Page 27 of Surrender

Kylar shook his head. “I cannot allow it. Besides, this is not your affair.”

Talia met his eyes, her voice equally cold. “I beg your pardon, my lord, but it certainly is my affair. I have as big or bigger a score to settle with Balam as any man in this room. No one has the right to treat other living creatures, human or alien, with cruelty and disdain.”

He nodded slowly. She had a point. If anyone had reason to seek revenge on Balam, it was this woman. “How would you do it?”

“Get me back to the city. I’ll let his men find me sneaking back into the portal chamber. When they take me to Balam, I’ll weep and wail, swearing all I want is to go back home to Earth. I’ll offer to tell him your plan of attack in exchange for my freedom. He’ll send his men north to hide in the foothills, ready for an ambush – and you’ll storm the palace from the south when they’re gone.”

She went on, striding back and forth as she laid out the details of her plan, the scarlet cloak billowing out behind her. Kylar felt a stab of pride. She was like an avenging goddess, coming down from Valhalla to right the wrongs done by mankind.

And by all the gods, when this was over, he meant to have her at last.

Chapter Nineteen

Talia fell to her knees, cowering in fear. Balam stood over her. His deep-set eyes smoldered with anger.

“I hoped you were dead.”

“I nearly was, Lord Balam.” She pitched her voice high, put a tremor in it. “The Gadolinians pretend to be fair and just. They claim they’ve set aside their savage ways. But they treat their dogs better than they treat their women. They rescued me, rescued all of us, only to take us back to a cold stone fortress. Forced us to service their menfolk day and night.”

A tear trickled down her cheek. “I’m not from this world, my lord. I was sent here through the star portal from Earth, part of the entourage of the new ambassador from the Interstellar Federation.” Talia knew he would never believe a woman would be named ambassador. “I hid when the invasion began and saw him slaughtered before my eyes. That night I was captured. When your men found me today, I was trying to make my way back to the portal. I only want to go home and be done with this cursed planet forever.”

“You’ll be done with it. I can’t sell you now. You have a reputation as a troublemaker. None of the other worlds want anything to do with you. They fear you’ll incite rebellion among their beings.”

He paced back and forth. “I’ll take you back to Tabun and give you to my soldiers. The treatment you get there will make Gadolinium seem like the heaven your people persist in believing exists.”

“But first…” He ran a rough hand down the side of her face. Lifted her chin so she was forced to meet his eyes. “I’m going to have my fill of you. Take you in every hole.” Despite the chill in the palace, Balam wore only a loincloth. He stroked the bulge in it. “Your screams will only make my cock grow harder.”

“What if I offered you something of more value than my body? After all, thanks to those pigs, I’m no longer a virgin.”

He snorted. “What could you possibly offer that would interest me?”

“Information.” She caught a flicker of curiosity in his eyes and hurried on. “I was in their stronghold, lay with them when their brains were in their little heads and their tongues were loosened by drink. I know their plan to rescue King Sigrun.”

Balam’s eyes narrowed. He grabbed her around the neck. “Tell me!”

She wrapped her fingers around his hands, tried to pull them away. “Kill me – and you’ll never know,” she croaked.

He loosened his grip a fraction.

Talia bent forward, gasping and retching. It was no act. The alien had nearly strangled her. “Take me back to the portal.” She uttered the words in a hoarse whisper. “Let me go home. Before I step through, I’ll tell you their plan.”

He gave her a vicious kick that sent her sprawling across the floor. “You think I’m a fool? You’ll tell me their plan here and now. Then I’ll lock you in my chambers. The king’s old quarters. If you speak the truth and we defeat them, I’ll let you go. If you lie to me, I swear I’ll come back and kill you with my bare hands.”

Talia took her time weaving the tale. Fabricating details, even making him take her to the balcony of the highest tower so she could point out the route they’d take. All to give Kylar and his warriors time to gather south of the city.

“They’ll be in place by dusk,” she assured him. “Hiding there, behind that ridge. Waiting for dawn. Haldor, the big one you saw at the auction – I poured wine down his throat as I took his prick willingly down mine. Afterward, he bragged about their plans. When he finally passed out, I managed to sneak away. I stole his horse, knowing he wouldn’t sound an alarm when he woke. He’d never admit to the others that a mere woman had gotten the best of him. If your men take cover there now, they can attack in the middle of the night and slaughter them all.”

True to his word, Balam locked her away in the king’s suite. He told the two guards posted outside the door that he’d give them to the high priest and let the holy one cut the still-beating hearts out of their chests if they let her escape. Talia watched from a window as Balam’s men marched out of the palace while the sun was still high in the sky.

Then she ducked behind the full-length tapestry on the wall opposite Sigrun’s bed and opened the secret door Kylar said she’d find there. In utter darkness, she made her way by feel alone down the winding stone steps and silently opened the door to the ceremonial chamber. The room where she and the other women had been taken for training, deep in the bowels of the palace.

* * *

Kylar grabbed a guard around the neck from behind while the man relieved himself on a patch of salad greens in the kitchen garden. He gave the Tabun’s head a jerk then twisted until he heard the snap. He let the limp body fall and stole soundlessly down the servants’ hall to a stairway that led to the caverns below the palace. Haldor followed him, moving silently despite his bulk.

With only one prisoner left, the dark passageways were empty of guards. They’d all been mustered to join in the attack. Kylar thought he knew where his father might be. A damp storeroom with a thick wooden door where barrels of hard cider and honey mead were kept. From what Elwen had reported, the room had been emptied by Tabun soldiers as soon as they found it, drinking until they couldn’t stand up any longer.

They rounded a corner. Sure enough, the door stood unguarded. Haldor lifted the massive timber barring it and Kylar slipped in. The king lay motionless on the cold stone floor, his back to the door.

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