Defender (New World Book 7) Read online

  Each blow Taz took weakened him until his shield fell. Each blow he had no choice but to gaze into the warrior’s eyes. The warrior released him. Taz turned and was panting on his hands and knees, lifting his head up to glare at the warrior. The warrior was almost as large as his father. There was something different about this warrior. The look in his eyes was animalistic, deadly. There was no compassion. Evil glared back.

  “I hate you,” Taz said.

  The warrior dropped his shield and squatted in front of him. “Good. Hate is the best place to begin, little warrior. I’m the perfect teacher.”

  The warrior stood, his shield went up and he pulled Taz into the crook of his arm. At a fast pace the warrior flew over the terrain, taking the little warrior to his new life. Setting the path to Taz’s destiny.

  Chapter 2

  “The planet the humans call Earth has been targeted. The wheels are in motion.”

  Taz looked at his mentor Krish. Taz hated him as much after four hundred years as he had the first day they met in the woods. As mean as the bastard was, Krish kept Taz alive. In his early years, the other Tonan warriors teased him mercilessly. Krish wouldn’t let them kill him for sport. At least Krish’s kind was kept at bay. Though, it was rare for Krish to expose Taz to other Tonans for the first three hundred years of his life. Occasionally Krish had no choice, so he said, more often than not it was to remind Taz he lived only because Krish said so.

  Not all Tonan warriors wanted Taz dead or tormented. Others would tolerate him, or even friend him, if Krish allowed, he never did. Taz learned there were two kinds of Tonans. Taz’s father was a scientist, capable of leniency, he loved Taz’s mother. Krish and his kind of friends, acquaintances, were Tonan but incapable of love—ever. Their ancestors were missing a vital chromosome, making them impervious to pity, all were pure evil and lived to hate.

  The Tonan scientists on the planet had been tricked into developing the poison water killing off all females hundreds of years ago. It was a supposed war tactic to kill Castian warriors. If a Castian was mated and his female died—so too did the Castian. Unfortunately for Taz’s kind it also meant if a Tonan was mated and his female died—so too did the Tonan. The scientists outsmarted themselves costing many with their lives. Because of the poisoned water no other living creature resided on the planet Bagron, nor an exiled planet Dargon, nor on Taz’s planet. Any and all females died out except the male warriors. During Taz’s four hundred years he learned how to be cruel to survive, but he was saddened as a child when the last of the furry tree creatures died.

  “Why do we want humans to come here?” Taz asked.

  “Do you have to be so fucking stupid where others can hear you?” Krish snapped.

  Other surrounding warriors laughed. Taz knew better than rise to the bait. He didn’t care. Krish picked Taz to go to Earth on a lone scouting mission. The scientists created a machine to manipulate Earth’s atmosphere. Massive storms were popping up all over the continents. Many humans were dying and terrified. The Tonans fed into their terror, suggesting all humans flee while there was time and the Tonans could offer them a safe haven.

  “You got rid of our females, you accomplished what you wanted,” Taz said. “The Castians have been exiled and imprisoned on different planets.”

  “The war with the Castians is going in our favor. Cobra has been banished. The Castian warriors remain loyal to Cobra but will be hitting the must cycle. Cobra banned all talk of females after their deaths for a warrior’s peace of mind. Many don’t remember they had a mother. With only male warriors around they never broached the subject, Cobra kept it that way. His overprotectiveness with his warriors is asinine.

  “With war raging they don’t have time to care of what they thought could never be. A female can make a warrior insane with want. Our prisoners will tell us anything to be near a female. They’ll never know what hit them. And it will be Cobra’s fault for not preparing them. Many of the little warriors were young like you and weak when females died. They still are weak and pathetic.” Krish scowled at Taz. The barb didn’t go unnoticed. Taz’s feathers ruffled for a second; he was young at four hundred but no blubbering tot.

  “The human males? What of them?” Taz asked.

  “Damn you,” Krish roared.

  “I want to know if the males I encounter are of value. How can I complete my mission if you don’t give me the information I need?” Taz insisted. “I know nothing of humans, or females.”

  “We want the females of child bearing years. I don’t give a damn what you do with the males or their offspring.”

  “Offspring? Humans have children?” Taz asked.

  “What have I told you?” Krish bellowed.

  “Not fucking much,” Taz yelled as his annoyance grew.

  Krish smashed Taz into a wall, his forearm pushing him lower as Taz was taller. Krish hated that Taz looked down on him when they stood together. Taz knew better than to lift his shield. He was used to Krish’s rants and was more annoyed than anything.

  “Listen you little puke,” Krish said snarling. “Go to Earth, observe, do not interfere, do not let them see you shielded. In fact don’t let them see you at all. Shielded or not, you’re fucking ugly, you’d scare them.”

  “So Earth’s government is going to hand over its human citizens on a silver plate?” Taz asked.

  “Earth is full of stupid officials who will ‘save’ their people and take them away from the storms, as long as they can afford the price. They can make it seem the people who pay go first because they are paying for the shuttles and necessities here. It’s their false sense of security and logic—self-importance. Even when their planet is dying, many Earth officials think about votes. It’s so sick it’s funny. And as long as they make sure all the ‘important’ humans go first, most are happy. They are a race of hierarchy. Some officials are skeptical, some remind me there are two types of Tonans, as well as two types of humans. What they don’t realize is the important ones to us are females of childbearing years. Males are for sport,” Krish said.

  “Why me, Krish. You hate me,” Taz said.

  Krish released him and ruffled his hair. “Because like a dog you were beat until you learned to obey. And if I hated you I would have killed you long ago.”

  Taz knew Krish didn’t trust anyone—except Taz. And maybe not even him. “When do I get the hell out of this shit hole?”

  When do I get my chance to finally escape from you?

  “Today.”

  Krish propelled him outside to a shuttle. Taz groaned. It was a piece of shit vessel the Tonans helped the earthlings create. Awkward, silver, a Neanderthal of space. Taz loathed the vessel already. This vessel was somewhat more durable. There were subtleties a human wouldn’t notice. No doubt inside was better than what the humans would be given technology wise. Other than that the shuttle was garbage.

  “Don’t tell me, let me guess,” Taz drawled. “I need to blend in. You want me to crash.”

  “It has a tracking device. You will not crash regardless. I’m not nearly done with you.”

  “I feel special.”

  Krish smacked him on the back. “Try not to fuck your mission up.”

  A few Earth vessels were being tested on Earth. With the storms their defenses and satellites were destroyed. The Tonans wanted the earthlings to think Mother Nature meant business. Before the first Earth vessel landed on Taz’s planet, Krish and the others wanted to know exactly how vulnerable humans were. The first wave of Tonans to aid Earth and strike a deal were Krish’s kind. Krish told Taz he sensed the scientists were hoping for mates; it wasn’t going to happen. There was talk the scientists were interested in Krish’s venture. Each side had its own agenda.

  Taz didn’t know much of humans, having only heard of them recently. Taz was informed humans were weak and killed easily. He was a warrior, he wasn’t delusional and he didn’t believe it for a second. Why send him for information if they weren’t already positive? Taz was expendable. At four
hundred years old he was one of the youngest Tonans left living. He knew Krish was wondering if Taz’s young age played a factor, if humans might be able to kill Taz’s kind. Time would tell.

  The flight would take a week or more. The shuttle had a single cot, a table, chair and a place to regenerate. Taz brought a small cage in case he found an interesting animal. He’d have to hide anything he found from Krish. There was nothing more. The second Taz took off, he was bored. Images of Earth and what he could expect were programmed into the data base.

  An image of a human female came up. Taz had seen the picture before. She was young with long dark hair and blue eyes. The first time he saw her, his mother came to mind. He hadn’t thought of her in years. Humans basically looked the same on the outside as Tonans, except Tonan and Castian males had no nipples. It was a mystery to Taz why a human male needed them. What purpose could they serve? Yet Krish stressed it was an anal sore point with humans. One human accidently saw the difference; how were Tonans to know of a human’s abnormality? The ignorant human commented rudely at what was thought to be a Tonan abnormality, pointing it out to three others—the four humans were dead now. Tonans were a tad touchy.

  Image after image flickered across his screen and before long Taz was intrigued. They needed vehicles with wheels for transportation. They would climb inside mouths of rolling beasts and accelerate and slow down. Some rode two wheel beasts, again called vehicles of sorts. There were many names for many modes of transportation humans used, all foreign to Taz. When Taz moved he needed no such device. His shield came up when he needed to move at a swift rate, jumping from tree to ground to tree.

  Human’s sported odd articles of clothing. They needed mass weapons of destruction, which they eventually used on each other. The games they played made no sense to Taz; they hit balls, threw balls, kicked balls, and bounced balls. Earth was fascinated with balls. They played in snow, water, on ice, any season. They rode strange beasts called horses, donkeys, elephants and other four-legged creatures, and some not four legged. There were so many strange creatures: big, little, miniscule. Earth had insects. Everything was so different on this planet. Weapons, vehicles, food. There were no replicators.

  They actually have to grow food?

  That practice went out on his planet hundreds of years ago. Warriors didn’t have time to play in the dirt. Warriors—warred. What else was there? Humans were a primitive race. It would serve them right to be enslaved. Except, Taz struggled with the concept of human females being valuable and vulnerable. He gave his head a shake, annoyed after all these years that stupid thoughts popped into his head. Nothing would make Taz lose sight of the bigger picture. He would complete his mission. Not fuck it up. Once home where he belonged, he’d leave Krish. He wasn’t a dog, whatever the hell that was; perhaps he could find one and keep it in secret. Krish would be busy with the females. There was a vague recollection in his mind of a squirmy furry creature. Krish killed it in front of him after Taz played with it and developed affection for the beast.

  Definitely can’t let Krish see anything I bring home.

  Taz was both excited and wary when he glanced at the cage. Krish killed all the furry beasts he gave to Taz. Each death hurt his heart. There was a lesson Krish wanted Taz to learn and so Taz killed the last furry beast Krish brought home. He took the beast into his arms and didn’t ruffle its fur or croon to it. Taz looked Krish in the eye and wrung the creature’s neck, dropping it at his feet. His heart hurt the worst that day. Taz decided he wouldn’t try to love anything, ever. Love died, it could be crushed and if you loved you would be crushed. Even so, Taz never completely threw off that tiny feeling of remorse from whenever he killed something innocent.

  Leaning back, Taz watched as the scene on the monitor changed. Krish was staring at him and scowling. Taz wondered if he remembered Krish ever smiling a real smile. Nothing came to mind except the sinister scowl Krish was prone to.

  “We will lose communication soon,” Krish said. “Remember, don’t get caught and don’t fuck this up. I don’t want to draw attention to this planet and have to move in our mother vessels.”

  The image flickered and Krish was gone.

  I hope someone flies a spaceship up your ass.

  * * * *

  The valley below was set deep in the base of mountains. The shuttle hovered over a small clearing, the door opened a foot from the ground and Taz took his first step onto Earth. His shield was up. The ground beneath his feet crunched and indented. Sticks broke; small stones were crushed under his weight. His feet left indentations that didn’t disappear as he walked. He lifted a clawed foot to check if anything stuck to him.

  “That feels nasty,” he mumbled. “How do humans walk on this shit?” With his finger he scraped off moss and flicked it away.

  Taz set his tracker beam and maneuvered the shuttle into a cave out of sight. The cave was largish, and hidden from view from the overhang of the mountains. When he sniffed the interior he could scent no one had been inside the cave in hundreds of years. Taz glanced around. There was no light entering the cave but Taz saw everything. Overhead were tiny winged beings, a few were watching him. He scented a few were curious, nothing more and they slid back into slumber.

  What the hell sleeps upside down?

  Taz remained shielded as he strolled from the cave; the day was sunny and his armor absorbed the sun rays as he flexed his muscles and opened and closed his talon fingers. The black tattoos on his cheeks glowed, reflecting off his shining grey biceps. It felt good to be free and unconfined. Real sunlight was better for his shield, but the ground would take getting used to.

  The sheer rock face he moved to went straight up. His feet and hands instinctively found indentations as he scaled the height in moments. Reaching the top and casting his gaze around, Taz took in the foliage. How puny. The trees were nothing like he was used to, everything was small and unimpressive. The ground was hard beneath his claws, not spongy. He went to touch the bark on the tree and grimaced inwardly. Too hard for his liking. A fast movement at his feet and Taz reached down with lightning speed. Between his palms he held a small furry creature with long ears and a puff of a tail. The creature was virtually weightless. A tiny nose twitched, it struggled, wildly flailing its back feet. The heartbeat thundered erratically. Taz sensed its overwhelming fear.

  “Interesting.”

  Taz wasn’t certain what it was, except it was female. He gazed at the creature until it went limp. Taz gave it a tiny shake. He placed it on the ground, it remained still. Squatting next to it Taz nudged its bottom with the flat of his palm.

  “Come now little being. I didn’t hurt you. It’s not my mission to kill females, of any kind.”

  Taz sniffed the air. The creature was dead. Taz realized he’d scared it to death. The spark of remorse fired for a split second before Taz quashed it. In the distance, another of the furry beings remained quiet and unmoving, watching him. Another female. Taz didn’t go near it. A flying creature soared overhead. Wings outstretched it circled. One of these creatures was pictured on the monitor in his ship. There were many types but categorized under one name.

  A bird.

  The bird was watching as well. It was large and Taz saw the claws, no doubt it was intent on eating the dead creature. Earth inhabitants moved in swiftly. Taz tried hard not to care, but in the end he picked up the furry little female and put it in the hollow of a log. He sealed the opening with a rock.

  A short distance away, Taz spotted a male furry animal. The black-and-white creature was interesting and male, no worries of it dying of fright. Taz had no trouble cornering it, wondering if he could place it in the cage with other little furry creatures. The creature spun and a whiff of something noxious reached his nose for a second before his shield filtered the stench out. Taz waved his palm and talons in the air.

  “Buddy, you have a serious health issue,” Taz said under his breath. “Poor little females, do you stink them into submission? I thought Tonans were cruel. Ew
. Who knew Earth had such nasty specimens.”

  About to move off, Taz heard voices.

  “I swear, Emma. I’m sure I saw a shuttle go down over here somewhere,” came a male voice.

  “So what. The government has mentioned they were ready to try and get some shuttles off the ground for test flights.”

  A female’s voice.

  Taz was certain. His heart rate increased with excitement. The first female he would set eyes on in over four hundred years without fur. Every ounce of him squirmed in anticipation. He was annoyed he had to remain hidden.

  Come into view, little female.

  “Maybe it crashed. Let’s have a look,” the male voice said.

  “Fine, but then it’s time to go. I need to get home.”

  The female sounded impatient and reluctant. Her voice was soft and compelling. Taz’s curiosity was too hard to ignore, he couldn’t keep still. Creeping as silently as possible, Taz parted the foliage before him. There was a young female and a male. The female was so little. The male was larger, but not by much. Taz felt his brow knit under his shield.

  That male is tiny.

  For a second, his heart pounded with distress instead of excitement. The Tonans he knew could annihilate such a small human male. He heard Krish’s sneering tone in his head telling him it would be fun to bash the male human’s brains in and play with the female.

  “I’m curious,” the male said.

  The female gave him a playful nudge. Taz was surprised when she almost knocked the male over.

  “Curiosity killed the cat,” she replied in a saucy tone.

  The male chuckled and they continued walking, the male was holding her hand and parting the vegetation for her. Taz wondered what it would be like to hold another’s hand. Taz let the foliage slip back into place, his curiosity was satisfied. He couldn’t engage and they were strolling from his view. The humans would never make it to the cave, the shuttle was safe. He was there to observe not interfere. He needn’t hurt the male and obstruct their path.