who fled abducted the axe-wielding male’s female and gave her to Daisun. She didn’t survive that experience.”
Angry, frustrated beings could target his gerel. Tolui studied the axe-bearing male. It was better to funnel that rage toward a shared enemy.
“Daisun killed his female.” He raised his voice as he slowly scanned the crowd, making eye contact with each being, before resting his gaze on the disrespected male. “Does he not want to fight beside me and avenge his gerel?”
The male with the axe hesitated.
He didn’t yet believe they could defeat Daisun. Tolui would show the male and the other beings watching he could achieve that feat…on his own if that was necessary.
Coiling his muscles, he sprang toward Daisun, moving as quickly as possible. The Palavian was as unprepared for the attack as he had been the previous time. He didn’t lift his hands to defend himself, didn’t appear to realize he had been targeted.
Tolui slashed his claws across his enemy’s thighs. His tips dragged along bone, cut through chunks of flesh.
Once he inflicted that hurt on the Palavian, he returned to his protective position in front of his gerel, blocking her from any possible retaliation.
Daisun turned heartbeats later, his movements embarrassingly slow. He bellowed like an injured unee, swayed on his booted feet. Blood streamed down his legs.
The crowd whooped their approval.
“Finish him off.” Lea urged Tolui to conclude the one-sided battle.
That prospect didn’t appeal to him.
Killing Daisun quickly was a kindness, and the male didn’t deserve that ending. He had tormented Lea, had caused her emotional agony.
Tolui would punish him for that. No one hurt his gerel.
There was another reason for delaying the Palavian’s death.
“He remains useful.” Tolui knew the power of a united cause.
His clone brothers would die for their shared goal—to gain a home planet, a place they could call their own. It fueled them, pushed them to take action and make sacrifices they might not otherwise consider.
If the beings on Chamele 4 banded together, were aligned in hatred of Daisun and what he represented, they would fight to ensure no one took the male’s place.
Because there was always someone seeking to do that. Tolui suspected there were beings situated right now in the crowd, watching, waiting to fill the gap the Palavian would leave, eager to take advantage of the vulnerable, to inspire fear, to inflict cruelty and pain on others.
He had to leave his gerel to lead his clone brothers, help them achieve their shared goal. It was crucial she remained safe on Chamele 4 while he did that.
Tolui would rally the other residents, ensure they quashed any forthcoming threats.
“Is there no one willing to fight beside me?” He scanned the crowd.
His gerel’s lush lips parted.
“Other than my gerel?” He amended his question before his loyal female volunteered. “She will remain where she is—guarding my back.” He said that at a level only she could hear. “Is there no one?” He addressed the beings around them. “Do you not want vengeance?”
Some gazes immediately slid from his. Those beings were far from ready to join him, might never take that step.
Other beings were slower to look away. They appeared more receptive to his call, yet continued to refuse it, were paralyzed by their fears.
“They aren’t warriors.” Lea whispered that reminder.
The beings hadn’t been created for battle as he and his clone brothers had been. They weren’t like him, were more like his little human, a being who had been raised to avoid violence, to run from it.
Tolui kept his expression blank, not showing his frustration, and he returned his gaze to Daisun. He would honor his gerel’s request and finish the Palavian off.
But he would inflict more pain before—
“I’ll fight beside you, Warlord.” The axe-wielding male surprised him by lumbering forward. “I want vengeance for my female.”
He rested the handle of his weapon against one of his shoulders. The blade was covered with blood and gore, proof the male wasn’t hesitant to kill.
The crowd shouted their approval. The would-be warriors lifted their assorted weapons high above their heads.
“Then we’ll take that vengeance for her. Together.” Tolui nodded.
The axe-wielding male’s head dipped also. He shifted his booted feet, looked at Daisun, and then back to Tolui.
The male was nervous.
“I’ll attack his left side.” That would provide Tolui more of a challenge. Both of those hands remained intact. “You attack his right.” One hand had already been removed.
He didn’t wait for agreement. Tolui loped toward their shared enemy, moving slowly to allow his newly acquired fighting partner to keep