Ronan

by Leslie Chase

  “Come on, there’s got to be something easier for you to kill out there,” I said to the creature as I braced the spear against the ground at my side. Keeping the wickedly sharp point between me and the predator, I pushed myself up to my feet. I’d read somewhere that if you’re faced with a hungry tiger you should stand up, make yourself look big. Predators don’t want a fight, they want a meal.

  Or maybe that was just some bullshit I’d read online somewhere. It was the only trick I could think of, though.

  The tenger watched, eyes dark as pits into the void. It paced left and right, searching for a way around my bloody spear, but it showed no signs of giving up. If anything, I’d pissed it off: its tentacles lashed angrily as it stalked around me.

  At least the tentacles hadn’t touched my skin. Other colonists had told me horror stories about them. A tenger’s venomous touch brought paralysis… which seemed like a frankly unnecessary addition to their deadly claws and teeth. Whatever they hunted must be nasty for them to need poison as well. A human, even armed, probably looked like a nice, safe snack in comparison.

  You’re getting distracted, I told myself, trying to keep my arms from shaking. Focus. Don’t let it—

  The monster pounced before I finished the thought, tentacles grabbing the spear and yanking it out of my hands with almost contemptuous ease. I shrieked, leaped to the side, and a giant paw sliced through the air where I’d been. Something slapped at my bare legs painfully and I kicked out, my booted foot connecting with the tenger’s face and pushing it back, snarling. Mud splashed around me and I struggled to roll over, to get up, to draw a knife, to do something.

  I’d have died right there if it wasn’t for Athena. The owl let out a shriek that chilled my blood even through the storm and flew into the tenger’s face. The creature snapped at her, passing through the hologram, but she wasn’t big enough to keep it distracted for long.

  My legs refused to work as I tried to scramble up. Black marks on my calves showed where the tentacles had struck and I cursed as my legs went numb. No way to escape now.

  Pulling myself backward through the mud I pulled a knife and prepared to die fighting.

  11

  Ronan

  Rain poured through the trees, drenching me to the bone. Not much further to go, though. I’d seen the temples as I scrambled down the mountainside, and I knew that was where my khara would be. It was a bone-deep certainty, and I wondered if the old legends were true. Could I feel my khara’s presence tugging at my soul?

  More likely I just saw where she’d have landed. The structures built against the mountainside had to be our destination, and besides, they were the easiest landing space in sight. Given her fear of flying, Becca would put down at the first opportunity.

  I smiled, despite the aches and bruises from my rough landing. Soon I’d have her in my arms again. That thought put energy into my steps and I bounded forward, heedless of the rain. The trees parted and I stepped into the downpour, drops hitting hard enough to sting.

  The waters gathered in a raging torrent that followed the avenue between the buildings, rain running down from the mountains and gathering here. My eyes widened as I saw the flier, creaking and tipping on the edge of that flood. The torrent washed away the mud under its legs — in moments it would topple into the water and wash away. Our only way home, and we might lose it to the storm.

  I ran through the rain, but before I reached the teetering flier, a cry split the air. A very human sound, though the words vanished into the storm. My heart lurched at the sound of pain and fear. Becca! My mate was in danger.

  Turning my back on the flier, I raced upstream. The void take our flier, I would let nothing harm my khara.

  Mud slipped under my feet, slowing me as I raced to her rescue. There! Becca lay sprawled on the bank of the river, pulling herself away from the monster standing over her. The humans called these creatures ‘tengers’ and hunters had told me of the threat they posed. Venom that would paralyze a full-grown prytheen, deadly claws and teeth that would threaten the best hunter. A human would be helpless before it.

  If I’d still had the laser rifle one shot would have ended the threat. Unfortunately, whatever remained of it lay smashed somewhere in the mountain rocks. I’d have to deal with this monster without its aid.

  No plan, no weapons, just my strength against its. For Becca, I’d face worse odds gladly. I only hoped that I’d reach it before it harmed her.

  It noticed my charge at the last moment, whipping around to face me. I dodged right, ducked past the writhing tentacles, and rammed my shoulder striking into its side. The impact lifted it, and together we tumbled into the fast-flowing torrent.

  A great paw slashed at me, and I ducked back. Claws the size of knives passed within a finger’s breadth of my face. I struck back, my own claws digging into fur and flesh. Not deep enough to stop it, but enough to give it some respect for me.

  That should have sent it running, looking for easier food. Instead it turned towards me, all claws and teeth and tentacles, trying to finish the fight. I leaped away, trying to reach the shore, and the stream slowed us both. The beast’s next attack caught my left arm, opening deep gashes.

  I snarled at the pain, and my right hand closed on Becca’s improvised spear. Swinging it like a club, I smacked the side of the beast’s head and drove it back. I adjusted my grip and the next swipe struck blade first, cutting a deep gash in the tenger’s side. Tentacles wrapped around the haft, pulling at the spear, but I refused to let go. We struggled in the hip-deep water, pulling this way and that, fighting for control of the weapon.

  Its greater mass would tell soon enough, but I didn’t need to get the spear free. I just needed to push and pull until the tip lined up — there!

  Putting all my weight behind it, I thrust, taking the tenger by surprise. Before it adjusted to the change, the point of the blade struck its side and dug in deep.

  Howling, it let go, tentacles flailing at me. I roared in triumph, ignoring the stinging pain of the venom and twisting the blade. Black blood sprayed from the wound, washing away on the stream, and the animal spasmed and fell.

  Pulling the spear from the tenger’s flesh, I struck again, this time an aimed blow to the animal’s throat. A shudder ran through it once, then it stopped moving, the light going out in its eyes. The fast-moving waters carried the body away from me.

  Only then did I look round to check on Becca. She sat in the mud, a knife held out for defense but — thank the Blue Sun! — she hadn’t waded into the fight. Her eyes were wide, her body shook, but there was no blood. Its claws hadn’t struck her.

  I’d made it in time. My khara was safe. The wave of relief that washed through me almost took me off my feet as I pulled myself out of the stream. Becca looked me up and down, sheathed her blade with trembling fingers, and then punched me in the arm.

  “You ass,” she said. “You nearly died.”

  Tears rolled down her cheeks and I moved to hold her, to tell her everything would be alright. Before the words came, the color ran from her cheeks and she fell backward, her eyes fluttering closed.

  I pulled her from the mud, her body light in my arms. Dark marks on her legs showed where the poison tentacles of the tenger had struck. My blood ran cold as I lowered her to the ground.

  Had I arrived too late after all?

  Her chest rose and fell in slow, shallow breaths. Becca lived, thank the Blue Sun, but for how long? Humans lacked the healing trance of my people, and the tenger’s venom might yet overwhelm her. I had no idea how deadly it was to a human body.

  I’d only just found her. That I might lose her so soon hurt worse than the wounds the beast had inflicted on me.

  Rain pounded down around me as I tore open the survival kit, searching through the supplies inside. Some would not function without power, and I cursed the Taveshi who had drained the batteries. No instant heater to keep us warm, no pop-up shelter to protect us from the storm, no emergency comms that would reach
anywhere on the planet.

  Not that anyone listening could help, anyway.

  The medkit was mostly useless, too. Fully functional, it would analyze a subject and see what medical attention was needed. Without power the scanners did nothing, forcing me to guess which medicines to use.

  I picked up the antivenin injector, looked from it to my human’s injured legs, and growled. The medicine was designed for prytheen use: I didn’t know what effect it would have on a human.

  But her breath was slowing, her pulse almost gone. If I didn’t take a chance, she would certainly die. I pressed the tube to her neck and hit the activator. With a serpent-like hiss, the injector emptied into her.

  Becca moaned, a weak sound, and I held her to me. Prayed I hadn’t made a fatal error, stroked my hand through her wet hair. I’m not sure how long I paused there on the river’s bank, holding the barely breathing body of my khara while the rain pounded us both.

  It was her AI companion that brought me back to myself, fluttering around us both on virtual wings. The steadily rising urgency of its tone finally got through to me and I stood, lifting Becca in my arms.

  “Staying here will achieve nothing,” I told the hologram for want of anyone else to speak to. “I must find shelter if Becca is to recover from her wounds.”

  I needed rest, too. The edges of my vision had a blurred look I recognized — my healing trance called to me, and it was an effort to fight it off. In the long run I’d lose that fight, and Becca had to be somewhere safe when I did. Even if no other predator found us in the storm, the flooding was getting worse. We needed shelter.

  I looked back at where we’d left the flier, just able to make out its dark bulk through the storm. It wavered, the flooding stream carving the land out from under it, and then slid down into the torrent with a crash. I cursed under my breath as the waters claimed it.

  Going back wasn’t an option. That meant heading forward, in amongst the strange alien buildings. I didn’t know what dangers waited for us inside, but better to face them than wait for the storm to wash us away. Becca needed to be dry and warm.

  “Keep an eye out for anywhere we can stay,” I ordered Athena in Galtrade, hoping the AI would take instructions from me. Bound to the computer strapped to my khara’s wrist it couldn’t go far, but an extra set of eyes was still useful.

  Carrying Becca in one arm, I lifted the improvised spear and cursed the loss of my rifle again. This weapon was better than nothing, and keeping a wary eye out for danger, I pressed into the storm.

  Athena fluttered ahead, her form fuzzing to static where the hologram projector struggled against the storm. It seemed to have a destination in mind and lacking a better direction I followed it towards the largest of the buildings, the one set into the mountain. The winds howled around us, the rain pounded down so hard I thought it would bruise me, and I could barely see an arm’s length in front of me.

  “Hopefully the tengers can’t see any better than I can,” I muttered to myself, probing ahead with the spear. Anything might creep up on me in this weather and I wouldn’t know until it was too late. I tried to focus on the path ahead, what little of it I could make out. It wasn’t easy, especially with Becca slung over my shoulder. Even now, it was impossible to ignore the feel of her curves against me. A distraction I couldn’t ignore, but had to.

  It was a relief when I spotted the opening. Athena led me to the steps up the front of the giant temple, and a dark passage into the stone building loomed before us. I moved faster, getting into the cover of the opening and shaking the rainwater off as I caught my breath.

  Athena hooted, pointing deeper into the building, and I considered. On the one hand, it offered us shelter from the storm. On the other, a shelter this good wouldn’t be empty. Something had to live here, making a lair in the comfort of the darkness.

  With luck, this was the tenger’s lair and I’d already slain the threat. But if not, something even more dangerous might wait inside.

  I looked back out into the storm, but all I saw was a sheet of water. The sound drowned out everything, loud enough to deafen. There was no chance I’d make it to another shelter, not with Becca in the condition she was.

  And no guarantee that another shelter would be any safer than this one. Becca needed somewhere to rest and recover. We both did. If I had to face another fight first, better that I face it soon.

  “If there is another tenger in there, we’ll find out how they taste,” I declared to Athena. The AI looked dubious. I didn’t blame it: predators rarely make good food, and ones with venom glands even less so. Nonetheless, if another one tried to make a meal out of my khara, I’d eat it instead.

  Spear at the ready, I stalked down the corridor and deeper into the temple. The deafening storm behind me made it impossible to listen for danger ahead, but it would also hide my approach from anything in here. If I stumbled on a nest of tengers at least I’d have the element of surprise.

  That didn’t make me feel any better about carrying Becca into danger, but I had no choice. Leaving her behind would be even more dangerous. Whatever waited in this temple, we’d face it together.

  Rainwater ran down a channel in the middle of the corridor, a steady clear stream that I followed down and around a turn. I’d expected to need the flashlight from my survival kit, but something lit the tunnel with a faint blueish glow. Bioluminescent fungi, I thought, glad of it. Carrying Becca, the spear, and the flashlight all at once wouldn’t make it easy to fight.

  But nothing attacked me as I pushed on, looking for a good place to tend to my injured khara. And then the passage opened up into a larger space, a huge chamber that must have been dug into the mountain rock. I wondered if it had started as a natural cave; digging out a chamber this size would be a lot of work. It was large enough to contain a small settlement.

  Which it did. Or at least, had.

  I stopped in the entrance, staring for a moment at the scene of devastation before me. Burned-out, ruined huts clustered in the middle of the room, wrecked in some disastrous fire. A faint smell of smoke still hung in the air, but from the look of it the damage had been done many days ago. No one moved in the wreckage.

  Human colonists making a settlement for themselves? I didn’t see why they’d settle here when they’d have had a colony pod to live in, but the only alternative that occurred to me was a native settlement and that seemed even less likely.

  We’d come here looking for signs of civilization, but surely no one who could build a hyperspace relay would live in a place like this?

  Athena hooted, her force-field talons sinking into my shoulder and reminding me I had more urgent things to worry about. The mystery would wait, Becca needed me now.

  A few huts near the edges had survived the fire. I picked the nearest, pushing aside the colorful curtain that covered its entrance with my spear. The room beyond was empty, a small chamber built against the stone wall. The only furnishing was a low, wide wooden bench, or possibly a bed. That would do. I pulled a blanket from the survival pack, the nanofibers activating automatically, inflating it. Even so I wished I had something more padded to soften the surface.

  It would have to do. I put Becca down on it and she moaned weakly, shivering. The rain had soaked her through, and between that and the tenger’s venom her body was far too cold. I didn’t like the fact that she was still unconscious, either.

  “Athena, what is her condition?” I asked the virtual bird. I didn’t know enough about humans to judge — perhaps this was normal for her species?

  No. The concerned noise the AI made and the amount of red in the visual display above its head told me that this wasn’t some kind of normal healing process. Unfortunately, I had no idea what the display meant.

  The basics were obvious, though. Becca was cold, too cold, and her soaking wet clothing did nothing to help with that. Pulling her clothes off, I tried not to damage them more than necessary. The fastenings were unfamiliar to me and the temptation to tear them off was very rea
l, but I resisted.

  My heartbeat quickened as I uncovered her, the beautiful curves of her body so tempting even now. An unfamiliar aching longing filled me as I looked at her, the khara-bond calling out for my mate, pulling me to her. With a snarl at my instincts, I resisted.

  We would be together, we would be one. Fate and the stars decreed it. There was no need to hurry.

  My body disagreed, crying out to touch her, and I had to keep her safe and alive. Taking a towel from the survival kit, I dried the freezing rainwater from her body, tracing Becca’s delicious curves. Once she was dry, I dried myself too. Then I folded myself around her, giving her my body heat and praying that would be enough to help her recover.

  The call of my healing trance was too strong to resist now, and with my beloved in my arms I let it take me.

  12

  Becca

  Darkness and warmth wrapped around me like a comforting blanket and I didn’t worry about where I was. Didn’t worry about anything at all. Strong arms folded around me and I knew that I was safe, even if I couldn’t remember what had happened to me.

  Slowly, other sensations crept into my world. The surface I lay on was hard. The air, chill. My legs ached and itched, and that was what brought me back up to consciousness.

  Ronan’s arms wrapped tight around me, and in my drowsy state that felt right. Comforting. Perfect. I wriggled back against him, enjoying the hardness of his muscles.

  And something else hard, pressed against my backside. For a moment I wriggled happily and then my mind caught up with what I was doing.

  A muffled squeak escaped me as I sat up and pulled away, my face heating. It wasn’t just the fact that I’d snuggled up to Ronan’s hard cock; it was the fact that I liked the touch of it. I wanted more.

  Ronan chuckled as he sat up behind me, and I my blush deepened. At least he wasn’t trying to pull me back against him. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to resist my urges if he did.