Dragon's Hope (Red Planet Dragons of Tajss Book 4) Read online

  Olivia screams, the pirate is yelling and stomping the floor with his boots, Astarot is leaning into his chains then everything turns to chaos.

  The pirate reaches for his gun but just then he's falling. Astarot hisses, almost a roar. His tail! It's free!

  A sickening crack as the pirate's head hits the floor reverberates around the room.

  "Kill that son of a bitch!" Delilah, as Olivia called her, curses, scooting towards the downed pirate.

  She raises her bound legs and kicks the pirate in the head, then like a madwoman she keeps doing it. Astarot strains against his bonds, the muscles of his arms and chest bulging, the edges of his scales tinting to a deep shade of red.

  Staring, I'm lost. I should act, but do what?

  Knife. On the guard's belt is my knife which he took while capturing us. Diving forward I grab it from his belt. The familiar weight of it in my hand gives me an anchor. Something solid, sane in the midst of the confusion. What do I do with it?

  Astarot is hissing louder, his muscles straining so hard I'm sure he'll burst a vein. Flipping the knife over in my hand I step behind him and slice through the rope binding his wings. As the rope drops they spread wide, reaching side to side of the cargo space, and I stumble back.

  He doubles his fists up and slams them into the guard on the ground. The guard grunts, lifts his head, Delilah kicks him again at the same time. The guard's head bounces off the steel floor and he lies still.

  Silence.

  The four of us stare at each other in sudden silence. It's strange, scary, like the world is a new and different place. My heart beats a slow, steady rhythm despite all the excitement. Feeling calm, I walk over to the guard, kneel, then sift through the pockets attached to his clothes.

  I toss aside the extra bits and pieces until I find a ring of keys. There are a dozen of them and I have to try all but the last one before I find one that clicks in Astarot's shackles.

  He grabs me before the falling cuffs hit the floor and sweeps me into a kiss, wrapping his arms and wings around the two of us. Delilah gasps.

  "Lana!" Olivia yelps, fear in her voice.

  They're in the distance, somewhere over there, I'm here with Astarot. Relief cleanses my body, pushing aside the ache, the pain and the parched feelings. The emotional release is so strong I can forget how bad I feel for at least this time. His lips on mine, his strong, muscled arms holding me tight, makes the world right.

  "You've got to be kidding me," Delilah exhales.

  Astarot lets me go, his wings folding back into place. My cheeks burn hot with sudden embarrassment.

  "What is the matter?" Astarot asks.

  "Nothing," I answer.

  "What are they saying?" he asks, looking at the other two.

  "It's nothing," I say again. "What do we do now?"

  Astarot rolls his shoulders. "Finish this," he hisses. "Free them."

  "Are you two…" Olivia says, then trails off, not finishing her thought but I know what she was about to ask.

  All the old feelings jump out. I'm ashamed, not of Astarot as much as just who I am. A vagrant. Unwanted, extra, I don't belong. It's ridiculous but I can't help what I'm feeling. I don't meet either of their eyes as I unlock their bonds.

  "Yo, whatever your name is," Delilah says.

  "Her name's Lana," Olivia adds.

  "Sure, got it, Lana. What the hell is going on? What is he? Why are we with," she kicks the pirate, "these?"

  Simple question, complicated answer.

  "Let's focus on getting free first, then we'll share more stories," I say, pushing aside all my regrets, fears and worries.

  "Yeah, good plan," Delilah agrees.

  The two women keep what distance they can between themselves and Astarot. Astarot ignores them.

  "What's the plan?" I ask him.

  "I'll stand to one side of the door, make a noise, when they come through, I'll take them out," he says.

  "Are you sure that will work?" I ask.

  He shrugs in response.

  Doubt niggles at my thoughts but I don't have a better plan. Astarot moves over to the door.

  "What is he doing?" Olivia asks.

  "There are at least two more of them, we'll lure them back here, then take them out."

  "I will give them more than that," Delilah says, her voice hard.

  Astarot looks at us then motions with his hands. The girls don't argue as I translate and get us all moved out of the line of sight. Astarot looks around, frowns, then goes to the downed pirate. He drags him towards the door and arranges him. Looking at it, I can see his plan. It looks like the guard collapsed and he's right in front of the door, creating an extra barrier to them entering the room.

  He looks everything over once again then reaches out and bangs on the door. Holding my breath I wait but nothing happens. Gasping, I take a deep breath then hold it again as Astarot hits the door even harder. The vibration and sense of moving slows then the transport jerks, coming to a stop. Exchanging quick glances with the other two women I tighten my grip on my knife. Delilah has a length of chain with a heavy metal cuff swinging from her hands, ready to use it. Olivia looks fearful, crouching down to one side to stay out of the way.

  The metal door screeches, sticks, then jerks open. Astarot explodes in a flurry of motion. My eyes won't follow the action it's happening so fast. One moment we're all standing there then he's moving and there are grunts, groans, and Astarot is standing in the doorway with three pirates out on the floor.

  "Damn!" Delilah exclaims.

  Pride fills my heart and I'm beaming at my man. My man. What the hell am I thinking? No, it's true. All considerations aside, the way I feel with him. He's mine and damn I'm a lucky woman.

  "Hurry," Astarot says, motioning. "Grab their gear, supplies. We need to get out of here."

  "We should take the transport," I say.

  "Do you know how to operate it?" he asks.

  "Let me look," I say.

  "Are you talking with, him, it, whatever that is?" Delilah asks.

  "That is Astarot," I reply. "Yes, I am talking with him. You think I kiss random guys I can't even talk to?"

  Her chocolate skin darkens a little, showing she has the decency to blush at least. I smile to ease the sting.

  "Sorry, he's just, I mean…" she motions with her hands at Astarot.

  "He's a dragon, sort of," Olivia fills in. "An alien, an honest-to-goodness alien dragon-man."

  "Yeah," I say. "Trust me you get used to it. He's also our best hope of survival."

  Sliding past Astarot, I move up to the front of the transport. The controls are strange and foreign. One look and I know I have no idea how to operate this thing.

  "Let me look, too," Delilah says, sliding into the small front space.

  There's only room for the two of us, Astarot stands outside in the crossover hallway.

  "Can you drive it?" I ask.

  Delilah sits down, touches things, pushes buttons, does stuff I have no clue about then shakes her head.

  "I think it's broken," she says.

  "What the hell happened? It was just running," I say.

  "No clue but I'm sure this should start it up and it doesn't," she says pointing at a panel. "This flashing here, might be some kind of fail safe."

  She leans in closer to the flashing screen.

  "A fail safe for what?"

  "Shit," she exhales. "We have to go. Now."

  "What? Why?"

  "It's not a fail safe, its a locater signal and a radar. There's another thing approaching fast."

  Cold chills fill my stomach and I follow her back into the transport.

  "Astarot, we have to go, there are others coming," I tell him.

  We grab what gear we can carry and then head out into the desert. As soon as the door opens the heat washes over and my knees grow weak. Just for a moment everything turns gray and the room spins. Astarot's arms are around me, holding me up.

  "Lana!" he exclaims, catching before I fal
l.

  "I'm fine," I say, struggling to remain upright.

  It passes as fast as it hit, leaving me feeling more tired than I was before. Pushing off of Astarot I meet the open stares of the women.

  "Are you okay?" Olivia asks.

  "Yeah, sorry, it's just…" What do I tell her? I'm going into withdrawal from an alien plant? "The heat."

  "I get that!" she says, chuckling. "This place is hotter than hell."

  "It looks like Vulcan," Delilah adds, standing on the ramp going down. "Barren and hotter than a firecracker."

  "Yeah," I say. "Well, you're in the Star Trek camp, I see."

  Astarot keeps an arm around my waist, leading me down the ramp. I don't want to show it but I'm grateful. I'm not sure I can stand on my own right now. My muscles are spasming at random intervals. It's not too much of a problem but it's making standing upright harder than it should be.

  "We need to move," Astarot says. "Can you get them to move faster?"

  "Sure," I say, then translate the same over to them.

  We walk across the desert headed for who knows what. It's hard work made harder because of how bad I'm feeling. I need epis. We weren't supposed to be gone this long. I don't even know how long we've been out or how far from home we are. The transport moved us fast and far.

  "Home is this way," Delilah says, as we top a tall dune.

  I say as much to Astarot. He stares out across the desert then turns a slow circle. When he finishes his turn he frowns.

  "What?" I ask.

  "We are far from our home," he says.

  "Kind of figured that," I reply.

  "What is he saying? How can you understand those hisses?" Delilah asks.

  "There's a machine back home, in Drakonov," I say.

  "Drakonov?" Olivia asks, her eyes widening. "You mean, like a town? You call it that?"

  "Well, it's a city," I say.

  "A city? Do you have running water? Toilets? Oh do I miss a good toilet the most," Olivia exclaims.

  "No, we don't," I say. "It's an abandoned city, well mostly, or it was. Ah, it's complicated."

  "Are there more of," Delilah nods at Astarot.

  "Yes, some," I say. "We're working together to survive."

  "I think he's hot," Olivia says, her fair skin turning a deep shade of pink.

  "You're just dehydrated and lonely," Delilah says.

  "Sure, but still, look at those muscles," Olivia says, somehow blushing harder then looking away.

  "We need to get to our home," Delilah says, bringing the conversation back on point. "We need supplies."

  "True, how are you all surviving the heat? It's been a long time since the crash. You haven't seen other Zmaj?"

  "Z-ma-shhh?" Delilah asks, sounding out the word.

  "Ju," I say. "Zmaj."

  "Ah," she says, trying it again and getting it closer. "No, we haven't seen anyone like him. Those bastards who got us are the only aliens we've run into."

  "I told Patrick the others weren't just missing, now we know. Odds are they were captured by those orange assholes too," Olivia says.

  "Pirates," I add, trying to be helpful.

  "Pirates?" Delilah asks.

  "Yeah, they're the ones who attacked the ship and caused us to wreck," I say.

  "Well we need to get back," Delilah says, brusque and all business. "The camp needs to know and I don't want to be out here in the desert without supplies. I'm already feeling dry."

  "What do you think?" I ask Astarot, telling him they want to go to their camp.

  "Do they have epis?" he asks.

  "I don't think they know what it is," I reply.

  "You need epis," he answers.

  "Yeah, but what else can we do?"

  Frowning, he nods, then we all walk in the direction that Delilah pointed.

  "So you're all surviving on your own, what about food? How do you deal with the heat?" I ask, a million questions dancing in my head.

  "We have supplies from the ship, but we've also gotten some crops to grow, so we're good on food," Olivia says.

  "You look terrible," Delilah says. "How long have you been out in the desert?"

  "A few days, I think," I answer her.

  "Just a few days?" Olivia asks, surprise in her voice.

  "Yeah, why?" I ask, defensive.

  "You look a lot worse than a few days," she observes.

  "Yeah well, that's the epis withdrawal."

  "Epis withdrawal?" they ask as one.

  I explain epis to them while we struggle our way across the sand. It takes time because I keep running out of breath. The sand seems to get softer and harder to walk through. Astarot has to help me most of the time. I can't find the strength to do it on my own. Everything hurts too much.

  "So," Delilah says. "You and the dragon-man, huh?"

  The suns are setting at last, bringing the welcome relief of nightfall.

  "Uh, yeah?" I'm too tired to talk.

  "Are you two, you know, doing it?" she asks.

  I stop, blushing hard. "What of it?"

  "Well, are you, how did you figure out you're, you know, compatible?" Olivia asks, jumping into the conversation.

  "Yeah, what's he like down there?" Delilah asks, grinning from ear to ear.

  "Look, I'm not go-"

  The surrounding ground explodes. Sand flies into the air, blinding me and getting into my mouth. Choking, waving at the air, something pokes into my ribs.

  "Lana!" Astarot yells, grabbing me and pushing me behind him.

  We're surrounded. Three shadowy figures close in, sharp spears poking at us, forcing us back into each other.

  15

  Astarot

  Surrounded. Anger rises, bijass closing in. The three figures drive us back with their spears. Turning, I try to keep them all in my sight but it's impossible. How did the pirates find us?

  "Astarot," Lana says, her voice low, quavering with fear.

  "It's fine," I say, holding my hands up.

  The three surrounding us are wearing large, flowing cloaks with hoods that cast their faces in shadow. They don't look like Zzlo. So who are they?

  "Shut up," one of them says in Zmaj.

  "What?" Lana and I exclaim as one.

  A bigger, bulkier one reaches up and pulls the hood off his head. He's a Zmaj with blue and yellow edged tan scales. He narrows his eyes, glaring at me.

  "Shut. Up," he says, accenting each word. "No speaking."

  "You're Zmaj!" Lana says.

  He turns towards her. Red edges my vision, my muscles quake as I struggle to suppress and control my rage. He steps in close to my treasure, too close. Lana doesn't back down, straightening she stares up at him, defiant. He hisses, and she holds her ground. My hearts pound hard, filling my ears with the pulsing of blood. He leans over her trying to dominate.

  I leap, slamming into his side and knock him to the ground. Air whoofs out of him as we hit the sand rolling, locked in a struggle for dominance. A roar rips from my throat as the rolling stops and I'm on top. Pounding my fists into his face he raises his arms to protect himself. His tail slams into the back of my head knocking me forward.

  "Astarot!" Lana is screaming.

  I can't stop, if I do they'll win. I have to save her, she's my treasure. He can't touch her.

  Pressure on my arms, pulling backwards. I'm drug off of him by the other two. Struggling against them I strive to break free but their grip is too strong, I can't. The one I was beating climbs to his feet. Wiping blood from his mouth, he rolls his head causing his neck to crack loudly. He walks towards me, slow, his hands balling into fists.

  "That was a mistake," he hisses, then his fist slams into my face.

  My head jerks to one side, my teeth slam together, and something pops in my neck. Looking up at him, I grin, blood dripping down my chin.

  "That the best you got?"

  He growls and raises his arm back.

  "Ragnar," one of the males holding me says, and he stops.

  "Wha
t?"

  "We should take them to the elders," the other one says. "You know the edicts."

  "Burn the edicts," Ragnar says.

  "I'll burn you, that's my female," I hiss, straining forward and forcing the two holding me to tighten their grip.

  "Only if you can keep her," Ragnar growls, leaning in until we're face to face.

  "We could kill him," the other one says.

  "No," Ragnar says. "Edicts are edicts. They are what hold us together."

  "Edicts make us one," the two holding me intone, as if it is some kind of chant or mantra.

  I stop struggling and they let me go. I have no target for my rage. The three others move to stand side by side. The other two lower their hoods and I see they're also Zmaj. None of this makes sense. Zmaj don't live and work together. What is this mantra they're chanting?

  "Astarot?" Lana asks

  The other two human females are talking to Lana, wanting to know what is happening.

  "It's ok," I tell her before asking the foreign Zmaj, "Who are you?"

  The big one, Ragnar, shakes his head.

  "We're the Tribe," he answers. "What are you doing here?"

  "These are mine," I say, pointing at the women. "Zzlo captured us and I fought them, made our way to freedom, but now we're far from home."

  "How far can you be? These are Sky Folk, they come from over there," he points off behind us.

  "You've seen them before?" I ask, shock hitting me like cold water.

  "Of course," he answers.

  Lana moves beside me placing her hand on my arm. Ragnar watches, his eyes drifting to her exposed skin showing through her torn shirt. Anger flashes white hot, clouding my thoughts, my hands ball into fists. I struggle to not attack.

  "That's a different part of the ship," Lana says, her soft, beautiful voice cutting through my rage.

  She speaks to the other two women while the three new males watch us.

  "Come on," Ragnar says.

  "Where?" I ask.

  "To the Tribe," Ragnar says, as if that answers all my questions. "The Elders will want to see you."

  "We're not going anywhere," I growl.

  "I didn't say you had a choice," Ragnar says, stepping closer.

  He puffs his chest out and I step into him, matching. My tail shifts side to side, he flutters his wings, and I spread mine wide.