Page 39 of Horde King’s Claim

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Khol

When the ship returned to Dretis, I was anxious to leave the temperature-controlled cabin. If there was one thing I hated more than anything else about being a hordesmen, it was traveling by spaceship. It had nothing to do with fear and everything to do with my discomfort of being confined to one space for too long. But yet here I was eager to do just that, settle in my new home—with Visla.

I knew there was more work to be done to prepare the colony for some of the changes I had in store. And once we arrived back in Dretis, I knew Ghid would be the first one to remind me of those plans. He was just as anxious as I was. We weren’t just building a colony for some other king to covet, we were building it for us. No matter how aggravating my brother had become or how questionable some of his recent decisions were, I wanted him to be a part of those plans. I hoped that his short separation from Sanjit had shown him how toxic the woman was becoming. Yet, I couldn’t be certain. I could see how women, with the right interior and ulterior motives, could get a man to fall to his knees.

Ghid and a fellow hordesman rushed up behind me as I limped off the ship. “Be careful, my brother, or you’ll never recover,” Ghid warned.

“I’m fine,” I grunted, refusing their help. “I just need to rest. I’ll need a few days before we conduct business again.”

“We’ll all need a few days, my king. Those beasts were vicious,” Doa’tek chimed in.

Ghid threw his arm over my shoulder. “Then rest up, if that is what you need. Don’t worry. I’ll take care of things.”

As Ghid talked on, I wasn’t paying attention to what he was saying. As expected, most of the citizens of Dretis were waiting on the shores, ready to receive us. The news about the handful of warriors we’d lost wouldn’t bode well with some, but from the looks on most of their faces, they seemed to be worried about more than just the missing warriors.

“The King, he’s returned…”

“Where’s the other half of his horde?”

“They look defeated and tired…”

“What will he do when he learns about the incompetence of the one’s he left in charge?”

“We’re doomed…”

On and on and on, they whispered, but I heard them loud and clear.

“What is going on, Ghid? The greater half of my horde should have been here to meet us,” I exclaimed, looking down the bridge to see if they stood in formation near the courtyard.

“Maybe they are busy elsewhere,” Ghid replied, apprehensively. Even he couldn’t have believed that. It was odd not to see at least one hordesman guarding the bridge since I’d left them here to do just that—guard the colony. Had I been an enemy horde landing here to take the city, it would’ve been easy.

I ground my teeth together and hurried forward despite the pain spreading through my abdomen. “Something’s not right.”

“If you say so, but I think everything’s under control,” Ghid reassured me.

Out of nowhere, Thanu came ripping through the crowds. Sweat was peppered across his blue-tinted face, arms, and chest. His scales expanded and contracted as he panted in front of me. The ground-floater, which I assumed he’d been a passenger in, drifted near us and then settled in the sand. The driver got out of the floater and waited. Two of my hordesmen came to a standing position behind Thanu with their palms clearly poised over their axes, ready to be drawn.

“My King…” Thanu rasped, hunching over and pointing toward the capitol.

“What is it, Thanu?” I asked, holding him up by propping my hands on his shoulders.

“You must go now. That bitch, Sanjit, stands to destroy everything you’ve obtained.”

“What are you talking about?” I shook my head. “Slow down.”

“While you were gone, she sent the warriors away on a fruitless mission while I was tending to other matters in Mandia. And now, she’s calling herself the only true Queen and continues to make decisions and have tricked the citizens into believing that. She has placed herself above my command and against your orders.”

“This…cannot be true,” I replied.

I looked to Ghid, who had this far-away and stupefied look in his eyes. He knew nothing about this. He was too infatuated with the princess.

“My King, go and see. She did all of this almost as soon as you and Ghid took off. She remains in the capitol with no shame, sending her mercenaries after me because I dare to defy her.”

“Mercenaries?”

Thanu nodded. “Their bodies are rotting in boxes. I put them there myself after allowing them to bleed out. Forgive me, but I have executed a few without your command. Furthermore Zorfov—”