by A. G. Wilde
As it jumped from the ship, she watched as the guards already on the sand raised their weapons and shouted as if victory was definitely now theirs.
This new monster was obviously their trump card and they were using it.
As it landed in the sand, causing a dust cloud in its wake, it surveyed the battle.
Its eyes landed on Yce and it roared again.
Oh no.
Not Yce.
Despite the Mukkians’ help, more guards were hopping from the big ship above them and her hope for a good outcome was dropping fast.
She needed to help. She couldn’t just lay there and hide. They were going to be captured again, or worse yet, killed.
All of them.
But the decision was already made for her as she heard a snarl close to her.
Raising her eyes, her blues locked with round yellows as a gator-guard snarled at her.
“Human.” It was strange for something that looked like it to speak.
Gripping the spear, Diana scrambled backward.
She needed to get off the uloms, now they would hinder instead of protect her.
To defend herself, she needed space.
It was a high jump, but she had no choice. Jumping off the creatures, Diana tumbled to the sand just as the guard launched himself at her.
But as she rolled a few feet away, she knew he wasn’t going to give up so easily.
And as expected, he came after her, hopping off the ulom with ease.
“Give up, human. Your master will take you back if you come nicely.”
What?
If the situation was different, she would laugh.
Take her back? The thought of going back to one of the disgusting Tasqals made her want to retch.
“I have no master,” she said through gritted teeth.
The guard laughed, activating its shock rod and it stalked toward her.
“Diana.” It was Yce and she could hear that he was in pain. A glance in his direction and he was face to face with the giant that had jumped from the ship earlier.
“Run, Diana. Get to safety.”
“No.” Her inner voice communicated the determination now in her eyes.
“Diana. Please.” There was a pause. “I need you…I need you to be okay.”
Diana gulped, her eyes locked with the guard in front of her.
She could run but didn’t he get it? She couldn’t leave him there. If it wasn’t clear before, it was clear now. She needed him alive too.
The guard in front of her charged toward her.
“Please, Diana.” Yce was begging and she felt the distress in his voice. He was fighting bravely but just as when she had been swallowed by the zehmip, he was focusing on her, not himself.
As she dodged the incoming fiend, the guard wheeled around, slamming the butt of its spear into her back.
The wind was knocked out of her as she stumbled forward into the sand, inhaling deeply to numb the pain.
But adrenaline was her friend. Spinning as the guard approached from behind, she managed to block his second blow with the Mukkian’s spear, but it was an awkward move. She wasn’t used to fighting with weapons.
If she wanted a chance at survival, she needed to do things her way.
“Diana!” Yce’s shout echoed in her head just as she saw the giant gator-guard grab him by the neck, lifting him into the air.
“Diana. Safety. Go.”
“I’m not leaving you!”
The electric end of the guards’ shock rod landed deep in the sand close to her head and Diana’s eyes widened. But it was her best opportunity.
Sliding her legs toward the guard’s, she locked her ankles around one of his and twisted, disrupting its balance. The sand was the perfect surface. So loose, the guard’s footing wasn’t sure. Surprise lit up its face as it fell.
That was what she needed.
She couldn’t fight with spears and swords but she could grapple.
Launching herself on top of the guard, she let her years of training take over.
The good thing about knowing jiu-jitsu was that she didn’t need to be as strong as or stronger than her opponent. She could subdue the guard by using her body to her own advantage.
On her back with the guard’s torso between her legs, she restricted his movement by tightening her legs around him.
As expected, the guard raised his arm to punch her in the face to release himself, but that was exactly what she needed him to do.
Grabbing one of his arms, she deflected the punch, causing it to land to the side of her head. Keeping hold of his arm, she pushed herself backward, protecting herself from his punches while maneuvering her legs to clasp them around his neck.
The guard snarled. It couldn’t move. Not in that position.
As Diana completed the takedown, spinning so her hands were free, she tightened her legs, choking the guard with all her strength.
The hate in its yellow eyes didn’t deter her.
But even though she had it in a vulnerable position now, she knew it would take a while before it went unconscious. If they were alone on the battlefield, she could have dealt with that. But now, with so many other threats, she needed to end it and she needed to end it quickly.
Reaching for the spear, Diana stretched one hand toward the weapon as she struggled to hold on to the guard she’d subdued. In her field of vision, she could see another gator-guard charging toward her.
If she could only reach the weapon in time.
She could.
She knew she could.
Just a few more inches.
As her hand closed around the handle of the spear, she gripped it and buried the sharp end in the gator-guard’s neck. The guard struggled for a while but as its body went limp, she felt herself being pulled away from him.
The other guard that had been charging toward her was upon her now and it was gripping her by the throat.
“Pesky humans,” it snarled in her face as it lifted her into the air.
Damn, it was strong, and it was cutting off her breathing, its claws digging into her neck.
Swinging her legs, she managed to wrap them around the fiend for some stability.
The guard snarled, but she wasn’t going to be intimidated.
Spear still in hand, she drove it as hard as she could towards the guard’s chest.
It connected, sinking into the beast’s skin but it didn’t go deep enough.
As the gator-guard roared, it pulled her closer to its face, snarling as it did.
“You think you can kill me?” It laughed in her face.
“I don’t think I can.” Her words came out in strangled gasps as she struggled to speak. “I know I can.”
She could see her death in its eyes. In those yellow pools, there was no feeling, no remorse, nothing. There was coldness in his but determination in hers.
Still holding on to the spear, she pushed into the gator-guard as it brought her closer and it roared again.
Gripping her arm, she felt indescribable pain as it twisted, snapping her bones in two.
Tears welled in her eyes, but she couldn’t scream. She could hardly breathe but she had never been more convinced of anything in her life.
If she was really going to die this time, she was going down fighting.
With her one good hand, she reached across and gripped the spear, ignoring the pain in her throat and her limp arm.
And with the final strength she could muster, she pushed the spear deep.
It found its mark this time and the guard roared louder, its hand relaxing at her neck.
But as it fell, it groped for something at its waist, and did something she didn’t expect.
She had only time to see the metal of a blade glisten before it was buried into her midsection.
The pain wasn’t immediate; it was subdued by her shock. Her eyes widened as it locked with the yellow pits of the guard as it laughed.
As they both fell to the sand, her hand slid to her m
idsection and she felt the warm fluid soak her fingers.
Blood.
Her blood.
The sudden pain in her head was startling. Like a thousand migraines hitting her at once, her eyes rolled back with the intensity.
“Diana!” Yce’s tormented shout was loud and, as her vision waned, she saw the guards around her holding their heads and roaring in pain.
Her own head was pounding, but it seemed as if they were going mad.
They dropped their weapons, screaming as they fell to the sand, their bodies squirming as if they had lost control of themselves.
“Yce.”
Her vision was blurring and she was suddenly feeling weak, but in the distance, she could see Yce heading toward her, his body bloodied, his face full of pure rage.
As he collapsed over her, gripping her face between his hands, his white gaze glowed with a fire she’d never seen before. Around them, she was mildly aware that all the enemies were suddenly immobile and Yce himself seemed to be completely glowing white—his hair, the tattoos underneath his skin, and his eyes.
Like a hot white fire, he looked like a beacon.
“Diana!” His tortured exclamation rocked through his body as he touched the blade that was buried inside her.
So this was what it felt like when you were really dying.
Gripping his hand, which was growing red from her blood, she directed a weak smile at him.
“Yce.”
It was getting dark. Or maybe it was her eyes.
“No,” she heard him say. “No!” And another pounding echoed in her head.
As she succumbed to the darkness, her eyes lifted to the sky and the last thing she saw was another of the huge black ships approaching.
“Yce,” she whispered. “Save yourself.”
Chapter Thirty
Diana.
Diana was dying.
He felt it even before the gator-guard had buried its blade into her and he’d felt it as the blade went deep.
It was exactly what he hadn’t wanted to happen.
He shouldn’t have brought her with him. She’d have been safer within the confines of the outpost.
There were enough Mukkians there to put up a good fight and she’d have been protected.
And now...now she was dying. She was dying because of him.
The psychic burst that he emitted was so strong he knew he would collapse soon. He’d never emitted anything as strong before. He hadn’t known that he could.
But seeing the guard take Diana down had activated something deep within him that he had locked away for years.
He didn’t care about the enemies around them as he struggled towards Diana.
She was his purpose.
She was all that mattered.
When he’d seen the starship deactivate its cloaking mechanism, he’d known then and there that there would be casualties.
But not Diana.
Not his Diana.
He reached her just as she was losing consciousness and he felt something within him surge again.
He’d had a similar feeling when she’d been swallowed by the zehmip but this time it was different. It was stronger now—it was all-consuming.
Diana. Not Diana.
Cradling her head in his hands, he felt powerless.
There was a med bay in the Elysium. It was his only hope.
He had to save Diana and if he couldn’t...he wasn’t sure he would want to continue living.
What would life matter anymore?
In the little time he’d known her, she’d shown him another side of life that he’d ignored all these years.
There was logic to her madness and he loved it.
He loved...her.
Diana!
His heart was ripping in two and he could feel the neurons underneath his skin pulse and burn.
It was as if he was going to combust.
He could feel his energy wane, but he couldn’t collapse. He needed to get her to the med bay.
She wasn’t responding now. Her eyes were closed, long lashes fanning over her soft skin.
But he had to believe there was more time.
She was a fighter. She would survive this.
She had to!
The universe couldn’t be so cruel as to show him what life, what love, was really like only to take it away.
But his energy was waning and he could hardly prevent himself from collapsing beside her.
He was mildly aware that all the remaining guards around them were unresponsive.
Whatever his psychic burst had done, it had rendered them helpless. Dead.
It was something he had done before as a child, but never on a scale like this. Somehow, he had targeted all his enemies on the battlefield while not inflicting harm on the ones he wished to protect. The last time that had happened was when his pet pioly had fallen into a nest of ghureveks. He’d tried to rescue it but had fallen in himself. He remembered the fear that had gripped him—a fear of losing something he’d loved so much, his pioly, and that fear and anguish had done something he had not understood at the time. He remembered he’d fought bravely, taking down as many of the poisonous ghureveks as he could. But he was only a boy. Even grown men didn’t dare entering a nest with so many of the vicious creatures. And then it had happened. His pioly was caught in the mouth of one of the beasts, its blood staining its white fur as the ghuruvek shook it in its wide jaws. Something had built inside him and exploded. Next, he’d woken up surrounded by his father and brothers. On top of him, his pioly had rested, its head nuzzled against his cheek. Around them, over twenty ghureveks had lain dead.
His father hadn’t spoken about it and he hadn’t questioned it. But whatever it was, however he’d done it, he was thankful for it now.
As the remaining Mukkians headed towards them, something twigged in his mind. Something familiar. Someone familiar.
Crex.
Crex was close.
He could feel him.
He wasn’t sure how, but he could feel his brother.
His brother and another human; the one called Piper.
Raising his head, he saw the starship approaching.
It looked identical to the one that was hovering close by and, for a second, the fire consuming his body flared.
It was the enemy, so why did he sense his brother.
But as the starship landed and the door opened, he saw the rainbow-colored hair of the human female, Piper. And she was not in chains.
Beside her, his brother hopped from the ship and dashed towards them.
Crex.
It was Crex.
“Save Diana.” He sent the message to his brother telepathically.
If anyone could take care of the woman he loved, he knew his brother would do it.
With the last of his strength, he collapsed beside her, cradling her body against his.
* * *
The light was bright. Too bright.
“Yce?” Her whimper was answered by a soft hand gripping hers.
“She’s awake!” The voice that answered was female and the person undoubtedly spoke in English.
Diana raised her eyelids a little as her vision adjusted to the brightness.
She was on some sort of bed—a gurney, it seemed—and there were tubes attached to her chest.
“Yce?” she called again, unable to make sense of her surroundings.
Had it all been a dream?
The abduction. The escape. Yce?
Had Yce been a dream?
Had she just been in a terrible accident somewhere on Earth and imagined it all?
Something within her fell.
No. It couldn’t have been a dream.
She couldn’t have imagined him.
She’d felt him—physically and emotionally felt him.
He was real.
“Yce!” Her voice rose and she tried to sit up.
“He’s here,” the woman said and Diana realized she recognized the voice.
“Piper?” She tried to focus on the woman’s face but her vision was still blurry.
“Yes, it’s me, Diana. I’m here. You’re going to be all right.”
A figure loomed in the doorway and Diana tensed.
“It’s okay; it’s only Crex,” she heard Piper say.
Crex.
She remembered him.
She was with Piper and Crex? But how?
Maybe she was dreaming.
Struggling to sit up, a pain shot through her side and she brought her left arm to the area.
It was bandaged and she realized she was unable to move her other arm.
Her vision was clearer now and she could see that she was inside some kind of hospital room...well, it wasn’t exactly that. Something told her she was on a ship.
“Where am I?”
“You’re on a ship. You’re safe.”
“Yce?”
Piper moved to the side and Diana could see behind her.
On another gurney laid the big blue alien. Her big blue alien. He was strapped down, restrained, and his eyes were closed.
“What’s wrong with him?!” She tried to rise but it was difficult.
“We had to restrain him. He was going fucking mad.” Piper rested a hand over her forehead, before brushing back her hair. “He did some psychic shit that led us to you guys and while doing that he also took out all the gator-guards around you. It was carnage. I’m fucking sure he pretty much killed every undesirable within meters of where you were.”
Diana gulped.
She could see Piper clearer now and the woman was smiling at her.
Behind Piper, Crex moved into the room, his frame looming over the small woman as he rested his hands on Piper’s shoulders.
They looked so comfortable together, there was no denying that there was something else there.
“But why did you restrain him?” Diana asked, her eyes flashing back to Yce.
She didn’t like seeing him so unresponsive.
“He was emitting bursts of psychic pain and refused to leave your side, even though he needed medical attention himself. You’ve never seen him like that have you?” She directed her question at Crex and Diana saw the alien’s cold eyes move from her to Piper’s face, where his gaze noticeably softened.
“No,” he replied. “Yce has always been...logical. Always…composed.” He said the word as if Yce’s actions confused him but when he looked back at Diana, there was a look of understanding in his eyes.
