by A. G. Wilde
“I can see why you like this,” she murmured, trying not to focus on the feel of his body behind hers. “It’s so light it feels like you’re not even using a weapon.”
“Yes.” His voice was close to her ear.
They did a few passes with the weapon as Yce showed her how to spin while slicing sideways, how to block, and how to crouch while driving the blade upward in one movement. She was sure she’d seen him do that last one with one of the sand cats.
“Do you like the weapon?” he asked, as she buried it into the sand.
“I guess. But I don’t really like weapons. I prefer using my hands.”
Yce chuckled. “I recall. A certain sand cat found that out the hard way.” He then sobered and looked at her strangely. “Where did you learn to fight like that?”
“It’s a form of martial arts on Earth. I train in a gym with a bunch of guys mainly.” She shrugged, almost missing the look in his eyes.
“You do what you were doing with the sand cat with human men?”
“Only a few women are at the gym where I train but there’s always a guy ready to spar.”
“I can’t guess why that would be.”
Catching the tone in his voice, Diana chuckled.
“Are you jealous?”
“Jealous?”
“It’s completely platonic, trust me.” When that didn’t change the expression on his face she continued. “Here, let me show you.”
Before Yce could respond, Diana charged at him, ducking underneath his arm to lock her hands together around his hamstrings. Pushing all her weight into the momentum of her thrust, she kept driving forward into him twisting her body until they both toppled to the warm sand beneath them.
As she raised her head, a chuckle on her lips, she realized Yce’s eyes mirrored confusion.
“Your fighting style confuses me,” he said. But as she laughed, he wrapped both arms around her and pulled her up towards his face. “But I like it,” he murmured, his lips brushing against hers. “Diana.”
It was a strange feeling. One that she never thought she’d be experiencing, especially not in the circumstances. But it felt…good.
It felt really good.
“Tomorrow, I go to retrieve my ship,” he said, his lips still brushing against hers. “You must stay here, where it is safe.”
Even before the words left his mouth fully, she knew what her response was going to be.
“No. I come with you.”
The thought of being alone without him so soon felt wrong. It wouldn’t work, not when they were just discovering each other.
Not when she was just discovering that she really, really liked him.
No, she’d go wherever he went.
His eyes searched hers for a moment before he nodded.
As he wrapped his arms around her, Diana settled against him.
This is where she wanted to be.
He was holding her tight and she didn’t want him to let go.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
She didn’t know how he remembered where the Elysium was buried, but as they set out, he seemed to know exactly where he was going. Their party consisted of six of the snake-dragons, all carrying two Mukkians each.
Diana smiled to herself as she watched Yce’s muscles flex underneath his skin as he relaxed on the seat beside her. The ulom they had boarded slithered through the sand beneath them with ease and it seemed as if it was going to be a smooth journey.
To think that at the start of their journey, she’d said she’d never be returning with him to dig up the ship. Life had a funny way of never going to plan. But, this time, she wouldn’t change the direction it was heading in for the world.
The snake-like creatures moved so quickly through the sand, the glass walls of the outpost were soon out of view and there was only sand ahead as far as her eyes could see.
Now that they had transport, she was happy they didn’t have to trek at night. Though, the heat of the twin suns in the daytime was hard to get used to.
She was already sweating.
Pulling up the hood of her top over her head to shield her face from the suns’ glare, she glanced at Yce to find his eyes glued to her.
Ever since they’d stripped their inhibitions, he hadn’t stopped staring at her as if he wanted to devour her at every second.
His gaze made her blush.
Never before had she had someone look at her with such obsession. It almost made her feel like a queen. His queen.
Traveling across the desert was long and tiring and as the snake-dragons slid through the sand, she realized just how far from the Elysium’s crash site they had trekked. As the suns beat down on them, she found herself dipping in and out of sleep.
When the uloms finally stopped moving seemingly in the middle of nowhere, the twin suns were already making their descent from the sky.
No time was being wasted. The twelve Mukkians that had accompanied them hopped off the snake-dragons and muttered among themselves excitedly.
As Yce hopped down, he spoke to them in their language and they began poking their spears in the sand beneath them.
For a few seconds, she wondered what they were doing, but then one of them exclaimed something and the others hurried over.
His spear had hit something and they all began digging in that spot.
As they excavated whatever it was, the undeniable white metal of the Elysium came into view.
Diana’s eyebrows rose. It was hard to believe the ship was right there. Who would have thought? Looking around, there was no indication that anything was buried beneath them and that made her wonder what else was hidden beneath the desert sands.
The Mukkians were muttering excitedly, obviously making plans among themselves as they got to work and, before long, she realized what they were doing.
Yce had mentioned that they were scavengers, but not scavengers in the usual sense. They scavenged for metal and space debris that fell onto the planet’s surface. As they set to work, it seemed they had all the tools they needed in chests tied to the uloms.
Soon, the little robed men had dug enough sand from around the Elysium to expose part of a damaged wing. From there, they seemed to determine where the front and back of the ship was and began digging again.
As Diana watched, she noticed Yce seemed distracted.
He was still waiting to hear back from the Restitution but she wasn’t sure that was what was bothering him.
Actually, he kept turning his eyes to the sky, his gem glowing as he surveyed the heavens. He was helping the Mukkians work, but every now and again, he stopped and the intensity of the glow in his eyes was increasing with every minute.
Night was coming in slowly, and she wondered if that was what was troubling him. Maybe he wanted them to be on their way back to the outpost before nightfall. She understood that. She was well over the inconvenience of this planet coming to life at night. Being within the walls of the outpost almost made her forget that outside was a survivor’s quest—one she didn’t miss.
Excited chatter from the Mukkians caught her attention and she watched them attach ropes to the uloms before tying the free ends around what she assumed was the back of the Elysium.
It was a big ship. Did they think these animals could tow it?
They were huge but...
“Diana.” Yce’s voice cut through her thoughts. His tone was…different and immediately a chill ran down her spine. He was standing now, his body tense, his eyes and gem glowing with intensity as he looked up above them.
“I am sorry.” He continued. “They are here.”
What?
Who?
Who was here?
But she didn’t need him to say anything further because in one movement his blade was by his side, unsheathed and ready.
The Mukkians must have also sensed something she didn’t because they too were suddenly alert. Their chatter was now lower than before but their little spears were ready in their hands.
D
iana gripped the seat beneath her, her eyes scanning the desert.
She couldn’t see anything.
Everything seemed normal. There were no enemies approaching in the distance. No starships in the sky.
Then it hit them.
A deafening sound in the relative stillness of the desert.
It was a loud sort of horn, like a ship’s horn as it enters a dock, only it made the air around them vibrate.
A sort of wind began to swirl above them and Diana watched in horror as a sleek black jet materialized out of thin air.
The murmur among the Mukkians grew but now, even without being able to understand what they were saying, she could sense the urgency in their words.
Whoever this ship belonged to was not a friend and something told her she knew exactly who it was.
It looked to be similar to the fighter jets the Tasqals had commissioned to attack them from space. The same jets that had shot the Elysium down. The same jets that were the reason she was on Muk in the first place.
It was the Tasqals.
They’d found them.
One of the little men hopped up on the seat beside her, thrusting his spear towards her as he did.
Diana gulped, looking at the brown outstretched hand.
The spear was small. What did he expect her to do with such a little weapon?
By the looks of it, there was about to be a fight and the only thing the little spear looked like it could do was roast marshmallows.
It might annoy the gator-guards, if they were the ones in the ship, but she’d have to get really close to them for the spear to even tickle them.
The Mukkian motioned for her to take the weapon, speaking to her firmly and Diana nodded, accepting the little spear.
“Stay on the ulom. Lie low. You will be safe.”
Yce wasn’t looking at her but his voice was a comforting baritone in her head.
He was tense, his eyes glowing white and now so were the neurons underneath his skin. As he stalked forward, his muscles were firm in his back.
She could sense coldness from him…anger even, which was strange because his emotions had always seemed so closed off. But now, she was sure that those emotions weren’t her own. They were his. And they weren’t directed at her. They were directed at the ship above them.
As the ship descended, an opening appeared on its side and Diana gulped.
Gator-guards. She’d been right. She could see them standing at the door, ready to deplane.
She’d gotten so used to not seeing them that seeing them again made everything terrifying.
They didn’t wait.
As the gator-guards jumped from the ship, she was mildly aware of the Mukkians spreading out. There were dunes nearby and some of them headed for those.
Probably to hide.
But Yce stood firm. He walked into the open, away from the uloms and the Elysium.
“Yce! What are you doing?!” she shouted at him in her head, hoping he could hear her.
“Lie low. I will take the fight away from the uloms. It is all I can do right now to protect you.”
Wait. That was why he was leading them away?
Did he not realize how many of them there were?
“You can’t fight this alone!” she communicated back. She’d lost count of how many guards had hopped from the ship but her guess was that there were at least a dozen.
When was he going to realize that he was not alone anymore?
It was the two of them.
She was there with him.
Her heart pummeled against her chest as the gator-guards deplaned. There were so many of them. The last time she’d seen so many was when they’d made their escape from the Isclit ship.
But Yce was not deterred.
She watched him walk further away and the guards’ attention was on him.
Only on him.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
“Diana.” Yce’s voice boomed in her head. “Stay on the uloms. They will protect you.”
But who was going to protect him?
The Mukkians had all disappeared for all she could see.
Diana shook her head, gripping the little sword in her hand.
She couldn’t just sit and watch him be ganged.
The last time that had happened, her heart had shattered into a thousand pieces with a love she hadn’t even fully realized she’d had for him.
But even though her skin itched to jump off the creatures and charge at the nearest guard, she knew he was right. The snake-dragon creatures had already flipped their scales from the dark side to the side that made them transparent. The only visible things were the seats and trunks attached to them. If she laid low between the seats, she was sure she would be relatively safe.
However, that would be no good if Yce and the Mukkians got slaughtered. The gator-guards would only come to investigate the animals. Maybe the snake-dragons would fight back, or maybe they would take off, but who was to say they would protect her. She wasn’t their owner.
Diana bit her lip as she crouched between the seats.
She didn’t like this. She didn’t like it one bit.
It felt cowardly but the fear she felt at seeing the gator-guards jumping from the large ship had shaken her to her core. It reminded her of everything they’d been through so far. It reminded her of her first days on the Isclit ship.
From where she lay, she could see Yce, his blade ready as the first gator-guard charged at him.
The gator-guard was using some kind of rod that had an electrical current but Yce was fighting bravely, skillfully blocking the charged end of the guard’s weapon. As they parried, another guard charged at Yce, and Diana felt her heart rise in her chest.
But Yce spun just in time to dodge the blow that was aimed at his back. Slicing upward, he executed the same move he had taught her, and his blade went straight through the guard’s midsection.
The guard collapsed but there was no time for rejoicing in the small victory as another guard roared, his shock rod aimed at Yce as he charged toward him.
Through the corner of her eyes, she saw movement and Diana realized the Mukkians hadn’t gone to hide. They hadn’t abandoned them.
The little robed men were poking their spears in the dunes.
Smart, she thought. Waking the sleeping zehmips would no doubt cause confusion but that confusion could be used to their advantage. Hopefully the gator-guards weren’t used to the planet so seeing the strange giant plants might affect their game plan.
Before long, the undeniable sound of tree bark stretching echoed beneath the sound of the large ship still hovering above them.
The zehmips were awakening. It seemed they had woken the two zehmips closest to the battle and as soon as the plants began rising, they hurried towards the gator-guards nearest to them.
She could hear some of the gator-guards laugh—a noise that sounded more like a wheeze and a cough than a laugh—as they saw the Mukkians approach.
No doubt they were wondering what damage the little men could do. She was wondering the same.
But as the Mukkians charged forward, they pulled on the center of their little spears and the weapons extended.
They extended?
They extended!
Diana gripped the spear she was holding. With a longer rod, it would no doubt be more helpful.
The Mukkian closest to her launched himself from the sand, jumping meters into the air, and with his spear pointed forward, he aimed for the gator-guard closest to him.
It was such a surprising move, the gator-guard seemed to have the same reaction as she did.
Its yellow eyes widened as it saw the little alien head for it but that little second of surprise was just enough of a delay for the Mukkian’s advantage.
Before it knew what happened, the Mukkian was burying its spear deep into the guard’s chest, dangling from the end of the rod as it shouted in its language at the guard.
The guard collapsed.
If it was
n’t such a serious situation, the scene would have been funny. The little Mukkian roared in triumph.
The other Mukkians were just as effective but her eyes were drawn back to Yce.
He was surrounded by three gator-guards now, the shock rods of their weapons pointed at his chest.
With a roar she’d never heard echo from him before, Yce bared his teeth and readied his blade.
She could feel her heart lodging itself in her throat as she watched him.
“Diana,” his voice boomed in her head.
“Yce.” She wondered if he could sense her distress. It wasn’t easy standing on the sidelines and watching.
“If anything happens. Go back to the outpost. Go alone if you have to.”
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying…”
He couldn’t finish. One of the guards charged at him and Yce dodged the charge but another came at him at the same time, this time with a blade, slicing at Yce’s chest.
Diana swallowed a scream as she saw the gush of blood.
He’d been hit.
Yce had been hit.
If she didn’t do something, he was going to die.
She saw another guard take the opportunity to charge at him again, but Yce wasn’t going down so easily. Despite the obvious pain of the fresh wound, she watched him spin and land a blow of his own, burying his blade deep into the guard’s chest.
The guard grunted, holding on to the blade, and Yce raised his leg and landed a kick into the guard’s midsection, releasing his blade just in time as another guard charged at him.
It was bad.
There were still so many guards.
So many.
And when she thought it wasn’t going to get any worse, a loud roar echoed across the
desert.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
It was a terrifying sound and she felt herself tremble as she raised her eyes to the hovering ship.
The thing. Was. Huge.
The biggest gator guard she had ever seen in her life.
It was the size of at least two regular-sized guards and it was horrendous.