Page 61 of The Warrior's Oath
“Get off me!” she yelled, pulling hard, kicking the Raxxian in the leg as she spun away. With her newfound rune-enhanced strength, she almost slipped free of the brute’s grip.
Almost.
“Squirmy one, this is,” he growled with malice. “And a pain in my ass.”
“Your leg, more like it,” his two accomplices said, emerging from the brush. “In any case, more trouble than she’s worth. I say we eat this one first. I am hungry from the hunt, and the others have more meat on them anyway. They’ll be more appreciated when we rejoin the group.”
“Yeah, but we need to bring her back alive first. Ormax will be upset if we don’t.”
The annoyed Raxxian glared at their captive with open dislike. “She’ll still be alive if I just take an arm for now.”
“You know what I mean. No cutting off bits until Ormax sees her. The rules are the rules.”
“He’s right. You don’t want to risk angering him,” his companion said.
Her captor looked at his two comrades and seemed as if he was about to fire off a retort, but he thought better of it. “Fine.”
They started walking, pulling her along by her arm, not even bothering to bind her hands or search her for weapons. They outsized her by a lot, and she was clearly not carrying a firearm, so her threat potential was considered minimal at best. Nevertheless, his grip remained firm.
“What about the rest of the livestock?” he asked.
“This kind are slow and weak. We’ll just come back to the search after,” was the reply.
Others? That means there are survivors out there. More like me!
“Keep moving,” the Raxxian hissed, yanking her arm. “Keep up. Don’t make me carry you.”
Nyota was about to fire off what was likely a very ill-advised reply when a flash came streaking down from above, landing square atop the two Raxxians leading the way.
“Korvin!”
He ignored her exclamation, already in motion, his knives in his hands, flashing out with deadly intent.
The Raxxians, to their credit, reacted immediately, all three shifting to a fighting stance, though the one holding Nyota was at a bit of a disadvantage. His friends, however, were not.
Korvin spun toward them, blades a blur of deadly kinetic energy. The Raxxians didn’t even try to unstrap their larger firearms. There was no time, and the attacker was too close. Instead, they pulled their own blades and engaged as best they could.
Korvin’s knives sliced deep into their tough flesh, parting the scales as only a trained warrior could, his aim impeccable. The Raxxians bellowed in pain. At least, they tried to. One found his words cut off as the knife in Korvin’s left hand drove up under his chin, piercing the thinner scales and ramming straight through his skull into his brain.
His arms and legs twitched and went limp, pulling the knife from Korvin’s hand as he fell. The Nimenni warrior immediately retrained his focus on the other Raxxian before him. The third seemed to be sitting this out. At least for the moment.
Nyota’s frozen panic snapped at the sight. She was in the middle of a fight to the death, and unlike the meek prey they perceived her as, she was also armed. Armed and dangerous. Or so she hoped.
Her fingers felt for the small knife strapped to her lower back. The Raxxians hadn’t even searched her, missing what would have been obvious had she worn it on her hip.
She felt the texture of the grip and wrapped her fingers around it tight, pulling the knife free and driving it into her captor’s shoulder in one fluid motion. The Raxxian cried out in pain, his grip releasing as the blade forced his hand to open, his arm’s nerves firing in shock.
Nyota felt her runes pulsing, pouring strength into her limbs, enhancing her speed and stamina as they did. The Raxxian yanked her little knife free and threw it aside.
“I’m going to rip you limb from limb!” he bellowed.
Korvin tried to get between her and her attacker, but his own adversary was proving more difficult than the first. He had been right. They were formidable adversaries, and only a fool would underestimate them.
He dodged a vicious swipe of the alien’s clawed hands, doling out a few small cuts as the Raxxian’s beefy arms flew past him. He glanced at Nyota, concern clear in his eyes.
But she was feeling good. Better than that. She feltgreat, the strength in her body so much more than any she’d ever experienced. Her captor reached out to snatch her, but she dodged him easily, landing a solid punch to his ribs as she did. In fact, it was so hard she could have sworn she heard a crack. Her hand throbbed from the impact, but the move she’d learned in her cardio kickboxing class had stayed with her in the form of muscle memory.
If she’d done damage, the Raxxian was good at hiding his pain. He shifted his strategy from simple capture to disabling violence, his claws whipping through the air. Again, Nyota evaded his attacks, kicking his legs viciously as she did.
