“Lady Kyra, I’m only doing this because you and Tordin are one, and I trust your instincts, especially where he is concerned. If anything were to happen to him, and I didn’t do something to help, I would not be able to live with that. Allow me one of your Earth hours to prepare transport and a group of our most trusted and fiercest warriors to accompany us.”
The flood of danger warnings that had threatened to drown her began to subside a little as it sank in that she was going to find Tordin.
“Thank you, Jalek. And if he is fine, and I’m giving into some sort of paranoia, I’ll make sure he understands it was my insistence and not your direct disobedience, but I can’t shake this. I know what I feel, and need to get to him as soon as possible. I’ll leave you to it, but in an hour— whether you’ve contacted me or not, I’m leaving—even if I have to parachute out of here,” she said, noting that there was no way to parachute out of a space craft. Right now reason didn’t matter; nor, evidently, did sensibility. She was on a mission and had to follow her instinct.
That instinct pushed her to find Tordin, and she knew it wouldn’t let her down.
True to his word, Jalek had transportation and a small troop of warriors ready to depart in under an hour. Kyra only vaguely listened to him rambling on with all the warnings and precautions of what she should and shouldn’t do once they landed.
Palon, ever the diligent operations manager, secured permission for them to land in the same area as Tordin’s delegation had earlier. If she weren’t so tense about what could be happening to Tordin, she might have laughed and made some type of joke about the protective suit they gave her to wear. She looked like a stale, crushed marshmallow. The suit was made for one of them, and she swam in it.
The walk to the smaller craft they would take to the surface sobered her, as she realized that she was about to do something she’d never done before—land on the surface of a another planet from space. Take that, space program! Her credentials would officially trump any person’s from Earth after she landed on Nenndi. And here she didn’t have to shrink down to a certain weight class to do it.
Kyra determined to blank out the ride to the surface as soon as the intimidating hum from the transport’s engine roared to life. The engine sound rattled her teeth. They called this contraption a Jump, and that’s exactly what she wanted to do—jump when she heard the thing come to life. She was thankful take-off had been uneventful and even quiet as they left the cavity of the mother ship to emerge into the inky blackness of space.
The ride to the surface would be terrifying if she allowed herself to pay attention to the streaks of what looked like fire outside the windows of the Jump as they descended into Nenndi’s atmosphere. Instead of watching how close she was to burning up in fiery blaze, she focused on the task ahead.
Kyra sat next to Jalek in her way-too-large space suit, trying with all her might to hold onto the courage to not fail Tordin if he was in danger. The closer they got to the surface, the more anxious she was to find him, and she wanted to get there as fast as possible. She might have screamed at the two warriors piloting the craft to hurry up, but that would be rude, and this was not about pissing them off. She sat in silence and attempted to meditate to find some kind of center and balance.
That was the thing. Tordin was her balance, anchored to her center. He grounded her and made everything seem better. As she attempted to sink down into primal nothingness through meditation, hoping to gain peace and courage, his piercing eyes met hers in the darkness. His presence in her deepest thoughts reminded her of how much she loved him. Kyra decided to hold onto that vision. It would guide her to him, even if something had indeed happened.
Before she realized it, they were landing.
They landed on a rocky platform, peppered with brilliant crystals, in the lush, jungle-like expanse. As soon as everyone had disembarked from the four large transports, a set of beings closer to her own height met their party. They looked almost human except for their odd coloring of yellow and orange hues. Since she had no clue what their tongue was, one of the council members who traveled with her team had been appointed to speak with them.
The council member had kind eyes of the purest amber and spoke fluent English. She’d never met him, but Jalek promised her he was especially fond of Tordin and traveled on all his expeditions. He hadn’t gone to the surface with Tordin earlier only because he’d been unable to reschedule a meeting with the IGA. She also noticed a hint of regret in his eyes for not going with Tordin, and she immediately softened to him.
She watched and listened with unwavering attention as he spoke a hard, guttural tongue with the five beings. After what she thought was too long to remain reasonably calm on her part, he turned to her and Jalek and motioned them to step away from the others for a private conference.
Before he could speak, Jalek spoke up. “Counselor Rilic—what did they say? From the looks of it, they don’t seem to know where Tordin and the others are.”
Counselor Rilic answered, looking grim. “Yes, you guessed correctly. They say after Tordin and the others met with them, they set off with a few of their guides to find Cordin. No one has heard from them since.”
Heartache made her stagger with pain. Tordin was missing.
Jalek grabbed her before she could hit the hard rock they stood on. With an authoritative voice she didn’t know he possessed, he spoke in English to the large group of warriors.
“Warriors, Lord Tordin and his team have not been heard from since departing from here. Lady Kyra is to be protected with our lives. Prepare yourselves to move out once we get a scan for any residue of life signatures. It is my understanding that the day cycle of this planet is shorter than ours. By the looks of it, we do not have much more daylight remaining. Keep your teams tight, forming no more than twelve to each unit. We have to move quickly to make up time. Does anyone have any questions, suggestions or comments?” he asked.
After a few of the others, who Kyra assumed were some type of generals by their appearance, had spoken and asked questions, they gathered scans and started out.
As for surface transportation, they’d brought what looked like a souped-up version of hover bikes. She watched in awe at their engineering as Jalek and the others unfolded them from fairly small cubes and then proceeded to pack the collapsed cubes in the kits each carried with them. The bikes were stylish. At first glance they looked like a gearhead’s dream—all slick, aerodynamic and fast, resembling a crotch-rocket back on Earth. In reality, the thing was a tool of torture to her hind parts.
The seat was not designed for comfort, certainly not for a woman with plenty of backside. It reminded her of a spinning bike seat gone wrong. The hard surface was unforgiving, making it feel like it was constructed purely for revenge. Her backside spilled over the sides of the seat a little here and there. Add this to a hulk of man sharing that stingy seat, and it made for misery. She wasn’t happy that she had to ride with Jalek, but she’d have to deal with it. They didn’t have time to teach her how to drive one of the bikes, and the gears were more complicated than a personal hovercraft on Earth, so she kept her mouth shut and decided not to be a back-seat driver.
She still wore the space suit’s undergarments to protect her from the harsh rays of the planet’s faintly radioactive twin suns. This extra layer of clothing and a healthy slathering of a goop to protect her from the sun did her no other favors during the ride. Although she was miserable in the get-up, riding on the back of the bike from a thousand hells, she didn’t mind that she was getting closer to Tordin. She’d be gracious and behave like the lady they all called her. She rode behind Jalek and smiled like a beauty queen.
She began to hate the solar-powered hover bikes less as they continued. They covered the open field of crystal that she’d seen from the Jump. There were no roads, interstates or paths like those on earth, so they travelled fast, several bikes abreast. The bikes skimmed over the surface a few feet above the ground. This was great, considering the ground
was littered with sharp, angular spikes of crystal and gems. Walking though it would have resembled playing hopscotch, dodging crystal bushes and patches to get through the maze. These bikes provided them agility and ate up a lot of distance in their pursuit of the missing party.
As they approached the path the previous party had taken, Kyra’s stomach lurched. Thankful for her new vo-link, she used it to communicate with Jalek without having to scream. Looked like she would indulge in a little back-seat driving after all.
“Jalek, we need to veer that way,” she said, pointing from behind him so he could steer toward what she assumed would be the eastern region based on the planet’s twin suns. “I’m being pulled that way. I don’t know what else to tell you. I guess we’ll have to keep going until I get another signal.”
“Lady Kyra, I trust you. Your word is my command. Hold while I communicate to the others why we are going this way.”
“Sure, just don’t make me sound like I’m a loon, I mean crazy, for following my gut,” she said, thinking he may not know what a loon was.
“I would never do such a thing. You are our only hope of finding Lord Tordin as fast as possible. I owe you my apology, respect and allegiance for standing your ground on coming to find him.”
After they rode for a while, she led them to a high ridge of rock formations, where they stopped to go farther in on foot. They would have to hike and climb the rest of the way. Hiking and climbing—she could do this. She’d been using the hiking and rock climbing simulator in the training room for the last week or so and said a silent prayer of thanks for what must have been the Goddess’ prompting and preparation to take up the pursuit.
Kyra was able to scale the short rock face, scrambling up to the opening to which she was being pulled. She hadn’t realized how much upper body strength she’d recently developed, and she remembered she had gaiata to thank, as well. Taking a huge step toward the next platform of rock, her pants rode down a bit.
She straightened her clothing that threatened to show more of her backside as she came to stand on the flat plane, not that any of them noticed. They were too busy climbing, carrying gear to equal her weight. Her victory didn’t feel so great once she realized she’d only had to heft herself up to this point. Kyra and the others of the first group waited while the other members of the large party scaled the ridge. This gave her time to catch her breath and get the indication of where to go next. Soon they found a secluded pathway peppered with low, green bushes on either side of it.
A few of the scouts in the party went ahead to check out the terrain and reported back that they believed they’d seen some Skleen.
Those ugly things were here, too?
As they soldiered on, she knew she was headed in the right direction when her body doubled over with the force of a pull to change direction; they bore left through a narrow passage of rocks. Waiting, Jalek motioned for only the most experienced warrior scouts to proceed. The rest of them fell back and waited for the scouts to return.
The next sounds Kyra heard were scuffles and a light skirmish of grunts and fists hitting what she hoped was enemy flesh.
One of the scouts returned to report that he and the five other scouts encountered twenty Skleen in what those hideous creatures had planned to be an ambush. None of the warriors was hurt. He’d also gathered information from two of the Skleen that Lord Tordin and the others were up the path ahead, being held by none other than Lord Cordin with about a hundred additional Skleen.
The scout said, “The Skleen told us it was Lord Cordin’s plan to lure Lady Kyra away from the ship. The plan was twofold—to capture her for Lord Cordin and to create a diversion with the ambush while they attempted to kidnap her. They’d never interacted with the Terrain species before, so they had no idea if she’d be intelligent enough to see through their ruse.”
Kyra felt both offended and proud at the same time, hearing that last part. She was nobody’s dummy and prided herself on having a healthy dose of paranoia. She didn’t trust many. The scout continued to relay the information, saying that the Skleen bragged about how the landing party had done them a favor by bringing Lady Kyra to them and that they would be slaughtered if they tried to approach the camp.
Jalek spoke up, “Why are they so sure about that? They’ve never been able to best any of our warriors in direct combat. I don’t understand why they would be willing to tell you so much before their death.”
The scout said, “The one I, um, questioned believed in the power of a mysterious figure traveling with Cordin, who seems able to wield unimaginable power. The Skleen said that was how they were able to overtake Lord Tordin and his group. The Skleen also said this mysterious being shut down Tordin’s group devices and sent some type of unknown electrical pulse through the air that rendered them temporarily paralyzed. The bottom feeder had the nerve to laugh, saying his dying wish would have been to watch us suffer a fate worse than death—to be alive but unable to control our own faculties.”
Kyra shuddered at his words. She didn’t want to think about how much Tordin might be suffering at the moment. She spoke up to address the warrior scout, “Did that thing say for certain it was Cordin who was behind this, or was he attempting to deceive you?”
“No, Lady Kyra, we saw the truth in him.” When she looked a little skeptical, he continued, “The Skleen are what you’d call scum and bottom feeders. They feel no dishonor skimming energy from your life force and killing when it is easy, but they are spineless. When captured, if you do certain things to them,” she noticed how he spared her the details of his torture techniques, “their life force cavity—in the middle, where our stomachs are located—will begin to glow blue when they speak truth. This happened as we asked him all these things, and we corroborated it with the other one before their demise.”
“I see,” she said and tried not to vomit from the thought of having to pass by twenty Skleen bodies to get to Tordin. “I need to get this straight before we proceed. Is it your report that Tordin’s brother is behind this, and that he is keeping Tordin prisoner up ahead?”
“Yes, my Lady.”
“And am I to understand that he wants to capture me, as well? And, oh yeah, he has some type of magical wizard with him who can paralyze us with a mental death ray?”
The scout looked to Jalek before answering. When Jalek offered no additional input, the scout affirmed her summary of his report. “Yes, my Lady. That is correct.”
“Okay then. I just wanted to make sure I had all the points so I can make a comprehensive plan. I’m going to make Cordin rue the day he decided he could harm my mate.” She pointed to both the scout and Jalek. “I need both of you, Counselor Rilic, and five of the best engineering warriors we have with us. Once I have a plan, we will assemble here and work on implementing it. And oh, is there anyone among us who is familiar with the atmosphere and flora of this planet?”
“That would be me,” Counselor Rilic said and came to stand next to her.
“Good, I need you to help me figure out what natural resources we can tap to ring this magician’s bell. He, she or whatever it is, is going down. They’ve all managed to really piss me off now,” Kyra said and strode off toward an overhang of branches on a nearby small tree. When she saw none of them had joined her, she yelled back, “Well, what are you waiting for? Get over here!”
After a twenty-minute pow-wow with her assembled team, they had a plan of ambush to deal with the mysterious being in Cordin’s camp. They’d wait until nightfall to attack.
Kyra didn’t dare think of all the things that could and probably would go wrong with their hastily thrown together plan. She had to believe that the Goddess was with her, helping and guiding her to Tordin.
The twin suns were lower in the sky, and it was time to move out.
“My Lady Kyra,” Jalek called to her.
“Yes, Jalek, what’s the matter?”
“Nothing, except I think it would be best if you cover your head with your flight suit cap. I thi
nk it would be better if they have to get near to confirm your identity. We can protect you if they get close, but if they can spot you from far off and plan some sort of aerial attack to capture you, we can’t resist that as well.”
“I see. It would be easy to spot me from afar with my hair out. Thank you for thinking of that. I’m doing it now,” she said and pulled the knit-like material over her thick curls.
They proceeded up the trail, taking every precaution they could imagine. Kyra continued to keep the swift pace the large warriors set, noting something powerful fueling her from within.
Pick the agate and aegerine crystals. Place them close to your body. Gather as many as you can carry and still continue unaided.
“What? Jalek, why are you telling me to pick up crystals?”
“Pardon me, my Lady? I’ve not said anything to you in a while.” Kyra was about to ask if he meant the instructions for another and had gotten the vo-link confused when he offered, “Did the voice sound like mine does now?”
She paused to think, and no, it sounded more like her own when she had a thought but way stronger.
“No, actually the voice sounded more like my own.”
“Then my Lady you are truly blessed. It must be the Goddess giving you direct guidance. Do what it says. It could not hurt, and we need all the advantage we can get.”
Kyra pondered his words. This was getting deep into a realm she wasn’t comfortable with. Hearing voices could be a sign of a psychotic break. What if she was losing it out here on an alien planet and leading sixty-plus warriors to their death in response to her crazy voices? As soon as the thought formed, a stronger feeling of certainty and rightness washed over her. She had to believe in what she felt and heard. Tordin’s life could depend on it.
She was grateful that she knew what those crystals looked like but had no clue why she should wear them close to her body. Now wasn’t the time to argue with herself as she trotted over to a patch of crystal and wrestled with the two types within the beautiful, multi-colored collage. She tugged, pulled and tried to snap off pieces of the two crystals without success. Seeing her struggle, Jalek and Counselor Rilic came over and assisted her, easily snapping off the ones she instructed them to.
Rescued By Tordin: Olodian Alien Warrior Romance Page 17