Page 31 of Courting Mayhem

The touch of his fingers burned across my skin and for a brief moment I wanted his mouth on mine. A flash of red caught my eye and my jaw dropped as Canute zipped into the room. Tentacles squirmed about his snake-like features, and his compelling yellow-green eyes burned with a cold intelligence. The Askole’s massive, well-muscled form was covered by black armor-plated skin. His whole scary-as-hell demeanor was ruined by his red silk robe and fluffy slippers.

“Leave us,” Canute snapped at the guard.

The guard bowed and left.

I did a double take. Oh, dear Goddess. His toenails were painted red too. Was his dress deliberate or had Gliese drove him mad?

Canute cocked his head to one side and bared some nasty looking fangs. “Is it true Kadooma taught you how to dance?”

I hadn’t met an Askole before, but I think he was smiling at me.“It’s true.”

“Did Kadooma teach you how to do the Kuya or the Tinikling dances?”

“She did.”

“You will teach me,”Canute commanded.

Huh? I thought he was interested in my pole dancing. I glanced at Papi Sten.

He shrugged.

“Show me Tinikling dance.”Canute tossed two combat staffs at us.

Derek caught them easily. “You heard him sweetheart.”

“You know how to do the Tinikling?”

“Yes, it was part of my training.” Derek gave me a staff.

Since Tinikling was a combat dance, it did make sense to teach it to wannabe warlords.

Papi Sten tapped his gauntlet, and middle eastern music filled the room.

Pasting a seductive smile on my face, I twirled around Derek and struck.

Derek easily blocked my blow, spun around me, and slashed out. I somersaulted out of range, dodged his follow up strike, and drove the staff toward his stomach.

Pivoting to one side, Derek’s staff connected solidly with mine: nearly knocking it out of my hand.

I danced out of reach, pirouetted to the left and attacked. The rhythmic thwack of the staffs added to the beat of the music as we repeatedly struck each other’s poles.

Moving faster than the eye could follow, Canute suddenly knocked Papi Sten to the floor. Whoosh! He appeared on the stage and with one punch sent Derek crashing into the aquarium wall. The glass cracked.

I rammed my staff into his crotch. “Never mess with the Warhammers.”

Cackling like a mad hyena, Canute snatched up Derek’s staff and attacked.

Ballock’s balls, the ass was wearing red, armored jockey shorts. Drawing heavily on my berserker’s skills, I managed to avoid his blows, but I knew if he went to hyper speed, I was a dead woman.

“Can’t. Fight. Link. With me. To live,” Derek rasped in my head.

I narrowly avoided Canute’s staff. The cold fist of reality hit me. I didn’t know how badly injured Papi Sten was, and Derek was still lying in a crumpled heap on the floor. If I couldn’t defeat the Askole, we were all dead. I lowered my shields. The minute I opened my mind to Derek, his knowledge flooded into me. Whoa! Information overload. With an almost audible click, I suddenly knew how to teleport; how to fight an Askole warrior.

Canute went to hyper speed.

I teleported in and out, ducking, dodging, and evading his blows. The deadly dance seemed to go on for an eternity before an explosion rocked the trawler.

A roar of fury broke from Canute and for a moment his attention wasn’t focused on me.

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