huge being, ready to rake my own claws into his eyes. I might never have had the need to fight back home, but I’d fought the renegades every time they came for me. I knew what worked and what didn’t against a stronger opponent. Most things didn’t work. But going for the eyes… that could work.
Taking a running jump, like a diver off a diving-board, I launched myself at the approaching Keeda’s head, arms outstretched, fingers arched like claws.
Screams, grunts and cries filled my ears. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw blood flowing in wild arcs from the bodies of the invaders. Rian knew how to use his claws, and he was holding his own, even against a superior force. If only he could hold them off until help came.
My fingernails found their target, and I fought back the bile as an eyeball squelched under my fingertip. The Keeda, who’d been wrestling with me with his three sets of arms, cried out in pain. He used his uppermost arms to shield his face from my continuing attack.
It wasn’t enough to do me much good, though. The other arms still held me, no matter how I writhed and wriggled to escape their clutches. All I could hope to do was cause as much damage as possible with what little strength I had left. Which wasn’t much. I was still far from full capacity after my time with the renegades. But adrenalin lent me additional power, and I was going to use it!
Where was help? God, there had to be someone nearby. Had our need to keep the Danans out of the compound left us unprotected?
I heard Rian cry out in pain. For a moment, I stopped struggling to see what had happened. A Keeda had come up behind Rian, as he fought two in front of him, and grabbed him around the neck. Then, with another set of arms, the bastard had ripped two lethal blades across Rian’s bare chest. Brown blood was pouring from the deep gouges.
But Rian wasn’t giving in. He threw himself backwards, taking his captor to the ground. It would have been enough, had he been fighting an opponent with only two arms. But against six? No good at all. The rest of the Keeda, except the one who held me, fell on the helpless young Danan. Blades slashed at his belly as he bellowed in rage and pain.
So much blood! So much! My eyes blurred, until the whole scene was nothing more than an impressionist painting.
All the fight had gone out of me. I knew Rian was dead. I felt it in my heart, as if one of those knives had torn into my chest as well.
The beautiful young Danan, who’d been talking about making his father proud only a few minutes ago, was lying dead on the greenish dust, his blood soaking into the dried ground beneath him. The white Danan I’d dreamed of the night before, who had kissed me with such tenderness only minutes ago, was gone.
How?… It isn’t possible…Why?…
No thoughts would form in my mind. All I could do was look at the still face of the alien male I’d somehow given my heart to. His starburst eyes were open, but the sparks were gone, darkened to nothing. Black holes in a galaxy far, far away.
The Keeda were looking to the witch for direction. They rose as one to follow her. The Keeda holding me began to follow along behind the rest. I had no will to fight. I had no strength to struggle.
Rian was dead. A six-year-old’s life had been snuffed out. Defending me. He’d been defending me.
A soul-deep sob ripped from my heart and exploded out of my mouth.
No! No! No!
RIAN
I stared down at the bloody lump lying broken on the ground. A part of me knew what I was seeing, another part… another part didn’t care. That part was focused elsewhere. Not here. Wherever here was.
Yet as enticing as thoughts of elsewhere were, that other part kept me chained to the spot. I knew this corpse. Yes, that’s what it was. A corpse. A dead person.
I looked around, trying to get a sense of where I was and why I was staring down at this dead thing. So much blood. It reminded me of a butcher’s stall. Except this lump of meat still had its skin. And its head.
That face… it looked familiar.
Movement drew my gaze. Six-armed creatures were walking away from the corpse. Some had