by C. R Corbin
And after wandering the halls for a bit, she found her.
"Oh!" said Nura in stark surprise as she turned the corner and was faced with her old acquaintance, "I never knew you came around to this portion of the keep that often."
Saradi looked around to see various servants carrying textiles, many of them were embroidered with patterns that she had become familiar with. They were motifs that Koigo rather enjoyed and she wasn't surprised to see them here.
From the look of it, the young mother had become a worker here.
"Do you work here?" Saradi asked her and she nodded vigorously, there was a small carrier in her arm and Saradi could see a tiny human within it, waving its hands around and swiping at the black fabric that comprised the roof of the carrier.
"I received the offer about a week ago. How is working for the king?" Nura asked and Saradi grinned.
"He's a bit of a nag but he's alright." Saradi admits, "So you're doing well I hope?"
"I am. Oh I really should be going, sorry, we can catch up later however!" Nura stated as she saw her supervisor waving her over, Saradi waved goodbye to her and the child as she ran down the hallway.
They had all really made it huh?
#
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
"I found it first!" he growled with a vicious swipe in the general direction of his brother. Koigo just barely dodged it in time.
Gulvan was clutching onto a rather shiny rock that Koigo had found within the fields near their family's keep. It was a dark blood red and light didn't even seem to shine off of it. It was somewhat transparent and was about the size of a closed fist in Rialan standards.
Koigo had been walking in the grass when he had found it, he had nearly tripped over the rock and once he had picked it up Gulvan had appeared and snatched it out of his hands, claiming it as his own victory.
Koigo wanted to beat him senseless. The bastard had always been like this, always someone that would jump in and claim any chance of victory over his brother.
And Koigo had enough.
He takes a swing at his brother, swiping at him with his closed fist and striking him down before leaping atop and clawing at him with his nails. They drag along his brother's arms as Gulvan snarls in a show of rage before shoving Koigo off of him and grabbing a nearby stick that he swings at his twin. Koigo rocks back, barely catching the stick with his hands and tugging it out of his brother's grasp.
Suddenly they weren't in a field anymore, they were in a burning castle and instead of a stick in his hand it was a blade.
And his brother had another blade, he glared back at Koigo, holding the weapon up in his traditional stance. From this angle his brother seemed so much more powerful, quicker, more intimidating. The fires behind Gulvan allowed his body to cast a shadow that loomed over Koigo' own body.
Koigo growls once more before he sees her behind Gulvan. That familiar human girl that he had been with, that he had claimed as his. She was laid across the stone floor, a gash in her throat and a gun at the edge of her fingertips. He noted the burn in Gulvan's arm and roared in anger while his brother only laughed.
And just before their blades could meet, it all fades.
He awakens in a cold sweat.
He wipes the sweat from his bro, looking to his side and praying that she was still there with him and she was. She hugs the sheets and stirs for a bit, her curled body completely still. He reaches a hand out to touch the base of her neck and he senses her heartbeat and he finally can calm himself. He watches the moon outside, praying that this would all last until he thought of something, until he thought of a way to keep her without forsaking everything.
Unfortunately for him, there was one thing that he didn't account for.
Just outside was a spy that was clutching onto the walls of the castle, he disables his cloaking once he gets far away from the building. Shimmers of light wash over his body as he smiles while glancing at the photos that he had sent. He had what Gulvan needed, a motive and a reason to attack his brother and this was it. That curled human girl on the bed was surely enough to trouble Koigo....and lure him into their ambush.
And to kill him.
Chapter
She had no idea what had even happened.
She awoke by his side as she always had and gave him a kiss good morning. They ate their breakfast and she went into the training room to tend to her skills once more. After this she figured that she should return to her chores, lest she begin to slack off. And once she had exited the training room she was confronted with something.
A large looming black mass.
It had moved to the side suddenly and she paused mid stride to observe it, she was afraid to look behind her out of fear that she would see whatever it was but she steeled herself and closed her fist before turning and striking nothing but air. She glances around, looking behind her and to the doorways that were on the sides of the hall before she finally looks up and is nearly tackled to the floor by her assailant. She launches herself out of the way just in time, rolling on the smooth stone and glaring back up at whomever was attacking her.
"Quick, wouldn't have expected that." Stated the intruder.
She scowls, "Military, human military. Who are you?" she asks as she raises her fists, she tried to remember if she had any weapons on her but she didn't.
By the looks of it, he was Rialan, his sheer size made that evident straight away and judging by the fact that he had intruded without sounding off an alarm, he was clearly more than skilled enough to take her on his own. She grimaced as she attempted to think of a plan, a plan to outrun this man that was far faster, far stronger, and far better equipped than she was.
And then she decided to simply hinge her bets on Koigo arriving.
She knew that he had never traveled far from his quarters and liked to spend much of his time in the meeting rooms that were down the hall. She knew this because they would often meet up for lunch now that they had become mates, and this was the main factor that she was relying on.
She turns on her heel and begins to sprint down the hall while screaming his name.
"Koigo! Intruder!" she bellows as she grabs the handle of the door and attempts to open it just as it was held shut by the intruder who wraps his hand around her neck and pulls her towards him.
She struggles to breathe against the grasp of his hand and slowly falls asleep. He slings her over his shoulder but not before he hears someone roar down the hallway.
The king was charging at him, the stone was cracking beneath his feet as he sprinted. The intruder grabs the door and swings it open before hurling himself out the window and into the fields
With any luck this would be their big break.
Koigo hurled himself from the window as well, making sure to grab his sword that was resting near his bed as he sprints after the intruder. He growls and watches as her body fades into the grasses, he sniffs the air and howls in anger as he tries to sense her presence and he feels the faint track of it leading directly into the mountains.
By then he knew that this was Gulvan's doing.
He hurls his fist down into the ground and shatters the caked mud that had collected at his knuckles before he looks behind him to see Yaki sprinting after him. His old friend glances worriedly at him, alongside him was a mount, a kurocho, for him. Koigo glances at him and nods in affirmation as he gets onto the kurocho, the four legged animal howls, its tail standing tall in the wind as its long fangs and its mane of feathers began to shiver upwards. Koigo takes the reins and looks to Yaki who gives him the pack that contained his armor.
"We can still catch him." Stated his guard as the two men nod at one another before charging forth on their steeds, hoping to rescue the girl before Gulvan got his hands on her.
They were going to be riding deep into the mountains and possibly out to the other side. In contrast to the savannahs that they had, the other side of the mountains contained lush forest that would probably be bombarded with snow at this point. Koigo knew
this even though he was only wearing a light cloak. He prayed that it would be enough and that he would not fall prey to weakness, but he had his blade and with that he would save her.
He swore it.
"Is anyone else coming?" he asked Yaki who handed him a bowl of grain that he soon downed. His guard nodded.
"I called on a small force to follow us, but you and I both know if Gulvan is behind it then that will not be enough." He stated.
Koigo scowled, he was so angry that he might shatter the bowl he was holding if he was not careful. He watches the flame flicker in front of him, they were at the entrance of the mountain range, they had rode past the springs and were at the mouth of the frozen lands that laid before them. Their steeds rested near an ice-cold lake of water, drinking from it and curling up, their builds were suited for this journey. They possessed plenty of down beneath the layers of feathers that were on their necks and where there was bare skin there was thick hide with plenty of blood vessels beneath and subcutaneous fat that would allow them to last.
Rialans were born on a planet that was cold, that was mountainous, this was in their blood.
Koigo just hoped that the ancestors would aid him one last time. Before it was too late.
…
"Eat." She heard the man speak, she attempts to rise but something tugs on her ankles and sets her back down, she looks back up, hoping to see Koigo but it was a stranger instead.
He looked incredibly familiar. Once she saw the scar on his closed eye she realized who she was and began to remember what had happened prior to her being choked unconscious.
This was that same man. The same man that had attacked her when he had recognized her a few months ago.
"You..." she muttered, her throat dry.
“Malbog.” He tells her, snorting, as if to tell her that she didn’t even really deserve to know.
She attempts to sit up but loses her balance, he merely watches her as she collects herself and is able to sit up. He presses a button on his wristband that loosens the cuffs around her hands a bit and allows her to grasp onto the bowl of food.
...That she then chucks in his general direction.
He snarls in anger and walks up to her, smacking her cheek with the back of his hand with enough force to send her back down onto the floor with ringing in her ear. She frowns and looks back up at him as he stands there, glowering.
"You figured that you would never see me again did you? Well guess what human. I win, the Rialans won, and there is nothing that you can do about it but watch as your people face the fate that they absolutely deserve. He says to her with a sneer while she spits on his cheek.
"Fuck you." She growls out and he smacks her once more, causing her to fall onto the floor again, bleeding from her nose.
"You and the king think that you're going to change things, that you're going to find a way out of this mess that you have cultivated for yourselves but you two are wrong. Humans and Rialans can never coexist and under Gulvan that fact will become a reality."
She pauses in shock, hoping that he would not answer the way that she was anticipating, "You can't be serious."
He laughs, "Eternal war, the genocide of your peoples, and the eternal suffering of your king. That is what will happen."
She grimaces, growling as the tears welled up in her eyes, she fights them back just before he could have the chance to look at her. If there was one thing that she didn't want to show right now, it was weakness.
She prayed that Koigo had heard her, from what she had heard before she had fallen unconscious it was up in the air. But he had to have known now since she had been gone for most of the day, the only thing that worried her more was the prospect of him losing her trail.
But she had faith in him, after all, it was the only thing that she could have faith in now.
Her hands cinched around her cuffs and she shuts her eyes, allowing the pain in her head to cease as she slowly falls asleep, waiting for a miracle. In her dreams she swore she could see him running after her, screaming his promises of protection. Her faith in him would never wither, but she hoped that he would come sooner or later.
Because judging by how this soldier was ranting, she feared that she might not last long enough to see him again.
The next time she wakes up her head was hovering over a stone trail. There was snow all around her and it was collecting at the base of this creature's clawed feat. The air hear was filled with pollutants and she immediately coughed as soon as she took it in. The stone here was this dull grey, almost a black at times due to all of the dirty ice that had collected on it. She instantly feels the cold bite at her skin and shivers as a reaction as she shuts her eyes and attempts to calm herself.
"Finally awake are you? Good. You get to see your new short term home." He growls out with a chuckle. She didn't like his phrasing of "short-term".
They were going to use her as a hostage weren't they? That was the only reasonable thing that they could think of. And once Koigo came unprepared she would be executed along with him.
The steed stops on the outskirts of this massive industrial center. It looked almost like a tower from this angle, it was impossibly tall and built from jagged steel. She is set down from her resting spot on the back of the steed and is dragged forward into the metal gates of this complex. The maw opens wide and she shivers in pain as she watches the soldiers separate. Unlike on the other side these soldiers weren't dressed in the rather intricate bronze plating, here it was all fur and dark grey steel with these animal motifs on their masks. Their masks bent and distorted in ways that would strike fear in the very bravest of souls and she felt that same intimidation when they began to gaze at her.
And that overwhelming fear was all that she felt until she saw the king stride forward. Not the king that she had grown accustomed to with his regal nature and his composure. This man was a mad dog, he steps forward in his gaudy gold armor and glances at her. The various jewels on his robe shone and served to understate his true physique underneath.
Gulvan.
"What the hell is going on here you bastard?!" she roars out as she attempts to lunge forward to bite him, but Malbog holds her back and she is smacked for her insolence before an electronic field shimmers over her mouth to gag her.
"So this is my brother's whore then eh? Figures that he would have an interest in you ever since that day in the prisons. But to think that he would risk it all for some ugly human bitch like you, even I didn't think that low of him." Gulvan chuckles, his dull-green skin contrasts with the snow and harsh metallic tones around him and he clicks his tongue to direct his soldiers to drag her inside.
Gulvan pauses, he could hear her struggling behind him, kicking the snow in an attempt to get free but he wasn't at all worried for her. He merely watches the horizon, waiting for the true prize to reveal himself.
His brother would be a dead man soon enough, and Limura would be his.
#
CHAPTER NINETEEN
They had finally arrived.
He had thought about it and this was the only way that they would be able to get close enough realistically. Any vehicles that they had weren't suitable for the mountainous terrain as their steeds were and any aircrafts would have likely been shot down or accosted. This was the quickest way that they could have caught up.
And here they stood on the precipice of an encounter that they had both hoped would have taken a bit longer to arrive.
Yet it was staring them in the face.
Koigo frowned as he drew his blade, the curved edge of it scrapes against the rocks and he readied himself to approach along with Yaki who was right behind him. They had sent for reinforcements but neither of them knew how long it would take or whether it would arrive on time at all.
"Hey! King! Can you hear me?" a voice called out from Yaki' communicator.
It was a familiar voice to the king at least and his eyes widened when he realized exactly who he was talking to.
"Domon?" he called ou
t.
"Hey he knows my name!" shouted the other voice, "Anyways, yeah it's me. Figured I could help out by offering some support on the technical front. We've sent some scouter bots and the most that they could find out was that there's a large population of soldiers within that base and around it. It sounds like they're preparing an ambush for you." Stated Domon.
Koigo scowled, if he left and avoided the ambush altogether then his mate would be dead and he might as well have died at that point.
There was no other way but forward.
"Anything else?"
"I've called for some support, I don't know how long they'll take to arrive given that there's a limited amount of steeds back at the base. I'm also sending some air support your way, or at least, the generals here are."
Koigo appeared shocked, "What do you mean? Are we not supposed to be discreet about this? I don't want to start a war just yet, I just need to get her back."
Yaki frowned and glanced a bit more intently at the base in the distance.
"Gulvan is there." Domon told them.
Koigo flinched and then suddenly a bloodthirsty smile came over his face. Although if one looked closely they could see that in his eyes were the fires of rage and a hunger for retribution. Yaki places a hand on his king's shoulder and shakes his head.
"Let's control ourselves. We know that they outnumber us by a massive amount, we'll have to think of a plan." He states.
Koigo nodded in agreement although there was a bit of reluctance in him. His warrior side was telling him to storm the base head-on and slay every soldier there with his blade with no thought devoted to tactics, but that plan would likely be a failure and he knew that just as well as Yaki.
"Well there's not really any practical way that we could kill the troops without harming her. So there has to be a way to distract them at the very least." Muttered Koigo as he surveyed the landscape when suddenly he got his answer.