They didn’t see anyone until they turned a corner and were confronted by five figures. The only thing he could tell was that they were Ossisos because they were completely covered, even their faces.
Amina stumbled to a stop. “This can’t be good.”
He had to agree with her. There was no reason for these Ossisos to be covered up unless they were about to do something illegal.
“We don’t want any trouble,” Amina said, backing them up. He let her take the lead. She was more experienced with stations and pleasure ships than him. “We’re going to go back the way we came and pretend we never saw you.”
No one responded to Amina’s words. It was clear these individuals were here to do something to the two of them. He wished he knew which one of them the masked figures were interested in. He’d be willing to give himself up to protect Amina, but he couldn’t be sure they didn’t want to kidnap her and sell her to a Talin for a massive amount of wealth.
Amina was a young human female, only children would fetch a higher price.
“I’m going to run,” Amina whispered. “Try to keep up.”
He liked her instinct, but then he heard something behind them. Grabbing her arm, he turned so their backs were against a wall, only to find there were two more figures coming up behind them. These two were also covered up.
Their escape was blocked.
The figures all advanced on them, making it clear there wasn’t going to be a peaceful end to this interaction.
“I’ll protect you,” he said, caging her against the wall with his back. “If you see an opportunity, run. I’ll do my best to hold them off.”
“No way,” she said, pushing out from behind him to stand at his side. “We leave together or we fight together. I’ll take the two on the left, you get the five on the right. I'll help you as soon as I’m done with my guys.”
He couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
“You can’t—” He didn’t get a chance to finish his sentence. She flew at the two to their left with a speed he didn’t know a human was capable of. His first instinct was to follow her, but the five on his right rushed at him the moment Amina moved.
Thankfully the Ossisos were a lot like other species where the possession of handheld, projectile weapons was strictly controlled. As he faced the five Ossisos, he noted all of them had bludgeoning weapons and one had a knife.
He was surprised there weren’t any stunning devices, then he saw one of the smaller Ossisos in the back was holding a drugging device. That individual was probably waiting for the others to subdue him so they could knock him out with medication.
And then steal his beautiful Amina.
He’d die first.
Sounding a deafening war rattle, he roared and launched himself at the group. His first goal was to get hold of the knife, so he grabbed that Ossiso and disarmed him. Unfortunately he couldn’t do it fast enough and received several blows. Most of them hit his natural plate armor and didn’t bother him much, but one blow managed to crack one of the overlapping plates on the back of his neck.
That hurt, but worse, it wouldn’t take much for the next strike to do serious damage to him.
Pivoting, he swung the knife up and cut one of the Ossisos’ arms. It wasn’t a deep slash, but the Ossiso screamed in pain and fell back, clutching the wound. The others backed up and exchanged looks. Could he be lucky enough that this small amount of violence would make them leave?
No, he wasn’t that lucky.
They pushed the wounded Ossiso to the one with the drugs and then advanced on him again, this time spreading out.
A glance down the hall showed one of the two Ossisos Amina had taken on was unconscious. He was astonished. How had she done that?
She and the remaining Ossiso were circling each other, as if looking for an opening. A bludgeoning weapon lay far beyondthem. If either of them went for it, they’d have to turn their back to the other.
This gave him time to deal with his remaining four Ossisos.
Three of them came at him at once. He avoided the first two blows but then took a hit on his shoulder. It hurt, but his arm remained fully functioning. He managed to nick another Ossiso’s hand, making him drop his weapon.
Picking up the dropped weapon, he held both the knife and the bludgeoning weapon up with menace.
“Who’s next?” he roared, sounding another war rattle.
“This one!” Amina shouted, sliding into the scene on her knees. She grabbed the leg of the Ossiso with the drug who’d been waiting on the edge of the group. She made a ripping motion with her hands. He screamed in pain, and he saw blood start to soak the leg of his pants.
