by Marie Dry
“From that day on it was declared that no warrior will do an upside-down knowing.”
“And you were willing to do that for me.” How did she get this lucky?
“Yes.”
Sarah kissed him. “I think you are wonderful, Zaar. Thank you for doing that for me,” she said softly. She reached up and caressed his cheek.
“You are a lucky breeder to have a warrior like me.” He pulled her down into his arms and drew the pelt over her. “We will sleep now.”
17
Her heart beat sped up. Mary was back in the camp. She’d hoped the young girl had escaped, but she’d known, she’d known it wouldn’t happen. But maybe Charl will find them. They could be a family.
She rushed into the tent. “Mary are you—”
She stood frozen. Red blood was sprayed all over the raider who stood with a bloody blade over Mary’s frail body that was lying like a broken doll on the floor. Her lifeless eyes stared into Sarah’s and even in death she could see the suffering and bitter acceptance in those beautiful eyes. “You’re next,” the raider taunted. Sarah screamed and screamed.
“Human, stop screaming.”
The raider sounded strange, inhuman, but somehow less evil. And that didn’t make sense. They were evil, each and every one of them. And one day she’d find a way to kill them all.
“Breeder, open your eyes.”
Why would the raider call her that? Sarah jerked upright, staring into the face of an alien. No, not an alien. Her alien. Zaar, who’d stopped when she’d become frightened. Who’d given her chocolates and told her a story. Who’d taken her on warrior business because it was important to her. She threw her arms around him and held on for dear life, the teddy bear crushed between their bodies. She was glad to see him. Glad to be out of that camp and away from the evil. As long as he was with her, she was safe.
He slowly put his arms around her and shook her slightly. And this time it did comfort her. “Why did you scream? I do not see a threat.”
Sarah clung harder. “I had a nightmare.” It was a bad memory, but there were many worse ones from her time in the camps. Why did this one haunt her now?
He lifted her off the floor. “What is a nightmare?”
Sarah stared at him. “Don’t Zyrgins dream?” She’d give anything not to have the ability. She was sweaty and warm, but she couldn’t stop shivering. She clung to Zaar who was warm and safe.
“Zyrgins do not dream. I have read about dreaming in the reports on humans.”
Sarah looked around, her mind still trapped in that awful tent. She was in Zaar’s room. Safe in his arms, she told herself over and over. She pressed her nose to his chest, breathed him in to dispel the rank smell of that tent, the pallet thick and familiar beneath her, anchoring her in this moment.
“My doctors tell me dreams are caused by impressions stored in the human brain during the day.”
“I suppose so.” She shrugged.
He produced a silver mug with a flourish. “Coffee for my breeder.”
She sucked in a breath at the aroma she thought she’d never smell again. She’d used up her supply a few weeks ago. She took the coffee from him. “Thank you. I’ve run out and I missed it.”
“It is the only worthy product from Earth.”
“Where is yours?”
He produced another cup with the same flourish. “How do you do that?”
He gulped down the coffee in his mug. “Superior Zyrgin technique. Tell me about nightmares.”
She retrieved a chocolate from under the pallet and after taking off the wrapping, popped it into her mouth. She smoothed the wrapper, then folded it into a square. “Your doctor was right, our subconscious collects information during the day and it manifests in dreams at night. Humans dream all the time.” She shuddered. “And sometimes very bad experiences haunt us in nightmares.”
“Your nightmare made you scream.”
She shrugged, resisting the urge to lean into his touch. “I thought I was back in the camps.” She smoothed her hand over his naked, muscled shoulder. “Your treatment helped a lot. I used to have nightmares every night.”
He stared at her and then pressed her down and covered her with the pelt and handed her the Zaar bear. He sat crosslegged next to her and should’ve looked relaxed and unthreatening, but his mere presence exuded power and danger. That danger reassured her, because he was more dangerous than any evil out there.
“Hunting the eduki started in ancient times. They look much like your bears on Earth used to look like. But they are Zyrgin animals and therefore bigger and stronger, superior to the Earth bears,” he said pointedly and she giggled. She smiled at him and wiggled into a more comfortable position. “Another story?”
“History lesson. They are also very aggressive and seek out prey. They would attack any living thing of any size and kill and eat it.”
Sarah made herself comfortable. She loved listening to his stories. “Are they roaming wild?”
“Now they are in large terraformed areas. In ancient times they roamed everywhere and warriors had to go out and hunt the eduki to keep everyone safe.”
“They must’ve been very brave. Wait, is that why you started to keep women locked up?”
“That was one of the reasons.” He leaned forward. “I killed three edukis with my bare hands, for you.”
“Uhm, you’re very brave?” That seemed to have been the response he obviously expected, because he sat up straight again.
“Zorasiz was a warrior who had showed great bravery from the day he was born.”
Sarah thought about asking how a baby showed great bravery, but if Natalie’s sons were any indication, this Zorasiz could very well have performed some act of bravery a few weeks after his birth.
“Zorasiz desired to take the daughter of the local leader as his breeder. He was brave and respected, but the leader refused his offer.”
“What happened—did he get the woman of his choice in the end?”
“Zorasiz, the hero, was sent out frequently to hunt the eduki that killed the village people. Of all the warriors he had the most kills. On one such a hunt he killed two eduki and lost his spear. A third eduki appeared and he had no choice but to fight the animal with his bare hands. This was not your normal superior Zyrgin eduki—he was even stronger and more cunning and determined to kill the hero of the Zyrgin people.” He described a mind-numbingly detailed battle with the eduki.
Sarah yawned and guiltily clapped her hand over her mouth. She loved the story, but the gory battle details she could’ve done without.
“He brought back the three pelts and the woman could not refuse to be his breeder. From that day forward, a warrior claimed his breeder by fighting an eduki for her with his bare hands and presenting her with the pelt.”
“That’s nice,” she mumbled.
Zaar stared down at his sleeping breeder. Maybe it was a good thing that she fell asleep before he told her the end of the history lesson. Earth females had odd ideas about what they should be allowed to do.
A cunning thought occurred to him. If he gave her a soft bed, she’d be grateful and would want to spend many hours there with him. He’d give her silk bedding things that were made especially for her. He didn’t relish sleeping on it, but only a clever warrior, willing to sacrifice his pelt, would get to spend many hours with his breeder in the sleeping place. Zacar and the other warriors on Earth had reported much success with their willingness to share their breeders’ beds.
He stroked her hair out of her face and placed the teddy bear on the cushion so that would be the first thing she saw when she opened her eyes. It was a good thing that he was an exceptionally handsome alien. If he was ugly, she could’ve gotten a fright waking up to an ugly Zaar teddy bear. The chocolates, Zaar bear, and coffee had pleased Sarah. He would seek more advice from the small human.
Sarah woke feeling groggy, and she yawned and picked up the doll on her cushion. He must’ve put it down there last night during his bedt
ime story. He was nowhere to be seen and she grabbed a pair of jeans and a T-shirt and went to the bathroom. If she lived a million years, she’d never get tired of the luxury of having plenty of hot showers. Fragrant oils were displayed on a shelf; below that hung silver bath towels. Those silver towels had cured her of ever wanting to use cloth towels again.
It should be time for first meal. She was not a fan of Zaar’s habit of waking her at an ungodly hour to eat first meal. She smiled at the intimate ache that reminded her of what they’d done last night.
A perfunctory knock and he walked in. But he seemed distracted while he pressed his forehead against hers. He pulled back her chair, but she had the feeling he did it out of habit, without even realizing. She sat down and stared at the delicious eggs on the plate in front of her. The aroma made her mouth water. They were soft and a bit gooey, so she couldn’t save some of it.
“Is something wrong?” she asked. He’d been unusually quiet.
“Several earthquakes shook Zyrgin last night and many of the dwellings collapsed. My people are calling for your execution.” He said it calmly, without any emotion. As if he didn’t care.
Her life flashed in front of her eyes. Zyrgin speed. She should’ve known everything was going too well. Destiny was messing with her again, just when she thought maybe she was meant to be here to love Zaar and to help the women on this planet have more freedom.
She stood so fast her chair fell over. “What! Are you going to do it?” She stumbled back from him.
“I have to execute you before our water dries up.” His face looked savage, alien, and his eyes remained an endless cold black.
Her legs trembled and her breath shortened. Black spots floated in her vision. This couldn’t be happening. Not after last night. The betrayal made her heart ache. “Please don’t, you can’t mean to kill me. Didn’t last night mean anything to you?” Visions of the basement floated in her mind’s eye. She ran to the door, but it wouldn’t open.
He threw back his head and roared, an unearthly sound that made all the hair on her body stand on end. She slammed her hands against the wall and turned to face him with her back pressed to the door.
As abruptly as he’d started that awful noise he stopped. “I did good teasing my breeder.”
The world tilted around her. Teasing? “What do you mean teasing?” she asked faintly.
“I mean I tell you something that is not true and you are scared and then we laugh and are very close.”
Sarah rubbed her eyes, a tension headache starting to throb in her skull. “You threaten to kill me and you think it’s teasing?” She could barely speak, she was so shaken. But anger was quickly replacing her fear, because if this was his idea of a joke, she might just murder him.
“Yes, we are even closer now,” he said with that arrogance that sometimes amused her and at times like this made her want to grab a weapon from his wall and go for him.
“What?” Maybe she’d lost her mind and this wasn’t real. That must be it—she was dreaming—another horrific nightmare.
“I teased you and now we are closer than ever,” he said again.
“Teased me. Teased me. You call that…that…teasing?”
“Yes. I am superior at teasing my breeder.”
“Don’t you have any sensitivity in you? We made love last night—for the first time in a long time, I had hope that I could have a normal relationship. I thought you cared for me a little.”
“I am a warrior. I am not sensitive and I care for my breeder.”
It would be more convincing if he didn’t refer to her in third person. “Get out.”
He settled his stance. “You do not order me. Even if we are now close, I remain the parenadorz.”
“Get. Out,” she screamed.
“No, we will finish first meal and—”
“Get out right now—right now or I won’t be responsible for my actions.”
He came toward her and despite her struggles he held her head still with his hands and pressed his forehead against hers. He stood like that for a long time.
Sarah tried to struggle. But he was too strong; he wasn’t going to move until he was ready. “I don’t believe this.”
“We will spend many hours in the sleeping place when I return and I will do my superior teasing again.” He poofed out.
Sarah was left alone, tapping her toe, her hands on her hips. “Unbelievable.”
18
Sarah still fumed about his insensitive teasing when a bell sounded and Sarah went to the door. “Open,” she said, hoping that would work. Her next battle would be to convince Zaar that he should give her access to the door. If she didn’t kill him the next time she saw him.
The wall slid apart to reveal a grinning Srinisisa with a stoic warrior standing behind her. “I have permission to spend an hour with you.”
Those words rubbed Sarah the wrong way all over again. How was this any better than the camps if Srinisisa had to ask permission to spend an hour with her? After Zaar’s inhuman teasing, she wasn’t in the mood to be confronted by their arrogance. “Please come in.”
Srinisisa stepped inside while her warrior stood outside. “I have brought you some things for sewing. The Zyrgin told my warrior that you make clothes.” She eyed Sarah’s jeans. “I’d love to have clothes like that.”
“I could make you some.” The words left her without thinking. It was great having someone to visit with, but it was so like her friendship with Julia and Natalie, that her heart physically ached with the longing to be back on Earth. She forced it back and focused on Srinisisa and the present.
Srinisisa bounced on her high heels. Her eyes sparkled. “Really? I told Chamonte and Karinena about it. They’ll want some too.”
Sarah rose and helped her carry the baskets overflowing with material. “I’ll need to measure everyone. And maybe one of the supply ships can bring some recyc cotton.” On Earth, jeans from factories that closed down were sold and either worn or remade into different sizes and styles.
Srinisisa widened her eyes and whispered, “Do you have more episodes?”
Episodes? Sarah frowned, at a loss, but then smiled and fetched her TC.
Resentment at the thought of all the women on this planet, shut inside with only TC entertainment, bubbled inside her. “Do you ever go out shopping or meet the other women for meals?” It had been preying on her mind. That the other women might be as desperate as she to see the sun.
The sparkles died out of Srinisisa’s eyes. “No, we are never allowed to go out alone. If we are on Zyrgin long enough, we may visit each other.”
“Do the Zyrgins have any kind of entertainment?” These are things she should’ve asked Zaar a long time ago. And she would, when she was speaking to him again.
“No. On my home planet we used to have wonderful outdoor performances. There were places to eat and have drinks. But we had nothing like the Earth entertainment.” Srinisisa’s eyes sparkled again. “The Space Ranger is so handsome. And so gallant.”
The impact of Zyrgin conquest on the culture of all these planets had to be debilitating. The sheer horror of it. An awful hollow feeling settled in her stomach. She lived with the man who enforced all these inhuman rules. But with his teasing aside, she couldn’t imagine her life without him anymore.
Srinisisa pocketed her device. “I have to go. My warrior has training soon.”
Something else occurred to Sarah. “Do you have novels here?” The Zyrgins might have ‘superior’ technology, but they had no music and no art. To her that was like having no soul. And yet Zaar told her bedtime stories—the corner of her mouth curved upwards. They sounded more like history lessons, but they were meant as bedtime stories, no matter what her tough warrior said.
Srinisisa stopped, her eyes sparkling. “On my home planet we had holo novels.”
Sarah smiled. “I just happen to have a few novels on my TC. Would you like to read them?” She hit her head with the palm of her hand. “They’re in English—you
won’t be able to understand them.”
“My implant will automatically translate it,” Srinisisa said and walked to the door. “My warrior is waiting for me.” There was something disturbing in those innocent words.
“It was great seeing you. I hope we can visit again,” Sarah said.
Loud knocking and Zaar walked in. Sarah forgot all about the strange tone she’d heard in Srinisisa’s voice. “Out,” he said without looking at Srinisisa.
Her new friend hurried out to the warrior who led her away. Sarah noted his protective hold and relaxed. It was obvious the warrior cared for Srinisisa. She’d have to ask Srinisisa how long they’d been together.
Sarah turned back and glared at Zaar. She still couldn’t believe he’d scare her like that and then laugh that horrific laugh. “Don’t talk to my friends like that.”
“I am the leader of all the known galaxies and soon to be the leader of all the unknown—”
Sarah held up a weary hand. “Never mind.” She’d tackle him about his attitude toward her friend at another time. She just didn’t have the energy now.
“You will not speak of this,” Zaar said.
“Speak of what?” she snapped. Then she wanted to kick herself. She’d planned never to speak to him again after his idea of teasing. She should’ve ignored him from the moment he entered the room. It would be ridiculous to stop talking to him now.
The soft bed,” he said.
She frowned at him. “What soft bed?” If this was some more teasing, so help her she’d brain him with his own weapons.
He pointed behind her. “That soft bed.”
Sarah turned to look at the bed that had appeared out of nowhere. “Where did it come from?” She gasped. It reminded her of the four-poster bed her parents used to sleep on, only this one was bigger and somehow majestic.
“I programmed the jinz izwe,” he said as if that made perfect sense. However, he did it, she loved it. It was beautifully painted with gold and silver. Sarah walked over and looked closer. “Are those swords on the bedposts?” No one could accuse these guys of having overactive imaginations, but still it was beautiful. Not painted as she thought, the pattern was laid down too precisely. He’d probably programmed it. She traced the outlines of the swords. She didn’t want to feel tenderness for him, not when he kept her like a bird in a cage and teased her in that horrible way about their lovemaking that had been so wonderful for her.