Captured By her Alien Mate by Ava York
Riley
Ifelt like I was in a video game.
At first it was easy. The hallway Kator and I came down wasn’t big enough for more than three or four soldiers at once. I picked them off as they rounded the corner, one by one, before then even got close to me. No problem.
The pile of fallen bodies started to present a real obstacle to the oncoming soldiers. I figured that would deter them. Instead, a couple of new attackers picked up their dead comrades and used them as shields.
It was gruesome, the way the dead guys lolled in front of the live ones. I wondered if maybe they were trying to spook me, or gross me out. Too bad for them I’d seen way worse than this shit.
I let the soldiers use their corpse protection to come a little closer. When one shot an arrow at me, I went into action. I ran towards them and dropped to the ground. As I disappeared from their field of vision, the idiots craned their heads around their dead friends to find me.
With three ringing blasts, I sent them all to join their buddies in the underworld. The clatter of armor was deafening, as already departed and newly departed hit the stone floor at the same time.
A soldier poked his head around the corner to see what had happened, and I picked him off too.
I scrambled back to my position directly in front of the throne room doors. There was another, narrower hallway that went right in front of the doors, crisscrossing the main one we’d come down. The one that was now filled with unmoving metallic figures.
No one had come down either side of that hallway yet, but I figured it was only a matter of time. Sure, it seemed like a lot of the Aetamian guards were persistent in their stupidity, but I knew there had to be clever ones somewhere.
Like where was that guerrilla unit that had captured me in the first place?
No sooner had the question entered my mind than I heard an unfamiliar sound to my right. It was a cross between a thunk and a click, and no matter what, that couldn’t be good. I dove, belly first to the floor.
A crossbow bolt whizzed past where my head had been. It continued all the way down the hallway to my left and embedded itself in the grey masonry of the wall at the end.
Damn, those things were powerful.
From where I lay on my ass, I squeezed off a volley of shots from my blaster. My aim wasn’t great, but I hit one of the new crossbow squad in the knee, and the bright lethal bolts forced the rest to hesitate.
That gave me enough time to get to my knees. I aimed for real this time and got one of the guards in the stomach. The remaining three began to rush me. I sent a blast at the middle one, catching her crossbow. It exploded, wooden shrapnel going everywhere.
Both soldiers put hands up to shield their eyes, and I took that opportunity to blow them away with hits to the chest.
The remaining one who’d been holding that crossbow, stared at me. A giant splinter was embedded in his cheek, blood pouring down his jaw. He didn’t have any more weapons that I could see, so when he turned and ran, I just let him.
A small part of me was starting to feel bad about all this. I remembered my moment with the tapestry in my prison room. I could visualize the scene, the way the beauty of the craftsmanship slaved to the horrors of bloodthirsty power of it made me rethink my attitude towards the Aetamians.
What if this was just a job for these soldiers? They could be going after me because if they didn’t, they’d face a horrible execution for deserting. What if some of them spent their days off with loved ones?
I shook my head, trying to dispel the thought. I’d promised Kator to keep the soldiers at bay, and if I got all caught up in my feelings, that would be a much harder job.
Clangs filled the hallway. I snapped my head left and saw a posse of soldiers holding massive shields together in a line. All together they made one giant panel of protection.
They were learning. Shit.
I started shooting. The blaster was strong enough to blow away both the shield and its holder, but as soon as I got one, they closed the gap. There must have been a bunch more soldiers behind the ones on the front line. Even if I picked off three at a time, the panel was back up in no time.
I heard tinnier noise from my right and turned to see the same thing advancing down that side too. Another shiny, seemingly impenetrable panel.
“Fuck,” I muttered under my breath. “Now would be a great time for you to come back out here, Kator.”
I felt bad as soon as I said it and was glad he couldn’t hear me. I couldn’t detect a single sound from behind those giant wooden doors, but whatever was going on, Kator needed to do it. Of course, I was worried about him, but I understood the importance of confronting Mofat. My love should take however long he needed.
Which meant I had to figure out a solution here, and fast.
At least with the wall of cover up so tight, the soldiers couldn’t get any shots off at me without exposing themselves. I had a moment to think. I stopped uselessly nailing shield after shield and looked around me.
I couldn’t leave this spot, not if I was going to keep my promise to Kator. That narrowed my options in a major way. The marching sound of the oncoming patrols filled my ears, and I cursed a long string of foul words under my breath.
“Think, Riley, think,” I muttered.
As I gazed at the encroaching group to my left, beetle-like under their carapace of metal, I saw it. That crossbow bolt, still quivering ever so slightly from where it was buried in the mortar between stones.
If that medieval arrowhead could penetrate mortar, then damn straight my blaster could.
Giving a silent thanks that the blaster would never need fresh ammo, I swung my aim up to the ceiling. Focusing on the veins of lighter grey between the drab stones, I began to fire.
Powder began to rain down from the ceiling, filling the air. I kept pulling the trigger, going over and over the same spot in a line. Dust made it hard to see, but I wasn’t the best shot in my cadet class for nothing.
Right before the soldiers were underneath my patch of ceiling, a rumbling shook the whole hall. They stopped, finally breaking their formation to crane their necks around, looking for the sound. I had a shot at them, but it didn’t matter.
The ceiling collapsed. Giant slabs of rock thudded down in front of the guards, flakes of mortar going everywhere. The whole mess was waist-high and blocked the entire span of the hall.
“HELL YES!” I screamed, delighted at how well my plan worked. I turned and saw the second group of soldiers hesitating behind their barricade, and I laughed.
“Your turn next,” I hollered. “Come and get it!”
These Aetamians might not be able to understand my exact words, but they sure knew what I meant. All of them to a one turned tail and ran, letting their shields rattle to the floor behind them.
Because why not, I went ahead and shot down the ceiling to my right anyway. It was fun! Besides, while I thought I’d scared them off for good, no harm in protecting both my flanks.
I turned back to look down that main hallway. Nothing and no one in it. I let myself lean against the wall to the side of the doors as I kept a weather eye out. I took in a deep breath, trying to calm my pounding heart.
Nothing like being beset on three sides to make a girl’s blood pressure go up.
I managed to catch my breath, eyes still glued to the end of the main hall. Every once in a while, a helmeted head would pop around the corner, see I still stood there, and disappear again. Eventually, a few minutes passed and even that occasional presence seemed to have disappeared.
I decided the coast was clear. I’d done what I promised, and I could head into the throne room. I turned towards the doors.
Out of nowhere, an icy line etched itself across my neck. I felt my skin break from the pressure of a sharp edge, sending blood down into my collar.
Someone had a blade against my neck.
I barely had enough time to register that a grey scaled Aetamian had me in an arm lock, when Kator burst from the already open doors.
He saw the sword leveled against my throat, and the deep gold scales on his face went greenish. His horrified and furious expression hit me like a crossbow to the heart.
“This is between you, and me, Mofat.” Agony in his words, Kator hefted his sword.
Hatred boiled up in me. This old gnarly bastard was the evil Aetamian king? I jerked in his grip, but only succeeded in deepening the cut on my neck.
“Leave her alone!” Kator’s voice gave away his desperation, and my stomach dropped.
“I don’t think so.” Mofat cackled. “It seems, Kator, that I’ve found your weak point.”