King of Eon by Anna Hackett ePUB)
Chapter Seventeen
“Run!” Gayel grabbed Alea’s hand and yanked her away from the incoming soldiers.
“Gayel, we need to deploy the agent.”
“Where is it?”
She tilted her head toward the other side of the courtyard. “I hid the backpack.”
The Kantos soldiers rushed at them. They exploded into action.
Gayel slashed, watching green blood spray the stones. Alea moved with poetry and precision. She looked incredible in her Eon armor, wielding her sword with deadly skill.
His mate.
Love and pride filled him.
He dodged and slammed into the next soldier, thrusting his sword through the hard shell. Alea was right. They needed to deploy the agent, fast.
He looked up and saw the clouds were slowly dissipating.
Then he heard Alea curse. He spun.
She’d stepped into one of the low-gravity zones affected by the destroyed weather machine. She floated up off the ground.
Two Kantos floated up behind her.
She swung her sword and he realized she was skilled at fighting in space, and could apply that here to the low gravity. She hacked into the closest Kantos.
Gayel ran and jumped. He felt the gravity holding him down drop away, and he sailed upward.
He passed a hunk of rock torn from the buildings. He swung his sword and sliced into the other Kantos.
He reached Alea as she took the final soldier down. They hung there in the low gravity, and he circled an arm around her.
“The backpack is over there.” She pointed. “Behind that transport.”
He spotted it. “Let’s retrieve it, and release the agent.”
She nodded.
He grabbed her hand. She looked down at the armor covering her body. “I guess we need to talk about this after.”
Her tone was hard to read.
His gut cramped. She’d fight this. He felt a weight on his chest and gave her a curt nod.
Then she tugged him toward her. Their bodies collided, hanging in the air.
“We’ll talk,” she said. “Mate.”
Every muscle in him clenched and released. “Alea…”
She pressed her mouth to his.
For a brilliant second, they kissed, hanging together above the battlefield.
Then a loud buzzing filled the air.
They broke apart and looked down.
A new contingent of Kantos soldiers poured into the courtyard. Gayel cursed. The elite had called for reinforcements.
“We have to hurry,” he said.
“Gayel,” she whispered. “There are hundreds of them.”
More and more endless bugs swarmed in.
“We can’t give up. Come on.”
He pushed off the closest hanging rock, and they arrowed across the pocket of low gravity. When they hit the edge of it, they plummeted to the ground, both landing in a crouch.
The xalk appeared, colors shimmering, and moved straight to Alea.
Shaking off his amazement again, he didn’t tell her that the xalk were deadly, avoided the Eon, and did not befriend anyone.
They sprinted across the courtyard. A bug darted in front of them, and Gayel took it down.
Then, a soldier leaped out from behind some equipment. Alea swung her sword, connecting with the soldier’s arm. The xalk leaped, ripping at the Kantos’ eyes.
They had to reach the backpack.
But more Kantos rushed at them, and soon they were surrounded by soldiers and bugs.
They pushed on, slashing and stabbing. Soon, Gayel’s arm burned, but he gritted his teeth.
Alea’s hair was plastered to her head. The Kantos, as always, had the advantage of numbers. They would overwhelm them, wear them down.
No. He wasn’t giving up. He had a mate to protect. They had to push on—for his people, his family, his mate.
He met Alea’s gaze. She was splattered with gore, but she smiled.
He smiled back.
Gayel took a blow and staggered. He tried to dodge, but the Kantos’ arm slashed across his body.
He fell.
The Kantos filled his vision. It was an elite.
Prepare to die, Eon.
With a cry, Alea leaped onto the Kantos. She plunged her sword into the elite’s eyes.
The alien’s mental scream ripped through Gayel’s head.
Alea kicked the Kantos down and rushed back to Gayel.
“Gayel? Are you okay?” She helped him up.
“Yes.” His helian was already diverting the blood flow.
But as he stared at the Kantos surrounding them, he felt a heavy dread. They were both tired and injured. How much longer could they fight on?
He saw a Kantos stab at Alea. She spun, but the deadly arm cut into her arm.
With a growl, she swiveled and rammed her sword into the Kantos soldier’s neck.
“Alea?”
She slapped a hand over her bicep. “I’ll be fine.”
But he saw blood on her hand, felt the echo of her pain through their growing bond.
He looked up. The backpack wasn’t far away, but there was a mass of Kantos between them and it.
They’d never make it.
“Gayel.” She slashed at another Kantos. “We’re not giving up. I lost everything I’d ever known as a child, it wasn’t much, but it was all I had at the time.” She turned to face him. “I haven’t let anything, or anyone else matter, except my work, in case I lost that, too. But now… You’ve turned it all upside down.”
A Kantos charged, and Gayel sliced with his sword.
“You arrived on my world, and I knew nothing would ever be the same,” he told her. “But I don’t want it to be the same. I want you.”
Her chest rose. “I want you too. You’re everything to me, Gayel.”
He’d been his people’s king, their strength, their hope. People wanted him for his power, influence, and strength.
But here was a woman who just wanted him, the man.
“Then don’t give up.” He pressed a quick, hard kiss to her lips.
Shoulder to shoulder, they charged into the next line of Kantos soldiers. They fought side by side, in a deadly dervish. They were more powerful together.
But for every Kantos they brought down, another stepped in to fill its place.
Gayel saw Alea slowing down, felt his own muscles reaching their limits. They wouldn’t give up, but they weren’t going to win this fight.
He wanted to roar in fear and frustration. He couldn’t watch her die.
Suddenly, a bright-blue light appeared in front of them, sending the Kantos flying.
The light swelled, forming a huge, crackling, blue ball of lightning.
Blinded, he looked away. The light faded, leaving behind a small group–Knightmaster Ashtin, Davion, Caze, Lara, and Jamie.
Lara shook her head. “Wow, that was a hell of a ride.”
More blue balls of light appeared in the courtyard. More fighters winked into existence. They were all Eon, Oronis, and Terran.
He saw Malax, his second commander Airen, her mate Donovan, and Thane and Kaira, all from the Rengard.
Gayel smiled and Alea grabbed his arm.
“We all fight together,” he said.
She nodded.
Boom. Boom.
Ships appeared in the sky. An Eon cruiser and an Oronis ship.
Boom. The Divergent appeared, lasers firing.
“Let’s get that agent, my mate,” he said.
Alea lifted her sword. “Let’s do this.”
* * *
Alea sprinted as fastas she could. Gayel was one step ahead of her, his powerful body eating up the distance across the courtyard.
A mass of Kantos soldiers sprinted at them, cutting them off from where she’d stashed the agent.
Dammit.
Gayel engaged the closest Kantos. Alea swung her sword at another.
There was another brilliant flash of blue light.
A lone female Oronis knight appeared. She wore black armor that fitted perfectly to her gently curved body, a long coat hitting at her knees, and a black visor over her face.
She lifted her hands, a ball of crackling, blue energy forming and growing larger between her palms.
The Kantos backed up.
It was almost pretty to watch. With a graceful move, the woman threw her arms toward the Kantos.
The blue light exploded, sending Kantos scattering.
The female knight leaped into the air, floating, and threw her arms out.
Blue lightning energy flew from her hands, hitting the Kantos and turning them to ash.
Jesus. Alea’s lungs locked.
The knight landed and straightened. Then she turned and nodded at Gayel.
He nodded back and grabbed Alea’s hand.
“Wow, she’s impressive,” Alea said.
“Yes. That is the Oronis Knightqueen.”
Double wow.
Alea looked back and saw another knight had joined the queen. Tall and broad, the knight placed himself between his queen and the nearest Kantos.
Gayel leaped on top of the transport and Alea followed. They turned.
Across the Eon base, the battle raged. Eon, Oronis, Terran against Kantos. In places, hunks of rocks and equipment floated in the air in the pockets of distorted gravity.
Overhead, the storm was dissipating.
Time to end this.
Gayel crouched and grabbed the backpack. They checked the canisters.
“We need to get as high up as we can to deploy it.” He slipped the backpack on.
Alea glanced at the ruined building closest to them. “There. We can climb up that building.” Part of it had been torn off.
Gayel nodded and they ran for the wall.
Just as he started climbing, several ugly bugs rushed them. They had bulbous bodies covered in spikes.
“Go,” Alea cried. “I’ll hold them off.”
She needed to give him time to get up and release the agent.
He hesitated.
“Go, my mate, or I’ll be pissed.”
He nodded, then climbed.
Alea thought of a blaster and one formed on her arm.
So cool. She fired.
The Kantos bugs flew back. She kept giving cover fire, then spun and climbed the wall.
She paused a few times to fire at the Kantos below.
When she reached Gayel, he stood in a ruined part of the building.
“We need—” he broke off.
Low buzzing filled the air. Several flying bugs rose up over the outer wall. Their wings moved so fast they blurred, and they had wicked stingers on their tails.
“Cren.”
Heart pumping, Alea looked around. “We still aren’t high enough. We want to ensure we cover all the Kantos below.”
Nearby, rocks and rubble hung in the air.
She pointed. “We can climb the floating rocks.”
“What?” he said.
“There’s a pocket of low gravity here. We can climb the rubble until we’re high enough.” The buzzing insects flew closer.
Gayel slashed out, cutting through the wing of one. The creature plummeted down.
The others were buzzing in a group. Soon, they’d attack.
“We have to move,” she said.
Gayel backed up a step, then ran and jumped into the low-gravity pocket. He sailed through the air, powerful and strong, and hit the closest rock.
Alea fired at the bugs, then stepped back. She dragged in a deep breath, ran, and jumped.
She threw herself toward the rock, then felt the gravity disappear, leaving her weightless.
She hit the rock and Gayel grabbed her.
It felt almost like the weightlessness of space. She loved feeling that sense of freedom.
They climbed to the top of the rock, then leaped across the space to the next one. They kept it up, climbing higher. They had a bird’s-eye view of the fight below.
Their people were fighting hard, but as always, the Kantos had greater numbers.
Gayel slid the backpack off and pulled out the first canister.
Just then, a flying bug reared up over the side of the rock and slammed into Alea.
She flew through the air, and so did the canister she held.
Shit. She grabbed for the nearest rock and caught hold. Then she snatched at the floating canister and grabbed the handle.
Gayel kicked the bug, then swung his sword.
The dead insect floated in the air, motionless.
Alea pulled herself across the rock to Gayel. He grabbed her. “Okay?”
She nodded and held up her canister. He lifted a second one.
“Ready?”
She straightened. “Ready.”
The rock they were on floated right near the edge of the low-gravity zone.
They gripped the canisters, twisted to activate them, then threw them out into the air.
They flew over the fight, and both burst open.
Her heart stopped as she watched. For a second, nothing happened, then black smoke streamed out.
It dipped and curled, and dropped downward.
It engulfed several flying bugs. They slowed, turning docile, wings slowing.
Then the agent petered out, dissipating into the air.
“It’s not spreading,” she whispered.
Gayel cursed.
“We need a way to deploy it.” Her gut cramped. They had nothing. “The Kantos weather machine?”
“Destroyed.” His jaw worked.
Down below, she saw an Eon warrior fall under several Kantos soldiers.
Then she heard the sound of whispers. What now? She whipped her head around. “No!”
An elite was slashing open the egg pods. Locusts flew out, arrowing toward the fighting warriors—Davion, Malax, Caze, and more.
“No.” Gayel’s voice was all grit.
The locust plague might not cover the planet, but it would decimate the warriors here. And let the Kantos escape.
“Gayel.” She gripped his hand.
“There’s only one option.” He lifted his chin. “The helindai.”
“What’s that?” She saw the stark lines bracketing his mouth. Whatever it was, it wasn’t good.
“A power only an Eon king can access.” He blew out a breath. “I can pull energy from all my warriors’ helians. Generate an energy wave that will destroy our enemies.”
“Okay.” That sounded good, not bad.
“Once I start…I can’t stop. I’ll lose my sense of self. I could destroy everything in the vicinity. My father used it once and destroyed an entire species and planet. And killed some of his own warriors.”
Oh. God.Bile rose in her mouth. “You won’t do that. You couldn’t.”
His gaze met hers. “No king has ever controlled the helindai. It has to run its course.”
She gripped him. “I believe in you.”
Agonized screams filtered up from below. The cries of the Eon warriors.
Gayel squeezed his eyes closed for a second, then opened them. He kissed her—hard and brief. “I love you, Alea.”
“Gayel—”
He let go and rose. He floated up and threw his arms out.
Alea felt energy build in the air. The hairs on the back of her neck rose, her skin tingled.
The purple threads in Gayel’s armor glowed. The energy built.
The raw power made her shiver. She swallowed. The pressure of it was immense and terrifying.
With a guttural roar, he threw his head back. Energy pulsed off him, his eyes glowing pure neon purple.
The energy wave slammed into her and she gripped the rock, clinging hard.
Down below, she saw Kantos jerk and fall. Bugs fell from the sky. The locusts incinerated.
Yes. She smiled. He’d done it. The warriors on the ground were all straightening, shaking their heads.
Then another pulse hit.
This one slammed into her and hurt. She groaned. She saw several warriors fall. One of the base’s buildings tilted and collapsed.
No. No. No.
Another pulse and another building exploded. Rock and rubble flew everywhere.
No. “Gayel, stop!”
She looked up at him. His face looked almost serene. His eyes were pure purple, no black visible.
“Gayel!”
No response.
Fuck this.Alea pushed off.
She floated up to him. Another energy pulse hit her and it felt like a punch to her gut. Fighting through the pain, she reached him and clamped her arms around him.
“Gayel!” She wasn’t giving up on her mate.
It was like he was looking through her.
“I’m not giving up on you.” She kissed him. She poured everything she felt into the kiss. Every growing feeling she had for him. All her hopes and fears. All her hurts and joys.
She saw him blink.
She bit his lip. “Gayel?”
“Alea.” His voice was strained.
“Right here. Where I belong.”
He cinched an arm around her. She looked down. Warriors were pushing themselves upright. Several Kantos were still standing but looked dazed.
Alea held up another canister of the agent. “Are you in control?”
He nodded, black bleeding into his eyes.
“Can you use your kickass energy to spread this?”
“I think so.”
She twisted the canister and threw it. Gayel released another pulse of energy.
The black agent dipped and twisted. The energy caught it and the blackness expanded, then arrowed downward.
The dark cloud hit more flying bugs, then engulfed the Kantos soldiers, then moved to other bugs on the ground.
Pulse racing, she clutched Gayel’s hand.
He squeezed her fingers.
Please work.
The Kantos soldiers froze.
The bugs stopped flying and drifted down to land. On the ground, the other bugs milled around slowly, as though confused.
“It’s working.” She spun to face him. “Gayel, it’s working!”
He grabbed her, yanked her close. “Thank you, my tough, loyal mate.”
Then he kissed her.