Punished, Tana Stone [top reads .txt] 📗

Corvak

Tvek. The last time my head had ached so much had been the day after I’d put away almost an entire bottle of Parnithian gin by myself. I lifted a sluggish hand to touch my temple, but my shoulder twinged with pain.

“He’s waking.”

The hushed voice made me still, blinking slowly as I opened my eyes and registered Kerl and Terel standing by my side, along with a Kimitherian male I’d never seen before. The last thing I remembered was being outside the village after I’d taken out the two imperial soldiers. Then my memories became fuzzy. What had happened, and where was I?

I swiveled my head slowly. I was in the bed chamber of my quarters, lying on the bed. My battle kilt and boots were in a small pile in the far corner, which meant I was naked under the blanket. It didn’t bother me, but it was unusual, considering how little skin the people on the planet exposed.

“Our apologies, Vandar,” the unfamiliar Kimitherian said, his yellow eyes appraising me with care. “It was necessary to remove your garments to treat you.”

I pushed myself onto one elbow but stopped there when my head swam. “Treat me? Why did you need to treat me?”

The three males exchanged glances.

“You do not remember?” Kerl asked, tilting his scaled face at me.

I bit back the urge to shake all three males. I was not a patient Vandar, nor was I a good patient. “Tell me.”

The Kimitherian I didn’t know cleared his throat, which sounded much like a croak. “You were shot by a Zagrath blaster. At first, we assumed you were dead, but the shot appears to have gone wide, hitting your shoulder and not any vital organs. You were seriously injured, though, and stunned for a considerable amount of time. That is why we needed to treat you with some of our planet’s healing plant compounds. Your body needed assistance to restore itself fully.”

I glanced down at my bare chest. There were no scars or marks. “And am I fully restored?”

“Lerek healed you,” Kerl said, bobbing his head up and down. “You have made a miraculous recovery.”

The other Kimitherian touched a webbed hand to his chest, bowing his head slightly. “I am Lerek. The planet’s healer. Your injuries were severe enough to summon me from my village on the other side of the planet.”

I hadn’t known the planet had a healer. In a place where everyone lived forever—or close to it—the concept of healers hadn’t occurred to me. Then again, it sounded like there was only one, and he didn’t live close, so he clearly wasn’t in high demand.

Lerek let out a bubbly laugh as if reading my expression. “Yes, there is a need for a healer even on a planet such as Kimithion III. We might be immortal, but we are not invincible.” He inclined his head at me. “A fact you should keep in mind the next time you go up against an imperial soldier. It might not take long for me to traverse the distance across the planet, but the next time the Zagrath’s aim might be better.”

I slowly pushed myself up until I was leaning against the bed’s wooden headboard. “But I killed both of the imperial soldiers. Unless…”

“There was a third,” Terel said. “You couldn’t have known.”

I stiffened. “So, there is still a Zagrath soldier on the planet?”

“No,” Terel said quickly. “You managed to kill him with your weapon before you fell. From what I hear, it was quite a feat. Then we checked the imperial ship to be sure there were no more soldiers.”

I had no memory of that, but my muscles uncoiled. At least they were dead.

“And then the female…” Kerl started to say, before Terel elbowed him in the side.

“We should allow you to continue to rest,” Lerek said, patting my blanketed leg. “Your body is healed, but you might feel drowsy from the compounds I used. It will wear off soon enough, and I suspect sooner because of your size.”

I rubbed a hand to my head. “But the Zagrath. They will not give up so easily, especially when they don’t hear from their scout ship. I should help prepare—"

“You do not need to worry about that now,” Terel said. “Your bravery has bought us time and —"

“It won’t be enough,” I said, cutting him off. “There is no way my fighting unit can defend against the empire. Not alone.”

The males glanced at each other, brows furrowing. “What do you suggest?”

“There are many in the galaxy who resist the empire. Your communications system might be old, but it can send out a subspace message, can it not?”

Kerl gave a sharp nod. “It can, but the Vandar horde that brought you will be far away by now.”

My heart squeezed at the truth of this. My horde—the horde I needed to make amends with—would be too far away to receive any distress call from the planet. “It is not the Vandar I’m hoping you will reach.”

I gave them the information about the encrypted channel and told them what their message should say.

“Now you should rest,” Lerek said once I’d passed on the critical information and sunk back against the pillows.

I nodded. “Only for a short while.”

Then I closed my eyes as the three males left my room, the door shutting behind them. I didn’t remember everything about the battle with the imperial soldiers—and I had no memory of throwing my axe at the fighter who’d shot me—but I did recall how the fighters I’d trained had splintered when I ordered an attack. They’d been too scared to join me in rushing the enemy and I’d been left to do battle by myself.

I clenched my teeth at the bitter memory. I might be able to teach the basics of fighting, but I could not teach courage. None of the fighters I’d trained had the heart of a warrior. My breath caught in my chest as I thought of Sienna.

Correction. One fighter had the heart of a