Feral Series IV: Feral Fallout (8 page)

Solvun stood laughing at M'yote. “You think she can protect you?"

Although Solvun's quip was meant to insult my blue friend, I knew I could make a good attempt at kicking Solvun's smart ass given I had to. “Why are Flonn and the other !Dakos warriors fighting?"

"Flonn has been told he can't have you by the !Dakos sovereign council. He's fighting to keep you."

If Flonn appeared the weaker, I'd worry. But the way these cyborgs matched each other blow for blow, we'd be here all day. “Alright. We need to give them plenty of room."

M'yote tried to back me away.

Solvun intervened, ramming a fist into M'yote's jaw.

M'yote's head slung to the right, his almost-white braids flying. But he caught himself, glaring at his brother while dark red blood dribbled from one of his nostrils.

"Speak up, little brother. Tell me how much you've missed me."

What in the Hell was going on? “Why are you two fighting?"

"Long story.” M'yote wiped the blood from his upper lip with the back of a gloved hand. “He's been jealous of me almost four-hundred years."

Solvun went for M'yote's blue throat. M'yote ducked. And the ridiculous battle of wills played out between Pralls and !Dakos as the crowd watched in silence.

I was so damned screwed.

Suddenly, a severe screech ripped through the stadium.

Something told me not to look. But when in a foreign Rome, one needs to keep the odds of survival in her favor. I turned to the descending stone ramp I had crossed, descending into this snake pit.

What was
that
? The biped was almost as tall as the !Dakos males, covered in shaggy gray fur, with two glowing yellow eyes, and a mouth filled with sharp yellow teeth, extremely capable of ripping out a voice box.

"Run, captain! Find higher ground,” M'yote yelled.

No need to tell me twice when my gut was screaming get the hell out of Dodge. I pivoted and made a beeline for the wall beyond Flonn.

Flonn shoved the hulking beast across the arena and turned to me. “Your foot.” He thrust his hands down into a step and waited for me.

Stirrup? Okay. I veered toward the offered helping hand, stepped into it, and found myself thrusting toward the top of the wall.

A wall at least a foot in thickness. Beyond of which sat so many pairs of oddly-colored !Dakos eyes watching me that I dared not face them. Knowing better than to give my back to the enemy, I had to believe Flonn knew what was unfolding, wouldn't leave me with the wolves, and squatted, watching the melee below.

The gray two-legged thing seemed akin to a Sasquatch. That was as good an assessment as I could make. And the way the creature raced toward Solvun and M'yote didn't make me feel any better. Heck, those were my charges. My responsibility. What point would it be to return empty-handed?

For some ungodly reason, the urge to leap back into the gloom overcame me.

Weapon. I needed something... I scanned the crowd at my back.

Large massive bulldozers. The gorgeous !Dakos. Geesh. It's hard to believe women just didn't line up to depart with these males wherever their spaceships landed. Trouble had to arise from the males of the females’ cultures. Territorialism. Oh well, one had a nice knife tucked into the shaft of his boot. Would he just give it to me?

"Hey!” I shouted. Like a moron. Like he'd just hand over.

A good thirty sets of fluorescent eyes of every jeweled color locked onto me.

"Not everyone.” I pointed at the redhead. “You. Can I borrow your knife?"

The thirty or so !Dakos expressions went blank.

Great. They have to discuss giving little ole’ me a knife.

The redhead blinked and handed me the butt of his blade. “Be careful, little female."

So, they wanted a little entertainment? No problem. I stepped back to the wall's edge and thrust the knife into the shaft of my boot.

Solvun faced the roaring gray beast while M'yote tried to leap over his cape where he'd tossed it on the ground. The Sasquatch lunged at Solvun's muscled form.

What now?

Solvun grabbed the thing's waist, hefted the squalling beast upward, and tossed it across his body toward M'yote.

Howling in laughter. The jerk.

M'yote ducked left as the gray bundle of matted fur tumbled to the stone floor and rolled a few feet away. “That was not nice, brother.” M'yote put as much distance as he could between himself and his new attacker.

Even though that meant he'd be thrust right back into Solvun's personal space.

Great. I report for duty and wind up in another chapter of a never-ending sibling rivalry. Can we say what's the point? I'm going to free one nobleman only to find them both trying to kill each other after we break out of this hellhole. Of course, that future depends upon them surviving the battle with the Sasquatch. Just how were they going to kill that animal? Time for some girl power. I rose and jumped.

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Cybernetics... “the ability to cure all temporary truth of eternal triteness.” ~Herbert Brun

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Hitting home no matter how much I gave to the force of impact with squatting always left my bones rattling whenever I jumped. But I learned how to land in jumping long distances from an ex-carnie tight-rope walker who worked for the FBI in training recruits. And I wasn't about to lose the use of my limbs because of this flea-bitten squalling Sasquatch out to rip my charges’ heads off. Palms on the warm scratchy stone base of the arena, I shoved up to stand and survey the insanity.

M'yote caught my presence in his periphery, jerking to face me, his blue expression distraught.

Get over it. Little Earth girl can kick ass. And I could avoid just about anything that couldn't move faster than I could. Stand back and take note.

The gray beast studied Flonn with a pissed-off squawk, but didn't attack him, rather seemed to warn him. Then something registered with the thing. It whirled to face me.

Ugly. If somebody brought that creature to this planet, they'd seriously screwed up.

The thing released a blood-thirsty battle cry and bolted toward me.

It was fast. But not that fast. I charged straight into its stare to the point I could count the sharp teeth in its grimace, threw my hands forward, into a tumble sequence until a few feet away, I shoved hard and sailed over its head. Only to land in a tuck and roll, brutal as the bite of stone always felt, and was back on my feet racing toward two gaping Prall brothers who for some reason had nothing to bitch about at the moment.

Never seen a girl evade death? Well, they needed to get out more.

Take a left at Mars, boys.

The pissed bellow at my heels noted the beast followed me. But I'd reach the men in plenty of time to glean some information about our little guest. I drew up next to M'yote's squint and wondered if there was a way out of this mess.

His gaze flicked to mine. “You didn't tell me you could do that."

"You didn't read my resume?” I handed him the knife. “Some !Dakos warrior loaned me this when I was up in the audience. Maybe it can help?” Since I'm so damned agile and you're not. But I didn't think telling him that would win me any gratitude.

He snatched the blade and turned to the yowling animal.

Solvun watched us with great interest.

Measuring us. Or our relationship. Whatever. It was sink or swim beneath the damned plank. “What is that thing?” I asked M'yote.

"A Drod. A !Dakos female."

No. Way. “That?” I caught myself mindlessly pointing at it.

"And we Pralls consider it bad that we can't give birth to any live females.” M'yote managed a contemplative grin. “Stand back, Theone. It's time to calm this creature."

"How? Why not just kill it?” End its misery.

"Observe.” M'yote moved so quickly. Quicker than I'd seen any of the others move and circled around the Drod. He halted. And waited.

Why? I shot Solvun a questioning glance.

He shrugged his muscled shoulders. “You picked the wrong brother.” He actually blew me a raspberry.

The familiar gesture was more akin to a blond biker teasing a camera at a photo shoot. Bizarre. I turned back to M'yote who'd joined a slow dance of pacing out a circle with the hovering Drod.

"What does it want?” I shouted at Solvun.

"Drods hunt telepaths like creatures who hunt warm-blooded organisms with infrared vision. Telepaths are their prey. Drods take their prey back to their lairs. And, as prey would suggest, eat them."

Why was cannibalism flashing in my mind like a neon sign? Because all these cyborgs looked as if they were from Earth or earthlings dressed in Halloween costumes. Not too far from home! And that female was once one of them. Way too disturbing.

My gut twisted with the connection.

But M'yote said he could put it to sleep. “Is he trying to hypnotize it?"

"No. Just give him the time he needs to lay a hand on it."

Touch it? Literally? Sounds more spiritual. Okay. Get on with it M'yote.

"They're watching,” Solvun added.

The King surveyed the crowd with his squared jaw.

I had a moment to take in the stubble on his face. Apparently, he didn't have a daily meeting with a razor. And then there was his topless appearance. The man was as ripped as a !Dakos warrior. Maybe that's how he survived locked away here for centuries. Work out, eat, and survive. A synergism. And what would lifetimes on my world matter to him as time passed? He was immortal. Could he even be killed?

Solvun anchored a wicked grin on me.

My skin prickled.

Not in an all-out crawl. But the King definitely had something mischievous dancing in his head.

He nodded his flowing golden mane toward M'yote.

Why? M'yote extended one hand, glowing as bright as a white sun, toward the furry Drod who had turned to look at Solvun. The hand hit the creature's back. The creature flinched, tossing her face toward the greenish sky, and collapsed into a puddle on the ground at M'yote's feet.

"What did he do?” I demanded of Solvun.

"He's a Handler. He can turn any mass into what he wants. Even organic matter. He put her to sleep.” He shot me a wink. “My little brother dislikes harming the innocent."

Who does?

Not a sound could be heard above the hush of the strong breeze as if everyone was in awe of M'yote's power.

"That's his psychic power?” I asked.

"He's a telepath. He's just lucky he was the one born in a billion to harness the power of the elementals."

I must have looked as awestruck as M'yote did when I tumbled my way across the arena. But my acrobatics held nothing to his powers capable of moving mountains. Probably planets. And some healer back among the cadets was a Handler too? I'd probably never know given my current predicament.

M'yote strode to my side, never even letting on I'd noticed he'd done something extraordinary, and thrust the knife in his boot shaft.

What an amazing being.

The big asinine !Dakos warrior who had been brawling with Flonn immediately disarmed my blue friend.

M'yote flicked me a weak smile. “I think they'll allow me to live after that display of power."

Who'd want to risk M'yote fighting for the enemy? But my commander did. So, what did M'yote mean?

Flonn claimed a spot before me. “I'm sorry,
hu'vria
, but I must step down as your mate. I have been commanded to concede my claim.” His country-boy face didn't brighten and dimple.

I felt kind of bad for him. And me! Why? Probably because of his little introduction to !Dakos sex. Poor guy. “Thank you for taking care of me.” Hell, he had every intention of doing so too.

Flonn knocked into the ugly !Dakos warrior's shoulder in passing and kept angling toward the wall where he leapt onto the edge and disappeared into the crowd.

Something told me I hadn't seen the last of him. Intuition was kind of nice in that respect.

The other pissed-off !Dakos monster grabbed me by the scruff of the neck and the back of my waistband and hefted me skyward, over his head where I could almost see stars filling the day's blue sky because of the distraction caused by the fire from my hair accidentally trapped in his grasp.

Pain. Pain. Searing pain. I tried to clutch his grip to lessen the flames.

"Put her down,” M'yote yelled. “You'll injure her."

The big cyborg belly-laughed, deeply.

Disturbingly. A demented sound, setting off my intuitive radar. What did that ominous sound foretell?

Everything shifted in another round of burning pain until I hung facing the courtyard and the black boots of the man who'd be choking me except for the v-cut neckline of my leather shirt. “Is that better for your frail female?” the cretin asked.

No. Not better. My skin ripped where he grabbed it with my hair and shirt.

"Are you in pain, Theone?” M'yote demanded.

"No.” I wouldn't give the bastard holding me the luxury of knowing.

"Then maybe I'll claim her,” the !Dakos warrior yelled.

No!

I swung again, down onto my hands and knees, where a force rammed up against my ass. The bite at the back of my neck intensified as more stinging pressure drew my head back.

M'yote and Solvun stared at me.

Or the sight. Wide-eyed.

The pressure at my ass quickly registered as a hard-on.

Big. Deadly by the vehemence in its owner's attitude. I searched M'yote's blue eyes for something. Anything to work with.

Come on, commander. Just how should I proceed?

"Slow down, Notk. Don't do anything foolish,” M'yote warned, he gingerly tugged his glove off his hand.

Was he going to protect me? It's about freaking time.

"Oh,” Notk groaned while grinding the steel shaft in his pants against my hips. “I see why Flonn wanted your female. But I'll do one better. I'll gift her a little gift by making her stronger with a modification. Just give me a moment.” He shoved my ass again. “And her spinal column will be fully augmented."

Talk about demented-cyborg talk! I glared a get-this-bastard-off-my-ass look at M'yote.