“Fire,” one of the Earthers shouted. The enemy hit the ground while laser ripped through anything in reach, and the pain of destruction hurt Arghet and his mates deep inside. Talzec fell. Two of their Vyctore clanmates tumbled down into the crater and lay unmoving.
Then Skehl gave a loud roar that made Arghet’s bones shake. Raia raced past Arghet and around the paths of the guns. She disappeared inside the ship.
The phaser fire stopped. All went quiet.
Then Skehl ran toward one of the gun positions. He picked the massive metal weapon up and crushed it with his bare hands, now holding a ball of twisted metal nearly his size. He threw it at another gun stand.
Arghet moved, surprised to find the feline by his side. He reached a gun position opposite Skehl and destroyed it by knocking it over and throwing it toward Ackhlen, who blasted it with his own gun.
Not good.
The smile he shot Arghet was evil. No other way to describe it.
The ship’s guns are disabled, but the enemy’s individual weapons must be dealt with,Raia said, seeming distracted.Now quit gawking at your new crush and go.
Woman, when this is over, we are definitely going to talk.Arghet watched the cat leap onto an Earther and tear out his throat while Arghet made a beeline toward Ackhlen.He heard shouts, saw Skye attacking with her mind and body, taking out Earthers left and right. The other Vyctore poured into the crater and engaged with the aliens, stripping them of weapons and killing them.
Fehlen kicked at Talzec once. Talzec caught the alpha’s foot in his hand, let out a loud bellow of rage, then shoved back. He’d been shot through the side, blood pouring down his body, but he readied to fight.
The Vyctore sounded their war cry, and the battle commenced in earnest. More of their opponents poured out of ships suddenly overhead, tele-jumping into the fight.
Arghet lost sight of Ackhlen as he engaged the aliens trying to steal from his land. He fought on several planes—with his fists and feet, with his mind as he joined with his mates and encouraged Ussed to allow it’s forest to fight back, and with his heart. Phelthar tied him to his mates, the bond so strong they were one.
He attacked and defended, used his energy to grow the trees and shrubs, the poisons of insects, serpents, and plant life to disable their enemy.
A large blast overhead showed one of the ships explode. But before he could worry, Raia told him and Skehl to relax.
I’m fine, warrior. Do your job. I’ll find you soon.She paused.Erase the rot before it spreads.The blackness is not healthy. And whatever you do, don’t let it touch Skehl.
Arghet frowned. Where the hell had Ackhlen gone?Why not?
I don’t know. I just know he’s the most vulnerable to it.
I’m on it.
I’m right here, you two.Skehl growled as he crushed the hand of an enemy attempting to strike him. The man went to his knees howling in pain.
Talzec, he noticed, glowed with the Maker’s mark, a golden figure bathed in light who tore Fehlen’s head from his neck with his bare hands. He roared his victory and scared the remaining aliens into trying to tele-jump back to their ships.
Raia, he saw with alarm, ferried a ride on the back of an airtracker, an individual fly-pack carrying a crate of stones toward an airborne ship. She waved at him before disappeared into the alien craft.
I’m good. Protect Skehl!
As if Skehl needed protecting.
The giant crushed anyone not a friend, tearing through the enemy with gusto. Arghet and his Vyctore clanmates paused to watch him, impressed.
“Stars, he’s worse than Talzec,” Tattan said in awe.
“And he’s one of us,” Efhel said with a smile.
“Yes,” another agreed. “Clearly we are the victors in the games this year. Best clan in the tribe.” He grinned, wiped blood from his face, then followed a few offworlders trying to escape into the jungle.
The rot in the energy around Arghet returned. And in its wake, the land decayed and the ground crumbled. A thick brush of greenery suddenly turned black and died.
In its place, Ackhlen stood. Though he glowed with supposed health, the sickly energy filling him up was black and corrosive to the planet. “Finally, Arghet, we will have our battle.”
