Page 63 of Alien Prince's Fake Bride
There are more crashes from above. The air is filled with the flapping of wings and their piercing cries. I can see at least five more of the creatures circling above the shattered canopy, preparing to descend. This is starting to look like overwhelming force.
“There are too many!” Umbra cries, her voice tight with fear. She’s trying, I can feel it. Bursts of uncontrolled Syntrix wash over the incoming creatures and send them veering erratically. But she can’t target them all. Her control is still too imprecise. One slams into a nearby bush, tearing it to shreds. Another clips a tree trunk, sending bark and splinters flying. But none of them are out of the fight.
“You’re doing well!” I tell her, wanting to keep her confident.
One of the enemies dives again, its lifeless eyes fixated on me. I parry its attack, and the force nearly knocks Bellatriz frommy grasp. Talons rake across my arm and draw a searing line of pain. I grit my teeth and slash upwards, hoping to find a vulnerable spot. I hit something, and the creature screeches as its wings falter in their movements.
Another one attacks from behind the tree, its beak snapping inches from my neck. Umbra cries out, and a wave of raw Syntrix slams into the creature’s side, sending it tumbling sideways in the air.
We’re surrounded by a swarm of the terrors. They are relentless, and the swarm seems to keep growing. I’m parrying, dodging, and slashing, but despite the solid tree trunk behind us, there are too many angles to cover. My arm aches, and I can feel my movements slowing.
One of the creatures manages to get past my guard, its talons tearing into my leg. I stumble as pain shoots through me.
Umbra’s features are strained with effort, her hands outstretched, but her Syntrix is wild and unpredictable. It’s pushing some of the attackers off course, but others are slipping through. Their attacks are becoming more coordinated.
“Sorry,” she says, her voice tight. “I should have stayed in the pod.”
“No,” I tell her as I slash at a new attacker. “This is the way to go. Together.”
Because it’s becoming clear to me that this is the end. There’s just too many of these things. We have nowhere to hide. I’ve taken out a half dozen of the things, but even with a legendary sword like Bellatriz and her phase-shifting tricks, this is too much to handle.
A shadow falls over Umbra. I look up to see a massive flying monster, easily twice the size of the first, diving down. Its beak is wide open, a cavern of sharp teeth. Another enemy comes flying in from straight ahead and a third from the side, talons held in front of it in preparation.
I raise Bellatriz in a desperate attempt to defend Umbra, and I manage to ward off that attack with a series of wild slashes. I know it’s not enough. There’s no escape. We’re trapped, exposed, and about to be torn apart by the swarm.
The air fills with deafening screeches from two dozen monsters. I swear there’s triumph in it.
“Get down,” I order Umbra. “You can still make it. They can’t get that close to the ground without stopping. When I can’t fight more, take Bellatriz and use her. She’s lighter than she looks.”
She does, diving to the ground and pushing herself into the tree.
“It’s been my privilege to be your weapon, Prince Mareliux,”Bellatriz says calmly. “None of my previous owners survived me, and it’s no dishonor that you won’t, either. Everything you did, you did for your people.”
Many of the monsters come diving at the same time, some with their beaks first, some with their talons. All are screeching.
This is the main attack, I realize. They were only tiring me out before. Well, they succeeded.
“Umbra, I love you,” I say between clenched teeth as I take up my final fighting stance.
“I love you too, Mareliux,” she replies from the ground. “I wish we were married for real.”
The first of the monsters comes diving, a terrible spearhead of talons and teeth.
Then there’s a blinding light and the jungle explodes.
25
- Umbra-
It’s like a firestorm breaks loose all around us, with white flashes and terrible bangs. The noise is tremendous, and I press my hands to my ears, my spear long since forgotten. Clenching my eyes shut, I still see the bright flashes through the lids.
The hellfire stops as suddenly as it started. There are only strange, wet thuds as something falls to the ground around me.
When I open my eyes, there are silhouettes around me. Big ones.
“In the nick of time, Colonel,” Mareliux says somewhere above me. “We were about to become casualties.”
“I’m happy we were not too late, sir,” comes a flat, robotic voice that I still think I recognize.
