Cosmos' Promise: Cosmos' Gateway Book 4 (21 page)

Teriff glared down at the other human male. “Human, you have been accused of causing grievous harm to this man and his family. You have admitted to killing his father. He has demanded the Right of Justice and he has been granted the right to avenge this wrong.”

Frazer spit onto the dirt floor then wiped the dirty sleeve of his shirt across his mouth. Hatred burned in his eyes. He had learned the hard way that the Prime’s idea of interrogation was to almost kill him over and over until he told them what they wanted to know. Just when he thought he would finally find relief from the pain, they would heal him and do it all over again until he thought he would go mad. The problem was they wouldn’t let him. They fucking healed his shattered mind, not even giving him the relief of insanity.

“Right of Justice,” he sneered looking at where Cosmos stood. “What justice is there where he gets to kill a defenseless man?”

Teriff looked down at Frazer in disgust. “As the accused, you are allowed to choose one of the weapons against the wall to defend yourself with. Which do you choose?”

Frazer looked over to the side and saw three weapons attached to the wall on his side of the arena. He glanced at all the men watching him before turning to walk over to the rack. There was a long knife, a spear with a sharp blade at the tip, and a broad sword. He immediately discarded the sword. It would be heavy and he would tire easily. The spear had possibilities. The blade on the end had one smooth edge and one jagged edge. He could slice with it or saw through the bastard. His eyes flickered to the knife. He was damn good with a knife but that meant close range combat. His eyes glanced back to where Raines stood stiffly watching him. His eyes moved back to the weapons and his hand wavered back and forth between the knife and the spear. At the last minute, he grabbed the spear.

This shouldn’t take long with pretty boy and I can always use the knife if I have to fight again,
Frazer thought with a menacing grin as he turned back to face Raines.

“I choose the spear,” Frazer called out. “If I win, what happens next?”

Teriff’s face remained carved in stone. “You will go free,” he replied. “Only Cosmos has asked for the Right of Justice against you. Your friend has not been so fortunate. Two requests have been granted against him.”

Frazer spit on the ground again and grinned up at Teriff. “Avilov’s no friend of mine,” he replied. “I want passage back to my world once this is over.”

Teriff sneered. “Granted. I don’t want your stench on my planet,” he responded coldly before turning to Cosmos. “The weapon of justice is the spear. You will face off inside the center circle and wait until I give the command to start. Once you begin, the doors to the arena will be opened only when one of you remains alive.”

Cosmos bowed his head in respect. He turned to walk over to the weapons on his side of the arena. He had only taken a few steps when Mak’s roar of rage warned him that Frazer was not going to wait for him to get his weapon or enter the circle. Cosmos ducked and twisted as the sharp blade danced across the area he had been standing. The smooth blade sliced a thin, shallow cut across his upper shoulder as he grabbed Frazer’s other arm and shoved him away.

“You bastard,” Cosmos growled out as Frazer twisted around to face him. “Even given an opportunity to win your freedom in a fair fight you would cheat.”

Frazer smiled as he circled around Cosmos. He jabbed the spear toward him, deftly putting his body between Cosmos and his weapons. He charged toward Cosmos again. Instead of turning away like Frazer expected, Cosmos twisted just enough that the long shaft slid between his arm and his body. Cosmos grabbed the shaft with both hands and brought his knee up, catching Frazer in the stomach at the same time as he twisted the spear. The move caught Frazer by surprise allowing Cosmos to jerk the spear out of the slightly larger man’s hands.

Cosmos stepped back with the spear in his hands as Frazer went down on one knee, gasping for breath. He held one hand to his stomach while the other touched the dirt ground in an effort to support himself. Frazer warily rose, never taking his eyes off of where Cosmos stood confidently swirling the spear between his hands before he brought it down against his side and struck a pose that spoke of his skill as a fighter.

Fear raced through Frazer as he realized that he had made a very serious mistake. He had underestimated Raines. He had believed all the newspaper and tabloid reports about him being nothing more than a playboy billionaire who spent his time either in his lab or with the ladies. The confidence of his stance and the look in his eyes spoke of a man who not only knew how to fight but how to win.

“Get your weapon,” Cosmos growled. “When you die, you will do so knowing what it feels like to be totally helpless.”

*.*.*

Frazer backed up toward the rack of weapons on Cosmos’ side of the arena. He turned briefly, glancing over his shoulder at where Cosmos stood watching him. He reached out both hands, grabbing the spear off the rack. As he turned, his other hand slipped down and pulled the knife off as well. He slipped it into the back waistband of his pants.

Turning around until he was facing the man waiting patiently for him, he twirled the spear between his hands as well. He had no intentions of dying. If killing Raines was his way off this damn world, he didn’t have a problem doing it. He had been looking forward to killing him anyway, now there was just more incentive.

Walking toward the circle, he stepped inside it and struck a fighting stance. He waited as Raines walked toward the circle. He was wary now as he picked up clues about the man walking toward him. He noticed the way Raines walked on silent feet with an easy, relaxed gait. His fingers held the spear in a light, but firm grip. Raines’ eyes stayed focused on him, not on his weapon like someone who was new to fighting would do. Sweat beaded as he realized that getting out of this alive wasn’t going to be as easy as he thought it would be.

“Let’s do this,” Frazer snapped out as his apprehension built.

Cosmos’ lips curled in a cold sneer. “Now, we fight,” he said as he stepped into the circle and positioned himself.

Chapter 24

Cosmos knew the moment Frazer realized not only his mistake but that he was not going to be as easy to defeat as the man first thought. Frazer was over-confident in his ability to bully his opponents. He used his strength and intimidation to try to overwhelm them. Cosmos struck out quickly with the tip of the spear the moment Teriff called out to begin. He sliced a deep cut over Frazer’s shoulder in the same exact place as Frazer had cut him.

Frazer’s grunt of pain pulled a mocking chuckle from Cosmos. He planned on drawing a lot of those grunts before he killed the bastard. He pulled on the cold rage burning inside him. He let the image of his father’s body hanging limply from the beam in the warehouse and the pale face of his mother to give him the cold focus he needed to defeat the man in front of him.

Cosmos parried the shaft as Frazer moved in a small circle around him knocking it casually to the side. He returned it with a clean slice to the backside of Frazer’s left calf. The curse from the man echoed in the quiet arena. The only sound was the slight scuffle of their feet in the dirt and Frazer’s heavy breathing.

“I’m going to kill you pretty boy,” Frazer taunted. “Did I tell you how your father begged me to let them go right before I shot him? How he whined about not knowing anything about your inventions?” He sneered, slicing through the air at Cosmos’ neck.

Cosmos bent backwards, the blade missing his neck by scant millimeters. He twisted and sliced a long cut across Frazer’s stomach.

“Go on,” Cosmos said quietly not showing any emotion.

Frazer snarled when he didn’t get the response he was expecting and jabbed the spear at Cosmos’ stomach. He followed by kicking out with his leg, striking a glancing blow to Cosmos’ side. He grunted when Cosmos returned the blow by twisting low and knocking his feet out from under him with the spear. Fear glazed his eyes before fury poured through him when Cosmos drew two matching cuts along each of his cheeks from just below his eye to his jaw.

He rolled and scrambled to his feet as Cosmos stepped back. He pressed the sleeve of his shirt against the burning sting of the cut on his right cheek. The sleeve came away smeared in blood. Hatred burned like fire in the pit of his stomach. He knew that Raines was just toying with him.

“Why the fuck don’t you just kill me?” Frazer said harshly.

Cosmos swirled the spear in front of him and motioned with his fingers for Frazer to attack. A dark smile curved his lips as he took in the blood from the cuts he had made. There would be many more, each slowly draining the man of strength until he felt weak and helpless.

“I will,” Cosmos promised, remaining poised.

Over the next two hours, Cosmos drew more and more cuts across Frazer until the man staggered as he tried to remain standing. The last slice had cut him diagonally across the chest from one side to the other. Cosmos watched as the spear fell from Frazer’s hands and he sank to his knees.

“Kill me,” Frazer said hoarsely.

“Stand up,” Cosmos responded coldly, wiping the blood out of his left eye where the tip of Frazer’s spear had opened a small cut right above it.

Frazer’s head dropped down until his chin rested on his chest. His hands fell limply to his side. He looked defeated but Cosmos wasn’t about to believe that a man like Frazer would just accept death, not when he still could draw a breath.

Cosmos patiently waited until Frazer’s head rose. The cold calculating look of hatred shown clear, proving what he thought - Frazer would not give up as long as he lived. His eyes flickered briefly to the spear that was lying just out of reach of the man kneeling in front of him. His eyes jerked up in time to see the slight movement of Frazer’s hand as he reached behind him.

Pain exploded through Cosmos as he realized that Frazer had taken not one but two weapons. He staggered as the long blade of the knife embedded to the hilt in his right thigh. He fell backwards onto the ground as the loud roars of rage echoed from those watching around the arena. His eyes turned to Teriff and J’kar who were holding Mak back. A soft cry sounded faintly before it was concealed.

Terra!
Cosmos painfully bit out.

He is getting up! Cosmos, he has his spear. No one can help you. The council will only let Mak finish him for fighting with dishonor if you are killed,
Terra cried out.

Cosmos pushed Terra’s voice and his pain to the back of his mind. He gripped his spear tightly in his left hand while he wrapped his right hand around the hilt of the knife. He watched through a haze of pain as Frazer staggered over towards him. Hatred and triumph gleamed in his eyes.

“You should have killed me while you had the chance, Raines,” Frazer gloated. “Now your mommy can cry over your grave too.”

Cosmos waited until Frazer stopped just in front of him. When the man raised his arm to drive his spear into him, Cosmos lunged forward driving his own spear through the stomach of the man who had murdered his father while ripping the knife from his thigh and driving it through the man’s throat. A roar of pain ripped from his lips as the blade pulled from his flesh.

Frazer’s eyes widened in surprise, his hands opening in reflex as the two blades pierced him before glazing over and becoming empty. Cosmos fell backwards into the dirt thrusting Frazer as far away from him as he could before he collapsed.

“Cosmos!” Terra’s cry echoed around him.

Things began to blur as he stared up at the ceiling of the arena. His mind processed the fact that he had been so focused on killing Frazer that he had not even bothered looking up at the ceiling. It was a truly beautiful piece of artwork. Intricate murals depicting different warriors battling covered the arched surface. The colors were bold and the more he stared the more he saw. At times, he could swear they actually moved. He blinked rapidly when they went out of focus. He wanted to study them and wondered vaguely if his fight with Frazer would ever be depicted up there. Maybe after he was dead they would paint it.

You will not die,
Terra admonished him as she gently lifted his head.

Why do I feel so tired?
Cosmos asked with a frown.
Did he hit an artery?

I think you nicked it when you pulled the knife out of your leg,
she said in reproach.
Didn’t you think a spear through his heart enough?

I didn’t get his heart,
Cosmos said feeling his eyes drooping even though he tried to keep them open.
I went through his stomach. The acid alone would be devastating to the organs surrounding it.

Hush now, you silly man, and let me take care of you,
Terra murmured as she spoke softly to someone else standing near her.

I want to have a baby,
Cosmos muttered suddenly.

Soft laughter filled his mind.
Let me keep you alive first then we will talk about having a baby.

Avilov?
Cosmos whispered faintly.

Mak is excited that he will have a chance to kill someone. He is really very upset that the man has touched his mate. I think he would have knocked you out anyway so he could have his chance at him,
Terra responded lightly.

Cosmos smiled as he thought of Avilov facing the huge Prime warrior without his lackeys to protect him. He felt a tug on his leg and heard the sound of material ripping but everything seemed to be coming from a great distance. His mind tried to analyze and record everything but it was getting hard to remain focused. A soft brush of warmth washed over him, pulling at him as if there was suddenly someone tightly holding on to him.

I’ve got you,
Terra whispered as everything faded around him.
Rest, my love.

Chapter 25

Cosmos had to blink several times before things started to come back into focus. His head felt like it was full of cotton and his body felt like lead. He shifted his right hand under the soft material of the bedspread covering him, sliding it down to his thigh where the knife had struck him. He was surprised to feel only a slightly raised line of skin. The area around the line was a little tender but nothing like it should have been.