TAARNA SHORT STORY
TAARNA: A WOMAN
Written by Stephanie Phillips
The sword, already bloody, cut its arc through the air again, cleaving another innocent skull, sending blood and brains splattering.
The Lacerian warrior hardly paused, wrenching the blade out of the corpse’s ruined head and picking another victim from the gathering of villagers standing in the swamp. He raised the sword again, intending to expunge another warm blood from his midst, when he saw something dashing towards him in his periphery.
A large, male humanoid was running towards the Lacerian with a wooden club raised above his head. It had been only five solar cycles since the hostile Laceria invaded the small swamp planet of Euligos, but they had already devastated a third of the population, enslaving the majority that remained.
The Lacerian warrior was not afraid of any humanoid. What is this interloper but another warm body to fell? His long, pointed tail slithered forward through the marshy water as he braced to meet the oncoming foe. Just as the humanoid pulled back his club to swing it at the Lacerian, the reptilian warrior raised his sword slightly, driving the blade through the man’s abdomen. Gasping, the humanoid dropped his weapon. The club splashed into the ankle-deep water. Falling to his knees, the humanoid looked up, gritting his teeth in pain.
“You… will never… win,” he gasped at the murderous creature standing before him.
The Lacerian just smiled, and drove the blade deeper until the tip emerged through the man’s back with a cracking noise of parting bone and muscle.
A screech pierced the air as the man slumped into the murky waters. A woman ran towards the deceased, tears streaming down her face. The Lacerian warrior watched impatiently as the woman flung herself atop the man’s now lifeless body, screaming and crying. His mate. Her tears turned to anger as she looked up at the Lacerian warrior before her. “You will die for this!” she howled between sobs.
The Lacerian’s sword dangled at his side, allowing the humanoid’s blood to run into the water, mixing with the dirt and mud below. He would never understand the warm-blooded humanoids and their mating customs. Only one mate hardly seemed efficient. He raised the sword, then buried it in the woman. The two warm bodies now silently at rest together in the muddy swamp waters of the world that eons ago had belonged to the Laceria.
The Lacerian warrior looked up, meeting the gaze of the rest of his prisoners, challenging anyone else who wished to oppose him and die by his blade.
No one spoke.
No one moved.
“This is what you deserve,” the Lacerian hissed at the remaining villagers. Gathered together in the swamp, men, women, and children looked to their captors with fear and destitution. Though these people were not the ones responsible for destroying and stealing Lacerian home worlds years ago, they were the descendants, and, as such, just as guilty. Lacerian justice was nothing if not swift, brutal, and vengeful. This victory was for all the Lacerians that fell to humanoid hands.
As the warrior was about to begin extolling justice once more, one of his companions came slithering quickly towards.
“Raxor!” the Lacerian called as he approached the warrior in the swamp.
The warrior turned, angry at yet another interruption. These humanoids were scheduled to die, and the warrior was looking forward to playing his part. “I’m busy,” he hissed.
Raxor turned back towards his prisoners, intending to end another, but he hesitated as a large shadow fell over him.
Turning their attention upward, the warrior and his companion saw a large creature swooping overhead through the rising smoke from the ruins of the village. The creature, bone white and leathery with expansive wings, circled in an arc towards the devastated village. Probably a cold blood, Raxor thought. Astride the flying beast, perched on a saddle and holding reins, was a woman. A warm blood.
Raxor’s companion looked almost fearful. “It’s a woman…”
“Yes, just a woman,” Raxor observed without concern.
The winged creature pointed itself toward the ground where Raxor and his prisoners waited, then stretched its wings wide to bring itself to a stop in the water, splashing mud as it braced for landing. The woman slid off the beast’s back, boots landing firmly in the dirty water. The Lacerians took notice of her pale skin and white hair, as the woman stepped towards them.
Wearing a warrior’s raiment of red and black, Taarna, last of the Taarakians and great defender of the universe, stepped towards the green scaled Lacerian warrior, her hand on the hilt of the sword hanging at her side. The Lacerians had slaughtered these innocent people and their homes – a people under the care and protection of Taarna herself. She forced herself to look at the fallen man and woman lying face down in the swamp water. The lovers were a part of her universe and, as such, a part of Taarna herself. She could not save these two, but she was here now and would stand as a shield to those still in peril.
“You should not have come,” the Lacerian hissed. This was a statement, not a warning. He simply intended to kill the woman before returning to torturing the onlooking villagers.
Taarna unsheathed her sword.
The Lacerian raised his own sword and rushed towards his opponent, expecting to feel the familiar rush of metal carving through flesh and bone. In one deft movement, however, Taarna stepped to the side, dodging the Lacerian’s charge. The great reptilian’s momentum carried him forward, plunging him and his sword into the marsh before him.
The Lacerian quickly spun around with his weapon poised for a second attack. He would not be humiliated by a humanoid – a woman, no less.
Raxor swung wildly and forcefully towards Taarna, but she expertly used her own blade to block the oncoming blows.
“These humanoids are not innocents, woman…” Raxor spoke to Taarna through gritted teeth as their blades locked together.
For Taarna, this was not a matter of justice, but a matter of balance. The Lacerians were sprouting throughout the universe like weeds, infesting planets and killing people without hesitation. This fight was not a trial, but a necessary evil to restore peace.
Taarna used the heel of her boot to kick the Lacerian’s chest, sending him backwards into the water, his sword falling at Taarna’s feet. As the Lacerian tried to regain his footing, Taarna stood over him, her blade pointed downward towards her enemy. No death is good, but some death is necessary.
Taarna swung her blade down on the Lacerian, striking the scaled plating covering the reptilian’s body. The blade made a soft crunch as it pierced the warrior’s neck. Taarna placed a second hand on the hilt of her sword, ready to drive the blade deeper and finish her foe.
Choking on his own sticky, green blood, the Lacerilain struggled to get to his knees. With a growl, the Lacerian surged forward, mouth open, driving his large, sharp teeth into Taarna’s wrist, causing her to release her grip on her sword’s hilt. The Lacerian used his sharp tail to knock Taarna into the water, then lifted Taarna’s blade from the swamp.
“You can’t save them,” Raxor jeered at Taarna, and turned to the nearest villager with an insatiable bloodlust. “We will end all humanoids, and you are too late.”
Taarna’s sword glowed with a light that blinded the Lacerian, his tail swishing in the wet mud as he screamed. The hilt of the weapon burned his scaly hands, forcing Raxor to drop the sacred artifact, forged in cosmic fire at the dawn of time.
Taarna rose from the water with the Lacerian’s fallen sword in hand, and leapt straight into the air. Taarna used the force of the giant sword, and brought all of her might down upon her enemy, driving the metal through his thick scales.
Shrieking with surprise and pain, Raxor dropped to his knees. Retrieving her sword, Taarna stood before the injured Lacerian with a mighty blade in each hand. Taarna crossed the hilts of the blades and, in one quick, efficient stroke, removed Raxor’s head from his body. His blood oozed green and shiny down Taarna’s sword and across her knuckles.
The great lizard warrior’s head fell into the water with a splash, his body following a second later. Raising both great blades, Taarna turned to look at the stunned onlookers. Lacerians and villagers alike gaped at the sight of the woman before them.
Taarna would slay the Lacerians. On this planet, on others. A hundred of them, a thousand, ten thousand… whatever was demanded. Taarna defended her universe; this piece of it, and any other.
She stepped over the husk of the Lacerian warrior. There would be balance again…
---
Half a universe away, a green, glowing orb sailed through airless space, a tiny, bright emerald against the star-flecked blackness. The orb bypassed countless planets, deeper and deeper into the void until it came to a world long forgotten. Descending through the clouds, the orb dropped toward the icy surface. The world had been frozen since the universe was young, its secrets locked beneath a thick mantle of ice.
The orb found the location it sought, hovering just above the rim, the green glow reflecting off the ice. It waited.
After a time, a small crack spread across the ice. The crack widened, until it became a fissure. Deep within, something huge and ancient stirred…
TAARNA SHORT STORY
TAARNA: A WOMAN
Written by Stephanie Phillips
The sword, already bloody, cut its arc through the air again, cleaving another innocent skull, sending blood and brains splattering.
The Lacerian warrior hardly paused, wrenching the blade out of the corpse’s ruined head and picking another victim from the gathering of villagers standing in the swamp. He raised the sword again, intending to expunge another warm blood from his midst, when he saw something dashing towards him in his periphery.
A large, male humanoid was running towards the Lacerian with a wooden club raised above his head. It had been only five solar cycles since the hostile Laceria invaded the small swamp planet of Euligos, but they had already devastated a third of the population, enslaving the majority that remained.
The Lacerian warrior was not afraid of any humanoid. What is this interloper but another warm body to fell? His long, pointed tail slithered forward through the marshy water as he braced to meet the oncoming foe. Just as the humanoid pulled back his club to swing it at the Lacerian, the reptilian warrior raised his sword slightly, driving the blade through the man’s abdomen. Gasping, the humanoid dropped his weapon. The club splashed into the ankle-deep water. Falling to his knees, the humanoid looked up, gritting his teeth in pain.
“You… will never… win,” he gasped at the murderous creature standing before him.
The Lacerian just smiled, and drove the blade deeper until the tip emerged through the man’s back with a cracking noise of parting bone and muscle.
A screech pierced the air as the man slumped into the murky waters. A woman ran towards the deceased, tears streaming down her face. The Lacerian warrior watched impatiently as the woman flung herself atop the man’s now lifeless body, screaming and crying. His mate. Her tears turned to anger as she looked up at the Lacerian warrior before her. “You will die for this!” she howled between sobs.
The Lacerian’s sword dangled at his side, allowing the humanoid’s blood to run into the water, mixing with the dirt and mud below. He would never understand the warm-blooded humanoids and their mating customs. Only one mate hardly seemed efficient. He raised the sword, then buried it in the woman. The two warm bodies now silently at rest together in the muddy swamp waters of the world that eons ago had belonged to the Laceria.
The Lacerian warrior looked up, meeting the gaze of the rest of his prisoners, challenging anyone else who wished to oppose him and die by his blade.
No one spoke.
No one moved.
“This is what you deserve,” the Lacerian hissed at the remaining villagers. Gathered together in the swamp, men, women, and children looked to their captors with fear and destitution. Though these people were not the ones responsible for destroying and stealing Lacerian home worlds years ago, they were the descendants, and, as such, just as guilty. Lacerian justice was nothing if not swift, brutal, and vengeful. This victory was for all the Lacerians that fell to humanoid hands.
As the warrior was about to begin extolling justice once more, one of his companions came slithering quickly towards.
“Raxor!” the Lacerian called as he approached the warrior in the swamp.
The warrior turned, angry at yet another interruption. These humanoids were scheduled to die, and the warrior was looking forward to playing his part. “I’m busy,” he hissed.
Raxor turned back towards his prisoners, intending to end another, but he hesitated as a large shadow fell over him.
Turning their attention upward, the warrior and his companion saw a large creature swooping overhead through the rising smoke from the ruins of the village. The creature, bone white and leathery with expansive wings, circled in an arc towards the devastated village. Probably a cold blood, Raxor thought. Astride the flying beast, perched on a saddle and holding reins, was a woman. A warm blood.
Raxor’s companion looked almost fearful. “It’s a woman…”
“Yes, just a woman,” Raxor observed without concern.
The winged creature pointed itself toward the ground where Raxor and his prisoners waited, then stretched its wings wide to bring itself to a stop in the water, splashing mud as it braced for landing. The woman slid off the beast’s back, boots landing firmly in the dirty water. The Lacerians took notice of her pale skin and white hair, as the woman stepped towards them.
Wearing a warrior’s raiment of red and black, Taarna, last of the Taarakians and great defender of the universe, stepped towards the green scaled Lacerian warrior, her hand on the hilt of the sword hanging at her side. The Lacerians had slaughtered these innocent people and their homes – a people under the care and protection of Taarna herself. She forced herself to look at the fallen man and woman lying face down in the swamp water. The lovers were a part of her universe and, as such, a part of Taarna herself. She could not save these two, but she was here now and would stand as a shield to those still in peril.
“You should not have come,” the Lacerian hissed. This was a statement, not a warning. He simply intended to kill the woman before returning to torturing the onlooking villagers.
Taarna unsheathed her sword.
The Lacerian raised his own sword and rushed towards his opponent, expecting to feel the familiar rush of metal carving through flesh and bone. In one deft movement, however, Taarna stepped to the side, dodging the Lacerian’s charge. The great reptilian’s momentum carried him forward, plunging him and his sword into the marsh before him.
The Lacerian quickly spun around with his weapon poised for a second attack. He would not be humiliated by a humanoid – a woman, no less.
Raxor swung wildly and forcefully towards Taarna, but she expertly used her own blade to block the oncoming blows.
“These humanoids are not innocents, woman…” Raxor spoke to Taarna through gritted teeth as their blades locked together.
For Taarna, this was not a matter of justice, but a matter of balance. The Lacerians were sprouting throughout the universe like weeds, infesting planets and killing people without hesitation. This fight was not a trial, but a necessary evil to restore peace.
Taarna used the heel of her boot to kick the Lacerian’s chest, sending him backwards into the water, his sword falling at Taarna’s feet. As the Lacerian tried to regain his footing, Taarna stood over him, her blade pointed downward towards her enemy. No death is good, but some death is necessary.
Taarna swung her blade down on the Lacerian, striking the scaled plating covering the reptilian’s body. The blade made a soft crunch as it pierced the warrior’s neck. Taarna placed a second hand on the hilt of her sword, ready to drive the blade deeper and finish her foe.
Choking on his own sticky, green blood, the Lacerilain struggled to get to his knees. With a growl, the Lacerian surged forward, mouth open, driving his large, sharp teeth into Taarna’s wrist, causing her to release her grip on her sword’s hilt. The Lacerian used his sharp tail to knock Taarna into the water, then lifted Taarna’s blade from the swamp.
“You can’t save them,” Raxor jeered at Taarna, and turned to the nearest villager with an insatiable bloodlust. “We will end all humanoids, and you are too late.”
Taarna’s sword glowed with a light that blinded the Lacerian, his tail swishing in the wet mud as he screamed. The hilt of the weapon burned his scaly hands, forcing Raxor to drop the sacred artifact, forged in cosmic fire at the dawn of time.
Taarna rose from the water with the Lacerian’s fallen sword in hand, and leapt straight into the air. Taarna used the force of the giant sword, and brought all of her might down upon her enemy, driving the metal through his thick scales.
Shrieking with surprise and pain, Raxor dropped to his knees. Retrieving her sword, Taarna stood before the injured Lacerian with a mighty blade in each hand. Taarna crossed the hilts of the blades and, in one quick, efficient stroke, removed Raxor’s head from his body. His blood oozed green and shiny down Taarna’s sword and across her knuckles.
The great lizard warrior’s head fell into the water with a splash, his body following a second later. Raising both great blades, Taarna turned to look at the stunned onlookers. Lacerians and villagers alike gaped at the sight of the woman before them.
Taarna would slay the Lacerians. On this planet, on others. A hundred of them, a thousand, ten thousand… whatever was demanded. Taarna defended her universe; this piece of it, and any other.
She stepped over the husk of the Lacerian warrior. There would be balance again…
---
Half a universe away, a green, glowing orb sailed through airless space, a tiny, bright emerald against the star-flecked blackness. The orb bypassed countless planets, deeper and deeper into the void until it came to a world long forgotten. Descending through the clouds, the orb dropped toward the icy surface. The world had been frozen since the universe was young, its secrets locked beneath a thick mantle of ice.
The orb found the location it sought, hovering just above the rim, the green glow reflecting off the ice. It waited.
After a time, a small crack spread across the ice. The crack widened, until it became a fissure. Deep within, something huge and ancient stirred…
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TAARNA: A WOMAN
Written by Stephanie Phillips
The sword, already bloody, cut its arc through the air again, cleaving another innocent skull, sending blood and brains splattering.
The Lacerian warrior hardly paused, wrenching the blade out of the corpse’s ruined head and picking another victim from the gathering of villagers standing in the swamp. He raised the sword again, intending to expunge another warm blood from his midst, when he saw something dashing towards him in his periphery.
A large, male humanoid was running towards the Lacerian with a wooden club raised above his head. It had been only five solar cycles since the hostile Laceria invaded the small swamp planet of Euligos, but they had already devastated a third of the population, enslaving the majority that remained.
The Lacerian warrior was not afraid of any humanoid. What is this interloper but another warm body to fell? His long, pointed tail slithered forward through the marshy water as he braced to meet the oncoming foe. Just as the humanoid pulled back his club to swing it at the Lacerian, the reptilian warrior raised his sword slightly, driving the blade through the man’s abdomen. Gasping, the humanoid dropped his weapon. The club splashed into the ankle-deep water. Falling to his knees, the humanoid looked up, gritting his teeth in pain.
“You… will never… win,” he gasped at the murderous creature standing before him.
The Lacerian just smiled, and drove the blade deeper until the tip emerged through the man’s back with a cracking noise of parting bone and muscle.
A screech pierced the air as the man slumped into the murky waters. A woman ran towards the deceased, tears streaming down her face. The Lacerian warrior watched impatiently as the woman flung herself atop the man’s now lifeless body, screaming and crying. His mate. Her tears turned to anger as she looked up at the Lacerian warrior before her. “You will die for this!” she howled between sobs.
The Lacerian’s sword dangled at his side, allowing the humanoid’s blood to run into the water, mixing with the dirt and mud below. He would never understand the warm-blooded humanoids and their mating customs. Only one mate hardly seemed efficient. He raised the sword, then buried it in the woman. The two warm bodies now silently at rest together in the muddy swamp waters of the world that eons ago had belonged to the Laceria.
The Lacerian warrior looked up, meeting the gaze of the rest of his prisoners, challenging anyone else who wished to oppose him and die by his blade.
No one spoke.
No one moved.
“This is what you deserve,” the Lacerian hissed at the remaining villagers. Gathered together in the swamp, men, women, and children looked to their captors with fear and destitution. Though these people were not the ones responsible for destroying and stealing Lacerian home worlds years ago, they were the descendants, and, as such, just as guilty. Lacerian justice was nothing if not swift, brutal, and vengeful. This victory was for all the Lacerians that fell to humanoid hands.
As the warrior was about to begin extolling justice once more, one of his companions came slithering quickly towards.
“Raxor!” the Lacerian called as he approached the warrior in the swamp.
The warrior turned, angry at yet another interruption. These humanoids were scheduled to die, and the warrior was looking forward to playing his part. “I’m busy,” he hissed.
Raxor turned back towards his prisoners, intending to end another, but he hesitated as a large shadow fell over him.
Turning their attention upward, the warrior and his companion saw a large creature swooping overhead through the rising smoke from the ruins of the village. The creature, bone white and leathery with expansive wings, circled in an arc towards the devastated village. Probably a cold blood, Raxor thought. Astride the flying beast, perched on a saddle and holding reins, was a woman. A warm blood.
Raxor’s companion looked almost fearful. “It’s a woman…”
“Yes, just a woman,” Raxor observed without concern.
The winged creature pointed itself toward the ground where Raxor and his prisoners waited, then stretched its wings wide to bring itself to a stop in the water, splashing mud as it braced for landing. The woman slid off the beast’s back, boots landing firmly in the dirty water. The Lacerians took notice of her pale skin and white hair, as the woman stepped towards them.
Wearing a warrior’s raiment of red and black, Taarna, last of the Taarakians and great defender of the universe, stepped towards the green scaled Lacerian warrior, her hand on the hilt of the sword hanging at her side. The Lacerians had slaughtered these innocent people and their homes – a people under the care and protection of Taarna herself. She forced herself to look at the fallen man and woman lying face down in the swamp water. The lovers were a part of her universe and, as such, a part of Taarna herself. She could not save these two, but she was here now and would stand as a shield to those still in peril.
“You should not have come,” the Lacerian hissed. This was a statement, not a warning. He simply intended to kill the woman before returning to torturing the onlooking villagers.
Taarna unsheathed her sword.
The Lacerian raised his own sword and rushed towards his opponent, expecting to feel the familiar rush of metal carving through flesh and bone. In one deft movement, however, Taarna stepped to the side, dodging the Lacerian’s charge. The great reptilian’s momentum carried him forward, plunging him and his sword into the marsh before him.
The Lacerian quickly spun around with his weapon poised for a second attack. He would not be humiliated by a humanoid – a woman, no less.
Raxor swung wildly and forcefully towards Taarna, but she expertly used her own blade to block the oncoming blows.
“These humanoids are not innocents, woman…” Raxor spoke to Taarna through gritted teeth as their blades locked together.
For Taarna, this was not a matter of justice, but a matter of balance. The Lacerians were sprouting throughout the universe like weeds, infesting planets and killing people without hesitation. This fight was not a trial, but a necessary evil to restore peace.
Taarna used the heel of her boot to kick the Lacerian’s chest, sending him backwards into the water, his sword falling at Taarna’s feet. As the Lacerian tried to regain his footing, Taarna stood over him, her blade pointed downward towards her enemy. No death is good, but some death is necessary.
Taarna swung her blade down on the Lacerian, striking the scaled plating covering the reptilian’s body. The blade made a soft crunch as it pierced the warrior’s neck. Taarna placed a second hand on the hilt of her sword, ready to drive the blade deeper and finish her foe.
Choking on his own sticky, green blood, the Lacerilain struggled to get to his knees. With a growl, the Lacerian surged forward, mouth open, driving his large, sharp teeth into Taarna’s wrist, causing her to release her grip on her sword’s hilt. The Lacerian used his sharp tail to knock Taarna into the water, then lifted Taarna’s blade from the swamp.
“You can’t save them,” Raxor jeered at Taarna, and turned to the nearest villager with an insatiable bloodlust. “We will end all humanoids, and you are too late.”
Taarna’s sword glowed with a light that blinded the Lacerian, his tail swishing in the wet mud as he screamed. The hilt of the weapon burned his scaly hands, forcing Raxor to drop the sacred artifact, forged in cosmic fire at the dawn of time.
Taarna rose from the water with the Lacerian’s fallen sword in hand, and leapt straight into the air. Taarna used the force of the giant sword, and brought all of her might down upon her enemy, driving the metal through his thick scales.
Shrieking with surprise and pain, Raxor dropped to his knees. Retrieving her sword, Taarna stood before the injured Lacerian with a mighty blade in each hand. Taarna crossed the hilts of the blades and, in one quick, efficient stroke, removed Raxor’s head from his body. His blood oozed green and shiny down Taarna’s sword and across her knuckles.
The great lizard warrior’s head fell into the water with a splash, his body following a second later. Raising both great blades, Taarna turned to look at the stunned onlookers. Lacerians and villagers alike gaped at the sight of the woman before them.
Taarna would slay the Lacerians. On this planet, on others. A hundred of them, a thousand, ten thousand… whatever was demanded. Taarna defended her universe; this piece of it, and any other.
She stepped over the husk of the Lacerian warrior. There would be balance again…
---
Half a universe away, a green, glowing orb sailed through airless space, a tiny, bright emerald against the star-flecked blackness. The orb bypassed countless planets, deeper and deeper into the void until it came to a world long forgotten. Descending through the clouds, the orb dropped toward the icy surface. The world had been frozen since the universe was young, its secrets locked beneath a thick mantle of ice.
The orb found the location it sought, hovering just above the rim, the green glow reflecting off the ice. It waited.
After a time, a small crack spread across the ice. The crack widened, until it became a fissure. Deep within, something huge and ancient stirred…
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