Chapter 2: Chapter 2: It is time

Now, at last, because she was so close, he could run down the mountain and snatch her from her primitive vehicle. Zacar, their conquest leader, had instructed them to remain hidden, but Zain had given it a lot of thought. There were no recording devices in this primitive century; at the most, the only evidence of his presence would be the tales humans would tell of an undefeatable warrior come to take the lady Melisende. If he appeared in any of their primitive drawings, he'd be thought of as a demon. Medieval man seemed obsessed with their devils and demons.

With that in mind, he'd decided that instead of taking his tall human from her primitive conveyance, he'd steal his breeder from Robert the Brave's castle. Maybe a human called 'Brave' would give him a good fight. Though from what he'd seen of the human, he strongly doubted it.

A horse stumbled, causing the carriage to sway alarmingly, and Zain surged to his feet. One of the knights who rode alongside the carriage leaned over and grabbed the bridle, and the horses continued their placid walk.

Zain relaxed and sank down on his haunches again. He wasn't about to lose the only tall human female in this century. He'd have to be patient. It would take some time for her to reach the castle with that slow contraption. He'd waited a hundred years; he could wait a few more hours for her. Barely.

"Melisende," he said softly, the way he'd done ever since he'd heard about her from the messenger. At the time, he'd stood in the great hall, invisible to the humans. Melisende was a good name; it reminded him of the music the humans called Celtic newcent fusion that was popular in the twenty-second century.

Every night, when he slept the three hours Zyrgins needed to function at optimum levels, he said her name, and his heart and body ached to do the first knowing with her. A warrior lived a hard life, and it was by choice. Their only reward, the only hint of softness, was having a breeder to spend time with in the sleeping place.

He wanted to give Melisende the Eduki pelt, to lie next to her every night. To not wake with her name on his lips and his bed empty. To not be alone anymore.

For an excruciatingly long time, he traced the primitive vehicle as it made its way to the castle. Only the thought of battling these humans for his breeder, of stealing her in broad daylight, kept him crouched and waiting.

At last, several hours later, the procession reached the castle. The guards lowered the drawbridge so that it covered the crudely-dug trench surrounding the castle. Zain camouflaged himself and ran down the mountain. After his first change, part of his training had been running up and down any terrain. Running down a mountain barely gave him a workout. He and the carriage arrived at the bridge to the gate of the castle at the same time. This castle would survive many wars and unrest, and maybe in a few centuries, he and his breeder would return to the place he'd first kidnapped her from. He grinned at that idea. His breeder would be impressed with him. Zacar and Zurian's breeder insisted that the warriors needed to be more romantic. He couldn't imagine anything more romantic than that.

The guards stood at attention, but one tried to see inside the carriage. Zain pushed past him and enjoyed the nervous way the human looked around him. Their superstitious natures made these medieval humans excellent targets when he wanted to amuse himself. He'd managed to convince one of the guards that a dragon slept in the castle moat and wanted to eat him. It had been a night when the moon shone down bright on this primitive Earth, and he'd been alone and miserable and in need of entertainment. Changing his camouflage equipment to reflect a dragon had been easy. When the guard had called another human to show him the dragon, Zain had reverted to invisibility. That was one of the better times he'd had in this century.

A soldier snarled at the guard. "Get back to your post."

"Someone pushed me, I tell ye," the hapless guard insisted.

The soldier cast him an evil eye. "I don't care."

The guard went back to his post, a sullen look on his heavily jawed face. At the same time, he cast furtive glances around him, as if expecting a dragon to appear at any time. Maybe Zain should accommodate that fear sometime?

Zain was eager to see his breeder, but a curtain placed in front of the window of the primitive wooden carriage obscured her from his view.

He resisted the urge to push the other guard, as well, and walked alongside the carriage door as the horses clip-clopped across the bridge and into the dusty, busy courtyard. He could not build or use a hovercraft until he caught up to his century, but he vowed that one day, he would show his breeder what it was to travel in luxury.

The animals stopped, and Sir Robert and several other humans stepped forward. They looked ridiculous in their tights and colorful, baggy clothes. One of the knights who'd accompanied Melisende dismounted and opened the wooden carriage door.

Zain held his breath, waiting for the first glimpse of his breeder.

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