Trayem threw out an arm and it collided with something that blurred in the moonlight.
Another blur and Trayem caught it on his forearm again.
Then another swipe.
Were there two adversaries?
Three?
Trayem grunted as one of those blurs struck him once, twice, three times. He fell to his knees and pulled me down with him.
“Stop,” a deep craggy voice said.
It came from the corner of the room.
The lights came on and revealed the scene in all its horrific detail.
The other three guard members stood around Trayem armed with metal poles—the weapons they had knocked him to the ground with.
A thin sliver of blood eased from the corner of Trayem’s mouth where one of the bats had bitten him.
He was on his knees and I suspected it was a way to show his supplication to the creature that sat in the corner.
My heart was in my throat at the sight of the thing.
It had blazing red skin pulled taut over a pointed skeletal frame and black horns that curled upward from his powerful square head. His body was lashed with so much muscle it made Trayem look like a weedling in comparison.
But what most caught my attention was the little bundle held with surprising delicacy in his lap.
The baby was quiet and burbled innocently, though his skin was pallid and his movements were weak and lacked vitality.
I knew without hesitation it was my baby.
Trayem had told me the truth.
He was still alive.
But soon, his parents wouldn’t be.
Trayem
I was right where I didn’t want to be.
In a room full of enemies with Harper at my shoulder and the means to escape a short dash across the open space to the beaten-up shuttlecraft sitting outside.
Krial had never been patient and he never forgave easily. It was easier to squeeze blood from a stone. It became painfully obvious what was going to happen next.
There were a handful of potential outcomes and none ended well for Harper.
I peered at each of my sibling guards one after another. There was anger, resentment, and more than a little disappointment. The same look was in Tus’s eyes.
He wasn’t about to help me. Nor should he if he wanted to keep his head.
“Now we see where your loyalty lies,” Krial said.
“I meant no disrespect,” I said hesitantly.
Krial snorted.
“You deliberately broke my orders and dishonored not only me but your brothers and sisters.”
Harper squeezed my hand and I drew some strength from it.
“This is not her doing,” I said. “She didn’t even know what the plan was. Punish me. Not her.”
“No!” Harper said.
I squeezed her hand back and looked at her.
“Don’t lie to him,” I said. “You’re innocent in all this.”
“I knew exactly what I was doing!” Harper snapped.
Didn’t she realize she was condemning herself to death talking this way? Didn’t she understand she wasn’t making the situation any better for herself? And that there might still be a way for her to escape from here alive?
“She doesn’t know what she’s saying,” I said. “I admit she got under my skin. The way to end it and keep me on your guard is to send her far from here, somewhere I could never find her. I will never betray you again. I’ve served as a reliable member of your honor guard my entire life. Grant me this and I will be yours for the rest of my life.”
Krial pursed his lips, considering it. It was possible he would engage in such an idea. He was a puppet master and enjoyed adding more strings. It would amuse him to see me struggle to come to terms with a situation of my own making.
Instead of giving me his answer, he turned to the little bundle in his arms.
The baby.
Our baby.
It lay quite happily in the curves of his large hands, a bottle of milk pressed to his lips. At least, I hoped it was milk. I wouldn’t put it past him to fill the baby’s bottle with poison. Krial needed for the baby to die so he could sever the link.
The baby suckled on it contentedly. Already some of the color of his flesh had returned while Krial had turned a little wrinkled and haggard. He still possessed the majority of the baby’s youth but less than he had just a few short hours ago.
“I sometimes wonder what the children would have become if I let them live,” Krial said. “Hundreds of aliens running around and doing their own thing. Most would have been forgotten. But there might have been one or two that might have actually done something with their lives. Of course, we’ll never know for sure. Greatness takes time. Far more than a single lifetime in most cases. They unknowingly sacrificed their lives so I might live a great one.”
Then he turned to face me.
“You were meant to protect me,” he said. “Instead, you shamed me. You pursued your own selfish desires. You owe your very existence to me.”
“You’re right,” I said, prostrating myself before him. “I am a worthless maggot, undeserving of your kindness. But please, release the girl. She means nothing. Take her far from here, to somewhere she will never return from. Back to her homeworld. They are a backward species and they still have not stepped into the cosmos. I will be your faithful servant for all time.”
Krial stood and approached me. His toes were shriveled with long yellow nails. I didn’t hesitate to kiss them.
“Do you know how I discovered your treachery?” Krial said. “It was the child. We share the bond, a deep link that only the gods understand. My species studied it for centuries and we never unlocked its mysterious secrets. The same as the link that connects two lovers. Another link we do not fully understand. I suspect we never will.
“I knew the baby had not yet perished. And its link, though faint, was not as faint as it ought to have been if it’d been dashed against the rocks below. The others told me they saw
