Her Royal Madness

Her Royal Madness Part 3

Right on cue, the little green men showed up. Well, they were sort of green, but they definitely weren't little. Like the spaceship, they just popped into view. Was I the only one around without my own cloaking device? There were about ten of them standing between us and the spaceship. About 7 feet tall, they had scaly grayish-green skin. The faces were thin and elongated with jaws that opened to reveal a row of large pointed teeth. They all had guns in their hands, pointed directly at us. 

Juna dropped me to the ground rather roughly, shoving me behind a stone bench to hide. Henry was not treated so gently. Juna once again forgot he was there, letting go of him as she reached for her gun and he fell roughly to the ground. He scrambled to his feet and came over to check on me. 

Before Henry even touched the ground, three flashes of light whizzed over my head. Three dead aliens were lying on the ground with holes burned neatly between their eyes. Juna was already moving. As she dived away from us, the ground exploded exactly where she had been. She landed in a ball and rolled onto her feet, firing again. This time she only got one of them; the rest had managed to duck in time. 

I turned back at the sound of pounding feet to see Martin and Nicholas. Martin set Nicholas down beside me and sat down himself to catch his breath. The loss of blood had weakened Nicholas and drained all color from his face. 

As usual Henry took charge. "You guys OK? Good. Nick you stay here and look out for the kid. Mash, you and me are gonna take out some lizards." 

Those idiots were going to get themselves killed. This wasn't some kind of game. Couldn't they see how dangerous this was? With a straight face and more adrenaline than strength, Nicholas sat up and said, "Don't worry Hank. I got it under control. Go get those lizards." 

Henry and Martin stood up and then dived back to the ground as a slug hit the top of the bench we were hiding behind, tearing away a chunk of stone. Henry looked at Martin and said, "OK I don't think a frontal assault will work. How about we sneak around and take them from the rear?" 

Martin replied, "I think that might be a better plan. Let's go." The two of them ran off to the side and disappeared into some bushes. 

Meanwhile Juna was busy. She bent over backwards to dodge a burst of bullets. She stood up straight almost immediately, then moved her upper body to the side to avoid another burst. With one fluid motion she swerved to the other side and leaped up so her body was horizontal. She fired in mid-air. I think she hit one of the aliens because I heard a roar of pain. She landed in a ball, rolling to her feet and dove forward. She was a blur of motion, dodging the bullets while firing back at them. When there were only four left, I started thinking that ten against one weren't fair odds - for the aliens. Why did I have to jinx it? One of the aliens got lucky. A stray bullet hit Juna's gun, destroying it along with half her hand. She fell to the ground and rolled behind a boulder. 

"Oh no!" I wailed, "we don't have a chance now!" 

"Maybe not," Nicholas wheezed, "but we're not going down without a fight." Fight? He couldn't even stand up. How did he expect to be able to fight? 

Something caught his eye. He pointed to where Juna was and said "Holy cow! Look at that." 

I looked. A really big rock was sailing through the air at the nearest alien. Juna wasn't beaten that easily. She must have been bandaging her hand. Three fingers were missing but there was no blood. Her crystal pendant was pulsating brightly. The rock knocked the gun out of the alien's hands, smashing it to bits. I wasn't sure that was the best tactic. Sure it got rid of his weapon, but it really made him mad. He charged at Juna, roaring. They met with a crash and he flew over her head. But he was quick. With a twist and a turn, he landed on his feet facing her and swung at her with a ham-sized fist. As fast as he was, she was even faster. She jumped high so that the fist passed harmlessly underneath. Her foot landed solidly on his chin knocking him off his feet. He was a little slow getting up. They faced each other, arms held up in a ready position, waiting for the other one to move first. 

I didn't see what happened next because I heard a noise from the other direction. It was Henry. He darted out from behind some bushes towards another one of the aliens. Henry dived at the alien, striking him just below the knees. Henry clamped his arms securely around the alien's legs. He made a valiant but futile effort to bring the monster down. The alien was a little annoyed that he couldn't easily break Henry's grip and turned around to focus on that pest I call my brother. Another one of his short sighted plans. What did he expect trying to take on an armed alien twice his size? This would be his last mistake. What would I tell Daddy?