Auric

by Leslie Chase

  We were straining my Galtrade vocabulary, and I knew I wasn’t getting everything across. It was enough though — the prytheen warriors around us muttered and exchanged looks. Some outraged, some amused, a few guilty.

  Making Zaren angry might not be the smartest thing I’d done, but what choice did I have? Backing down would just prove him right. Maybe if I got him angry enough, he’d kill me quickly.

  An odd thing to hope for, maybe, but there was no fighting the inevitable. We were inside the Wandering Star’s forcefield now. I heard its hum, saw the shimmer where the air crossed it. With Auric trapped outside, he couldn’t save me. A quick death might be my best option.

  Zaren laughed, a forced and unconvincing sound. He hadn’t expected this reaction, not from a human.

  “You think that just because you can kill two injured warriors in an ambush, you can call yourself my equal?” He laughed again, louder. “You are mistaken, little human, and I will show you all just what happens to humans who dare to challenge the might of the Silver Band.”

  My laugh was no more genuine than his. “If it’s right to pounce on the weak and take from them, then what have I done wrong? They weren’t strong enough to stop me.”

  His face twitched, anger flaring in his golden eyes. With a hiss, he raised a clawed hand high.

  Don’t show fear, don’t show fear, don’t show fear.

  I tried to remember Auric’s strength, to copy his confidence. Putting my hands on my hips I smiled, baring my teeth and looking at Zaren’s throat. I doubted I could intimidate him, but there was no reason not to try.

  If he was going to kill me where I stood, at least I’d go out looking tough.

  One of the other prytheen laughed and said something. I had no idea what, but Zaren didn’t like it. Turning and snapping at the others, he looked like he was at the end of his tether.

  I took a guess at what they were arguing about and ran with it. With nothing to lose, I might as well try a desperation play.

  “What’s the matter?” I asked. “Your men not happy with the way you’ve led them? You’ve stranded them on this planet, you’re all trapped here just like us. What a great alpha they’ve picked.”

  There’s a certain feeling when you catch the mood of a crowd. I felt it like the prickling on my skin in the moments before a storm. Everyone’s attention was on me as I said what they’d been feeling, and for a moment I thought I might get some of the aliens on my side.

  Zaren backhanded me. He struck faster than I could react, and by the time I realized he was attacking I was lying on the deck. My jaw ached and the coppery taste of blood filled my mouth. I could barely move.

  Towering over me, the alien alpha snarled. His claws slid out as he raised a hand over me, and I saw my death in his eyes.

  I glared back, struggling to sit up. Not going to lie back and take it, I told myself, though the world seemed to spin around me.

  Zaren’s clawed hand slashed down towards my throat, only for another alien to grab his wrist. The shouting match started up again as Zaren pulled free, but it seemed that his authority wasn’t absolute anymore.

  While the aliens were distracted, Chris grabbed my arm and pulled me away from them. The other humans watched, looking at me with a mixture of fear and awe, and I swallowed, wondering if I’d doomed us all. Zaren might well be the type to kill everyone who’d seen his moment of weakness.

  I worked my jaw, happy to find that it was only bruised rather than broken. “You shouldn’t stand near me,” I whispered to Chris. “If Zaren decides to kill me—”

  “—he’ll have to go through us,” Abby said firmly. Chris nodded.

  “You saved us, and you stood up to those alien bastards,” he agreed. “The least we can do is back you up now.”

  I wanted to tell them to keep safely away from me, but the words wouldn’t come. Instead I hugged Abby and hoped for the best.

  The look on Zaren’s face when he turned to face me told me I should prepare for the worst instead. The argument amongst the aliens had turned into a glaring standoff, but the ones backing Zaren outnumbered those who didn’t.

  I did my best, I thought, wishing it had been enough and hoping that my friends didn’t get caught in the consequences.

  Zaren didn’t even speak to me. Didn’t need to — the murderous rage in his expression told me enough. I’d pissed him off and embarrassed him, and I wouldn’t survive that.

  If he was going to kill me — and I knew he was — then at least his followers would remember me. They watched, uncomfortable, as their leader stalked forward to kill a helpless woman.

  “Stop!” The shout echoed across the deck, and all the aliens turned to see who dared interrupt them. Even Zaren turned, a curse dying on his lips as he saw who’d spoken.

  There, somehow, stood Auric. He stood next to the transport I’d arrived in, right in the heart of Zaren’s territory with no explanation for his sudden appearance, and the other aliens seemed as surprised as I was.

  Somehow, he’d managed to get through the forcefield. Somehow, he was here to save me.

  My heart skipped a beat and I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. To save me, Auric had worked a miracle and delivered himself into Zaren’s hands, and doomed himself. You idiot, I wanted to shout at him. I wanted you to live.

  But he’d made his choice, rather than watching me die. And I knew I’d have done the same in his place — if he was an idiot, then so was I.

  He strode towards me with perfect confidence, the other aliens parting around him. Auric kept his eyes on me, smiling as though he was perfectly safe. As though the other prytheen weren’t staring at him with rage in their eyes, gripping for the blades at their belts.

  The only hint of the pressure he was under was the careful, precise measure of his steps. Never off balance, always ready to react to a sudden move by the warriors around him.

  Zaren looked at him, eyes narrowing and hand going to a blade at his side. Auric turned towards him, smiling a hard smile and spreading his empty hands. He said something in prytheen.

  Around us, the warriors gasped.

  20

  Auric

  Clinging to the bottom of the flier on its trip back to the Wandering Star hadn’t been easy, and I’d thought my arms would fall off by the time we descended. But it had gotten me inside and kept me close to my khara. That made it worth any amount of pain.

  I had to take my time, clambering out from under the transport while all attention was on the confrontation. If he’d spotted me before I was ready to make my entrance, Zaren would have had me killed and the trip would have been useless. But once he struck Tamara, my anger took over. I had to intervene.

  Tamara was unhurt, thank the blessed ones. Even so, I swore Zaren would pay for laying a hand on her. Keeping my rage on a tight leash, I walked towards my khara; losing control now wouldn’t do her any good. Saving her would be hard enough if I did everything right, and the slightest mistake could kill us both.

  Around me stood dozens of warriors who’d sworn to follow Zaren as their Alpha-Captain. Killers who had given up their honor in favor of riches and power, those who’d seen the need to follow him to survive, and those who simply came along for the ride. Some had been part of his clan before he’d turned from the Code, but that didn’t excuse them. It was a warrior’s responsibility to keep his Alpha honest, or to challenge him if he strayed too far from the path.

  Others had even less excuse. Warriors from each of the seven clans of the Silver Band were here, even some who had once followed me. Now they obeyed Zaren in exchange for his protection and resources. A few even looked hopeful — counting on me to stand up to Zaren and fix things.

  They might not like him or his leadership, but they weren’t willing to stand up to him themselves. Cowards.

  Forget them, focus on what matters. My khara is in danger. The warriors would help or they would not; either way, I had to stand up to Zaren and protect her.

  “You dare show yourse
lf here, traitor?” Zaren drew himself up, sheathing his claws and resting his hand on the grip of his pistol. The stolen human weapon looked out of place on his harness, but it was no less deadly for that.

  Given half an excuse, he’d gun me down and call it an execution. To save my khara, I would have to tread carefully and put him in a position where simply killing me wasn’t an option.

  “I dare many things, more than you ever have,” I said, pitching my voice to carry. “I dare to follow the Code of our ancestors, to use my strength to protect the weak rather than prey on them. To stand against injustice rather than perpetrate it. To put my honor before my life. You, Zaren, are unworthy of the title Alpha-Captain.”

  Around me, warriors shifted uncomfortably. Each of them had learned the Code while they were still kits, and no one wanted to think of themselves as dishonoring the legacy of the Band. It was all we had left of our homeworld.

  Zaren looked around, measuring the crowd, and reluctantly took his hand off his pistol. Shooting me down would just prove my point. I wore armor made of honor, though it would only protect me so far.

  “We are predators,” he said. “Killers and hunters. The humans are prey animals, nothing more.”

  “No,” I said, keeping my voice calm and even. It wasn’t easy to keep my temper, but I had to. Showing my rage wouldn’t help. “They are our equals, and I can prove it.”

  I stepped closer, moving slowly and carefully. Giving him no excuse to think I might attack him. Zaren watched me approach, his face carefully controlled. His calm didn’t quite reach his eyes, though — they darted around, suspicious and angry, and I knew he wasn’t comfortable.

  Surrounded by his warriors, neither was I.

  “We can mate-bond with the humans,” I said, loud enough to carry. “I have found my khara amongst them, and you cannot claim we can bond to inferiors.”

  Around us the warriors fell silent. All attention was on me now. Even the humans stared, though they didn’t understand our words. It was clear we were discussing something important.

  Zaren took a step forward, into arm’s reach. Close enough that it would be hard for either of us to defend ourselves from a sudden attack by the other.

  “You lie,” he hissed. “They are just beasts, cowards and prey for us. No warrior’s khara could be so low. Or perhaps, traitor, you are not a warrior at all?”

  My jaw tightened and all my muscles strained to attack. By sheer effort of will I held myself back. It was easy to ignore the insult to me, but the insult to Tamara? I would have gutted him for it.

  That was what he was hoping for. I saw it in his eyes. If I attacked, I would give him the pretext he needed to have me killed.

  Perhaps I’d kill him, perhaps not, but one thing was certain — I wouldn’t protect Tamara. She’d pay for my attack and that I would not allow.

  “When you proposed this attack, you said we might find mates amongst the humans,” I reminded him. “Are you saying that you lied?”

  That stopped him for a moment, caught in a net of his own lies, but he rallied fast. “Of course not. But a female to mate with is different than a khara. We can take their females without them being our equals.”

  I thought my heart would explode with rage at those words. The idea that he and his warriors would take females without considering them equals made me sick to my stomach, and I struggled to keep my anger from taking over. The next words he spoke were drowned out by the pounding of my furious pulse.

  But the effect of his orders was clear. Prytheen warriors pulled humans from their workgroups, separating the females from the males. I saw tears and heard cries of pain from the humans, outbursts in their language. Soon one of them would snap. The humans were not the weaklings Zaren claimed they were. They would fight this, and they would die.

  “Stop,” I snapped. The cold, deadly fury in my voice made Zaren flinch back and his warriors froze.

  “You betrayed your species and your clan,” he answered. “I need not answer to you.”

  His hand went to his gun, and I readied myself to die fighting. Against these numbers there was no other outcome, even if the humans revolted at the same time. Better to die fighting than to allow this outrage, the final loss of the Silver Band’s honor.

  For a frozen moment we stood facing each other, each waiting for the other to make the first move. Before either of us did, though, Tamara intervened.

  “Leave my khara alone!” She screamed the words, leaping at Zaren in a heroic, doomed display. Unarmed, she stood no chance.

  There was nothing wrong with Zaren’s reflexes. He stepped back out of my reach, turning and striking Tamara without taking his eyes off me. His blow turned her desperate leap into a painful tumble, straight into my path. Instinct took over and I abandoned my attack to catch her.

  Zaren’s pistol was in his hand before I could put her down. If he shot now it would tear through her on the way to me, and that I would not allow.

  I stopped, turning away and putting my body between her and harm as I examined my khara. Rage flickered in her eyes but she was unhurt save for a bruise. That, at least, was good news.

  I turned to glare at Zaren. “You struck my khara.”

  Around us, the warriors fell silent. It was a deadly accusation: to strike a warrior could be forgiven, but striking a warrior’s khara could only end in death.

  Zaren’s eyes flicked around the camp, at his men. Too many were watching for him to simply murder me and ignore my words. He had to face my challenge.

  “She is not prytheen,” he said, loud, speaking more to the crowd than to me. “She has no protection under our laws, and you are a traitor.”

  I grinned, scenting weakness, and set Tamara down. Drawing myself up to my full height, I kept my attention on Zaren though I felt the weight of the crowd’s attention on me. Humans and prytheen, all hanging on my words.

  The fate of both species on this planet hung on what I did and said now.

  “I found my khara amongst the humans,” I said, speaking firmly. “You were right about that much, but no more. We are the Silver Band of Prytheen, warriors without peer, and the Code guides our steps. But a warrior is incomplete without his khara.”

  As much as I hated Zaren, I owed him a debt: without him, I would never have met my Tamara. Never have known that my khara was a human, and never known the happiness I’d found in her arms.

  And never known the rage that burned in my heart when Zaren hurt her. I owed him a debt for that, too.

  Caught on his own pretext for his dishonorable war, Zaren snarled wordlessly. I matched his snarl, letting my anger show as I spoke the words of challenge.

  “Tamara-Engineer is my mate, my heart, my soul. She is mine, and you have hurt her. I will kill you for that as honor demands.”

  The surrounding warriors broke into murmurs, and I heard the news spreading through the camp. More and more prytheen gathered to watch our confrontation, and all of them knew the Code.

  Some had even been my warriors before the attack. I couldn’t count on them as allies, not after they’d accepted Zaren’s authority, but I knew their temper. Zaren had to tread carefully if he wanted to dismiss my challenge.

  “You are a fugitive, an oathbreaker,” he blustered, looking around. I kept my eyes fixed on him, stalking forward. “Your word is worth nothing. I am alpha here, and my word is law.”

  I bared my fangs, feeling the crowd’s attitude shift. No prytheen would accept a leader who wasn’t a warrior, and he was starting to sound as though he wanted to avoid a fight.

  That was exactly right, of course. He’d pulled himself to greatness by picking the easy battle, the least dangerous foe. A good way to win power, to gain riches with which to reward followers. And I wouldn’t deny that he was a skilled leader — he knew how to make the most of his forces, and he’d managed to grind down the rest of the Silver Band.

  But now, it was between him and me. And that was a fight he did not want.

  Despite his fear
, Zaren wasn’t a coward. No one who allowed his fear to rule him could have made it to the top of the Band. Zaren wouldn’t back down from a fight if it would cost him his authority.

  “Very well,” he said at last, looking around and weighing the mood of the crowd. “Tomorrow, then. At dawn, I will kill this traitor and mount his head on the wall as a warning. His treachery stranded us here, and I will avenge you all, my brothers.”

  His loyal warriors cheered, and I weighed the response in turn. Not every prytheen sounded enthusiastic, but he still had enough support that I couldn’t count on the others to back me. And of course he would use me as a scapegoat. If he managed to lay the blame for the crash on me and win the duel, his position would be secure.

  I have the duel I wanted, I reminded myself, blood pumping. What he thinks will happen if he wins is of no consequence. I will kill him for hurting Tamara, and then we’ll see who’s loyal to his corpse.

  Tamara watched me without fear, and the calm confidence in her gaze touched me. She didn’t understand what was happening any more than the other humans did, but that changed nothing. I felt her certainty that I would save her, and it calmed my rage and replaced it with a quieter strength. For her I would move mountains. One Codeless warrior? Not a problem.

  Zaren stepped close again, too close for comfort, and the temptation to strike now was strong. I could have hurt him, perhaps slain him, before he had a chance to react. But honor bound me and he knew it. Until the duel, we were both safe from each other.

  “So you love the human female,” he whispered, quiet enough that only I would hear. “Thank you for confirming that we can mate with them, it strengthens my hand considerably. And thank you for showing me your weak point.”

  I fought down the urge to slit his throat. Tamara’s calm strength buoyed me, and I refused to let Zaren bait me into a mistake. If I attack now, then whether or not I kill him, my khara dies with me.

  Instead, I replied just as quietly. “You cannot threaten her. If any harm comes to her before the fight, everyone will know you for what you are.”