by Pelaam
He didn’t need to captain a spaceship. His fruits brought considerable wealth on their own. Add to that the family mine he held equal shares in with his brothers, and he had coffers that overflowed. He did it only as a requirement to serve a mandatory minimum service to his home world.
As far as his last mission had gone, the gems, like the Xyran ship, and been given into the care of the Alphan government. Neither were now of any concern to him.
The human had slipped in and out of consciousness through the afternoon, but by the evening, was sleeping naturally. Both his ship’s physician, and Kele, had expressed grave concerns initially according to the reports he’d read. But, fortunately, with constant care Einian had fought back, and now grew in strength, his sleep natural and healing.
By contrast, Sukh was already recovering well. Nakai had installed Einian into a bedroom off his own, to keep him close by, while the Xyran had rooms in his tower. That was the only truly secure place Nakai had to ensure no one objected to the Xyran even being in the community.
Nakai stroked the bough of a tree before plucking a ripe, red fruit. The thaspan were good to eat straight from the tree with their crisp skin, and juicy flesh beneath. But they could be made into sweet pastries, added to savory dishes, and even made a good drink, warmed and spiced in the cold season. He took a bite and swallowed the sweet juices. As he ate, he considered his personal situation.
For all the wealth he’d accrued, his heart and soul remained poor. He was bereft of the sort of love his brothers shared with the human woman, Mair, who was their joint bondmate. The twins were blessed indeed. An image of Einian came into his mind.
“Nakai! May I speak with you?”
He looked back towards his home at the shout. He sighed. Chua was both a friend and the most excellent manager of his orchards and vineyards, and Nakai truly valued the man for all the work and effort he put in to caring for the estate. But Chua was also officious and opinionated. And those opinions weren’t always harmonious with Nakai’s own.
Chua wore his normal grey robe, and his face bore a deep frown. Nakai was certain he knew what would be agitating Chua. But nothing would sway Nakai from the course he was taking. He took a deep breath and drew himself to his full height.
“Chua. Good day greetings, my friend.”
“Greetings.”
The blunt acknowledgement alerted Nakai to the agitation of his friend. He inclined his head, waiting to hear more. He wasn’t disappointed.
“I’m told there’s a human being cared for by Kele in your private chambers, and a … a…”
As Chua struggled to articulate, Nakai stepped calmly in. “There is also a Xyran being cared for by Kele. However, as much as I regret it, I am keeping him secured in the tower. As much for his safety and comfort as for that of the rest of my household.”
Nakai started to walk away, but a hand on his shoulder stopped him.
“What foolishness is this? A Xyran? Here? Surely he should be a prisoner of the Magistrate at the very least? The military more like. We don’t want their kind here.”
Nakai turned slowly. As much as he liked Chua, the man was so intransigent in his views. He wouldn’t even like what Nakai was going to tell him about the human. Nakai had no intention of trying to explain his ultimate hopes for the Xyran.
“I have taken responsibility for him for the present. I have him secured, and I have men guarding him. Xyrans may be warriors and warlike, but they aren’t fools. He understands why he is here, and knows he is safe only so long as he makes no attempt to escape. He is badly injured. What happens to him when he is deemed healed enough … I have yet to decide.” Nakai rubbed at his chin and watched Chua’s eyes narrow.
“And the human? What of him? Why is he in your quarters?”
“Chua, you, more than any other in my household, know I don’t desire a female mate. Thankfully my brothers have Mair, who loves them equally. They have each fathered twins with her, and are twice blessed by each having a female child. Mair is with child again, so, without doubt, they will not need my seed. That frees me to choose a mate I truly desire.”
“The human?” Chua took a step back, his eyes wide.
“It’s my intention to court him when he’s well.” Nakai kept his voice low and even and did not react to Chua’s scandalized tone.
“If you don’t intend to take a female mate, why even look at a human?” Chua caressed his horns, almost as if preening before Nakai. “They lack anything that makes them attractive in a mate. None have skin as gold like ours, or even horns.”
“You and I obviously see things very differently. This human, to me, is exceptionally attractive. Now, I wish to walk around my vineyard and clear my mind. There are a great many things I have to do, as well as monitor the progress of the human and Xyran. Is there anything pressing I need to know about my estates?”
“No. The estate, as always, is managed very well,” Chua said, standing a little taller as if impugned by Nakai’s words.
“I expect no less with them being in your capable hands, my friend.” Nakai reached to squeeze Chua’s shoulder. The man meant well, even if he oft-times sounded overbearing and could be narrow of mind.
“Thank you, Nakai. I aim to make you proud.”
For a moment, Nakai was certain his friend was about to say more, but instead Chua walked away. Nakai shrugged. If it was something important, Chua would say it. He bit into his fruit, and the sweet juices ran down his throat. With a sudden thought he gathered some more and headed to his vineyard.
He set his fruits down, and walked up and down a couple of rows until he’d selected two big bunches of riparia. They were almost black-skinned, and ready for picking to make into wine. They would also be perfect to eat.
He collected his other fruits and headed back to the house, and into the kitchen. Cook was used to him pottering about and said nothing as he divided the fruits between two bowls and hurried from the kitchen. Nakai left one bowl on a table at the foot of the stairs, and headed up them and along to his quarters.
One of his men stood guard outside. “Good day greetings, Master Nakai.” The guard bowed, and Nakai nodded at him.
“And to you.” Nakai unlocked the doors and went inside. Another guard sat outside an inner door. Lansa had been there since Nakai got up. He was much more of a friend than a servant. They had grown up together, and Nakai couldn’t imagine his life without Lansa in it.
“There’s been no change,” Lansa said. “I check him hourly as Kele said. But he still sleeps. His spirit and body must be exhausted.”
“Indeed.” Nakai looked at his bowl. “I brought him these.”
“Go inside. Perhaps he will wake for you now.”
Nakai opened the door cautiously. The human might be beautiful, but his kind was also emotional and unpredictable. The decline of their home world had created huge rifts between the “haves” and “have nots”. Remembering the almost skeletal frame of the human, this man was clearly a “have not”. Until now. Now you will want for nothing. Except perhaps the Xyran. Then again…
He placed the bowl on the table beside the bed and sat on the edge. He couldn’t resist reaching to caress a smooth cheek. He and Lansa took turns in caring for all the young man’s grooming and personal needs.
With a soft groan, the human opened his eyes, and their beauty took Nakai’s breath away. But he didn’t fail to notice that for the first time since he had been rescued, the human’s eyes were clear and lucid. They opened wide, and the human began to hyperventilate.
“You’re safe. Don’t be afraid. No one here will hurt you.” Nakai crooned the words over and over until the human was breathing almost normally.
“Who are you? Where is this? Where’s Sukh? Is he all right?”
Nakai sat back a little. He didn’t want to sit too close while he saw fear in the entrancing green eyes. He laced his fingers together and laid them in his lap. “Well now,” he said, keeping his voice soft as he would if dealing with any skitt
ish animal. “Let me answer some of your questions. My name is Nakai. I was the captain of the Alphan ship that the Xyran vessel attempted to attack. You are on Planet Alpha, in my home. This room is an annex to my quarters so my personal physician, Kele, can treat your injuries. Now, before I answer more of your questions, I would have you answer a couple of mine.”
“What questions? Am I your prisoner?” The human jutted out his chin, and his voice was guarded, sullen.
Nakai pretended not to notice. “I know you’re human, and I believe your name is Einian. But I’d like to know how you came to be aboard the Xyran ship. You weren’t in the cells, yet you’ve been badly beaten. Please enlighten me.”
The human cocked his head from side to side, as if making up his mind whether to answer or not. The show of bravado vanished as quickly as it came, and he seemed to shrink in on himself. Nakai’s heart ached. He reached to pat the human’s hand.
“I know it will be painful to remember. But the more I know, the easier it will be to keep you here, and safe.”
“My name is Einian. Back on Earth I was part of a traveling group. We made money or got food by performing, singing, dancing, acrobatics, whatever we could. We were betrayed. Sold by our own kind to be sex slaves to the Xyrans.”
“So you were the slave of one of the ship’s officers?”
“Not originally.” Einian’s head dropped forward, hiding his face, and his hair fell around his shoulders.
Nakai had washed and dried the red-gold tresses and longed to run his fingers through them again. “Then what?” he asked.
“We were sold as slaves to Sukh’s tribe. He took me. I didn’t think anyone would want me. Not when there were women, and much stronger men than me. I expected to be used, and then discarded. Sukh is … was … demanding. But he didn’t hurt me or beat me, like I heard happened to others. I didn’t get to say ‘no’. But if I was sore from an intense session, he was … considerate. I grew … very fond of him.”
“And he of you?” Nakai found it hard to picture the Xyran as considerate in any way, but for Einian’s sake he would try.
“I … I believed so. Another Xyran in his tribe was jealous of him. There were always squabbles, and jostling for better places in the tribe hierarchy. Sukh was sent to meet with another Xyran to discuss some kind of tribal treaty. I didn’t really understand, but he took me with him. He didn’t want to leave me behind. He didn’t dare. But his ship was attacked. We were taken as prisoners of Vachir, a captain from a rival Xyran tribe. Sukh thinks he was betrayed.”
“So he was taken and put in the cells?” Nakai dropped his voice to almost a whisper. Einian was shivering, and he didn’t want to distress the human more than was necessary.
Einian nodded. “Vachir took me. Wanted to make me his sex slave. He thought it would be … amusing … if he tried to force Sukh to watch. Sukh attacked him. Vachir’s men beat him, over and over. His leg was bleeding. So much blood. And still he tried to reach Vachir. I struggled, fought Vachir until his temper snapped, and he turned on me. I don’t remember much about my beating.”
Einian covered his face with his hands, and Nakai eased up the bed to take him in a light embrace. “I give you my word you are safe here with me. You will not be forced to do anything against your will.”
A small sob came from Einian, and Nakai tightened his grip. A second sob was followed by another, and then Einian’s whole body convulsed in an outpouring of tears. Nakai rocked the thin form in his arms until the human went limp. He eased back to see Einian was unconscious, the emotional outburst having taken its toll. Nakai laid Einian back on the bed and tucked the blankets around him.
Leaving the room, he hesitated by Lansa. “I’ll have Kele stop by. He got so distraught he fainted.”
“You’re deeply smitten already, aren’t you?”
Lansa’s smile offered sympathy, and Nakai sighed and nodded. “I can’t believe how he makes my heart ache with desire. He’s done nothing, has said nothing. But the moment I touched him, it was as if my spirit bound to his.”
“I don’t know that humans have that spiritual belief.” Lansa scratched a horn.
“Some do, so I have heard. But many lost it during their decline. Not that it matters. I have more than just hoping he comes to look on me as a suitor to deal with.”
“The Xyran?”
Nakai nodded. He rubbed the back of his neck. “He has feelings for the Xyran.”
“Surely he can’t love someone who kept him as a sex slave?” Lansa stared at Nakai wide-eyed.
“He can. He does. I heard it in his voice. Be gentle with him. He’s been mistreated and betrayed more than once. I don’t want him to think ill of us. I’ll return later.”
“Where are you going?” Lansa asked.
Nakai picked up his bowl of fruits. “To visit Sukh. The Xyran.”
To enter his tower, Nakai had to pass through a thick wooden door. Two of his men sat either side of it, and a third sat facing it. All were armed with guns set to stun. He pulled his own key from beneath his robe. The men tensed as he tapped a signal. The correct sequence was tapped back, and he opened the door.
The stone stairs wound upwards, and he passed four more of his men, all armed. At the top was another thick wooden door with another couple of his men. Part of Nakai felt he was being over-cautious. But if the Xyran escaped, or worse yet injured an Alphan, all responsibility was on his shoulders. Better cautious than regretful.
Out of a sense of courtesy, Nakai tapped on the door, and then opened it cautiously. His men came and stood just inside the door, guns ready.
The Xyran lay on the bed, facing a small, thickly barred window. His leg was well wrapped to keep it cushioned following the journey to Nakai’s home. As dangerous as a Xyran could be, such a badly damaged leg meant the man he faced was crippled for now. And if Kele’s diagnosis was correct, he would always have at best a slight limp, something other Xyrans would regard as a weakness, making him a liability, and so drop him considerably down the tribal hierarchy.
“I brought you some fruit,” Nakai said walking toward the bed, as if the Xyran was simply another, more usual, houseguest.
“Why?” Sukh asked, but his gaze flickered briefly to the bowl and its contents as Nakai set it down.
“You may not think so, but you are a guest here.” Nakai indicated his men with a sweep of his hand. “These men are here as much to protect you, as to ensure no one can accuse me of endangering other Alphans by tending to you here.”
“Why? Why am I not rotting in an Alphan prison?”
The Xyran’s tongue flicked out. To Nakai’s shock, the action produced a reaction low in his belly and heat in his groin. He cleared his throat, unwilling to risk his voice sounding husky to the Xyran’s ears. “Firstly, contrary to what propaganda is expounded on your home world, we treat all prisoners equally. Our prisons are clean, dry, and we offer a degree of comfort even to those who have broken our laws. Secondly, since you are injured, you would normally be in a military hospital. As I captained the ship that attacked your vessel, I have the right to ask to be responsible for your care. Thirdly, I did it for Einian.”
That got a reaction from Sukh. His eyes narrowed, and his fingers tightened in the coverlet. Although the Xyran only gave him the briefest glimpse of his true feelings, Nakai hadn’t risen to ship’s captain while maintaining control of his estate without proving his mettle repeatedly.
“What of the human?” Sukh asked.
Nakai made a show of smoothing his robe but watched the Xyran from the corner of his eye. “As you know, despite being badly injured himself, he seemed only concerned that we found and rescued you. I felt such concern should be heeded.”
“The human is soft.”
The hardness of the words was not matched by the Xyran’s tone. If anything he sounded a little gentler, but again Nakai gave no indication he’d noticed. Instead he shrugged, straightening up to look the Xyran in the eye. “On my world compassion is valued. What one
man on his own will fail to accomplish can be achieved if he has the support of those who care.”
“And on mine the strong succeed, the weak fail. Standing is everything. Where you are, your place in the tribe, dictates whether you live or die.”
“Perhaps you should be grateful the human thought enough of your life to make sure you weren’t overlooked. Or you would be dead.” Nakai wasn’t prepared for the derisory snort from the Xyran.
“You call this living? Your physician felt I needed to know I would be crippled for life. The human’s compassion has sentenced me to a living death.”
The reaction was far from what Nakai had expected. He glowered at the Xyran. “Stop feeling sorry for yourself,” Nakai snapped angrily. “You lie there, wallowing in self-pity. The human has barely been conscious since his rescue, and still spoke of you, not of himself. My physician feared Einian would lose his fragile hold on the thread of life. You will recover, and regain all your strength. At worst you will limp. Hardly a living death.”
The Xyran stared at him. Clearly, Nakai’s outburst had taken him by surprise. Nakai opted for a tactical withdrawal while he was still ahead. “I will visit you again. Bring you some books to read.” He reached the door before he was stopped by a shout from the Xyran.
“Nakai!”
It was the first time the Xyran had used his name. Up to now whenever the Xyran had spoken to him, he’d only referred to Nakai as “Alphan”. Nakai turned slowly. “Yes, Sukh?”
The Xyran hesitated, as if unsure of how to react to the use of his name, or of how to phrase what he wished to say. Nakai waited patiently.
“How is the boy? Is he recovering well?”
Nakai allowed himself a slight smile. It was a small victory, but a victory nonetheless. “He is very weak. The beating was brutal. But Kele fears his spirit, as much as his body, was hurt. Do you know of anything I can do that he might like? No matter how small. I will ensure he knows you asked about him.”