Axoev didn’t say anything, forcing Darin to look up. His expression was unreadable.
“Just go.” Darin sighed. “I know you have to hunt. Just go do it, but when you get back, you’re going to hold to your word and get me a way home. At this point I don’t care if I have to ride in Wetoo’s crappy ship.”
“Darin, please. I will find a way to—”
“You won’t. You can’t. Sieg explained to me that once a faunsha always a faunsha. That is how your kind punishes those who are gay. You make the outsider take crap so you don’t have to.”
“I do not understand what you are saying.”
“You can have your male lover, but he’ll never be openly accepted by anyone in your clan.” Darin tossed the gourd on the ground and kicked it for good measure. “Let Inin clean her own fucking dishes. I quit!”
Before Axoev could stop him, Darin stomped off. Since he was a lowly sex slave, he didn’t have shoes. This prevented him from going far. The soles of his feet were far tougher now, but he wouldn’t ever be able to get a great distance away from Shadow. He knew his behavior was childish and wouldn’t solve a thing, but he’d been living with the Clan Shadow and sleeping with Axoev for at least three months now. Each day he got better with the ropes, and he was now strong enough to climb up the trees unassisted, but no matter what he did, he would never be accepted. When Axoev asked him to stay, he’d left that part out.
“Stupid fucking system.” Darin had thought it would be idyllic to live in the trees and have such a simple life, but it wasn’t. Not for him. When the children drew closer to him, Darin decided he would go to his tree and pull up the ropes. Maybe he wouldn’t even let them down for Axoev. That would show him. “Yeah, it would show him for about ten minutes because I’ll bet he has another way up.”
Given how strong Axoev was, he could probably grip his hands into the bark and pull himself up without one of the vines.
Climbing up the rope still took a lot out of Darin, but at least now he could manage without collapsing in a heap once he got to the top. Still, he was a little shaky, so he rested in the main room before going to the food area and getting himself something to eat. He considered the balls in the hanging basket. It wasn’t an answer, but it would take the sting of frustration away. After pulling one out, he sniffed it and realized it wasn’t quite ripe yet, so he put it back.
Bored, angry, and ironically horny, Darin went to the railing around the outside and peered in the direction of the spaceport. Home seemed so far away. He wondered what he would tell people happened to him. Explaining why his hair was longer and blonder was easy because of the passage of time, but what would really take some creative spin was the curious tan he’d acquired. Since he’d grown acclimated to the climate, he didn’t wear the top anymore, which just left the swath of fabric around his hips. This allowed him to brown everywhere but his dick and his buttocks. Axoev loved that Darin’s ass was pale. He joked that in the dark, he could always make out Darin because of his bright hair and buns.
“If only it was the two of us, everything would be great. But it’s not.”
Leaving Axoev would be painful because Darin had suspected for a long time now that he was in love with him. He’d been pretty soundly in lust right from the beginning, but love grew when he saw how Axoev was with his people. He was thoughtful, kind, and even with the creeping crud named Nemro, Axoev was slow to anger and quick to forgive. In all the clan, there wasn’t a better man to be the leader.
“But that doesn’t mean I want to hang around and be treated like the leader’s dog.” Hell, Darin didn’t even have things as good as that. Even the mangiest mutt occasionally got tossed a bone. All Darin got was chores, mocking, and things thrown at his balls. Thinking of balls made him reconsider having one of the fermented fruits. It wouldn’t be at its full strength, but it would still taste good.
As he stood there pondering the notion of drinking at what was roughly noon on the planet, he turned his mind to one of his favorite subjects, which was the very symbiotic relationship between the clan and the trees. Without one another, they would die. Somehow, they’d evolved to work together, and it was surprisingly harmonious. The trees gave everything the people needed for life, and in return all they did supported the growth of the forest.
When he’d first seen Sieg at the spaceport, Darin had thought he was a barbarian. Sieg certainly had looked like one with his bulging muscles, deeply bronzed skin, and a weapon strapped across his back. But the reality was they were closer to hippies than war-hardened savages. The only reason they carried weapons was the other areas that didn’t have their kinds of trees hosted things like the man-eating byssangi. Axes and swords were more for defense than offense. About the only thing they did that could even be called remotely warlike was to take faunshas. Even though there hadn’t been a war between clans in a long time, the tradition still lingered wherein one clan would steal a man or two from another clan. However, more often, enslaved men came to them by way of satisfying a debt. Wetoo owed Axoev for saving him from a cuddle bunny.
Though it sounded like something sweet in English, a cuddle bunny was actually an enormous furred snake that constricted its prey. By cuddling them to death and having a face that mimicked that of a rabbit, it had earned a kinder name. The cuddle bunny would bury itself in the dirt with only its head exposed so that it looked like a harmless bunny. Once unsuspecting prey came close, usually in the form of a human who didn’t know better and wanted to pet it, the cuddle bunny would explode out of the ground, holding its meal in powerful jaws while coiling itself around the body.
The furs in Axoev’s sleeping area were from the cuddle bunny he’d killed to protect Wetoo. Axoev said he didn’t want payment, but in Wetoo’s culture, having an unpaid life debt would result in obtaining a less-than-perfect place in heaven should Wetoo die suddenly. And so here Darin was. Darin hadn’t seen a cuddle bunny and didn’t particularly want to. He had even less desire to see a byssangi.
About the only thing he enjoyed besides his nights with Axoev was tending to the flock of kabies. Even after several months he was still enchanted with the idea of moths big enough for men to fly on. And the kabies were sweetly docile. Unlike moths on Earth, these were awake during the day and slept at night. They weren’t attracted to bright lights but instead were attracted to the sap clusters on the shady side of the trees. While they ate, the humans had slowly domesticated them. Rather than keep them penned, they were compelled to stay near to eat from the trees and then drawn to their humans because they were able to provide them with salt, which was vital to their reproduction. All the men carried pouches of salt that they would dissolve into water then offer out to the moths.
The other thing he’d finally figured out was the purpose of the small interior branches with the delicate bulbs. In random areas all over Axoev’s house the things stuck out of the interior wall, nearest to the center of the tree. One night he’d been kneeling next to Axoev while he spoke with his guests when one of the bulbs opened. Inside was a tiny kaby. Its wings slowly unfurled and then it sat on the top of the bulb, gently moving its wings, before it took its first tentative flight. When it landed on Darin’s shoulder, he’d almost burst into tears. It was one of the only nice things that had happened to him up to that point.
Pabb said it was only drinking Darin’s sweat for the salt, but Darin didn’t care. He wanted to keep it, but that wasn’t the way things worked. Eventually, the tiny kaby flew out one of the windows, taking a part of Darin’s heart. From what he’d gathered later, the adult kabies mated, and the females laid their eggs around the upper part of the tree, right above the clan’s homes. The larvae hatched, ate their way into the tree, then pupated by pushing out into the clan’s homes. What looked like a branch was actually part of the pupation part of the kaby lifecycle. The only thing he hadn’t figured out was what the tree got out of the deal. Something, surely, since it wouldn’t attract the kabies to itself if it didn’t.
After a
few days, the pupation branch withered, and Axoev pulled it off then tossed it in the refuse shoot. Everything cycled back on itself. There was probably some trace element in the pupa that the tree needed.
“But I don’t intend to be here long enough to find out what that thing might be.” It had taken three long months for Darin to realize things would never get better for him here. Now that he had come to that conclusion, he was ready to go, even though going would break his heart.
Below, he noticed a flurry of activity. All the members of the clan were running out of the forest carrying ropes. Darin called out, but he was ignored. Despite their clear dismissal of him, he climbed down and followed them anyway. Dread settled low in his belly and ached like a bad meal. Given how peaceful life was in the shadow of the trees, he couldn’t imagine what had everyone’s leather skirts in such a bunch.
But then he realized that perhaps Axoev and the party of men had been successful in their hunt. During the cool months, they went after bigger game, but that wasn’t to say they hadn’t taken down something big if it crossed their path.
Since he was shoeless, Darin’s journey took longer, so when he arrived at the scene, the others had time to cluster around what looked like the edge of an enormous pit.
Excited voices babbled in such a cacophony Darin couldn’t figure out what was going on until he got close to the edge and peered down.
“Axoev!” His heart felt like it had just jumped up from his chest to fill his throat. Axoev was crumpled in a heap thirty feet down an almost eighty-degree embankment. His bronzed skin looked deathly pale compared to the rich, black dirt. At the bottom of the pit was some bizarre creature with three heads wiggling around and spewing some kind of liquid. It was trying to hit Axoev but didn’t have enough range.
“It’s only a matter of time.”
“Time?” Darin looked up at Sieg.
“As it grows from its egg, the lighone digs down into the ground, leaving a layer above. When something heavy enough hits the top, it breaks in, feeding the beast.”
“But it doesn’t have him!” Darin felt like he was the only one interested in saving Axoev.
“It spits a fluid that will rot him where he lays. He’ll melt into the dirt and feed the lower part of the creature. The part you can’t see.”
Transfixed, Darin stood there, waiting desperately for Axoev to lift his head, wave his hand, something that indicated he was alive and conscious. When he stayed still for almost a full minute without a single sign of life, Darin thought he was going to die right on the spot.
“There!” Darin pointed excitedly. “He’s alive.”
Axoev’s head was up. He blinked and looked around. When he realized where he was, he tried to move away, but his arm seemed to be broken. It was difficult to tell exactly what was wrong with him when he was coated with dirt.
“We can save him.” Darin looked at the men gathered there and realized they were afraid. “The beast can’t hit him with whatever it’s spitting.”
“But to climb down…” Sieg shook his head. “The pit walls aren’t solid.”
Even as they stood there, it was clear the pit was enlarging slowly, and by so doing it was going to inevitably slide Axoev close enough for the digestive fluid to hit him. One way or another, the hideous beast was going to get its prey.
“Lower down a rope!” When the men didn’t move fast enough, Darin shoved them aside, grabbed one of the ropes, and lowered it down. Belatedly, he realized he wasn’t strong enough to help pull Axoev up, but he’d get the men to pitch in once Axoev had a hold of the other end. Unfortunately, the rope only hurried along the collapse of the pit, raining down debris on Axoev as it moved him closer to the beast. Worse, whatever injury he had prevented Axoev from hauling himself up.
Yanking the rope away stopped the erosion but left Darin struggling to find a way to get to Axoev. Darin immediately thought of using one of the kabies, but it wouldn’t work. Since Axoev couldn’t pull himself up, it would take two men to get to him. One would have to control the kaby while the other got a sling under Axoev. No kaby was strong enough to hold three men.
In his panic, he remembered the idea he’d had to lower himself from the tree using the box and a rope pulley system.
“Here’s what we’re going to do.”
“Best to leave him. He’ll be in the belly of the beast soon.” Nemro looked down at Axoev and shook his head. He tried to look glum, but Darin swore the son of a bitch was smiling.
“Either help or fuck off.” Darin turned to Sieg and quickly explained what he wanted to do. Sieg didn’t quite understand the mechanics of it, but he was game to do anything he could to save Axoev. So were the others. Axoev wasn’t just their leader. He was their friend.
“He can’t pull himself up,” Sieg pointed out.
“I know. I’m going to use this to make a sling for him.” Darin took off the dreaded skirt of his faunsha outfit and quickly affixed that to the rope. “Now I’m going to cut across sideways. You’re going to keep my weight on you so I don’t collapse the pit.”
Darin didn’t waste time looking down at the lighone. It wasn’t going anywhere. Moreover, it didn’t seem to care that people were clustered around the top of its deadly pit. All it cared about was getting Axoev drenched in stomach acid. Even from his distance away, Darin could smell the noxious, eye-burning goo. In addition to its sickening stench, it looked like something from a nightmare poltergeist film. It was green and sticky like ectoplasm.
Bare naked, Darin took his first step into the pit. Grit tumbled down, but toward the creature since Axoev was thirty feet away.
When Axoev saw Darin, he shook his head. “Don’t! I don’t want to die and take you with me. It would be like killing me twice.”
Damn that even in the most stressful situation, Axoev managed to sound all poetical. Unwilling to stop now, Darin kept his gaze on him. “Yeah, well, I don’t want you to die at all. So I win.” Darin kept right on moving slowly but surely in a long diagonal sweep toward Axoev. His weight was far less than any of the adults present, and none of them had the vested interest in Axoev that Darin did. When confronted with the potential of losing Axoev, his nebulous feelings coalesced and he knew he was in love. There was no going home for him. There was no turning away from Axoev. If he died—but Darin didn’t want to think about that.
When Darin suddenly plummeted right into the side of the pit, he thought he was going to die right there. He had a flash of Axoev’s eyes widening before dirt covered Darin’s head completely. Just as quickly, Sieg pulled on the main anchoring rope, ripping Darin out of the dirt and back up onto the side of the pit. The lighone now spat goo in Darin’s direction, but he was up too high to hit.
Darin took a moment to thank Sieg then continued his perilous journey down into the pit. Each step brought him closer to Axoev, but it also told the beast right where he was. Since the three heads didn’t have eyes, it was obvious the beast was using the vibrations in the dirt to determine the direction of its prey. Every step Darin made caused the three heads to train on him. Darin decided there was an upside to that, too, because it was drawing the creature’s attention away from Axoev.
“Please go back,” Axoev called wearily. “I’m broken.”
“No.” Darin wasn’t going to argue with him.
“You’re risking your life when you wanted to go home.”
“I changed my mind.”
“Why?”
“Because I love you.”
Axoev looked stunned and then smiled rather wanly. “And you tell me this in a lighone pit?”
“My timing sucks, but the feeling remains. And apparently only one of us can be all romantic and poetical.” Darin was so close to Axoev he was almost able to touch him. Just as he reached out, Axoev plunged into the side of the pit. Darin didn’t hesitate. He dove in after him, holding the rope with the sling in one hand while he reached for Axoev with the other. Frantically, Darin pushed the crumbling grit aside. He wanted to scream
with frustration, but all he’d get was a mouth of dirt, so he held his breath and finally grasped Axoev’s hand.
He pulled as hard as he could but couldn’t get Axoev up. Wrenching his head back, he cleared enough room to expose his head and then ordered Sieg to pull.
After what seemed forever, Axoev’s head emerged from the dirt. He wasn’t breathing. Darin struggled to get him up high enough to get the sling on him because even with his new strength, he wasn’t powerful enough to hold him all the way to the top.
“Hold!” By digging his way under Axoev, Darin got the sling under his butt then screamed at Sieg to pull both ropes up and along the edge of the pit.
Slowly, Axoev and Darin rose without having too much grit tumble back down on them. The lighone was spitting wildly but wasn’t even coming close.
When they got to the surface, Axoev was breathing, but he was very deeply battered. Darin freed him of the rope sling and then cleaned his face off as best he could. Darin saw that Axoev’s weapon was still strapped to his back. He untied it and with Sieg’s help got it away from Axoev. He didn’t need that digging in his back while Darin tried to assess the damage. Their leather worker, Hosi, doubled as their doctor, but it was clear the man was out of his depth.
“We need a stretcher—something to carry him back to camp in so I can clean him up and—”
“He can’t lift his weapon.” Nemro was standing back about ten feet. From looking at his perfectly clean hands, it was obvious he hadn’t helped pull on any of the ropes. It was also clear he was happy that Axoev was unable to wield his axe. “If he can’t fight, he can’t lead.”
“And you think you can lead?” Darin picked up the weapon. “Does this mean that now I’m the leader since I can lift it?”
“You’re nothing.” Nemro’s wide, alien gaze bounced between the axe and Darin’s face. He wasn’t backing away, but he was suitably wary.
Enslaved by a Barbarian [Sold! 6] (Siren Publishing Everlasting Classic ManLove) Page 9