Feet shoulder-width apart, and hands behind his spiked back, the general eyed the Defenders. “The Erebus here are young, careless. They are the first seedlings on this planet and have not experienced their first jump. On their way to Hoggford, they blew up the power station outside the city limits. It is your responsibility to search for survivors at the station, separate the Hoggin from the Erebus. And if you come across any of the foul creatures still living, kill them.” He nodded then marched over to his own tent, the command center for the mission.
“Fall out,” Bryce called.
“Yes, Major!”
Alongside the platoon, Bryce raced toward the site of the explosion. Smoke rose in plumes, high above the flames. He doubted any Hoggin survived inside the station. He and the other Defenders simply hunted, their duty to destroy the young Erebus before they had the chance to jump to another planet, destroy the next culture.
“Delta, take the left side. Echo, we’ll take the right.”
“Yes, Major.”
They had no equipment to fight the fire, but the sand around the building would prevent it from spreading.
He led his squad to the right, plazer at the ready. Erebus tentacles littered the ground. Creatures caught in the explosion. The stench of Erebus waste and the charring of the building burnt his nostrils. Flicking on his helmet, he tried to focus through the tears in the corners of his eyes. He preferred to keep his senses unimpeded by the helmet, but the shield sensors would help him see in the thick smoke. Readings failed to locate any life needing rescue.
Static crackled in his ear from the translator.
“Twenist, is that you?” A member of Delta squad.
More static, followed by a scream. Erebus calls pierced the night.
Cosmos! “Echo squad, move to the left side. Prepare to engage enemy.” His heart raced as he rushed ahead to lead his team into battle.
The smoke thinned on the left side. An Erebus lunged at him. Weapon at the ready, he shot the creature, sending it flying back. Two more charged from the right. Rays of light from plazer fire behind him took them out before he had the chance to shoot.
Yet, the Erebus cries continued. In a line, his squad searched for members of Delta while defending each other. They found nothing but bodies, or what remained of them. Black sludge covered the uniforms and faces of the fallen Defenders, preventing identification. Skin bubbled as it disintegrated into nothing but goop.
Bryce released a heavy breath. An entire squad taken out by adolescent versions of their enemy. While help rested steps away.
Movement in the distance caught his attention. He squinted through his visor while his brain processed the image. A Defender—likely one of Delta, since all of Echo stood around him—darted away from the burning building. Toward a moving line of blackness.
Oh Gaspra! What was the fool thinking? “Echo, out in the distance.” He pointed. “There’s a Defender out there who’s about to take on a cluster of Erebus. Let’s go help, make sure he comes back alive.”
His team dashed to protect one of their own before he’d finished the order. The lone Defender dropped to one knee and fired his weapon, taking out a large number of Erebus. But more kept coming, forming a circle around him.
Bryce fired along with his company. The circle broke as a multitude of Erebus fell. But an agonizing scream from among the creatures postponed any victory.
Two Erebus stood on either side of the Defender, their tentacles wrapped around his arms and legs, like they wanted to pull him apart. Playing. No, tormenting him.
Bryce fired, never letting up on the trigger. He’d seen the creatures kill before but not torture their prey. Absolutely unheard of.
The Erebus dropped the Defender before they slumped to the ground. Dead. But, he hoped the man in the blood-stained blue fatigues between them had survived. The rest of Echo downed any remaining enemies, plowing a path for him to retrieve the fallen Defender.
The lapel on the shredded suit read Jager. No stars, only a private. Bryce touched the kid’s neck. A pulse, thank the universe. Blood covered the private’s face, a large gash from his chin, along his cheek, across his nose, and up the other side of his head. Surface wounds, not life threatening. They had to get him back to the barracks to check for and treat any internal injuries.
Jager’s eyelids flickered. “Dad?”
Bryce wiped some of the blood from the young man’s face so he could see, revealing a brow ridge. A Kalaren. “No, just another Defender, like you.”
Chapter Five
Lalia walked off the ship, side by side with her daughter. Not Hemera protocol, but she didn’t care. She refused to let Katrina step onto the foreign planet on her own, especially when the young woman had only learned of life beyond Earth a few days ago. Her daughter scratched her arm obsessively, a sure sign of nervousness. And maybe Lalia felt the same way, too. It had been so many years since she’d last set foot on the planet.
Crowds of Hemera surrounded the landing platform, everyone dressed in formal wear as if ready to attend a ball. She’d hoped no one would be there, wanted her arrival to be hush hush until she’d had a chance to settle in. But, for some reason, her brother had made an occasion of her return to the planet.
Luchivus bustled toward her, dressed in full royal regalia, his cape dragging along behind him, and his crown polished to a brilliant glow. He looked every bit as peremptory as her father had, using the crown to place himself above all others rather than using the title to help his people.
A little girl dashed out in front of her, jet-black curls bouncing along her shoulders. In her tattered white gown—probably a hand-me-down from an older generation—she stared up into her eyes, no reservations about approaching royalty. “Princess Lalia, where have you been? They taught us in school you were killed in the Erebus attack.”
Lalia released her daughter’s hand and bent in front of the girl. She brushed a stray lock of hair from her forehead. “I was on a faraway planet called Earth. The Defenders found me and brought me back.” Though she wished to be anywhere but. She stood and reached for Katrina’s hand, pulling her forward. They’d likely never get to interact with those outside of the palace on a one-on-one basis again. Not until she had a chance to make some policy changes, anyway. “This is my daughter, Katrina. What’s your name?”
Her daughter waved, and the little girl smiled before she hid her face behind her hands.
A woman wearing a once-white bonnet, and an apron around her plain beige dress, yanked the little girl into her arms. She curtsied, and kept her eyes down. “I’m very sorry, Princess. She is too curious for her own good sometimes.”
Lalia placed her palm on the woman’s shoulder. She hated how untouchable her family remained on the planet. “It’s quite all right. My daughter was the same at her age. What’s her name?”
“Thank you.” She curtsied again. “Her name is Gwenodyn.”
“A beautiful name.”
“Thank you, Princess.” The little girl reached for a strand of her hair and twirled it around her tiny finger. “But you don’t need to be afraid to live here again. The Erebus haven’t come back since you left.”
Lalia was torn away from them with brute force, her arm nearly ripped from the socket. “What?”
Luchivus glared at her, his face nearly matching the color of his hair. “We do not engage with the commoners.” He hooked his arm in hers and guided her back to the path laid out for them. “You have forgotten your standing, been on Earth far too long. Do they not have royalty on that planet?”
Sure, across the ocean from where she’d lived. And what was she supposed to have told them? You must meet with me because I’m an alien princess? No doubt the truth would have landed her in a mental institution, or worse, a lab. “Luchivus, it would do you good to see how others live outside of palace walls.”
“Nonsense.” He puffed out his chest and stared straight ahead, ignoring all those who had gathered for her arrival.
Lalia glanc
ed back to ensure Katrina remained with them. She didn’t need her daughter left behind on the foreign-to-her planet. But another young woman walked along with Katrina, chatting away in Hemerick, likely Luchivus’s daughter. Thank goodness the Alliance had fitted her daughter with a translator chip before they’d arrived.
Her brother tugged at her arm. “Pay attention.”
Cosmos, she was older than him, and he treated her like a child. Biting her tongue to keep her chastising comments to herself, she returned her focus to him. “So, what do you have planned?”
“First, I will assign your security. I can’t have you wandering off the grounds like you used to.” He eyed the crowd with suspicion. “The planet is not as safe as it used to be. Commoners have jumped fences and even rushed my own guards.”
“Will my detail be assigned to Katrina as well?” Her daughter didn’t need protection but having someone to show her around when Lalia attended meetings would be handy.
Luchivus paused, his brow narrowed. “No. What would the commoners want with her? It’s you and me they’ll be after.”
Hence, how she could sneak out every night to be with Bryce. Their father hadn’t realized his failed logic until she’d wound up pregnant. “Sure.”
Inside the palace, they passed through various gates and secured doors on their way to the third floor living quarters. Not much had changed since she’d last roamed the halls, despite the Erebus attack. Everything had been restored to its original state, the staircases polished enough to eat off, while the commoners likely struggled to feed their families. But, where her father’s portraits had once hung, her brother’s face now reigned.
Luchivus lead her to the end of the hallway, deemed guest quarters in her teen years. Thank the universe his abundance of children kept her room far from his. She didn’t need her brother eavesdropping on her conversations with Bryce, not until they could announce their relationship to others.
Lalia sighed, letting her brother’s words fade away with thoughts of Bryce. Stars, she missed him. They hadn’t had enough time together before he’d been whisked away on another mission. Part of being a Defender, sure, but logic didn’t sooth the ache in her heart.
Her brother paused beside her and released her arm. Snapping back to the present, she realized their entourage had left, one other person remaining in the room with her and Luchivus. The one man she’d hoped had been killed by an Erebus as she’d fled the planet. Fortinimus.
“Where’s Katrina?” She ignored the other man, hoping he would leave or be escorted out.
Luchivus patted her shoulder. “My daughter is helping her settle into the room next door. In the meantime, I would like you to meet your personal guard, Fortinimus Sonva.”
“I know who he is.” She glared at the man, spitting out the words. “And there is no way I want him as my personal guard.” Not after he’d forced himself on her. He’d been her father’s top choice for her future husband, and decided to begin their relationship without her consent. If not for two of Bryce’s fellow Defenders hearing her calls for help, she might have been unwillingly pregnant with Fortinimus’s child.
“Oh, but he requested the position.” Her brother squeezed her arm and smiled. “Said you two had a thing. And father always spoke highly of him.”
“We never had a thing.” Spinning on her heels, she headed for the door. “When I return, I want both of you out of my room. And Fortinimus, if I ever see you again, I will find the closest thing I can use as a weapon, and kill you with it. Stay away from me.”
“Lalia, how dare you—”
Waving over her shoulder, she ignored her brother’s scolding and set off to find her daughter.
Reaching Katrina’s room, she knocked before ducking inside and closing the doors behind her.
Lying face down at the foot of her bed, Katrina lifted her head. “Hi, Mom.”
“Hi, sweetie. How are you feeling?” She made her way over to the bed, crossing more than twice the width of what had been her daughter’s room back on Earth.
“Okay, I guess.” Katrina tried for a smile, but it didn’t work. “A bit scared and overwhelmed.”
Lalia lay beside her, the same way she used to back home while Katrina told her about school and the latest boy who’d caught her eye. “I hear you. This wasn’t my first choice of destinations.”
“I used to dream about living in a castle.” Katrina rolled to face her. “But, now that I’m here, I want to go back to school, or even work at my crappy job. I miss my friends. I mean, traveling through space with all the Defenders was great, but here, there are so many rules for such a huge place. Maylai, my cousin, kept adding to the list, going on and on. I can’t even go outside.”
A whoosh sounded above them, the shuttle leaving Hemera to meet up with the carrier before traveling to another planet, leaving them stuck there.
“I know.” She touched her finger to her daughter’s nose, a move that used to illicit giggles in her younger years. “There are ways around the rules, but give me time. I will make changes as part of the council. And, regardless of what anyone tells you, you are always welcome to come talk to me about anything.” If only her mother had said the same thing to her.
***
Screams echoed all around. Lalia flicked open her eyes, gripping the sheets. Had she dreamed the noises?
The cries came again, followed by the crashing of furniture and the call of the Erebus. She sat up and attempted to gain her bearings. Where had she fallen asleep?
“Mom, what is it? What’s going on?”
Katrina’s room. She’d fallen asleep on her daughter’s bed, too worried about a confrontation with Fortinimus to return to her own quarters. But, she had a new situation to deal with.
The Erebus calls grew louder, the sound piercing her eardrums. They got closer, probably going room to room, exactly what they’d done during the last attack. She had to get her daughter away from the palace, far from the Erebus’s reign of terror.
“There’re more of them than what attacked our house, aren’t there?”
The look of horror on Katrina’s face fed her urgency. She nodded, her finger to her lips. If the creatures heard them, they’d have little chance to escape.
Yanking off the boots she’d forgotten to remove before falling asleep, Lalia flexed her feet. Her stockings would make little noise compared to her heels, or even bare feet. “We need to be as quiet as possible,” she whispered. “When I stop, you stop. When I run, you run. Do not try to take one on, because there’ll be at least five more nearby. Understood?”
Katrina nodded, removing her own footwear.
Boots in hand, Lalia crept to the door. She didn’t need them in the palace but would once they made it outside. Though, if being chased, she’d drop them and run.
She grasped the doorknob and turned it ever so gently, careful not to make any noise. The slightest creak would alert the Erebus to their presence. Without making a sound, she opened the door and peeked down the hallway in both directions. The stench of Erebus waste burned her nostrils, made her eyes water. She didn’t see any, but a black trail coated the floor dangerously close. One of the creatures had to be in the next room over.
Staying on the balls of her feet, Lalia sneaked from the room, her daughter right behind. Passing her own chamber, she dared a peek inside. Through the open doors, she spotted Fortinimus sitting on her bed, leaning back on his hands, as if waiting for her. He didn’t seem to have any concern about the Erebus, or maybe not enough brains to try and escape.
Rolling her eyes, she dashed past. He could take care of himself. She had reached the emergency exit at the end of the hall when someone shouted her name. Fortinimus stood outside her room now, resting against the wall as if the palace wasn’t under attack.
“Lalia, you and your daughter need to come with me.” So sure of himself, he didn’t seem to understand the danger he’d put himself and them in.
Katrina tapped Lalia’s arm. “Mom?”
The p
anic in her daughter’s voice echoed her own as the tentacles of an Erebus reached out from a room up the hall. Lalia shoved her daughter into the emergency exit, the door opening from the force. “Get to the bottom of the stairs and wait for me.” The other floors had their own escape routes, though none of them connected to prevent access to intruders from lower levels.
She cringed at having to say anything at all, not one Erebus noticed, none of them lumbering out after her.
Not daring to say anything more, Lalia gestured for Fortinimus to follow her. She might hate him, but couldn’t bear to witness anyone else die at the tentacles of an Erebus. So many already had, their screams of torture and death having hauntingly ended.
The man meant to guard her shook his head. “You are going the wrong way, Princess. Only I can save you from the Erebus.”
Was he intoxicated, high on nehbred? She didn’t care to fight with him. Or have time. An Erebus thundered from the room it had terrorized, and trundled toward her and Fortinimus. Her bodyguard could save himself. She had her daughter to look out for.
Shoulder to the emergency exit, Lalia burst into the stairwell. With no way to lock it from this side, she ran, ignoring the screams of those she couldn’t save.
Katrina waited for her at the bottom of the stairs, the door to the outside already open. They tumbled out into the fresh air together, and Lalia sprinted ahead, leading her daughter toward the woods. The Erebus resembled vegetation, but their bulk kept them from following anyone between the trees. It was the way she’d escaped so many years before. With any luck, she’d find more Hemera scattered along the narrow trails.
A stitch pierced the muscles of her stomach, but she couldn’t stop, couldn’t even slow down. Not until she got Katrina safely away from the palace, somewhere they could wait for the Defenders to stop the annihilation of her people. No spaceship waited for her this time.
She weaved among the tree trunks, avoided prickly bushes, and leaped over logs. The clear path she used to travel had grown over, but nothing could make her forget where to go, not even eighteen years on another planet.
BRYCE (Galactic Defenders Book 1) Page 5