of Waikiki than the volcano tour though.

  “They are not neat. They are almost holy places for us. We believe that Drakon were born of the volcanoes, and that is what gives us our enviable, fiery character.”

  “Enviable fiery character? Is that how you guys see it?”

  Rethryn nodded at me seriously. That was kind of lucky, because if he’d realized I was teasing him again he probably would have been annoyed.

  “So do you, like, go and hang out at volcanoes for fun?”

  “You could say that. They are the center of many of our activities. For our industry, they provide the power. We can manufacture electricity using their heat, or we can harness it directly like we did in the old days to work our metal.

  “When we are young, we learn to fly using the heat vents surrounding the volcanoes to provide updrafts while we are educated in the intricacies of flapping and maintaining flight without the assistance of hot updrafts.”

  “Neat,” I said again. “What else is there?”

  “Of course there are other aspects to the planet’s natural character. We have forests, much like yours on Earth, but better.”

  “Better?” I wasn’t quite sure what made one forest better than another. While they could certainly be different, I’d never really ranked them in my mind. It seemed to go against the spirit of being out in nature.

  “Of course. Everything is better on Thirren,” Rethryn said with an irritable air.

  “Of course.”

  “Our trees thrive off of the heat generated in the earth and the rich minerals found inside it. They incorporate these minerals into their structure. The wood of the trees on our planet is substantially stronger than that found anywhere else. In earlier eras of technology, our wooden ships and weapons were far superior than those produced on any other planet.”

  On the screen the videographer finally left the volcanoes. I’d barely been paying attention since it seemed that all we saw was one too-hot mountain after another. We now swooped down over the forests Rethryn had mentioned.

  “The trees look pretty big,” I said with an approving nod. I guessed that was one ways you could rank a forest — the size of its trees. Now that I thought about it, I had loved the Californian redwoods I’d seen on a trip once.

  “The mighty trees of Thirren are far bigger and imposing than anything on your planet.”

  “Really?” I took another mouthful of pink gloop and swallowed it quickly. “I didn’t think you knew much about Earth.”

  Rethryn waved a hand in a dismissive motion.

  “I don’t need to know. Of course Thirren’s trees are taller.”

  “Of course. How’s the weather?”

  “Weather? The climate? It varies somewhat across the planet. Around the poles it is too cold to live comfortably, so we do not. Most of our communities are built around the equator, with fewer and fewer as you head toward the poles. There are some Drakon that claim to favor colder climes, though most of us do not believe them.”

  “Sweet. I don’t much like cold weather either. So. What do you think I can do on Thirren?”

  Rethryn rubbed his chin.

  “You are still not keen on the idea of cleaning my ship?”

  I shook my head at him. I’d explained to him that despite being a slave — well, a former one now — I kind of had higher aspirations than cleaning.

  “We shall see. There have recently been positions given to some humans. Mates of some of the senior Hielsrane. I believe one is a communications officer. Another commanded ships. When I find out what my next assignment is, I shall find you a role. You will assist me in some manner.”

  “Like a PA?”

  “Perhaps. We shall see.”

  “Has your planet always been like that? All fire and brimstone?”

  “Ye—” Rethryn stopped himself from completing the word. “Actually, there are stories of a time when it wasn’t. But they are perhaps just myths.”

  “Can you tell me one?” I said with a sweet smile.

  Rethryn stood up.

  “No.”

  I pouted at him.

  “I will return to the bridge now. But this evening I shall tell you of one of our myths.”

  “Okay,” I said as I waved him off.

  After he’d gone, I zoned out watching the rest of the Thirren marketing video. I kept trying to pay attention, but before I knew it, I had my head down on the table and instead of paying attention, I was daydreaming of riding a dragon over a lava-spouting volcano.

  That evening, after dinner, we returned to Rethryn’s cabin. Almost as soon as we arrived, he had tossed me onto the bed, claiming that his dragon was hungry.

  Afterward, I lay beside him, resting my head on his chest, feeling the glorious pleasure-pain of the aches he had once again left me with.

  “Close your eyes,” he whispered in my ear.

  Excited, I did as I was told. While Rethryn had surprised me many times, he hadn’t ever done it in a deliberate, planned manner — usually it was just because I didn’t know exactly what it was he was up to. But this time was different.

  I felt and heard him moving as he rolled off the bed and crossed the room. There was the sound of a drawer opening, and then his footfalls as he returned to stand beside the bed.

  “Keep your eyes closed but sit up.”

  I did as I was told, slightly nervous in my excitement. Had he gotten me a present? I was pretty sure we hadn’t passed any shopping malls lately. I definitely would have remembered.

  A gentle breeze wafted over my skin as he leaned over me, and then ever so delicately placed something on my head. A hat? A crown?

  “What is it? Can I open my eyes?”

  “You may.”

  When I opened them of course I couldn’t see what he had given me as it was now atop my head. But he stood in front of me, a hand outstretched.

  Holding my hand he led me across the room to a large mirror. I stood there in front of it, my hair hanging down onto my chest while I stared at my reflection.

  Placed atop my head was a wooden wreath made of interlaced pieces of dark-grey wood, bent and twisted together into a beautiful circlet which crowned my golden hair.

  Rethryn stood behind me, his hands resting on my bare hips as he watched my reaction in the mirror.

  “It’s… beautiful.” I gently ran a hand over the surface of it, feeling the slightly warm wood against the tips of my fingers, surprised by the smoothness of the material. “Did you make it?”

  Rethryn nodded his head slowly. “I did. That is why I have spent so much time on the bridge. I was whittling the pieces and then joining them together.”

  “It’s like a crown.”

  “Because you are my princess.”

  When Rethryn said it, it was in such a matter of fact way, without any teasing or cajoling, that I could tell his words were a heartfelt statement of fact. I had to wipe a tear from my eye and hide a sniff.

  “When I am king, you shall be the most beautiful queen that the Drakon have ever known.”

  You couldn’t have wiped the smile off my face with sandpaper. I was grinning like an idiot, and the fact that there were something like a hundred thousand people in front of him in the line of succession didn’t tarnish what he’d said even a smidgen.

  “Come, my little fireworm,” he said, picking me up by the waist and lifting me bodily into the air and carrying me back to the bed.

  “I’m not sure I like fireworm. I prefer princess,” I said when he’d gently placed me back down on the bed.

  “No? Drakon females like being called a fireworm. Princess it will be then, because that is what you are. The mate of a prince.”

  When I’d been a little girl, I’d often dreamed of being a princess. Dad used to say that I was richer than most princesses anyway, and that titles didn’t matter. But in my heart, I knew they really did matter. And now
I had one. I was a genuine princess — or at least going to be one soon. Ha, Dad!

  Rethryn lay down beside me, wrapping a thick oak-like arm around my shoulders and pulling me close so that my crowned head rested on his chest. I didn’t ever want to take his gift off again.

  “I shall tell you that legend I mentioned in the rec room. It is about a long-ago king. A king that I shall model myself after.”

  I snuggled up close to him, enjoying the warm heat of his body pressed against mine. Suppressing a yawn, I settled in to listen to the tale.

  “There was once was a wild king, King Yarok, the greatest warrior who ever lived. His enemies would die of fright when they looked into his eyes, and their wives would throw themselves at his feet, in love with him immediately.”

  Yeah, right, I thought. Rethryn went on to explain several of the battles King Yarok had won, and all the maniacal genocidal slaughters he’d engaged in — wonderful achievements, according to Drakon morality.

  “… but one day, there were no more foes. Yarok had defeated them all. His mastery of battle, and his rule over all of Thirren was unquestioned, but he was not satisfied.”

  “Of course he wasn’t,” I said, sleepily. Rethryn squeezed my arm.

  “So, King Yarok decided to take on another foe — the planet itself. Although proud of his mighty kingdom, it wasn’t enough. He decided to declare war on the fires, the mountains, the rivers and pools of lava. He would subjugate not just the Drakon and the wildlife, but the planet itself.”

  “Sounds a bit unrealistic,” I said quietly.

  “What? No it doesn’t. I told you, he was the greatest warrior who ever lived.”

  “Uh-huh.” I stifled another yawn.

  “And of course, King Yarok was successful. He tamed the fiery magma that fills our planet, calming it down, and freeing vast swathes of our planet from its glorious but deadly heat.

  “He planted crops. Crops like Thirren had never known before or since. The newly fertile land produced more food than the planet had ever conceived in its long and storied past, and the whole world swelled with numbers unseen in draconic history.”