Akur
2 0
Akur
Akur watched Constance move through the chamber. Could almost see the wheels turning in her head. It was entrancing. She was like a hunter now. Scheming. Planning.
Delicious.
It made him wonder what she might have been like on her planet, Er’th. Did humans adapt so easily on their own world? Did they fight wars or were they peaceful? He didn’t imagine her kind being nothing more than a herd species living in communal settings that fostered peace and tranquility. But seeing her now, he might have been wrong.
She tilted her head, looking around the dim cavernous room. “Think you can find the door? There must be a way out.”
True. But that was the least of his concern. He wasn’t worried about getting out. He’d break himself again by slamming through the wall just to set her free. Getting out wasn’t a problem. It’s what might get in. The Hedgeruds chasing them must know where they ended up.
Flexing the muscles in his back, he ignored the tenderness of his nefre as he rolled his neck. The pressure of his heat, though tempered, was like a constant annoying ache that made him plant his feet into the dusty floor beneath them.
“Only, we don’t even know where we are, do we?” Constance bit her lip and his cock throbbed in its pouch where he’d tucked it away—where he’d used her hands to tuck it away. He shouldn’t have done that. The sensation of her soft flesh touching him there had been torture in itself.
“The map is dead and we could be walking straight into a nest of those assholes.” She paced, worrying her lip again as her brow furrowed. His tunic that she wore swayed as she walked. It swallowed her, and still it was as if he could see every line and curve of her body.
Qrak.
She’d helped him twice now and still he wanted more. Only, he wasn’t sure it was the heat causing him to watch her so closely…to remember the way she’d felt…
“There has to be a control center.” Her words floated to him through the growing haze. She was moving around the pods now, examining them. “There must be something managing the power distribution here. Life support…Well, if they were alive, that is.” Her fingers moved over one pod with surprising confidence. “There must be something that’s kept these things running.”
He almost whimpered, barely kept it silent as he moved. Why the qrak was he ready again so soon? He’d just released. It should be enough to—qrak, it should just be enough.
Forcing himself to move closer, he scanned the chamber with new purpose. She was right. The pods weren’t arranged randomly. They followed a pattern, all connected to central conduits that disappeared into the walls. Following one such conduit with his eyes, he spotted something.
“There.” He gestured to a recessed door nearly hidden behind a cluster of empty pods. “Must be maintenance access.”
The door was sealed, of course, its control panel dark, but that hardly mattered. After what he’d just done to the tunnel wall, a simple door wouldn’t stop him. But as he stepped forward to break it down, Kon-stahns caught his arm.
“Wait.” She headed over to the panel, studying its dead display. “If the pods have power, this should, too. We just need to…” Her fingers slipped over the display, removing the dirt laden frost. “It’s been awfully quiet in here so far, and I don’t trust it. We just need to find a way in without destroying the thing and causing an alarm.”
Fine. But he really needed to smash something. His shoulder was already stitching itself back and the reducing pain was only making him focus more on that hard, painful thing between his thighs.
“Let me,” he growled, stepping in front of Kon-stahns. It took him a few moments to find what he was looking for, and suddenly the display flickered to life.
Kon-stahns stared at him. “How did you—”
“The Restitution uses similar tech in some areas.” He was already working the controls, all the while trying not to look down at the female whose face was now lit by the light from the panel. “Different language. Same basic principles. Power routing, emergency protocols…” A smile curved his lips as the door slid open with a soft hiss. “And manual overrides.”
She patted him on the back, and he froze. Qrak. Did she have any idea how her touch sent lightning through his veins? “A jack of all trades. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised at what you can do anymore.”
Well, she should be surprised at what he wanted to do. If she knew, she wouldn’t be standing so close to him.
Constance peered ahead, and he pushed the thoughts from his mind as best as he could.
The maintenance tunnel beyond was narrow but lit, emergency strips casting everything in harsh shadows. Turning off his light disc, he tucked it back into his pocket as he jerked his chin at the female at his side. “Ready, bright eyes?”
He saw her swallow hard. Saw the moment where she took a deep breath before nodding. “Ready.”
Akur took point, moving silently. Every few steps he paused, listen ing for any sign of others, but the only sounds were their breathing and the distant hum going through the power systems.
The corridor branched ahead, one path sloping up while the other continued level. Without the map, they were flying blind, but his instincts told him to go up. They must be near the citadel now, and that meant civilization was somewhere above them.
They crept forward, taking the upward path. The tunnel grew progressively brighter, emergency lighting giving way to actual illumination panels set into the walls.
“We’re getting closer to populated areas,” Akur whispered, his voice barely a breath. Every few steps he paused, head tilted as he listened intently.
Constance kept close behind him, and it was clear she was trying to match his silent movements. She was small. Light on her feet. But the brightness was concerning. It meant they were more likely to encounter others.
A distant metallic clang made them both freeze. Without a thought, his hand shot out, pressing the female against the wall as heavy footsteps echoed down an adjoining corridor. Two Hedgerud guards appeared, and his lips immediately pulled back in a snarl.
He hated nothing more than he hated the Tasqals and their minions.
It took everything not to draw his blades, but he was already reaching back for one. If those Hedgeruds looked down the corridor they were in, they were in deep excrement.
But the fools kept on walking.
“…searching the lower levels for that jerkin and the nuisance with her,” one was saying. “No sign of them yet.”
“Keep looking. The High Ones want the human alive.”
He didn’t realize he was still pressing Constance back until she touched his arm lightly. That bare touch sent a shiver through his entire being.
“We should keep going,” she whispered. “We’re like sitting ducks here.”
He didn’t know what she meant about sitting and ducking, but if she me ant they needed to remain low and hidden, then bin-qeffing-go. That was the name of the game. “We need to move faster.”
They pressed on, more urgently now, until the corridors began showing signs of regular use—cleaner floors, maintained lighting, occasional doorways leading to what looked like storage areas and machinery rooms.
The air itself smelled tainted. Filled with scents of the species he’d dedicated his existence to eradicating.
Nearing another junction, he suddenly went rigid. Reaching back, he pulled Constance into his spine. There, ahead, was the distinct sound of multiple beings approaching from two directions. He could tell the moment she heard them, too. The slight stiffening of her soft body. The way her breath held.
Qrak. They were right out in the open.
“Akur.” A harsh whisper against his back. “We have to go back.” He could feel her twisting against the pressure of his arm around her. “There!”
Looking over his shoulder, he saw what she was pointing to. A door set in the wall a few strides down. His jaw ticked. He didn’t know if that door opened up to more enemies. Closing his eyes for a moment, he tried to clear his head. To think! But at least this heat wasn’t only a hindrance, it enhanced his senses, too. Because he could smell them.
There were probably three Hedgeruds approaching from the corridor to the right. Another four from the corridor to the left. And a—disgust made him snarl—a Tasqal was with them.
“Akur!” Constance whispered at his back. This was urgent. He had to move.
Cursing under his breath, he backtracked, tugging her with him. The door opened, and they slid into the darkness moments before being seen. The room was empty. Small. Used for maintenance, maybe.
Their bodies pressed tight as the heavy footsteps approached. The door was only slightly ajar, a thin crack he could see through. He reached for the hilt of his blade once more .
Wide blue eyes were focused on that crack in the door as Constance’s life organ thundered against his chest, but she remained perfectly still, barely breathing. The patrol of Hedgeruds passed within inches of their hiding spot. The fools were so painfully unaware, but he supposed that was working well in their favor.
“The High Ones grow impatient,” one guard growled. “If we don’t find them soon…”
“We’ll find the jekin and the rebel. The tunnels are sealed. They have nowhere to go.”
One of the other guards hissed. “We already brought them one human. The other in the tunnels should be left to die. It is dark and musty down there. And those tunnel dwellers—oi!”
A sharp crack into his snout made him stumble. The Hedgerud that hit him snarled before walking again. “They don’t want that human. I heard my master saying she is useless.”
One of the others grunted. “Then maybe they should give her to us. If they don’t want the jekin, we could use her…”
His claw tightened even more on his blade when Kon-stahns’ breath hitched at their words. The Hedgeruds were annoying pieces of scum that only deserved to be crushed underneath his boot.
Time seemed to still as the fiends took their time walking down the corridor. As their footsteps faded, Constance released a shaky breath, practically melting against him. He bit his tongue in an effort to not wince. Everything hurt, and it wasn’t a pain he was used to. “That was close.”
“Too close.” His eyes narrowed as he scanned the corridor. “They’re increasing patrols. We need to move faster.”
Slipping from the tight little room, Constance took the lead now, creeping through the corridor.
She was remarkably silent. Remarkably fast, too. Which idiot on the Restitution spread the rumor that these females were soft, prey things that cowered at the least sight of struggle? He watched as her head tilted, catching any sound before she’d peek her head around the corner when they came to a junction. Then she was darting across the gap, confident he’d follow .
And he did.
Soon, he was watching her more than the way ahead.
Soon, she was all he could see.
But this needed to stop. He needed to get her out of this place.
They pressed on, each step bringing them closer to what he hoped was the citadel proper. The maintenance tunnels gave way to wider corridors, the stark utilitarian design replaced by the Tasqals’ preference for grandiose architecture. The ceiling soared overhead, support columns carved with the Tasqals’ likenesses that seemed to watch their progress.
“I don’t like this,” Constance whispered. “It feels like we’re being herded again.”
He grunted in agreement. The lack of resistance was making his battle instincts scream. “Stay alert. They—”
A door hissed open ahead, the sound cutting off the words in his throat. He could hear the breath rush into her nose as he yanked Constance behind a column as three Tasqals emerged, their white robes billowing. Unlike the Tasqal who’d helped them, these ones bore themselves with regal arrogance, their diseased faces proudly displayed.
Pressing into the column, they had no choice but to face the massive window beside them. Below, the citadel’s grounds stretched far and wide. A sprawling fountain dominated the courtyard. Hundreds of Tasqals milled around its edges, their white robes matching the white stone. He could tell the moment Kon-stahns saw them and the moment she saw the other thing that had caught his attention.
A sprawling complex dominated the eastern quarter—all sharp angles and gleaming metal. Massive ventilation towers released controlled bursts of steam. Countless Hedgeruds in protective gear moved between buildings, pushing hover carts loaded with sealed containers. Armed Hedgeruds patrolled the perimeter, their weapons trained, ever vigilant. It made his brow tighten. Whatever they manufactured there, they guarded it with paranoid dedication.
“The device is almost ready.” The Tasqals in the corridor were speaki ng. Bubbles popped as one laughed. “Once a human’s consciousness is properly connected…”
“And what of the broken one, my pleasure?” That one was female. It always sickened him how they spoke.
“That creature is useless. Her mind is too fractured to provide a path to her kind. Navigation data.”
“Then let us put it where it will be most useful, my pleasure. Beneath your strong thighs, fostering a youngling for you and me.”
More bubbles popped and he must have tensed because in his arms, Constance looked up at him. She reached up, touching his jaw, her fingers splaying over his heated skin. And in that touch was something he didn’t expect to find.
Peace. Calm.
Qrak. Her touch rivaled the thirst for making those fiends bleed.
But even with that, he could feel her muscles coil. She wanted to end these creatures, too and, gods knew, he couldn’t believe he was holding her back.
Because they couldn’t do anything now. Not yet. Not when they were so exposed.
The Tasqals passed, their conversation fading, but the tension remained. Constance was trembling slightly, whether from rage or fear he couldn’t tell.
“We’ll find your comrade,” he promised quietly. “But we need to be smart about this.”
“I know.” Her voice was tight as she stared at the strange building with the Hedgeruds guarding it. “This is their world. There are no threats to them here. What could they be guarding like that?”
“Not guarding. Making.” His brow tightened more. “That’s a manufacturing plant.”
He swore she shivered a little.
“Let’s go.” She was already moving, but he tightened his arms around her. “Even I know the chance of making it out there is next to nil.”
“I know,” she whispered again. When her gaze shifted to the door the Tasqals just exited from, he felt his life organ wither a little in his chest. “Whatever device they were referring to could be in there. The device that will use the orb.” Her gaze shifted back to the window and to that strange building. “Or there. We have to choose and we can’t make it out there so…”
Both their breaths were coming tight, strained through their chests, and yet the room beckoned like a trap. As he released her, his gaze slid back to that factory they could see. He’d bet his nefre and his seed sac that whatever was in there would help them win this war. But he wasn’t budging when he said they wouldn’t make it. His priority right now was getting Kon-stahns off this planet.
“We can’t ignore what we just heard.” Constance’s throat moved even as she took a step toward the door. His hand shot out, gripping her arm. Where did she find this bravery? This recklessness? He almost grinned. Gods, she was infuriating. Was this what she meant when she called him stubborn? Or had she been viewing her reflection in a looking glass?
“Wait,” he growled softly. “If that device is in there…”
“Then we need to destroy it,” she finished. “Before they can use it to hurt more people.”
His jaw clenched as he studied her determined expression. She didn’t have to tell him twice. If she wasn’t here, he wouldn’t have been creeping through these corridors. He’d have been loud and proud, letting instinct take over as he bathed himself in their lifeblood.
But that wasn’t reality.
Reality was that she was here. And everything in him screamed to get her to safety first. He’d put her on that ship. Get her out of here. He couldn’t make a mistake when they were so deep in enemy territory now.
“Five clicks,” he conceded. “We look, we assess, we leave. No heroics.”
A ghost of a smile touched her lips. “Says the warrior who broke through a wall with nothing but his shoulder.”
“That wasn’t heroics. That was necessity.” Checking the corridor, he tucked her to him as he slipped across the space to the other side, right in front of the door. It opened without protest and he gripped his blades again, ready.
But…inside was silent.
The chamber beyond was vast, its high ceiling lost in shadows despite the harsh lighting below. Cold white slabs filled the space. But it wasn’t the sight or the strange coldness in the room that made them freeze.
Before he could even stop her, Kon-stahns was moving. Her shoulders shook as she stared down at the female lying motionless on top of the slab. He didn’t need to move closer to see that it was a human. Dead, like all the other females on slabs in this room.
A strangled sob tore from Kon-stahns’ throat, and something inside him broke. His grip on his blades tightened, but for the first time in his life, the familiar urge to kill wasn’t enough. He lowered the weapons, the tips clinking softly against the smooth floor in their uselessness.
Violence wouldn’t fix this. Couldn’t erase what they were seeing.
Without conscious thought, he moved toward her. He didn’t know how to comfort—he knew how to fight, how to kill, how to conquer. But watching her shoulders shake, hearing those quiet, broken sounds… His body seemed to know what to do, even if his mind didn’t. He positioned himself behind her, close enough that she could feel his presence, but not so close as to crowd her grief.
“I’m…” What should he say? “I’m here, bright eyes,” he said roughly, the words feeling strange on his tongue. “You don’t have to face this alone.”
His life organ clenched as she turned to him, waters streaming down her face. The fading bruises on her jaw, the scrapes along her temple, the dried blood at the corner of her mouth—they should have made her look broken. Weak. Instead, they were badges of everything she’d survived. Everything she’d fought through. Even now, with the eye waters cutting tracks through the dirt on her face, she stood straight-backed before horror. Where his people would have channeled grief into rage, she let herself feel it fully while refusing to let it break her .
He’d never seen strength like that before.
As she wrapped her arms around him, pressing her face into his chest, he couldn’t help but hold her. She stirred something protective and fierce inside him. Something that made him want to shelter her from more pain, even as he respected her strength in facing it.
It was while holding her, his attention split between her quiet grief and scanning the room for threats, that he saw it. His instincts hadn’t abandoned him even in this moment. Because there, across the room, something caught his eye. Something that made his muscles tense, even as he tried not to alert her.
“No,” he whispered, but Constance didn’t hear. Wiping her eyes, she whispered gratitude before turning back to the slabs. Moving from one to the other, she began checking the bodies for what he assumed was a pulse.
“They’re all dead,” she whispered, still moving from one to another. “And it’s strange…but…” She paused, focusing on one of the bodies as he took a step closer to what had caught his attention. “Their eyes are all open…their irises completely white, Akur. Like marble. Their mouths are all open, too. I’ve never…I’ve never seen anything like this before. It’s like they were all killed by the same thing in the same way…but there are no wounds. Just…just terror. F-frozen in their eyes.”
He was still moving closer to that thing across the room, his own horror mounting. “What about the human the Tasqals brought here? The one that was on the vessel with you. Is she…”
”No.” Constance was still moving from slab to slab. “The silent woman…I don’t see her. I can’t find her, Akur.”
But he couldn’t even respond. For there, in the corner of the room, suspended in a complex framework of metal and crackling energy, was a being he never expected to see here. Tall and ethereal, the markings that etched all across the being’s skin seemed to shimmer with its own inner light. Delicate tendrils of the being’s hair floated around its head as if suspended in water, even though he was not.
Kon-stahns was suddenly at his side. “I don’t see her. She’s not here. But that’s good, right? That means…” she trailed off. He could almost sense the alarm go through her as she stood staring at the being before them. “What is that?”
“An Arois,” he breathed, his voice tight with recognition and something else. Rage? “They have an Arois.”
The male’s eyes were closed, his face serene despite the dozens of nodes attached to his body. Each node pulsed with a sickly green light that seemed to draw something from the Arois’ body, making his skin fluctuate between brightness and shadow. At the center of his forehead, the gem that all Arois have was dull. Unlit.
“What are they doing to him?” Kon-stahns whispered. The horror was evident in her voice.
Akur swallowed hard, forcing his eyes closed as he tried to temper the rising emotions in him. Fight. Kill. Fuhk. Everything was like a concoction ready to make him drunk.
He forced his gaze to the females dead on the slabs. None of them had swollen bellies. And with Kon-stahns’ observations—the white eyes, the open mouths, the lack of wounds or those sickening pustules that plagued the Tasqals… These humans weren’t used for breeding. They were used for something else.
The moment his gaze shifted back to the Arois, a horrible feeling developed in his gut.
He only knew one Arois. His name was Yce and the qeffer was a powerful being no one should ever cross.
“The Arois are psychic,” Akur explained quietly as they moved closer. “The strongest telepaths in known space. We have one on the Restitution. They’re peaceful, but their abilities…” He shook his head. “This is wrong. This is so wrong.”
The Arois didn’t respond to their presence, but something about his face suggested awareness. Pain, perhaps, or resignation.
“Why would they have a psychic here?” Kon-stahns turned, gaze scanning the room once more. “In this room, with these women. And that device they were talking about…”
He could sense her scanning the room for it, even as his focus remained on the Arois .
“It’s him.” His utterance was a whisper colder than the room’s frigid air. “They’re using him.” The reality of how much they didn’t know was crashing down just as a sudden noise at the door made them both spin.
As the door opened, Akur moved without thought.
A Tasqal stood at the entrance, its bulbous eyes widening in surprise before narrowing with cruel delight.
In one fluid motion, Akur crossed the room, his grip on the creature before the door closed and he slammed the Tasqal against the wall. One hand covering the Tasqal’s mouth while the other pressed a blade to its throat.
“Signal for help,” Akur growled, “and I’ll separate your head from your body.”
The Tasqal’s eyes darted between them, lingering on Kon-stahns in a way that made his rage rise. There was something possessive in that gaze, something that spoke of intentions that made him want to send his blade home without this stupid hesitation.
But he couldn’t be rash. He had to think about her. He had to get her to safety.
“So…this is where you are,” the Tasqal gurgled. “Those fools have greatly underestimated you, rebel.”
Akur growled. He couldn’t even speak. Qrak. He couldn’t even see. Rage was blinding him.
The sound of bubbles popping filled the air. “The Restitution is dead. You are too late, rebel.”
Kon-stahns appeared by his arm, a snarl on her lips, too. “Too late for what ? What have you been planning? Why are the women in this room lying dead with no visible wounds? Why do you have a psychic tied up here?”
The Tasqal stared at her. Its black tongue slipped out, running across its lips as it watched her. “You dare speak directly to me, a High Tasqal… I will enjoy seeding you, little one.”
A sharp crack echoed through the chamber. The Tasqal’s head snapped to the side, its body momentarily frozen. There was a flicker of surprise, quickly masked by a cold fury in its eyes, a dangerous fire ignite d by Kon-stahns’ audacious slap. The Tasqal lifted a hand to its jaw, its digits tracing the spot, a chilling smile spreading across its lips. “Spirited,” it hissed. “I will break you yet, little human. And then…I will seed you.”
That’s it. Why even let this scum breathe?
Akur’s blade slid into skin and he watched the Tasqal’s lifeblood coat the metal, his eyes locked with his enemy’s before a soft hand stopped his arm.
“Wait,” Kon-stahns said. “Don’t kill him yet.”
A wet sound released from the scum as more bubbles popped.
“My patience has never been more tried than on this mission.”
She actually smiled. “And all for me.” She squeezed his arm before turning her attention back to the Tasqal. “Where’s the machine?” she stepped closer. “The one that controls the orb?”
The Tasqal’s eyes widened a fraction, a subtle flicker of surprise it couldn’t quite suppress. It recovered quickly, its expression hardening into a mask of disdain. “You seem remarkably well-informed for a…captive,” it sneered. “Who told you of our plans?”
Constance’s lips pulled back in a snarl that made him proud. “Akur,” her eyes narrowed. “Kill him.”
The Tasqal winced, its bravado faltering in the face of imminent death.
Qrak, he could press his mouth against Kon-stahns’ again. Rejoice in her intelligence. Because if it’s one thing these scum didn’t like, it was facing death. That was the whole reason they destroyed so many lives. In a desperate bid for their own survival.
“Such a primitive thing, asking such obvious questions,” the Tasqal said. “Did you think we needed a machine to bridge the gap between worlds?” Its eyes fixed on Kon-stahns again, that malicious glee returning. “The Arois is our bridge. They are powerful. So powerful, this one’s mind spans the gap between dimensions, and through him, we’ll reach across the void.”
Akur stiffened, as did Kon-stahns. “Reach across space?” she whispered .
Bubbles popped as the Tasqal laughed. It felt like the world slowed down.
How did the Restitution not know? What else did they not know? All this time they had been fighting, thinking they were getting somewhere, and the Tasqals had been leagues ahead.
“The orb,” he breathed, the horrifying realization dawning. “They won’t use it to go to your world.”
Kon-stahns blinked. “I don’t understand.”
“They’ll use it to create some kind of… gateway.” He breathed hard, fighting the heat that was qrakking rising again at the worst possible time. “They’ll use it to create a gateway,” he glanced over his shoulder at the Arois. “Through him.”
In the silence, the Tasqal’s entire body shook, bubbles popping as it laughed harder. “You Shum’ai aren’t as dumb as you look,” he said. “You have our orb, but once we retrieve it, you will not stop us.” Its eyes glazed over as if it was seeing a pleasant dream in the back of its head. “Soon, thousands of humans will simply…appear. Pulled by the power of the orb and our very own Arois servant. They will come right here in our citadel. Ready for processing, for breeding, for—”
“That’s not going to happen.”
“Over my dead body.”
He and Kon-stahns spoke at the same time, a moment before the Tasqal sobered, a strange look coming into its eyes. When its hand shot out, reaching for a panel on the wall, Akur’s blade moved in a flash of silver. The Tasqal slumped, its final breath escaping in a wet bubble.
“Qrak!” Akur snarled, letting the body fall. “We need to—”
A sound from the Arois made them both turn. Though the male’s eyes remained closed, his face contorted in obvious distress. The nodes were pulsing faster now, the green light becoming more intense.
“Can we free him?” But he was already moving to examine the framework before Constance’s words passed her lips. The complexity of the framework was beyond anything he’d ever seen. “These restra ints, the nodes—his gem isn’t lit. If I unplug him, I’m not sure what that might do to him.”
A new tension filled the air, an electric sensation that made his skin prickle. The Arois’ face tightened further, and somewhere in the distance, alarms blared.
Turning to face Kon-stahns, he sheathed his blade. “We need to move.” Leaving the Arois felt wrong, but staying meant her capture or death.
Kon-stahns stared at the suffering being. He could see her mind racing. See the moment she realized there was nothing they could do. That they had to run.
As he snatched his blaster from his hip and handed it to her, the door burst open, and chaos erupted.