Rakesh and P’tah looked at each other and shook their heads.
“She’s crazy. Clearly, her injuries are more severe than imagined.”
“It could work. You saw me, I’m fast. I don’t have to beat him, I just have to prove to him that I am hard to kill and strong. I can do that. Losing in fair combat allows him to show me respect in public and gets him off of the hook for trying to kill me. Everybody wins,” I said.
Rakesh shook his head, dismissing the idea with a frustrated snort. P’tah blinked several times and then began to calculate something on her fingers.
“It can be done. It will take a lot of work, but she could survive a ma’al. She’s a natural fighter, and with a few modifications to her nanites and some training,” P’tah said.
I smirked. As a scientist, of course, the idea would excite her.
“And then we will see what humans are truly capable of,” I added.
“Yes! And my nanites; if I can program them to keep up with the level of cellular degeneration you’ll experience. You should last three minutes without any problem.”
“Three minutes?” I asked.
“A ma’al is a three-minute wrestling match. No weapons. As long as you don’t yield and aren’t thrown from the ring, you can claim a victory. It’s a traditional fight used to test young males as they master fighting styles. It's their way of proving to the Master that they are worthy of being trained. You aren’t male and you are too old to be considered a novice, but you are alien so this can be overlooked.”
“And if he kills her?” Rakesh’s voice boomed across the room. “If she challenges him and he snaps her neck?”
“Then we are no worse off than we are now,” I said. “I am the weakness. I am the weak link. You will always have to kill somebody or fight somebody as long as others see me as weak too. Your name offers me some protection, but not enough. Not enough to keep us all safe. So we have to do something. I can’t hide, and you can’t always protect me. I can’t be the weak link any longer,” I explained, looking him in the eyes as I spoke.
“She’s right, brother,” P’tah added. “There is no other way.”
He took a deep breath and a lingering side-long glance at me before turning around and leaving.
“I have a lot of work to do. You get some rest. The next few days are going to be very trying,” P’tah said.
I sat and let the seconds tick away, feeling empty and alone. The Troitek may not understand the concept of love, but I certainly did. I didn’t have time to delude myself. It wasn’t duty or honor that I was fighting for. It was love. I needed to protect the things that I loved, both old and new. And if I was going to fail in that attempt, I would die fighting. I closed my eyes and let sleep take me. I had a hard climb ahead of me, a nap seemed like a good idea.
THIRTEEN
The next time I woke up my veins were on fire. P’tah stood over me looking alarmed.
“I’m sorry, just bare it for a little while. It will be over soon,” she said.
I clenched my teeth. It was high-time to have a serious discussion with her about getting patient consent before medical procedures.
“You’re healthy and young, you shouldn’t suffer for very long. Just relax and let the nanites do their work,” she said, patting my head gently. I focused on my breathing as the pain ebbed and flowed for what felt like an hour. P’tah kept talking to me, trying to reassure me that everything would be fine and remind me that this was necessary if I hoped to survive the ma’al. More and more of her words were transmitted in her voice instead of the mechanical voice in my head.
“What did you do to me?”
“I reprogrammed the nanite to not only repair but to promote muscle growth and make your reflex time faster,” she said.
“My head, what did you do to my head?”
“I told you, I’ve been using your unconscious state to experiment with cognitive functions. I’ve been using your sleep cycle to, effectively, increase your language learning,” she said.
“You’ve been downloading the language into my head while I sleep?” I asked in flawless. Troitek.
“Yes,” she said without flinching.
“You never thought to ask?”
“I…”
I used some of that newly installed strength to grab her wrist forcefully and pull her down until we were nearly nose to nose.
“You only see me as an experiment or a specimen. I know that. But, the next time you want to prove how brilliant you are, ask me first,” I growled, baring my teeth so that she would know I was serious.
She jerked out of my grip and I was in too much pain to care. I closed my eyes again and let the process engulf me.
“I don’t see you as an experiment. You are my friend, and a true mate to my brother if ever there was one. I just want to keep you alive,” she said. It was the closest thing to an apology that I could expect from her. I said nothing. It was the Troitek way. And like it or not, I was going to have to live that way from now on.
After P’tah’s adjustments, I spent the next two days in training, building muscle memory and testing my physical limits. My body, once thin and curvy reached fitness model proportions. I had abs and triceps. I even caught myself longing for the summer time so that I could show off my new beach body. Rakesh and I didn’t speak to each other. I caught him watching from a distance while I trained, but he didn’t allow himself to speak with me directly.
It upset me, but I understood him. He didn’t agree with my plan, and yet he was powerless to stop it. What was there to say?
It was enough to know that he’d personally issued my challenge to the Grand Marshall and that he would be present at the ma’al as a judge.
“I didn’t do it for you,” he said on the third day.
“Why then?”
“Because if he kills you I will kill him. He knows that. I have promised him that much.”
I was shocked.
“Why?”
“Because you are…very important to me,” he said.
The cool exterior he so meticulously maintained cracked a just a bit and I could see the light of his love shining through. I was overwhelmed by its brilliance. I completely forgot what I was doing or why. All I could see was Rakesh and I knew I was lost.
“If he destroys you, he will destroy us both. I will not continue without you,” he said.
“Don’t exaggerate. You’ll be upset but you will forget with time.”
Rakesh grabbed my arms and pushed me roughly against a bulkhead.
“I am not some small boy or a silly human male. I will slay all who harm you, and I will not live without you. I swore this oath to Thorni Mai and I will not fail her,” he said.
His presence was intense and a tempting source of comfort for my tortured limbs. I could feel my breathing change as the thought of being naked and alone with him beat at the inside of my skull. His emotions were barely in check, making his normally vivid red eyes flash with defiance. He took several deep breaths at my neck, licking the tiny droplets of sweat that accumulated there. His rough tongue flicked against my skin so lightly that it almost tickled.
“I guess I better win, then,” I said.
He let me go and straightened up, the proof of his arousal pressing against the front of his uniform.
“Prepare. Win. And then return to our quarters in victory,” he said before leaving.
Our quarters. I could’ve sprouted wings and flown back to Earth on the strength of those two words alone. I had two more days until I would face the Grand Marshall. After that, one way or another, I could die happy knowing that I wasn’t alone in my feelings.
I turned my attention back to training with an almost single-minded focus. I stopped worrying about living or dying, winning or losing. I just didn’t want Rakesh to be ashamed of me. Whatever the outcome, we’d both already made our decision. It was freeing. I didn’t see him again until the day of the fight.
I bathed myself and dressed in what felt like
a sports bra made of metallic tiles.
“It’s armor. The allow with contract or expand against your body to create a second skin. It’s not impenetrable, but it will save your life in hand-to-hand combat,” P’tah explained.
The pants looked like it was made from hiding but felt like it was the softest poly-cotton blend I’d ever touched. I braided my hair down my back and P’tah helped me weave a chain through the braid and cap it off with a curved blade tethered to the end of the braid. She added gauntlets of the same tiled construction and drew some pretty scary looking patterns along my arms and shoulders.
I felt like a badass, but she was less than impressed.
“Don’t look so upset, all I have to do is not die for three minutes,” I said.
“That may prove to be more difficult than you think,” she said.
I saw fear in her eyes. She reached over and patted my head gently before turning away. There was nothing more that she could do for me.
Rakesh arrived a few minutes later with a long robe. He unfurled it and held it up. The material was iridescent and emblazed with a fancy coat of arms.
“What’s this?”
“This is your family crest and coat of arms,” he said somberly.
“My what?”
“Your family is descended of warriors, Diem. Your name means victorious in an old Earth language from a place called Ireland. I am told that you are descended from great warriors of a once proud clan. You should carry their name into battle with you, Diem. Child of Kearney. From the house of Rakesh.”
He held it open and dropped it smoothly onto my shoulders. It was heavier than I thought it would be but in a good way. It felt like a hug from my ancestors. Rakesh escorted me down to the cargo bay where the ma’al would be held. Many of the ship’s crew were already assembled there waiting for me. The Grand Marshall also stood in the middle of the room naked except from the waist up. His nudity did nothing to take away from his imposing size and intimidating glare. The “ring” was marked out by white lines on the floor. The rules were simple. Stay in the ring. Don’t get thrown out and don’t run out. Once you enter the ring, the fight begins.
I looked around at the faces assembled. They were all smirking, coming to see the spectacle. How could a human survive three minutes with a warrior of the Grand Marshall’s caliber? They weren’t here to see me do the impossible. They were here to see how I die or rather, what would happen after I died. Would the Commander really let something like that slide?
I felt an overwhelming sense of power as I stood, wrapped in my robe. I couldn’t tell if it was adrenaline or the nanites working over time, but I slid out of my robe and stepped into the ring without hesitation. I heard the hum of a low forcefield slide into place behind me. A hush fell over the room as everybody realized that I’d so easily gone out to meet my fate.
The Grand Marshall immediately began attacking, moving nimbly from one move to the next. I blocked what I could and rolled out of the way of most of his attacks. He caught me with two glancing shots that made my eyes water and knocked the breath out of my lungs, but I was able to recover. He was testing me, seeing how I responded to his blows. It was obvious that any one of them could crush me, but my reflexes were too fast. I tried to stay calm, remember that I shouldn’t attack him until absolutely necessary. Although he was strong enough to lift me with one hand and throw me across the room, I made my height work for me. I stayed low to the ground, crouching and squatting to stay out of his grip.
A tiny bell rang with every passing minute. The first one brought surprised gasps from the audience. The second was met with silence. I was exhausted and bruised but still in the fight. I’d already proven that I was hard to kill, now I had to teach them all that I wasn’t defenseless.
I waited until the Grand Marshall swung again, sliding in under his arm and attacking a bundle of nerves under his arm. I heard P’tah let out a little squeal but didn’t dare to look up. I ignored the vicious blows raining down on my back. If I could stay on my feet for one more minute I would be home-free. That was my only thought.
Suddenly, the sound of a sharp crack reverberated through the hall and a shooting pain lanced through me. I looked down to see the jagged edge of a Troitek blade protruding through my abdomen. I stumbled away, unsure how this had happened. I looked up and saw Oda standing in the doorway, flanked by dozens of guards. I was badly hurt but I remained focused. I couldn’t step outside of the ring, no matter what the circumstances. I willed myself to stay on my feet, praying that P’tah’s nanites would work their magic and stop the bleeding. Gripping the blade with both hands, I pulled it from my body and flung it at her. She picked it up and licked my blood from the edge with a smile. She lifted it above her head and yelled.
“I have killed the infiltrator, long live the Empire!” The warriors behind her raised their blades in agreement and charged into the hall, attacking any who dared to resist.
People began to scramble.
The Grand Marshall and I looked at each other. We were both momentarily at a loss. What began as a ceremonial challenge was now an open rebellion. Oda and her insurgents were spilling blood indiscriminately and she’d used my presence as a means to this end. Rakesh was right. It was never about me. No matter what we did, she was always going to come for him.
“Protect the Commander!” A female voice rose above the din.
“Death to the weakling,” chanted the forces allied with Oda. It was pandemonium as I stood there in the middle of the ring holding on to one thought only. The third bell.
I heard a monstrous roar emerge from the chaos of the moment as Rakesh charged from his perch high above me. As he got closer, he seemed to change with each step. The face of the male I knew became the elongated snout and jagged teeth of a being I’d only ever seen in books.
A dragon.
His already massive size seemed to double as he leaped into the fray. For a few unreal seconds his body seemed to hover in the air above the fight before circling as he landed. The change shocked everybody, including the Grand Marshall, who retreated from the ring immediately.
Everybody except for me.
I saw the large reptilian body move through the crowd, snarling and slashing at its enemies. A few foolish males tried to attack, only to find themselves crushed between his powerful jaws. With the balance of power shifted, the mutineers began to retreat.
How foolish, I thought to myself. Where on this ship will you hide from the great red dragon?
The hole through my body didn’t hurt. I thought that was weird until I realized that it wasn’t bleeding anymore either. Still, a great deal of my blood had pooled on the ground beneath me. My knees buckled as I hit the floor. Of all of the possible outcomes of this fight, I hadn’t expected to win and die anyway.
FOURTEEN
I woke up with a gasp. I was disoriented and feeling weaker than I’d felt in years. I wasn’t in the lab, as expected. I was in Rakesh’s quarters, in my own bed. I felt my stomach for any signs of the hole that I knew should be there. Instead, there was only sensitive, pink skin.
“Don’t go poking around, it took me forever to patch you up,” said P’tah. “I’ve been ordered to make sure that you aren’t left scarred.”
She looked angry, rather than relieved to see me awake. Her face looked haggard and her left ear was split where somebody had ripped her earring out. Judging by the raw look of it, I hadn’t been out for very long.
“Rakesh?”
“He’s fine for now,” she said, her eyes flashing with malice.
“Is that a bad thing? Nobody will dare to attack him now.”
“Are you really that stupid? Sure, nobody on this ship would dare to challenge him, but he’s put a huge target on his back. Every low born warrior hoping to make a name for himself or aging warrior desperate to recapture his former glory will seek him out now to challenge him and prove themselves. Not to mention Oda. Her people will be working hard to get their revenge. My stupid brother, as alw
ays, did something impulsive and now our lives are going to get a lot more complicated.”
I couldn't bring myself to care about any of that at the moment. I was desperate to see him and to know that he was safe, even if it was only temporary.
“But for now?”
“For now, we’re safe. Especially you,” she said.
“Me?”
“Who would dare attack the dragon’s mate?” She spat the words out with scathing ire. “You are called Diem, after all. Anybody who touches you invites death.”
I didn’t fully understand what she was upset about or why, but I wasn’t in any position to question her. She’d saved my life and that was enough. I could endure her prickly disposition for a while.
“I better get going. They need help on the medical team patching up what’s left of the crew. Damn Oda and her cursed pride,” she said. P’tah picked up her bag and slung it over her shoulder. As she left the Grand Marshall appeared at the door fully dressed in his uniform. P’tah gave a slight bow, as was expected and then left.
“Please, come in Grand Marshall,” I called, still too weak to stand. “I would greet you properly, but –”
“You speak our language very well for a beginner,” he interrupted. He entered the room and looked around to be sure that we were alone.
“Rakesh isn’t here,” I said.
“I know. I did not come for Rakesh. I came for you,” he said. “You have passed your ma’al and shamed us all. I was wrong to underestimate you. If I had not been preoccupied with my prejudice against you I might have seen through Oda earlier and prevented so much blood shed.”
I followed him with my eyes but said nothing. That was the Troitek way. Some things didn’t need a response. Some things you could just accept and move on.
“When you have recovered I would like to be your Battle Master. It would be a great honor to train one such as you in our traditions.”
A Pet For The Commander: The Complete Series Page 9