Odyssey Bourne Force

Montava and Chotar had escorted Leah to her new private quarters for her to rest. Due to the size of the fortress, movement was made practical and pleasant via the soft lift system, similar to Talokta’s domain ship. The journey from Dr. Ventrowe’s infirmary to her quarters by foot would have taken a good forty minutes. By soft lift, it took eight seconds.

  “Could do with this back on Earth, it is so awesome, and no worrying about breaking the speed limit,” she had joked to the guards. They could not help but smile at her warmth and innocence. Lumair to the slaughter, Chotar thought and instantly stopped.

  Shalash! Not inside the fortress of all places.

  Montava and Chotar, despite their culturally inherited disregard for females, were impressed with Queen Leah.

  They had discussed her between themselves when no one was around.

  Initially, they quietly despised the assignment that Talokta had installed on them. They were to watch over her, and anything she wanted, within reason of course, she could have. As with all Trimadians, these two warriors had been trained since boyhood to dominate and kill and they were damn good at it. However, this new challenge was totally alien to them. For one thing, she was a female and instilled into them was the fact females were for breeding and slavery. Even more demeaning, they were nothing more than babysitters. They assumed she would take advantage of her situation and make them run after her, make stupid demands, act like a spoilt mitiff (child) which would be exasperating. It could be acceptable if the subject was a male. Naturally, they did not voice their remonstrations to their boss. However, Talokta, sensing their discomfort, had cautiously briefed them, emphasizing she was an exception, and irrefutably their Supreme Ruler’s future queen, and they must protect her against any threat. It was made clear that there was no room for error, especially after the kidnap incident, or he would shoot them himself. Equally, he made it known that he did not enjoy threatening his own men, especially his two top warriors, and they must set an example. The Trimadians’ future as a whole was at stake. Apart from the well known fact that no one in their right mind argued with Lord Talokta, the men’s intrinsic pride that he had chosen them won them over.

  The men were not fools. They knew the story of the Chosen One, Queen Leah, and their own ties with Earth. It was the acceptance of “crossing the line” between a legend and meeting her in the flesh. Maybe they were expecting her to be something along the lines of the gods. The propaganda fed into them had put this legendary queen on a powerful pedestal, and the warrior’s anticipation was great.

  Instead, at first glance, she looked a normal female human, and putting aside deep prejudices was difficult. If they were asked, it would be described as almost torn between duty and culture.

  Upon meeting her, distinctly drunk, inside Talokta’s temporarily remodeled quarters, they did not expect such defiance and cheek, and knew to watch out. They were too professional for her and knew she would try something. So they taught her a lesson, and obeyed her sight seeing request to the letter. They smugly could see she conceded—her eyes said so. But, she was unusually stubborn for a female, and her spirit was strong. They admired that. This was obviously a quality the Supreme Ruler would have experienced.

  During the brief time they had spent with her, and to their surprise, they could not help but like her. Her presence generated something they could not describe, and it was a power that was not tangible. Warm and funny, she had an air of friendliness, which was foreign to their warlike culture, and she treated them as friends, almost as equals. At first, they did not know how to react to this, and they did not want to do anything to offend her. Added to that, they suspected this could be part of Talokta’s infamous tests that he sprang on his warriors at random.

  “Keeps you undead” was one of his pep talk slogans. During hand to hand training another favorite was, “show mercy and you are already dead.”

  However, these thoughts disintegrated with the fact that both Talokta and his second in command Soma were no longer present, and deep down they sensed Leah was genuine. Talokta would only entrust such a momentous mission to his top warriors.

  Before they met her, they were perplexed as to why their Supreme Ruler would not just simply take what he could from her and dispose of her, like any female. Her nature was in complete contradiction to his. They were uncomfortable even to compare her to their master. Even so, the men were interested to know how long she would be the way she was within his influence.

  The Supreme Ruler was merciless, unscrupulous, with razor sharp intelligence and possessed analytical cunning second to none. No soul had ever challenged him. Leah was kind and thoughtful, though a little on the defiant side. Talokta had no choice but to tolerate her.

  If she stood up to the Supreme Ruler, how much would he tolerate? If she were to survive, she would have to be taught the Trimadian ways.

  Would this one woman be responsible for changing the evolution of their people?

  Nevertheless, as far as they were concerned, their mission had ended and she was now the Verone Elite’s responsibility.