The Princess and her Alien Rogue: Alien Romance (13 page)

“I think the people would have fought with you. But what do I know, they are no more my people than they are yours.”

“There, the answer of a politician if ever I heard one,” Krigan said, smiling at Rian, whom he had become friends with over the three days it had taken them to journey to his home planet. Mostly because she had helped keep Johar under control when he would have forced Krigan to turn the ship around and go back to Carinia.

They had mostly used a sedative, which she had got him to drink the first time, then she had injected him while Krigan restrained him with a laser. Johar was trying not to hold it against either of them.

But he swore if anything had happened to Tallia, he would not be so forgiving.

“Your planet is beautiful,” Rian said in wonder. “So many trees. Why did you ever leave?”

“Because he didn’t want to be a king,” Krigan teased.

“You are a king here?” she asked.

“He was worried his eldest brother was going to step aside and allow Johar to take the throne when his father died.”

“Only because my father wanted it. The throne is Tahar’s, not mine.”

“Does My Princess know?” Rian asked, shock on her face as she looked at Johar, as if for the first time.

“No. She didn’t know when we met, and I never found the right time to tell her.”

“Found the right time! You married her!” Rian was mad, the first time he had seen her show any strong emotion.

“Yes, I did. And I was going to tell her.”

“Maybe if you had told her, then the Emissars would not have been so against the marriage.”

“Or they would have been more against it. Can you imagine how they would see it? Another species exerting power on their planet. They would have acted sooner and never let me marry her.” Johar shook his head. “And then, I had no desire to come back here. No desire at all.”

“But now we are here you are going to ask for help?” Rian asked.

“I suppose I must.”

“Damn it! You must have it bad,” Krigan said chuckling, “Coming home to ask your father for help.”

“Don’t forget it was you who insisted,” Johar said crossly. He felt as if he had been led into a trap, and now he had to navigate his way out of it and save the princess. His princess. He was sure his father would see the funny side of the situation.

They docked at the space port. “We have no documents,” Johar pointed out.

“I already called ahead and told them what my cargo was.”

If he had known that, he would not have been so surprised when the doors opened and his father and an armed escort were there waiting for him.

“It is good to see you, Johar,” his father said, but Johar was unsure the sentiment was real.

“It is good to see you too, Father.” Johar stepped forward, his hand held out to his father. There was the briefest of hesitations before they shook hands and bent their foreheads to touch.

“We should talk,” his father said, turning abruptly and walking away.

Johar glanced at Krigan. “Will you look after Rian for me?”

“My pleasure,” Krigan answered, and Rian smiled at him in a way Johar had not seen her smile before. Was there a budding relationship growing between them? If so, would Rian return to Carinia? Tallia was so attached to her slave, it would be hard news to take.

His long strides soon had him caught up with his father. They crossed the open courtyard and went inside a building that was built tall, as if it was trying to touch the clouds in the sky, its outer walls constructed of smooth white stone. For generations this had been his family’s stronghold. It was said that no man could scale those walls, and the stronghold had withstood many sieges. Until flight had been discovered, and weapons that would bring the stronghold crumbling down. Yet still it reminded the symbolic home of the ruling clan. “How are you, Father?”

“How do you think when your second son runs away from home?” he asked, glancing at Johar. “You’ve grown.”

“I don’t think so,” Johar said. He had been fully a man when he had left, and always kept himself toned and muscles; he always kept himself occupied with long workouts between cargo drops, so he was sure his father was not referring to his waistline either.

“You have. You left here a boy. Not in age or height, but in spirit. You had no sense of responsibility.”

“I have learned many things,” Johar agreed. His father entered his private apartments, Johar followed, and the guards waited outside, pulling the doors closed to give their leader some privacy.

“What I am really interested in, is what brought you back here, to the home you had forsaken.”

“I have never forsaken our home.”

“And yet when you would have been better served as the next clan chief, you would run away into space?”

“I thought it for the best.”

“For the best?” His father approached him, jabbing his finger at the tattoos on Johar’s body. “You know what these are. You know why
you
were given them and not my first-born son.” They are the same as were given me.” His father pulled his shirt open to reveal the same tattoos over his own body. “They chose you as the leader when I die.”

“And since when do monks choose who is to succeed as our leader? Until my grandfather gave them sanctuary, we had our own customs, our own laws on who should rule. The first son. If chosen by his father. If chosen by
you
. And instead you have been caught up in what they say.”

“If it wasn’t for them, my brother would have been clan leader. He would have been king and taken us off to war all over the galaxy.”

“How do you know that?” Johar asked. “How do you know your father would not have chosen you anyway? Surely he was the best judge of who should have been the rightful heir. The man who raised you, trained you. Or maybe by the very fact that my uncle knew he would never be king, he chose to warmonger instead.”

His father turned to him, his eyes blazing and the glow of his tattoos faint but visible. “Do not twist this.”

Johar let his breath go, and tried to calm himself. He had not come here to fight with his father. “How is Tahar?”

His father walked over to the window and looked out over the great plains below him. The stronghold was built on a raised hill, with an ocean of grassland before them as far as the eye could see. No army could ever have marched on the stronghold without being seen a day away.

“Being a father is hard. You make decisions that you think are for the best. You have your heart broken so many times you wonder if it will ever go back together again.” He sighed wearily. “I am glad you have returned, Johar. But things are not how you left them. If you came home to take up the command, you are too late.”

“My brother has proved himself?”

His father nodded. “Yes.” He turned back to Johar. “Perhaps you were right. Tahar only needed to be free of your shadow to become the man I had hoped he would be.”

There was a knock at the door, and the two men turned to watch the door being flung open and Tahar walked in, his strides as large as his body. Johar braced himself for the bear hug his brother bestowed on him. “I am so pleased to see you, Johar.”

“Tahar. I have missed you.” They shook hands, their heads bowed forward to touch. “Brother. You look well.”

“You too. I see there is a glow about you.” Tahar slapped Johar’s arm. “Krigan tells me why.”

“And is a father to know?” the clan chief asked.

“I am married, Father,” Johar admitted.

“And you did not bring your wife to visit me?”

“No.” Johar turned to his father. “I came to ask for aid. She is being held prisoner.”

“So this is why you have returned! Not from a sense of duty, but for help.”

“As a brother and a son, Johar should feel able to,” Tahar said.

Johar observed Tahar. His father was right, his older brother had grown beyond all recognition, he was a man, in his own right, ruler of his own destiny. Fit to be a king, where Johar never would be. Keeping the clans united took more than strength; it took cunning and patience.

“Come, Father. The clans grow fat in their strongholds; they grow idle. Send them out into space, allow us to assist my brother.”

His father stood staring at the two men, his two sons, so different, yet of his blood, so very much the same. “Yes.” He nodded. “Let us hunt. I would like to see the woman who had tamed my son.”

He walked up to Johar. “I would like to thank her for being the device that has brought you back to us. Tell me, is she beautiful?”

“As the twilight, and equally as mysterious.”

“And is she rich?” his father asked hopefully.

“Yes. Well, at least her planet is.”

“So we will go and raid it, after we have rescued her?” He looked excited: to plunder was the way of the Limera.

“I cannot allow you to do that, Father.” He took a deep breath, trying to calm the light that was emanating from his tattoos. “You will know soon enough; I expect Krigan is already spreading the word … I married a princess.”

His father erupted into laughter. “You fell in love with the one thing you tried to run from?”

“Yes.”

He wiped tears from his eyes. “Oh the irony, my son. Let us go and free her.”

“Thank you, Father. Thank you, Tahar.” Johar felt relief sweep over him. He only hoped she would still be alive when they arrived.

Chapter Twenty-Five – Tallia

“And there is still no sign of him?” Tallia asked. Helker looked up from the papers he was studying in his new control post and shook his head. “What about Rian?”

“No, Queen Tallia. There is talk that a Limerian cargo ship left the spaceport around the time the Emissars took over.”

“You think he ran? That he is safe? And Rian too?” she asked, a sadness in her voice. It was hard to believe that the two people she trusted most had left and she had no idea where they were, or if they were safe. Tallia did not blame her slave for leaving. If she had remained on Carinia, she would have been killed, if the people had not succeeded in their uprising. And this had never been Johar’s battle.

“We are still trying to find out, Queen Tallia,” Helker said, drawing her back to the present. “Word comes from the south that the laws there have been repealed. The women are no longer the chattels of the men.”

“Was there much opposition?” she asked.

“Some, but your army made sure the people know there will be no retuning to the old ways.”

“We have made it clear. A small presence has been left there to reinforce your laws.”

“Thank you, Helker.” She bowed to her most trusted guard, but before she left him to his work, she said, “I have not had the chance to thank you. For everything you did for me, for all of us.”

He smiled. “It was the right thing to do, I would not have my wife or my children living under such laws as the Emissars wanted to pass. When I was a child, my grandfather used to tell me stories passed down through the generations. They told of the times before your ancestors came down from the sky. Of the smell of burning flesh that used to linger in the air for days after the tax collectors came to each village. They would bring with them the Emissars who would always find fault with a handful of men and women. And children.” He shook his head. “I remembered those stories, because my grandfather told me it was our duty to never forget.”

“I’m pleased you remember, and I swear, the laws of the Emissars are gone for good.”

“Just as the Emissars are gone for good. I would have your permission to hunt down anyone who tries to speak of them. In any town or village there should be no place where the barbaric laws can be used, even in secret.”

“I agree. But the Emissars will be brought here to stand trial; I will not have the people taking the law into their own hands. That is not our way.”

“I understand,” he said.

She put a hand on his arm, and he looked at her, his face serious. She studied him for a moment longer than was polite, trying to make sure he was as trustworthy as she hoped he was. “If we are not careful we stand the chance of becoming just like them. I will not allow it.”

“I understand,” he repeated.

“Thank you,” Tallia said, and then left the room, her thoughts drifting back to the man she loved, the man who was absent from her life, but not from her heart.

The breeze was cool as she entered the gardens. She walked around the ornate lawns with their sculptured bushes and thought how useless this part of the grounds was. She would go and ask the gardeners to make it more productive, perhaps they could plant some vegetables, the surplus of which could be sold in the market, it would all help to halt the need for a rise in taxes. It appeared the Emissars were siphoning off money to pay for hired thugs to do their work for them. The crown wasn’t exactly bankrupt, but they would have to be frugal in their spending for a year or two.

A tax rise would be sensible, but unwelcome. Tallia did not want to reward the support of the people in overthrowing the Emissars by making their lives harder.

“Princess … My Queen!”

“Yes.” She turned to see a guard she didn’t recognize coming running towards her.

“Helker asked me to come and find you.” He stopped, gasping for breath, and a sense of dread swept over her.

“Take your time and tell me exactly what is wrong.” She tried not to show her impatience, she needed him to calm down and tell her exactly what was wrong.

“There is news of a fleet of spacecraft coming our way.”

“A fleet? How many?”

“Fifteen to twenty. Helker asked me to fetch you.”

“Lead me to him.”

She knew where Helker would be. There was a small control room in the palace, where information from the space ports was fed. Two men manned the communication station at all time, relaying messages to the other space ports as necessary. When she entered, the two men made to rise.

“Sit. Do your job, please. Helker, is it true?” she asked.

“Yes. We are working on identifying the ships.”

“Is it the Garundi come for revenge?”

“We are working to identify the ships, but they are too far out. We have scrambled two cruisers.” Helker turned to her. “We have no way of knowing if the Emissars made a deal with the Garundi, or any other race for that matter. There is no way to tell if they sent a signal when they were in charge.”