Chapter 16

He surprised her by murmuring into her mouth, “Let's go.”

Her eyes popped open. “Go? Go where?”

“Home. Let's go home. I don't want to hang around this forest anymore.”

“Are you worried about the Assans coming back?”

“I'm not worried. I just want to go. This isn't my home. I never felt comfortable here.”

“You sure acted comfortable.”

He gave her one more kiss and disengaged his cock from her saturated cunt. He slithered free and sat up to find his pants. “I didn't want to startle you. Now that I have you, I have no further reason to stay in this forest. My people will wonder what happened to me. They'll want to know how successful I was at sabotaging the mission.”

“Will they be angry that you failed?”

“I didn't exactly fail. I succeeded in crashing the shuttle. Things just didn't turn out as planned.”

Sheena snorted. “That's putting it mildly. What will they say when you bring one of the enemy home?”

“You aren't our enemy. You can help us prepare.”

“Nothing can prepare you for what the Allies have in mind. They'll take over this planet, and they won't rest until they subdue its people—all its people.”

“They will never subdue the Ulasso.”

“The Ulasso may have been the most powerful Clan on this planet up until now, but not even they can stand against the Allies. The Allies have an advanced military with technology you can't even dream of. Do you remember Rex's gun? They have weapons a hundred times more powerful, not to mention all their political and economic power. They'll use everything they have to conquer this planet. The harder the Ulasso fight back, the worse the outcome for them and all the rest of the...the Ingasores.”

“The Ulasso has advanced technology, too.”

Sheena started. “You do?”

“We have all the weapons the Allies have. We have space capable vehicles and advanced communications technology.”

Sheena couldn't believe what she was hearing. “Do the other Clans know about this?”

“Do they know about it? Ha! That's why they hate us so much. They can't stand that we should be in communication with other planets and traveling the galaxy while they languish in their holes. That's why they shun us. They won't visit our cities or allow any of us to visit them. They won't allow any of our people to mate with any of their people. They don't want our technology and our contact with outsiders to infect them and change their primitive customs. They don't realize change is inevitable.”

“If that's true....”

“It is true. You'll see when you get to my city. I checked your shuttle before I found you in the forest. The Allies don't have anything we don't have, except maybe more people, and we can make up for that with our healing powers. If we disable or kill one of the Allies, they will not rise to fight again. We will. We can match any invasion force the Allies care to send against us, and we've been preparing to defend ourselves against them.”

“When did you start preparing?”

“The first time the Allies contacted us and mentioned their desire to send representatives to this planet. We saw the writing on the wall. The other Clans saw it, too, but they chose to take the path of secrecy. They had no way to defend themselves against the Allies as we did, so they chose the soft route. We will never choose the soft route. We choose the path of war. That has always been our way, and anyone who attacks us will suffer for it. I can promise you that.”

She stared at him with new respect. If even some of the Ulasso were like Fawks, she could well believe they could repel an Allies attack. What would happen to the Allies then?

No target planet ever withstood a full-on Allies assault. Sooner or later, everyone crumbled under the Allies' heel. That's why so many peoples and planets submitted without a fight. They saw what happened to those planets who resisted joining the Alliance and chose to save themselves from the same fate.

If Fawks was right and the Ulasso succeeded in driving the Allies off this planet, the Alliance would disintegrate. The military would lose its indomitable reputation. Every tin-pot rebel in the galaxy would decide to take a shot at the wounded behemoth. The Allies couldn't fight them all at once

Fawks settled his pants around his hips and arranged his buckler angled across his chest. He offered Sheena his hand to raise her to her feet. “Come on. Let's get out of here. We have some long flying to do.”

She got dressed. “How do we do this?”

“You climb on my back, and I fly away. Nothing could be simpler.”

“You mean, ride on a dragon.”

He kissed her. “I am a dragon, Sheena.”

“I know that.”

“Then why are you hesitating?”

“I just never rode a dragon before.”

He chuckled and moved a step away from her. He took a deep breath to change into a dragon, but before he could let it out, an ear-splitting shriek ripped through the trees. Fawks spun around as three huge dragons dove out of the sky to land in front of him.

Sheena drew back. All three dragons changed before their feet hit the ground to become three tall men. Sheena recognized Warku Assan. One other man was with him in the group that met the research team, but the third man she did not recognize.

As soon as they hit the ground, all three men drew their swords and advanced on Fawks. The third man, the man Sheena hadn't seen before, slashed his sword through the air. “We warned you, Ulasso. We warned you to leave our territory or die a bloody death. You trespassed on our territory one too many times.”

Fawks clenched his fists and swelled out his shoulders. “Do you think you can kill me with those hair pins? There's not a man in your whole Clan who can stand against me. Come on, Rocor Assan. You want to kill me? Come on and do it. I know you and your brothers well enough to know you can't touch me. Would you like to try your luck, Goa Assan? What about you, Warku? You can scare a bunch of human women with your sword, but not me. I'll tear you apart and water the forest with your blood.”

The moment the words passed his lips, he stretched his neck to a hideous length. He spread his arms to claw the air, and two white wings extended from his back. His face protruded into a pointed nose, and a long, forked tongue lashed out of his mouth.

Sheena shrank from him, too, when he was like this. She couldn't stop herself being terrified of this enormous monster with his ghostly white skin. The Assans had no such reaction, though. That dragon didn't startle them in the slightest.

Their faces smoldered black and menacing with their swirling tattoo patterns. Sheena couldn't see those patterns up close, but from a distance they gave the Assans a distinctive reptilian appearance. When the pattern emerged, she saw the dragons lurking beneath their skins.

Fawks' long neck shot out, and he snapped his jaws within inches of Rocor's face. Rocor jumped back in the nick of time, and the sword fell out of his hand. Fawks shivered the ground with his feet advancing on the Assans, but Rocor reacted just as fast. He danced to one side and changed.

He heaved out of his body to explode into a ferocious blue dragon. His wings spread to fill the whole forest, and when he opened his mouth to shriek at Fawks, a plume of flame shot out to lick against Fawks' scaly chest.

Fawks reared on his hind legs, and his wings beat the air. Faster than lightning, his tail whipped around and smacked Rocor across the head. The blue dragon screamed in rage and surprise and rushed Fawks with his teeth bared.

Fawks met him in mid-air. The two dragons, blue and white, battled with claws and jaws and pounding wings. Sheena hung back to keep out of the way, but Warku barreled into the fight from one side. He changed in a flash and launched himself at the combatants.

Rocor occupied Fawks with continuous attacks. He bit and lashed until dark blood flowed down Fawks' white sides, but Fawks fought back with equal fury. He wrapped his tail around Rocor's neck and choked the life out of him until he backed down.

Warku transformed in mid-flight to become a coal-grey dragon with black spikes running down his back. He hit Fawks side on to free his brother from the white dragon's clutches. He scratched his hind claws down Fawks' flank and bit down hard on his neck.

Fawks exploded into a rage at the interloper. His head slipped back on his long neck, and with one swipe of his claws, sent Rocor tumbling backward. Fawks took a massive step forward with his big back legs, and with one earth-shaking stamp of his foot, he crushed Rocor to the ground and pinned him there.

At the same moment, he flailed his head sideways to knock Warku free. He smashed his head against Warku's. Warku's teeth tore a chunk out of Fawks' neck, but the impact sent Warku spinning away. At the same time, Fawks brought his tail whistling forward and pummeled Warku with it over and over until the grey dragon failed to rise again.

Sheena got so engrossed in the fight that she didn't notice Gao Assan until it was too late. In the mayhem of the battle, he circled his brothers to avoid Fawks' rage. He moved backward in a feigned retreat, but at the last second, he rocketed forward.

He changed into a huge black dragon. His skin swallowed up the sunlight glinting off his sides. He flew through the trees with only his eyes burning out of the inky shadow of his enormous body, but he didn't fly at his brothers battling Fawks. He flew around them, straight at Sheena.

She barely had time to raise her arms to defend herself before he was on her. His black wings surrounded her with the blackest night. She couldn't see anything beyond those glowing eyes pricking the lightless surface of his face.

His claws closed around her arms, and the razor-sharp points dug into her skin. The pain startled her out of her shocked trance. She kicked and struggled against him, but he held her firm. He closed her against his scaly hide. With one down stroke of his wings, he dragged her back through the trees toward the Keep.

Nothing she could do could break that iron grip. Her feet made no dent in his armored skin. She could scratch and scream and struggle, but she could do nothing to free herself.

Adrenaline scorched through her guts. She couldn't let him take her back to the Keep. She twisted every which way in his clutches, but with every step, he took her farther away from Fawks.

She strained her neck to look behind her. “Fawks! Help! Help me!”

Fawks white head whipped around on his snake-like neck. His eyes flashed wicked and wild when he spotted Gao dragging her off, but he couldn't do anything with Rocor and Warku coming at him from both direction.

In the moment when she distracted him, Rocor threw off his crushing foot and knocked him back. Warku thumped his wings against the ground and took to the air to come down with all four clawed feet on Fawks' back. His fangs sank into Fawks' spine.

The white dragon screamed and raked the sky with his spiky form, but Rocor slithered around under his feet. With one slash of his tail, he swept Fawks' feet out from under him and brought him down on his side on the hard ground. Fawks twisted to regain his position, but both dragons attacked him at the same time. They fluttered their wings to beat the air and shredded Fawks with their claws. They pounded him with their tails and gnawed his with their jaws.

Sheena saw it all from between the trees where Gao drew her farther and farther away. If only she could get to Fawks, she might be able to help him. How could she help him, though? How could she fight three dragons when she couldn't free herself from one of them?

He was a dragon, a dragon as strong as they were, but not even he could beat three against one. Had she come all this way, on a strange planet, to lose the love of her life when she just found it? Would she lose her life on this planet along with Fawks? Why did she have to go through all this heartache and upheaval for nothing?

She fought Gao with renewed energy, but panic started to take hold. It robbed her of any ability to fight him effectively. Rocor and Warku kept Fawks from regaining his feet. He couldn't reach her. He couldn't do anything to stop Gao from taking her away.

She tore one arm free of Gao's clutches. She extended her hand toward Fawks in a last desperate plea for help, but he couldn't see her beyond their beating wings. Sheena's heart sank. It was all over.

Just when she gave up all hope, Fawks gave one last wrench of his lizard body. In the blink of an eye, he shifted and changed back into a man. The two dragons paused in their attack to register the change, and in that brief interlude, Fawks rolled sideways under their slashing claws to freedom.

Before they could react and come after him, Fawks rolled up onto his feet some paces away. He plunged his hand into his clothes and withdrew a weapon Sheena never saw before. She'd undressed him to his bare skin with her own hands. How had he managed to keep it hidden all this time?

It didn't function like Rex's gun. It lay flat against his palm and stuck to his hand with some magnetic force. He didn't have to operate any firing mechanism. Sheena could see no moving parts on the thing at all.

All he did was raise his arm and point his fingers at Gao, and the thing went off. A sizzling blast of lightning shot through the trees. Before Gao knew what happened, the shot hit him in the wing and ripped it clean off his body.

The black dragon released his grip on Sheena with a deafening screech. She slammed down on the ground, but when she looked up, the dragon wasn't there anymore. A man with long dark hair hanging down to his shoulders inched back away from her to safety in the trees. He hugged one arm across his chest, and a ragged, bloody hole discolored one shoulder.

Rocor and Warku ran over to their brother, but Fawks kept his weapon trained on all three of them. He grabbed Sheena by the arm and helped her to her feet. He backed her away from the three men. “Don't follow us, and don't come after us again or I'll kill all of you.”

Rocor supported Gao on one side and helped him to retreat. “This means war, Ulasso. We will arm our whole Clan. We will repay all the Ulasso for this.”

Fawks swept the brothers with his weapon. “The next Assan who shows his face to me or any Ulasso is a dead man. Do you hear me? You attacked me without provocation and tried to kidnap my mate. Take your brother home and lick your wounds. Don't come near me or mine again, or you will die.”

Warku pointed at Fawks, but none of the brothers said anything more. Gao whimpered under his breath with every step, and he leaned on Rocor to limp away. Fawks stood panting and fuming with his arm outstretched. His eyes sought any sign of the brothers' return, but they didn't come back.

Sheena's shoulders slumped. She touched Fawks' bloody arm. “Are you all right?”

He shook her hand away with a smack of his lips. “I'm fine.” He shuddered, and his arm hung at his side. “Are you okay?”

“I'm all right. I just got scared. That's all. Where did you get that thing? How did you hide it from me all this time?”

He glanced at the weapon before concealing it under his clothes. “I wouldn't be much of a saboteur if I didn't bring a weapon, would I?”

“You really did some damage with that thing. You blew his wing off. He probably can't heal that with his saliva.”

“He can heal that and a lot worse. It might take a few days, but the wing will regenerate. He'll be as good as new.”

“Good as new to make war on the Ulasso, you mean?”

“They can't do anything to the Ulasso.”

“That's what you keep saying, but all the Ingasores should be banding together against the Allies. Now is not the time for them to be fighting each other.”

“The Assans don't know about the Allies. They don't know the true nature of the Allies threat.”

“And you won't tell them, will you?”

“They wouldn't listen to me if I told them. Your friends won't tell them, either. They would be left defenseless.”

“They'll be left defenseless if they attack the Ulasso.”

“They'll be destroyed if they attack the Ulasso.”

“You heard what he said. They're going home to arm for war.”

“Let them come.”