Ivy turns to me. “We need to make sure that everyone is off this ship before we destroy it.”
The female who ordered us to open the cage steps forward, pushing tangled white-blonde hair away from her face.
“Are you kidding?” she snaps. “This is our ride out of here.”
Ivy stares at her. “There are hundreds of these purple bastards currently marching on one of our camps. If that camp falls, all of us could end up back on this ship and taken God knows where.”
Another female steps forward, wrapping her arms around herself as if she’s cold.
“There’re not hundreds of them,” she says. “They must have close to a thousand. They knew they were coming here to fight.”
Ivy curses, and the white-blonde female sighs.
“Can’t we wait? If you have people willing to fight, can’t they come guard this ship? If it looks like they’re going to be killed, we can always destroy it then.”
Ivy looks unhappy at this, and the first female narrows her eyes at her.
“We’re not staying on this planet,” she announces. “We’re using this ship to get out of here.”
Enough of this. I turn to Ivy. “Where is Charlie?”
She bites her lip, and something like dread sinks to the bottom of my stomach.
“She volunteered,” she says softly, and I stare at her.
“Where is my mate?”
“The Dokhalls are attacking. We were sent to scout for their ship. Charlie…Charlie is playing bait. She’s leading them toward a trap so we can attempt to cull their numbers.”
Horror slams into me. “Bait?”
The other females are murmuring amongst themselves, some of them pushing past us to leave the ship in search of fresh air.
“You left her,” Ivy snaps. “She’s doing what she felt was right.”
I don’t stay to hear more. I stalk out of the ship and shift into my winged form, ignoring the females’ gasps.
Then I take to the air and begin the search for my mate.
Charlie
The tribe kings have been planning for this battle for days.
At least that’s what I tell myself as I watch the Dokhalls march on us.
I asked Nevada why they bothered. Why they would work so hard and risk so many lives for a few human women.
She just snorted, her face pale as we stood on a hill near the small forest close to Rakiz’s camp. “They’re not the decision makers. Someone sitting in a cushy office on their home planet will have given the order. These guys? These guys are just meat.”
Now we’re all silent as one of the Dokhalls leaves the front lines, moving toward us. He gets close enough that I can see every feature of his pale-purple face. Every horn curving up from his head.
“Last chance,” he calls. “Give us the females and we will leave.”
Dexar simply stares at him. Then he raises his arm and slashes it down.
The air becomes full of arrows along with the tresla pods that work almost like bombs. The Dokhalls didn’t see them coming, likely assuming that the Braxians were only armed with swords.
The Dokhalls begin to go down, but for every purple creature who falls, another is there to replace them.
There are so many of them. And the weapons they carry, the ones that look like sticks? As soon as the Dokhalls charge at the Braxians, the Braxians begin to fall.
They don’t even need to touch them with the pointed end of their weapons. They just need to be within a few feet of our warriors, and a blue light sparks from their weapons, dropping the Braxians like flies.
We may have thousands more Braxians on our side, but for every Dokhall we kill, several more Braxians go down.
Beside me, Nevada lets another arrow loose from her crossbow. Beside her, Beth is doing the same, while Ivy has gone with Vrex to hunt for the Dokhalls’ ship.
Alexis has ordered the warriors to collect any of the Dokhalls’ weapons they can find, and she’s currently crouched behind our hill, attempting to figure out how one of them works. If we can turn their weapons against them, we’ll have a better shot at winning this battle.
Zoey and Ellie are in the healers’ kradi, taking care of the wounded, and Vivian…
Vivian is currently lighting tresla pods on fire and hauling them at the Dokhalls, a fierce grin on her face.
I take a moment to look at the women with me. To take a mental picture. To say goodbye.
Nevada meets my eyes, and I can’t hear her over the sounds of the battle, but I read her lips.
“You got this,” she tells me.
I give her a shaky smile, and then I get to my feet.
I move to the side, a crossbow in my hand. I’m useless with it, but I attempt to hit the Dokhalls as I position myself close to the edge of the forest.
I glance at Rakiz, who’s sitting on his mishua. As soon as the Dokhalls’ front line falls, our best warriors will be headed straight for the center of the battle.
He turns his head and stares at me for one long moment. He argued against this. It seems to be against Braxian code to allow women to be in danger.
But after a whispered fight with Nevada, he finally gave in. Rakiz says something to the warriors surrounding him, and their mishua move further from me. They make it look like a simple break in their defenses as a group of the Dokhalls attack.
Can’t make it obvious.
I’m so scared that I’m trembling, my mouth dry as the last mishua moves, and I make myself widen my eyes as if wondering what the hell happened to my protection.
It seems like the Dokhalls’ entire left flank breaks away. They’re practically falling over each other to be the one to bring me back to their ship. I wonder if they have some reward system. Maybe each of us human women is worth a certain amount of points.
I whip my head from side to side, but as planned, Rakiz is long gone and Terex
