The Princess and her Alien Rogue: Alien Romance (12 page)

“No. I do not think so.” She sighed. “That is, until they have burned their family and friends.”

“So we need to stop that happening.”

“Yes. But how, when the guards at the palace are so well armed and the common people are shut in out. Many will have to die to penetrate the palace.”

“It doesn’t look good. Does it?”

“No. Let us hope the witch has some news.”

***

That seemed unlikely as they stood before the tea shop where Rian had led him under the cover of darkness. Hosta had lent him a thick woolen cloak in the hope it would cover his tattoos. He was still glowing faintly, although now it was with anger and thoughts of revenge rather than pleasure and thoughts of love. Although his feeling for Tallia was the fuel, stoked by his intense need to save her.

“This is it?” he asked. The whole shop was in darkness, no sign of any light inside. Johar pressed his face up to the window, and peered inside. “Nothing.”

“My Princess paid her two bags of gold, one for the information, one for her silence. My Princess then told her to leave.”

“It looks as if the witch obeyed.”

“Then what do we do?” Rian asked, her voice showing her fear for the first time since they had left the palace. She had been so convinced they would come here and meet with Misha’Ha and be given the information they needed. Now she seemed beaten.

“We will find a way,” Johar said. “Let’s look around the back.”

They had to skirt around the whole block of houses to find the gate leading into the yard belonging to the shop. Johar checked to make sure it was the right one, because from back here they all looked the same.

“This is it,” he said, and pushed the gate open. Its hinges were rusty and worn, and he had to use his shoulder to shove it open wide enough for them to both squeeze in. Squeezing into small spaces had never been one of Johar’s ideas of fun; he was not built for small in any way.

Once inside the back yard, they kept low, or at least he kept low, as they walked towards the back door. It was locked. He prepared to put his shoulder to it and push.

“Wait,” Rian said, “We should knock first.”

“Knock? But there is no one in.”

“Then why are we breaking in?” she asked. “If you think there is no one here, why are we bothering to access the house?”

“Because…” He knocked the door quietly, rather than arguing with Rian. Then they stood and waited.

“There was a face at the window,” Rian said, scared. “Not a woman, a man, with a beard.”

Johar wished he had a weapon, anything to use to put up a fight. He settled for picking up a large stone that fit in his palm snugly. “I’m going in. If there is someone in there, then they might have answers, or at least a clue as to where we can find the witch.”

He placed his shoulder against the door, but just as he began to push, it opened. Johar recovered quickly, and stood with the rock held above his head, ready to strike.

“Johar. Is that you?” a voice asked.

“Krigan? What the hell are you doing here? I thought you had left with the cargo.”

“I would have. But before I left the space port, a young woman came to me and offered me a bag of silver to transport a man and woman off the planet. I was directed to this place and told to wait.”

“And you did as the woman asked. And did you ask why?” Johar asked.

“She gave me this bag of silver. Since when do we question our trading partners?” Krigan asked, holding out the pouch of coins.

“The witch’s slave.” Rian took the pouch from Krigan. “She must have known we would need your help.”

“Then let’s go,” Krigan said.

“Wait. We can’t go to the palace without a plan, we’ll be cut down before we get inside.”

“Who said anything about going into the palace? The woman was clear, I was to take you into space. If the danger is that bad, we need to get away from here.”

“I can’t leave Tallia.”

“She paid you, didn’t she?” Krigan asked. “The princess paid you the money she promised you.”

“Yes, half.”

“Well in my opinion you have upheld half of the bargain. I heard you got married. So now we leave.”

“I can’t,” Johar shook his head again.

“Is there no way to persuade you?” Krigan asked.

“No.”

“Then I will do what I can to help you,” Krigan said.

“Thank you, my old friend,” Johar said, turning away, not seeing the laser Krigan had in his hand, not knowing he was going to actually use it until he felt the electrical charge along his spine, and then fell to the floor in a crumpled heap.

Chapter Twenty-Three – Tallia

Two days passed, with no word from anyone. The Emissars left her alone, and there were no more messages from those she hoped supported her. How many times she got up and walked the perimeter of her cell, trying to figure out a way to free herself, she had no idea. After a while, she stopped counting.

The worst thing was how the time passed so slowly, with long days leading to eternal nights. She would sit and stare at the small window, watching the change in light, then the darkness came and she would try to make out the stars above, and wonder if one of those pinpricks of light was the planet where Johar came from.

In those hours she would go from wishing to see him again, to praying that he had returned to the life he led before her, and that he was at least alive. Her daydream took her back to the night of their wedding, when he had asked her to let her barriers down, to let him in, and she had denied him.

If she hadn’t pushed him away, if she had allowed him to see join with her mind and spirit as well as her body, would she be able to know where he was right now? Would she be able to feel his presence? Even if he was thousands of light years away, as she hoped.

Footsteps were coming this way. Her body became alert, but she did not move, only shifted her thoughts to look outward instead of in.

“Tallia,” Aleck said, coming to stand by the bars, while a guard unlocked the door. “It is time to hear the judgment against you.”

She rose from the straw bed and went to the open door, without speaking a word. The questions she wanted the answers to stuck in her throat. What was waiting for her up there? Had they caught Johar or Rian? Were they planning on executing her, and if so, under what charges?

Tallia decided not to give the Emissar a chance to rub salt into the many emotional wounds she bore.

The light was bright as they walked up the stairs, her hand trailing along the rough stone wall, her mind concentrating on it, as she tried not to think about what might happen. Suddenly the desire to run back to her cell and shut the door was overwhelming.

It was also never going to happen. She would never run from her fate. Aleck reached the top of the stairs and then turned right to head outside. It must have been early afternoon, the sun was high in the sky, but the usual sounds of the market were missing. As they walked out into the courtyard, she could see why. The Emissars had gathered a large crowd together, to stand before what looked like a funeral pyre.

Her
funeral pyre.

Her knees went weak, and the desire to turn and run back to her cell and shut herself in hit her again, like a fist in the stomach, making her gasp for air. Tallia had no idea if this was for her, or for some other poor soul, but when she glanced around she could not see either Rian or Johar, so she could only assume, with some relief, that they had not been caught, and that this was for her. This was, after all, her battle, not theirs.

How the Emissars were going to persuade the people that she deserved this death, she did not know.

Aleck stepped forward to speak. Before him the people stood still and silent as they watched him. It was the most eerie thing she had ever witnessed, and she could only imagine what threat he had given them to make so many people stand here like pale wraiths.

“We are here today to witness a sacrifice to the gods of Carinia. For too long we have allowed these aliens from space to rule over our planet. They have overthrown our laws, and it is time to return to the old ways.”

Not a murmur, not even a baby cried, and Tallia felt cold, a sense of loss filling her. Had the Emissars already unleashed their fear on the people? Did the streets already stink of burned flesh, were villages filled with the stench of a terrifying death in order for the Emissars and their bullies to take back their hated control?

Her ancestors had battled these same ways for the first two hundred years after they conquered Carinia. To think they allowed some of these violent men to stay in power of any kind had been a mistake that had taken another eight hundred years to come back and bite them in the ass. Tallia wished she had not been the one to witness it; she felt a failure, and knew now why her father had so desperately wanted a boy.

It was not her ancestors who had failed, it was Tallia herself, the last princess of Carinia.

She looked across at Aleck, and the other Emissars, her hatred stronger than ever. However, they did not look sure of themselves. Her eyes skimmed the face of each Emissar and then drifted back over the crowd before them. Something was wrong.

Aleck turned and walked over to one of the guards, who nodded and then went back inside the castle, taking four of his men with him. All Tallia could do was stand and watch, as Aleck began to talk again. There were two guards on either side of her, heavily armed with powerful lasers, the type only dispensed in times of war. They too looked uneasy, weapons raised as a movement to her right caught her eye.

People were moving. She scanned the crowd, looking for a seven-foot silver man who might have rallied the people to his aid. But there was no one standing head and shoulders above the rest of the people. Instead, when she looked closer, she could see it was Helker. Her attention caught, she looked closer and realized it was all of her personal guard; they were planning a rescue attempt.

Aleck stepped forward, his voice booming. “Think carefully before you act. There is no reason for bloodshed today. My guards outnumber you three to one.”

Helker was weaving through the crowd, coming to stand directly in front of Aleck, who signaled to his guards. Ten of them moved forward to surround Helker. “If you do not wish bloodshed, you will walk away from this place now. Go to the nunit, and there live out your days in peace
and quiet.
Take a sworn oath of silence, and an end to violence, and as long as you hold that oath, you will be unmolested.” Aleck opened his mouth to speak, but Helker cut him off. “Or, you can die here today. Those are the terms.”

Aleck laughed. But no one else laughed with him. One of the Emissars began to back away from the others, eying the door leading back into the palace. But before he could enter a group of thirty men, peasants with swords and ancient lasers, came streaking out of it and surrounding the Emissars and the guards holding Tallia.

At that precise moment, the guards surrounding Helker had swords pointed at their throats with shouts to drop their weapons. They did so, without one look at Aleck for permission.

“Hold.” Aleck's voice was lost amongst the baying mob, which was what the crowd had transformed into. Seeing his defeat, he turned to run, but the Emissars were surrounded.

In one last attempt to save himself, he lunged at Tallia. There was no way he was going to hurt her, not now, she refused to be used by him to make anyone surrender. The wisdom and training passed on by her father’s old captain came back to her, and she reached for the still-sheathed laser of the guard to her right, and withdrew it.

Aleck laughed as he lunged at her. “You do not have the guts, woman.”

She did. And she did not hesitate to fire the gun and put an end to the Emissary once and for all.

He collapsed onto the ground. “There is my sacrifice to your gods,” she told him as he lay dying in front of her, his flesh burned and his eyes closing for the last time. A cheer rose all around the courtyard, her name chanted.

“Queen Tallia,” Helker called above the noise, and the chanting increased until it deafened her. She smiled, a free smile, but one tinged with sadness. No Rian to share it with, no Johar to share her bed. Unless she was lucky and had already conceived a child, she would have to look for a new husband, so she could have an heir. But Johar was right: after being with him, she would never want another man in her bed.

The rest of the Emissars gave themselves up, so too did the guards, seeing themselves outnumbered and outgunned.

“What do you want us to do with them?” Helker asked.

“Bring them inside,” she said.

Tallia walked to the temple the Emissars used as their home and church. There she walked to the along the aisle, where no woman had ever set foot, and stood facing the Emissars, who were surrounded by guards.

“Here in your sacred place you will kneel and give your allegiance to not just me, but every monarch who follows. As the head of your order, you will ensure every one of your followers knows this. You will be taken out into the world and made to swear in front of all your kin and kindred.”

“Now. Who wants to go first?”

Chapter Twenty-Four – Johar

“I still cannot believe you brought me home,” Johar said to Krigan.

“I figured if you need to save your princess, then the best place to find people willing to fight for you is Limera.”

“How do you know they will fight for me? And how do you know we are not already too late?” he asked acidly.

“I don’t. But I do know you could not have taken on those madmen alone. You said yourself it would take an army to overthrow them. They had weapons; we did not. They had soldiers; we did not.”

“I could have made an army.”

“From the peasants?” Krigan laughed. “Come on. You know how hard it is to get normal people to fight for anything other than a roof over their heads and food in their bellies. All of which they would still have, even if these Emissars took over.”

“Is that what you think, Rian?” Johar asked. She was standing looking out of the window as the came out of the clouds and headed in to land near his father’s stronghold. A meeting he was not looking forward to.