Mortok

by C. R Corbin

  "Mortok..." I said with a horrified expression, he only glanced at me and nodded before taking me into his arms. I crumpled in his embrace and shook.

  "It's going to be fine...it's going to be alright." he stated while hugging me.

  "What if something happens? I need to be back there. I need to get there! Oh god, oh god..." I groaned and he stroked my back.

  "We'll get through this. Together. We'll do this together alright? Don't worry. We have the military here, nothing bad is going to happen to you and I will make sure your family is safe no matter what ...it's possible that the moons just forgot to send a signal or that our communication systems just went haywire. The possibility that the moons are under attack is low..." he tried to reassure me but I wasn't having it.

  "I have to make sure. I have to make sure..." I mumbled into his arms and he stroked my back lovingly.

  "Otono will be back soon with the results. Don't you worry about it." he soothingly whispers.

  #

  Julie

  That night we find ourselves in that same room, sitting on a table with our meals laid out in front of us. They were hardly the same quality that we had received in the castle but I wasn't complaining and neither did he. We were lucky to have gotten out of that entire mess with our lives, let alone with some sort of a nice meal.

  And it turned out that there was an attack.

  A sizeable amount of forces from one of Mortok's many siblings, Kerod, have nestled their way onto the moons and were currently in the process of an invasion. After Mortok and Otono both questioned the surviving members of the insurgency the clues slowly painted the picture of a foreign power attempting to invade with the help of an insurrection in order to destabilize the current ruler.

  Of course due to the military here the insurrection never quite took its place and was quickly snuffed out. That's why they went with their plan B which was an attempted assassination during the mating ceremonies.

  And now we laid here on the eve of battle...before reinforcements would be sent from our planet to the moons.

  "We'll be here then?... I wish I could go." I said and he shook his head. It was clear from the look in his eyes that he didn't want me in the line of fire and this was a clear scenario in which I would be subject to such dangers.

  "Our forces will handle it. Don't worry. I won't have you fight if I can help it..." he tenderly assured me while stroking my back and I frowned.

  "And what of you? You're not going out on some ship and fighting them are you?" I asked and he chuckled.

  "Oh, no those days are over. My time in the military has past and there's no more adventure to be had whether I like it or not. No I'll be home with you the entire time." he stated and I nodded, uttering a "Good." under my breath.

  "So this brother of yours...Do you know him? What kind of grievance does he have with you?" I asked and he squinted as if to attempt to perceive whatever minute memory was running its way through his mind at the moment.

  "Vaguely ...he likely wants control of Geran because of its value as both a scenic world and because it has three moons. I do recall that he was a critic of some of my more lax policies, however, saying that I wasn't a real prince due to them." he muttered and I laughed with my cheek against that muscular chest of his.

  "What a joke. Not a real prince? Your people love you so much that even his attempts at an insurrection failed. How could he hope to match you in that regard?" I asked and he stayed silent.

  His head rested against the cobblestone wall and his body shifted against the mattress beneath us. I find my hands latching onto his as our nude forms are bundled together underneath this expanse of white cloth. He was keeping silent for longer than I would have liked,

  "You think that this is somehow your fault?" I asked. He didn't respond and I quickly grabbed the side of his face to guide him towards me

  "If I had been stronger? Perhaps if I had been stricter none of this would have happened. The ease at which I have treated my people may have caused them to lose res-" he began but I cut him off with a kiss to his lips.

  "This is not your fault ...This is the result of a foolish brother attempting to take what you have. What you have is far more special than any other prince in this damn galaxy Even a prince that has 100 planets isn't as special as you because...the respect that you command amongst your people is like nothing I have ever seen before." I stated and he guided my hand away.

  "You really believe that I am worthy of this post? All my life I have doubted myself because I had been told that I wasn't the exact image of a prince. And yet my people and you...it's all so important to me that I cannot bear to follow in the footsteps of men that I know would have mistreated you." he states.

  "Then don't...You don't have to be anyone else other than yourself. You are the perfect prince and you will command more respect than any of those men ever will." I said with a sea of sincerity lurking behind my eyes. That seemed to placate him for but a moment.

  "I grew up without so much as a clue as to who I was or who I would be. All I had was this vague idea of a prince, that was all I had to base myself on so naturally, I ended up gravitating towards it ...And yet here with you I can finally be who I am truly." he states and I smiled in appreciation while stroking the side of his face.

  "I'm glad...I'm glad, my prince, that you're finally at peace." I said and he bites his lip.

  "All we have to do now is...to end this. Then we can have our time, we can have one another for all of time."

  CHAPTER NINE

  Julie

  The next day was basically spent in recovery. He wasn't well enough to really run around everywhere and I was still slightly weak from my recuperation. I was sure that the passionate session that we had with one another didn't do much to help us either. In the following days we both healed enough to begin helping around and soon we were back to being completely healthy.

  I was it in the kitchen of the family that had been so kind as to host us. We were sleeping in their bedroom since they had insisted that we relax. To them I suppose it was an honor to have treated their prince in such a manner, to have granted him such a place. Today we were going to be moving to somewhere a bit more hidden and safe, another home that he had on the outskirts of town that were rather far from the hustle and bustle of the castle and the city.

  "Is everything to your liking miss Julie?" the matriarch asked me and I nodded in affirmation.

  "Oh yes, yes, everything is just fine don't you worry." I stated. She glanced at me in a concerned manner with those brown eyes of hers while her tan skin was drenched in the light of the bulbs above us. I was sitting at this stone table with wooden chairs, everything in this damn planet was made of stone, wasn't it? I didn't mind, made me feel like I was living in a castle, especially when compared to the clay hut that I had been staying at before.

  I spoon my breakfast up, it was this gruel that they had which was made from the various grain plants that were found on the mountains that were ultimately one of the first substances cultivated by the Morels. In it were bits and pieces of fruits and hard rock candy that was apparently frozen plant sap. It was absolutely delicious. They had offered to give me something else, a more luxurious meal I would imagine but I declined. I didn't want to stress the poor woman any more than I did.

  "So...How is it?" she asked me with a tentative smile dashing across her face.

  "It's wonderful. Thank you so much, Deena." I said and she grinned while leaning against the stone wall. She reached into the fridge trunk that was next to her feet and pulled out a piece of fruit that I didn't entirely recognize before taking a bite. I look at her thoughtfully and she seemed to fret as if she was concerned that she had done something wrong.

  "No, no. You're fine *laughs*, it's just that I never really spent any extended amount of time in anybody else's home is all." I nervously chuckled while glancing down at the meal. I take another spoonful before looking up at her, the warm mushy
substance bounces off of my tongue with varying degrees of sweetness. I bite my teeth down on the lumpy bits of texture that were there and the flavors explodes out of the fruit to run their way across my teeth.

  It immediately occurs to me that I have never really had a conversation with anyone that was living under the prince. Sure I had talked with his servants and his advisors but they weren't really indicative of his performance as a leader and the public opinion of him as much as the average citizen was. So I decided to seize the opportunity and ask.

  "How is the prince? Living under him I mean." I state and Deena glances upwards with a smile but before she is about to speak I get the urge to reassure her of one thing.

  "Don't feel the need to lie to me. I want to hear the truth alright?"

  She seemingly hesitates for a bit before nodding and taking a seat across from me with the fruit. Her claws dashed along the stone and she sighed before the words began to fall from her tongue

  "Well, the prince is ...He's a good man. He has done a lot of good for this planet. It is because of him that we have such happy and content lives. You should see the rulers on other worlds. They have castles that tower in the clouds themselves and he has this, only this mountain. His wealth is not hoarded but shared, everything he has done and will do has been for the people of this planet and its moons and...he's a hero. Each time disaster has struck he was always the first one with his hands on deck, helping others get back on their feet with no concern towards his status. A true man. A good man." she reverently said while I stared at her with wide eyes. I knew he had been loved but to this degree....It was no wonder that he had been saved so quickly.

  "Would you be content living under anyone else?" I asked and she shakes her head vigorously, as if the very question itself was alien.

  "Never, not in a million years." she said and I smiled in response, glancing down at my feet while we sat at the table in silence.

  "That poses the question...Where is he right now? I didn't see him in bed this morning?" I asked.

  #

  Mortok

  "Prince Mortok you should be in bed." Yzadel tries to coddle me off of the little box that I was standing on while I loaded some baggage up to the shelf but I shook my head.

  "Nonsense. My people need me at this time and I won't abandon them. Not because of some silly headache." I stated and she growled.

  "It's not a headache you stubborn ...Fine. Fine. Just don't strain yourself." she gives up after a long period of arguing and I can only smugly smile in satisfaction as I carried another box full of supplies towards the center of town. There were various servants from the castle that were now staying in the homes down here. Most of them were granted rooms inside of the grand hall in the middle of the town while the machines were assembled to load the stones off of the castle in order to allow teams to come back inside and survey the damage. So here I was, lugging bags and boxes full of food amongst other supplies towards the central hall when they cheered me on.

  It felt like I was a village hero more than a prince but I wasn't entirely opposed to that.

  "Prince! Let me help you prince Mortok!" said the children as they gathered around my legs and I shook my head with a gentle smile. They all kept their eyes on me in awe before a great deal of them ran towards the pile of boxes I was lugging things from and tried to lug some towards me as well, it took about 10 of them to even lift one of the boxes a bit off of the ground before they gave up and laughed at one another.

  "Feeling stronger?" the man whose house I was staying in, Lorip, asked me and I nodded.

  "I am. I'm going to have to be given how things are going at the moment I'm afraid. Not much of a choice." I said while setting the box down in the center of the stone hut. There were a couple families gathered about the place, their bodies wrapped in blankets and furs. The rest had been given a room in the homes but those that were unlucky enough to miss out on one stayed here in the central hall.

  "Why don't I move in here?" I asked myself, it was a thought that I hadn't meant to be uttered out loud but it had been.

  "No prince Mortok! I swear that you aren't a burden...." said Lorip and I sighed before another voice echoed off of the stones and I looked to my left.

  "You are too humble for your own good sometimes my lord." said Otono as he approached. He was carrying a holographic tablet and seemed to have been spending the last couple of days placing various calls.

  "Otono...How fares the expedition to the moon? What word have we received?" I asked him and he sighed.

  "Kerod's forces are at a standstill and contained at most of the moons. I have checked on the status of Islani and it seems that they have left Yorui untouched at the moment. We are currently in the process of launching a counterattack after we scrambled to our defenses in the past few days and reinforcements from Geran are on their way. Overall the battles seemed to be faring well although I am concerned about their possible effect on imports from the moons. Not that our supplies here are dwindling by any means." he reassured me and I shut my eyes before letting out a sigh of relief. At least that meant that Julie's family wasn't in any immediate danger.

  "Is there any word of any other cells on this planet at least? I know that we've scrambled all the ones that we had written down but have the interrogations returned any fruit?" I asked and Otono nodded.

  "Not at the moment, there aren't. We have seemingly taken out every cell that there is. All that's left to do is finish the battles on the moons and get things back into shape. After all of that we can focus on getting payback against Kerod." said Otono.

  I focused on that name, Kerod, the name of a man that I barely knew and yet he was coming at me with everything he had it seemed. Perhaps it was time to get out of my shell and actually invade him, spread some of my influence over the planets in this galaxy that were subject to particularly cruel laws or subject to the whims of princes that were tyrannical such as Kerod. I quickly shut the idea down as imperialistic and focused merely on the revenge aspect. We could mobilize our troops and have them sent out in a matter of days, with our morale and our technological advantage it wouldn't be-

  "Mortok. There you are. Been looking all over for you." she said as she closed her arms around my back. Her head slides against my shoulder blades as I turned to see her standing there in all of her beauty. In that traditional Morelen garb she looked absolutely heavenly to me and I smiled at her as her hands hooked around my hips.

  "My mate." I muttered as I turned to hold her. I close my grasp around her head and pull her in while she sighed, moaning softly and resting her lips against mine while I smiled in response to her.

  The cold white light of the exterior shines onto the side of her face as I close my hands around her cheeks and she sighed breathlessly. I focus my golden eyes on her face and grinned as I hold her close, gripping her and rubbing my lips against her cheek before resting her head against my chest. She nuzzled me and I sighed as I felt her curves meld against my muscles.

  "Is everything alright? How's Islani?" she asked.

  "Yorui is fine. We're pushing back all the enemy forces right now, you don't have to worry about a thing. We're going to be on the move in a couple of days to relocate while they get things sorted out here. Are you alright with that?" I asked her and she nodded in affirmation.

  "Yeah...I'm fine." she states.

  I wondered how I had received such a wondrous mate. Perhaps it was the fact that she was unwilling at first that led her to this point. I never imagined my bond would be this strong against someone that I didn't conflict with initially but it seems as if the process of falling in love with her had strengthened my resolve to be with her, strengthened my need to have her and for her to have me. It was truly a puzzling thing, at the start, I had wanted a mate that was entirely willing and yet now I was thanking the gods that I had received someone that was...hesitant at first but that I had convinced.

  At least I knew that our bond was real now.
<
br />   "My lord! My-" Called someone from outside and suddenly dust and ash filled the air and we were all blown back. I held her tightly in my arms as we fall on the floor and roll about. I try to calm myself before I get to my feet and pat myself down to see if I had any injuries at all, I didn't have any to my knowledge.

  "What the hell was that?" called someone, I think it was Otono.

  "Shit...An ambush. They know we've sent most of our men away so they hid some of their forces in here ...Otono! Call the reinforcements stationed near Camp Dukar. Call them here now!" I called out as my prince-like facade instantly faded and the warrior instincts kicked in once more.

  I get to my feet and beckoned whomever I could see inside. Some of the people outside were injured so I ran towards them and dragged them back before I shut the stone door and barricaded it with several of the boxes that we had lugged in. I look to Otono who was currently on the radio, phoning whomever he could. The building had held up from the bombings and looked to stay that way. I thanked my foresight for telling me to make sure every building in Hirua was guarded from bombings by a thin magnetic field that I laced around the entire city, it was a protocol installed particularly after the terror attacks got a bit too intense in the past and I felt inclined to protect the town due to its close proximity with the castle. The field couldn't protect from land invasions but it could ward off the worst effects of aerial bombings, some of the shockwaves still got through, however, and that was exactly what this was.

  "What is happening?" I asked.

  "It seems as if a raid on the town is currently occurring my lord. From all directions. The men are somewhat overwhelmed but the forces from the camps will be here in a few moments..." he said and I grimace