Conduit - M J Marlow (best short books to read txt) 📗

outside and felt the numbness I now associated with a Dyhazri warrior. I heard screams and shouts of alarm and then weapons fire. I dropped my plate as alarms went off and found Ashad’s mind in mine. He was aware of the attack and told me to get to safety. I looked around the kitchen and found a back door. I slipped into the corridors with the Cook and Mary following me and guided them around the numb spaces to the stairwell. We went to the floor above the bottom one and slipped into the elevator shaft. “We wait here,” I told them after we dropped down on top of the elevator to wait. “The second wave will sweep through the base first before they look for specific targets.” I looked at them. “You have no weapons,” I frowned. The cook lifted his butcher knife. “It is better than nothing. In the eye or in the throat.” I nodded as Chandri’s mind touched mine and gave me this information and more. He introduced himself and asked if I was safe. “Yes, Chandri. I am safe.” “We’re in trouble, aren’t we?” Mary frowned. “The Dyhazri warriors will make you their puppets,” I told her bluntly. “And then they will turn you against the princes. They know the princes will not do anything to cause harm to any of you, and it will be a weakness they will exploit. You remain alive, but enslaved, until they have no further use for you.” “And then?” “They will see if human flesh is to their liking,” I answered bluntly. “I am sorry to tell you this, but you need to know the worst if you are to fight them.” I had a thought. “Do you have other sources for hydrogen peroxide?” The nurse told me about the supply closet near the Infirmary and the locations of the first aid kits and I told Ashad. “If we could put it into a spray canister of some kind, might we not counteract the venom before it takes effect?” I looked at my companions. “I am not asking you to risk…” “This is our base, child,” the Cook said fiercely. “We’re not going to let some alien race take it!” I stood up and they did likewise. We started to climb up the ladder running alongside the elevator doors. One of the warriors came as they heard us and the cook grabbed his harness and pulled him inside, letting him fall. “Whoa. That was close.” “Get to the Infirmary,” I told them as I heard the sound of Dyhazri boots on the concrete. They got in and I waited with one hand on the ladder. Two of the lizards saw me and fired as I swung back into the elevator shaft. The net hit the back wall and I laughed. I waved as they peered in and climbed up as quickly as I could. I could hear them speaking over their radios and knew my attempt to be the diversion was working. “You made me miss my ice cream,” I snapped as one of them stuck his head through an open shaft and I pulled him in and let him fall. I grabbed his weapon as he went and fired it at his companion. He was pinned to the wall, hissing. “I like my ice cream.” I told him as I heard the other hit the top of the elevator box. “Ouch! That must have hurt.” “Dulcinea!” Ashad’s mind snapped into mine. “This is not a game.” I could feel his pride in me through his censure. “Be careful!” I assured him I was the soul of caution and continued on my dart and dash attack. I sent five of them down the shaft and pinned four more to the walls. Then I was at the top. I got out on the roof and saw the space ship. More of their foul kind was racing into the base. I couldn’t let them do that! I sent an image of the princes flying over the mountains to the north and the teams turned and got back on the ship. They had repaired it enough to get it to head towards the base. I focused my mind on the pilot and I made him plow directly into the side of the mountain. I could see plumes of smoke rising from various sections of the ship as I turned and ran directly into the wide chest of a Dyhazri warrior. He clamped his hand on my throat and held me off my feet. The weapon was ripped out of my hand and tossed to another warrior. I kicked him in the body and he laughed. My struggles meant nothing to this one. “So we have a ‘fledgling’ making all this trouble for us,” he hissed as his team mates arrived. “Odd behavior for a female.” “This one is too young to know the proper behaviors,” one of the others suggested. He saw the scratches on my breast as I struggled. “She has already met one of us, Vesen. See the scratches?” I drove my fists into the eyes of the one holding me and he let me go as he roared in pain. I ran and the nearest one grabbed my hair and yanked me back. He slugged me across the face and I collapsed. I looked up, my vision blurred with pain and saw the door to the roof open. Several dark blurs poured out onto the roof and I felt pain and shock in the numbness. Claws dug into my arm and I was yanked up to my feet. I could feel claws pricking my throat in several places. “Back off,” the warrior who had me prisoner hissed as it backed up, “or I will throw the little fledgling off of this edifice. She is still too young to have a means of flight.” He turned and saw the space ship on fire. “Who dares?” “That would be me,” I choked as I moved my arms up and drove my fists into his eyes. He dropped me and I moved away quickly. I turned to look at him. “It was time someone showed you foul things that you are not in control!” “But you are a fledgling!” The Dyhazri hissed as it rubbed its eyes. “You are female! This is not correct behavior for one such as you.” I winced as someone started cleaning the claw marks on my arm and my throat and looked over to where Ashad was standing. He looked my way and then flew at the Dyhazri warrior. The monster sidestepped and struck Dovid aside. He yanked me up and started towards the stairwell. Bindri backed him away, hissing. The warrior kept backing up, with me struggling under his arm. I managed to get the creature’s weapon out of its holster and twisted so I could shoot him in the under jaw. He fell back, screaming in pain and went over the side of the building, his claws digging into my leg and dragging me along. I twisted in the air and kicked him in the throat and he let me go as I hovered in the air. Ashad caught me as I fainted from the shock and fell towards the ground after my attacker; then carried me back up on the roof. I came to and saw him at my side, his eyes searching mine anxiously. Dovid nodded and he relaxed. I was well. The Dyhazri had done no serious harm. I could feel his relief as Ashad embraced me briefly. “Are we going to have to keep you locked away, child?” he asked as he picked me up in his arms. “You just will not stay calm.” “I had to help,” I shrugged. “These people were in trouble…” “Some of ‘these people’ sold you out to the Dyhazri envoy, child,” Bindri broke in, looking at me. “You have the look of human about you, but your mind…” He shook his head. “The mixed heritage has given you more than we had planned for.” “I don’t care,” I said as I backed away from him. These were the monsters who had done this to me! They had no more right to me than their warriors did, and I wanted to be as far away from them as possible. “I want to go home.” “But that is not possible,” Dovid told me, a sadness in his eyes. “These humans know about you now, child. They will never let you be.” “And neither will you,” I snapped. “Don’t touch me!” I hissed as he tried to put his hand on my arm. “Just don’t!” I ran inside and made my way down to the main level. I found Mary smoking and she saw the anger on my face. I shook my head when she offered me a drag. I had never resorted to cigarettes to calm me down; I would not start now. We sat watching the space ship aflame and she stroked my back. I could feel my muscle tension easing. She put her arm around my shoulder and I leaned against her, glad of her support; especially when she pulled out her cell phone and let me call my family. “They should never have done this to you,” she told me firmly. “You didn’t ask to be an alien breeding experiment.” “I don’t recall it being an option,” I frowned. “My brothers would be awestruck by all of this.” I thought of them now. “I wish I could have told them about it.” “It’s probably better not to,” Mary replied. “I know I still find parts of it unbelievable.” She looked at the ship again. “Aliens with wings? It’s a story for Hollywood, not something anyone should have to face in real life.” She looked down when I did not comment and saw that I was asleep. “You rest, little girl. I have an uneasy feeling you are going to need every ounce of your strength.” * Despite the fact that I continued to insist that I be allowed to go home; no one was listening. I tried to run and the soldiers or, worse yet, one of the princes, dragged me back. They told me it was not safe for me to be on my own; there were still Dyhazri warriors who were not accounted for. They could make another attempt to get their hands on me. I was beginning to wish they would as the days passed and I was completely and utterly bored at the inactivity they forced on me. I knew most of it was my fault. The Dyhazri princes were more than eager to share with me the history of their race, their culture, and their language. But I refused to hear it. They might think because they bred me that I had to do what they wanted, but I was more than willing to show them how wrong they were. So they turned their insistence and my resistance into a game; the youngest of them, Everd, took particular delight in goading me. “You know, little one,” he said as we stood on the roof of the building one afternoon, “you are going to have your wings soon. Then there will be no denying that you are one of us.” “I don’t need wings,” I shot back at him. He picked me up off my feet and flew off the edge of the building. “Let go of me!” I hissed at him. So he did. A brief second of panic became an instant flare of my mind and I stopped myself from falling any further. I looked up to see him hovering near me, stunned. “See?” “You are unlike any fledgling I have ever known, Dulcie,” Everd smiled as he flew around me. “Is this how you took down the warriors?” I nodded and he was ecstatic. “Do any of the others know you can do this?” “I