3. Lorken
Lorken
I’d memorized the layout of the alien city, although Raas Wrexxon’s battle chief had understated how narrow its streets were and how the closely huddled buildings trapped the planet’s heat. I swiped the back of my hand across my brow after dispatching another Imperial soldier with my battle axe.
Tvekking hell, the place was like an inferno.
The raiders on my team paused with me to catch their breath, their bare chests streaked with sweat and grime as they gripped their bloody axes.
“The enemy is in retreat, Raas,” one of my warriors said, as distant uniformed figures fled down a long alley.
I grunted. “Let them try to run. They cannot escape.”
What I knew, and the Zagrath did not, was that my horde ships lay in wait and unseen above the planet’s atmosphere. Even if soldiers managed to flee in spaceships, my ships would be waiting to blast them from the sky.
I scanned the tall buildings to either side of us and glanced above me to check the position of the sun. Then I tipped my head to a dingy alley. “The theatre should be this way.”
I led the procession as we jogged in formation, our boots pounding the stones beneath us and kicking up plumes of dust. Screams and blaster fire echoed behind us, but I was confident that we were hearing the defeat of the Zagrath and not of my raiders.
The alley spilled into a larger square, and I paused to assess the open space for threats. Then my gaze landed on the towering building with an ornate facade, and satisfaction hummed in my chest. We’d found the theatre precisely where Kolt had said it would be.
I cocked my head to one side. It seemed shabbier than I’d expected, but the battle chief had mentioned that it was struggling to stay afloat under the Zagrath regime. The peeling paint and dingy, crooked sign only seemed to reinforce this point.
“This is it,” I told my team.
“Do you wish to attack from the front or flank both sides, Raas?” an eager raider asked as he adjusted his grip on his weapon.
“This is not an attack. We are liberating those inside this theatre.”
Another raider glared at the doors of the building. “So, we should not expect Imperial resistance?”
Unless something had changed dramatically since the last report from the planet, there should be no Zagrath inside. So how did I explain our reason for rushing the theatre?
“Our goal is to assess the status and safety of the inhabitants and ensure that they wish to remain in Kashara.”
And take the woman for yourself, you mean.
Before another raider could ask a question I might not be able to answer, I waved for them to follow me. “Vaes!”
I led my team to the front entrance, sweeping my gaze up and around to determine if there was any threat from the roof. When I saw there was none, I tried the handle to the door. Locked.
I cursed under my breath. An unlocked door would have been too easy, but I always hoped for easy. Eyeing the wooden door and the rusty handle and lock, I reared back and thrust one foot against it. The door burst inward with a resounding boom, wooden splinters showering the floor.
I held one arm to the side to hold my raiders in check. If there were any Zagrath inside—or even any natives who wished to fight—I wanted to give them time to rush forward or fire first. But the crash of the door was followed by an eerie silence.
Perhaps there was no one inside the building.
Maybe the performers had already fled. Even though our incursion into the city had been swift, they could have heard our approach and left.
Or perhaps they’d never been in the building to begin with.
According to Kolt, they did not live here.
They only came for rehearsals and performances, although he’d given me the distinct impression that they spent a lot of the day doing one or the other.
Frustration gnarled my gut. If the performers were not at the theatre, I had no idea how I would find Athena. Neither Kolt nor the human knew any other location for her or anyone in the troupe.
Maybe this is a sign, a dark voice murmured in the back of my brain. Maybe this means your instinct about mates was right. There is a reason you have never desired a mate.
“Before now,” I said to myself. I had never desired a mate before I’d seen Athena’s image. Then all my walls had crumbled, and all my defensible reasons had vanished. I’d felt a pull toward her that had been as undeniable as it was inexplicable.
Even though I knew as well as any Vandar that one’s true mate did not have to be Vandar, I had never imagined that I would be tempted by a human.
It had been acceptable for the Raas brothers, who had all taken human Raisas, but I had never truly understood it.
I had never understood them. And I had always rejected the idea of an arranged union since my closest example of one had been defined by its failure. But now…
“This part of the building appears unoccupied, Raas.”
My attention snapped to the raider who’d stepped inside the theatre. I followed him, avoiding the shards of the shattered door, and found myself inside a large, open space with a ring of arena seats above us and an elevated stage at the far end.
I released a breath, more relieved than I wished to admit, even to myself. “The room where the actors hid our Vandar brother is behind the stage. If the troupe is anywhere, it would be back there.”
“Weapons at the ready, Raas?”
I glanced at my own axe blade that dripped with blood. “Be ready to defend or be ready to strike the enemy, but we are not here to attack the natives.”
Grunts of understanding rumbled behind me as we proceeded across the open space that was littered with scraps of paper and remnants of food. Boots that had previously thundered on dusty stones now made no noise on the floor.
When we reached the elevated stage, I hooked my axe on my back, braced my hands on the wood planks, and heaved myself up with a leap, landing as stealthily as possible.
My team followed suit until we were all on the stage with axes drawn.
I motioned for half of us to proceed through one side of the rear of the stage and half through the other.
I led my three Vandar off the stage and into a darkened area crowded with hanging ropes, overflowing wooden crates, and bolts of fabric propped against them. My eyes quickly adjusted to the low light that was more comfortable to us anyway.
Even though the area seemed empty, unease prickled the back of my neck. We were not alone. I could sense that we were being watched, even though I couldn’t see evidence of anyone anywhere. My gut told me it wasn’t the Zagrath. They were too arrogant to be stealthy.
My heart tripped as one thought consumed my mind. What if she was watching me?