Текст книги "Alien Tyrant"
Автор книги: Ursa Dox
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Текущая страница: 5 (всего у книги 14 страниц)
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CHAPTER SIX Buroudei
Not for the first time, I began to wonder if the Lavrika was playing some cruel trick. It had ignited the sacred mate bond inside me, but, it appeared, not inside my mate, my Zeezee. Such a thing was unheard of among my people. People had rejected their mates before, and rejected their bonds, but it was at least there to be rejected. My strange little mate didn’t seem to feel anything at all. At least, she didn’t seem to feel anything besides fear and anger and the need to run. This was puzzling. She was puzzling. And not only was this confusing and complicated, but it was also heart-rending. The men who’d told me of this bond’s power, who’d warned me of this lovesickness, had not exaggerated. My entire body, my very existence, was for her, now. How could she not see that? And how could she not feel the same?
And so, when she’d spoken to me so firmly, so angrily, I’d let her go. For the moment, anyway. I did not intend to let her go far. I would observe her, learn her ways, and teach her what it meant to be the mate of a mighty Gahn. Soon she would see. She had to.
I did not like to think of what would happen if she didn’t.
She was talking to me, her words coming quick and lovely from her soft mouth. It amazed me that she could speak so swiftly with only one tongue segment. The wide, pink thing was more agile than I would have guessed. I followed her as she continued to walk, back out from the cliffs and onto the sand. She scanned the horizon with her gleaming eyes, then pointed, turning back to me.
I followed her arm, my eyes settling on the wreckage of the fallen beast in the distance.
Ah. So she wanted to return to that thing. To the scene of the almost-slaughter. I growled, and her brows contracted in what appeared to be irritation.
“I will not take you back there. It is not safe, my Zeezee.”
More mysterious sounds trilled from her pretty mouth, but I was resolute. None of her charms would sway me on this matter. Although, she did not seem intent on using any of her charms. She spat some of her words at me, harshly, then turned and started walking. I waited for a moment, to see what she would do, but she did not turn back, simply continuing in a straight line onto the sand. A muscle jumped in my jaw. She will not stop. She will not turn back.
I ignored the painful lurch in my chest at the thought that she could walk away, leaving me without looking back. I couldn’t think about what that meant now. What I did have to think about was her safety. Safety that was being risked with every step she took.
With a few sprinting steps, I caught up with her, grabbing onto her hand. She stopped short, whirling on me. I tried to imitate a gesture she’d done earlier, when she’d been expressing her displeasure at my actions. Her head had swung back and forth, quickly. I did the same, the feeling a strange one. She paused, her expression softening as I did so, and a thrill ran through me. The thrill turned to concern, though, when I noticed that the places on her face that I had wiped the war paint from had become very red.
That... cannot be good.
I cast my eyes over her clothing, noting the hood at the back of her strange cloak. Maybe it was some sort of facial protection. Though what could be hurting her face, I did not know. And not knowing filled me with brooding worry. I grabbed the funny, stiff fabric in my hands, pulling the hood up over her head, settling it firmly and carefully. She watched me closely as I did so, worrying at her pink bottom lip with her unimpressive teeth.
Strange. I peered closer. Her skin looked even more red now, and her eyes were wide.
She gave a choked, spluttering kind of sound and turned rapidly, marching away. My mouth flattened as I realized grimly she was going to continue on into danger unless I stopped her. Resigned, I strode forward, picking her up and slinging her easily over my shoulder.
Suffice to say, she was not pleased.
More kicking and screaming ensued, with angry words I could make out but not understand. Ahh-sole. Tie-rent.
I gave a low whistle, calling my irkdu to us, and mounted the thing easily, even with Zeezee on my shoulder.
“You can ride upright, as you did before, or stay tossed over my shoulder like a misbehaving cub. The choice is yours.”
She paused, listening, then strung together a long, fiery sentence before her kicking finally ceased. Satisfied, I slid her down and around, so that she was nestled between my thighs once more. My cock pulsed insistently, but I ignored it, cursing whatever black luck had left me with me with a mate whom I could not understand and who did not seem to want me. But as I tucked my arm protectively around her slim waist, pulling her to me and feeling the rise and fall of her breath against my chest, I didn’t really feel unlucky. Fate had bestowed something scared and strange upon me. It was up to me to make it all make sense. My cock throbbed once more and I sighed, urging my irkdu forward.
This was going to be a very long ride.
WE HAD A LOT OF GROUND to cover before we reached the tents of my people. Some of the journey was made in the shadow of the cliffs, but much of it had to take place over the open sands. I kept my axe at the ready, keenly aware of my surroundings. I lamented the loss of my spear. It had been a brutal weapon. But, I consoled myself, once I had gathered some of my men, we could take a safer trip back to the scene of the zeelk killings and get many more spear tips. Assuming Gahn Fallo’s men hadn’t stripped everything bare after taking the women.
The women. That was an issue I would have to return to. In the midst of the battle, I’d been happy to let Gahn Fallo’s men take them as long as it meant no more foul zeelk were nipping at my mate’s slender heels. But I was growing more and more convinced that the reason Zeezee wanted to go back the way we’d come was to find her fellow tribeswomen. I remembered the way she’d tried to help the other fallen woman, trying to pull her up and to safety. Yes, she would not be happy until we had recovered the other women. But that would take time to prepare for, and a coordinated effort. I would do it for her. Of course I would. But we needed men. And a plan.
And, if I were being honest with myself, I wouldn’t just be doing it to please Zeezee. If one of these females could be chosen as my mate, then perhaps others could be mated to the men of my tribe. In our tribe there was only one woman for every three males of mating age. This could be the greatest blessing our tribe had seen in generations. My optimism soured, however, when I realized Gahn Fallo would likely be thinking the same thing for his own men. He was a vicious enemy, but he was no fool.
Zeezee had been talking almost without end for the entire ride, but my ears pricked as I realized she fallen silent. I’d been so focused on watching the sands for any sign of movement that I hadn’t noticed when she’d stopped. The sun was setting, the broken line of moons rising, casting everything into smoky shadows. The stars blinked in a bruised sky. Zeezee was leaning against me, now, her full weight relaxed against my chest and abdomen. The sensation made my heart surge. Was she finally feeling what I felt? Was she experiencing the sacred bond? She was closer to me, willingly, than she’d ever been. This must mean something.
I was bending my head, muttering her name against her hood, my arm tightening around her waist when I smelled it. The scent normally intoxicating, but in this moment, horrific.
Zeezee’s blood.
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CHAPTER SEVEN Cece
The sun was setting, I had no idea where the fuck we were or where the fuck we were going, and I did not feel good. Thankfully Buroudei had pulled my forgotten hood up to help shield me from this planet’s wicked sun (and did so in such a bizarre, almost tender, way that I’d almost toppled over) but I still felt completely unprepared for this environment. I was beyond hot under my solar protection jacket, but I knew I couldn’t take it off with that sun beating down and no extra sunscreen. My throat was growing more dry by the second, and I was starting to regret having refused the cactus juice box I’d been offered hours before.
It has been hours, right? My sense of time was completely shot. It felt like we’d been moving over the same stretch of sand for days. My thighs were on fire, my skin rubbing painfully beneath my pants against the animal we were riding, and my muscles were cramping so hard my legs were starting to go numb. Buroudei seemed to straddle this giant thing with ease. He didn’t even have pants or chaps or a saddle or anything. But he was much larger than me, with longer legs, and skin like some kind of reinforced alien leather. For my weak, stumpy human legs, the positioning was awkward and painful as all get out.
Not like there was much else I could do, though, so I sucked it up. As best I could, anyway. But by the time the stars were starting to peek out overhead, I’d reached my limit. I sagged back against Buroudei, for once not fighting him, grateful for the solid stability his rock-hard body provided, my head swimming, my chapped lips parting as I panted. The sky, the sand, everything was growing black in my dimming vision.
I’m just going to close my eyes...
“Zeezee!”
Buroudei’s voice was a brutal snarl, his hands insistent as he dismounted and pulled me with him. He tried to stand me up on the sand, but at that moment every bone in my body turned to jello and I collapsed, crying out in pain. Head pounding, mouth full of cotton, I looked down and groaned.
The pant legs of my grey uniform were caked with blood, stuck to my inner thighs. The fabric was still intact, but my skin beneath it clearly wasn’t, rubbed raw by hours on the back of dino-centipede. I was in a lot worse shape than I had thought, and I flopped back against the sand, defeated. What is the freaking point of all this? It would have been so easy to just lay there and never get up again.
Well, it would have been easy if a certain alien weren’t going into nuclear meltdown mode above me. He was kneeling at my side, his face twisted in a manic snarl, growling and snapping his jaws, the glimmery bits of his eyes pulled so tight they almost looked like normal irises. Almost.
“You have pretty eyes,” I mumbled. It felt like I was floating. Or sinking. Maybe this was all a messed up dream. Maybe I got hit by a car on my run and I’m in some crazy limbo. Maybe this is Hell.
But as Buroudei picked me up once again, his arms like iron yet somehow gentle, it didn’t really feel like I was in Hell. If this is Hell, at least I’m not alone.
I was vaguely aware of Buroudei leaping back onto his mount. Instead of sitting me up the way I had been, he kept me cradled tightly against his chest, and for an absurd moment I felt almost safe, almost whole, something I hadn’t felt since Grammy had died.
Buroudei urged his animal to go faster, it seemed, with short, commanding barks, but his voice when he spoke to me, his lips moving against the fabric of my hood, was quiet, though strained. He held me in his massive, metal-strong arms as if I were something precious and breakable. I let my head flop against his warm chest, nuzzling in for the warmth. Now that it was growing dark, I was no longer sweating, and was shivering violently. This seemed to bother him, and he tightened his grip on me, as if he could stop me shivering through sheer force of muscled will. I almost laughed. If anyone could do such a thing, it probably would have been this guy.
I turned my face in towards his chest, my nose and lips, then forehead, brushing the smooth but oh-so tough skin. I felt his muscles tense under my mouth as I whispered, “So, so warm.”
And it was then, and only then, that I finally closed my eyes and let the blackness swallow me whole. But that blackness wasn’t cold. Not at all. It cradled me with warm arms and echoed with the alien whisper of my name.
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CHAPTER EIGHT Buroudei
Curse me. Curse me ten thousand aching times. Curse my idiocy and my ignorance and my pride. For thinking I could claim this strange creature so easily with no harm done. My stupidity knew no bounds, and now my mate was torn open and bleeding. How can she possibly be so soft and breakable? It defied everything that made sense, everything I knew. If this was some kind of test the Lavrika had set before me, I was most certainly failing. And I was failing my mate, which was the most unacceptable part of it all.
I hissed, then growled at my irkdu to go faster, faster, as fast as it could. Its many legs flew, sand spraying behind us as we whipped over the rapidly cooling desert. Zeezee had been shaking in the most alarming way, but now she had gone totally limp, and somehow that was even worse. I bit back a howl of anguish, forging every ounce of worry and sorrow into a dark blade of determination. I will get her back to the healer in time. There is no other way.
She could not die. She couldn’t. It was impossible. Unthinkable. I would not allow such a thing to happen. She’d only just crashed into my world, but I already knew that there was no way I’d let her leave it now. Not as long as there was breath and blood beating in my body. I’d slain more men than any other in my tribe, had felled zeelk as a cub with nothing but my blades. I was a Gahn among my people. And yet I knew, I knew, with a finality so terrible it made me want to fall to my knees, that I’d be nothing without her.
Thus, I cursed myself. And though it was blasphemous, I cursed the Lavrika, too. For making me so beautifully, painfully vulnerable.
If she dies, there will be no salvation from my rage.
Finally, we approached the tents of my people, when the sky and sand were both drenched black with night. There were about fifty of us in the tribe now: thirty men, ten women, and ten cubs, and the collection of dakrival hide tents was illuminated by the evening fire. Our tribe was currently settled against an outcropping of large boulders, with valok plants and peet grass growing between them. Our irkdu were well trained, and were not restrained when not in use. They moved slowly through the boulders, munching on grass, their duties done for the day.
Most of the tribe would be around the evening fire, now, in the centre of our tiny village of tents. I could only pray that our most experienced healer, an elder woman named Rika, would be there and I wouldn’t have to tear the tents apart looking for her.
As I cried for my irkdu to move forward towards our destination, a tall warrior caught my eye, raising his spear in greeting. Galok, my closest friend, was jogging over the sand towards me.
“Buroudei! I was about to cross the sands in search of you. Come, feast with us. The hunters have killed three dakrival today and the best meat has been saved for you.”
I clutched Zeezee to my chest – Zeezee, whose skin was mightily cold – and launched off of my irkdu while it was in midmotion, crouching as I landed and springing right back up. Galok’s grin faded as he saw us, and he crossed the remaining distance to us with quick steps.
“Buroudei, my friend, what is... what is this?”
He peered down at the still bundle in my arms, the sight stars of his eyes pulsing with curious confusion. I had had days to get used to the idea of this creature after seeing her in the Lavrika Pools. But I had told no one what I’d seen, so this female was taking Galok completely by surprise. I would have to save my explanations for another time. Zeezee’s blood was all I could smell. The air was choked with it.
“There’s no time. I need Rika. Now.”
Good Galok, the best of men, understood immediately the seriousness of the situation and nodded stoically, saving his questions.
“Go ahead to the healers’ tent. I will find Rika. Go, go!”
I started to run. So too, did Galok, toward the large fire where most of our people were enjoying a meal.
The healers’ tent was the largest tent, even larger than my own. No one slept there at night, but during the day the healers, of which we had three, (Rika, Balia, and Balia’s cub Zofra, who was training) worked there, preparing salves, making bandages, and treating our people’s various ailments. When I reached it, I whipped the tent’s flap open so hard I almost tore the tough hide before stepping quickly into the tent’s darkness.
Along one side of the tent, shelves built from dakrival bones housed various bits of fabric, herbs, and bowls for pounding and grinding. Beneath the shelves, buried in the sand and out of sight, were jars of Lavrika’s blood. There were three dakrival hide beds at the back, and I quickly laid Zeezee in the closest one. Her lips didn’t look pink the way they had earlier. They looked greyish, although maybe that was due to the lack of light. I glanced around, finding a candle made from dried valok gel, as well as two pieces of fire rock. I quickly banged them against each other, lighting the valok candle with a spark, and held it near Zeezee’s face. The firelight flickered, illuminating each delicate feature – her smooth brow, her high nose. My jaw clenched. I longed to touch her, but was worried any move I made could make things worse. I’d never felt this sickening sense of helplessness before.
At that moment, I heard a rustle behind me, and Rika, closely followed by Galok, entered the tent.
Rika was our oldest female, tall and regal and imposing. She could easily have been a Lavrikala – she was strong enough, even at her advanced age, to serve as a sacred guard. But the Lavrika had not called her to such a post. And our tribe was lucky for it – she was enormously skilled as a healer.
She raised her tail in front of her eyes quickly to greet me respectfully, but I growled, slashing my hand through the air, gesturing that she should stop.
“Do not waste time with formalities, Rika. Look to my female.”
Her sight stars, grown silver with age, contracted sharply in her large eyes, and she looked down at Zeezee with a sudden intake of breath. She tossed her long white braid over her shoulder and knelt, sniffing the air, and starting to examine Zeezee’s head and face with gentle but firm fingers.
“What is this creature, Gahn Buroudei? Where does she hail from?” Rika asked quietly.
Galok had stepped forward, standing beside me, staring down with a disturbed sort of fascination.
“I do not know. She, and others like her, emerged from some sort of fallen flying beast, out past the Cliffs of Uruzai. They were attacked by zeelk, of which I felled two. I took this woman just as Gahn Fallo’s men arrived. They killed the other zeelk and took the rest of the females.”
I could feel Galok’s questioning stare from beside me, but I ignored him. My attention was completely absorbed by my small, still mate.
“She is bleeding. Her legs, Rika, look there first. Get the Lavrika’s blood, she needs quick healing.”
But Rika shook her head, her hands continuing to explore with maddening slowness.
“She is like no creature of the Sea Sands. I have never seen one like her. I do not know if our healing methods will work. I must examine her further.”
Impatient panic exploded in my chest, and I growled, prowling back and forth in the tent as Rika looked at the fabric of Zeezee’s strange clothing.
“She is breathing, and she has a heartbeat like ours. Though it is very fast.”
My heart sank.
“That is bad?”
Rika glanced at me, then back down.
“I do not know, my Gahn. It may be, it may not be. She is not like us.”
Rika was worrying at Zeezee’s clothing, her fingers finding a tiny little piece near the top that, when pulled, ran down the length of her cloak, peeling it away with an odd zrrrrp sound. She pulled the stiff fabric away, then reared back with a small gasp. My own eyes widened, and I hissed.
“Gahn, is this woman with child?”
Zeezee had breasts, clearly visible through the thin fabric of the grey clothing she wore beneath her cloak. Women of the Sea Sands only developed breasts during pregnancy, the flesh swelling to feed their cubs, before flattening back into hardened muscle when the cub was weaned.
“I do not know,” I said truthfully, choosing my words carefully. “But I do not think so.” It was unheard of that the Lavrika would choose a mate already with child for a warrior. I took a breath. “This woman is named Zeezee. She is my mate. I saw her face in the Lavrika Pools, more than fourteen days ago.”
The air in the tent grew hushed. Rika was staring up at me, her gaze narrowed, the sight stars pulled to tiny bright points as she regarded me. Galok was gaping, first at me, then down at my mate. I did not like the hopeful sort of hunger I saw in his eyes when his gaze swept over her form, settling on her plump breasts. I snarled, my tail thrashing a warning at him, and he snapped to attention, his head jerking up.
“Both of you must go, now. I need to concentrate. Gahn Buroudei, is there any other information you think will help me?”
My mouth opened and shut, the sense of helplessness returning.
“No. None.”
“Then go.”
Galok headed out of the tent first, stealing one more glance backward as he did so. I began to leave, too, when I suddenly turned back, unable to take that final step out of the tent. I knelt next to Rika, grasping one of Zeezee’s hands and pressing her tiny knuckles to my forehead. After a moment, I lowered her hand back down, carefully, so carefully, before turning my attention to Rika.
“Do not let her die.”
There was a dangerous note of warning in my growl, but she held my gaze steadily.
“I will do what I can do.”
I waited another moment before finally standing and turning to go, though everything in my body screamed at me to stay. But I could do nothing for my mate now. And that fact made me want to howl.
Galok was waiting for me outside of the tent. He was the tallest in our tribe, even taller than me. His long hair was unbound, flowing freely about his broad shoulders and back. He fell into step beside me as I stalked away from the healers’ tent. I thought about going to join the evening fire, but decided against it. I had no desire to be around others now. Though, it seemed Galok was not planning to leave my side anytime soon.
“Buroudei, tell me more. Tell me everything you know of these females.”
His voice was gruff with some unspoken desire. I could not blame him – with so few females, not just in our tribe, but all the surrounding ones, many warriors had resigned themselves to lives of companionless celibacy with no cubs. Suddenly, there was the chance that all of that could change.
I sighed, passing my hand roughly over my ears and hair. It was hard for me to converse with Galok now, hard for me to partake in his new hope when my own precious mate was listless on the healers’ mats.
“It is as I told Rika. I have no other information for you, Galok.”
“Come now, Buroudei. You are holding back. How many were there, and do they all look like her, your Zeezee?”
I cast my mind back to the chaotic scene on the sands.
“Maybe two dozen of them, though I’m not certain. And, from what I could see, only females. They are all somewhat similar but with wildly varying colouring. And different sizes.”
“Do they all have breasts?” There was a boyish reverence in Galok’s voice. We stopped walking at the outcropping of boulders, where the irkdu roamed. My own mount had joined its brethren and was chewing peet grass in the starlight.
“I do not know.” The women all wore the same shapeless cloaks, hiding their figures. I hadn’t even known my own mate had had such a feature.
“It is strange. A woman without a cub, but with breasts.”
I cast a warning glance at my friend. Galok was my closest man, and as such, he could press further in conversation than any other. But even now, he was testing my limits. His sight stars were blown open, swirling, and his mouth was relaxed into a faraway sort of grin. When he caught my eye, he swallowed quickly, looking away. He vaulted forward, bounding up the side of the largest boulder, settling himself into a sitting position at the top.
“Come, Buroudei. You can do nothing for your mate right now, and something tells me if you were to return to your tent you would not sleep.”
He was right about that. It had been a hard day of fighting and journeying over the sands. My body ached with exhaustion. And yet there was no chance that I’d be able to sleep now. I sprang up the craggy side of the boulder, sitting next to Galok, crossing my legs and placing my elbows on my knees. From here, we could see our spread of tents easily, and the fire with our kinsmen below. My eyes settled on the healers’ tent and stayed there.
“So, Gahn Fallo has the others?”
“Yes.”
“And what do you plan to do about that?”
“I have no real plan yet. But I do not intend to let him keep them.”
I heard the grin in Galok’s voice when he answered.
“That is what I was hoping to hear, friend.”
He paused for a moment, his legs dangling over the side of the boulder, leaning back on his hands and looking up at the sky.
“You will have no trouble convincing the men to face Gahn Fallo if they are fighting for the chance at a potential mate.”
I snorted.
“When have I ever had to convince any man of our tribe to do anything?”
I gave commands. And those commands were always followed without question.
“You are right. But you understand my meaning. Men will jump at the chance for one of the new women, even if it means facing zeelk or krixel or the spears of Gahn Fallo, whose men outnumber ours two-to-one. Especially since we can mate with them. The fact the Lavrika has chosen this woman for you is a momentous thing, my friend. I wish you the happiest of all lives, with many cubs.”
A companionable warmth settled in my chest, and I placed one of my hands on Galok’s shoulder and squeezed.
“I wish for the same thing. Assuming she survives the night.”
The words were like poison in my mouth, but Galok just reached around and patted my back.
“I have no doubt that she will. Any mate of yours will have to have a will of ablik. She must be a strong one, to put up with you.”
I frowned.
“And your mate will have to have enough sense for the both of you, to make up for the dakrival dung between your ears.”
Galok’s laugh was hearty, and it lessened the weight in my chest. Just a little.
We hadn’t been there long, but my tail was beginning to twitch with impatient anxiety.
“I think I will return to the healers’ tent. I want to check on Zeezee.”
Galok clucked at me, the way a woman would cluck at a cub.
“Give Rika time. Your distractions will only hinder her.”
He was right. But still I stood, jumping down to the sand in one great leap. Galok followed immediately, landing with powerful grace beside me.
“I will not distract Rika. But I cannot be away from Zeezee any longer. It’s like this pull, Galok. This pull that will not let me rest in any one place without her.”
Galok was looking at me strangely, and I waved him off.
“Nevermind. You cannot understand without a mate.”
Galok’s face hardened.
“You are right. I have no mate and cannot understand.”
Curse me twenty thousand times. I was far more stupid than usual tonight. I placed my hand on his shoulder once again.
“I am sorry, friend. I did not mean it that way. I am sick with worry and longing. It is new and strange and it is making my head foggy. About you not having a mate – well, we will rectify that soon enough. You are the most deserving of men, strong and loyal and battle-hardened. I have no doubt the Lavrika will come to you soon. And we will take your precious mate, along with the others, back from Gahn Fallo.”
Galok watched me for a moment, his sight stars pulled tight, before they unspooled and he relaxed again. He clasped my elbow, his face resolute.
“Thank you, Buroudei.”
We began walking back towards the tents.
“May I tell the others what you’ve told me?”
I mulled on the question. Everyone would find out eventually when they caught a glimpse of Zeezee. There was no reason to hide it, now.
“Yes. Go head and share the news.” It would be good to give the people of the tribe something to celebrate. New women, new blood, new cubs to be born. The men would feast with renewed vigour tonight. But my smile at the thought was only a shadow. I was too consumed with worry for Zeezee to partake in the excitement.
Galok bounded towards the evening fire, and I turned back towards the healers’ tent. I did not go inside, though I longed to do so, instead crouching down on the sand outside.
I would station myself here for the night. And every other night, if needed. Still as a desert boulder, I waited, my heart the only thing moving.
And it did not just move.
It thundered.
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