Stolen (Tribes #2) - Milana Jacks
Prologue
Tribes Series Quick Reference
Tribes series takes place on a planet called Nomra Prime. Thus far, we have the Ka and the Ra tribe that signed a peace treaty after eons of wars. On both sides, females and young are almost nonexistent, and the Ka males are near extinction.
Their alien classification is Predator. They're dual-form aliens. Their hunting form is a hunter and often stands as tall as a horse with exposed large sharp teeth, meaning the hunter's lips don't cover the teeth. They have large erect ears, which make them appear bigger and more frightening. They're extremely fit and agile, and can execute leaps we (humans) consider impossible.
Most tribes can be united under a single "King" they designate by adding -i to the tribe name. So for Ka tribe, it's Kai where -i at the end indicates a male who is a leader of the Ka tribe, the top of their food chain and this male always eats first.
Inside a single tribe, an earl governs a smaller territory called an earldom. There can be many many earldoms in any one tribe.
Portal: a spatial shortcut to another place on the planet. A closed portal, meaning a vertical golden line, is not visible to the human eye.
Main Characters:
Hart : Ka tribal leader, Alpha of the Ka tribe. His designation is Kai.
Stephanie: Hart’s human. Believed to be Amti.
Nar: Hart's brother and second strongest of the Ka males.
Michelle: Nar's human.
Mas: Ka tribe portal genius.
Tis: Mas's brother.
Ark: Ra tribe's Alpha, meaning the strongest of the Ra males but not an elected leader, meaning the Ra do not have a single "King" named Rai where -i at the end indicates his "kingship" over other tribal members. Hart's frenemy.
Sha-male: a male who performs religious rites, sacrifices, prayers (priest, imam, etc)
Gur: Earl in the Ra tribe. Wants war.
Feli: Second to Gur in Gur's earldom.
The Lore: Tribes worship the female. Goddesses are admired, feared, and respected. Goddess are believed to be returning as human females so that they may walk the lands again.
Bera: Goddess of fertility.
Aimea: Goddess of doom. Most feared.
Herea: Goddess of hunt and harmony. Most popular.
Amti: Goddess of madness and lust.
Aoa: Goddess of thunder and pain. Patron goddess of the Ka tribe.
Mae: Goddess of fire and lies. Aoa's mother.
Locations:
Kalia: Ka tribe capital. Near the Ra border. Suffered extensive structural damage during the wars.
TBA as the series rolls ...
Chapter One
Nar
Lightning cracks the sky, and the coming storm gathers the dark clouds as hundreds of predators assemble on the open field. The mud makes the already soft ground softer, and my boots sink lower. I lift a foot and move closer to Mas. Leaning in, I whisper. “How many are entering the games?”
“Two hundred at most.” He gives me a knowing look.
The prize is a womankind who crash-landed in the Ra tribe territory. Neither the Ra nor my tribe, the Ka, have competed for a female in a decade, the games my brother recently held notwithstanding. After the wars between the Ka and Ra, my tribe was left with no females or young. Sterility plagues the Ra females, so they’ve got nothing too. There’re over four hundred males in the camp and more in the nearby village, so why are only two hundred entering?
Mas and I know Earl Gur plans to break the truce that Ark, his tribal Alpha, signed with my brother, Hart, and that’s why I’m here. To kill Gur in the games.
“Have you seen Gur?” I ask.
Mas shakes his head.
“Are any of our males here?”
“As far as I can see, only us.”
A male bumps my shoulder, and I grunt from the impact. He walks on as if he didn’t do it on purpose. Old wounds die hard, and the animosity between the two tribes goes back centuries. We’ve fought this tribe for either land or revenge, and sometimes for no reason at all.
“That’s Feli, Gur’s new second.”
I killed the old second. “You think Gur’s holding a grudge against me?” I ask. A rhetorical question. Every one of the Ra holds a grudge against the Ka, especially against me. I’ve slaughtered many of them on open fields like this one. That’s why Mas and I stand alone and to the left of the wooden stage platform with a single chair that I presume the prize will sit upon as she awaits the games. “I wonder what she looks like,” I say.
Mas side-eyes me, lifts a foot, and moves back a bit. I step back beside him. We’re gonna sink in the mud to our knees if we wait