Fighting Lory (English Edition) (Lords Of Arr'Carthian 2) (11 page)

“The men on your planet can just change their mate like that?” asked Kordan in disbelief.

“Yes, unfortunately that’s quite normal where I come from. Some people marry five times or more.”

“What happened then?”

“My mum did not take it particularly well as you can imagine. She was completely out of control. She stabbed my father in his sleep and then went into my brother’s room. She …” Lory paused and wiped the tears from her face. “She killed Danny in his sleep. Then she came to me. I was still sleeping and hadn’t picked up on any of what had happened. A terrible pain waked me. She had …”

Kordan held her tightly and stroked her back comfortingly.

“She wanted to kill you, too. But you survived.”

“She thought I was dead. She went into the kitchen and called the police. I was taken to hospital. You must have noticed the scars on my breast and stomach. I had to be operated on for several hours. After I was discharged I was taken to my grandmother, but she suffered a stroke very few months later, so I was put in a care home. When I was seven I was put with the foster family. People probably thought that would be good for me, that I’d be brought up better there than in the home …”

“But that wasn’t the case.”

“No. It was hell. John, my foster father, was OK. He was only rarely at home and knew little of what was going on between me and Michelle, his wife. She was a jealous wretch. Her own daughter, Jenny, was a year older than me and a conceited cow. I was prettier than her and better at school. Michelle couldn’t stand that, of course. She always made sure that she got me shapeless, ugly clothes, cut my hair short and tried to turn my teachers against me. She ruined my books and made out that I’d done it or told horror stories about my supposedly bad behavior at home. She often hit me, shouted at me. She insulted me whenever she could and told John, when he came home, of all the bad things that I had supposedly done. It seemed to make John sad that I couldn’t fit in with his family, but he never knew that it wasn’t my fault. Of course he believed his wife. He thought it was because of what I had experienced, that I was psychotic. He arranged appointments with me with various therapists but I didn’t say a word to any of them.”

“You’ve had to deal with so much, my little warrior. I’m proud that you’ve been so strong and brave. You must have been very strong, even as a child, to have been able to deal with all of that, but now you have a new family and we’ll help you forget what you’ve been through. And once we have children ourselves you’ll be the best mother that anyone could imagine.”
 

“To be honest I’ve never considered having children. I’m not exactly the maternal type.”

“We can take our time. You’ll see – at some point you won’t believe that you ever thought that way. Now sleep. I’ll hold you, mene carisha.”

Lory really did fall asleep very soon and for the first time in years she slept without having any bad dreams at all.
 

***

Y-Quadrant, Karrx7

In Kordan’s House

13th day of the month of Manao in the year 7067

Federation Time

 
“I think it’s great that you’ve come to visit,” said Lory, pouring herself and Charly some more
tajaka
, a wine-based drink with various fruit in it.

Charly and Amano had come to visit for a few days. Whilst the two men had gone out hunting, Lory and Charly had made themselves comfortable on the patio of the huge house.

“Yes, I’m looking forward to a few peaceful days. It’s really hectic at home. Amano’s having the house renovated. He wants to build me a bigger bathroom, as if the bathroom we already have wasn’t huge. Then he wants his own medical unit in case something happens to me and, of course, a wing for our numerous children that I haven’t even agreed to.”

Charly laughed but Lory had not missed the strange expression in her friend’s eyes when she spoke about children. It was clear that some sort of problem weighed her down, but Lory did not want to pry.

“I wonder what the men are going to bring home,” she changed the subject.
 

“Yes, perhaps some huge, hairy creature with long, pointed teeth and red eyes. Or something green, slimy. Hopefully not a giant lizard,” she laughed. “I think I’ve watched too may sci-fi movies. Amano says that, too, since I told him that …”

“That what?” Lory dug deeper, as Charly was not about to carry on speaking.

“Well, I’m a bit scared about what will come out if I get pregnant by him. I mean, in films the women don’t usually fare very well when they’re pregnant with an alien baby.”

Lory shook her head.

“I think you really have watched too many films. It’ll be a completely normal baby. Amano is not one of those aliens from the film with Sigourney Weaver.”

“I know,” Charly replied, sighing. “But he is a cheetah. What if the child is born with claws and fangs?”

“I’ve found out from Kordan that children don’t have the ability to shift until they’re about three years old. Until then they’re completely normal kids.”

“Oh, Amano didn’t tell me that. But then I haven’t told him about the fur and stuff, only that I’m afraid of what might come out.”

The patio was suddenly darkened by a shadow and both women looked up.

“Oh my God!” shouted Lory and Charly screamed in fright, too.

“What’s that?” asked Charly, panic-stricken.

“A spaceship. And it doesn’t look like the
Cordelia
.”

Suddenly a beam came down from the spaceship hovering above them and before they knew it they were standing on a platform in the transporter room of the ship. In front of them at a control panel stood a lizard-like creature, and two men, whose entire bodies were covered in hair, including their faces, approached Lory and Charly.

“What’s going on here?” Lory demanded.
 
Her harsh tone did not give away the fact that her heart was beating furiously.
 

The two hairy beasts just uttered incomprehensible sounds and one grabbed Charly’s arm whilst the other put his clawed hand around Lory’s throat.
 

‘
Why does this somehow feel familiar?
’ thought Lory, self-mocking. ‘
OK, folks, that’s the end of the adventures of Lory Andersson. Her heroic life ended at the tender age of twenty-five at the hand of a big, hairy alien whose breath stank like a cow’s ass. No! That would be an insult to the cow.
’

Just as Lory began to see stars the creature suddenly let go and she would have fallen over if this being before her had not grabbed her tightly by the arm and pulled her along with him.
 

Lory and Charly were dragged to a lift and pushed in roughly. The two hairy aliens followed them into the small cubicle and stood blocking the doorway until they arrived at one of the upper floors and the doors opened with a hissing sound. Again they grabbed the women roughly and pulled them along a narrow corridor. They finally stopped in front of a wide door and one of the aliens pressed a few buttons next to the door to open it.
 

“Ah! There you are, my beauties,” they were greeted by Ellyod Allegrass, grinning from ear to ear. “Come in and make yourselves comfortable. I’m pleased that you accepted my invitation.”
 

The two hairy aliens pushed them into the room, then the doors closed behind them. Lory did not need to turn round to know that the two hairy beasts were still in the room. She could smell their foul breath.

“Invitation?” Lory laughed drily. “Yes, you could call it that. Great. Can’t stop laughing.”

“What do you think you’re doing?” Charly shouted at the pirate. “Why have you abducted us?”

“Now, now,” he responded. “Just take a seat. I have something to drink for you and later we’ll eat together. I’ve told my chef to prepare something very special for my guests. No food from the food generator. Only the best for my beauties.”
 

“I want to know what you’re playing at here,” Lory demanded.

“Sit down, then we can talk better. Come over here.”

He led them to a sitting area consisting of six large armchairs with high backs ending in a point and smooth, poisonous green covers. Lory and Charly followed him somewhat reluctantly. Once they were seated he poured them an orange-colored drink in tall, slim glasses.

“Don’t drink it,” Lory said to Charly. “There could be drugs in it.”

“No, there’s not,” Ellyod objected. “I’ve poured a drink for myself from the bottle, too. There’s nothing in it. You see?” He put his glass to his lips and drank a few sips before leaning back, relaxed, looking at them expectantly.

Lory took her glass and eyed up the liquid suspiciously. After a tentative taste she took another sip. It was delicious. It tasted a little like orange and melon, but also had a sharp aftertaste, but a pleasant one. Charly took a sip now, too and her expression relaxed a little.
 

“Good?” asked Ellyod, who had watched them attentively.

“Yes, not bad,” said Lory. “But what’s the reason behind all this? Why have you abducted us?”

“So, have you forgotten? We had an arrangement. I was beside myself with concern when I realized that you had been abducted.”

“Well, if that’s the case, then I can reassure you. We are on Karrx7 completely voluntarily. So you can beam us straight back to the ground,” said Lory, although she already knew that he would not do that.
 

“You don’t have any intention of taking us to earth, do you?” Charly joined in. “We know what you are now.”

Ellyod smiled weakly.

“And what am I, my little fire lady?”

“A pirate!” Charly shouted at him. “You want to sell us as slaves.”

Ellyod laughed. He threw his head back and laughed so much that he cried tears. Lory and Charly exchanged a glance, shrugging their shoulders.
 

“
Me
? A
pirate
? That’s
too
precious,” he said, once he was calm again. “Tell me, did these cats bite you?”

“What’s that got to do with you?” Lory asked indignantly.

“Well,” Ellyod continued, “… these false, devious beasts have a drug in their sweet little bites. You wanted to know whether I was going to drug you with a harmless fruit juice, yet you’ve been drugged by the most inscrutable creatures in the whole galaxy. It’s a love drug, didn’t you know that? Didn’t you feel the drug enter your system and change the way you felt?”

“Rubbish!” Charly objected. “I was already attracted to Amano before he bit me.”

“Yes,” said Ellyod. “They’re good-looking devils, and charming. But isn’t it right that you still didn’t want to stay with them at first? And hasn’t anything changed since you were bitten?”

Lory felt an unwelcome feeling of doubt rise within her. It was true that she had felt him inject something into her bloodstream and her feelings really did go crazy after that. A glance at Charly showed her that she seemed to be having similar thoughts.

“I’m sorry,” said Ellyod with a hint of irony in his voice, “if I’ve had to shatter your illusion of true love, girls. But these shape shifters are known for abducting women. They have too few themselves because their women are dying like flies. Giving birth is killing them. That’s because most of them have four or five younglings at a time.”

Charly clutched her chest and uttered a quiet cry of horror. Lory knew what she was thinking.

“I’m sorry,” said Ellyod. “But you’ll get over it. The longer you’ve been without a bite, the weaker the dependency becomes. I’ll take you home, as I promised to.”

***

“”Damn it, this can’t be happening!” cried Amano, as a spaceship appeared in the sky.

Kordan groaned. Fear clutched at his heart with an icy claw. The spaceship was hovering directly over his house.

“The women,” he cried, looking at Amano’s horror-stricken expression.

“We have to go back! Fast!” growled Kordan. They shifted into cheetahs, as they could cover the ground more quickly as cats. Again and again he looked into the sky. When he saw the beam travel to the ground he uttered a blood-curdling roar. Amano joined him in shouting wildly.

Just ten minutes later they reached his house, but it felt like an eternity to him. He knew he was too late and it almost killed him. He knew exactly who the damn ship belonged to. Ellyod Allegrass, that miserable son-of-a-bitch. On his estate everyone was in complete disarray. The men that he had left behind and all his servants were running about in distress and the women were crying and wringing their hands. His mate had been very popular with everyone. In the brief time that she had been in his house she had captured everyone’s heart.
 

Kordan and Amano assumed their human forms.

“Warro, Spurka and Nanek, prepare the gliders. We’re flying straight to the palace,” Kordan called to his men.

Chapter 7

Y-Quadrant

On board the Karragon

15th day of the month of Manao in the year 7067

Federation Time

Lory and Charly had been on board the
Karragon
for two days. They had studied numerous star charts with Ellyod’s navigator, but still had no success. In the meantime they were flying in the direction of Xevus3 because this was the point from which their destination lay one month away. So they would begin afresh from there to try to work it out. At least that is what Ellyod told them. He was behaving exceedingly considerately towards them but Lory could not get rid of the feeling that he was hiding something from them.

“I still miss Amano,” Charly complained. “When is this stupid drug going to wear off? I feel as if it’s getting worse and worse, not better.”

Lory sighed.
 

“I feel the same. But I’m really angry, too. That was the first and last time that I’m going to let a man get so close to me. Damn it! I knew the bastard would hurt me. Guys that look so good usually have a flaw.”

“I want to cry. But I’m glad that I can no longer have five babies to kill me at birth.”

“Well, I don’t quite know what to make of that yet. It could well be that Ellyod exaggerated a bit there. I can’t imagine that it’s true. For a start Marruk only has one daughter and not four or five.”