Disclaimer: I do not own predators
Author Note: This prologue is the extended version of the excerpt posted in Al'kin Chronicles: Blood and Bone. Please note that what has been done to Rh'anka is cruel and evil, in no way am I condoning the activities by writing about them. 'Screams and Scars' contains darker themes than 'Blood and Bone', and I advise only adults (18+) to read on.
Prologue
Green. The colour was everywhere. Over the floors and walls of the Bridge. Coming out of bodies. Growls and barks rose from fallen warriors both friend and enemy. With the metallic taste dousing the air, no one could deny that Cetanu had come to collect. This was the day the Death God had planned for them all.
After letting her last attacker fall to the ground, her prized sai through his eye, Rh'anka looked to her Al'kin sisters. It had all happened so suddenly. The routine arrival of an Al'kin clan vessel returning from Yautja Prime had turned into an attack within minutes. Their Mothership taken out from underneath them. But they had held the Bridge. Even with communications cut and flight capacity down. The Bridge was still Al'kin.
Rh'anka watched as the final remnants of the last assault wave fell. Her hunt sister both in bond and blood, Kir'ka, roared in victory as her two handed blade slashed her opponent in half. Al'kin warriors still standing quickly followed. Soon the combined roar was great and mighty. A warning to the next assault wave, there doom was patiently waiting.
But they didn't come and Rh'anka's roar grew short and quiet. She quickly shifted her gaze to her leader. Bodies lay around her. All dead. All still except the one with no head. It's arm twitching with the flickering of nerves. Theia, their Matriarch, met Rh'anka's stare. It mirrored her own. Nowhere, ever, in the hunt histories of their entire species noted a bad blood attack of this magnitude.
Stepping over bodies Rh'anka made her way to Theia, questions racing through her mind. She opened her mouth, but shut it immediately as her Matriarch raised a hand. After the roaring battle cry some Al'kin continued by growling and hissing. But at the Matriarch's silencing hand, the room quietened. The hum of filtering air the only sound. "I need four of you to come with me to search the rest of the ship for survivors."
"There are none." The statement dripped with an insane lightness. The remaining Al'kin rippled into their battle stances, weapons drawn, pointing at the entrance onto the Bridge. Footsteps. A collective gasps. A desperate roar as Rh'anka attacked, blinded by the rage of a Mother. Her twin sai never met her target. The grip of the Matriarch pulling her back and away with binding strength. The voice chuckled, "We'll except for you all and this pup." The bad blood raised the youngling by the grip of its hair. Even battered and bruised, it mewled with fire and struggled for freedom.
"Muma." It reached out to Rh'anka. She lunged again for her offspring. The Matriarch pulled her back harder, forcing her into the arms of her sisters. "Hold her back." She growled, they nodded. Theia turned to the grey skinned creature. Rh'anka knew if the Matriarch won the impending battle, she would take him alive. And for the remainder of the bad bloods life, the Matriarch would ensure every day he lived, a small measurement of flesh would be extracted. He would feel the horror and terror he had inflicted this day. He would feel the screams and scars he left in his wake. But she had to win first.
"Who are you?" Theias' voice rose into the blood stained air.
"You may call me your Majesty." More Yautja Rh'anka could only assume were bad bloods, joined him at his back. A growl broke out to her left. The halfling, Trinity, less than happy to see a familiar face now standing behind the insane bad blood.
"You will only be called your majesty by the dishonourable." Theia spat. The liquid ball hitting the cheek of the King.
Blue eyes darkened to ice. "I am your King." Rh'anka could feel the ice rage. "I decree the Al'kin Clan to no longer exist. So it shall be." More growls joined the halfling's. They all took a step forward at the King's statement. The King continued, his arms outstretched in welcome. "I have a place for you all in my domain if you so wish to join me. Step forward and receive your King's welcome." The pup continued to struggle still clenched tightly by the claws of the outstretched hand.
Silence broke through the room as the Al'kin swallowed their growls. The subliminal vibration letting their Matriarch know they only needed her order. Throats would be ripped, mandibles torn, heads cut. "We will not come to you." The Matriarch crouched down, preparing to leap, her Nagainta at the ready to draw blood. Another ripple as her Al'kin warriors mirrored her stance.
But the King only chuckled, eyes returning to the warm sky, comfort entering his tone. "I thought as much." Shiny as it was, the deadly point of his knife pushed into the throat of the pup. A high pitch squeal. A mother's cry.
"Stop!" Theia's loud growl resonated through the air, piercing through Rh'anka and her sisters. "What are your terms for the freedom of the pup?"
"Your submission to me." The King didn't have to say what type of submission, the dishonour shining in those blue eyes hinted to his expectations. Multiple hisses lashed out at the request.
The Matriarch had the Battle Mate mark for all to see. To break such a sacred bond was to dishonour Paya herself. But with all this death, was she even watching? Did she know a bond she had blessed no more than three years ago was about to be broken in the most shameful of ways? Rh'anka answered her questions in the negative. If anything, it was Cetanu who was observing now. Rh'anka couldn't allow her Matriarch to agree to the Bad Blood's term, even if it was for her pup.
No longer struggling, her sister's grip on her shoulders, arms and torso had loosened. "Theia, don't do this, let me instead. It is my offspring he has."
Hazel eyes born from the deepest jungle and longest deserts slid towards Rh'anka. "And you are my offspring." Mandibles were forced to spread in a sparing smile, distant as it was. Rh'anka saw the same stubborn streak that passed through her own bones. "Hold her." Those jungle desert eyes looked passed Rh'anka to her sisters. Unflinching grips returned to restrain her.
"No." Rh'anka huffed out barely audible, barely a whisper. But Theia heard. Eyes belonging to a Matriarch. A leader. Hardened by responsibility, soften by accomplishment they bored into Rh'anka one last time.
"Yes." The Matriarch turned to face the dishonourable evil. "I, Theia of the Al'kin Clan, Matriarch to the Yautja, submit to your demands, in return for the pup to be given to it's Mother alive. You will then leave Red Prime and the Al'kin vessel in peace and never return." Bound by those ushered words, Rh'anka and her Al'kin sisters were entered into a contract. If any of them attacked during the Matriarch's submission, the King would have rights to slaughter the pup and anyone else of his choosing.
Sky blue sparkled like stars at night. "Agreed." A beckoning finger. "Come here." His hand stretching out to deliver the pup to his General.
"Better hold him carefully Nadiek. One tiny little scratch and I'll attack you within that second and the next." The Halfling knew the rules, knew her hands were bound by honour. But she also knew what would liberate her. Rh'anka watched Trinity has she growled low at Nadiek, goading him into hurting the pup.
Nadiek smiled, his white complexion belonging to a Ooman, the dust yellow tusks that drew up an outwards belonging to a Yautja. "Until my King commands it, the pup will be safe in my arms."
With both hands free the King motioned to where he wanted the Matriarch. Her easy obedience drew a distasteful growl from Rh'anka.
Movement that had nothing to do with sensual lust, and everything to do with demanding dominance slammed Theia face first onto the blood shot floor. Whines of distress rose up from the Al'kin, the dishonourable Yautja blanketed their Leaders body with his, taking what she would never give freely.
Ugliness speared into the Matriarch. Rh'anka watched hopelessly as pain and shamed flashed across Theia's face before she could hide it. Before she could swallow and blink back the searing hell.
Mating was never unnatural or odd. It was a dance of wills, a game of passion, between two parties both equal with similar desires. What Rh'anka was being forced to witness was all the more monstrous, simply because it was redefining a common practise within Yautja society. Repulsion replaced passion, dread replaced the spring of dance.
She vowed quietly not only to herself, but Paya and Cetanu that the King would die. Hands clenching around the hilts of her sai. Itching to cut off the blade that stabbed through their Matriarch.
He took everything, nothing was left untouched. Mandibles and tube like hair were yanked to the side, arching Theia's neck. Rh'anka forced herself to watch as sharp fangs clammed down on sensitive flesh. What usually enticed a purr caused Theia to bark, eyes clenched close, teeth grounded together. Jade green never faulted under the sky blue stare that rose from Theias neck. Never flittered away from the sparkling delight of lunacy.
Even when he continued to devour her Matriarch and Leader. His eyes never left Rh'anka's. For a split second lust lulled the blue to something darker, something more refined, something that made Rh'anka's heart beat resist its next. She didn't see her death in those eyes. She saw something far worse. A lifetime of suffering Theia was only having a glimpse of now.
Finally the King's gaze lifted, his mandibles spread in a conquering climax. Spasms shook his body as claws dug into Theia's hips and breast. The Yautja behind the King, some with helmets, most without, roared at the triumph their King had seized. The Al'kin hissed in response.
"Let the pup go." Rh'anka's own hiss sizzled the roars to silence, forcing satisfied blue to meet loathing green once again.
Standing, the King's loin cloth floated back down. Leaving Theia slumped on the ground, green blood running from between her legs. With frequent battle a Yautja could overcome pain experienced before. But this was new. Seeing the tremble of muscles as arms started to snake into a position to lift herself off the ground attested to Theia's strength.
Green and blue still connected as the King stroked a mandible in thought. "She has met all my demands. Except for one." The King bent low to pick up the Nagainta Theia had rested on the floor. "I require her to die."
Every molecule, every bit of matter slowed. Everything except the King and the weapon he now held. It sliced through the air, quickly with no interference. Until it met Theia's back. Their Matriarch arched instantly. The brutal blade piercing through her heart. Her ringing scream echoing. Ripping through every defence, every hope. The Al'kin stood their frozen, no longer the same Yautja who had stood there seconds before. They now all carried a searing scar that altered them on a fundamental level.
Rh'anka could feel it. Her heart beat differently. Instead of contracting and expanding, the walls of the muscle expanded and contracted. Trinity attacked.
Her battle cry and her body slamming into the King, kicking him back away from the Matriarch's corpse. "I will kill you with your own weapon." Her quick hands ducking under the King's defence stealing his mace from it's clip. But as she raised it to strike down on the King's head, the weapon was parried by a short gleaming blade. She was pushed backwards away from the King by Nadiek.
Rh'anka was next in charge, although Trinity had attacked, none would follow her, not without Rh'anka's order. Trinity's attack had left the King open. She charged. The Al'kin charged. Mandibles flared, roars mighty, weapons high.
The clash of metal rang. The collision of bodies thundered. Within minutes of their attack, Rh'anka knew her pup's throat had been sliced. Sorrow flowed through her veins, but she ignored it. If she survived this battle, she would mourn then. Right now her focus was her promise. Kill the King.
Twisting to slice her sai through his neck, at the last possible second the King parried. Blocking the path with an arrogant chuckle. "You have beautiful skin." His free hand reached out to stroke her forearm. "Such fire. Such crimson."
Rh'anka ignored him, pushing the parry back and shooting her right sai up towards his mouth. The blow would puncture the cavern of his mouth, the metal tip tearing into his brain. The King ducked backwards in a flash of grey. Rh'anka pressed the advantage. Flicking the sai into a twirl, her fingers clenched tight until the weapon's piercing point faced down. Her attacks at body level weren't getting through his defences. Adjusting her strategy and lunging into the air, both points of her sai stabbing down.
Impact to her hip launched her away from her target. It wasn't the King, his defences were lowered. Hitting the blood soaked floor Rh'anka's slide was stopped by the dead and fallen, their bodies still warm. Darting eyes quickly located her new attacker.
"Rh'anka help!" The summoning shout drawing a quick glance. Her Al'kin sisters were few and numbered. None were calling for help. "Rh'anka hurry!" Trinity. The Matriarch in her arms, bad bloods closing in, scenting her vulnerability.
"You should give up my sweet fire." The way her skin crawled pulled her attention back to the King. More bad bloods had joined his side, facing her, waiting for the order to take her down. Mandibles pulled up into a smirk kicked her into action.
Rh'anka jumped to her feet, her sai twirled in her hand until she griped their hilts. With a flick of her wrists the forked points were launched through the air. She didn't wait to see if they hit their target, ducking through what was left of her battling sisters to locate Trinity.
With Nadiek stunned by a spiked blow to the head, Trinity was struggling to pull Theia's body towards the Bridge's only escape pod. With all her Ooman flaws, Rh'anka couldn't begrudge Trinity's love for the Matriarch. "Rh'anka behind you."
Senses pricked, the air shifted. Rh'anka dropped in time, leaving a wrist blade to fly over her head. Her leg snapped out behind her, kicking the assailant to the ground. "Al'kin retreat to my position." Rh'anka roared to the room. The escape pod was their only chance, was their civilisation's only hope. Maybe Paya was watching, maybe the end was just another form of beginning? Maybe.
Only Kir'ka made it, her sword swiping down to behead the Yautja at Rh'anka's feet. With a nod Rh'anka stepped up to Kir'ka's side, facing the room, Trinity at their back. "Here." Kir'ka handed Rh'anka a dagger. "I'm sure you won't throw this one away."
Unlike her sister and her barbaric taste for weaponry, Rh'anka preferred small and quick weapons. It suited her battle style. Decay surrounded them, closing ranks.
"Until Cetanu takes us." Rh'anka whispered to her sister.
"Until Cetanu takes us." Kir'ka agreed hands tightening a fraction more around the hilt of her heavy blade.
Growling a bad blood lunged, his head dropping to the ground. A drop of green blood from Kir'ka's two handed sword joined the head. The opportunity was taken, another ducking under Kir'ka's slice, his wrist blades pushing up to pierce through her stomach. But Rh'anka was there blocking the attack. Another head dropped to the ground.
"Rh'anka, Kir'ka, I've got the Matriarch in. Hurry." Trinity's voice was barely heard over the shouts and hisses of the dying bad bloods. Corpses of the daring falling to the ground around the sisters.
"Go." Rh'anka tilted her head towards the escape pod. Her knife slicing clean through the tendons of an opposing throat.
Kir'ka obeyed her sister's command, turning to join Trinity who was waiting at the entrance of the escape pod. Whirling and twisting the shuriken came from behind the front line of the assault. Lodging itself in the back of Kir'ka's head.
The painful roar had Rh'anka turn after slicing down the stomach of the next bad blood. Her sister lay dead on the floor. No. The emotionless word echoed through Rh'anka.
The next bad blood faced not only her dagger but her unrelenting wrath. Her scream just as piercing as the blade, stabbing between the helmet and metal collar to puncture through the neck artery. The yautja fell, his rotting blood pouring from the wound.
The killing sea parted and Nadiek was on her. Her small blade no match for this katana. She was kicked to the floor easily. A breath from the sister with glazed eyes and no pulse. She pushed to get back up. Another kick, her head forced with a crack against the ground. The katana was raised high above her, its end point her throat.
It never dropped. Trinity leaping from behind Rh'anka. Her legs wrapping around Nadiek's neck as she dropped low. Snake-like limbs twisted her body around his, using his weight to counter hers, finishing up crouched low behind him. The mace was drawn back before she launched it at his achilles.
Nadiek fell to his knees with a harsh growl. A perfect offering to a head blow that could place him at the mercy of Cetanu. Two bad bloods rushed her, forcing her back and away before she could make her finishing swing.
Rh'anka vision was still dazed but she shifted to stand, her effort foiled as claws pierced her throat. The King's tight grip cutting her air supply, pulling her from the floor to face him. She hissed. The response a low, cold chuckle. "Yes. I don't think I'll ever tire of you."
Her dagger slashed through his collar bone, splatters of green dotting her face. His hand loosened and Rh'anka dropped to the floor. After dispatching the two bad bloods Trinity joined in the final dash to the pod.
One step, two. Rh'anka was dragged back by the grip of her sensitive hair. "Just leave! Go!" Rh'anka knew this was her doom. Cetanu had spared Trinity this day.
Trinity made for her whip, disobeying Rh'anka. The whip could reach her. Drag her into the pod. But what would she bring with her? The grip in her hair was a manacle, it would never loosen, never let go. Not until the creature it belonged to died. "No." Rh'anka screamed out, fighting against the tugs on her scalp. "Fight another day."
This was not a fight to win. This was a fight to survive. Would Trinity get that? Would she realise if she got away, she had won.
Out of the corner of her eye Nadiek launched himself forwards, a last attempt at capturing Trinity. Rh'anka wouldn't allow it. "Run!" Thrashing against the shackle, Rh'anka gained enough freedom for her claws to dig into Nadiek as he passed her. Golden hair gripped in a tight clamp.
Trinity made it, doors closing before releasing the pod from the Mothership's grasp.
Lightening pain crunched through Rh'anka's jaw. "You will pay for that." The King once again gripping her throat, blocking her airway. Shaking and punching her with the rage that coursed through him. "You just cost me my daughter."
Eyes widened before pain made every thought disappear. The King's knee striking her in the stomach. Winded Rh'anka dropped to the floor, wheezing to find her next breath. Fire surged through her shoulder. Rh'anka roaring the pain as the bone broke.
Even through the throb Rh'anka peered up as the King loomed over her. "I will kill you. Maybe not today. Not tomorrow. But you will die by my hand."
The King only laughed. "Until that day, I will continue to enjoy your pleasurable company." The purr was comforting, the kick to the head blinding. Pain disappeared under the tidal wave of black.
