Taming Ryock

by Sara Page

  “Emainray igilantvay,” Marketh warns before zipping off and returning to Maul’s side.

  This one takes me a little longer to figure out, but when I do the hair on the back of my neck stands on end. Remain vigilant.

  Ryock grunts and I can feel his confusion, but I have no way of telling him what Marketh is about without translating for all those around us.

  I take a good look at all the Red Masks surrounding us and the area, searching for anything suspicious. But come on, to me everything about this situation is foreign and alien.

  We look to be in some kind of hangar. There are walls at least three stories high, but the ceiling is completely open to the elements.

  Spaceships of all shapes and sizes are parked in a uniform manner. The ships neatly line the walls but leave the center of the hangar clear for those landing. Though there are no lines or markings designating where to park, or where to land for that matter, everything seems to be done in what I can only describe as perfectly controlled chaos. Somehow everyone seems to know where to go and where they belong.

  The hangar is massive, easily the size of several football fields, and we make it about halfway across the it before we’re attacked.

  Most of those lingering around have kept their distance. The sheer number of the Red Masks accompanying us acting as an imposing deterrent.

  Byland shouting out, “Halt, remain in your vessel until we pass!” is the only warning we get before all hell breaks loose.

  At first, as the Red Masks tighten around us, I have no fucking clue what is going on. There’s a thunderous roar, a roar that sounds a lot like Ryock’s, and then it’s followed by a chorus of answering roars that chills my blood.

  I glance back at Ryock to make sure he’s still behind me and watch all the color drain from his beautiful copper face.

  Whipping my head back around, I watch in this kind of stunned horror as the front of the line get shoved backwards. The Red Masks directly in front of us stumble back, nearly crashing into Lexi and me.

  Over the heads of the Red Masks, I catch a glimpse of several towering angry faces that look a lot like Ryock.

  Are we being attacked by Argmaraths?

  “What the hell do they hope to accomplish?!” Lexi cries out as she hugs Thorn tight to her chest and moves closer to me.

  I shake my head, at a loss.

  The Red Masks in front of us push forward, their weapons drawn. There are so many bodies crowded up front, so many orbs zipping about, I can’t make out Maul or Marketh.

  “They have nothing to lose,” Ryock growls viciously, coming up to tower over us. “Once we reach the Tribunal, it’s all over for the Crima.”

  “But to attack us right here, out in the open? On Tribunal ground? That’s crazy!” Lexi screeches.

  Ryock clenches his fists and his entire body seems to shudder with pent up rage. Through the bond I can feel his anger, his pain that his brethren are being used against him.

  His fangs flash as he snarls, “They are desperate.”

  A massive Argmarath breaks through the front line, shoving Red Masks out of the way and toppling them over like they’re dominoes.

  Head whipping back and forth, wild eyes scour over the bodies until the Argmarath’s frenzied gaze locks on us. Tipping his head back, the Argmarath lets out an ear-splitting roar, and charges forward, foaming at the mouth.

  Ignoring the bolts fired at him from a dozen different blasters, the berserking Argmarath continues to knock over Red Masks, taking out the protective mass in front of us.

  I’m overcome with the sudden urge to run, to flee, but my feet seem to be glued to the ground.

  Ryock solves my little dilemma by grabbing Lexi and me by the back of our shirts and dragging us behind him. “Stay behind me.”

  The ground thunders beneath our feet and the air smells like smoke and ozone. So many things are shouted out, by the Red Masks, by the Argmaraths, by others, the bellowing voices are a symphony of chaos.

  I peek out from behind Ryock’s back to see the raging Argmarath gaining ground. He’s systematically taking down the Red Masks that almost stumbled into Lexi and me a few moments ago.

  Ryock tips his head back, his own roar blending with the violent harmony. His entire body vibrates, shaking with the need to charge forward, to destroy those who threaten us.

  Ryock takes one step forward, fists rising up in preparation, when Maul suddenly appears to the left of the charging Argmarath.

  Throwing out his hand, the air crackles, the smell of ozone grows stronger, and the charging Argmarath is knocked off his feet. His flailing body goes flying through the air, knocking over more bodies, before landing in a stunned heap.

  “Way to go, baby!” Lexi cheers, punching her fist in the air.

  “Fall back!” Maul roars at her and spins around just in time to knock back another Argmarath.

  Ryock shakes his head back and forth, as if he’s trying to dislodge something.

  “Fall back!” Lexi echoes Maul.

  She grabs me by the arm and begins to drag me in the direction we just came from. Those Red Masks still standing around us fall in, forming a small, protective circle around us.

  We take a dozen steps before I realize Ryock isn’t following us.

  His mighty roar thunders through my ribs as I glance back to see him charging into yet another Argmarath. The two bodies crash into each other with a mighty crack that resonates in the very marrow of my bones.

  “Oh shit!” Lexi cries out, and I nearly fall on my face as she digs in her heels and forces us into a sudden stop.

  My arm flails out and I rock back on my heels before I can process what I’m seeing in front of me.

  A line of Crima armed with blasters step out from behind a parked ship and block our escape.

  “Kill them! Kill the humans!” a Crima standing behind the line cries out.

  I recognize him as the same Crima who attempted to board our ship a split second before the bolts start flying.

  “Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!” Lexi screams out, and we both duck down behind the Red Masks in front of us.

  The Red Masks return fire but there’s only a handful of us up against twice as many of them.

  “We have to go back!” I scream at Lexi over the blaster fire and she nods her head in agreement.

  If we remain here, we’re sitting ducks waiting to be picked off.

  One Red Mask drops, then another, spurring us into action.

  Grabbing Lexi’s hand, I help her up as she struggles to straighten with Thorn strapped to her chest, and we make a run for it.

  Legs pumping, lungs heaving, we literally run for our lives.

  We’re almost back to the fray when I see a flash of light out of the corner of my eye. I look over at Lexi just in time to see a bolt narrowly miss her.

  Knowing that another bolt is soon to follow, on instinct I knock into her, taking us both down to the ground.

  Lexi screams, arms wrapping protectively around Thorn, and twists her body, narrowly avoiding landing on top of him.

  I feel a surge of guilt for endangering my nephew then something hard hits me in the side before I hit the ground beside her.

  “What the fuck, Isla?!” Lexi screams out as she starts to scramble to her feet.

  My entire right side lights up with a blazing, unbearable pain and I scream.

  “Oh my god, Isla. What’s wrong?” Lexi cries out.

  Fluttering hands roam over me, but I barely register it above the pain. “Oh no. Oh no… no… no…” Lexi keeps repeating in shock.

  Another wave of agony pulses through me. I writhe, my back arching off the ground, and somehow manage to look down, searching for the cause of my misery.

  Below my right my breast, my shirt is charred and blood is oozing out of me.

  “No, Isla. No! Don’t you dare die on me!” Lexi screams, grabbing my face. “Don’t you dare leave me!”

  I try to stare up into her eyes, but as another wave of pain hits me, my vis
ion clouds over. The pain is so intense, for a second I feel as if I’m blacking out only to be brought back to suffer more misery.

  Feet pound the pavement, and as I arch, my body twisting as if I could get away from what’s assaulting me, big hands grab me.

  “Isla,” a deep voice rumbles and I look up, seeking out the comfort I need so desperately.

  A deep purr rattles my ribs, but it’s not enough to dull the blazing inferno inside of me.

  “I’m sorry,” I manage to gasp out.

  Ryock’s tortured face is the last thing I see before darkness takes me.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Ryock

  The hole in Isla’s chest reminds me of one of those sickening tests the Crima loved to put my body through during their research. It’s big and black and the gore flowing out it is staining the new clothing Lexi gave her to wear. She was so damn happy to be clean and in new clothing. It was like her sense of self-worth rose as she applied each annoying layer of fabric.

  “Maul!” Marketh screeches. “Isla has been mortally wounded! We need to go!”

  Where, I wonder is my rage? Where is the emotional storm of loss and anger?

  Why do I kneel beside my broken mate as the melee of battle surrounds me? Should I not be up, fighting? Fighting to protect everyone else?

  My child is inside of my bonded, so small and so fragile. No chance of surviving now outside of her.

  A hand slaps stingingly across my face as a feminine voice yells at me. Who could want to yell at me?

  Don’t they see my world has ended? My worst fear is coming true.

  Another hand is yanking me up now, pulling me by my shoulder. I want to stay kneeling, to hold on to Isla’s hand, but I don’t have the will do to anything.

  Facing the blue-skinned Rathturian, I watch as his mouth moves. It’s all muffled to me. Nothing he says makes sense.

  Looking from him to the body of my beloved, I start to sink back down.

  I’m willing to die now. Nothing here is holding me back from oblivion.

  Unable to fall, I look again at the male as he shakes me hard. Then in a swift turnabout, he tugs me enough so that I’m able to see our surroundings.

  All around me, Rathturians, Crima, and my own kind are fighting for survival.

  The Crima are shooting at everyone except themselves. They could care less that they are killing the Argmarath. They are sending them in for the slaughter. Nothing matters now to them except that all of us die. If we Argmarath, Humans, and Rathturians die, they win. No one will be able to tell the tale of what we’ve seen. What the Crima have done.

  But who cares? I certainly have no stake in the games they play anymore. Not as I taste oblivion.

  The blue-skinned Rathturian yells in my face again. But why? What does it matter?

  Pushing me towards the Crima, he shouts again in my ear, “Kill them all! They destroyed your star!”

  It’s a start, I suppose. Not that it matters one way or another.

  Perhaps I can die quicker if they shoot at me.

  My feet stumble for the first few steps, but as I get closer and closer to them my body moves with a purpose.

  Even if my mind is slowly shattering to the cosmos, my body knows its final role in this life. It’s destiny.

  Something snaps inside of me as I look to where my feet carry me. The walking is quickly shedding the numbness that filled my body. Getting my blood pumping.

  Flashes of memory pour through my mind of the first time I smelled her scent on the Crima research vessel. The way it called to me, the way it moved my soul. The sounds of her breath as she quietly slept in my arms. The way she tasted the first time I groomed her body. The way, when we became intimate, she held nothing back.

  Her very being opened up for my body.

  The earlier rages were uncontrollable ones, the type that I couldn’t stop. Unharnessed.

  This one is unstoppable, but it doesn’t burn inside of me.

  No, this one is cold and dark.

  As black as the oblivion slowly consuming my soul.

  It freezes the world around me. It gives me the time I need to spot a dead Rathturian body.

  In front of it are two Argmaraths.

  They’re not facing me and that is their deadly mistake.

  I’ve never desired to kill one of my own kind like I do now. Not even during the worst of my trials and tribulations had I wanted to kill someone like I do now. These two truly don’t matter in the grand scheme of things, but they’ll die brutally because knowingly or unknowingly they stand in my way.

  Running to the closest Argmarath, I slam a fist into a closing wound on his back. The wound didn’t start out large, but by the time my hand digs into the hole it is.

  I can feel ribs.

  The guy roars in agony as I shove my fingers into the gaps of the ribs and begin to crush them between my hand.

  Reaching around with my free hand, I pull his head back and smash my mouth down on his thick throat. It’s tough work ripping first the throat muscles out, then the veins that connect to his heart. Biting through it all, I feel the hot, salty fluid rush into my mouth. He’s not mortally wounded though until I twist his head around.

  Now the fucker won’t be getting back up.

  The second Argmarath looks at me in terror as I toss the dead body aside.

  “Run,” I roar over the shooting of blasters and screams of the dying.

  He’s too stunned to move though, so I walk up to his ugly coward face. I put a fist to his stomach and then I grab his throat. Turning him around, I snap his neck the same way I did the first one.

  A deathblow for any race. Argmarath or not.

  The rage isn’t abated though. It screams deathly howls through my veins as it spots the Crima once again.

  Lifting the dead Rathturian body in front of my own, I use it as a shield. The body armor it wears stops the blaster shots from piercing through the body to hit me.

  The smell of burnt flesh fills my nose as the body is hit with a rapid succession of blaster fire.

  With a growl, I heave the body away from me and feel a small sense of satisfaction as it barrels over three of the Crima. They’re trying to keep an organized front as the tide of the battle is quickly turning in their favor. It matters little that the carnage is mostly their own army, they just want us all dead.

  It’s a surprise though when I suddenly hear a loud whining noise followed by huffs of static.

  I know that sound, and it’s terrifying to ever hear it. The only time you hear that spewing huff of white noise is when a warship is on the surface of a planet, shooting its particle cannon array at something.

  Even in my raging mind, I know that sound means to duck down and hide. Perhaps it’s the years of training so ingrained inside of me that makes me hide behind the closest object, curling into an almost fetal position as I hear the cannon spew eight bolts out.

  When I stick my head above the partially destroyed hovercar, I look around to find the Crima that were shooting at me.

  A gigantic black smoking hole is all that remains of the spot they were standing on.

  Holy fuck.

  Looking around myself, I see all sorts of chaos. Everyone, except for Maul, is ducking down to save themselves from what could have been instant death.

  “Marketh! Find Commander Drizt!”

  In all the chaos that surrounds us, the name sends a sharp pang of rage through my very core.

  It was he who attacked us. He who set his bugs after my star.

  I stand up to begin my own search, but I feel confounded by the bond that has held me so dearly to her. She is dying, I can feel it through the bond. Her soul is fading fast. The oblivion of the universe is taking her.

  Search for her destroyer or fall to her side?

  I want to be the one who she sees last. Who whispers his devotions and prayers to her heart. To beg it to keep beating in her fragile frame, not only for me, but for our child who needs her so desperately.
>
  Marketh yells, “I guess I failed in unleashing hell on the bastards because the fucker is right here!”

  Both Maul and I charge over to the Crima bug who is hidden under a couple of half melted bodies.

  He’s groans loudly as Marketh continues to circle around him, shooting little zaps of electricity at his head.

  A roar of defiance breaks through my ears as I turn around to see three standing Rathturians. They’ve got an Argmarath on his knees. He’s the last of the war party to be resisting. No others are on their feet.

  The blue Rathturian from earlier walks up to the large, raging male and calmly places his barrel against its forehead. I would try to stop him, try to explain the Argmarath doesn’t know of any other way than what he was told. But I can’t, not now, not ever. There’s just too much happening for me to process my own internal battle.

  Turning away from them all, I walk back to Isla, my dear fading star.

  Kneeling again beside her, I take her cold hand in mine. She’s gone so pale now. So very pale.

  Lexi looks up to me in fury as she spits out, “You should have protected her. She’s your bonded!”

  Gasping quietly at the sounds around her, Isla clenches my fingers tightly. “No.”

  I look to Lexi in submission, she’s right. It was my failing that has caused this.

  “Maul, we must do something!” Lexi yells to her bonded as he heads over to us.

  Marketh races past him and begins scanning Isla’s body. “We need to get into the Citadel. She’s fading too fast for us to do anything out here. She’s lost far more blood than she can…”

  Lifting her up into my arms, I would weep if the tears would come to me. They stay inside of my heart where I feel like a black hole is slowly opening, sucking in everything that was a part of me.

  She’s so light, as if her dying is removing the weight inside her tiny frame. It was never a struggle to lift or carry my star, but now it’s as if I have lifted a feather.

  The blue Rathturian charges over to us. “Let me take point, First Tiered!”

  “No, Byland. Secure the surviving Crima. Take any of the survivors to the Rathturian prison. Do not speak to anyone else of this, nor allow any Tribunal member to see them. They are ours. Make sure the one my symbiote marked is kept away from the others, and make sure he doesn’t end his own life,” Maul tells him in a rush as we begin to jog towards the Citadels main doors.