Helion (2 page)

Helion stood at the head of his men, satisfaction running
through him. A battle was just what he needed to shake off the annoyance and
disgust he’d felt when he’d met the “mayor” of this town. The pale, flabby male
had attempted to treat him like a subordinate. Him! Helion snorted derisively.
He was a Keeper Commander, a prince of his people, but above all he was a
warrior. Seeing that tiny little man hiding away under the protection of dozens
of guards while his people died in droves elicited nothing but scorn from
Helion. Where Helion came from, leaders actually led and they protected their
people with ferocity. Adding to the sin of his cowardice, the mayor also had
the nerve to act as if Helion and his men were his to command, ordering them to
kill the Scourge then leave the planet.

“Don’t let the puny human throw you off tonight, Commander,”
Lord Elanon said in his usual languid tone. “He’s a weak male and he knows it.
All his commands were bluster from prey that know a predator is staring it
down.”

Helion gave Elanon a sideways glance. He was a cousin of
sorts, however many times removed. But whereas Helion was a Commander, Elanon
was in the diplomatic corp. And he’d narrowly managed to keep Helion from
running his sword through that worm of a mayor. But that was Elanon’s job, to
liaise with whatever government representatives could still be found and clear
the way with diplomacy for Keeper engagements.

Some planets were more accepting of Keeper aid than others,
of course. This backwater planet called Earth viewed the Keepers as being
nearly as bad as the Scourge, unwelcome intruders who were a danger to their
race. Helion shook his head at the ignorance. The Keepers didn’t attack the
little humans, not unless they were forced to defend themselves. On the
contrary, they’d actually saved countless humans from dying at the end of a
Scourge blade and in return got nothing save hostility, suspicion and a
grudging acceptance of their presence from the planet’s various governments. He
snorted.

“I’m not concerned about that scum, cousin. My men and I
will put fear in the shriveled hearts of the Scourge this night. Their blood
will water the ground and dull our armor before the night is out. But it will
be done my way. No cowardly human male gives orders to me and mine. Were it up
to me, my blade would already be wet with the mayor’s blood to start the
battle.”

“That’s why you’re a Commander and I’m a diplomat, cousin,”
Elanon replied ruefully, bumping his shoulder against Helion’s. “I will deal
with the mayor and his puny minions. Don’t give him another thought, just rid
this town of the creatures plaguing it. I’ve seen the bodies of too many women
and children already. The Scourge need to pay for that obscenity.”

Helion assessed Elanon’s grim profile and nodded in
agreement. He too had seen the bodies. Tonight he’d return the favor and show
them how little mercy the Keepers had for their enemies.

“Get going then, Lord Elanon. We have killing to get on
with. Keep those human weaklings in check before I do it for you.”

Helion returned Elanon’s bow and turned to his men. His Keepers
looked grim and ready, their golden armor begging to be dirtied with the blood
of the Scourge. Helion knew to outsiders the Scourge looked more evil, more
intimidating even. Nothing was as black and white as that, however. For all the
difference in appearance, the Keepers met and even exceeded the savagery of the
Scourge in battle. The difference was their motivation.

“Report, Braith,” he called out, motioning forward his best
scout. He had business with the enemy tonight and was eager to begin.

“I’ve located a large troop of Scourge systematically
running through this town called Louisville, Kentucky, looking for humans to
kill and enslave. The humans in this town, like all the others we’ve seen on
this planet, have gone to ground and hidden as well as they were able. So we
have a clear field for engagement.”

Helion grimaced, finding this behavior disgusting—people
should fight for their homes and lives against evil. But he supposed humans as
a whole were too fragile and physically weak to take on a rancid enemy like the
Scourge, so some allowances must be made. So he nodded to Braith and gestured for
him to rejoin the ranks before turning to his shielder.

“Stegen, has the perimeter been raised?” Helion asked, his
tone promising punishment if the answer was no.

“Yes, Commander. No Scourge within ten miles of us can
escape the net,” Stegen replied calmly.

“And how many Scourge will have the honor of dying on our
blades tonight, Mithrain?” Helion asked another, his icy white brow cocked. He
had no doubt the losses for the Scourge would be great tonight. No matter how
many there were, all would die, there could be no doubt. But when Mithrain didn’t
answer him right away, Helion turned to him sharply, both brows lifted now.

“Commander…” Mithrain hesitated, uneasy. “I count about
three hundred Scourge.”

Mithrain’s special ability was detecting life forces in
living beings. In a sense he was a tracker—he could sense the life force,
identify the race, the gender. It was a rare and special gift among his people,
one Helion took full advantage of.

“Just three hundred, Mithrain? That’s no challenge for us—why
the look of concern?”

This was asked by a bored-looking Keeper, Tohran. A lazy
Keeper to be sure but in battle there was none better than he with the short
swords.
Except perhaps me
, Helion thought. Tohran was his second in
command, for very good, very deadly reasons.

“Commander, it appears there are two humans inside the
containment field.” Mithrain offered this news with clear dread, as well he
might.

Helion stared Mithrain, cold fury whipping through his veins
like a hurricane and blending with his battle bloodlust.

“Two humans? You said this area was clear for containment!
You know how important it is that we keep humans outside the field. They will
hinder the use of our abilities and special skills, ones that could easily
snuff out the life of any human within range.”

“I’m sorry, Commander, the area was clear a few minutes ago.
They must have wandered in before Stegen closed the containment field,”
Mithrain replied, his words and expression, normally so reserved, showing
absolute trepidation.

Helion gritted his teeth for a moment, then shrugged.

“No matter, if they do die it will only be two of them.
Taking down three hundred Scourge is worth the sacrifice, but tell the men to
be on the lookout for the humans and try to avoid killing them. No doubt they
will cower and hide somewhere while we fight, which might save their lives.”

Helion turned away to begin issuing attack orders but turned
back when Mithrain called out to him.

“I’m sorry, Commander, I didn’t speak clearly. It’s not two
males who slipped through the barrier…” Mithrain had to stop for a moment to
swallow after Helion swung back around fully and pinned him with a livid gaze. “It’s
two human females, Commander. One likely an adult and the other a female
infant. I almost didn’t register them both as the bigger female has the smaller
one close to her chest.”

A muscle pulsed in Helion’s cheek, a sign of the tempest
building inside him. A female and a baby inside the containment field. For all
his scorn of the males on this planet, like any other Keeper, Helion had a deep
respect for women and children. With regret he made the decision that the
vicious full-on attack he had planned was no longer possible. He couldn’t risk
the lives of the females. They needed to be retrieved and taken to safety.

“Where are these females, Mithrain?” he asked, his voice
hard-edged with frustration.

“Apologies, Commander, but they’re due east, about a mile
out,” came the reply.

“Due east…” Helion repeated grimly.

“Yes, Commander, the child and the woman are sitting between
us and the Scourge. And the fiends are moving fast in our direction.”

In other words, the Scourge would soon overtake the females
and lady protect them if they were found. What the Scourge did to women was an
abomination and what they did to children…

“Keepers, to arms! Waste no time, we lightstep to the
females now. Find them and protect them with your lives. Kill every Scourge you
see but save those innocents.”

Without hesitation Helion lightstepped due east, confident
his men would be at his back but not willing to wait for them. He had enemies
to slaughter and females to save. He heard the disgusting calling card of the
Scourge long before he saw them and increased his speed, eager to engage them.
The ugly creatures were swarming a large, austere building, no doubt looking
for the two females. Scourge were like hounds—they could scent fear and smell
victims.

The escalation in their sounds told Helion they had found
their victims and were going in for the kill. He lightstepped right up to the
front of the building and felt his men arrive with him. A herd of Scourge saw
them arrive and screamed their defiance. Helion responded with a cruel smile.

“Kill them all,” he ordered, extending his long sword. “Mithrain,
lead me to the females.”

Following Mithrain closely, Helion and his men cut a bloody
swath through the massing Scourge. Helion’s sword sliced through body after
body, blood and entrails flying and heads rolling. His men were just as
merciless, dismembering Scourge left and right, severing arms and legs and
heads with cold ruthlessness. Mithrain held a steady pace, cutting through the
Scourge with lightning-fast shots from his bow, unerringly striking vitals as
he raced through the doors and down the crowded halls of the building, the two
fighting their way to the corridor that led to the women.

“Commander, at least forty Scourge are massed outside the
room with the females inside. They’re breaking through the door!”

Helion roared ferociously, redoubling his efforts to cut
down every Scourge scum in the hall before they could harm the women. Mithrain and
the rest of the guard stepped up their attacks as well, taking down enemy after
enemy. They strained to reach the door, tearing through the Scourge with brutal
efficiency to the end of the hall just in time to see the door to the room
hiding the females give way completely. Helion’s rage escalated as he saw the
door shatter inward under the Scourge assault. Seeing the lust on the faces of
his enemies inched that rage even higher.

“No mercy!” he roared, lightstepping exactly into the middle
of the Scourge horde as they raced into the room for the kill. He sliced
savagely through fiend after fiend, their blood splashing like rain over him and
his men. It soaked his hair and entrails slimed his armor, dulling its gleam.
His men jumped in and got their share, not stopping until every Scourge in the
hall and inside the room was slaughtered like cattle. Only then did the red
haze of berserker rage fall from him and let him take stock of the situation.

The relief he felt when he saw the females unharmed, still
crouched on the ground but untouched, surprised him. He didn’t expect to feel
so strongly about the well-being of these humans. He respected their protected
status as woman and infant but this feeling went beyond that. Seeing the little
human female, cowering but unmarked and still breathing, sent a wave of elation
rolling through his body. He and his men had made it. Made it by the skin of
their teeth but they’d managed to save two lives.

He waited a moment for the female to acknowledge him and his
men, but she did not. She stayed where she was, clutching her offspring in a
tight, desperate grip, her head down as though she still awaited a death blow.
He had no time for this timidity.

“Female, you are safe now. Stand and speak with me.”

Still she didn’t respond. Helion wondered if she could even
hear him, or if her fear had completely paralyzed her. Helion grunted then, slightly
annoyed by the girl’s timidity. He supposed her near-death experience was some
excuse but he had work to do. He didn’t have time to tiptoe around the small
female and her offspring nor did he want to terrify them further. He walked
closer and the girl must have sensed the movement, because she clutched her
daughter and scrambled awkwardly to her feet, quickly backing away from him.

Helion stopped advancing and allowed her a moment to observe
he was no threat to her. He watched as she raised her eyes higher, and higher,
and higher, until they finally met his own. Whatever she saw there made her
flinch and Helion barely managed to refrain from rolling his eyes. Twenty
Keepers were inside this room but she’d looked only at him, noticed only him,
and even then the tang of her fear nearly overwhelmed him.

Helion took his time observing the female, just as she was
him. What he saw was disturbing. This female would have stood no chance against
the Scourge, not even one who was half-dead and missing limbs. Five foot
nothing, malnourished, judging by the sagging clothes, and sleep deprived,
judging by the bruised-looking skin under her eyes. This one had clearly been
on the run with her child for a while, perhaps not knowing where to find a
Keeper-secured refugee camp for her kind. Her hair would no doubt be pleasing when
clean—it looked to have the color of fire. And the eyes currently gazing at him
in horror were an interesting shade of blue with a starburst of gold in the
center. Strapped to her chest, the girl child was all but hidden from view by
the wrappings and her mother’s protective arms.

“Please…” came a soft whisper.

He realized she’d spoken and brought himself to attention.
For a moment he didn’t process the words, too busy noting how husky her voice
was and how different it was from that of Keeper females. It was a pleasant
sound really, running along his sensitive ears with a soothing resonance. Then
what she’d actually said finally penetrated and he stiffened.