Abducted by Aliens (Tales From Angondra Book 1) by Ruth Anne Scott Page A

bedroom door remained closed. A hint of concern for her friend nagged at her heart, but as soon as she passed out of the apartment and down the stairs, she forgot all about Aria in the rush of warriors and the rattle of weapons. Male voices shouted back and forth, and some spectators stuck their heads out of their apartments. Carmen noticed Leroni among them. “What's going on?”
    Leroni shook her head. “The sentry noticed a battalion of Ursidreans moving in to attack the city.”
    Carmen peered into the dark. “Where are they?”
    “We can’t see them from here,” Leroni replied, “but they’re there. The sentry wouldn’t sound the alarm unless he was sure they were here.”
    “Is there anywhere we can go to see better?” Carmen asked.
    Leroni smiled and jerked her head back toward the city. “Follow me.”
    She led Carmen back through the maze of stairways and halls to the very top rampart of the city. They ducked into an empty apartment. Leroni pointed through a big window, where the plain spread out before them in stark relief. “There. You can see them now.”
    Carmen strained her eyes. These Felsite must have exceptional night vision, because she couldn’t make out anything more than a black line moving up from the river toward the city. Far below them, Felsite warriors ran up and down. Their voices echoed up to Carmen's ears. Renier moved in the thick of the crowd, pointing and issuing orders to the others. He stood on the wall with his burly frame dominating the field.
    All at once, a bright streak of blue light shot through the night. It zinged across the field and hit the city walls. It smashed the stone to pieces and sent a rain of shards down on the warrior's heads. The Felsite warriors formed ranks at the wall with Renier in their lead, but a hundred other lightning shots sailed over the meadow. They struck the walls and shivered Melnili's great structure to its foundations.
    Carmen held her breath and clenched her fists in anxiety. Was this the end of her bright future? Would these two factions fall to war on the very eve of her arrival? How could she face losing the Felsite after just losing both Penelope Ann and Marissa?
    The Felsite charged out at the enemy, who came within sight of the city. The blazing lamps and candles of the city lit up the Ursidreans so Carmen saw them clearly. Their powerful forms shook the ground under their feet, and they carried heavy weapons like the blaster weapons she’s seen them use at the gathering hall. Every warrior held at least two handheld weapons, and behind the main body of soldiers, heavy cannons mounted on rolling machines bore down on the city.
    These weapons sent sprays of energetic fire over the city and into the Felsite ranks. Bodies flew in all directions, and the city’s strong stone and timber construction crumbled to powder. Carmen dug her fingernails into her palm. This couldn't be happening.
    Just then, a terrible volley of fire blasted through the Felsite ranks, and Carmen caught sight of Renier flying off the wall. He sailed backwards and hit a stone wall with such force it shattered and crumbled on top of him. Carmen started forward with a cry. Leroni tried to hold her back, but Carmen broke her grip and charged down the stairs. She had to get to him, to help him, to save him. She couldn’t lose him, too.
    She didn’t notice the terrible fire raining down on all sides. She didn’t notice the Felsite warriors engaged in hand-to-hand combat with Ursidreans in the byways and courtyards of Melnili. She saw only Renier. She knelt at his side with Leroni next to her. Her hands nursed his wounds. All around her, the thunder of battle fell into silence. Nothing remained in the living universe but the two of them.
    In her mind, she picked him up and carried him back to their apartment, but in reality, it must have been other Felsite who carried him. She could never budge his enormous bulk by herself. He lay on the sleeping platform in the main