Page 11 of Game on Askole

“Oh my God!” Sam made a gagging noise. “Did Aunt Tess summon a skunk?”

“She did.” I hung on for dear life as the horse jumped over a ditch and raced out into the desert. “The Coletti have captured Jake, Caleb, Ethan, and Quinn.”

“What? How did they find them?”

“The Overlord has been in all of our heads. We can run, but we can’t hide from him.”

“Fuck.”

A glittering blue light blossomed in front of us.

Sam gasped. “What the hell?”

“Force field maybe,” I cried.

With a frightened whinny, the horse skidded to a complete stop.

The light faded, and a seven-foot-tall medieval knight, complete with black horned helmet and armor, stood there.

The horse took one look the knight and started bucking. I flew off and landed on a prickly brush. “Yeow!”

Sam sailed over the horse’s head and crashed into the knight. He, she, or it just stood there. The black armor seemed to absorb the light until all we saw was its glowing yellow eyes.

“Sonvabitch! That smarts.” I yanked a thorn out of my ass and very carefully climbed to my feet. Was the knight in cahoots with the Tai-Kok or the Coletti? Either way, it was bad for us.

Sam stared up at the knight and asked mentally,“Am I seeing things, or is that a medieval English knight?”

“It does look like one, but medieval knights don’t carry laser pistols. It’s alien. Got any weapons?”

“A knife. You?”

“Nope.”I eyed the knight.“That armor looks pretty heavy. We should be able to outrun him.”

“My thoughts too.”Sam got to her feet.

A deep growly voice asked in my head,“Do you belong to the Jones clan?”

I said out loud, “Oh my God, it’s talking to me, Sam.”

“Me too, and psychically.”

“The vibes I’m getting from it are definitely male.” Goose bumps skittered over my skin. It was like my entire body was being stroked with a feather. “And he’s horny,” I added.

“You think he’s looking for Kaylee?”

I shrugged. “Who knows?”

The knight pushed an emblem on his gauntlet. The helmet shrank away, revealing an alien nightmare. Tentacles squirmed about his snakelike features. His black skin had armor-plated scales. He cocked his head to one side and bared some evil-looking fangs.

“Is that a smile?”

“Could be. I think he’s trying to look friendly,” my cousin said incredulously.

“Friendly?” I chortled. “That smile would send most sensible people running for their lives.”

“Yup. Good thing we aren’t sensible.”

The alien’s red forked tongue slithered over his lips.

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