Feral Fever
By
Skhye Moncrief
(c) Copyright by Skhye Moncrief, April 2011
Cover Art by Eliza Black, April 2011
Published by new Concepts Publishing
Smashwords Edition
New Concepts Publishing
Lake Park, GA 31636
www.newconceptspublishing.com
This is a work of fiction. All characters, events, and places are of the author’s imagination and not to be confused with fact. Any resemblance to living persons or events is merely coincidence.
Dedication
To Melinda who really needs to get back to writing.
Chapter One
(Earth year 2013 AD)
Knives became my friend years ago in Egypt. I didn’t like leaving them behind. But I had enough sense not to question my commander about weapons and what I didn’t see while staring through the shuttle craft’s window across the burning sands ending at the base of the mountain where my superior officer swore a wormhole connected planet Slaken to the world of the Luvks. Or so an Earth girl reasoned. But Aisling Bjorn wasn’t on Earth anymore and reason had been cast out the window with a proverbial bucket when I bailed on my home world about a year ago. Especially when Commander Goro had insisted we leave our knives in the shuttle today. Better to gulp back my questions and observe over Goro’s shoulder where he toyed with the space shuttle’s controls.
Surely the gateway was there in the glinting face of the blood red sedimentary rock. My vision just couldn’t detect whatever indicated its presence. But this singular point in the universe was where we intended to walk into another dimension. Or something equally bizarre. Rarely did scientific explanations make sense after I joined the Order of the Marshals a year ago in that Big Apple New Age bar, The Awakening, because there really wasn’t a scientific explanation for this wormhole. It merely existed, according to my psychic superiors.
And who could demand more explanation when you just woke up one day in a crazy dream that defied all the logic a girl absorbed studying the rise and fall of civilizations in archaeology? After all, the last thing archaeologists believed was that extraterrestrials built anything on Earth. Or that aliens even existed at all. But nobody on earth, including archaeology, knew about the Blood Wars or the extraterrestrials who made appearances in Earth legends as werewolves and vampires.
So, joke’s on me. A secret doorway was about to lead my team into an alternate universe where cat-like people required a were-assassin Marshal to help them coexist with the winged beings here on this side of the portal, on planet Slaken. Since both populations are telepathic, meaning composed of higher-evolved psychics, my earthling peer and I, lesser-evolved psychics, will bond perfectly with the populations to complete were-assassin bonds. So, I’m going to become a were-wolf…
“How do you feel, Aisling?” Goro asked me in his calming half whisper of a voice without turning away from the shuttle’s control panel.
“Ready to go.”
“Like change knocks at your door?”
Yes, especially because my door is that I’m psychic. Or so The Marshals swear my powers of healing make me so. But I can’t control my power. Even better, I’m going to intermarry with one of these higher-evolved psychics to create a political alliance through marriage. Why? Marshals have the upper hand in sheltered thoughts because were-wolves have impenetrable minds like lesser-evolved psychics. Like me. So, no mind control and a whole lot of terrifying power lay in my future.
“Just remember, the Luvks are matriarchal,” Goro noted. “Their society is ruled by seven queens whose sons form a Royal Guard for each matriarch. But the provinces war among themselves. Adding healers to the picture instead of psychics who can remote view or kick butt with telekinesis should buffer the friction between warring groups by saving the wounded without causing conflict in interfering in other ways.” Goro’s tall black-leather-clad form climbed out of the pilot’s seat. “That’s what will keep you alive on Luvk.”
But what I don’t understand is why me? Goro’s wife always said I shouldn’t open a tuna fish can let alone touch a bleeding person until I learned to manage my psychic power.
“Let’s go.” Goro shot me a stoic glance before sliding his commanding gaze to my peer Johnson and strode across the shuttle’s sterile metal interior. “Let’s not keep the warriors waiting.”
For some reason, I couldn’t conjure a picture of these cat warriors in my mind. I’d never been one to gravitate toward vampires, werewolves, or cat people in fiction. I was a sci-fi girl. My thoughts were always on things lost to time and how they worked into the natural order of bigger things as well as how they had become lost to time. Science. Scientific mysteries are my passion. And one stared me down. That’s probably why I was so gung ho about leaping through this invisible portal.
Goro headed toward the gaping sun-lit hatch, his long black hair swinging with purpose.
Finally. I shoved into the commander’s shadow, throwing my light backpack of personal items over my shoulder, and followed him into the warm sunlight.
Bringing a couple things from home had been a silly act in grasping at my childhood baggage. But something comforting lay in the few pieces of clothing, a paperback novel—just in case I have a child so far from home and want to teach him to read and write his mother’s tongue—a postcard image of Earth I lugged along for posterity. So, call me sentimental. The postcard was my adult equivalent of a teddy bear or security blanket. But the point is that I’m fully aware of the point.
Goro’s swinging tails of his long black leather coat lured me toward the accumulated bits and chunks of debris at the mountain’s base.
Time to experience something no other scientist would ever experience back on earth.
My heart squeezed out a tiny cringe.
For joy or fear? I’d been in space about a year now. Nothing short of amazing had happened. I landed a seat at the head of class in Marshal Law and everything in cultural studies from Quadrant One to Twelve they had managed to cram into one year. An anthropologist couldn’t grumble about one second of said year. But now I headed into the unknown. Like an exalted Mayan volunteer who’d been wined and dined for a year but faced the ritual blade that would flay his hide into a priest’s cloak as he became the symbol of fertility, the Xipe Totec. This was it. My future. Aisling Bjorn literally died today on her home side of the gateway in an act of sacrifice for humanity. Well, planet Luvk’s humanity.
A stone hit the heel of my boot.
“Sorry,” Johnson muttered.
Was he a better choice to marry into the Luvk society? The Luvks were warriors, combative, and always one wing shy of winning a fray. Apparently they could hold their own enough to operate independently of the Slakens. But Johnson was probably the best candidate for working with the Luvks. He could heal a wound with one touch resulting in a momentary flash of light that looked like the lights flickered. Me, I struggle to focus my psychic energy only to drive it all into a person and suck myself dry. I always collapsed into an unconscious heap afterward. The Luvks will think I’m weak. Most likely useless. Johnson was the best bet to secure a strong Marshal presence among the newly liberated colonials. But that left the elitist bastards for me to contend with. I just couldn’t decide what the best option is for The Cause.
Goro stepped up to a grainy red stone wall, never paused, and disappeared through what appeared to be solid rock.
Maybe the commander had some kind of psychic power associated with his vision. I don’t know. But I closed my eyes, gripped my backpack straps beside my armpits, and just followed in his footsteps without missing a beat. Two steps later, someone grabbed my elbow.
“You’re here, Aisling,” Goro said.
At the risk of looking like a fragile terrified female, I opened my eyes.
The most beautiful forest of green raced upward across a mountain toward rocky barren peaks in the blue sky. “It’s like earth.” I sucked in a deep breath.
“In landscape, yes.” Goro pointed to my left.
To at least a dozen extraterrestrial humanoids lined up before a tree line, standing on the edge of a grassy meadow. Luvks. All were menacing, striped like tigers, wearing enormous shield-shaped metallic masks above a metallic o-ring with black leather lacing for a halter. Or something that had to serve solely as some decorative clothing instead of functional armor sparingly covering their broad chests. But their black pants made the warriors a sight to behold. Someone in all her infinite wisdom dressed these males in pants that had almost completely open sides. Something along the lines of chaps. The gaping sides of each pant leg were strapped together with small black tabs, probably leather, just enough to make the pants functional but show off the musculature and striping on each man’s legs. Cap off the perfect picture with knee-high black boots and this display of power and beauty was only overshadowed by the intimidating metal mask each of the warriors wore.
These guys were dark. Deadly warriors.
“Now this is a planet,” Johnson sighed.
The warriors didn’t seem to notice Johnson’s compliment. But how could anyone tell without their facial expressions to factor into the mix? The warriors just stood there, waiting. The one in the middle stood quite a bit taller than the others. The three long horns lined across the top of their masks only made him appear taller still. His height probably won him a lot of respect.
For the most part, they looked identical. Massive arm muscles, the kind a girl could wrap herself up inside and nap away the day. But that’s just a detail worth noting because these guys had yet to reveal their perspectives on life. A little menacing presentation didn’t tell anyone squat about the Luvks other than outsiders needed to walk very carefully over this planet’s smoldering coals the Slaken’s couldn’t extinguish.
“You left your knives on the shuttle, correct?” Goro asked.
Now, that wasn’t something I wanted to recall. “Yes.” But these warriors looked like they could take care of a few aliens on their turf. As long as they were on our side all would be fine.
Johnson nodded his reply.
Goro turned to the warriors. “Greetings, Borun.”
Across the few hundred yards of boulders and grass separating them, the tallest warrior nodded and threw an arm backward, waving behind him.
Apparently, he was in charge.
The other warriors turned and disappeared into the trees.
The motion provided an excellent view of the stripes on their backs. I couldn’t see any indication of fur. Grant it, quite a distance separated us. Nor did I detect tails. Each man had dominant black striping. But their other stripes were a color ranging from a vibrant orange to a dull gold or white. All the patterning appeared like a genetic tattoo. Or these guys spent a lot of time under the needle. And they each had bluntly cut hair pulled back in a queue. The hairstyle made sense given they wore masks. Although, a person would expect functional masks to cover the backs of the warriors’ heads as well. These masks did not and left their purpose a mystery.
The tall Luvk, Borun, quickly walked toward us. Strong muscled arms swinging to maintain his pace, his stature demanding we take note. Quite a bit over six feet tall, he cast a long shadow when he stopped before Goro and scanned the shorter Johnson from head to toe.
“This is Marshal Johnson, Borun.” Goro’s calm cool voice smoothed over any friction between the two males during the Luvk’s assessment.
Borun’s gaze snapped back to Johnson’s, and the Luvk nodded once.
That movement seems to be the standard universal acknowledgement between males.
Borun’s brown gaze coolly slid to mine and paused, for a moment as if drawn to something in my eyes, then he assessed my person. Hopefully just my attire. But something told me by the slight pause of his gaze at my breasts and hips that he was studying me for other reasons.
Chapter Two
“Aisling, I’d like you to meet Prince Borun,” Goro stated with that almost whisper of his deep calming voice.
Why had my bad ass alien boss gone from Johnson’s formal introduction to making mine more intimate? Screaming sexual harassment wasn’t going to get me anywhere.
Borun’s gaze snapped back to mine, to consider something with a glint, then pulled away to Goro. “The female won’t be safe until we reach Queen Ishan’s palace. She rides with me.”
Just what in the hell was going on out here in an alternate dimension, or whatever where this warrior spoke perfect English? Or am I lighting a match to burn my bra? I could use a little bit of goddamned respect.
Borun pivoted, his orange and black slashed body revealing movement at the tree line.
The warriors had returned riding large dog creatures. Or something equally formidable. Okay, so maybe I didn’t want to ride a monster alone. Yet. Even a dog-thing or whatever they were. These beasts’ muzzles weren’t wide enough to resemble bears. But I wasn’t going to quibble over which animal they resembled most when these creatures could obviously rip me to pieces with their canines. Something about their heads reminded me of the were-form Marshals transformed into. But on four feet instead of two. Strength. Terror. A few memory flashes from the past year were just what it took to send my gaze racing back to my boss.
Goro waved us on to join the Luvks.
Well, here goes my big anthropological adventure.
* * * *
Borun wasn’t certain what lunacy unfolded around him as he headed to his war mount, Jonner. But something went terribly wrong, he thought. This female looked like my sister from a distance, in every detail down to her black leather boots, pants, and long sleeved white shirt. Up close, anyone who’d seen Frenyl would know Aisling was not the princess. They’d see her for what she was—a Marshal—and take her for what she could be—a mate simply because there were so few noble females of marriageable age among the provinces. But the fact these Marshals presented new alliance opportunities for each clan meant every Queen wanted her son to be chosen to mate into the power and prestige associated with these off-world beings who promised to end the sky demon raids.
But this female changed political games here on Luvk. Now any Royal Guard could vie to land among her consorts, representing his realm and queen among her mates. Her mates could then sway her choices in dealing with the seven realms. Would she be strong enough to see outside the desires of her mates? Or would she buckle to their whims leaving Luvk clans even more at odds with each other? But a Royal Guard’s problems only just began. He could convince her to request him for one of her mates or kidnap her to eliminate the decision.
The sound of crunching grass behind me noted the Marshals followed me.
Extremely wise. Surely, the forest crawled with princes out to steal away with that female. I would be to blame if Mother didn’t have the right to choose between adding the male to her consorts or mating off one of her sons to Aisling. Given the Marshal’s pale skin, flowing white hair, and blue eyes, Mother might just choose one of her high-caste sons to breed more high-caste granddaughters for political marriages with Aisling instead of taking the wormy male into her royal bed. I wouldn’t put it past Mother to have planned to use Aisling in that manner all along. There was no telling what passed between Goro and the Queen during their private discussions.
Mother was conniving enough to have arranged for Aisling to come if Goro had mentioned her skin, hair, and eye color. I met Jonner’s red gaze, grabbed the pommel of war mount’s saddle, and hopped into the saddle’s firm seat high above the ground.
Harin waited nearest on his war beast.
Would the others balk with the female among them? I reached out with my mind to mindspeak to my half brothers. “The female rides with me. You and Clor take the males. We must move quickly. Two days’ ride is too long with her in tow.”
“I heard that,” Goro said, moving toward Harin, reaching up for a handhold to climb up behind Borun’s half brother. “What do you mean? You can tell me. The other Marshals don’t mindspeak. You won’t alarm Aisling.” Goro turned to Johnson. “Give her a hand into the saddle.”
The slight weight of the female settled in behind me comfortably as if she’d always ridden with me.
The fit she managed more easily than her uncomfortable glance. I should have been more charismatic. Mother always told me my charm was what would win me a mate. Since when did I listen to her? At least the little hitch in the female’s heartbeat I’d heard back when I walked up to her was gone. Maybe she merely feared me now. All the better. The last thing I want is to have anything to do with Mother’s manipulation. She could mate off one of her Pure Hearts to the Marshal and torture that unfortunate prince with a ruler’s interference. Better him than me. I shot Goro a stare. “She is of highest caste in appearance. There will be trouble.”
“I wish your mother would have told me that instead of encouraging I bring a female with Aisling’s coloration.” Goro seemed to frown.
But Goro probably feigned the gesture. The commander had a way about him that all the Royal Guards used to move through Luvk society. One never knew what to expect from the sugared lips of a Royal Guard until it was too late to escape.
The female sat quietly, watching me over my shoulder.
By the twinkle in her dangerous sky blue eyes, it was only a matter of time before she tasted power and tormented her own harem. And a harem she would be forced to take once the provinces heard of her beauty. The real test of my duty would be delivering the prize at my back before every prince in the seven realms descended upon me. Why do I feel like Mother sent me on my last quest? I kneed my mount in the ribs.
Jonner hopped into his anxious trot indicating his readiness to move on.
The female’s palms fell on my back, seared my skin with a softness I’d rather not remember. Gods’ torment, I did not even want to begin thinking about her as anything other than my charge.
Her fingers wriggled under a strap of my halter at my back and pulled with a vengeance.
Maybe I should have warned her about my war mount’s behavior. I’d been through the portal. No animal even remotely similar to Luvk’s war beasts existed on the other side. But she was from an even more distant world. I couldn’t hold her to the same expectations of those familiar with what I called life. I’d have to explain everything. Or end up with an earful of Mother’s complaints. That wouldn’t make for a comfortable position in the Royal Guards to a lower-caste warrior who would never marry out from under his mother’s clutches.
* * * *
Aisling didn’t care for the dog-horse’s smooth bouncing gait. Talk about unexpected. What kind of animal shifted from still to all over the place in a blink? I had to keep a grip on Borun’s halter strap to keep my seat. I could hold myself pretty much in position with my knees clamped around the beast’s sides. Enough to keep me somewhat stationary. But my thighs almost immediately quivered from their extended strain in trying to hold my body steady. The only way to really hold on easily would be to slide my hands around Borun’s supple muscles and grab his halter from the front. Before my fingers broke off in the clench I have from this angle on the back. Too dangerous with the way he looked ready to kill. No. I just couldn’t bring myself to slide my hands around Borun’s chest after the way he scanned me over during our introduction. What if he thought I was doing something else? I clutched at the leather strap more tightly and tried to find something else to think about.
But how do you not think about anything but the amazing muscled ass pounding into your groin? And those brilliant orange stripes on his back danced like flames, making me dizzy. I turned my head and tried to redefine else.
Another warrior loped his mount up beside them and studied me from head to toe.
Like I was exotic. The animal I rode slowed to a walk.
The curious warrior trotted off.
“Do you need to rest, Aisling?” Goro called.
What would they think of me if I said yes? I studied the dense forest.
“Aisling?”
Dammit. Whether I stay here or return to the Slakens, these people will always think of me as the weak female if I complain. I threw my shoulders back, tried not to look at the dancing flames on Borun’s wide back, and met Goro’s gaze. “No.”
The war dog halted.
What now?
My fingers burned from trying to hang onto the halter strap.
I released my grip on the halter, if only for a moment, to straighten out my poor stiff sore fingers.
Borun slid off in one casual leap and turned his now golden eyes, although I had thought them merely brown the first time he looked at me. Weird. Maybe I was too self-conscious before to really look into his eyes. The only part of his face anyone could actually study. Maybe that’s why they wore masks? To make people focus on their eyes.
Even without the standard facial features I’d seen on extraterrestrials to guide one’s assessment of a person’s mood, I could tell Borun was perturbed in that stare. And what could be so damned hideous about their faces that made them wear those masks? What were Luvk warriors hiding?
“Slide forward into my seat,” he commanded.
My heart jiggled a little at the deep tone of his voice. Not good. Was he trying to make the ride easier for me? An idiot wouldn’t move. I slid across the saddle.
Borun shot me a final unnerving glance and hopped back into his seat.
Behind me. Pulling my ass and back against his extremely wide chest and snatching up reins I hadn’t noticed before. God he just wrapped his body around mine. Am I being claimed as some possession without my knowledge? So much for falling in love as a were-assassin. Goro would explain what transpired the next chance I got him alone because riding like this was too damned intimate by the accusation I’d seen in Borun’s eyes. But I had no choice in what unfolded. Either way I rode, I was going to be all over Borun. At least, he chose this route and could stew over the problems that arose from his end. I for one wanted things to go as smoothly as possible.
* * * *
Mother was going to pay for sending me on this errand, Borun thought. I tried to forget about the curves I had one arm wrapped around. Her accursed long soft pure white hair kept rubbing my chest. And she seemed frail or timid. The clans would chew her up and spit her out like a toothpick. Mother and her annoying plans for reigning supreme couldn’t worsen any further.
But duty called. There was no other way to transport the female to the palace aside from her clutching at my chest. And the last thing I needed was her hugging me, shoving her curvaceous breasts into my body. I kicked Jonner into a gallop and pushed out my thoughts to my brothers. “Let’s make it to the ridge by nightfall.”
We rode for hours until I began pitying the female. It wasn’t as if her behavior changed. But Royal Guards were nobles. And nobles were reared to respect females. And she just might have needed to relieve herself. Or something. So, I reined in Jonner at a calm high mountain pool and pushed out with my mind. “Keep watch while this female stretches her legs.”
Although the delay cost them time. An hour more on their trip really wouldn’t matter. I slid off the saddle to land my boots squarely on the ground, reached up to the female’s slender waist, and carefully lifted her light form.
She went and touched my wrists with gloriously soft hands, meeting my gaze with a questioning glance.
As if she wondered why we stopped. Or thought her touch set my body aflame.
She wobbled a bit on her legs.
Not used to riding? She’d be broke in before long after one of my half brothers ripped the others to shreds to bed her.
She turned to pat Jonner’s neck.
Unwise. “Don’t.”
She shot me a glance over her shoulder but patted the war beast’s brown fur anyway.
She was lucky Jonner didn’t bite off her hand for her defiance. Apparently, he’d accepted her in my allowing her to ride him.
“How dangerous is this animal?” she asked while combing through the war beast’s ratted fur with her fingertips.
What kind of affect would the truth have on her? Would she cringe at a lifestyle deemed barbarous by the sky demons? “He kills for me.”
Jonner turned his nose to where her hand scratched his neck and sniffed her scent.
“I think you’re just a big puppy.” She scratched behind Jonner’s ear until the war beast closed his red eyes in happiness.
If she wanted to fancy herself special, fine. I slid my gaze down the length of her backside, down to her slim long legs cloaked in warrior black, back up to that rounded ass that had plagued me in the saddle. And that long wavy hair as white as clouds.
Beauty.
Absolute beauty my brothers would kill to possess.
She gave Jonner a few firm pats on the neck and stepped off toward where the pool’s mercurial surface reflected the sky.
Silently she walked as if her thoughts lingered on every leaf, stone, and faint ripple cutting the water’s perspective of mountain capped in blue. But danger lurked beyond that calm reflection of the Starry Sky realm. I dared not allow her to stray more than a few steps. I took a step behind her.
She drank in my world as if she hungered to claim it as her own until she stopped at the water’s reflective edge and planted one black boot on a low boulder.
“Aisling?” her commander called.
She snapped back from nature’s enthralling spell and spun to Goro’s approach. Her gaze fell on my chest and slowly assessed my form in one seductive sweeping caress.
Did she know the significance of her actions? How her assessing glance could be misconstrued as interest? Even worse, not one trace of disgust for a lower-caste male graced her assessment. Nor did her heart beat differently, revealingly. Even though she merely studied me with her eyes, most high-caste females never acknowledged the presence of an orange male.
Her weakness would always be those eyes. Barely blue. All-knowing eyes of the elderly who have had their vision turned inward as time stole away their view of the world we took for granted. The eyes of those who held some uncanny knowledge about life. Eyes that promised a solution to everyone’s problems. But dare any of us buy into the promises in her eyes? She was a foreigner. And females proved full of promises. Rarely did a female’s promises carry through with any of her lies.
But Aisling was not Luvk. Her promises had yet to be proven twisted torments.
Her gaze slid up to lock onto mine.
She saw me. The largest Luvk male. Low-caste prince. And she didn’t shudder.
Stupid manipulative female. If only time would steal my sight and rip her beauty from my mind. Then I wouldn’t bear witness to those she would fool with promises. And a dozen fools accompanied us. My brothers weren’t as strong as I was. They would fall under her spell and be forced to share their mate with a harem of bickering outsiders.
But her gaze studied me.
Look away, Aisling. Find another warrior to study.
Goro stole her foolish attention from me.
“Yes, commander?” She picked at one of her thumbnails.
“Please stay near the group.” Goro claimed a spot beside her.
Her brow furrowed. “I have no intention of causing problems.”
Goro reached out and patted her shoulder. “I never said you did. Let’s stay near the warriors until we understand this world better.”
Aisling nodded and turned her glorious face back toward the water. “What did your home world look like?”
Goro’s heartbeat drilled a moment only to fall silent again.
Did was key to that reaction to her inquiry. Something must have happened to his planet.
Goro faced the water, mimicking Aisling’s act of homage to Luvk and thrust his hands under his coat behind his back.
The commander stood as indomitably as any Luvk warrior. “The sun bore down on our world a bit more harshly than it does on earth. I remember green vegetation. But the greens always looked washed out. Blinded by sunlight.”
She turned her nose to face Goro in profile. “What is it that you say? To simply be is to burn a thousand times brighter than the sun of your home world. Always strive to ‘be’ for the greater good?”
Goro graced her with a nod although the song of his heart seemed to waver between sadness and thrashing. “Spoken like a Jennian priest.”
She chuckled. “You can’t imagine how thrilled I am to be away from Jennian illumination. Titan is so cold. And I’m a tree lover. The Jennian priest’s garden was well worth visiting inside that moon, but I just couldn’t stomach all the pontificating I was forced to endure just to gaze upon a leaf.”
“So you prefer it here, then?” Goro chuckled.
What would she say? I leaned a little closer as if my heightened hearing couldn’t detect even the faintest whisper.
She nodded. “Who wouldn’t?”
Not the answer I wanted the other warriors to hear.
“Good. We’ll pass ruins later today. I’ll ask if we can stop.” Goro stepped toward me.
A presence pushed into my mind. “Lord Borun, your mother asked that I show Aisling the ruins.”
Not Mother’s meddling again.
* * * *
By the time Borun’s party reached the mountain of the ancients, he finally understood the wisdom in warriors wearing masks. Wise decisions made long ago often made little sense to those still following tradition. More than anyone could imagine. The metal shielded my senses from the floral scent clinging to the Marshal’s hair. Albeit, enough of the fragrance managed to root in my nostrils. Just enough to make me rue the day my mother lured my father into her exalted bed. I reined in Jonner and shifted my feet to a firm footing in the grass at the mountain’s base.
Everyone knew about the entrance to the ruins. And everyone knew about the Marshal’s arrival. But Jonner stood quietly, detecting nothing, the excellent guard he was. So, a break to stretch our legs was timely. I reached up for the Marshal’s light form and grabbed her waist.
She studied the territory so vigorously that she didn’t even grace the kindness in my helpful attention with a glance.
Females. Always being waited upon hand and foot.
Her gaze finally searched for mine. “Prince Borun, are we almost to the ruins?”
Would she wobble like the last time she claimed a foothold after riding? “Inside.” He nodded toward the mountain’s dense forested cloak.
A wave of enthusiasm smoothed out the thoughtful creases on her face.
“Shall we go?” she lilted.
Why the interest in history carved into stone? Reading died ages ago with the kings. “We’ll wait for Goro and the guards to accompany us.”
She nodded once and scanned the surrounding forest, stepping, stretching the creaks out of her limbs.
One by one, the Royal Guards reined their mounts to a halt and descended to take up watchful positions around the ruins’ entrance and another handful of warriors entering to scout ahead.
Each of my half brothers took the walk leading into the ruins as an opportunity to measure the Marshal. She was shorter than all of the guards. Vulnerable. Talk about annoying. I crossed my arms over my chest and shot each Royal Guard a threatening stare he couldn’t miss.
But who wouldn’t study the female? She barely reached my nipples in height. That was tall for a female but still left her trapped beneath the warrior’s stares. Weaker.
Goro strode to her side. “Shall we go?” he asked.
Aisling’s features bent into exquisiteness with a smile.
But loveliness meant nothing in a female’s intrigue with this ridiculous waste of time. Only Mother would show important guests an eroded city buried by roots. Females. I stepped off to the entrance.
Although my half brothers hadn’t announced intruders inside the city, anything could happen. Especially if Mother had this excursion planned down to each breath we all took.
The Marshal followed at my heels.
Rarely did a man find a cooperative female. Or she was smart enough to stay with the only Luvk who could possibly protect her from the other warriors?
“What do you think of this place, Aisling?” Goro asked her.
“It’s extremely old,” she said.
“The Queen told me over a thousand years have passed since the forest reclaimed the city.”
“This is a city?” she gasped in awe. “I’ve seen monuments reclaimed by forest before. But they were smaller. Mayan. An entire city?” her words died as if she was too stunned to continue.
Why the interest in a city’s death? It’s gone. It means nothing anymore.
A presence pushed into my mind. “Can we show her the Wall of Glory?” Goro asked.
Wasting time to climb halfway up the mount’s interior was foolish. But Mother wouldn’t understand my refusal to cooperate. “Yes. But we must hurry. The forest certainly crawls with Royal Guards from the seven realms. We risk a fight if we encounter them.”
“They’ll all have a chance to meet us soon enough. Your mother has summoned the Queens to her palace.”
I should have expected as much. Every Royal Guard from the seven realms will be present. Waiting. Panting over the Marshal.
After almost an hour of climbing through dark passageways, I led them to the cavernous Hall of Wisdom where the Wall of Glory’s carved stone raced up hundreds of feet on one side of the enormous space. A window still allowed sunlight’s glow to penetrate the darkness.
Nothing felt bad. Not one sound other than their footsteps graced the chamber. Not even a hint of an ancient spirit dwelled therein. All was lost. Buried beneath the forest in a crypt of crumbling stone.
The Marshal didn’t seem to realize. She walked up to a place where the muted sunlight’s glow touched the elevated surfaces of each symbol. Where she could reach the carvings and followed the shadows painted magically with sunlight by the ancients for all to see. She seemed to want to touch the writing, as if it were precious gold, but drew back her fingertips before damaging the images.
What could be hidden in her actions? Fear? Respect?
Goro followed a few steps behind her.
But he merely observed her.
This was such a waste of time. Dangerous. “We should hurry. Or we’ll never reach the palace by nightfall tomorrow.” The last thing I want is to spend another night out with this Marshal, risking her capture.
Aisling rose from a crouch and turned, intrigue stealing her thoughts from us.
Goro walked back, almost to me, and stopped a few steps away only to face her. “Do you think you can read this wall?”
Read it?
Aisling snapped out of her thoughts, settled a conspiratorial gaze on Goro, and stood stone still. “That’s why you chose me for this mission?”
Goro nodded once. “They no longer read their history.”
Her suspicious gaze slid to mine.
What thoughts danced behind that beautiful mask?
She blinked away her view of me and scanned the Hall of Wisdom.
Not all was lost to the Luvks here. Truly. One line of princes had passed on the skill of reading to all its sons. But never had reading and writing done a thing for a Luvk even before the sky demons came. Those who could do either wasted time spent elsewhere.
“Do you think you can decipher this code, Aisling?” Goro asked again.
She sighed while studying the walls. “Maybe. But we cross-referenced texts written in various languages back home. Something like the Rosetta Stone made a huge difference.” Her gaze locked on Goro’s. “I have no idea what these people were doing a thousand years ago. And if I could crack the code, what difference does it make?”
“The Marshals need to know what happened between the Slakens and the Luvks.”
Her mask drained of enthusiasm. She took one step, wiped at her brow as if a long stray white hair tickled her temple from where it loosed itself from its tie, and she inhaled. “Let me see if I’ve got this correct.” Her hand fell to her side, and she met her commander’s gaze. “You’re going to leave me here because you want me to learn a history that occurred over a thousand years ago. And what will this biased history gain the Marshals?”
“Can you do it?”
So much for revealing answers. The commander was as annoying as Mother.
Her gaze slid to mine. “Can anyone still read these symbols, Prince Borun?”
Did I have to tell her? The answer was obvious. I either lie and lose honor or assist with the effort to unite the seven realms. The Marshals seemed to be working toward that goal given what I’ve just overheard. “One warrior reads some of the writing.” And his brother was too insane to bother with.
“There’s your Rosetta Stone,” Goro stated.
The whisper of the commander’s voice didn’t carry that message well.
Aisling’s body seemed to freeze where she watched her commander, her heart racing as if she wanted to run.
Maybe she wasn’t keen on confrontation?
“I can try,” she said. “But I don’t understand how you can rationalize how a thousand years of cultural evolution translates into the key of what will end the conflict between these cultures. My resurrecting a memory that certainly has been passed down generation to generation through oral history seems a waste of time. Oral history is a powerful tool that preserves anything of cultural significance. With oral history, we don’t need a Rosetta Stone.”
“See why I chose you. The others know computers, weapons, or have psychic powers that can gain their mates quite an upper hand in political battles. You, Aisling Bjorn, you can change history.”
Her eyes rolled as she obviously struggled not to cross her arms over her chest defensively.
Like a good warrior attempting to react emotionlessly. Not even a mask would help her with that eye roll.
“So my psychic power is a joke.” She threw her arms up, her heart quieting. “We shouldn’t hold up Prince Borun any longer. I can study these writings later. Much later. And I assume the intention has always been for me to work with this planet’s last scholar.”
Goro chuckled and turned back to the passageway. “We are finished,” he said in mindspeak.
The female didn’t appear to be. She seemed to want to stay with the fleeting stories. Or hide how disturbed she was. Poor thing. A Royal Guard understood the weight of manipulation. She could have a few minutes to collect her thoughts if she wanted them. What better place than the Hall of Wisdom. I pushed out my mind to find Goro’s. “We’ll follow in a moment.”
Goro’s crunching footfalls quieted until silence echoed in the cavern.
The female walked to a chunk of wall that had fallen from high in the shadows overhead. She squatted and traced a fingertip through a groove created by a scholar ages ago. “Who is this warrior who reads the Luvks’ lost language?” She didn’t look at me when she asked.
Would answering her questions gain me anything? By the frustration I’d just witnessed her experiencing, it couldn’t hurt the Luvks to finally have an outside presence working in their favor. “A Royal Guard.”
She rose and took a step toward me with long slender legs. In her black leather pants and white shirt, she looked like a Luvk. Like the Queens. “And you are a Royal Guard?”
Those eyes studied me with more than simple intrigue.
My heart hitched.
She almost blinked, but dropped her eyelids as she turned to another chunk of Luvk history blocking her path.
Could lost history stop the sky demon raids? I’d be a fool to inhibit that process in any manner. But where were her thoughts? “Yes, I am a Royal Guard.”
“Well, you’ve heard everything Goro wished to share with me. I need information on life here, or I’ll just be wasting your people’s time.”
Anything if the information would help her aiding the Luvks. “What do you wish to know?”
“I studied culture as a scholar. And I realize there are taboos to subjects. But I’m about to be slaughtered for the greater good of your people.”
How right she was. I gulped back a chuckle.
Her gaze turned to me where she squatted beside the writing she was commanded to descry. “Can you explain how the marriage system works? I’m supposed to mate with a Royal Guard. I’d appreciate it if you clarified what I’m getting into.”
A hint of fear glinted in those ageless blue eyes. If I told her the truth about the Royal Guards from the seven realms lurking to abduct her in order to bypass the selection process of a queen, she’d panic. “I promise, Aisling, tomorrow you will know everything there is to know about marriage when you meet my mother. But now, we must hurry or we risk a far greater danger.”
She stood, wiped the dust from her hands on her pants, and stepped toward the passageway where Goro had disappeared. “Very well. I’m trusting you on that. You apparently know what’s going on.”
Time will reveal if she truly trusts me. She was here to infiltrate. Whether or not she could would be the question. One way or another, she was going to marry regardless of what she understood about the process. I could help her, educate her, feel out her loyalties. And doing so would assist in ending the sky demon raids. Anything to help the Luvks sleep at night.
A presence pushed into my mind. “I heard something, Borun,” Clor warned in mindspeak.
I caught Aisling by the upper arm.
Her brow furrowed as she stared at my grip.
“Wait here, Aisling. I’m checking the passageway.” I pushed my thoughts out to my half brothers. “Eyes and ears alert. There might be vermin in this cave.” Then I focused my heightened hearing toward the ancient corridor.
* * * *
Aisling couldn’t help but watch the prince’s wide striped back disappear into the shadowy corridor. The darkness engulfed his markings as he passed into shadow, the stripes blending into the murkiness until there was nothing left to see. I’m alone, she thought.
My gut flopped.
Goro would leave soon and where will I be? At least Borun had finally said more than do this and that and my dog kills for me. Since these warriors don’t say much, I’m going to have to confide in someone here. Borun seems like the best choice at the moment.
A rock ticked off twice in a rattling fall behind me.
Was something there? I turned to where the noise sounded off.
Nothing but shadow and walls of stone.
“Marshal?” a male voice called softly from behind me.
That wasn’t Borun.
My heart raced.
Maybe it was one of his men sent to find me? She turned to the warrior.
He was almost as tall as Borun. But Borun’s men were a good six inches shorter than him. And this male’s stripes were black and white. At least that’s all I could tell by the shadow he chose to stand inside with his back to the wall next to the exit.
“You’re the Marshal?” he asked again.
Carefully as if he checked his tone. What did he want? “Yes.”
“I heard everything. You’ve come to unite the clans? This is true?”
Well about as true as I can prove given they can’t read my mind. I nodded.
He pointed to the side of his mask where the chin runs up to the cheek. “Remember this.”
I squinted hoping to gain a better view through the shadows but all I could see were the three standard horns jutting off the top of the mask. The same damned mask Borun wore.
He sprang into life, running toward me.
God, I’m dead.
Chapter Three
The warrior slid to a halt at Aisling’s feet and stared down at her with blue insistent eyes. “Remember,” he said.
With my heart pounding like the world was ending, I studied the edge of his mask decorated with three round holes lined up along the edge. “Alright.”
He leapt around me.
What for?
He raced into the darkness of the Hall of Glory until only silence echoed in the space. His white blond queue swinging at his broad shoulders.
“Aisling,” Borun blurted, bursting back into the chamber. He covered the space between us in five strides while scanning the chamber. “Your heart is racing.”
Probably because you left me here. I gulped down the knot choking my throat. “Your guard didn’t do anything to me. He just spoke.”
He turned his mask until his concerned gaze met mine. “My brothers aren’t anywhere near the Hall of Glory.”
Oh shit. “Is that bad? I mean—” What in the hell did I mean? “Should I be worried about meeting people from other clans?”
He inhaled so deeply that I didn’t need a reply. “Oh little one, you have no idea what’s in store for you.”
Not what I wanted to hear. He had to help me. “Please, Borun.” I laid a palm on the warm corded muscle of his lower arm.
Something akin to a jolt of awareness shook his golden eyes. “A woman should never touch a warrior.”
“I need you to prepare me for what is to come. Just tell me what in the hell they want.” He was noble. He had to take pity on me. “I can’t help your people if I’m unprepared.” And God, were the others even close to being as honorable as him? “You can tell me which ones are the bastards.”
“We shouldn’t talk here. Or anywhere until you’re back at the Queen’s palace where there are private places to speak. The forest is crawling with Royal Guards from the seven realms who want nothing but to abduct you to empower their clans through this marriage you are so concerned about.”
* * * *
A wave of realization washed over the Marshal’s delicate features as Borun struggled not to rudely rip his arm away from her gentle touch. But her heart fearfully thundered. And her hand shook a bit. Those symptoms of fear outweighed my fear of being infected by her touch. A stupid fear.
By the expression on her face, I could tell she slowly began to understand what transpired around her. She would have to stop asking about marriage when everywhere one turned hid another pair of ears. “We should go,” I tried to speak as softly as possible to jolt her out of the spell of her thoughts.
Her gaze slid left and back to mine. “He went that way. But it shouldn’t matter because he didn’t do anything to me.” She sucked in a deep breath and withdrew her hand. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to break any cultural rules.”
Blessed stars, her touch was too accursedly addictive. “Come now.” I pivoted to the passageway.
One by one, we were joined by my half brothers who stepped into the corridor before or behind them, covering their retreat until the blessed sunlight finally produced the forms of the other two Marshals, their war mounts, and the five guards left outside.
I pushed out into my brothers’ minds. “Take heed. We encountered a foreign guard in the ruins. We must go quickly before the female is lost.”
All the warriors hopped onto their mounts. I snatched up Aisling’s light frame and swung her into the saddle. The guards were setting out toward the setting sun, to Mother’s Starry Sky realm by the time I pulled Aisling against my chest and booted Jonner into a trot.
Riding with her was becoming too normal. Almost intoxicating with the scent of her hair. Her rounded ass tucked into my groin. And the curves I had to reach around to hold Jonner’s reins caused more pain than the thousands of two-inch thorns of a Thwarnok bush.
By the time we made it to the ridge, the sun had almost set and a chill lurked in the air. The luxury of a warm campfire was dangerous. So, I threw my sleeping skin on the ground, almost dead center of the encampment, in front of all my watchful half brothers squatting with their gear and sleeping skins, and ushered Aisling to the spotted fur. “You’ll sleep here.”
She wagged her head. “I’m fine. That’s yours.”
With all the nobles watching, this was not the time to argue about his and hers. “You’ll do as you’re told. I’m keeping watch most of the night. I don’t need a bed.”
Goro stepped into the last beam of sunlight at Aisling’s shoulder. “We’re fine, Borun. Take care of your duties. We appreciate your assistance.”
So the commander put his Marshal in her place. Or was the commander trying to send me off on an errand? Goro had no right ordering a Royal Guard around. Only the Queen had that luxury. “She stays here, among the guards.” And that was all I would say on the subject. I pivoted to check the camp’s peripheral ring of war mounts.
Her heart raced the minute I stepped into shadow.
Was that a plea for help in that she feared my brothers? Or was she just terrified because I had revealed every Royal Guard in the seven realms was after her. Neither reason should have mattered. Especially when losing her after that last encounter in the ruins would certainly end my life. Mother would have my hide to hang in her great hall if I didn’t personally monitor our defenses throughout the night.
The uneventful night crept along until I switched out the guards so everyone could sleep and leaned my shoulders back against Jonner’s side. The beast shifted and whined. But nobody cared to rise without something dangerous demanding attention.
Sunlight tickled my eyes open too soon. Or was the alarm set off by Aisling’s form looking down at me with my sleeping fur in a tight bundle?
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you. But the others were breaking camp.” She shot me a meek smile.
“It’s alright.” I shoved my aching shoulders off Jonner’s warm fur and grabbed the saddle to prepare for the day. Hopefully today proved more sympathetic than yesterday. The last thing we needed was a skirmish.
* * * *
Well, I’d better relieve my bladder if I’m going to get back on that dog-horse, Aisling thought, and extended the sleeping fur to her guardian. “I, uh, need to take care of a few things this morning.” Maybe smiling might help get the message across.
He took the fur and scanned the group of milling Royal Guards.
Two approached. Both black and white but otherwise absolutely identical and unidentifiable.
“They will guard you, Aisling.” Borun shot me a hurry-up-and-get-back stare. “I need to saddle up Jonner.”
Well if he thought it safe to send me off with these warriors, fine. Hopefully, these nobles would give me the privacy I wanted, or I’d have to hold it all day.
The guards led me into the trees beside the milling camp.
Just in case something might happen, I counted off seven steps. It was a trick I used in Central America when working in the rainforest. A person never knew when something bad would happen and getting back where you needed to be was but a certain number of steps through the trees.
The black and white warrior twin to the left nodded at a clump of bushes.
Apparently, Borun understood my dilemma.
The other twin skirted the shrubs.
Both turned their backs to me. Fine. I can’t think of a reason not to urinate at the moment. Bladder screaming it would burst. I stepped into the shrubs, shoved down my leather pants, and took care of business.
Thank goodness, somewhere along the line, I learned to just go with things. Like urinating in front of two big hunky tiger guys who were my potential mates. Ugh. Why did that have such a weird ring to it? Probably because my father was a bastard who impregnated my mother and ran. Probably because I had a little issue with just spreading my legs for anyone. Although, these males were kick ass. Totally leg-spreading worthiness. But I was operating blind here. However the Luvk marital system worked, Borun hadn’t bothered explaining much. But he had a lot on his plate protecting me. He really deserved some kudos for doing an excellent job. Unless this was all some display of power. I finished up and stepped from the bushes.
Neither warrior looked my direction.
Nice guys, I suppose. Maybe Borun was just a worry wart.
Movement burst from the left through the trees.
A leaping dog-horse landed beside me and snarled a ferocious sound.
The creature’s rider sat tall, like Borun, wearing the same mask, but it wasn’t my guardian given the male’s golden stripes.
The nearest of my guardians lunged at the intruder.
Hell, I’ve got to get out of here. I turned one-hundred-and-eighty degrees to count off the seven steps back to camp.
Another tall warrior with black and white stripes blocked my path. His mask had four slashes along the chin.
Nobody among Borun’s warriors wore masks with those markings. Just like the holes on the warrior’s mask in the Hall of Wisdom. Where’s Borun? “Borun!”
A black and white warrior jumped in front of me, growling some deep threat, the stripes on his back blocking my view of the man with the slashed mask.
Pinned in from the front and back. I’ve got to go somewhere. I darted right. Either way, I’m heading away from the camp. Not good. But the racket the wrestling growling warriors made shrank into a more pleasant tone with my footsteps.
A loud crash thundered behind me.
Something enormous. I’ve got to hide. I stretched my stride toward two tree trunks.
Where is Borun?
The crashes kept coming.
What ungodly thing made that sound? I glanced over my shoulder.
A black and white warrior charged his leaping war beast but spaces away.
That guy also wore a mask with the slashes on the chin. Shit. Where can I go? I leapt to the right, toward some low vegetation between two tree trunks, and tripped.
The ground hit my side and stilled the world.
Hands grabbed my waistband and back of my shirt, pulling my clothes so tightly the fabric could have sliced my throat. The warrior swung me through the air until I saw his dog-horse waiting beyond the trees.
So Borun’s concern was well-founded. “Put me down.” I kicked my legs wildly trying to hit some part of him with a stiff heel of a boot.
He growled a threat and heaved me onto his saddle.
I struck with such force that I feared I’d cracked a rib. I hung across the saddle with my nose stuck in the dog-horse’s smelly fur.
Pain ebbed through my ribs.
The warrior flew into the saddle behind me and kicked his mount into a trot.
If I go with him, I’ll probably never fulfill my Marshal duty. Or, in the least, wouldn’t be in as productive a relationship from the forced marriage. Life with someone who’d kidnap me had nothing to do with anything but gaining power. And probably wouldn’t allow much for bringing the Luvk clans together. Just another bastard like my father… I’ve got to escape. I shoved my head off the dog-horse’s smelly fur, craned my neck, and saw an orange striped warrior plowing through the army of tree trunks toward them on his mount. A huge warrior.
The mask he wore held no markings. Borun. “Borun,” I screamed.
The warrior who held my body in place with one steely arm turned to Borun’s approach.
What could I do? I need a goddamned weapon. But what? Goro confiscated my knives. And. I’m just a bloody healer. I scanned the saddle.
Nothing. And nothing on the warrior’s hip. But I might be able to rip off his mask and ram a horn or two into his skull. The things we do for the sake of duty. I twisted around.
The warrior’s gaze slid to mine.
Why did his blue eyes gleam? I shoved up, lunging for the side of his mask.
He didn’t see it coming.