CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

MARA

“Kill the Ennoi.”

The bug alien’s words echoed through the room. Mara froze. “No,” she whispered. She raised her eyes to Syrek’s face, but he kept his attention focused on the approaching Ykine.

“Syrek?”

“Run,” he whispered. “Head for the door as fast as you can.”

“I’m not leaving you.”

“You won’t. I’ll be right behind you.”

The Ykine began to mass together, forming an impenetrable wall of writhing legs and sharp mandibles. The workers to their sides began to close in, closing off their options for escape. They rattled again, sending a spike of terror deep into Mara.

“Now,” Syrek said, his voice low. “Run!”

He shoved Mara behind him, just as Ukali’s personal guard darted forward. Syrek swung his fist, connecting with the soldier’s face, and sending him reeling backward. Beside them, Clez burst out in a stream of curses. She turned and bolted. Her strong legs kicked a gap between the Ykine.

Mara turned and ran, taking advantage of the gap. An Earth-sized stadium could easily have fit inside the hangar, but she couldn’t focus on the size. Just keep going. Clez’s long legs and wide feet sped her toward the exit, and the distance between them opened up.

When outrunning a cheetah, one only has to be quicker than the slowest runner. Mara willed her body to go faster. She strained her ears, listening for Syrek behind her, either his breathing or his steps, but the sound of blood rushing in her ears deafened her to the world around her.

Did she imagine the sound of thousands of pitter-pattering feet racing toward her, or were the Ykine inches away from clamping a mandible down on her calf? Fear gave her strength, and she pounded across the floor, her focus set on the sliver of darkness beyond the open hangar door.

In front of her, Clez peeked over her shoulder. Her steps faltered, and she came to a stop, facing the approaching enemy. Her mouth hung open in shock, and while her chest heaved from effort, she remained motionless, staring over Mara’s shoulder.

Now what?

Mara risked a glance back, and, like Clez, she staggered to a stop.

What the-?

In the center of a ring of Ykine, Syrek swung his fists, beating back his attackers. He flowed from enemy to enemy, stepping and twirling with the fluidity of water. He seemed to be everywhere his enemies were not, dodging their attacks with a side-step, then finishing them off once they were off balance.

Yet Syrek’s deadly grace was not what had stopped Mara in her tracks. His muscles seemed to be bulging, twitching. As she watched, his body spasmed again, and the muscles of his back shuddered. Through the tears in his coat, Mara saw his spine flex. His back stretched, and as she watched, the scales along his body… shifted.

Did he just get… bigger?

Clez stepped beside her, but Mara was too entranced by Syrek to pay attention. “Why hasn’t he let go yet?” she muttered. “They’ll kill him if he doesn’t fight back.”

“What? He is fighting.”

“Not them,” Clez replied, with derision. “Himself.”

“Himself? Fight himself?” Mara asked, but Clez said nothing further. Puzzled, Mara turned back to watch the skirmish.

One of Ukali’s personal bodyguards sprang forward, and Syrek met him head on. The two grappled for a moment, before the guard clamped his mandibles down on Syrek’s shoulder. Syrek bellowed and ripped the alien from his body, sending the soldier plowing into the ranks of Ykine. They scattered, breaking formation and giving Syrek room to breathe.

“Here it comes!” Clez crowed.

Syrek’s back arched, and he raised his head to the ceiling, roaring his displeasure. To Mara’s amazement, his body seemed to rip apart, his limbs elongating and his torso growing broader. His fists loosened, and his fingers cracked as they reformed into claws tipped with talons. His size doubled, and then doubled again, until he dwarfed the Ykine scattered around him.

A tail sprang from his back, as his clothes fell in tatters around him. Scales sprang up along his body, covering him in heavy armor. The swirls of color remained, bedecking his body in bold swashes. The necklace must have been built to expand with his growth because the yellow stone remained fastened around his neck. It flashed as he moved.

His snake-like head darted forward, and he snapped at the Ykine with fangs the length of Mara’s fingers. The long tail swept from side to side, keeping the Ykine behind him at bay. Syrek raised his head and roared. When he turned his head to study his enemies, Mara saw his eyes held the sparkles of blue and gold deep inside.

Mara raised her hands to her mouth, stunned into silence.

“H-He turned into a… a dragon?”

“His Virtue of the Avowed,” Clez said. Her voice held awe. “I never thought I would see…”

Now that they faced a monster, the Ykine grew more desperate, flinging themselves at Syrek. With his new bulk, he crushed them easily under his taloned feet. Soon, the floor grew slick with slime and body parts, and yet, they continued to swarm him.

Clez snorted. “My whole life, I just wanted…”

Mara turned to her, mostly to avoid seeing the carnage in front of her. While she’d never been sentimental about bugs, it was disconcerting to see Syrek handling them with such violence. “What? What did you want?”

Clez looked down at Mara, and her eyes narrowed. “I only wanted what you got.”

“What did I get?”

With another snort, Clez turned and walked away to the door. “You got the universe, fresh meat, and you’re too stupid to notice.”

Mara spun around, outrage plastered across her face. “You just tried to sell me, Clez! I don’t have anything! I have nothing, you… you… overgrown chicken!”

Clez merely jerked her chin backward and kept walking. “Him. You got him.”

“No, you are mistaken. He doesn’t want me.”

“He’s your Avowed.”

“Syrek called me that. What does that even mean?”

“It means he’s your soul mate, dung-eater.”

Mara spun back around to gape at Syrek. Soul mates? With him? W-with that thing? She’s gotta be joking. Yet Mara could not argue the point. Somewhere deep inside her, she felt the rightness of being beside Syrek. She was his, just as he said, but it went both ways. He was also hers.

He told me to leave. He told me there was no room in his life for me.

Being rejected hurt but only because she felt — no, she knew — that they were meant to be together. Syrek knew too, but for some reason, he chose to ignore the depth of his feelings for her.

Think about it some other time.

Right now, she had to focus on getting out of here before those bug-aliens looked up and realized she was gone. She threw one last glance over her shoulder. Syrek still decimated his enemies, but movement at the side of the Sykorian ship caught her eye.

The leader stood with his back pressed to the ship. He raised a device to his mouth, and Mara saw his mandibles working. Then, the leader turned his head from Syrek to gaze at the open airlock from which the aliens had entered.

A chill ran down Mara’s spine. He’s calling for reinforcements. She shot a glance at Syrek. He handled the workers with ease, but who knew what would come through that door next?

Her thoughts faded away as Syrek slipped in the muck and tumbled to the ground. A few Ykine swarmed over his side and shoulders as he regained his feet, but their feet found no purchase on his smooth scales. One crawled over his neck to his head, using the edges of his scales as hand holds. It stabbed at his eyes, until one skinny leg pierced Syrek’s nostril. He roared in pain, flicking his head to the side to dislodge the Ykine.

But it was too late. Sensing that one of their kind had found his weak spot, the Ykine rallied and swarmed him. Syrek slammed his heavy head down onto the floor of the hangar, jolting the Ykine from his snout as they tried to gouge out his eyes and burrow into his nose.

Crap. Oh, crap.

“Clez!” At Mara’s bellow, Clez stopped at the door, and tilted her head. “We gotta close that airlock!”

“What are you babbling about, waste-pile?”

“They’re going to send reinforcements. We have to shut that door.”

“Syrek can handle it.”

“What if he can’t?”

Clez lifted her foot and scratched her nose with her toe.

“Please, Clez. He needs our help, and I need your help. I can’t work those doors.”

Syrek roared again, and Clez winced. “Okay, hop on.”

“Hop-?”

With an irritated grunt, Clez seized Mara by the arm, and slung her over her shoulder and onto her back. “Hold on.”

Mara squealed and wrapped her arms around Clez’s neck as the other woman took off across the hangar. The ground beneath flew past in a blur. Mara craned her neck, watching the flow of battle until Clez dumped her on the floor in front of the open airlock.

“You guard me. I’ll hack the door.” Clez turned her focus to the access panel beside the door.

A bent metal strut lay on the ground nearby, and Mara seized it. It had the heft of a cricket bat, and she gave a few practice swings. Across the room, she saw Ukali’s head turn toward the door. When he spied her, his movements became quick and agitated. At his gesture, a couple of the Ykine peeled away from the battle and began to scurry across the floor toward the airlock.

“Err, better hurry, Clez. We’re about to have company.”

“Shut up, puke-eater,” Clez snapped. “Let me work.”

The first Ykine darted for Mara. She swung the metal bar, and the creature dodged back. The second one split away, heading toward Clez. Mara kicked at it, and while she was distracted, the first grabbed onto the bar.

“Clez! Behind you!”

With a curse, Clez spun around and drove her knife into the head of the Ykine creeping up on her. She yanked her blade free, and then returned to her task while the bug spasmed and died.

“I told you to let me work, scum-sniffer.”

Mara kicked the Ykine holding onto her weapon and then slammed the bar down onto the creature until it stopped moving. She brushed her hair out of her eyes, and looked up.

Syrek was slowing. With the new focus on his weak spots, the Ykine were wearing him down. When he turned to deal with a new threat, his unguarded flank was swarmed by several more.

A clang from the airlock drew Mara’s attention. An Ykine worker staggered out, its movements sluggish and slow.

“Crud, they’re starting to wake up.” Clez kept her focus locked on the panel, her secondary hands flying as she worked to rewire the door. “Snot-skin, handle it!”

“Stop calling me names!” Mara quickly dispatched the Ykine with several blows and then peered down the corridor beyond the lock.

She hissed at the sight of several more Ykine workers winding their way toward the airlock. The floor began to rumble, and to her horror, the Ykine workers were joined by a massive beast that filled the corridor. It staggered and swayed as the smaller ones did, but the behemoth’s back scraped the walls. It stepped on its own kind, and ignored their dying howls.

“Err, Clez?” Panic filled Mara’s chest. “Something big and mean is coming this way.”

“It’s done!” Clez grinned in triumph as the large airlock door began to lower. She skipped backward, her knife exposed.

The door was only a third of the way down when the behemoth squeezed its way underneath. It hitched its shoulder under the door and heaved. Gears ground, sending a high-pitched wail into the air. Mara clapped her hands over her ears.

“Oh, void take us all! Look!”

Mara turned back to the door, in time to see a second behemoth squeeze its way under the door. The first behemoth trembled, and thick ichor began oozing from its back where the metal cut into its skin. Clez dealt with the Ykine workers entering around the behemoth’s bulk.

The second behemoth roared, and across the hangar, Syrek raised his head and answered the challenge. He shook himself, and began lumbering toward the airlock, stopping to squash the Ykine workers who got in his way. The second behemoth surged forward to meet him.

Mara gaped. “Will Syrek be able to…”

“He’ll handle it.” Clez’s words held a tinge of doubt. Her fingers worked on the knife hilt. Ykine blood stained her overalls, and she dragged her foot across the floor, trying to clean it.

The behemoth behind them growled, and the women spun around to face it. It gave a mighty push, scraping its back along the door, and slipped through the doorway. The heavy metal door slammed down, crushing the creature’s back end, but it didn’t seem to notice. It dragged itself along the floor, toward Syrek, leaving a trail of foul fluid behind it.

“Can he handle both of them?” Mara whispered.

“I-” Clez began. She licked her lips. Her wide feet shifted on the ground. “Listen, fresh meat. When this is over, your only job is to keep Syrek happy. Understand?”

“What?”

Clez shook her head. “Pathetic.”

She took off with a bound, her knife gripped in her fist. With a bloodcurdling yowl, Clez launched herself at the injured behemoth. She landed on its back, her feet slipping in its blood, then slid across its shoulders to dangle from its head. While screaming profanities, she jabbed her knife into the Ykine’s head.

The creature writhed and collapsed. Clez hit the floor with her shoulder, rolled to regain her feet, and continued running, leaving behind a still-twitching corpse.

Mara swallowed hard, then hefted her weapon. She wasn’t as fast as Clez, but she didn’t need to be. The war cry that left her lips sounded more like a kitten’s mewl, but she trotted forward.

To keep Syrek happy, she would have to keep him alive first.