Alien Freak - Calista Skye Page 0,80

ending in that way.”

Ah. These guys were known for their suicide missions. “You’re all hoping to die in this attack?”

The abbot makes an enigmatic movement with his shoulder. “Not hoping, really. Not all of us. I mean, we should try to win, in the end. We have a reputation to uphold. And nobody wants to die in a battle that we lose. Although it would be acceptable! Entirely acceptable. We can’t be too picky these days.”

“Sooo…”

“So we promised Prince Zaroc that we would try to keep you safe. For that purpose, please follow me to a higher floor.”

These guys are just plain nuts, that’s obvious. But they’re all I have.

I follow the abbot up another infinity of stairs, appearing longer because the monks are small and the steps low.

Finally he stops. “There are still a couple of floors above this one. I don’t recommend you go to the roof if you’re not used to great heights. It can do strange things to your mind.”

I’m panting hard from the climb, but the abbot is barely breathing at all.

“What… do I do… if they come… up here?”

“Yes, that is a concern. This is war, and war comes with no guaranteed outcome. Our plan is to practice a classic tower defense – we will lure the enemy inside our building, and then let them fight us floor by floor on the way up. It is why this tower was built. If they come as far up as this, then we have probably all fallen and you are alone. You need a weapon, just in case. And this long club should do.”

He hands me a weapon.

The thin broomstick feels light in my hand. “Yeah… you remember I trained with this, but I wasn’t really that good?”

“I remember,” the abbot says. “But you’re even worse fighting with your bare hands, and this is the most powerful weapon we have. Well, I have to go and direct the battle. If we fail in keeping you safe and you are abducted or killed, please relay our sincerest apologies to Crown Prince Zaroc.”

The abbot bows and hurries down the stairs.

None of that reassured me at all. I’m just supposed to sit up here like a princess in a tower, hoping the invaders don’t come and get me? With only a thin wooden stick to defend me?

The sounds of fighting are getting weaker, more dampened. The Bululg must be inside the tower now, fighting the monks on the lower floors. That’s too far down from here for me to hear.

Damn it. Just sitting here waiting to maybe be abducted is more nerve-wracking than being in the middle of the fight. I should have been more forceful with the abbot, told him that I wanted a more active role. Now I guess I just have to sit here and fret and worry, hoping that the monks can fight off determined Bululg aliens with their pet fresks and girku.

If nothing else, even they must be pretty tired after they climb this many floors up.

“Shit!” I have to steady myself on the wall as the whole tower trembles with some violent jolt from a floor way down there. But there’s no noise, just shaking like an earthquake.

From above comes the hollow sound of huge flat stones shifting. This tower is just rocks placed on top of each other, pretty much a Jenga tower that may not have been designed for anything like this.

I put the phone back in its holder. I can’t take it, I have to do something, move and burn up some nervous energy.

I open the door and peer out. It’s dark, but the tower has a tiny, dim lamp in the center of each floor, where the stairs are.

Tiptoeing out there, I lean over the railing and look down.

I can’t really see anything but darkness or hear much other than the distant noises of the Bululg’s guns. Maybe there are some tiny flashes all the way at the bottom, but I can’t be sure. It has to be a thousand feet below.

At the same moment, a door hinge creaks much closer, and I freeze. That came from the next floor down.

I peer into the darkness down there, then whip my head back.

There’s someone down there, moving slowly. Several creatures. And they are not monks.

I grip the broomstick harder. Damn those monks who think this is a game! Playing tower defense when each floor has windows that are only covered by wooden blinders.

That Gurandu hunter on Cromp Base had a