Harem Assassins : King Sekton's Harem Planet, Book 2: A Space Opera Harem Adventure by Baron Sord (top inspirational books .txt) 📗

“Over here,” Theia said.

“I see you,” she answered.

I breathed a sigh of relief, recognizing the new voice as one of my many Shock Knights. I muttered to Theia, “Do all the Shock Knights have enhanced vision like you?”

“Yes.”

“That’s good. At least everyone else can see,” I grumbled, feeling frustrated because I was basically worthless without my rings here in the Zalaxian jungle. At night. Where the Bore Moths came out to plant their parasitic eggs in your scalp, or in this case mine.

The first Shock Knight emerged from the shadows, followed by two others.

One said, “We’ve got five seriously injured, ma’am.”

“How bad, Lieutenant?” Theia asked.

“Two have broken arms. Three have broken legs or ankles. They can’t walk. The other two can.”

“Thank you, Lieutenant,” Theia said.

I said, “Don’t worry. I can…” I stopped myself with a sigh because I had been ready to say I could carry them with my POSITION vectors. But I couldn’t do that without functional rings. So frustrating. If someone needed a robotic exosuit built, I was so on that.

“Yes, my king?” Theia said. “What were you going to say?”

“Nothing,” I sighed. I couldn’t see and didn’t even have a knife to cut down branches to make stretchers or crutches for the injured. An engineer without tools was at a serious disadvantage. I could make some tools with my bare hands, or break off some flimsy branches that might serve as crutches, or bundle together a bunch to make a stretcher, but without a knife? Man, you couldn’t overstate how critical a mere knife was for any kind of survival in the jungle.

Suddenly feeling the ground squirming wetly and mushily under my bare feet, I blurted, “Is it me, or is the ground moving?”

“It’s best not to look,” Theia warned.

I suddenly imagined myself standing in six inches of slimy, slithering leeches. Or worse.

“We should move,” Theia said. “If you give me your hand, my king, I can lead the way.”

“Oh, uh…” I suddenly felt like a little boy who couldn’t go anywhere without holding his mommy’s hand. I reminded myself that two days ago, I had punched a hole in the chest of an alligator demon. Punched right through the scales and bones of his rib cage. My fist had then exploded through his spine and out his back. Couldn’t do that now unless I was punching a jellyfish. How pathetic. Question was, could I hold a woman’s hand in the dark without feeling emasculated? Better question: did I have a choice?

“My king?” Theia prompted. “Will you allow me to take your hand?”

“Sure,” I grumbled.

Soft, warm fingers twined around mine.

I told myself it was like being on a date with a supermodel. Yeah, that’s it. The sexy supermodel who wanted to hold my hand. Yeah, that was 100% it. Nothing emasculating about it. Just ask any guy privileged enough to hold the hand of a supermodel like Theia. See? What did I tell you? I was totally secure in my masculinity now.

Theia led the way, tugging me willingly along.

Holding hands with a supermodel. Didn’t get any better than this.

“Watch your step,” she said. “You don’t want to trip.”

Yes, Mommy, I thought begrudgingly.

My big toe caught itself on something and I almost tripped a moment later. “Ow!” I grunted shamefully.

“Are you hurt, my king?” Theia asked with motherly concern.

“Fine,” I grunted. This was humiliating.

Thankfully, it wasn’t long before we’d regrouped with several more Shock Knights. I heard them whispering to each other in the darkness, talking so quietly I could barely make out what they were saying over the clicking, crackling, rustling, and slithering sounds of the jungle’s writhing nightlife.

Me?

I still couldn’t see shit.

So I did my best to listen.

Listening told you a lot.

Captain Theia was talking to several Shock Knights and planning next steps.

“Do we walk?”

“What other choice do we have?”

“Which way is base?”

“It’s that way, but it’ll be tough to stay on course on the ground.”

“If we move quickly,” Theia said, “I can guide us by the stars.”

“Are you sure? The canopy is so thick, I can’t see them half the time.”

“Should we make camp and wait for sunrise?”

“Is it safe?”

“Whoever shot us down is still out there.”

“Do we know who shot us?”

“Likely it was pirates,” Theia said.

“How is the king?”

“Does his ring work?”

“No,” Theia said. “Not at the moment.”

“Is he up for this?”

“It’s a fair distance back to base.”

“Yes, he’s up for it,” Theia said insistently. “He’s strong. He’ll make it.”

“Can he see in the dark to walk? The terrain here is treacherous.”

“No, he can’t see,” Theia answered firmly. “but I can guide him.”

“Is there anything he can do?”

I rolled my eyes. Hearing them talk about me like I was a liability and a disappointment was painfully embarrassing. If Lance from Power House Gym back on Earth could see me now, he’d be like, “Tim, you are a complete loser! I could lead these ladies out this jungle with my eyes closed, and wrestle eleven alligators along the way.” Knowing Lance, he probably could, and he didn’t need a king’s ring. Too bad for him he had melted into a blood puddle when that magenta disruption wall had hit him back in that alley. Sucks to be Lance.

“Our king is full of surprises,” Theia said to the others. “There are many things he can do without his ring.”

“Like what?” someone asked.

“He can lead,” Theia said sharply. Her footsteps left them and approached me until I felt her body heat looming close. “How are you doing, my king?”

“Great,” I lied. “I was going to say, if we can carry the three women with broken legs, we should probably start back. How far is it to the outpost? Forty or fifty kilometers? Walking that far will take all night and well into tomorrow.”

“Longer than that,” Corporal Syx snorted argumentatively. “The terrain is terrible between here and there. Lots of elevation changes. It’ll be tough going.”

“I know,” I nodded. “Which is why we need to start now.”

Theia said, “Begging your pardon, my king, as long as we aren’t