Stolen by the Warlord: A Sci-Fi Alien Warrior Romance (Ash Planet Warriors Book 1)

by V. K. Ludwig

  “Shit, I should have considered that he might have useful information, but I didn’t know what else to do.” She finished saddling Canja. “Where can we find him?”

  I stared at her for a moment, unblinking, embracing that pride once more washing over me. That woman right there was my mate, her shirt sprinkled in blood, but not a single tremble showed in her hands. Anybody thinking her harmless was as good as dead.

  “Scouts are masters at blending with their environment, and he doesn’t want to be found,” I said and attached our belongings to Canja. “It might take us an entire sun to track him down.”

  She stared into the open plains, her eyes squinting with how the wind thickened the air with ash. “Unless I lure him out. He wants me. You say he’s nearby. If I stumble across the wide plains where he can spot me, he’ll come.”

  “Kunazay, you and I make a cunning pair.” And yet, something dulled that flutter inside my stomach. “You’ve killed one of Razgar’s scouts, now you want to deceive another. As much as I appreciate your help, I can’t let you compromise your conscience. It wouldn’t be fair.”

  “Neither is it fair that they refuse to accept your claim. I lure him out. You capture him. We keep him alive.” Arms folded in front of her chest, she held my gaze. “Maybe I should capture him since he’ll attack you.”

  I held my breath for a moment before I said, “Attack yes, but not kill. Few believe zovazay is possible between our kinds, but Katedo and Razgar are aware of the possibility and wouldn’t take risks with you. If I die, so will you if you’re too close.”

  Her eyes snapped to the corpse as realization sunk in, lingering there with a pinched expression. “Mayala mentioned something. This zovazay thing is complicated.”

  “Your bond is not even at its full strength yet.”

  “They won’t risk killing you as long as I remain nearby. That’s… helpful.” She stroked over her sternum. “I lure. You capture. Give me a bit of a head start to keep it realistic.”

  Before I managed another word, Ceangal sprinted toward the plains, her figure veiled by the dust her feet whirled up. By Mekara, I’d never stood a chance against falling in love with this woman.

  I mounted Canja and prepared ropes from one of the saddlebags, all while watching my mate keep a steady pace across the cracked soil. When her form started to fade, I clicked my yuleshi into a paced sprint, pursuing her.

  Even against the blur of the choked air, her auburn strands stood out like a red dot across a landscape of grays. Sure enough, another scout tore through the brush from a nearby thicket to the right, kicking his yuleshi into speed.

  So did I, letting Canja eat the distance between us, my mount’s windpipes as noisy as that irregular beat of my heart. I’d never been someone to deceive people, but Mekara hadn’t left me many choices as of late.

  By the time I closed in on them, the scout helped Ceangal onto his yuleshi, hissing at me in warning. He mounted behind her, grabbed a shock gun from his holster, and lifted it toward me.

  He never pulled the trigger.

  Black scales covered my female, only flickering here and there, her armor so dark it swallowed what little light the ash hadn’t strangled out. She dug her elbow into the scout’s ribs, who coughed out a breath. Then she reached behind her, grabbed his horns, and, letting herself fall off the yuleshi, ripped him to the ground.

  I jumped at him and pinned him down, spiraling my tail around his to disable his claw. “Ropes. By the saddle.”

  Ceangal hurried over to Canja, but not without kicking the gun out of the scout’s hand first, no matter how I wouldn’t let him gain a hair-width of movement. She expertly bound his wrists when I brought them behind his back.

  “There’s another, longer one,” I said and rose, my tail still wrapped around the scout’s as I struggled him onto his yuleshi. “Always tie the tails, or we’ll cut ourselves loose.”

  “Got it.”

  When she handed me the other rope, I restrained his tail by tying it to the one of his yuleshi. If he messed with it, the beast would let us know by growing upset at something bothering its tail.

  The scout remained silent, orange eyes flitting back and forth between Ceangal and me, and he still swayed a little since everything had happened so fast.

  I walked over to Ceangal, and gave her a nod before I lifted the side of her shirt high enough it revealed her scar. “We are bonded before Mekara. Harm me, and you will harm her.”

  The scout gave a snort of disgust. “Katedo will cut it out of you.”

  Beside me, Ceangal tilted her head sideways as if considering his words. That dense pressure underneath my sternum confirmed it, which was the last thing I needed right now. She already blamed herself for putting me in danger. No way was I going to explain just how fucked I was. Not here. Not now.

  I grabbed the reins of his yuleshi and tied them to Canja’s saddle. “How many warbands are out there?”

  Of course, he refused to supply information. For now. “What happened to Pjerka?”

  The moment Ceangal sucked in a breath, I said, “I killed him.”

  My mate narrowed her eyes at me, but I simply gestured her to mount Canja. If she ever ended up back at Katedo’s side, nobody could know that she’d killed one of Razgar’s scouts.

  Just this once, I climbed my yuleshi in front of Ceangal and took the reins. “Hold on to me.”

  She wrapped her arms around my stomach and brushed her chin across my shoulder. “How are you going to make him talk?”

  “Warlords outlawed torture four sun cycles ago, and I intend to lead my tribe as the others do,” I said and clicked Canja into motion. “If he talks, good. If not, we can use him to relay a message to Katedo.”

  “Open negotiations without compromising our location.”

  I nodded and steered us toward home, my chest lighter now that we’d captured a scout. Somehow, she and I would find a way to be together, make a family, and lead our tribe in peace.

  That lightness in my chest lasted until Ceangal pointed at the black plumes rising into the sky before us. “Something’s burning. What’s that over there?”

  “Our tree.”

  Seventeen

  Ceangal

  Disaster had announced itself as columns of smoke rising into the sky, but the reality of it didn’t settle in until the bellows of warriors and high-pitched screams of children echoed from the surrounding rock walls.

  Canja’s windpipes roared by the time we reached the tree, the air dry, depleted, and charred. It carried the stench of iron and singed flesh, making bile sour the back of my throat.

  What had been our mother tree stood naked on one side, carrying nothing but black, burned branches and ashy twigs. Soot smudged the other side, the foliage so curled and damaged from the heat it no longer offered protection from wind or sun.

  My arms clasped Toagi tighter. “What did this?”

  He pointed at the glowing, purple embers at the exposed trunk, where a massive branch had split away and collapsed onto the gathering area. “A solar flare struck our tree.”

  My heart slowed.

  Reyja. Uresha. Seren.

  That branch had been home to so many.

  “How many nabus did it carry?”

  Toagi sighed. “Around sixty, mostly families.”

  Those numbers turned my stomach, as did the wails of people as we approached. Faces smudged with ash, eyes red-rimmed, voices hoarse… they stared at us with misery written across their features. Equally alarming was that self-doubt Toagi sent through our bond unfiltered.

  “Urizayo!” Nafir pushed himself through the crowd. “I was about to send Yelim to get you. We used the pumps to put out the flames, but we lost much.”

  Toagi dismounted and pulled me down, gesturing Nafir away from the scout we’d captured. “How many died?”

  “Not a soul,” he said, and I allowed myself a moment of relief. “Uresha received a vision from Mekara in warning before the shimid collapsed, and I ordered to cle
ar the tree.”

  “Collapsed?” I asked.

  “She is deep asleep and will not rouse,” Nafir said. “As often happens with shimids when visions drain their spirits.”

  Toagi glanced around. “How many wounded?”

  “Thirty warriors, seventeen females, eight elders, two children. Mostly burns, cuts, and bruises. A girl fell off a branch when she escaped the flames and broke her arm. Yelim… lost a horn when he used it to lift a branch off the uiri.”

  A shudder chased across my arms. “Mayala is among the injured?”

  “She is well, urizaya,” Nafir said, shaking his head, then added a mumbled, “bickering as loudly as ever.”

  “You’ve done well in my absence.” Toagi placed his hand onto Nafir’s shoulder, firmly, and took in the devastation. “Good thing I always keep two stores as a precaution for exactly these types of scenarios. The berries and roots are gone, but the pouches with dried meat didn’t take any damage. We won’t starve, but we have to ration until we establish a new home.”

  How he could remain this competent, immediately taking action, was beyond me. We’d lost countless nabus. People were injured. Children cried inconsolably. For a moment, everything seemed just… lost.

  Nafir stood straight. “What will you have me do, urizayo?”

  “As much as I’d hoped we had another few suns to scout the area, we need to seek a new tree. We have no other choice but to pack light, even if it means leaving things of comfort behind.”

  “Where to?”

  Toagi brushed a palm over his mouth, then tapped his chin. “Solar flares are burning the escape passage. Razgar’s warband made camp south-east.”

  “The plains in the north-west are burnt and barren, but we might find a young tree for temporary protection.”

  “North-west might no longer be an option.” When Toagi pointed at the scout who had the audacity to smile amid this kind of suffering, Nafir’s face drained of color. “We found him earlier. Your urizaya killed another as she defended me. Only Mekara knows how many more scouts or even warbands have traveled around the plateau to gather there.”

  “Toagi.” I gave a tug on his arm and pointed at a restless Canja. “She’s exhausted and needs to drink.”

  He nodded and turned his attention back to Nafir. “Take the scout. Make sure you bind him well and out of earshot, then bring him water and whatever food we can spare. Find the uiri. Together, we will discuss this.”

  Nafir dragged his fangs over his upper lips before he lifted a brow. “The uiri?”

  “I don’t like it either, but she might be of help.” At that, Toagi turned to me. “The tree is heavily damaged, but our nabu remains. Go and rest until it is time to gather.”

  “I’m fine.” That was a lie written across shaky fingers as I unbuckled Canja’s girth.

  “You’ve been through much, Ceangal.”

  Not as much as he.

  I dropped saddle and headstall to the ground as Canja wandered off to drink. In three steps, I stood before Toagi and clasped his face, pulling his mouth into a kiss. “The night you took me, you said I’m the urizaya of warlord Toagi. Do you still want me to be that?”

  He tasted my lips again, and I allowed myself for a moment to ignore how everything collapsed around us as he said, “Gam urizaya in’vi set kesi Mekara. My urizaya until we go to Mekara.”

  “Then tell me what to do, kunozay.”

  My soulmate.

  That word tasted bittersweet.

  We’d said we would find a way out of this mess, but that was before half the tree burned down, rendering this tribe homeless. How long until we found another tree? How long until we ran out of food? How long until we came across more scouts? Warbands?

  Toagi had professed he would earn my heart, but he’d already started, hadn’t he? How could he not? He was honorable, affectionate, dutiful, innovative, and a caring mate.

  He was also hunted.

  As much as I wanted this to work out, wanted to remain by his side, I needed to plan for the case that it didn’t. Even with our bond, if bad came to worse, I would have to return to Katedo now more than ever.

  Toagi stroked my cheek, his features softer. “Instruct the females to gather as many nabus as they can. Have them roll them up and ready everything for our move. We are safe for now, but this tree is no longer home to us.”

  “You’re a good warlord, kunozay,” I whispered.

  His nod came slowly as if he had trouble believing it at the moment. “Let me find Yelim and your uiri. Once you’ve instructed the females, come to the cliff so we can discuss our next step.”

  I turned away, eyes searching for those females with no visible injuries, and instructed them on the nabus. Whatever shaved uri rods we’d stacked in the brush, I let the young warriors tie into bundles, so we could braid new ones when we found a tree. And while I did all this, I scanned everyone I passed for injuries, facing the harshness of Solgad for the first time.

  When I spotted Mayala heading toward the cliff, I followed behind her. By the time we reached the others, Nafir stoked the young flames of a fire they’d built, and we all gathered around.

  Yelim glanced up at me and forced a smile onto his face, bloody rag tied around what remained of his left horn. “My mother always told me to eat my leaves so my horns would grow thick and strong. Ask me if I listened.”

  Toagi grabbed me by my hips and plopped me onto his lap. “We need to decide which direction to lead the tribe. As much as I’d like to wait for Uresha to guide us, we don’t have this kind of time.”

  “She is old and might not wake for suns,” Nafir added.

  Toagi nodded in agreement. “Our only option is to send out riders who will scout the narrow passage, the north-west plains where we’d found Razgar’s scouts, and the plateau south.”

  Yelim gave a pound against his broad chest. “I will ride.”

  “But you have only just lost a horn,” Mayala blurted, and I couldn’t help but lift a brow at how she, for a split second, reached for Yelim’s hand, then thought better of it. “You have other riders, yes?”

  “My yuleshi is the second fastest after Canja.”

  “Faster than a barrage of arrows?” I asked. “The scouts who found us had bows. If they scurry in all cardinal directions, sending riders out is like a death sentence from afar.”

  I let my eyes search for Mayala’s.

  In vain, because she dropped her gaze, but it didn’t hide how her irises shifted toward Yelim. Was it possible that she was concerned for him?

  “There is another option,” Toagi said. “The scout we captured surely searched for Mayala as well, and will recognize the uiri. If she gains his trust, perhaps helps him plot his escape, he might tell her what the plains toward north-west hold.”

  Now Mayala’s eyes snapped to him. “I cannot betray Katedo like this.”

  “And I respect your loyalty to your urizayo. However, you’ve been sworn-in as Ceangal’s uiri. Do you wish her to see her tribe suffer?” Toagi’s voice dropped lower when he added, “Watch Yelim return injured, strapped dead to the saddle like my last scout, or not at all?”

  If I hadn’t known better, I’d have thought Toagi was goading her.

  Mayala always bared fangs at him, but now she actually snapped them. “She would have to see none of it if only you returned her to Katedo with an envoy!”

  Before Toagi managed another word across his lips, I took his hand into mine. “Toagi was right; we are bound before Mekara. I feel our zovazay, and I fully support his claim.”

  Mayala clenched her mouth shut, fingers rubbing the base of her horns, her voice a mumble through lips barely parting. “There were signs, but I’d hoped the bond was somehow incomplete.”

  “I’ve carried it with me for a while now but ignored it,” I said. “I can’t do that anymore. Once we’ve found a new tree and the tribe is settled, we have to make new plans.”

  And backup plans.

  No way was I going to let Toagi
get slaughtered.

  “Throughout loss, Katedo has kept his pride,” Mayala said. “Even if the scout talks and we find a tree, he will not rest until he sev—”

  “We will concern ourselves with Katedo once the time comes.” Toagi cut through her words, his posture suddenly very stiff underneath me. “For now, establishing a new home and keeping everyone safe holds priority. Will you help us find a tree?”

  Mayala’s eyes bore into him, then me, then Toagi again, lips slightly parting as if… I couldn’t put my finger on it, but it made her nod. “This one time, I will help you.”

  When Mayala rose, I whispered into Toagi’s ear. “I wanna talk to her. Make sure she’s okay.”

  “Of course.”

  I caught up with her a few steps later. “Sorry I didn’t tell you. Guess I didn’t want it to be true.”

  She took my hand into hers, thumb stroking over my knuckles. “I should have known, urizaya. The way you smiled whenever he took you into the plains. How he held you as if losing you would mean losing himself.”

  “The bond does that?”

  “No, love does that,” she said, turning toward a hooded scout who sat strapped to a shrub. “It is the reason why I will speak to the scout. May Katedo forgive my betrayal, but I am sworn uiri. My urizaya comes before all.”

  “I was the one who captured the scout, so he can’t see me.” Something uncomfortable shifted inside me when I added, “Would you do me a favor?”

  Mayala stopped right then, bringing my hand to her chest. “All the favors until I return to Mekara.”

  I couldn’t help but smile at this unexpected friend I’d found on this planet. “Katedo’s location. I need it. And Toagi cannot find out that I asked.”

  She lowered her head. “It is not my place to ask questions, but I cannot help it since I want what is best for my urizaya. Why?”

  “The tribe is in bad shape, scouts scurry the north, and I know Katedo is close. If this goes south, I’ll have to return to Katedo, and beg him to spare Toagi’s life.”

  She opened her mouth to speak, but her lips remained parted for long moments before words came. “Zovazay will urge you to return to Toagi’s side. One cannot live with half a soul, urizaya.”