Chapter 2
Chapter Two
I trust Edur to suggest the most reputable.
Izotz dove onto the alien ground, sliding over the dark surface. It was not slick like ice and bits of debris dug into his naked chest, scraping and stabbing his skin. A blast sounded, whizzing over him with a zap of electricity.
If this was how Earth people said hello, he hated to see what they were like angry.
From the first moment the Galaxy Alien Mail Order Brides corporation landed on Sintaz to pick up the brothers, the company had gone above and beyond to show their incompetence.
They promised to join hearts across the universes by introducing men and women for mating purposes.
What they delivered was the wrong language uploads, slips of green paper Izotz and his brothers were supposed to believe acted as actual currency, and questionable Earth identification packages—seriously, he now had the Earth name of Ice Storm Chaos.
Edur was Frost Chaos and Tushar was Snow Chaos.
Ice, Frost, and Snow? They might be considered popular, strong Earth names, but Ice had his doubts.
Though, they did assure them that Spark, Flame, and Blaze from the fire planet of Bravon had been quite successful with their element-related names.
Ice had begun to doubt those were even real alien clients.
Thankfully, the crew had managed to find them an upload for the Earth language, but only after he had been made proficient in Venimice.
Like Ice needed to gurgle-speak to that nuisance race.
Uploading data files into the brain might be a quick way of learning, but it left him with a headache.
He didn’t appreciate the unnecessary transfer.
Now his thoughts were a jumbled mess of Earth English, Sintazian, and throat gurgles.
At least the spaceship hadn’t stalled in the deep black and imploded. That was about the best thing he could say about the bumpy trip across the universes.
I trust Edur to suggest the most reputable.
Ice trusted his little brother to be thinking with the wrong set of brains. No… Little head? Was that the Earth saying? Thinking with a little head? That made no sense. Did Earth males have two heads?
Damn those uploads. They were distracting him as they dispersed themselves into his brain. Now was not the time to think of humanoid anatomy.
Another blast sounded. So much for Earth being a welcoming place to meet women.
Ice glanced up to see his brothers disappearing into the nearby trees. They had not realized he’d stayed behind to distract the alien enemy. Five attackers had come into the small clearing, cloaked in black and hiding in the shadows, as if they’d known where the spacecraft would land.
The strange coloring of his hands in moonlight caused him to do a double take.
He would never get used to seeing the dark human-like flesh in place of his blue.
Whatever pills they had given them to blend in were working.
The fact they had to hide their identities probably should have been their first clue that Galaxy Brides might not have the permission to land that they’d claimed.
Ice rolled onto his back, ready to battle the Earthlings who attacked. A blaster hovered near his face and he jerked to the side, sweeping his arm up to knock the weapon away.
A low gasp sounded, but he could not see the person’s face as a mask covered all but dark brown eyes. Those eyes kept him from striking a second time, more than restraints ever could. Had the Galaxy Bride people done something to him, something to stop him from harming an Earthling?
Logic told him to punch. Instead, he merely blocked the downward reach and rolled to the side.
The loud clank and slide of metal announced the closing of the Galaxy Brides’ ship. They were leaving them here, unaided, with the attackers. Either the bridal corporation was incompetent, or this was a setup.
I trust Frost to suggest the most reputable.
“They went into the woods,” a man yelled, running after Frost and Snow. “Spread out. Find them. Don’t let them get away.”
The brown-eyed Earthling recovered from Ice’s defensive move and tried to grab him. Ice pushed to his feet and seized the attacker’s arm. He should have been able to stop the assault, but the creature was too nimble, and he was unable to stop the alien physically.
Curses on Galaxy Brides.
Ice tried to defend himself and push the alien away, without doing harm.
However, when another human came at him, evidently thinking he didn’t know how to spar, Ice had no problem launching that one into the air.
He grabbed hold of a thigh and used the momentum of the man’s attack to heave him on toward the others.
The flailing human made contact with the backs of two of his brothers’ pursuers and all three tumbled onto the ground.
At their cries, the fifth gave up his pursuit and returned to fight Ice.
The momentary relief he felt at knowing his brothers were safe for the time being was short lived as he realized he was now alone on this strange orb.
The sound of thrusters drawing power in preparation of a launch drowned out the human shouts.
If that ship finished takeoff, they would be trapped on Earth with no way to get home.
This was a nightmare.
“Hey!” Ice yelled. He picked up a rock and hurled it at the ship, hoping to set off the sensors. He grabbed another, and then another, causing them to reverberate off the metal side.
Maybe they didn’t realize.
Maybe they didn’t know.
Maybe they had set the brothers up.
Curses on Galaxy Brides!
Four of the attackers were coming back for him. The fifth lay on the ground.
Ice picked up another rock, this time chucking it at the nearest figure.
The stone hit its target in the shoulder, knocking the Earthling onto his back.
The human made a strange noise. He did it again, this time striking a covered face.
Before Ice could pick another rock, the two remaining humans charged, hands swinging.
Curled fingers balled into complete fists. It was a strange way to fight.
As he lifted his outstretched hand to shove the heel of his palm into a face, he saw those brown eyes…and hesitated. Instead, he went for the other target. He landed a blow on a hard chest. The alien creature made an odd choking noise as he fell back.
He should have been able to take the last attacker. He’d fought bearguars bigger than this human, but as he watched it pull the mask off its head, he realized the attacker was a woman.
She took a deep breath but did not run.
Ice stared at her mouth, waiting for her to speak. She circled him, her arms raised.
“Guuuurgh-gurg,” he said.
She stopped moving, her eyes widening by small degrees.
Ice frowned. Stupid Venimice uploads!
Before he could lift his arms, the woman had hold of them and was flipping him into the air. He flailed, landing on his back on the hard ground. The breath was knocked from his lungs, followed by an electric shock that reverberated through his body.
“Gurgha,” he mumbled, seconds before passing out.