Defiance (12 page)

“Come, quickly,” he urged in a low,
deep voice.

“Are you our contact?”

“Come, I said.
Now!”

Jordan
only had a split second to
decide to trust him or not, but with the door
open,
she had to take the chance, at least for
Rell’s
sake.
She picked
Rell
up and hurried out the door. The
hooded man threw a cloak over her and pulled up the hood.

“Give me the child,” he growled,
holding out his hands.

She turned, keeping
Rell
from his reach.
“Absolutely not.
She’s my responsibility, and I’ll take care of her.”

“Fine,” the man rasped. “But keep
up. We don’t have much time.”

She followed him out the back of
the pavilion and down to ground level, staying in the shadowed corridors. She
held onto
Rell
so tightly she was afraid she was
bruising the little girl. A door opened, and she blinked against the sudden
light as she saw some sort of small three wheeled car.

“Get in the carriage,” the man
snapped.
“Quickly!”

She obeyed, although she wished she
could shove her foot up his ass. If she didn’t have
Rell
to think about she’d do exactly that.

The vehicle didn’t have a
windshield, only a computer console that showed the street and a bunch of
computer graphs blinking all over the place. The man must have known what he
was doing because they’d managed to not kill anyone. When they came to a stop,
the man practically jumped out of the carriage and hurried around to her side. He
pulled
Jordan
out by her elbow, and she almost lost her grip on
Rell
.
She saw they were at the docking station in front of a ship that made David and
Laith’s
look huge.

“Sit down and strap in,” he
ordered, pointing at cargo seats on the side of the hull.

Her first instinct was to argue
with him, call him a jerk, and go head to head with his arrogance. But just
remembering what almost happened to her on the space station kept her quiet. There
was
a time and a place for everything, and now was not
the time to be stubborn. She had to protect this little girl, and she didn’t
want to offend him so much that he’d leave them behind. She complied with his
demand, sitting in the seat and making sure that she and
Rell
were buckled securely.

The hatch closed, and a moment
later she felt the engines vibrating. A second after that the inertial
dampeners kicked on as they taxied away from the
Targin
Market.

****

Laith
and
David waited in front of the pavilion, ready for battle with their armor suits
on.
Laith
was so tense his bones felt brittle, as if
they would break under the weight resting on his shoulders. He looked at his blood-kin
and, for a moment, took in David’s strong, handsome form. He was proud to have
the human standing beside him. It still amazed him that he had two humans that
he cared deeply about.

“If I fall, you must kill him.”
Laith
knew what he asked of David, the ultimate sacrifice. Humans
were forbidden to fight in ritualistic combat, so David would have to find a
way.

“You will not fall,” David said
firmly. “Don’t even contemplate that.”

“Promise me. I know it means your
death, but I need your vow.”

David looked at him fiercely. “You
know I will, but do
not
talk about it
anymore! You will
not
fall.”

Laith
nodded. There was so much more he wanted to say, but he couldn’t find the
words. He wanted to tell David how much their bond had meant to him, how much
it meant to be able to depend on someone to protect his back and believe in his
quest unconditionally. And then he prayed to
Xyran
the Great that he would have the fortitude and strength to defeat Kath.

But then he didn’t have much longer
to wait. The crowd parted to reveal a form, and his gaze met Kath’s.
Laith’s
heart jumped in his chest as his gut tightened in
anticipation. This was it. His plan might have been knocked askew, but the end
result was the same. He would kill Kath and avenge his sister.

Laith
focused his gaze on his target. He was old, but he moved with an agility that
belied his years. He was dressed in military attire and his badge designated
his rank, but
Laith
didn’t care about any of that. He
was too busy looking for any weakness Kath might possess.

He didn’t find much. Kath seemed to
be favoring his left knee somewhat, but
Laith
couldn’t be positive since the experienced raider drew himself up to his
impressive height. Yet
Laith
realized he wasn’t
intimidated in the least. This monster had killed his baby sister, and he was
determined Kath would not breathe for too much longer.

Kath pointed at him. “You stole my
property.”

Laith
didn’t respond.

Kath sneered. “After I finish
killing you I will take your head back to your tribe to permanently disgrace
your father’s name.”

Laith
looked around at the gathered witnesses before turning back to his sworn enemy.

“I challenge you, Commander Kath.
A duel to the death in order to avenge my sister,
Julyah
.”

Kath spread his arms wide. “Come,
whelp. I’ve defeated many like you.”

Laith
laid his hand over his heart. “As in old
Xyran
tradition, we fight fiercely with honor and tradition. Name your second.”

“I don’t need a second,” Kath said,
a bit mockingly.

“Name your second,”
Laith
repeated. “Or forfeit your life.”

“My lieutenant.
The same position your traitorous sire once held.”

“I name David as mine,”
Laith
said. He folded his hands together. “Prepare.”

Kath proceeded to take off his military
grade armor, and
Laith
did the same. David stepped
behind him.

“Are you sure you want to fight him
without some protection?” David asked harshly from behind his helmet.

“You know I have no choice,”
Laith
replied evenly. “It’s tradition.” He took a deep
breath and cleared his mind. “Do not worry, David, all will be fine.”

“Do
not
die, do you hear me?” David demanded.

Laith
cupped his face. “I won’t,” he vowed.

And then he stepped back to face
Kath. They withdrew their blades, staring at each other. All the spectators
formed a wide circle, giving them room to fight. He and Kath circled each
other, and
then a foot moved, a body shifted, and
they met with a clang of steel that shook their arms. One swung, one ducked. Kath
followed through with a downward arc while
Laith
darted aside. Again the blades met, and they locked together until Kath kicked
out and hit
Laith’s
inner thigh. He stumbled back,
dropping his guard. Kath kicked again, catching him in his chest.
Laith
fell back, onto one knee.

Kath raised
his sword over high, but
Laith
recovered enough to
block it. Again and again the Commander rained heavy blows, and each time
Laith
found the strength to hold him back.

In
between breaths,
Laith
did a kick of his own, hitting
Kath’s moving sword to bounce it away. In Kath’s disorientation,
Laith
quickly reached out and grabbed Kath’s arms, bringing
up his foot and catapulting the Commander over his head. The flip impaired Kath
long enough for
Laith
to hobble to his feet and turn
to face him.

Kath
shook his head to clear it,
then
picked up his sword. He
rose to his feet, swinging his sword in an attack. Blade met blade. There was
no time to breathe or think as
Laith
reacted by
instinct over each thrust and jab.

Laith
caught Kath’s
blade and swung it around, causing the Commander to lose his grip.
Laith
used his fist in a hard punch, and Kath went down,
though not for long. A second later, he tackled
Laith’s
knees, and they went back, Kath on top and going for his throat.

They
collided, grunts and snarls coming from each as fists and elbows connected. As
they rolled apart for a moment, they took a moment to pant and sweat and catch
their breath.

“Your friend from the station is
dead,” Kath taunted. “When I realized he was responsible for my ship being
disabled I beheaded him. And then imagine my surprise upon discovering who you
were. Your sister was a tasty little morsel.”

Fury poured through
Laith
. All the pent-up emotions he’d been trying to
suppress to get through this fight suddenly overwhelmed his mind. He acted on
instinct, shaking off the pain in his jaw and in his head, using it to fuel him
forward. He rushed forward and slammed his shoulder into the small of Kath’s
back, sending them flying. They landed on the hard ground with a thud,
Laith
covering Kath for a moment, until he was able to push
himself into a half sitting position with one hand while balling his other up
and using it to crack into Kath’s side.

Kath grunted. He twisted as best as
he could under
Laith’s
weight, jabbing his elbow into
the unguarded stomach, able to get enough leverage to half push him off.

Laith
swore and fell back, his free hand now lending protection to his midsection. As
he scrambled to his feet, Kath attacked. They rolled together in the dust,
fists and knees slamming and hitting.
Laith
bucked as
Kath sprawled on top of him and managed to throw him off. He twisted around and
pounced before the other man could gain his footing.

Kath’s arms and legs went out from
under him as
Laith’s
weight came down. He snaked an
arm around the raider’s throat and smirked for one instant before Kath slammed
his head into his chin, in almost the exact spot his fist had planted. The
stars reappeared, and
Laith
slid off Kath in an
ungraceful lump.

Both were gasping for breath as
Kath crawled away. For a moment or two they lay in the dust, panting as the
aches started to settle in. The fight, however, was far from over. Kath rose to
his feet,
then
grabbed his
nano
-blade.
Laith
watched him and then did the same with his own
blade.

They circled one another, each
looking for a crack in the other’s defense. Kath moved first, raising his left
hand in an attacking point over their heads while thrusting his right in for
the kill.
Laith
darted sideways and thrust his sword
to intercept. At the same moment he grabbed Kath’s raised arm, dead-locking
them together.

They stared at each other, eye to
eye. Blood and sweat mingled, leaking from various cuts and points. The white
in Kath’s left eye was filling with blood while the skin around it started to darken
a deep violet.
Laith
felt his jaw throb and tasted
blood on his tongue. The soft tissue inside his cheek had split, and he pushed
the metallic serum out of his mouth. He ignored it as it dribbled down his
chin.

“You cannot do it, can you?” Kath
taunted. “You cannot kill a superior.”

“You are
not
my superior,”
Laith
muttered. He
brought his knee up, hard and fast, and Kath grunted when it connected to his
flutas
.
It was not how a warrior would usually
fight, but he’d learned that move from
Jordan
. Kath’s grip weakened, and
Laith
used that moment to press his blade forward, ripping
through Kath’s stomach like it was tissue paper.

He pushed Kath’s already dead body
away, and the
Xyran
Commander landed in a broken
heap. The spectators stared at him, clearly stunned by this turn of events. Kath
had been a
well known
Xyran
,
especially around the
Targin
Market. He had fought
many battles and had won each and every single time.
Laith
could see they didn’t know what to do or how to act, so he walked over to the body
and pulled his blade free. Then he dipped his hand into Kath’s blood and
touched his face, painting himself red, before he raised his arms over his head
showing his dominance.

“I claim victory,” he said, staring
at Kath’s raiders who’d come to watch. No doubt one of them would rise up and
take command of Kath’s ship, assume his role and claim his wealth, but right
now that wasn’t
Laith’s
battle. One by one, the men
tapped their hearts, acknowledging his victory over their commander before
departing. When the last one turned and left,
Laith
dropped to his knees. Suddenly he was bombarded with pain and fatigue.

David’s arms slipped around him. “I’m
so proud of you,
Laith
. You fought with bravery and
integrity. Let’s go back to our ship and get you cleaned and patched up.”

Laith
nodded wearily. “And then we get our mate.”

“Yes. And then we get
Jordan
.”

Chapter Thirteen

David helped
Laith
onto the bed and proceeded to strip him naked. Bruises were forming on his
skin, causing interesting colors to stream around the damaged areas. He cleaned
the wounds and bandaged them up, and all the while
Laith
lay quietly.