Page 3 of The Warrior's Oath
“Then where are the others?”
“It was just you and I.”
“What do you mean?” she asked. “There were other people. Humans.”
“During the attack you—” He paused, a hint of annoyance in his voice.
“I what?”
“You saved me,” he said with a sigh, his eyes flashing with irritation more than gratitude.
She looked up at the tall, muscular alien. Even banged up as he was, he nevertheless seemed as though he could most definitely take care of himself.
“Isaved you.”
“You did.”
“Me.”
“Perhaps you hit your head harder than I realized. The repetition—”
“Seriously? Look at you. How is it even possible?”
He sighed, a shadow falling over his mood. “I was freed from my bondage when the attack began. I had been separated from my general when we were captured. It was a long incarceration, and I had not seen him the entire time I had been held by the Raxxians.”
“But you knew where he was?”
“No. But the opportunity presented itself and I set out to find him, or, if the gods did not smile upon me, at least learn his true fate.”
“So what happened?”
“I was moving from compartment to compartment, unsealing the doors, hoping I might succeed in my task.”
“And?” she asked, exasperated by his disjointed storytelling.
“I was attacked by a Raxxian, taken off-guard. Unarmed as I was, and with my hands bound, the odds were not in my favor, and I found myself struggling to avoid his weapons blasts. Then, just when I feared I might succumb to the assault, you stepped in and saved me.”
Nyota chuckled. Her head pounded harder as a result.
Note to self. No laughing, she decided in an instant. “Look at you. You’re massive. If you couldn’t stop him, what could I possibly do?”
“You had somehow obtained a weapon,” he said, pulling a blood-stained blade from his belt. “This dagger. You jumped on the Raxxian guard in a rage, stabbing him violently just at the moment he pushed away from our fight to create space in an attempt to line up to shoot me. I was a dead man, but your actions made him miss. You wounded him, but more importantly, you distracted him. Andthatgave me the opportunity to put an end to him.”
“Idid that?Me?” she asked, shocked.
“Admittedly, I was just as surprised as he was by the ferocity of your attack. You are so small and weak, after all.”
“Gee, thanks.”
“I mean no insult. It is simply the truth. But greatness sometimes lurks in the unlikeliest of packages. You, it seems, are one such example. You saved my life, and I now owe you a life debt.”
Nyota struggled to process all she was hearing. It just seemed impossible. But the more he spoke, the more the events began to come back to her. She vaguely remembered jumping on someone. Was it a Raxxian? Did she have some kind of death wish? And where did she find a dagger?
“Someone killed a guard,” she muttered.
“What was that?”
“I just remembered, there was a dead guard in the corridor. Someone had killed him. His rifle was gone, but he still had a knife. I took it.”
