Page 93 of Bred by the Alien Prince

"I know I landed near a small river where these rocks are." I held up the scarred jewel that was still around my neck. "Like this."

"There are a few of those here, but you will have to be more specific than that."

"There was a huge fight nearby between your people... the ones in white and these dark armored-wearing ones."

He appeared to think for a moment. "I think I know of the location."

"Good." I sat back, unwilling to relax completely. I had heard of those stories of people dying just moments after being rescued because they allowed themselves to get too relaxed before they were out of danger. "Mind if I ask you something?" I said, trying to keep some sort of conversation going; otherwise, I would fall asleep.

"Go on."

"Are you a Valisian? You look like one, but I don't think I see any markings... unless those are your markings and not tattoos."

"These are tattoos. I was born without markings, but yes, I am a Valisian. We all are."

"Is there a royal palace somewhere? Maybe Lorvian went home."

"No such thing exists here. This is not the Valisian home world if that is what you were thinking."

"What is this place?"

"A planet with a strange rotation. It turns in and out of an anomaly, which makes it for a time, only becoming visible for a few days before vanishing for another 300 hundred years."

"300?!"

"Yes. If we don't leave this planet soon, we will have to wait to get you back home."

"I don't have that kind of time!"

"I would prefer not to wait either."

"Well, at least we agree on that." Glad we could agree on something.

"Relax, Caspian. We hopefully won't need to abandon our boat for a while."

"I saw my ship flying overhead not too long ago. Hopefully, they're not too far away."

"One can only hope."

I didn't know how long we were on the water, but it felt like ages. It reminded me of the times my dad taught me how to fish. We were on the water for hours, the sun shining down, catching nothing until we got that one catch, and then I felt so bad for it that my dad would unhook it and let it go.

"I'm so bored," I said, sitting up again. We were now sailing a narrower section of the water.

"That will be rectified soon. Get back down." Zai turned the boat away from the left side of the shore and left the crank to lay his body flat inside the boat. I followed.

"What's going on?" I whispered.

"The armored ones will kill us the moment they see us."

We waited, but we didn't have to wait long because the guttural sounds of the others were getting closer and closer. A hook latched onto the wall of the boat, and we were being wheeled in.

Zai scoffed and grabbed the hook. I latched on to help, and we pulled the thing in and out of the boat.

The voices became rougher and more frantic, and we were both on our feet—no use in hiding now. We were too damn close to the shore!

Zai held up his hand, summoning a gust of force that knocked them away.

I ran for the crank and turned it to steer us away from the land.

---