Crashed on Alien Planet: A Sci-fi Alien Warrior Invasion Abduction Romance (29 page)

“I really don’t know what happened to Landon. We had just left the Black castle with Gemini in your care, when he disappeared. I suddenly found myself in this clearing, unaware of where was or how to find my way back. It took me most of the night, but I finally made it back to Braden’s place. He nursed me back to health and made sure that I was fully recovered from my ordeal. I was dehydrated and I could barely talk. I needed time to rest, even though I insisted that he call you immediately… I mean call for you immediately.” I had to stop mixing my words.

“Is this true, Braden?” He was using his very intimidating statue to make Braden uncomfortable in his own skin “I need you to tell me the truth, Braden and don’t leave anything out.” I’d learned a long time ago that there was always a semblance of truth in a good lie. If he could really sell it, then Lord Vadam wouldn’t have a leg to stand on.

“It’s true. I spent the night with her making sure that she was OK. I even brought in a friend of mine to do an in depth examination.” He was obviously talking about Nicholas, but not in the way that Lord Vadam had taken it. “He was quite thorough and after he was done, he said that she was perfectly fine. I think he wanted her to remain lying down. Unfortunately, Shana really couldn’t keep still.” I almost burst out into laughter. There was a semblance of truth in what he was saying.

“I believe you, Braden. You can’t look me in the eyes like that and tell me something that wasn’t true. I just have to wonder what happened to Landon and why Shana was spared. I’m sure that he’ll turn up, but for now, we need to turn our attention towards the tournament. I have one from the Black castle that has decided to take over where Gemini left off. Since, she is no longer able to compete; I have every right to put somebody else in her place. Instead of going for some new blood, I have decided to take one out of retirement.”

“You can’t do that.” Braden was beside himself and was trying to get up off the chair, only to have two of the guardsmen restrain him.

“I can and I have. Believe me, Daniel was not happy about it, but he understood the seriousness of losing the Black castle to Lord Russum or Lord Wallace. He believes like I do that I’m the rightful leader of Markham. He knows without me in power there will be only chaos. People will die and the balance of power would have a vacuum that needed to be filled by someone. Those loyal to me would lash out at either Lord Russum or Lord Wallace. It would be a full scale civil war unlike anything that we’ve seen before. It is the only reason why Daniel has decided to dust off his expertise and put them to good use.” I could see that Braden was seething and there had to be more to this than I realized.

“Do you get a sick thrill out of pitting brother against brother, Lord Bottom…I mean Lord Vadam?” I could see that Lord Vadam didn’t like this slip of the tongue. It must have been something people called him behind his back.

“Oh, that’s right; you are half brothers on your father’s side. I almost forgot about that.” I could tell that he was not somebody that forgot about much. He was purposely putting them in direct competition against one another. I had not heard Braden talk about Daniel and maybe there was a reason for that. There was definitely a story to be told and there was animosity that you could feel in the air. “He promises me that he’ll go easy on his little brother.” Once again, Braden could not control himself and he tried to reach his hands out to strangle Lord Vadam.

“I’ll kill you….” It was a good thing that it was not a crime to speak ones mind. I’m sure that if Lord Vadam wanted to make the case out of it, he could have him imprisoned and left for dead.

“You’re really going to have to rein in your temper, Braden. Take a lesson from Shana. She holds up to interrogation better than most. Her story never wavered, but I’m still not entirely convinced that what she said really happened. With that in mind, I believe that I’m going to send out one of my best to do a little bit of an investigation. I do hope that Shari has finally fallen. Oh maybe you haven’t heard. The bend where Shari was hiding has been destroyed.” My eyes went wide and my pupils grew, just so that I could put on the act of someone that had no idea. “My guardsmen told me that nobody survived, but one lone witness said that a person in red armor was seen at the site. I don’t suppose either one of you know anything about that?”

“We just finished telling you that we weren’t even near the bend. We were on our way there, but Landon disappeared and then I found myself lost.” I knew that he was just fishing for any sort of discrepancy to the story that I’d already told. He was good and I had to admit that that technique probably would’ve worked on most people. He was purposely trying to punch holes in my story, but wasn’t having any luck.

“That’s right… I must’ve forgotten. You can both leave now, but trust that my people will get to the bottom of this. I feel that these two attacks are a direct attack against me. If they think that this is going to make me abdicate my throne, then they have another thing coming.” We were forcibly ejected from the room, dragged down the hall and pushed back into the courtyard where everybody was getting ready for the Garrock.

Nicholas was doing sprints back and forth several times with people looking on and wondering when he was going to stop. Landon’s replacement was Devlin and I really didn’t know much about him. The other Black castle competitor along with Daniel was a man named Xavier. He was very quiet and he was having a quiet conversation with another man that Braden couldn’t take his eyes off of. I had to believe that was Daniel.

That man touched Xavier on the shoulder and then walked over to greet the both of us. “I’m sure that you haven’t heard of me. My name is Daniel. It’s nice to meet you and I’m glad to see that my brother has finally found somebody that is worthy to stand beside him. I never did like Gemini. She was always opinionated and liked to have her own way. My brother was always a bit of a coward in front of the ladies. I do hope that you have a short leash on him.” He was directing his comments to me, but I could also see that Braden was almost ready to strike him down where he stood.

“I should kill you.”

“Braden that is no way to talk to your brother. You really should rein in that temper. I’m sure that I’m not the only one that has mentioned that. I do hope that there are no hard feelings after I vanquish you and your girlfriend. As you know, only three can move on. I think you’ve already heard that Lord Vadam has made a decree that it does not have to be one from each castle. He has changed or more to the point twisted the rules in his favor. He can do that, because he is the Lord. You really should see somebody about that temper, Braden. I think we both can agree that it gets you into trouble from time to time. Sometimes I wonder why my father would give you the time of day. It’s not like you have anything in common. I’ve always been there for him and you’ve always shunned him and turned your back on the one person that showed you unconditional love.”

Chapter five

It was a good thing that I was able to pull them apart. If I didn’t, they would’ve come to blows. “Do I need to remind you that we want to stay under the radar, Braden? We can’t be causing waves. It will only come back and bite us and I think you know that.” He was now standing and doing these moves that I had taught him. Others were looking on and probably wondering what the hell he was doing. “Just concentrate on your opponent and let the rest go. We can’t afford the distractions. There are only six of us left and only three will remain after everything is said and done.” The opponents were picked at random and I was begging to their god or even mine to make it, so that Braden wouldn’t have to face his own brother or me.

It turned out Braden had to face Xavier. I was pitted up against Nicholas. He was the kind of man that would not go down without a fight. He had that mutation and I don’t know why that didn’t disqualify him from competition. I couldn’t think like that.

Daniel had to go up against Landon’s replacement, Devlin.

They fought like animals and there were no rules. The only rule was to incapacitate your opponent, so that they could not stand after 5 minutes. If they could do that without killing each other, the more the better. Unfortunately, death was part of the game. If neither opponent went down easily, then they would resort to more extreme measures to get their point across.

All of us watched as Daniel got the upper hand. He struck with a force of an anvil. His right cross was meant to do serious harm. Devlin was completely stunned and was rocking back and forth with his eyes unfocused and swinging widely back and forth with his hands in the air. He didn’t even know where he was. Daniel was stalking his prey and waiting for the right time to take him down like a lion does to its prey in the Serengeti.

“You could just drop down and not get up for 5 minutes. I know that you’re not going to, Devlin. It’s too bad, because I really did like you. I promise that I will not make you wait any longer.” Devlin was not even there anymore and just, as Daniel was preparing to take that final blow, Devlin dropped to his knees. His eyes rolled up into the back of his head and then he fell face first into the sand. The clock began to tick off and everybody was silent for those initial 3 minutes.

Nobody moved or said anything and we all waited to see if Devlin was going to make a remarkable comeback. He finally stirred at the 00:04:15 mark. He began to lift himself off the ground, but he was barely able to get halfway up before he went back down. It was at the 00:04:50 mark that he finally was able to compose himself enough that he was able to stand. There was still 10 seconds to go. He could’ve stayed down, but he didn’t.

“You are a fool. That should have taken you out, Devlin. I have to give you credit for at least getting up before the 5 minute mark.” Devlin was still a little fuzzy around the edges and I could see that one eye was bloodshot. It probably meant that he had blown something inside his eyeball. Either way, he was really in no shape to continue, but that wasn’t going to stop him.

“Daniel, you do your best…but don’t expect me to just lie down.” Devlin was pigheaded and had he any sense at all, he would’ve stayed down for those extra 10 seconds. It was his ego that was feeding his desire to stay in the fight for as long as possible. “I’ve taken better beatings from my father. Do your worst, Daniel.” Daniel circled him and when his fist came out, Devlin surprised everybody by dodging the attack and rolling back onto his feet. Those 5 minutes or almost 5 minutes had given him that moment to retrieve whatever reserve he had left inside of him.

“Devlin, you know that this can only end one way. I have been undefeated and I don’t plan to make you the first one that’s going to get the best of me.”

Braden said to me “Shannon, the only reason why he is undefeated is because he doesn’t take any prisoners. If a person doesn’t stay down for those 5 minutes, then he continues to pummel them, until there’s nothing left. He killed four competitors and not just in hand to hand combat. He doesn’t know the word lose and failure is never an option. He thinks that his father is doing what’s best for him, but essentially his father is just living vicariously through his son. He wasn’t able to become one of the guardsmen, but his son did and stayed in that position for the next six years.”

“What happened to make him leave the guardsmen, Braden?”

“He recently found that his talents were not being appreciated. He took his expertise and decided to retire from the game permanently. I knew that if ever the Lord wanted him to compete again, he would jump at the chance.” They were now circling each other and I had to admit that Devlin looked like he was ready to take the fight to Daniel.

“Daniel, you have to know that I’ve been training like mad to get into shape for this. Being an alternate guy gave me at least the chance of competing. I had to be in shape and I went through some trials by fire to get where I am today.” He struck like a cobra, smacking the palm of his hand against Daniel’s ear.

It made Daniel stop in his boots. There was a trickle of blood coming from the ear that had been struck. I think he just blew his eardrum with that shot. He was probably hearing an echo effect. I had a previous injury like that, while sparring in the gym for fun. It took a lot of time to heal, but he didn’t have the luxury of waiting around to let nature take its course.

“What the hell….was that?” Apparently, Daniel had never seen anything like it. It was new and something that Devlin had pulled out of his bag of tricks at the last second.

“That’s for me to know and for you to find out. You’re not the only one that has been searching out different techniques when it comes to the Garrock. I actually found it fascinating to combine different techniques. People showed me their variation and I incorporated it into my training regiment.” He went in for yet another attack on that ear, knowing that he smelled blood and was going to strike while the iron was hot.

Daniel moved away at the last second and brought his fist underneath the armpit of Devlin. He must have struck a rib, because Devlin had now pushed back from the attack and was breathing with gasps. I could see that he was having trouble getting oxygen into his lungs. Daniel didn’t stop there and even though he was a little off balance, he still struck fast and hard. He went after that same spot and when that crack was heard, everybody made a collective gasp at the same time. He pummeled that side of the ribs, until Devlin’s legs buckled out from underneath him. He was now on his knees.

In this position Devlin tried a dirty tactic. He brought his hand up quickly towards Daniels crotch, only to have Daniel grab his wrist and twist it in such a way that it broke like it was made of glass.