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CHAPTER NINETEEN

Khol

“My King, what are we to do? I need your orders,” Drurak asked, looking out at the swarm of vuli canadensi—feral six-legged beasts with leathery skin. Among the scavenging vultures, these beasts roamed about.

“The stench of the dead is horrendous,” Ghid said, covering his arm with his forearm.

He was right; there were rotting bodies everywhere.

As I stood at the doors of the ship looking out into the carnage, the beasts started realizing that they were no longer alone. Several came out from behind podhouses and abandoned buildings to assess their new threat. Their eyes were the color of the dark gray clouds that loomed above us. The vuli canadensi were distant cousins of canines—a dog breed. But even though they possessed pointed ears and large earlobes, their hearing was said to be very poor.

Most of them looked engorged—their bellies filled with whatever they could kill. All of the citizens of Nunbar were gone. Either escaped or massacred.

One of the vuli canadensi growled. Then more began coming out of nowhere, gathering around what appeared to be the alpha of the pack, which was always a female.

A little over a week ago, the leader of Nunbar made contact with our message station to inform us that they had the vuli canadensi infestation under control and that they wouldn’t need backup for a few days. According to what I was looking at now, someone had made a gross error. These beasts had completely taken over, and from the looks of it, they had taken Nunbar.

Except for these vermin and the skinny vultures, there were no other signs of life on the small settlement. There had to have been over a hundred vuli canadensi prowling about. Now that my horde and I had landed on the shores, if we didn’t destroy this pack, they would make a meal out of the next and nearest most vulnerable settlement—or worse, us.

I pulled my machete from my belt and pointed. “Ali!”

On my command, my hordesman left the ship. The scavenging vultures took flight and vacated the area as my horde advanced. The beasts charged us and we attacked them, viciously cutting them down one by one. They weren’t easy to kill. In order to stop them, the blows had to be swift and fatal.

My hordesmen and I fought much like the beasts—as a pack. We stayed huddled close instead of spreading out, keeping our circle tight. Before long, headless vuli canadensi littered the ground. Only when a few dozen remained did we all split up to take on the remaining.

While I hacked at a beast on the ground to put him out of his misery, another came at me, propelling himself through the air. Anticipating his assault, I reached for my other sword and decapitated him. A hot glob of gray blood soiled my hair and face. I used my forearm to mop the foulness away and continued fighting. I would not come out of this unscathed. I could already feel the stinging pain left from the claws that I hadn’t avoided. Other warriors, though, weren’t so lucky. Several times, I made out the frightening shrieks coming from several of my men and then the sickening crunch of bones as vuli canadensi mauled them to death.

In my peripheral vision, I spotted another warrior to the far right of me fall to his knees with his guts hanging out. He was dead before I could reach him, but I stabbed the heart of the beast who clawed him.

The ground vibrated, and the sounds of pending doom grew closer. If I had turned one second too late, I might have been dead. A female vuli canadensi came charging at me. She was bigger than the others, but then all the females of this species were. This one’s canines were dripping with fresh Aurrakian blood. She was flanked by two others and they were all coming for me at the same time. I knew what this was. The female was the alpha bitch, and this was their final attempt to save what was left of their murderous pack.

Two beasts—I could handle at the same time. But an alpha bitch plus two others…?

I sliced into one beast, cutting through two of his legs. He stumbled to the ground.

As I lifted my machete to hack through the other, the alpha bitch bit into my forearm. With my only free arm, I buried my blade to the hilt through the neck of the second.

There was a key to defeating these creatures. One should never let them get within a foot or two. They were overpowering and I had just learned how true that was. The alpha bitch was trying to rip my fucking arm off.

Right when I thought I’d have to cut off my own arm to save my ass, I saw Ghid standing over us with his sword at his side. He looked down at me—and right at the alpha bitch as she lunged for my throat. Everything seemed to go in slow motion…or was I hallucinating? It seemed that Ghid took forever to make his move as he stood and watched.

Another beast was coming. The vibrations and rumblings from the ground told me that it approached at a fast pace.

“Ghid! Watch out!” I cried out.

Ghid swung around just in time to cut through the beast and then he took his sword and plunged it into the back of the alpha bitch’s head. It gargled and then stilled. I kicked its heavy lifeless body off me and jumped up from the ground.

All around me, the field was covered in carnage. Both old and new. The air was rancid with the stench of blood. A fine mist of red and gray hovered just above the ground. I doubled over, propping my hands on my knees and breathed in and out deeply.

Ghid did the same, panting. He began to chuckle. “You almost got taken out by that nasty alpha bitch, my brother. You’re getting soft,” he joked.

I expected the jesting from him, but he had picked on me so much as a kid that I didn’t even get angry about it anymore.

“Fuck you,” I huffed and stormed off.

He laughed.

As I went, I finished off a few beasts that were still writhing on the ground, loitering at death’s door.

“My king, we’ve found the underground bunker. There are citizens inside,” a hordesman informed me.

“Good. Get them food and water. Look for other survivors. Don’t forget those hilltops,” I commanded my men, as I wiped blood and guts from my skin.

I yanked a single claw from my side and cringed. One of the medics came to assist me. “No! I’m fine. Take care of him before he bleeds out.” I pointed to a hordesman dragging himself across the ground with one arm and the other chewed off.

The medic bowed and nodded. “Yes, my King.”

I limped over to the ship and braced myself against it. I slid down until I was on the ground. I scanned the perimeter, making sure no other threats were coming for us.

I must have passed out because I woke up on my cot on the spaceship in the most unimaginable pain.

Familiar faces were looking down at me. Some of my hordesmen. My main medic. Doa’tek. Ghid.

I was so weak from what I suspected was fatigue and blood lost that I uttered one name—Visla—and passed out cold once again.