The Warrior's Bride (Warriors 0f Valkred Book 3)

by Roxie Ray

The entire Valkredian armada was approaching from one side, led by a huge ship I'd never seen before – sleek and scarlet, with curved, claw-like nacelles on each side and a pair of weapons arrays jutting out from the front like deadly fangs.

  The Mana fleet was coming in from the other side, including several of their “floating oceans” – balloon-like spheres filled with water, allowing the aquatic officers to pilot them from the comfort of their natural habitats.

  “Impossible!” Vahmi exclaimed, cringing and putting his arms over his head as though afraid the ships might reach down through the glass and snatch him up. “How the hell could you have summoned them? We didn't make any transmissions!”

  “No, we didn't,” I said. “But Respen did, by using the bond between his amulet and Miranda's to contact her so Akzun could mobilize the Valkred and Mana fleets. Even without the use of his own abilities, he was still able to wield the artifacts, since their power was separate from his. You may as well give up now, Torqa. You're surrounded.”

  I don't know how I expected Torqa to react – with rage, perhaps, or quiet resignation.

  Instead, she did the unthinkable.

  She smiled.

  “No, girl,” she purred nastily. “I'm afraid you're quite mistaken. Didn't you stop to wonder why Respen here suddenly found himself cut off from the cosmic energies that connected him to his people and planet? Or why the only ship of mine you saw upon your arrival was the Dezmodon?”

  Darqar bared his teeth in a hideous grin. “While you were chasing false trajectory readings from Judy's escape pod halfway across the galaxy, I was helping Torqa attack Yuluna and enslave the Lunians. Enough of them to power plenty of additional cloaking devices.”

  Surge's jaw dropped. “You mean…?”

  “Exactly,” Torqa confirmed. “You are the ones who are surrounded.”

  She tapped a signal device on the sleeve of her body armor – and a dozen warships appeared in a ring around the Valkred and Mana vessels, shimmering as they de-cloaked.

  “I've always admired your fearlessness in battle, Dhimurs,” Torqa said, “but when it came to tactics and strategies, you've never been a match for me. Now: Surrender, and there might still be a place for you at my side when I rule Valkred. That's my final offer.”

  Dhimurs' lip curled. “Here's mine: Go to hell, you twisted witch.”

  25

  Dhimurs

  “Execute them!” Torqa ordered, pointing at us.

  I threw myself over Judy to shield her as the Sives opened fire. Surge, Respen, and Thezis took cover behind a deserted kiosk.

  The Sives may have been killers, but they were still cheap crooks, not trained soldiers. Their marksmanship was shoddy, and their blasters were outdated – most of their shots were absorbed by our armor or missed their mark and hit the deck around us, leaving charred scorch-marks on the metal flooring.

  We returned fire, and our shots were true. Half of the Sives went down in the first volley, holes smoldering in their heads and chests. The rest of Cexiea's denizens panicked and ran for shelter in every direction – they may have been tough, but they weren't ready to get in the middle of a firefight that didn't involve them.

  Vahmi advanced on us and raised his blaster, yelling in a high, tremulous voice. “Dammit, I finally have a chance to be the one in charge, and I won't let you ruin it for me! I won't, I won't, I won't!”

  I aimed my blaster and shot him right in the mouth. He stopped in his tracks, blinked twice… and then dropped his gun and fell backward, eyes lifeless and glassy, a smoking hole where his teeth had been moments earlier.

  I glanced at Torqa and saw her reaching out for Ekaid and Lidea. They looked confused and terrified. I noticed that she was still wearing the personal teleportation device she'd used on Macur. If she grabbed them and activated it, they'd all vanish together.

  Before I could do anything, Judy wriggled out from under me, barreling toward Torqa and shrieking with fury. “No! You're not going to take them from me again!”

  Torqa's eyes widened – clearly, she hadn't expected such ferocity from an Earthling, especially given her overall contempt for them. Judy used Torqa's surprise to her advantage, tackling her to the ground and pummeling the Valkredian with her heavy gauntlets.

  “Judy!” I called out, rising to my feet and running after her. “Look out!”

  Judy kept battering Torqa's face furiously – as Torqa slipped a blade from her boot, burying it deep in Judy's side at the vulnerable point where two of the armored plates met. Judy cried out in pain, and Torqa pushed her away, skittering backward. Blood was pouring from her broken nose, and one of her eyes was already starting to swell up. She seemed genuinely shaken by the onslaught.

  Even injured, Judy kept staggering toward Torqa, ready to finish the brawl… but Torqa hit the button on the teleportation unit, rippling and vanishing in seconds. Darqar closed his eyes, murmured an incantation, and disappeared as well.

  When Judy reached the spot where Torqa had just been, her arms found nothing but thin air.

  Above us, the Dezmodon disengaged from its airlock, turning to face the Valkredian vessels. Its plasma disruptors blazed, and the weapons systems of the Valkred and Mana responded in kind. Torqa's warships moved into attack positions. Lasers and pulse mortars violently made contact with shield generators, sparking and flashing.

  The battle had begun.

  Ekaid and Lidea ran to her. “Daughter,” Lidea croaked, “you shouldn't have come…”

  “I had to,” Judy said, hugging them. “I couldn't let her torment you for another second.”

  Surge and Thezis picked off the remaining Sives as I reached Judy, inspecting her stab wound. “Are you all right?”

  She nodded, pale and shaking, her face drenched in cold sweat. “I'll be fine. But we have to get my parents out of here. There are more Sives coming.”

  Sure enough, more of the tattooed gangsters were running toward us from all sides, howling, guns and knives drawn.

  “Surge! Thezis!” I yelled. “I need to get Judy and her parents to the Wrath! Can you hold off the rest of the Sives and make sure they don't get to their ships? We don't want them causing more trouble for our friends out there.”

  “We can handle this rabble!” Surge replied, demonstrating by zapping two more of them from across the observation deck. Another tried to sneak up on them from behind with a dagger – Thezis whipped around, swiftly bludgeoning him to death with the butt of his rifle.

  “How are we going to get to the Wrath?” Judy asked. “I'm hurt, my parents are weak, and there must be a hundred more Sives between us and the airlock!”

  “I have natural teleporting abilities,” I told her.

  “Are you sure you can teleport all four of us?”

  The truth? No. I wasn't. Just teleporting with one other person – as I had on Macur, when I'd helped Zark and Miranda foil Torqa's plans for the grimoire – generally took every ounce of strength I had.

  But I had to try.

  “Join hands, all of you,” I said, grabbing hold of Judy and focusing on the command deck of the Wrath. I had to be able to clearly visualize my destination, or else I might accidentally blip us into the vacuum of space, or halfway through a bulkhead.

  And with this many people, there was a chance that might happen anyway.

  I took a deep breath, concentrated as hard as I could… and made the jump.

  As always, I felt my consciousness disconnect and flow across time and space, followed swiftly by my body and those of the people in touch with me. Atoms split apart from each other, washed into unfamiliar shapes like a hill of sand disrupted by an ocean wave. This time, though, they felt impossibly heavy. Dragging them along with me from Cexiea to the Wrath took all of my strength and effort. At the halfway mark, I felt like I was trying to haul a mountain from one end of a continent to the other.

  I summoned everything I had in me and pulled us the rest of the way, forcing our molecules to recombine into their original shapes. T
here was a split second when I thought it might not work, that our forms would all be mashed together into some kind of agonized monstrosity. I'd heard stories about teleportation accidents that resulted in such horrors, and they'd given me plenty of nightmares. It was the reason I had always been so hesitant to use my abilities unless there was no other choice.

  Then it was over, and we were standing on the Wrath, gasping air into our newly reconstituted lungs.

  “Judy, get them to the medical bay,” I wheezed. “Treat their injuries, and yours as well.”

  “But what are you going to do?”

  “Join the battle, of course. It's where I belong… where I've always belonged.”

  “You've just almost torn yourself apart teleporting us all! You're in no condition…”

  “I'm fine,” I assured her firmly. “Go.”

  Judy gave her parents a gentle push in the direction of the medical bay – and then turned back, just long enough to plant a lingering kiss on my lips.

  “Just in case we don't get a chance later,” she said.

  “We will,” I promised fervently.

  Judy ran after her parents. I limped over to the captain's chair, sitting down and trying to catch my breath as I re-routed full command of the ship to my console.

  I wasn't fine. Far from it.

  My heart was pounding, my vision was blurred, my hands were shaking, and it felt like I had sustained numerous internal injuries from the effort.

  But I was still a soldier. I still had a duty to my people.

  And by the stars, I intended to carry it out, no matter the cost.

  I typed a course into the navigational computer, not bothering with the airlock protocols – the Wrath departed, ripping half the docking clamps away with it. From the chaos raging all around me, it looked as though I'd lost too much time already. I had to join the fight immediately, if I had a hope in hell of affecting the outcome.

  The comm system chirped, and the cracked view screen came to life, displaying Akzun and Zark on the unfamiliar command deck of the new Valkredian vessel.

  “Welcome to the party, Dhimurs!” Zark quipped.

  “Thank you,” I replied, still catching my breath. “That's quite a ship you've got there.”

  “I'm glad you like it,” Akzun said wryly. “We've been building the Devil's Mercy in secret for some time, specifically for you to command. We had hoped to surprise you with it, but under the circumstances, we felt it might be best to unveil it a bit earlier than planned.”

  “Besides,” Zark added, “it looks like you've made an unholy mess of our flagship! What did you do? Fly it into a damn trash compactor?”

  “Quiet, Zark,” Akzun snapped, turning his attention back to me. “What's the status of Ekaid and Lidea?”

  “We were able to extract them from the station,” I reported. “But that won't matter much if those damn warships blow us to pieces.”

  “Yeah, tricky bastards, aren't they?” Zark was still trying to keep his tone light, but I could tell he was anxious. “They keep appearing and disappearing all around us like ghosts, so we can't get a weapons lock on them. Between that and the Dezmodon, things are looking rather grim.”

  “I'll see what I can do to even the odds,” I promised, cutting the transmission and arming the Wrath's weapons and shields.

  26

  Judy

  Based on the way the Wrath was rocking and shuddering all around us, I could only assume that we were taking heavy fire from Torqa's fleet. The constant jostling made it harder for me to dress my parents' wounds, but I did my best, applying salve and bandages where they were needed.

  “You must tend to your own injury, Judy,” Lidea said. “It's far worse than ours.”

  “I'll get to it in a minute,” I assured her.

  “All this pain and bloodshed,” Ekaid spoke up, shaking his head sadly. “All to save us. Why? Why would the Valkred Empire care so much whether we lived or died?”

  “Because in aiding them, you incurred Torqa's wrath,” I explained patiently. “They felt it was only right to try to repay that debt as best they could. And because you two are now the only hope to unite the remaining tribes and rebuild Macur. The Valkredians couldn't simply allow the Macurians to fade and die. Not when they had a chance of stopping it.”

  “But those aren't the only reasons,” Lidea guessed quietly. “Are they, daughter?”

  I finished dabbing ointment on my mother's burns, and then searched the compartments of the medical bay for something to treat the stab wound in my side. The blade had been short, so thankfully, it hadn't gone too deep – but I was still losing a lot of blood, and the strain of teleporting hadn't exactly helped.

  “No,” I replied, finding a tissue regeneration pack and gingerly patching my wound with it. Immediately, I felt my skin drawing itself together to stop the bleeding as the healing gel numbed the pain. It wasn't a permanent solution, but for the moment, it would have to do. As it was, I could only hope I was applying it properly – we didn't have such advanced medical materials on Macur. Just the roots, herbs, and chants of the shamans.

  Most of whom were dead now, thanks to Torqa.

  “They aren't,” I went on slowly. “The truth is, Dhimurs agreed to help me rescue you because he wants to bond with me. He wants me to be his mate.”

  Ekaid nodded. “I see. And this is what you wish as well, Judy?”

  “Oh, of course it's what she wishes,” Lidea said. “She's wished for it ever since he first brought her to us all those years ago. Why do you think she kept putting off the Macurian mating ritual? She never had any real interest in those tribal boys who were vying for her affections. She was waiting for Dhimurs to swoop back into her life and claim her.”

  I looked up from the regen pack, my eyebrows raised. “You… knew? All this time?”

  “Certainly. I’m your mother, aren't I?” Lidea laughed softly. “Not in blood, perhaps, but in all the ways that truly matter. I know what's in your heart. Just as I know that you're still not telling us the whole truth.”

  “What do you mean?” I asked.

  She couldn't possibly know. Could she?

  “That you've already bonded with Dhimurs,” Lidea confirmed, nodding.

  “How… How could you tell?” I stammered.

  “The look in your eyes, the way you hold yourself,” she answered. “Anyone can see that you've been through a great change. You have Valkredian blood flowing through your veins now.”

  “Are you angry with me?” I asked in a tiny voice, my eyes stinging with tears. “I know I was supposed to ask for your blessing first. I didn't mean to lie to you, or disrespect the traditions of our people. Neither did Dhimurs, for that matter. We just…”

  “Hush, daughter,” Ekaid said tenderly, putting a hand on my shoulder and looking at me with kind, sympathetic eyes. “You don't owe us any apologies or explanations. Dhimurs is a great warrior, a noble leader, and most of all, an honorable man. It's only natural that you would wish to be with him. Just as it's natural that you would choose to bond with him sooner rather than waiting, given the violence and uncertainty you two were facing together. No one can fault you for that. You're a grown woman. These decisions are yours to make.”

  “We couldn't possibly have wished for anyone better or more worthy to share your life,” Lidea agreed. “All we want in this universe is for you to be happy. Besides, you have honored our tribe and our world with your actions this day. Because of you, the Macurians may yet have a future.”

  “Thank you for understanding.” Tears of relief and gratitude spilled down my cheeks, and I hugged them gently, trying not to press on any of their injuries. “I love you both so much.”

  “And we love you, Judy,” Ekaid whispered. “We always will. Nothing you could say or do will ever change that.”

  “Good,” I sniffed. “Because now I have to leave you once more.”

  “What?” Ekaid balked. “Why?”

  “I have to join the battle. It's where I
belong.” I heard the echo of Dhimurs' words behind my own. His essence was within me, and it refused to be denied.

  “It most certainly is not!” Lidea insisted. “You're still injured. You've been through enough! Leave the fighting to the soldiers – you are a Macurian!”

  “No, mother. I am a warrior of Valkred. And I must see this through to the end.”

  I grabbed a pen-like extractor implement like the kind Torqa had used from a nearby rack and left the medical lab before they could stop me, running to the shuttle bay as fast as I could. The pain in my side started to return, but I pushed it away.

  I couldn't sit back and cower while Dhimurs and the others were putting their lives at risk.

  More than that – I was determined to make Torqa pay for what she had done. To my parents, to my tribesmen, and to me. She'd gotten away with too many horrors for too long, and it was time to put a stop to it once and for all.

  I put the extractor to my temples one at a time, trying to operate it the way Torqa had. It took a few tries, but the inhibitors finally came out, and I tossed them away, feeling small trickles of blood run down my face from where they'd been installed. I'd made a bit of a mess of it, but at least it worked.

  Then I hit the access button on the door panel, stepping into the shuttle bay.

  As I did, the comm system blipped, and I heard Dhimurs' stern voice: “Judy, what are you doing? Get back to the med lab!”

  “No.” My tone was steely. “I'm going out there, and I'm going to blast as many of Torqa's warships to space dust as I can.”

  “That's insane! You don't even know how to pilot a shuttle!”

  “But you do. And now that our inhibitors have been removed, you can put that knowledge directly into my brain.”

  “I won't let you endanger yourself like this!”

  “Either you can help me, or I can try to figure it out by myself,” I said. “But I'm not just going to stand by and let you do all my fighting for me. You trained me to be a warrior. Well, it's time for me to go to war.”