Chapter 14
Myrum
By the time they finished shopping, they’d filled three cargo bots and ended up with a dedicated attendant. Myrum’s guess was anyone spending this much wealth was someone they wanted to pay attention to and urge to spend more time on the ship.
The attendant tried very hard to get them to join Teshor at the gaming tables, but Amina insisted they wanted to leave the ship now.
“Are you sure?” he asked. According to Gis, everything was ready, but he didn’t want Amina to feel like she had to leave because he was desperate to touch her.
“We did the two things I really wanted to do,” she answered.
“We ate a nice meal and then went shopping. I can’t wait to give out all the gifts; everyone is going to be so happy!
Since Desur is probably still watching a drama and Teshor hasn’t finished losing all her money yet, gift giving will have to wait until later. ”
Ignoring the way the attendant kept talking about all the free drinks they’d get if they gambled, she moved close to him and wrapped her arm around his.
“Besides, maybe we should take advantage of the suite before everyone gets back.”
Yes, he liked the sound of that!
“Certainly,” he agreed and looked at the attendant. The male had ignored everything Amina said, but when Myrum spoke there was no more ignoring.
“We’re leaving now. Make sure all our purchases are delivered to our room on Tik.”
The attendant let out a disappointed sigh but agreed and stopped trying to delay them. Amina chuckled as she tangled her fingers with his and led him out of the massive shopping area.
His scent glands had been uncomfortable earlier, but now they felt inflamed and painful. Once they were alone he could empty them out on Amina, rubbing his oil into her hair and her skin.
It was dangerous. There was a real risk he could become scent-bonded to Amina, but it would be worth it to cover her in his scent.
Leaving the brightly lit shopping area for the softly illuminated corridor was a little jarring. He’d forgotten how dim they kept the rest of the ship.
“This way,” Amina said, leading him away from the shops. He followed, as eager as her for privacy.
They didn’t see anyone until they turned a corner and were confronted by five figures. The only thing he could tell was that they were Ossisos because they were completely covered, even their faces.
Amina stumbled to a stop. “This can’t be good.”
He had to agree with her. There was no reason for these Ossisos to be covered up unless they were about to do something illegal.
“We don’t want any trouble,” Amina said, backing them up. He let her take the lead. She was more experienced with stations and pleasure ships than him. “We’re going to go back the way we came and pretend we never saw you.”
No one responded to Amina’s words. It was clear these individuals were here to do something to the two of them.
He wished he knew which one of them the masked figures were interested in.
He’d be willing to give himself up to protect Amina, but he couldn’t be sure they didn’t want to kidnap her and sell her to a Talin for a massive amount of wealth.
Amina was a young human female, only children would fetch a higher price.
“I’m going to run,” Amina whispered. “Try to keep up.”
He liked her instinct, but then he heard something behind them. Grabbing her arm, he turned so their backs were against a wall, only to find there were two more figures coming up behind them. These two were also covered up.
Their escape was blocked.
The figures all advanced on them, making it clear there wasn’t going to be a peaceful end to this interaction.
“I’ll protect you,” he said, caging her against the wall with his back. “If you see an opportunity, run. I’ll do my best to hold them off.”
“No way,” she said, pushing out from behind him to stand at his side. “We leave together or we fight together. I’ll take the two on the left, you get the five on the right. I'll help you as soon as I’m done with my guys.”
He couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
“You can’t—” He didn’t get a chance to finish his sentence. She flew at the two to their left with a speed he didn’t know a human was capable of. His first instinct was to follow her, but the five on his right rushed at him the moment Amina moved.
Thankfully the Ossisos were a lot like other species where the possession of handheld, projectile weapons was strictly controlled. As he faced the five Ossisos, he noted all of them had bludgeoning weapons and one had a knife.
He was surprised there weren’t any stunning devices, then he saw one of the smaller Ossisos in the back was holding a drugging device. That individual was probably waiting for the others to subdue him so they could knock him out with medication.
And then steal his beautiful Amina.
He’d die first.
Sounding a deafening war rattle, he roared and launched himself at the group.
His first goal was to get hold of the knife, so he grabbed that Ossiso and disarmed him.
Unfortunately he couldn’t do it fast enough and received several blows.
Most of them hit his natural plate armor and didn’t bother him much, but one blow managed to crack one of the overlapping plates on the back of his neck.
That hurt, but worse, it wouldn’t take much for the next strike to do serious damage to him.
Pivoting, he swung the knife up and cut one of the Ossisos’ arms. It wasn’t a deep slash, but the Ossiso screamed in pain and fell back, clutching the wound. The others backed up and exchanged looks. Could he be lucky enough that this small amount of violence would make them leave?
No, he wasn’t that lucky.
They pushed the wounded Ossiso to the one with the drugs and then advanced on him again, this time spreading out.
A glance down the hall showed one of the two Ossisos Amina had taken on was unconscious. He was astonished. How had she done that?
She and the remaining Ossiso were circling each other, as if looking for an opening. A bludgeoning weapon lay far beyond them. If either of them went for it, they’d have to turn their back to the other.
This gave him time to deal with his remaining four Ossisos.
Three of them came at him at once. He avoided the first two blows but then took a hit on his shoulder. It hurt, but his arm remained fully functioning. He managed to nick another Ossiso’s hand, making him drop his weapon.
Picking up the dropped weapon, he held both the knife and the bludgeoning weapon up with menace.
“Who’s next?” he roared, sounding another war rattle.
“This one!” Amina shouted, sliding into the scene on her knees. She grabbed the leg of the Ossiso with the drug who’d been waiting on the edge of the group. She made a ripping motion with her hands. He screamed in pain, and he saw blood start to soak the leg of his pants.
Did she have a small knife hidden on her person? Then he saw a flash of what looked like a black Talin claw, but he dismissed it. He couldn’t be seeing things correctly.
All the Ossisos were startled by Amina’s actions, giving Myrum an opening. Before he could move, Gis appeared in the hallway.
He was running hard toward them. “Stop!”
As much as he was grateful to see help arrive, he didn’t think this single Ossiso had any training. He could end up being more of a liability.
“No, Gis,” he shouted. He tried to wave him off. “Don’t get any closer. Run! Alert the ship's authorities."
Gis ignored him and kept coming. “Everyone stop, right now!”
To Myrum’s shock all the attackers that were still able to move backed away. Amina was still tangled up with the screaming, bleeding Ossiso.
Myrum rushed over and plucked her off him and moved away from the group. Somehow Amina had knocked the other two unconscious, so he moved in that direction. If he could get back to the shop, maybe he could get the attendant to call for whatever kind of security the ship had.
He tossed Amina over his shoulder and turned to run.
“Put me down!” Amina growled. He felt something sharp pierce the seam between two plates in his back. Not enough to make him bleed, but the threat was there.
“Quiet,” he said. “I’m getting us out of here.”
“Please, let me explain,” Gis said, ignoring their masked attackers and jumping in front of Myrum to stop his progress.
“Is that Gis?” Amina asked, trying to move her body in such a way that she could see what was in front of him. “Damn it, Myrum, put me down!”
“You’re not in any danger,” Gis said, refusing to move out of Myrum’s way even when he growled. “There was a plan in place that I wasn’t aware of. It was a plan based on wrong information. I came here to stop this as soon as I found out.”
Amina picked another set of keratin plates in his lower back and dug in. This time she wasn’t as nice about it, and he felt the edge of one plate painfully separate.
With a gasp of pain, he lowered Amina to the ground, surprised to see her hands were empty. For a brief moment he forgot about Gis and the Ossisos.
He reached back to rub the spot. She’d only lifted the plate a little, so it would heal, but how did she do that without a knife in her hand?
“Don’t ever do that again!” she snarled.
“I’m the one who’s wounded,” he whined, hurt that she was angry when all he’d tried to do was protect her.
Amina’s expression went from enraged to worried. “Hurt? How bad? Where?”
“I can get you medical care,” Gis said, reminding both of them they weren’t safe yet.
Amina turned on him with a scowl. “Why were we ambushed? Explain now!”
Gis looked over his shoulder at the other Ossisos and said something in a language Myrum’s INT couldn’t translate. The others were quick to take their wounded and move far away.
“There was little knowledge about the reason for your visit,” Gis said. “We speculated that it was to get Lorse to persuade his father to accept more Talin military help. The Council of Souls is divided, and one of Lorse’s parents is close to Higlush, the deciding vote and leader of the council.”