by Gabby Dark
And so it was…certain death was putting myself in danger every night scouting these rogue Barbs sniffing around our borders. Certain death was tracking down a killer or a crazed Zunatorian who needed to be put down. But I was made for such missions. I was the lone wolf who my people had dubbed a destroyer a long time ago.
So, this night, scouting was my mission. Not just scouting for Barbs, but scouting for the best habitable grounds for our people.
Our neighbors—the Barbs—had shown us in the past that they were notorious for seizing lands they had no rights to, especially for their hunting purposes. Over the past few full moons, I’d come across many of their dens. Some of which I had evacuated myself, while others, I was forced to go back to the village to seek out reinforcements.
The Barbs were our cousins—we shared the same blood. But they were also our enemies—they were mindless and sought destruction more than anything else. They multiplied like wildfire, and when left to their own devices, they could bring devastation to a colony in a matter of days. Although they were a nuisance, we had learned to live with them on this planet.
Seeing that it was past time for me to return back to my podhouse, I packed the rest of my supplies and headed back to the village.
The last person I expected to see was the King’s son, Prince Anik, at my doorstep. But there he was, sitting on a block, slicing pieces off an angelfruit with a blade and devouring it.
I looked around for other warriors thinking maybe they had finally come to lock me up, but saw none. I grunted.
Then again, Anik was probably here because King Crencik had decided what my punishment would be for delaying take-off of a ship and going AWOL before a mission. How long did I actually think I could outrun the inevitable?
I greeted him by bowing my head slightly. “Niluvǔ.” Prince. Anik was my prince, but soon, he would be King, just like his father.
He stood. “Kʼap.” Brother.
He’d always called me that and I considered him as the same. I met him when I was young. He and I and his late older brother played together all the time. We had practiced combat with the same seasoned warriors and even fought side by side on the battlefield. Even back then, Anik had already figured out that I never liked being confined. There had been times during our raids when I ventured off alone and was considered dead because I didn’t report in time, only to appear at the ninth hour with more spoils than my brethren—only because I dared to go further than anyone else, pushing my limits.
It didn’t take long for word to get to the King that I worked better alone than with a group. Hence, these days, I tracked and assassinated more than I went to battle alongside the other warriors.
“You’ve got quite a catch there, Hvit’zark,” Anik exclaimed, referring to several fishes hanging from a string. “The outer lands you were sent to search are rich, then?”
“Yes. Very. I caught these in less than a minute. Undoubtedly this is why the Barbs are still lurking. Food is easier to come by,” I said.
The Prince shook his head. “The Barbs must find their own lands. They cannot stay here.”
“Of course.” I hung the fish up on a rack, intent on cleaning them right away to enjoy later. “Stay for dinner, if you like.”
“I would, but Ryleigh would be jealous.” He grinned.
“I’ve heard some news about your mate. She is with child.” I thought about how happy his father must have been to know that their lineage would continue. Anik’s family had been in leadership for years. No other Zunatorian would challenge them since they had ruled so well and could not be easily removed with the way their family had become so close-knit over the decades.
“It is true.” Anik nodded without me voicing my thoughts. Anik and his father were telepathic. They were able to intercept and read the thoughts of many. They didn’t have to worry about me though. I had nothing to hide.
“She is very pregnant. Very.” Anik added.
I turned around and looked at him. “Very? Does that mean…?”
“With twins, yes, but multiples run in our bloodline. My father wasn’t surprised. Neither was my mother.”
“Congratulations.”
“You can enjoy the same fate too,” Anik said.
On the mention of fate, I cringed. I pushed my way into the house and then stood aside to let the Prince in. “Why are you really here?”
“To tell you that you can enjoy the same fate. That’s why I’m really here.”
I frowned. “I don’t understand. I was expecting to be punished. Stripped of my title for not reporting for takeoff a couple weeks ago.”
“My father does the opposite of what others would think he might do,” Anik stated. “By the way, why didn’t you appear?”
“I couldn’t be in two places at once.”
“Where were you then?”
“Tracking Barbs. Collecting their hearts.” I sat down in a wooden chair and pulled off my boots. “Besides, I thought I was doing the crew a favor. Half of them don’t care for me anyway. They still think I’m feral for roaming around out in the open with beasts.”
Anik snorted. “Those are old rumors. None of my warriors are stupid enough to believe that now.”
“I still get the looks.”
Anik laughed. “That’s because you bring the severed heads and hearts of beasts through the market in a box to present to our King while others bring treasures and trinkets.”
I grinned. “I’ve only been following the King’s orders.”
“Except for one order in particular. He’s not pleased with your decision.”
“I know. I’ll accept my punishment. Lup ditʼiy? Lup kuta? Marti lurtuǔng? Which is it?”
“You will not suffer the whip, the torch, or the bloody cave, brother. As I told you once before, you are important to me. The action you took does not anger me, but I find the reason for your withdrawal to be strange.”
I stopped short of removing my armor. “Strange?”
“Mak, Hvit’zark. Katam. A xibǔnux tix iy favwar kuk bap’it wuk a tutu nǔfux,” Anik exclaimed.
I nodded. “Mak, you’re right. I was given a chance to chose who would bear my son now rather than later, before I am dead, yes. How many times must someone remind me that I missed my chance when I didn’t board the spaceship?”
“Then why did you not board?”
“You and I both know that I believe the humans are weak. Most especially the females.”
“You are mistaken. They are not weak,” he said.
“But I am not like the other warriors. You give me one of them and I will break her by the day’s end. And then what use would she be to anyone?”
“In any case, you say the humans are weak, but you have never expressed interest in any true blood Zunatorian woman. They come to you. You ignore them. This was before some of our women were discovered to be infertile, brother.”
“Because I have no interests in filling anyone with my seed.”
Anik grunted. “That is not what this is about, Zark. You know that very well.”
“It’s about making more of us. I know that. I don’t want to make more. Not of me.”
“Not only that. We need companions. Something more to live for other than to fight. Trust me, brother. I defied my father for a long time about this. The last thing I wanted was a mate. Everything I believed would happen, such as taking up too much of my time or being too needy never transpired. Instead, my mate has given me the greatest gift of all.”
“But you deserve such a gift,” I replied. “My life will never be paved in gold, but only black and red. It is fated that I will bring nothing but bloodshed. I am not like you. Where you have a higher purpose, my ǔre is as silver as the moon that grazes above us. I am a death bringer. Isn’t that why the King has chosen me as one of his assassins? I am alone for a reason. And there is no other position I’d rather be in.”
Prince Anik sighed. “There is more to your life than that. My father has gifts and he—”
Anik said nothing, but he did stand. “There is only one way to find out. As your prince and your brother in arms, I am requesting your presence at the auction tomorrow where you will participate.”
“I thought someone went in my stead when I didn’t show up,” I interjected. “I don’t want to steal any warrior’s place at the auction.”
“You are right. When you didn’t show, another was chosen. Unfortunately, one warrior expired after complications from injuries he sustained while on Earth.”
I sighed and squeezed my eyes shut. “I had no idea. Whose soul was lost?”
“Za'uik. Too much blood loss. Too much life force was gone from him before they could get him transported,” Anik stated. “My father could’ve overlooked you because of your actions and your refusal to report on the spaceship, but he did not. He requests that you come to have your name placed in the auction to be paired with one of the Earth women.”
“And if I do not?”
“I think you will.”
I folded my arms across my chest. “Earlier…you could’ve just said that you were here to tell me that the King wanted me there at that damned auction. I could’ve been eating dinner by now. In bed. Asleep. This is my punishment, isn’t it? Because I failed to show, he will punish me by making me entertain a delicate waif from the planet Earth.”
“Do you really think of this as punishment? Or is this your fate forthcoming from the gods themselves? Either way, my father has decided not to fold on this matter. You will attend the auction as scheduled.”
Anik was almost out the door when I said, “I pity the one who is chosen for me. She won’t want me. She will not be able to handle me.”
“You might be surprised about how much a woman can truly handle. But you know what I think, brother? I think you are afraid because you’re the one who can’t handle a woman. Or a mate, for that matter.”
The door was closed before I could come up with my rebuttal.
Anik and I used to fight and argue all the time like brothers when we were young, but I was going to let him win this one—just this one time. Only because he was the prince.
I was too tired to go after him anyway.
CHAPTER THREE
Freya
* * *
My memories were still a blur. One month had passed, and I still felt nothing.
While most of the other woman stood trembling, afraid to be sold to some alien warrior at auction, I was unmoved. Besides, the worst thing had already happened to me. I couldn’t even figure out who I was.
I found it odd that the only time panic rose in me was when one of the alien warriors made it known that he intended to take some woman named Aurora as his mate. This Vaxar had no problems with threatening the other warriors to a fight to claim her.
For whatever reason, I thought I knew this raven-haired Aurora. I had this hunch…
From the way she looked at me while we were kept in the dorms during acclimation, I was sure she knew me better than I knew myself right now. She was the first to have called me Freya when they led us onto the spaceship, and I had felt compelled to answer to that name. The only problem was, I didn’t think I was ready to unveil the past me.
My memories seemed to be hidden deep inside me buried under a mountain of pain.
There were times when I thought I could remember something. An image would flash in my mind. Simple things like eating or dressing would remind me of the clothes I liked to wear or the food I liked to eat while on Earth. Sometimes I’d remember a face, but nothing else. But as fast as the memories rose in me, they’d disappear again.
I turned my attention back to the auction.
“Cut her ropes,” the King ordered.
But the King wasn’t talking about me at the moment. They were preparing to take the woman named Aurora away.
The determined warrior Vaxar came forward and claimed her. What surprised me further was how she looked at me one last time before disappearing with him. My heart sank when she was gone.
I should’ve let go of this stupid fear and asked her what I wanted to know when I had the chance to. At one point when I ran into her in the dorms, I wanted to ask her who she was and how she knew me. Every time I got the courage to talk to her, my fear stopped me.
The other women were cruel. Either that, or they looked at me with pity. I knew their scorning of me had something to do with what happened on Earth, but my memories were like a vortex. And I wasn’t sure that I wanted to remember what made these women hate me so much. Whenever those snippets of my past would come back to me, I remembered feeling powerless and awkward. Now here I was feeling empty and alone.
Abducted from Earth…
Memories gone…
Marked for breeding…
None of the other women’s memories had been erased. Why mine?
Those initial memories of being boarded up on the spaceship only meant one thing—my memory erasure had happened on Earth. My nurse Meriuam claimed they hadn’t caused my memory loss. Why would they do that when some of them could read minds and even predict futures? But what human would do such a thing to me, and why would they do it?
All the abducted women, including myself, spent an average of two weeks in a cleansing chamber. I met my nurse Meriuam almost immediately after they woke me up. For the next two weeks, we were tutored and schooled and learned the ways of the Zunatorians. I still had trouble with even the most common words of their language. I walked around in a daze, wondering why my memories were gone and why I felt nothing. Other than Aurora and my assigned nurse, no one else would talk to me. I sat alone. I ate alone. I was truly alone.
Meriuam actually wanted to help me with my memories. I told her everything I knew, and she concluded that I must have come from a very rich family on Earth. Some of the girls had whispered the same thing about me. Governor’s daughter, they claimed. She said I was wearing gold jewelry and diamonds when I was captured. My mannerisms were not like the others who all admitted to being servants, regular citizens, or captured rebels. Other than the remnants of some drug running through my system, I was in good health.
According to Meriuam, my memories weren’t completely gone. They were just locked away. If my warrior permitted it, I’d be allowed to visit some cave that was said to heal the mind, body, and soul. And then…the memories could come back. Could being the key word.
The King rapped something on arm of the chair to silence the room, jolting me from my daydreams yet again. “Let’s get on with it. I have to prepare for my talk with the Aurrakian ambassador from Xalxa 5. Their group will be here soon. Hand me the ballot box, Talyn.”
Suddenly, it dawned on me…I was going to be auctioned off. Just like Aurora.
Not sure if I would be able to hold my lunch down despite the nausea and bile steadily creeping up my throat, I pressed my lips together and directed my gaze back to the floor. I wrung my hands in front of me as the big alien warriors watched. They looked anxious and downright ravenous. They were big and strong. I’d never seen men like them. But they weren’t men at all. They looked like huge gladiators with impeccable gray skin that appeared tough enough to withstand almost anything.
Some of the women gossiped about the warriors while we were in the dorms being groomed and trained to be their mates, breeders, and whatever else they expected us to be. They talked in awe about the sheer strength these beings possessed since some of them witnessed the fighting that went down between several humans and a couple of warriors during the raid. Some of them even secretly looked forward to being dominated in bed by these soldiers, while others were scared out of their minds. As for me, I stood somewhere in between. How could I know what I wanted? I didn’t even know who I was.
These warriors were said to have possessed powers. More spiritual than magical. Their auras—or ǔre, in their language—gave their talent
s away. Zunatorian aliens with blue auras, just like the King possessed, were said to be telepathic. They could read thoughts, whether you openly projected them or not. Beings with white or silver auras, like Meriuam possessed, were known to heal, nurture, and bring life into the world. White or silver auras could also mean the opposite, which I assumed that Meriuam meant destructive. A majority of the aliens possessed red auras, which meant they were empathic and absorbed emotions and feelings through touch. There were others, but I couldn’t remember them all. This was the first time that I had seen so many of them in one room.
“Yuvim.” The King spoke. “We have a name. Braken. Congratulations. You get first pick. Chose wisely. Breeding should begin as soon as possible. Should you fail to convince your human to accept you, you will relinquish any rights to keep her. Understood?”
The one called Braken smiled. “Understood, Your Majesty.”
Braken wasted no time. He walked up to the podium where the women were lined up and picked out the tallest one near the end of the line. He must have known he wanted her, because he went right to her. She was beautiful with waist length auburn hair and a hourglass body that any woman could hope for. Or maybe it was just me, wishing that my hips were a little more curved and that I was blessed with bigger breasts. Suddenly, something flashed in my mind. It was an image of me looking at my reflection in a tall mirror with an elegant gown held in front of me. Behind me there were over a dozen other dresses on the bed. Someone was knocking on my bedroom door telling me to get ready fast or I’d be late for my father’s ball.
Realizing that I was going down memory lane again, I shook my head, banishing the moment.