Page 20 of Fated to the Alien Chieftain

Cupcake turns her attention to Krogoth, watching him cautiously. “Krogoth, I think you should say thank you to Cupcake for saving your ass back there,” I suggest with a smile.

Krogoth chuckles, eyeing Cupcake skeptically before speaking. “She’s as likely to attack me as the others,” he inches closer, however, with his hand outstretched. “Good brutonous,” he repeats, moving nearer.

Cupcake barks noisily. Her bushy tail straightens and she tenses up. Krogoth retracts his hand in an instant. I shake my head in disappointment. “Thought we were over this. You should give her some food,” I suggest, looking at Krogoth, noticing he no longer has the large sack of supplies. “Where’s your satchel?”

Krogoth shrugs. “Probably buried in that crater I created,” he says, rubbing his back, wincing as if the memory of his fall reignites a pain. “Wait here, I’ll go find it.”

I watch as he darts off in a blur of speed amongst the trees while Cupcake preens her feathered wings, making snuffling noises. I briefly wear my warvisor. Two of the dead are still inside the bulk of the ruined glider wreckage.

The fire seems to have extinguished, as the heat levels are only slightly above average now. I remove my warvisor, deciding to pull out the bodies. Krogoth will probably want to know more about them. The back portion of the gilder is completely torn off, and the center is a crushed mess, like a tin can crushed under foot.

I cautiously duck in through the exposed back, waving away black smoke that makes it hard to see. My foot strikes something hard, nearly causing me to trip. Glancing down, I notice the silhouette of a warrior. Gripping him by his shoulder plates, I pull and haul with all my strength. With each forceful yank, the body slides backwards. Finally panting, I position him a short distance from the glider.

I place my hands on my hips as I breathe in heavily, trying to catch my breath.Probably should’ve left this one for Krogoth.This guy’s a lot smaller than the other warriors, too. Strange, despite the warvisor I notice, he is bald.Don’t Klendathian warriors usually have long hair?

Since I rested a moment, it’s time for me to grab the next guy. I turn to Cupcake. “Don’t be eating him while I’m gone, okay?” I point towards the body. Cupcake simply huffs loudly, lying down with her head resting on her talons.

I dash back into the glider once again, swatting away the smoke. The interior is in total disarray, the seating torn and partially burned, with exposed circuits sparking and crackling. Near the front, I squeeze past the misshapen dented section to find the smoking remains of the final warrior. Despite the thick gloomy smoke, it’s clear he has suffered severe burns. The front section must have exploded into a fire.

What if this bloody thing explodes again?The thought spurs me on. Quickly, I grab hold of the warrior and struggle by pulling and tugging.This guy’s heavier than the last one.With each yank, I grunt until I finally drag him out of the back of the gilder, leaving him to rest beside the other warrior. Exhausted, I sit down to catch my breath, only to see Cupcake sniffing the air, her nose turning towards the charred remains.Uh oh.

“Nooo! He’s not for eating!” I shout, as Cupcake rises to her feet, inching closer to the remains, while she snuffles the air. Krogoth returns, carrying the large satchel on his back, drawing both of our attention and filling me with relief. His purple eyes assess the situation.

“What was she doing?” Krogoth asks, looking sternly at Cupcake.

“Er... Nothing,” I struggle to think of an excuse. “She’s just hungry. Give her some of our food.”

Krogoth reaches into his bag, rummaging around. “Most of our things are squashed to a pulp.” He takes out some cuts of cooked meat and throws it towards Cupcake. “The food is still good,” he says, as she catches the food in midair with surprising speed.

Cupcake dashes towards Krogoth, wagging her bushy tail, delivering sloppy licks on his face. “Pfft,” he spits out.

“Aw, so sweet seeing you two get along,” I say, smiling.

Krogoth reaches into the bag again, trying to fend her off with more meat. Cupcake greedily snaps it out of his hand, swallowing the whole thing without chewing. “Gods, we’ll have nothing left at this rate.” He takes out another large cut of meat and throws it far away into the woods. “Last piece.”

Cupcake hops into the air, gliding after the food. Krogoth wipes the saliva from his face. “She’ll be too big to handle soon.”

“I know.” The realization hurts, but he’s right. We can’t take care of her. “I hope she will still visit us.”

Krogoth moves to inspect the charred body, and I get up to join him. “Good job pulling them out.” He bends down to dust some char from the badly burned armor. “All Magaxus.” He turns his attention to the other body. “Interesting.” He rips off the warvisor. Revealing the heavy tattooed face of Zyraxis, I gasp in surprise.

“Zyraxis!” Krogoth spits the word out like it’s poison. Zyraxis’s orange eyes stare off into the distance, his last expression of terrified shock etched on his face. “Saves me the trouble of having to kill him myself.” He turns his head from side to side, revealing a large swollen bruise on his head.

“Is that what killed him?” I ask, gesturing to his wounded head.

“No,” Krogoth laughs. “That’s from the tankard pelting him on the head the other day.” He reaches his hand under Zyraxis’ armor, searching. “His ribs are crushed, probably died on impact when the glider hit the tree.”

I move my hand to bite my nails before remembering I’m wearing gauntlets. “Why would he come himself?”

Krogoth stands, playing with his wrist console. “This was his last chance to kill me, before his clan discovered he was no longer an elder. The final desperate suicide mission of a traitorous liar.” He runs his wrist console over the scene.

Hearing Krogoth’s words fills me with anger. “I hope he rots in hell for what he put us through!” I shout. “Running in terror, chased and hunted by killers forever,” my fervor surprises me.

Krogoth gives me a quick hug, kissing me gently on the forehead. “The Gods will punish him for his treachery, Pebbles,” he assures.

His words and kiss are soothing as I take deep breaths, trying to calm down. I watch for a while as he continues scanning and typing on his wrist console. “What are you doing?” I ask, curious.

“Notifying the Council of Elders. This was a violation of our sacred laws, and they’ll want to investigate the matter.” He turns to look at me. “If Clan Magaxus are held responsible for this, they could all be declared exile.” He takes a deep breath before continuing, “But I wouldn’t support such an action. This was Zyraxis’s doing.”

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