Alien heart, p.20
Alien Heart, page 20
Or warriors.
But my nose, and my eyes, did not pick up on any unusual danger.
The sun drew higher above us. Cam-Eel loosed one of her arms from my neck to pull up her hood.
“Dalk, Oxriel, Bariok, and Vaxilkai,” Gahn Razek said, turning to the other men. “You go first and make sure the way is safe for the new women.”
They raised their tails in acquiescence and then leaped from the ablik edge, their bodies pummelling down to the ground like spears. It was a sheer drop, but not much taller than a man’s full height. There would be no injuries from a jump like that, and we’d be able to pull ourselves back up if needed.
Kohka, Gahn Razek, and I leaned over the edge, watching the four warriors below. The women on our backs watched too. I spied Priya working feverishly on a white square held flat against Kohka’s shoulder. Her hand flew, dragging a tiny black tube, as she stamped the shape of the landscape into the white square.
“There does not seem to be any imminent danger, Gahn,” called Oxriel from below. “And the ground seems uniformly stable, unlike the Death Plains.”
That was good. It would be possible to traverse quicksand-laden terrain safely without knowing the route, but it would take much more time to test the ground ahead before every step. The other four were doing that now, spreading out, tapping and testing the cracked blue plains with their spears and finding it solid.
“Then we shall descend,” Gahn Razek said. Already, I could feel the ablik absorbing the morning’s light, heating the bottoms of my feet.
“Hold on tight, little bean,” I said.
“I will,” she replied fiercely, clenching her arms harder around my neck.
A bend of my legs. A leap, a landing.
And we were down.
Gahn Razek landed gracefully beside me a moment later.
Kohka landed on my other side, less gracefully and much more heavily, wobbling to one side before catching his balance. His shining silver sight discs slid over to Razek and me, staring at our legs.
“I was not built for jumping,” he said simply.
It was true. He was made for swimming and running on all fours and pounding ablokoi with nothing but the metal hammer of his fists. But he had made it, and Priya looked rattled, but generally alright upon his broad back.
“Strange,” I said, feeling all the more unnerved by the foreign landscape now that I was in it.
Cam-Eel giggled.
“Now you know how I felt when I first got to the Sea Sands! Well, I didn’t have much time to think about it because the zeelk made short work of tearing apart our ship.”
“We should remain quiet and try not to disturb the land too much. There could also be zeelk here, or other predators,” Gahn Razek said.
I felt Cam-Eel tense, and I squeezed her thighs with my hand and tail, trying to comfort her.
“I trust you,” she breathed. And those three soft words hardened every muscle and nerve in my body. Despite the long travels and the lack of rest, I was primed and ready to defend my woman no matter what may have come our way.
We began our trek into the blue plains. Dalk and Oxriel remained slightly ahead, leading the way with their spears and blades ready. Bariok and Vaxilkai drew up the rear, encasing the new women we carried in a protected bubble.
The huge silver succulents bloomed around us, taller than they’d seemed from above. Some of them were taller than two men put together, and they cast down far-reaching shadows. We trekked through the discs of shade those odd plants created, keeping the new women as sheltered from the sun as possible as it rose higher. The plains beneath my feet did not feel as dry and dusty as the Death Plains. The blue stuff seemed finely ground and almost soft. At one point, I paused and lifted a foot, only to see that the sole of it was coated in a powdery layer of astonishing blue pigment.
We stopped in the shade of one of the massive silver plants to drink valok. Oxriel and Dalk caught a few creatures that looked similar to rakdo but with longer, wobblier legs and shorter ears. And instead of white or reddish fur, their fur was primed for this landscape, glossy and blue.
After the short rest and meal, we continued on our way. As the ablik fields, and the territory we knew, receded further and further into the distance behind us, the higher my hackles rose. If this sixth tribe was anything like ours, there could be hunting and patrolling parties scouring all corners of their territory.
But we came across no other men as the day drew to a close. At the horizon, the peaks of dark, foreign mountains loomed a little higher and clearer, but still far from us.
We stopped to make camp under a cluster of the large silver things, their broad trunks and overhangs giving a sense of shelter in this strange land. We decided not to make a fire and ate our evening meal raw.
As I set up our tent, I watched Cam-Eel and her human friends admire one of the largest silver plants in this cluster. Cam-Eel’s slender finger stabbed forward, poking the skin of the trunk.
“Whoa! It’s so smooth. Feel it! It feels like a doll-fin’s skin or something,” she squealed. The other two immediately began poking and prodding the plant too, clearly excited by its novel texture. Jozelyn started chattering away about what it could mean, saying that she’d have to get a sample. She had some kind of obsession with plants that I did not understand.
But then again, there were many things I did not understand about my little mate’s people.
As the moons and stars turned the land from blue to purplish-black, our camp was ready for the night.
Gahn Razek assigned the guard duties, but I barely heard him. I was fixated on Cam-Eel’s smiling face as she talked with her friends. Obsessed with the fact that I’d soon have her alone in my tent again.
I knew I needed rest after not sleeping at all last night and walking all day.
But I needed her first.
Eventually, she caught me staring, and her smile faltered, her cheeks darkening. She said a quick word to Priya and Jozelyn and then left their group, walking towards me as if drawn by a powerful, invisible force.
That same force propelled me into motion. I crossed the distance between us until I could catch her slender neck under the dark pinions of my fingers. My thumb brushed the quick, delicate pulse-point between her collarbones.
I lowered my mouth to hers-
- then froze, hovering a claw tip’s width from her lips.
“What is it?” she whispered, her breath fanning against my face.
I straightened, turning to glare between the trunks of the silver plants that Cam-Eel had called mushrooms.
I could not tell Cam-Eel what was wrong. I could only feel the sudden plummet of dread in my chest, the skittering over my skin that made me bare my fangs.
The other warriors felt it, too, lifting their noses and sniffing, ears twitching. Kohka rose from the place he’d been curled, and a moment later Gahn Razek emerged from his tent, his expression thunderous.
“What’s out there?” he snarled, snatching a long blade from his back.
“Into the tent,” I snapped at Cam-Eel, spinning and pushing her towards it.
“Wait, why? What’s wrong?” she asked again, her face fearful.
“I do not -”
My words were cut off by a sky-tearing screech.
It reminded me of something. Not exactly the same, but similar enough.
The cry of a krixel.
Not just a krixel. The cries of more than one.
Cursing, I whirled, drawing a blade and hurtling out of the shelter of the camp. The other men followed, and we turned our gazes to the sky.
Above us, black silhouettes snapped great wings, blocking out portions of the star-stricken sky. The creatures screeched again – three of them, and bigger than any krixel I had ever seen.
My fangs gnashed, a hiss building in my chest as I realized it was not only the cries of winged beasts on the air.
But also the cries of the men who rode them.
“There are warriors!” Gahn Razek bellowed, hoisting his weapons higher.
I’d lost my spear to the ablokoi’s tentacles so I had no easy projectile. But when one huge winged creature drew near, I hurled my blade. The riding warrior, his hair pulled back in a tight braid, knocked it aside, calling a war cry to the others.
My limbs lurched as weapons rained down at us, one after the other. So quick it seemed impossible that they were spears.
I yanked my left foot out of the way just in time to avoid getting sliced by one. I ripped it from the ground and held it up to my face. It was spear-like but very small. About the length of my arm, with a smooth, perfectly straight bone body and a flat triangular blade at its tip. Another of the odd spears thudded near me, making me snatch my tail out of the way, snarling.
The three winged creatures circled and screeched. They were not krixel. That was clear now. They were much larger, with wider wingspans. They had long faces with hard beaks and feathered bodies and wings. They also had many legs, much like an irkdu.
But irkdu could not fly and help their masters rain blades down upon their enemies.
And enemies we clearly were to them.
“We are here to speak to your Gahn in peace!” Razek shouted, knocking away one of the odd, small spears. My sight stars seized on the man who’d thrown that spear. No, not thrown. The warriors were launching the spears from twanging contraptions.
If the warriors heard and understood Gahn Razek, they ignored him, howling their war cries and sending down yet more of their spears. One clanged off of Kohka’s scales, and he let loose a terrific cry of rage that made the winged beasts scatter.
But their riders urged them back. And so they flew and dove, coming for us.
There were only three of them and six of us, but they had the advantage of fighting us from their flying mounts.
That did not matter, I decided, roaring and hurling another blade, narrowly missing the wing of a nearby beast.
It did not matter if they had one advantage or one thousand.
I was a warrior with something to lose.
And I absolutely would not lose her.
I glanced back, ever-so-briefly, pained to see that Cam-Eel had not listened to my instructions. She had not remained in the tent. None of the new women had. They peered out from between the trunks of the silver succulents, watching the scene with wide eyes and tight mouths. When her eyes met mine, they grew even wider.
“Varrow! Be careful!”
One of the enemy warriors caught sight of the camp.
My vision went black with rage when he banked his mount towards the tents.
Towards my mate.
The three women stumbled backwards into the shadows when he landed his mount. The warrior leaped down, stalking into the camp.
I sprinted, venomous hatred pounding through my veins. Replacing every stroke of love Cam-Eel had fostered there.
No. The venom was born from that love.
Born so that I could protect her.
The warrior did not make it two paces into the camp before I was upon him, cleaving down against his neck and shoulder with a fresh blade.
We fell to the ground together, writhing and wrestling.
He had two hands to my one, but it did not matter.
Because I had something precious to protect.
I pierced my weapon further into him before ripping it out of the deep wound I had created. I plunged it into his guts.
A human scream somewhere above me sounded like it was far-off in the distance. I could barely register it. I was so focused on killing this man. The warrior who had dared come near my mate with his weapons drawn.
He looked like a man of the Sea Sands, at least from what I could tell in the darkness. His sight stars spun, chaotic in his dying blood lust. Hot black blood pulsed from his wounds, coating my hand. His claws grappled at my wrist, my chest, my neck. The scratches were a far-away burn. A mere echo of a feeling.
Life filtered out of him, and he went limp.
Cam-Eel.
My head snapped up to find my mate staring, half-hiding behind the stalk of one of the silver plants. I rose, heart hitching, chest aching, needing to be near her.
Needing to make sure she was alright.
“Varrow!” her scream rattled my bones and set my fangs on edge.
I raced to her, drawing her to my chest, grasping her softness tightly. I would have to go rejoin the fray any moment. But I needed this. This one small pulse of peace.
Cam-Eel sobbed against my chest as I dragged my bloody hand up her back, clutching at her hair.
Her ragged breath filled the air, her heartbeat calling in time with my own as I held her.
Safe. Perfect.
Mine.
But...
No.
Not safe.
The prick of my ears. A whizzing through the air.
The slam of my hand on Cam-Eel’s chest, shoving her away from me just as the spear hit its mark.
I watched Cam-Eel’s face grow white and terrible. Watched her mouth open into a scream I could not hear.
Watched the hard tip of the spear emerge from the front of my chest, its shaft running right through my heart from the back.
My throat convulsed. My fingers clutched at nothing, falling through the air.
I already knew I had very little time.
I could have said, “I love you.”
I could have said, “Goodbye.”
Blood spewed up my throat. I swallowed it down to speak, hoping against hope that my mate would hear me. That this time she would listen.
I fell to my knees, pinioning her with my gaze as I rasped the word.
“Hide!”
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Camille
The entire world had ended. Shattered right in front of me. Varrow was on his knees, a despicable arrow sticking out of his chest like some kind of horrific movie prop.
But this wasn’t a movie.
This was my real fucking life.
And that was my mate. Who’d just used one of his last breaths to tell me to hide.
Fuck that.
My boots slid as I launched into motion, running for him.
But a hard arm locked around my waist, pulling me back.
“No!” I screamed.
I have to get to him.
I kicked and bit and fought, not caring if it was a man I knew or an enemy who’d grabbed me.
“Please, Cam-Eel! I must get you somewhere safe!”
I recognized Oxriel’s voice, but that didn’t make me feel any better.
If he was keeping me from Varrow, then he was my enemy now, too.
“Let me go, Oxriel! Let me down! I have to get to him. I have to.”
My words died when I watched Varrow collapse forward, his fingers digging into the blue dirt. Blood splattered out of his mouth, turning the ground into mud.
And I fucking lost it.
I reached back and scrabbled for any hold I could find, pulling on Oxriel’s long hair, his ears.
But it did nothing to deter him. He kept me fastened with his right arm, his left arm brandishing a sword as he backed us up towards the tents.
“I am sorry,” Oxriel grunted.
Sorry?
It reminded me of what people said to me after my parents died.
It felt paltry then.
It felt absolutely pathetic now.
Varrow sank further to the ground, leaning heavily back onto his heels, his knees digging into the ground, his forehead pressed against his forearm on the ground.
He’s dying.
He’s dying and I’m not even there.
I wept, trying to keep my words coherent among the tears.
“Oxriel, please, please,” I begged. “I have to go to him, I have to be with him. He’s going to...” I couldn’t say it. If I said it, it could make it real.
Maybe none of this is real.
But Oxriel’s solid arm at my front and his chest at my back certainly felt real. So did the sounds of battle – the yipping cries, the bellowing barks, the clashing blades.
The sight of Varrow on the ground.
Oxriel didn’t have time to answer me. Because another winged thing landed just outside the grove of giant silver mushrooms. I couldn’t even feel the terror when the enemy advanced. My whole body, my heart, was back with Varrow. My mate. Bleeding out alone on the ground.
Oxriel shoved me behind him, baring his fangs and slashing his blade. The other warrior advanced rapidly, and soon the two of them were locked in heavy combat. Oxriel let go of me, needing both his hands to fight the other man off. I was vaguely aware of the glimmer of Kohka’s scales as he fought with one of the nasty winged creatures nearby.
But I didn’t care about any of that. I didn’t even care if I died right now.
All I cared about was Varrow.
His name caught like a stone in my throat as I sprinted to him, my vision blurred with tears.
I fell to my knees beside him and grasped his shoulders.
His skin felt cool.
I wracked my brain.
In all the time I’d known him, had his skin ever felt cool to the touch?
I knew the answer deep in my churning guts before it hit my brain.
No. He’s always been warm.
Relief exploded in my chest when he made a gurgling sound in response to my touch. He heaved himself to the side and then rolled onto his back so he could see me. My panicky, shaking fingers skimmed down his neck to his chest. Right to the putrid arrow sticking out of him, jutting between his straps.
There was no way I was strong enough to pull it out. And besides, what would that accomplish? Speed up his bleeding, that’s what. We had some first aid stuff in the tents, but no Lavrika’s blood nearby. Nothing that could fix this.
Nothing that would do my mate any good.
“You’re going to be OK,” I said stoically, willing myself to stop crying. “I’m going to fix this and you’re going to be fine.”
“Cam-Eel.”
Dieu, I hated the way he sounded. His voice was awful and wet and reedy. Black blood coated his chin and cheeks, more of it dribbling out every time he opened his mouth. His breath crackled horribly as it sucked in and out of his chest.
“Don’t talk,” I ordered him. His smoky sight stars were unspooling across his eyes in a misting haze. Can he even see me?
