Page 86 of Fated to the Dragon Warlord

Dalox comes through last. He is truly an enormous specimen of a Sarkarnii. He surveys this place as if he owns it before grunting at Darax.

“Are we going to deal with the Veseli or not?” He produces the biggest, meanest looking battle axe I’ve ever seen.

Admittedly I haven’t seen a huge number of battle axes, but this has to be one of the biggest.

Darax sighs and looks down at me. “Are you ready, little mate? You’re about to see a bunch of nevvers go into battle, and it isn’t going to be pretty.”

“Wait,” I say as Dante approaches the door with what looks suspiciously like some sort of mineshaft. “There’s something you need to know.”

I get the full attention of all five hulking Sarkarnii. It is disconcerting.

“Your brother is here too.” I look up at Darax. “He didn’t hurt me. In fact, he tried to save me from the Veseli.”

“Deus is here?” Dalox growls. “That makes thingsinteresting.”

“But also, the Veseli are being controlled somehow. I don’t think they’re doing any of this of their own volition.”

“Controlled by what?” Darax asks, gently tucking a lock of my hair behind my ear.

“He looked a bit like a human to me, but I don’t think he was human, more of a robot.” I shake my head, “I’m not sure. All I know is he was very interested in the fact I was a mate to a Sarkarnii.”

Darax looks across at his fellow warlords. Driok and Dalox shake their heads. Dante and Dexx continue to look completely feral. Or murderous and feral in Dexx’s case.

“New species in the galaxy?” Dalox growls. “I don’t like it.”

The chorus of echoing growls suggests none of the warlords are keen on this idea.

“A new species which can control others and has an unhealthy interest in Sarkarnii?” Darax says darkly. “Not something I believe we should permit.”

“I’m ready for the Veseli,” Dante snarls, a vicious double-bladed sword in his hand which I didn’t see before. “They won’t escape destruction this time.”

The latest round of growls is something which should chill the blood of anyone opposing these huge creatures.

Only I don’t know if that’s even possible for the Veseli or the evil professor.

DARAX

I’d have preferred to leave Kerra on theAmber Gem, but I can’t be sure she would be safe there.

The only place I can be sure she remains protected is by my side. Because the last time I left her in a crisis, I lost her.

It won’t happen again. Kerra is my everything. The reason my heart beats, my shift happens, my eyes see. Everything I am, it is for her.

Although, I dislike intensely the fact she leads me and the rest of the warlords into the Veseli ship. Once we get into the large open area, I am sure to gather her to me, which she allows with a delicious squeak.

“You need to go around to the other side. There’s an opening similar to this which will take you into the main area where the Veseli are,” Kerra says. “There’s another thing you should know, though. I think they put some sort of tracking device in my neck.”

Kerra lifts her hair and exposes the elegant sweep of her skin. There is a livid raised area. I glance at Driok, the only one of us with healing knowledge over and above that of an ordinary Sarkarnii warrior.

“You should remove it,” he says, digging in his pocket and pulling out a small scanner. “Check for any explosives with this.” He tosses it to me.

“Explosives?” Kerra’s voice goes up several pitches.

The scanner shows a negative.

“Hold still, my mate. This will take less than a nova-second.”

Before she can take a breath, I dip a claw under her skin and flip out the piece of tech. It lands on the floor where Dante crushes it.

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