Arosa floated in the air, watching with growing horror and sadness. The loud shout of triumph from the poacher on the drilling machine drew the attention of his cohorts in crime. She recognized him as the one called Macron. The bright flares from the Leviathan warriors did little more than cause Macron to swear in a loud voice.
“Harron, fire the nets! Fire the nets!” Macron shouted.
Harron fired a weapon that sent a net over the opening, preventing any more warriors from flying out of the gaping hole the drill had created. She flew forward when a warrior was knocked off of his skimmer.
She wrapped her arms around the falling rider. Slender arms clung to her in shock. Arosa landed on an outcropping of rock a safe distance from the battle.
“Thank you, Goddess,” a soft voice shakily said.
“Tia! What are you doing here? What has happened?” she anxiously asked.
Tia reached up and removed her helmet. A trickle of blood ran from a cut on her temple. Arosa looked into Tia’s haunted eyes.
“Our home—my people—our world….” Tia incoherently said, looking around her before she continued, “We need your help, Goddess. Please—for the sake of my people, my daughter, Jett… and Tamblin, I beg you to help us.”
Arosa swallowed and followed Tia’s gaze. Aikaterina always said they were only to observe. But, hadn’t Aikaterina helped the Valdier and other species when she gave them symbiots and the abilities to shift and harness their surrounding energy? Hadn’t Aminta given gifts to each of the rulers of the Seven Kingdoms to guide and protect them?
How could she stand by and watch the destruction of this world when she had the power to save it? What was the purpose of having such power, if not to use it for good? As the questions and doubts assailed her, she realized that she would give up everything to protect this world and the man that she had fallen in love with—for life and her existence held no meaning otherwise.
“I was dishonest with him. I should have told him who I was,” she said.
“He will forgive you,” Tia promised.
She looked at Tia. A strange dampness blurred her vision, and she could feel it coursing down her cheeks. She wiped it away with her fingers.
“Tears… I didn’t know we could cry,” she confessed, looking at the moisture.
“You’ll help us?” Tia asked, reaching for her hand.
Arosa closed her fingers around Tia’s slender green hand. Her gaze remained fixed on Tamblin. He was trying to slice through a net that had entrapped dozens of warriors while Batty distracted the poacher nearby.
“Yes, I will help. I promised Tamblin that I would make sure that you and your daughter were safe first,” she replied.
Tia’s startled protest ended on a growl of frustration when Arosa opened a portal that would take Tia safely back to her daughter. Arosa smiled faintly. Now that her promise to Tamblin had been kept, she would keep the one she had made to Tia—regardless of the consequences.
“ENOUGH! This world is under my protection,” she commanded.
As her command spread, Arosa grew larger. The illusion of her persona as the Queen of the Wood Fairies faded. Creatures large and small trembled when they saw the power of her natural form. She raised her arms and sent a wave of energy so powerful that the moon trembled and the ships in orbit lost power.
“Forget about the Dragon Lords killing us, Macron. We’ve gone and angered the Goddesses,” Harron whispered in a hoarse voice.
10
Tamblin lost his balance and fell sideways when the line he was cutting through gave way. He was about to start on the next cable when the sound of Arosa’s voice swept through him as if she were standing next to him. He braced his hand against the ground and looked around.
A shockwave of disbelief passed through him when he saw her. He rose unsteadily to his feet as the image of her as the Queen of the Wood Fairies faded, and in her place was a powerful, larger-than-life Goddess. He dropped down to one knee and bowed his head when she looked in his direction.
“Tamblin,” she softly called.
He looked up at her before bowing his head again, curling his fingers into fists as he tried to comprehend what was happening. A movement to his left drew his attention. The net that pinned the struggling warriors to the ground dissolved.
The faint sound of awe and hushed reverence washed through him. All around him, the poachers’ nets turned to ash. The huge aliens dropped to their knees and bowed their heads.
“Goddess, we… uh… we were just… uh…,” Macron stuttered.
“I know what you were doing. You were being… horrible,” she snapped.
Despite his own sense of intimidation at seeing Arosa in this form and realizing who and what she was, he couldn’t help being both proud and amused. Unable to resist, he raised his head and watched Arosa as she glided across the ground to the drilling machine Macron was sitting on. With a snap of her fingers, it vanished and the large male hit the ground.
“If you or any of your kind ever come back to this moon, harm or capture another Tasier, or even think of harming the species that live here, I swear it will be more than your drilling machine that disintegrates—it will be your spaceship while you are on it or worse! They are under my protection! Do you understand?” she demanded.
“Yes, ma’am. I mean, yes, Goddess. We’ll never touch another Tasier or come to this place or anywhere near here again,” Macron hastily promised.
“I won’t either, Goddess,” Harron swore.
“You will return every single Tasier that you took off of this moon, and if you find any others, you are to give them to the Valdier who will bring them here,” she instructed.
“All of them…,” Macron complained before he clamped his lips together when Harron elbowed him.
“We’ll return them all, Goddess,” Harron promised.
“That’s a lot of credits. I mean, if we could keep…,” Macron grumbled.
Arosa appeared in front of Macron. Tamblin winced when the man was yanked up off the ground and suspended in midair in front of her. Even in the early morning light, he could see the sweat beading on the alien’s brow.
“I don’t have to make you disappear all at once. I could start with one piece at a time. So what is more important, credits or—” Arosa paused and ran her furious eyes down over Macron’s body before stopping at his crotch.
Several men next to Tamblin winced and snickered under their breath. “I’d pay an alien’s credit to have her do it,” one warrior chuckled.
He bit back his own laugh when Macron dropped his hands and covered the spot she was eyeing. Even some of the poachers snickered with amusement. After several seconds, she sneered and with a flick her wrist, Macron disappeared.
“Who wishes to be next?” she demanded, glancing over the cowering group of men with a regal stance. “You have one hour to return all the Tasiers to this world. The Valdier will ensure that you miss none of them.”
Tamblin and the others of his kind stood and watched with a combination of relief and awe as the poachers hastily departed back to their transports. A hush fell over the group closest to him when Arosa looked at him.