Akur (Restitution #3)

Akur

4

Akur

Akur stiffened, shifting his body so he was braced over the soft, pale female. She blinked, looking up at him with a laugh in those big blue eyes. Completely unaware of the surrounding danger.

Struggling to keep his balance, he barely moved as the dust cleared and the landscape around them came into view. Through the haze, he glimpsed towering white spires that pierced the tan sky. He’d only seen buildings like those in certain other places—worlds the Tasqals had taken as their own. Majestic white buildings that served as their lodging. So at odds with the breeding grounds they stood over. But even with that similarity, this place was different.

Bigger. Grander.

This wasn’t just some wild, uncharted breeding ground he and E’lot had somehow discovered. No. This was the Tasqal base. The enormity of this one section alone told him so. It was a place no rebel had ever found, let alone infiltrated…until now.

The gleaming white structures stretched as far as his eyes could see. Even the ground beneath them seemed to pulse with a thick energy that felt like it was trying to leech from his skin. As if the entire planet were alive with the Tasqals’ influence.

But there were no Tasqals in sight. Just their lackeys—Hedgeruds. About seven of them. All armed, ready to attack.

Beneath him, the female twisted, rising on the back of her arms before laughter bubbled from her throat. “Looks like some Ninja Turtles shit.”

He could feel when the Hedgeruds’ focus shifted from him to her. Feel their hungry gazes. It made his nefre pulse, sending awareness skittering across his spine, and he crouched lower, some part of him wanting to hide the vulnerable female from their searching eyes.

“Mm,” she tilted her head, looking up at him. “You’re warm, but tut tut tut.” She waggled a digit at him. “You’re not getting into my pants so easily, big guy.”

Another giggle bubbled from her throat the moment his brow tightened at her words. The pain shooting through his entire frame was nothing compared to his confusion.

Qrak. This human was going to be the death of him. The nickname “big guy” made him pause, though, his mind flashing to their first chaotic meeting just turns ago. When he’d grabbed her from her lodging, intent on getting her to that bunker. Before that gravity beam had caught them. He still remembered how she’d decked him—right before using that same term of endearment. He wasn’t entirely convinced it was a compliment. She had a tendency to combine violence with casual familiarity.

“ What are you waiting for?! Get the filthy rebel !”

He didn’t know which of the Hedgeruds uttered the command. Didn’t care. There was no time to think. Praying his legs worked, he put all his energy into them as he rolled off the shuttle with the female pressed to his side. The landing was rough. He almost planted on his face, but he fought for balance, dragging her up with him. Three Hedgeruds circled them, crouching low. The bloodlust in their gazes evident.

They wanted to see him bleed.

Ha. The feeling was mutual .

Staking his sword into the ground, he reached up and flung the helmet from his head, spitting out a mouthful of lifeblood that had risen in his throat.

“Ooh,” Kon-stahns’ voice took on a deeper note as she looked up at him. “You know, for an alien dude with green skin, you’re not half bad.”

“I am not green.” He tried not to consider what her tone meant. Despite the trouble surrounding them, it sent a bolt of something straight to his groin. She was out of her mind.

“After this, you owe me a favor,” he growled, reaching for his blade once more. He’d have to fight one-handed. No big deal. He could fight these fools with his eyes closed.

“Strange way to ask for a blowjob, but alright.” Kon-stahns giggled, her shoulders heaving in an easy shrug.

“A what ?” His gaze barely shifted to her before a roar came from his left. Twisting with her in his arms, he let out a roar of his own even as his body protested the strain. Come on. Regenerate . Years of training kicked in anyway, his muscles moving from pure memory as his blade spun in his grasp, cutting down the Hedgerud that had charged.

Kon-stahns giggled. “Better take it. It’s your one free pass.”

Akur pushed her words from his mind because nothing she was saying was making sense. Flexing his arm, he brought his blade up again as one part of his enemy fell one way, and the other half went in the opposite direction.

“Just like old times,” he rumbled, watching the blood run down the blade as movement in his periphery made him turn. Clutching the female tight around her midsection, he ducked, swinging her as he did, the momentum of her body bringing him down low.

“Whee!”

The blade that had tried to slice him in two skimmed just over his nose. His gaze locked with the Hedgerud that had attacked, a moment passing between them as he thrust his own weapon upward.

“That must hurt. Hope you didn’t want younglings.”

Blood gushed through the Hedgerud’s open maw .

Kon-stahns giggled, waggling a digit at the Hedgerud as he fell to his knees. She didn’t even seem to care about the lifeblood that splattered her. “Naughty! No babies for you!”

He could hardly catch a breath before another attacked. Two more fell as he clutched the female to himself and ran—more like stumbled—away from the damaged shuttle and death at their back.

Find somewhere to hide. Have to find somewhere safe.

Wherever he looked, more and more Hedgeruds were appearing. Some kind of alert must have been sent out, and they were all converging on this single location. Qrak!

“Filthy rebel!” It was a roar as the Hedgerud charged. His body felt like it was going to lock up again, but he couldn’t let it. Spinning, he swung Kon-stahns out of the Hedgerud’s path, one arm still gripping her and the other flipping the blade in his grasp before he buried it to the hilt into the charging Hedgerud. This one stopped in his tracks, but it was too late. His momentum already impaled him on the weapon. Slitted yellow eyes met his own as the Hedgerud choked on his own internal fluids.

“Surprised?” Akur couldn’t help but taunt, even as his own body staggered with the effort to keep the female at his side while bracing against the sudden deadweight of the Hedgerud on his blade. “I had these specially made to pierce right through Hedgerud armor.”

With a kick, he dislodged the vermin before he lifted the female and headed toward the nearest building. He needed to get them some cover and walls, even those made by his enemies, would provide some defense. He needed to get her to safety. He needed to not fail—

“Hey, big guy,” Kon-stahns whispered, her breath tickling his neck where his skin was exposed.

“Fine, female,” he grumbled, gripping her tighter as he hobbled forward. “I accept…your pass of freedom…for this job of blows.” Two more Hedgeruds got cut down as he made his way. He just needed to get to that building. Put some distance between himself and the constant attacks. He only needed a few minutes. He’d regenerate. He would .

“A hedgehog or whatever you call them is coming behind us.” Kon-stahns giggled again, a snort echoing in her nose. “Hedgehog.”

He turned just in time to see the pilot of the downed shuttle stagger from the vessel. He’d hoped the brute had died. Was that too much to ask?

He’d have continued on, ignored the idiot if he didn’t see the Hedgerud lift a blaster. Even with the distance between them, he recognized the model. It’s one he’d seen used before.

Oh, qrak. Had they given up on that whole thing of wanting the human alive? Because that weapon was definitely going to harm her. Probably even kill her.

As the brute engaged the weapon, a bright beam of energy hurtled towards them. This wasn’t one he could deflect or take in the back and hope for the best. Those blasters were charged for elimination on contact. They’d fry his cells. Even he couldn’t regenerate such damage. And he had her. Kon-stahns. The human couldn’t regenerate at all.

The warrior in him took over, pulling Kon-stahns close as he dove to the side, narrowly avoiding the searing heat of the blast. They tumbled to the ground, his body protesting enough for him to see stars. They landed next to the unmoving form of a downed Hedgerud. The beast’s body partially blocked them from a shower of blaster shots coming their way, each one singeing flesh and dissolving bone.

This would only buy them a few moments at best.

“Stay down,” he growled, pushing himself up on one knee to scan the area. Hedgeruds were advancing on all sides. Only the towering building that loomed behind them offered any refuge. If they could just make it inside…

“Hey, I wanna play too.” Delicate hands reached for the blaster still attached to his hip.

He looked down at the female beneath him, unconvinced. But did he have a choice? Negative.

Metal sang against metal as he yanked the second blade from his back, crossing it with the first just as a Hedgerud’s weapon slammed down. The impact jarred his arms, the qeffer’s strength nearly driving him to the ground. But his blades held.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Kon-stahns lift the blaster from his hip.

“How does this even work?” She was grinning with her tongue out, clenched between her teeth in an act that looked painful. The blast that released from the barrel went right through the skull of the Hedgerud bearing down on him.

He stopped breathing as he watched the male fall.

“Surprise, mother-fuhker!” Kon-stahns cheered.

“That could have been me.” He looked back at her.

She shrugged, a grin on her face that made her look more mischievous than harmless now. “I have good aim.”

As if that was the end of that, she activated the weapon again, releasing more charges at the rising number of Hedgeruds coming their way. Her aim was terrible. Miraculously, some got hit. Others dove for cover. But there were too many. They couldn’t win like this.

More blaster fire came at them, some hitting the sand far too close to the human for his liking.

It was two against too many, and when he glanced behind them, unease crept up his spine. More were closing in from behind the building, too.

“Don’t hit the human, you fools!” One of them shouted. “We need it alive! Tear the Shum’ai limb from limb if you want, but the human must remain intact!”

Sheathing one blade, he gripped the female again, throwing her over his shoulder in a move that almost made his knees buckle. Almost. He wasn’t about to kneel before these vermin. He stumbled, but that didn’t stop him from throwing his body forward into a charging Hedgerud. This one fought back, his blade slicing across the muscles in Akur’s chest. Lifeblood soaked the ground, but eh, a little lifeblood was nothing. He’d lost more than that the moment the Tasqals had arrived on his planet.

“Try again, scum .” His mouth filled with lifeblood, too, and he spat it out as he thrust his blade forward, rending the Hedgerud in their way. That one went down, but another took his place. Retreat was slow.

“Mint Man!” Kon-stahns yelled. “Little help?”

Glancing over his shoulder, he only had a moment to catch the eyes of the shuttle pilot as he dropped the blaster and took out another weapon Akur couldn’t recognize. Whatever it was, they were too far away now. Certainly, whatever it was—

And that’s when he heard the zing.

It was a sound he’d heard before. A sound other rebels had told him about. A weapon the Hedgeruds had used on his brothers time and time again.

There was little time to release the female. Little time to push her out of the way before he saw the fiery sparks of the shock rod appear before him. Coming from above, the wielder launched himself from the very building he was heading toward.

No.

The yellow eyes of the Hedgerud almost seemed to pulse with pleasure as the rod connected with his chest.

Sparks flew. The whole world lit up, his cells being fried even as they fought to rebuild. With a grunt, he gripped the charged end, watching his skin turn black as his life essence depleted. But he wasn’t ready to die. Not yet.

He had a human to save.

But not much of him was left. He could feel it in the way his vision was tunneling. In how he couldn’t push the rod back from where it was being pressed into him.

“Female,” he grunted. Even the lifeblood in his mouth seemed to fry and dry up. “Run. Hide .”

“Fat chance.” The female giggled. He was seeing black. Darkness was encroaching, but he still saw the flash of her brown hair as she rose, firing the blaster with zero accuracy but still managing to hit some of the scum. It was wild fire. Blaster shots wove through the air, heating it. Scorching it. One Hedgerud went down, clutching his throat .

The female was fighting. The least he could do was survive long enough to get her through this first test.

Gritting his teeth, his muscles bunched and trembled as he swung his blade. Sparks flew as it connected with the shock rod, the wielder releasing a growl of rage as he managed to dislodge the weapon from his skin. Electricity ran up his arm, and his muscles spasmed some more, but he pushed through it.

Can’t die now.

Can’t fail now.

“He’s cornered!” One of the Hedgeruds shouted. More of them were pouring in from all sides. He would have laughed if his throat didn’t feel like it’d been fried. They didn’t care about the human firing crazily at them. They only cared about him, and as soon as he was taken care of, they’d converge on her.

He wasn’t going to let that happen.

Kon-stahns’ back pressed against his as they faced outward, surrounded. “Any bright ideas, big guy?”

“Working on it.” His voice sounded like gravel, and he couldn’t see. Shadows. They were all shadows now. The converging Hedgeruds were wisps coming to take him to oblivion.

It was practice and skill. Revolutions of battle that took over. His blade sang through the air, taking down two more Hedgeruds, but for every one that fell, three more appeared. Their window of escape was shrinking fast.

And that’s when he saw it—or, at least, he thought he saw something. High in the towering building before them. White robes blowing in the wind. Anger swelled deep inside him, and he growled, swinging his blade once again.

It was one of them. The scourge that descended on his planet and so many others. The ones who took the females. Who raped. Killed. Destroyed entire civilizations. They were the reason so many were fleeing, seeking safety. They were the reason the Restitution began.

Above, way up in that building above them, was a High Tasqal.

He would live only to spite the qeffer and make him bleed, too.

But fate and desire were two separate things .

He saw the shadow in his vision move before he felt the pain in his side. A Hedgerud had made it past his swinging blade, his lack of focus… his weakness .

This wasn’t the grand battle he’d imagined. This wasn’t retribution. And the human… Qrak. He was failing her again.

Another blow, and this time, lifeblood spurted from his lips the same moment it gushed from his side.

“Mint Man!” Darkness fell, his vision blew, only the words of the human as she gripped his arm coming through. “Come on, dude. Don’t—You can’t—” He could feel her gripping his arm, trying to keep him on his feet. His knees buckled anyway, and they both went down.

“I have failed, female.” Gravel and coal. His voice was barely recognizable. “Forgive me!”

He could feel the soft palms of her human hand. Felt the way she gripped him. He could almost hear the anxiety in her voice.

“No!” Her hands trembled. “I don’t know why this was all like a comedy before, but this shit isn’t funny anymore.”

Ah. So whatever they’d injected her with was finally wearing off. Bliss inducer, perhaps.

He almost wished that wasn’t the case. Wished she wasn’t aware of everything. She would see him fall. Would remember how he failed her. And what’s worse, unlike when he’d failed her before, that resignation that had swallowed her was gone.

She was feeling it all now, and it tore at him more than the fact he could feel his cells expiring.

When the ground beneath them trembled, he thought it was his failing body. Death was supposed to be quick. Not prolonged. This was more painful than the wounds themselves.

“Big guy, what are you doing?”

He was dimly aware the Hedgeruds were no longer attacking. He’d fallen; the threat was neutralized. There was no reason for them to charge, so they let the female kneel by his side, gripping him even as he fought to rise to his knees.

But the shaking didn’t stop .

The air itself seemed to vibrate, humming with energy that made his nefre pulse with insistence.

Heat.

The air was heating.

Something was about to happen. And it wasn’t the tremors of death reaching him.

That strange tech Tasqals possessed. They were using it again.

“Hold on!” With the last bit of his energy, he pulled the female against him, his body encompassing hers as the ground gave way beneath them. But instead of falling, they were enveloped in heat that was searing.

It could be his imagination. His vision was still barely there. That didn’t stop his stomach from lurching as reality bent around them. For a moment, they were everywhere and nowhere at once.

Then darkness. Cool, damp air replaced the heat.

Dimly, he was aware of Kon-stahns. She wasn’t moving. And this darkness, this space…they weren’t in the heat of battle anymore.

Maybe he died. But wasn’t death supposed to feel…better?

Or maybe the entire world went silent because they had no chance now.

His body collapsed, the softness of the female beneath him cushioning his fall. She still wasn’t moving. He’d failed her.

Again.

But then he heard a sound. Felt slight movement.

Kon-stahns coughed, and it was the sweetest sound he’d ever heard.

“What…what just happened?”