Teeth & Claws_A Paranormal Space Opera Adventure

by Michael-Scott Earle

  As I finished speaking, a pulse rifle shot cut through the air between our faces, and her eyes widened even more.

  But I didn’t flinch.

  “We will surrender,” she hissed through her teeth, and I lowered her so that her feet touched the top of the dais.

  But I still didn’t let go of her throat.

  “Aasne,” I growled as I passed her pistol back to her and let go of the pretty queen’s throat. “Watch them better.”

  “Yes, husband,” she said, and then the auburn-haired woman gestured with her pistols for Alrick and Leara to move down the stairs where Goki sobbed in a fetal position on the stone.

  I looked down at the bullet wound on my stomach and felt a bit surprised when I didn’t see a hole or blood there. It seemed that my armor had stopped it, but then I noticed that the aegis was covered with tiger stripes. It must have evolved a bit in the combat, and the beast screamed at me to get back into the fight.

  I climbed back up the stairs toward the dais and did a quick analysis of the room. The numbers were still in Waymund’s favor, but they only had about a hundred warriors now, and a quick count of my team gave me forty, one of which was a rampaging transformed dragon-man.

  Sivaha and Madalena were both taking partial cover behind the throne some three meters to my right, but each time one of the women fired, another Waymund warrior caught a bullet. I was about to scream at them to surrender, but then the double doors on the opposite side of the room burst open, and a group of twenty more armored Waymund warriors ran inside.

  “Goooooood,” I growled as I reached for my twin pistols. They fit my tiger-man hands perfectly, and I set their sights on the distant warriors that had just poured in on the other side of the throne room.

  Then I pulled the triggers, and everyone heard the sound of Thor’s hammer.

  Twin streaks of fire stretched down from where I stood next to my wives, and it seemed like everyone in the room flinched. My bullets hit the two front men that had run in through the doors, and both of their armored heads exploded.

  Then the four men standing behind them also fell apart as if they had been struck by a cannonball.

  The Waymund warriors turned their weapons toward Sivaha, Madalena, and I and the three of us ducked behind the throne as a tidal wave of plasma fire turned the stone into pockmarked cheese. The bad news was that I had drawn the attention of pretty much everyone in the room, but the good news was that I still had most of my warriors down in the mostly destroyed pews below, and they gained an opportunity to fire on our opponents without much retaliation.

  Sivaha, Madalena, and I spun out from around the throne as soon as the bullets stopped raining on us, and we renewed our attack. A shot from my golden revolver punched through two Waymund warriors who were crouched by the door, and a shot from my silver revolver vaporized the skull of another man, pushed through the rightmost double door, and cracked it down the center.

  Now the Waymund were really starting to hurt, and even though they had just received twenty reinforcements, a quick count gave me thirty.

  I fired my revolvers again, and two more warriors became splatters of red blood and bone fragments. The weapons I held tore through armor almost as well as the scattergun that Dragon had given me, but they were far more accurate.

  I glanced behind me at Goki, Leara, and Alrick. The three of them were kneeling before Aasne, but the Waymung king looked as if he was trying to hobble closer to the young woman, so I lowered my golden revolver and sent a bullet into the wall a few centimeters above his skull. The trio screamed, covered their heads as a bucket full of marble sand and dust rained down on them, and then Goki crawled away from Aasne.

  I turned back to the battle and aimed my silver revolver at what looked like the last group of enemies that had taken position behind the cracked open double doors. The pulse rifles from my crew’s weapons were slamming into the wood, but they weren’t penetrating the meter thick doors. I had already cracked one of the doors with my bullets, so I aimed a bit next to the first crack and then squeezed the trigger.

  Another plume of fire erupted from the barrel of my revolver, and the bullet hit right where I had aimed. The door cracked again, and the end chunk of wood on the right door fell away from the rest. Nordar warriors weren’t easily surprised, but they hadn’t expected the door to break away as it had, and they were without cover for a few moments.

  That was all it took for the rest of my crew to finish them.

  Then the battle was over, and silence descended on the throne room.

  “Mikhael and Josefinna, count on our side?” Madalena asked.

  “Three injured and ten dead,” the redhead replied, but a quick glance revealed to me that the warriors we had lost were from the Idonan elite warriors.

  “Lux and Calisto, check the Waymund bodies for survivors,” Madalena said.

  “Yes, Prime Valkyrie,” the two women said as they moved through the ruined pews.

  “I found someone,” Mikhael said as he pulled Yanirk out from behind a stone support of one of the pews.

  “Ahhh,” Yanirk gasped as he waved his hands. “I surrender.”

  “I do not believe we are taking prisoners at the moment,” Mikhael said as he pulled a pistol from his belt, spun it in his hand, and then pressed the barrel against the skald’s temple. “Especially when they fired upon us.”

  “I was defending my king and queen,” the skald said after he exhaled. “Killing me is your choice, but I will go to Valhalla.”

  Mikhael gave me a half smile, and then he holstered his pistol before pushing the skald down onto the stairs of the dais.

  “Bring the Waymund king and queen around,” I said to Aasne, and then I moved to sit on the throne that Goki had once sat on. Both Madalena and Sivaha had dispelled their aegis, and they each kneeled on the dais at my feet as Aasne brought our prisoners around the front.

  “What kind of monster are you?” the Waymund king spat as he stood at the bottom of the dais, and then he hissed when Aasne cuffed him in the back of the head with her pistol butt.

  I made the aegis fall away from my face and then glanced at my twin revolvers. Instead of speaking, I set down the golden one on my armrest, cracked open the cylinder on the right, and then ejected the empty brass. I flicked each one down the stairs toward Goki as soon as I removed it from my weapon, and they ended up at his feet after they bounced down the steps.

  Then I reloaded the silver weapon, set it down on the armrest, and repeated the process on the golden one.

  “You say you are the Vaish King?” Leara asked, and I was a bit surprised to hear only a hint of fear in her voice. “Is this man not King Toriton? Are your clans allied?”

  No one spoke, and I continued flicking the brass at them.

  “If you have joined with King Toriton, I would like to speak about an alliance.” Goki’s face was pale, and he held the stump of his arm with a shaking left hand, but he still glanced sideways at the actor. “I realize that it might seem as if I do not have any leverage to do so, but I know much about the Jotnar. I have access to some of their trade routes, and I know of four of their rhodium mining worlds. If our clans unite, we would be able to take them.”

  I slid new bullets into my golden revolver, and then I closed the cylinder before looking down on them.

  Then I held both the silver and golden revolvers in my hands, and I could see Goki’s tan face begin to pale.

  “The crows only pick apart dead bodies. They lack the strength of a horse,” I growled.

  “I did not mean those words,” Goki said quickly as he glanced over again at the man he thought was the Idonan king. “It was posturing for Toriton.”

  “One of you is submitted to the other,” I said as I gestured with my golden revolver at Goki and Leara. “Which one of you is the true ruler?”

  They looked at each other, and I saw Leara’s jaw harden, but neither answered.

  “Perhaps your son would know.” I didn’t point my revolver at A
lrick, but I might as well have for how terrified he was.

  “I-I-I- am not Goki’s son,” the man gasped.

  “Do not speak,” the king growled, and Alrick crossed his arms.

  “He is not,” Yanik sighed.

  “Silence, traitor!” Goki snapped at the skald, but then the king’s eyes widened when I cocked the hammer of my golden revolver and pointed it down at him.

  “Someone start talking,” I growled.

  “I am his daughter,” Alrick said. “He has no sons, only daughters. Leara is his fourth wife, but she has been unable to produce a child for him since they have only been married for a month.”

  “Ha!” Sivaha cackled. “So the whole marriage proposal was a ruse.”

  I looked down at Alrick with new eyes, and I saw the feminine qualities that I had first dismissed as those of a boy. Her neck was slender, her jaw small, and her shoulders narrow. Her short brown hair didn’t fall past her ears, and I guessed that she had wrapped her chest tightly to disguise any breasts she might have.

  “It was for submission,” Alrick said as she glanced to where the actor who played King Toriton stood. “My father received the letter from Idonan, but only had me to marry off. He had given me a man’s name, so he decided that this would be a way to get Idonan to submit to Waymund.”

  “Are you his oldest offspring?” I asked.

  “Yes,” she said with a nod. “I was… hard to marry. Suitors did not agree with me. My father demanded that I do this or he would exile me.”

  “I can confirm this, King Vaish,” Yanirk said as he bowed his head to me.

  “You are a traitor to the crown that you serve, Skald,” Goki hissed. “I trusted you to be my right hand, yet you show your crow plumage when I need you the most.”

  “Your skald defended you in battle,” Madalena said. “He is alive right now because of my husband’s good graces. All of you are still alive because of his good graces.”

  The four Waymunds looked at Madalena, and their eyes opened as recognition came into their minds.

  “The Prime Valkyrie was wearing the robe!” Leara gasped.

  “And the other is Queen Sivaha Skyad,” Yanirk said. “I recognize you now.”

  “I am Queen Sivaha Vaish now,” the silver-haired seductress said. “There is no longer a Skyad clan. Nor is there an Idonan clan.”

  “No Idonan clan?” Goki asked as his brows came together. “But how is that--”

  “I conquered Idonan five days ago,” I said. “The man you thought was Toriton is an actor. Aasne is Queen of Vaish now, and she could not have submitted to you. My entire armada is in this system, and there was no way you could have escaped.”

  “Ahhh,” Goki said, and the man lowered his head. “It appears that I have been out maneuvered, King Vaish.”

  “You have,” I agreed.

  “What will you do with me now,” he said. “I am not dead, therefore I must be of use to you.”

  “I seek to unite the clans,” I said.

  “I will submit to you, if you spare my life,” Goki said as he sank down to one knee.

  “That is an option,” I said. “However there is one problem.”

  “Yes?” he asked as he looked up at me.

  “You sent assassins to kill me, and I think you are a fucking asshole,” I said.

  Then I pulled the trigger on my golden revolver.

  King Waymund still had his horse decorated aegis up over his body, but the armor didn’t matter. The bullet ripped through him as if he was made of paper, and his body exploded as if it was made of red confetti. Leara, Alrick, and Yanirk all flinched when I fired, but then the Waymund queen began to scream as she clutched her chest.

  She was submitted to the man I had just killed, and now the magic was trying to take her with him.

  “Fight it,” I said as the voluptuous woman kneeled on the steps and gasped for breath. “Push it outside of your body. Don’t let it win. It has only been a month. You were not a part of him.” It was the exact same thing I told myself when I fought against the beast.

  “You can do it,” Alrick said as she kneeled beside her step-mom. The two might have even been the same age, and the familiar way that Alrick wrapped her arms around the other woman’s shoulders made me think that they were friends.

  “Push it away,” I said, and Leara cried out as tears streamed down her face.

  “The bond is not old enough,” Madalena said. “It will not take you if you do not let it.”

  “I ammmmm trrrrrryyyy,” Leara gasped, and then her body began to shake.

  “Fight it!” Sivaha shouted as she jumped to her feet. “He was not fit for you. It was not meant to be.”

  Leara closed her eyes and let out a final scream.

  Then her body lay still, and I felt sadness flow from my three wives after we held our breaths for a few moments.

  “May you find a place in Valhalla, my friend,” Alrick began to say, but then Leara’s eyes fluttered open, and she gasped for breath.

  “You are alive!” Alrick said as she hugged the other woman.

  “Yes,” Leara coughed. “I did not think pain such as that existed.”

  “Do you feel better now?” Aasne asked.

  “Yes,” Leara said. “Although, I feel empty. I did not have any love for my husband, but I was starting to believe that his emotions were my own.”

  “The bond is better if you love the other,” Madalena said as she turned her eyes toward me. I was still in my tigerman form, but I smiled anyway, and she could feel the effect that her words had on my emotions.

  While Leara was recovering, I holstered my revolvers and then made my aegis retreat into its amulet. As soon as the metal was gone from my body, I calmed the beast in my mind and shifted back into my human form. I opened my eyes to find Aasne, Leara, Alrick, and Skald Yanirk watching me intently, but Aasne was the only one who didn’t look away when I glanced in her direction. Instead, she just smiled, and I could feel the hints of her affection flow up the steps to me.

  “Skald Yanirk,” I said. “Who is the ruler of the Waymund Blood Overlord Clan?”

  “Queen Alrick,” the man answered, and the woman looked up to me.

  “Why do you wish to unite the clans?” Alrick asked. “Because you feel like it?”

  “No,” I said. “The Draugr are returning in four months. Only a united Nordar can stop them. You are the penultimate clan before the Jotnar, and they will not bend the knee easily.”

  “No, they will not,” Alrick said. “I will submit to you, King Vaish.”

  “I did not ask you yet.” I smiled at her.

  “You were about to order me,” she said. “I made the decision myself. Therefore, you cannot say you forced me to.”

  “Seems like you are splitting hairs,” Sivaha scoffed.

  “Most men are idiots,” Alrick said. “They are ruled by their desires and just expect women to be their servants.”

  “I agree with you there,” Sivaha said as she shrugged. “My husband is different. He is the king of kings.”

  “That may be,” Alrick said as she looked around the destruction in the throne room. “Who will witness?”

  “I will witness,” everyone in the room said as they moved to stand around the bottom of the dais.

  I stood from the throne with Madalena and Sivaha kneeling at my side, and Alrick walked up the stairs and matched their position at my feet. The woman reached for her belt, but then Aasne walked up the stairs and gave her back the knife.

  Alrick looked up into my eyes then, and I noticed that they were a swirling hazel.

  “I am Alrick Elana Waymund. Eldest offspring of King Goki Waymund. Eldest offspring of King Pourtin Waymund. Eldest offspring of King Abalon Waymund.”

  “She is Alrick Elana Waymund. Eldest offspring of King Goki Waymund. Eldest offspring of King Pourtin Waymund. Eldest offspring of King Abalon Waymund,” the gathered Nordar repeated in unison.

  “I am Alrick Elana Waymund. Queen of the Way
mund Blood Overlord Clan.” The kneeling woman cut her hand with her knife, and the trickle of blood splashed onto the marble at my feet.

  “She is Alrick Elana Waymund. Queen of the Waymund Blood Overlord Clan.”

  The familiar spinning feeling was back, and the air felt as if it was filled with electricity.

  “I am Alrick Elana Waymund. I submit my body, mind, and soul to Adam Vaish. I will serve him as consort, advisor, eyes, arms, legs, and heart. We will be bonded both in life, and when we arrive in Valhalla. Our people will be united in one clan under him.” She cut her other palm with her knife and passed it to me while our audience repeated her words.

  I drew the blade across my palms and then dropped the knife on the floor. Alrick’s hazel eyes looked like an angry storm, and she bit her lip as we reached for each other. The touch was electric, and I felt as our blood flowed into each other’s body for a few moments.

  “I accept your submission, Alrick Elana Waymund,” I whispered, and then the pressure released from my body.

  “They are bound,” Aasne said after a few moments of silence, and I helped Alrick stand.

  The blood was gone from our hands, but my body was tired from the shift back into my human form. I wanted to rest, but there was a mountain of shit that I had to do first.

  “This was not quite the wedding I had expected today,” Alrick said as she smiled at me.

  “I expected this,” I said.

  “You did?” Her eyes opened wide.

  “I intend to unite the clans,” I said as I gestured to Madalena, Sivaha, Aasne, and the gathered warriors. “To do so, someone from each of the Blood Overlord Clans will need to submit to me.”

  “I see,” she said. “When will I be able to cook you the marriage dinner and--”

  “Later,” I said. “First, we need to talk about combining our armadas, and then we need to return to Nordar – 13 - a.”

  “Did you not plan on conquering Jotnar next?” Alrick asked.

  “Yeah,” I said, “but first, four of my women are returning from their rite, and we need to get them.”