He exited the room. Crukugs had never liked the brothers since he’d set eyes on them and Darren in particular. This wasn’t paranoia, his judgement was spot on; he’d made the right call to leave the imperial warriors. Ohirins like Crukugs regarded Dheltans as inferior beings. His career wasn’t going anywhere, despite his one hundred per cent loyalty to the emperor.
Delaying joining his brothers in the gym, he went to his own room to write a personal letter. He knew Crukugs reported directly to Emperor Uchantik, and he didn’t trust the commander to put forward his request in positive terms, so he wrote a letter by hand, old school style.
He had to ask around for pen, ink and parchment, since all comms on Ohiri were digital. He thanked the emperor for granting the brothers asylum on Ohiri, and assured thesupreme leader of his undying loyalty, and the real reason for his request: that his heart was broken, that he’d met his fated mate, that they could never be together, and that the only solution was for him to move away to save them from suffering.
He allowed the ink to dry whilst he thought about the best way to seal it from prying eyes. Snooping was the main reason he didn’t send it by the comm system. Security was bound to read it, report to Crukugs, and he didn’t have the seniority to send it encrypted. Crukugs would delete the letter.
The duty sergeant who had helped him with the materials didn’t have wax for a seal, the traditional method of sending a parchment before comms, so Darren made a makeshift envelope, folded his letter small enough to fit inside and stuck it with borrowed glue.
He got a junior officer to deliver it to the Ydis Imperial Palace on the outskirts of the capital. He didn’t expect anything to come of it; he didn’t even think it would reach the emperor, but doing it gave him some sense of control over his life, temporarily, at least. He felt helpless, and more importantly, he wanted to express his loyalty to the emperor directly, fearing that Crukugs would cast him in a bad light.
Darren and his brothers collected the ten girls from their rooms in the military barracks. They looked pale and wan. Kora and one or two others looked defiant. The sight of Aelanna broke his heart; she looked so sad and defeated. She’d lost weight, and she looked smaller than ever.
They stood on the parade ground, Darren and his brothers and a few Ohirin warriors standing to attention in a line, Crukugs and his top brass opposite them, and the girls huddled in the space between.
The Ohirin sun beat down on them from a blue sky, the heat radiating upward from the dark ground. The Dheltans were bare chested with weapons strapped to their torsos, and swords hung by their sides.
The Dheltans were too hot like the humans, but thelizards enjoyed the heat. Crukugs and his subordinates wore peaked caps which shielded their eyes. They couldn’t smile but they oozed contentment as they soaked up the sun.
Crukugs and two officers inspected the line of warriors before them. Crukugs paused in front of Darren, looked him up and down, his gaze lingering on Darren’s bandaged arm, and swaggered back to his starting position with his officers.
Darren stared straight ahead, not twitching a muscle.
“Attention, warriors,” the commander announced, raising his chin, “we haven’t been instructed how to deal with the females or their proposed destination. They will stay in their quarters under the supervision of Sergeant Othrey until further notice.”
Darren hid his relief. They had a few more days until their fate was decided.
“Captain Darren Tagik and your two brothers, take the females to their quarters.” It was as Darren expected. The brothers saluted, inclined their heads to the girls, and positioned themselves, Darren in front, his brothers behind and the humans between them. The party set off for the barracks. Once his back was turned to Crukugs, Darren breathed a sigh of relief though he didn’t relax his marching stance.
“Wait,” Crukugs barked.
Darren stopped as if he’d been shot in the back.
What now?
He turned. His brothers stood to attention, the females in a huddle.
Crukugs moved forward and dragged Aelanna by the elbow from the group.
“Except this one. I’ll keep her for myself.”
Aelanna gasped, but she had no choice but to go with the commander.
Darren’s soul broke. Some ancient instinct of protection, of possession, rose through the pieces and filled him. Aelanna was his.
Mine.
He was like a man walking into a fire he had already accepted would burn him. Slowly, he drew his sword, blade gleaming in the sunlight, and got in Crukugs’ face.
“Brothers, get the females out of the way,” he growled.
He didn’t take his eyes off the commander.
“Commander, she is under my protection.”
Amused, Crukugs delivered his reply. “Protection? From whom? From me?”
“Yes.”
