by A. G. Wilde
“It appears the coordinates are not working, sire,” Xul answered.
“Then make them work lest we go off course,” the High Tasqal ordered.
The exchange caused Athena to pull her eyes away from the window.
Yes, the High Tasqal was right. They were no longer heading straight toward what she assumed was the High Tasqal’s ship. Instead, they were heading off at an angle into deeper space.
The starship began to shake and Athena gripped onto the seatbelt.
This wasn’t good.
“It also appears the engine is failing,” Xul said, his voice lacking much emotion.
As the ship began to shudder, a series of beeps and warning lights began flashing. Athena gripped on to the seat tighter. What exactly happened when a ship fell out of space?
“Ulruq, of the Tasqal Legion,” Xul suddenly said and the High Tasqal visibly stiffened.
“You dare call me by my name?!”
Xul ignored the Tasqal and continued. “Your race will pay for its crimes.”
Reaching behind his neck and under his hair, Xul pulled forth something that glistened in the light.
It was a dagger with a long curved blade.
In one swift movement neither she nor the High Tasqal expected, Xul placed the dagger at the High Tasqal’s throat.
The High Tasqal’s eyes seemed to widen before its gaze settled as if it was thinking about its next move.
But Xul didn’t give it time to think.
“This,” he said, “is for Xan.”
The blade went deep and the High Tasqal only had a moment to try to lurch toward Xul before its eyes suddenly went still and it fell back in its seat.
Athena stifled a scream.
Just what the actual hell?!
But when it wasn’t one thing, it seemed to be something else.
Another jerk of the ship caused Xul to hold on to the wheel to try and steer the thing but now they were falling hard and they were falling fast.
In front of them, she could see what looked like a brown planet coming into view quickly.
Too quickly.
They were going to crash and there was nothing that was going to stop that.
8
Xul’s eyes shot open. His vision was slightly blurred, but they’d made it.
After the danger of entering the atmosphere, he’d tried his best to land the ship as delicately as he could.
It had crashed nose-first into the ground below.
Ah well. He’d tried.
Glancing at the body of Ulruq, the High Tasqal, Xul snarled. The Tasqal looked even uglier in death than it did in life. Their souls were the dirtiest of all.
Its thick blood was running down its robe. Knowing the Tasqal’s nature, he’d made sure to slice the thing’s neck so the blood wouldn’t squirt forward and cover him.
Heaving himself from his seat, he was happy to see that he had no injuries. The front of the ship was mangled though, but it seemed it had borne the brunt of the damage.
Judging from the narrow stream of light entering from overhead. It also seemed as if the ship had been almost split in two.
A kick to the door didn’t produce an exit. It seemed the Isclit’s had wired everything to a central system and because that central system was out, the doors were sealed shut.
It was nonsensical technology.
What was one to do then in situations like this?
Glancing at his sokja, he eyed the hole again. He could use it to make the narrow hole bigger to provide a way to leave the ship.
Yes, that was what he would have to do.
Positioning himself in the small space between the front and back seats, his eyes moved over the female. She’d told him her name once, but he didn’t recall it. He had taken to think of her as the golden-haired human instead.
She had struck him as different from the first time he’d walked into the holding cell. Something about her defiance in the face of odds that were obviously against her had been entertaining.
He had never seen another being so oblivious to their lack of power. Even teens from his home planet had more strength than humans—both human males and females.
It made him wonder what their young was like. If it was any indication, the thing was born weak and strongly dependent.
She’d taken the time to cover herself with material that would only last for a few days. Xul huffed out some air through his nose. It was ingenious, he had to admit. But the material was not going to stand up to the trek that they had ahead of them.
She would realize that soon enough.
That is, if she decided to come with him.
If it was his choice, she would still be on the ship, not here compromising his mission.
He could already tell that she was going to slow him down.
Peering at her more closely, his gaze ran down her body.
Apart from her golden hair, her face was bland with no distinct markings. Where he was from, the women had horns just like the males, though smaller. But it seemed that humans had no such thing. Despite that, he had to admit that her face was…delicate. Soft, like the petals of a flower, almost.
From what he’d seen also, she had no tail. Peculiar.
Apart from those things, she was very similar to the women of his people and he imagined that Earth was a bit like his planet for such a species to develop there.
She looked so…delicate.
Xul closed his eyes and shook his head.
He had not fostered such thoughts about a woman in a long time. Preventing the rise of the Tasqals had been his sole focus for years.
She was lying limply and a deep gash was in her forehead, probably from a piece of flying shrapnel.
He hadn’t meant to scare her but the situation could not have been prevented. Even now, her screams rang in his ears.
It was unfortunate that she was caught in such a predicament. It was just a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. After all, he had not anticipated her presence.
Moving closer, he peered at her. He could tell that she was breathing but her lungs were obviously small, judging from her body size.
That meant the journey was going to be extra hard for both of them. Hard on her because her body was going to be put to the ultimate test, and hard on him because he was sure she had no idea what was in store for her.
A glance outside the ship told him a sandstorm was brewing.
That meant they needed to get moving and fast.
The Isclits would send a probe to search for any survivors but he knew they wouldn’t venture into the desert.
It was far too dangerous.
Glancing back that the female, a frown creased his brow.
He needed to focus on his mission and she was already proving to be a distraction.
An unexpected, fiery, golden-haired one.
9
Everything hurt. Everything.
Athena groaned as she managed to open her eyes a little.
Flashing images of the last few minutes came back to her mind.
Hurtling through space. Entering the planet’s atmosphere.
Feeling as if she was going to burn up as they fell from the sky, her own screams in her ears.
The next thing was the pain in her head.
Now, as her eyes fluttered open and her vision focused, the face peering down at her made her jump backward, causing a sharp pain to shoot up through her neck.
Xul was frowning down at her and he was close, way too close. Despite the pain in her head and neck, her senses still picked up his earthy smell.
“What are you doing?” Athena squeezed her eyes shut for a second. Her head was really throbbing. This whole thing reminded her of when she’d just woken up in that cell to see him and had thought he was the devil.
She would never get used to his horns and it made her wonder what else was different about him.
Xul frowned, his large hand coming toward her.
Despite the pain, Athena
scrambled back but the seat belt she’d so dutifully fastened around herself was now holding her put. It might have saved her life a few seconds ago—God knows she wouldn’t have wanted to hurtle through the front of the ship as it fell through the sky—but now it was holding her hostage.
Shit. He’d just murdered someone—no, something—in cold blood right in front of her eyes. She couldn’t imagine what he was planning on doing to her.
He must have seen the fear in her eyes because his hand paused just over her head.
“I will not harm you,” he said.
Athena gulped, the fear still making her heart beat hard.
A glance behind him made her eyes widen even more.
It was utter carnage. The front of the ship was crushed in like when you take a can of empty Coke and crumple it.
Above her, the top of the ship was split open.
A few more glances told her they were in a vast expanse of what looked like sand. Sand as far as her eyes could see and, in the distance, were what looked like two suns.
If she didn’t know any better, she’d have thought they’d landed on the planet Tatooine from Star Wars.
As long as the Hutt gangsters weren’t around…she had enough problems on her hands.
Although, funny enough, the High Tasqal could give Jabba the Hutt a run for his money.
But the High Tasqal was dead and she wasn’t sure if she would live either. Not with a murderer right in front of her.
“Oh my God,” Athena breathed, her gaze wandering to the seat in front where the body of the High Tasqal lay limply.
“You call on spirits but they will not hear you. Not here,” Xul said as he turned and grabbed his spear. “This is a land of nothing. Not even the spirits dwell here.”
Athena scuttled back some more, her eyes on his spear.
There was a myriad of thoughts in her head and none of them were good.
In one deft movement, Xul lodged his spear in the roof of the ship and began slicing open the gap further.
That only made her feel faint. Was he really that strong or had they been flying in essentially a toy ship? If it was the latter, she was lucky they hadn’t burned up when they’d entered the atmosphere.
“My sokja is made from a rare metal from my home planet,” Xul said, answering the question in her eyes. “It can cut through the Isclit’s substandard architecture.”
Athena nodded. Uh-huh. As long as he kept it pointing away from her then, that would be fine.
Glancing back at the High Tasqal, she watched Xul warily as she unbuckled the seat belt. Her head was still throbbing but she would just have to bear the pain.
As she moved slowly towards the door of the ship, she kept her eyes on the large alien busy working on opening the ship’s roof.
“The doors no longer open,” he said, glancing down at her, slight amusement on his face again.
“What made you think I was heading toward the door?”
Xul didn’t answer but, instead, went back to making the gap in the roof bigger.
“Your species is strange,” he said.
“My species is human,” Athena frowned. “And, for the second time, I am not strange. What’s strange is being taken from your lovely monotonous life to be thrown into some sci-fi fantasy that isn’t really a fantasy because all I’ve been experiencing so far is terror.”
She didn’t know why she was talking to him.
Why was she talking to him?
Xul glanced down at her again before continuing what he was doing.
Before long, he’d made a large gap in the roof.
“Come,” he said.
Athena looked up at him, unmoving. He didn’t expect her to just dash into his arms, did he?
A look of slight frustration crossed over his features.
“You can stay stuck inside the ship with the High Tasqal then. It will start rotting as soon as the double suns rise fully. Its body is not made for survival in this atmosphere.”
Athena screwed up her nose.
So it was either stay with an alien or leave with an alien.
So many choices.
Begrudgingly sitting more upright, Athena squeezed her eyes closed as a fresh wave of pain shot through her head.
She guessed she’d have to do the logical thing and exit the spaceship into the Sahara Desert’s cousin and pray things didn’t get worse.
The strong arms that surrounded her were enough to make her eyes fly open.
He was gripping her against him and she was very aware that all she was wearing was the soft, billowy wool-like material.
It took her by surprise but his skin felt a lot softer than it looked. It felt like suede moving over rock and Athena felt her cheeks growing warm.
When was the last time she’d actually had some? Apparently way too long ago for her to be reacting like this.
He was an alien.
Her hormones apparently didn’t mind that fact. It seemed as if her body was quite happy just having any male touch her, alien or not.
Well, maybe that was not entirely true. She had been grossed out by every other alien so far…
Just not so much by him.
Nevertheless, a mild wave of panic hit her as he raised her towards the hole he’d made in the roof. But the fact the hole was open and she wasn’t starved of oxygen was enough proof she could breathe in the atmosphere.
How lucky. The thought that she could have died upon entry if that had gone the other way around made her shudder.
“Your thin human skin is cold in this weather?” Xul frowned as he pushed her head through the opening and hoisted her upper body through the hole.
“I am not cold. Thank you very much.”
Xul grunted.
Enough of her body was now through for her to grab onto the roof and help the rest of herself up. The little exertion made her breathless and Athena fell back to stare at the dull orange sky.
Ok, the first thing she needed to do when she returned to Earth was to start working out again.
If she made it back to Earth.
Looking around at the vast expanse of sand, there was nothing in view to tell her she’d be leaving this place very soon.
Something fell by her side and she realized he’d thrown up some sort of satchel. A frown furrowed her brow.
She hadn’t seen him with that when they’d left.
Next, his hands gripped the sides of the hole and his horns appeared through the space as he hoisted himself up. Grunting at her as he pulled the rest of the body through, he reached down the grab his sokja—there was no way she was going to remember to call it that. ‘Spear’ would have to do.
He seemed to be paying her little attention as he fastened the satchel over his shoulders, grabbed his spear, and hopped off the top of the ship to land gracefully in the sand beneath him.
Pushing her head over the side of the ship, Athena eyed the distance. There was no way she was going to make it down without hurting herself and she was already in pain.
As if he understood that, Xul turned and looked up at her, his green eyes burning into hers.
“Are you coming or not?” He asked, causing Athena to frown.
“You don’t really expect me to just jump into your arms after I just watched you kill a man, erm, thing, do you?”
“High Tasqals don’t deserve the gift of life. Their crimes are too many.” Xul blinked, as if his explanation was enough and he was waiting for her to jump. After a few moments, he raised an eyebrow at her. Having seen him up close now, she wondered how he even managed to do that seeing that his horns seemed to grow out of the same bone as his forehead.
“Suit yourself,” he said and turned to leave.
“Wait!” Athena bit her bottom lip, weighing her options as she watched him pause, his back turned to her.
She could either take her chances with him or she could take her chances by herself.
“I’ll come with you,” she said, watching him cock his head to the side as he
turned to look at her, slight amusement once again on his face.
He was playing with her. He knew she wouldn’t let him leave without her.
Narrowing her eyes at him, Athena slipped her legs over the side of the ship, trying to judge the height. It wasn’t a far drop. She could probably make it without his help. But she didn’t have time to contemplate it further as Xul took a step forward, grasped her around the waist, and lifted her off the ship.
When he put her down, Athena could feel the warmth in her cheeks again. The last time she’d been manhandled like that was a long time ago. Her hormones loved it. The only problem was they shouldn’t be acting up in a situation like this and they should realize that she hadn’t been manhandled—she’d been bull-handled…devil-handled?
A loud rip caught her attention and she watched as he tore a piece of the corner of his loincloth to create one long strip.
“Your skull is bleeding,” he said as he eyed her.
Raising a hand to the spot that ached, she realized he was right.
Wow, she must be really out of it to not have realized that before. No wonder her head was throbbing so much. It didn’t explain the neck pain though. She just assumed that it was a case of whiplash…very bad whiplash.
Before she could protest, Xul wrapped the cloth around her head, covering the wound tightly.
Athena opened her mouth to mention that using a piece of cloth that spent its time hanging near his dick wasn’t probably the most hygienic of things to use but the thought of mentioning that specific body part only made her cheeks grow warm again.
Did his dick look like a human’s?
He looked similar enough to a human male for it to be possible.
Xul made a sound, almost like he was clearing his throat and Athena was sure her cheeks grew redder.
She’d been staring. Staring at his…area…and he’d caught her doing it.
She wasn’t going to look up at him because she was sure what she would see on his face—that arrogant, slightly amused look.
Slipping something from his satchel, some kind of round gadget with several dials, Xul took a few seconds looking at it before turning to his left.
“This way,” he said, then began moving.