Moonrise ✔ [Complete]

25 Princess

"It's a frightening thing," Captain Eldrin murmured, "for a woman to be inside a man's head. I wonder how the Sun Goddess incarnate manages it?"

"His is the only mind I cannot see at will," Maeyune responded.

"Ah, lucky bastard."

Maeyune had decided to keep herself out of the Nomenian captain's head. Seeing the level of interest he held toward her made her feel giddy, and she was enjoying it far too much.

She caught Jaysek's azure eyes and told herself to stay away.

Heavens, why couldn't all men be like Reo where their minds were inaccessible?

Wait, what am I thinking? she chided herself.

How many people would - how did Meera put it - kill for her ability to read minds?

Perhaps Meera and Trix were right. She had spent all her life training to fight with no interest in learning how to deal with boys. Now, there were men involved - far more complicated.

A question emerged from the forbidden recesses of her mind: How does one flirt back?

She pushed aside the thought.

Besides, she could not afford the luxury of fleeting heartbeats right now. There was an alien chained up in front of her.

They had all descended underground. The rebel hideout was underneath the forest clearing where the brief battle had taken place.

Maeyune had but a moment to wipe the blood from her midsection with a wet cloth. With her skin cleaned, there was no indication that there had been a sword inside her.

She had washed her blood-soaked midriff garment as best she could and had accepted a tunic from the rebels to wear as a cover. It mildly stank of underground must, but she didn't mind. It also didn't seem to deter the overzealous Captain Eldrin.

She now stood abreast the captain, their arms crossed as they observed the captured Wobeck. Trix, Aerylis, Deric and Jaysek waited off to the side.

The alien had not yet regained consciousness. They had set it on its knees, its arms and torso wrapped in the strongest metal chains that the Nomenians could find. It was shackled to a concrete wall inside a barred prison.

Under the florescent lights, the large Wobeck appeared an obvious foreign threat. Its armor with its sharp corners and jagged edges was clearly from an unknown world.

Standing in front of the kneeling Wobeck was General Amora, leader of the Nomenian rebels. She was a woman of short stature who, Maeyune learned, had fought for the late Nomenian king, before the Iron Prophet usurped the throne.

Her hands were folded behind her back as she calmly examined the creature with her steel-colored eyes. Her dark hair with its silver strands was pulled back into a small, tight bun.