by Regine Abel
“Use your slingshots!” I shouted to the other six humans as Dillon and I reached them. “Go left, like Duke, stay out of range, and fire on this side to push it towards Millia.”
“We don’t have ammo,” Scarlet argued, then pointed at the ground. “These rocks are either too big, or way too small.”
A quick glance at them confirmed her statement. On instinct, I crouched down and grabbed a small stone. Using the technique Duke had taught me, I gathered the moisture around it and solidified it into a tear-shaped ice bullet with a sharp tip.
“Oh, that should work!” Dillon said, reaching for it with a big hand peppered with the same freckles that covered his face.
“What are you?” asked the woman called Bethany, wariness and awe mixed in her voice.
“She’s one of the experiments,” Dillon said, his voice tense. “You can question her when we’re done dealing with that damn thing.”
Turning on his heels, he ran up closer to Duke’s general location. I followed in his wake, ignoring Bethany’s question. He stopped a safe distance from the rimurak and fired. His aim was true, and the beast recoiled with a vicious roar. By then, he was almost at the right edge of the boat, dangerously tipping down the end of the vessel.
I frantically made more ice ammo. Slower at first, I quickly managed to make four, five, six at a time. Scarlet shed from her shoulders the blanket she had worn on the boat. She folded it before laying it on the ground for me to put the bullets on. She and two of the other humans also pulled out their slingshots and started firing away. The whole time, I cast furtive glances around us—and especially at the woodsy area in the short distance ahead—afraid that something nasty would come at us from behind.
Our ice pellets provided the extra firepower the valos needed to get the rimurak away from the boat. Zak quickly finished the dome and joined his tribemates who had lured the predator farther away. I continued making ammunition, surprised that the valos didn’t target the head of the creature. They focused on its waist where the tentacles connected in a ring around it, almost forming a skirt. Every time it lunged its toothy mouth at them, the valos repelled it with a barrage of ice shards and balls.
I realized then that, while they kept it distracted that way, the valos were freezing the water surrounding its waist, trying to imprison the creature. Without thinking, I surged forward, taking discrete steps hidden by the noise of battle. As long as I remained quiet, the blind creature wouldn’t notice me.
My stomach dropped with dread when it suddenly spread its tentacles like a fan, and the leaf-like hands at the end fired toxic darts at the valos. I almost cried with relief when they bounced right off their ice-plated armor.
For a moment, I read fear in Duke’s darkened eyes when he finally noticed me skirting the edge of the boat towards the creature. Trying to recapture the emotion I had felt when Shaun had shot Duke, I infused it with my frost and directed it at the water around the rimurak. In seconds, it froze solid, including the few tentacles that had been under—or in contact with—the water. Duke’s fearful expression shifted to a feral grin. The valos focused their fire around the tentacle belt of the creature. It roared in pain and the valos increased their taunting shouts to keep its focus on them as the loudest perceivable threat.
It thrashed to free itself of its frozen cage, but wherever the ice cracked, I poured more frost into it, freeing the valos to put all their energy into defeating the creature. Catching on, our human guests came closer with the ice bullets I had made and, under Dillon’s guidance, targeted the creature’s belt until they ran out. Blood trickled from its waist, first in tiny rivulets and then in free flow.
Extending both arms into bladed spears, Millia lunged for the rimurak. It tried to ensnare her with its tentacles, but swift as the wind, she dodged left, then right before stabbing her ice blade deep into one of its bleeding wounds. The creature shrieked in agony and swiped at the female Hunter. She rolled out of the way on the frozen water then stabbed the predator again with her other blade. The rimurak emitted a startled, gurgling sound. Its upper body shook with a couple of violent tremors, and then it went limp, its tentacles sliding over the frozen surface of the river until their leafy-tips dipped into the water.
All the humans, myself included, shouted in victory, exchanging hugs and pats on the back. The valos gave us strange but amused looks. I half-feared the silly grin on my face would remain permanently stuck there. Even though the valos had done most of the work, or at least the most important share of it, we humans had also fought back. Our contribution had helped turn the tide. For once, we didn’t run from the beast that sought to devour us. Sonhadra wouldn’t defeat us.
After fussing over me to make sure I hadn’t gotten injured, Duke assisted his tribemates in taking care of our kill. Unraveling my frost proved quite harder than creating it. Without the valos’ help, that ‘fish’ would have remained trapped in the frozen section of the river for hours—maybe even days—before the ice thawed. Bethany lamented that the kill should have occurred so far from Utopia. Such a massive beast would have fed the survivors for a couple of weeks if not more.
The valos agreed. To my shock and delight, Millia volunteered to bring them the bottom half of the rimurak, which was entirely edible, minus its brains and vital organs located at its waist. The upper half, a long, toothy tunnel that acted as both mouth and digestive system, would be brought to E’Lek. The creature’s teeth, venom glands, and bones would be of great use to fabricate various items, especially weapons.
In no time at all, Duke built a small raft to which the valos attached the lower half of the rimurak encased in a sheet of ice to prevent it from bleeding into the water and luring more creatures. For now, the waters would be safe as the rimurak’s presence had chased away any other predator from its hunting grounds. I watched Millia leave for Utopia with a slight tinge of worry, but Duke and Zak reassured me. After Toerkel—little baby Teo’s father—Millia was their best Hunter. She could handle herself.
We unraveled the dome from the boat. While its contents had been roughed up by the attack, nothing appeared to be missing or to have gotten damaged. With much relief, we cleaned the mess and brought the printer onboard while Duke and Zak repaired the boat. Under the warm sun still high in the sky, we completed our journey back to E’Lek with no further mishaps.
The humans couldn’t quite understand why the valos would have gone through the trouble of bringing that food to the settlement and why they bothered with the head of the rimurak. I explained how they didn’t believe in waste. Since they didn’t eat, even with the addition of seven more humans, we could never eat all this food without growing sick of it. Poor Lydia still had plenty of orzarix steaks left from the time the giant beast had attacked them months ago.
The sun hung low in the sky by the time we reached E’Lek. Our return provoked a mixed set of emotions. Thrill at us bringing enough casings for all the iced tribemates, worry at the absence of Millia and the presence of so many humans. The valos observed the newcomers with curiosity and fascination at their incredibly diverse and exotic looks, from Scarlet and Dillon’s red hair and freckled faces to Jason’s pitch-black hair and tattooed face and neck. Despite the blanket snuggly wrapped around him, I could guess his arms and torso, too, were covered in ink.
Before I could even ask, Jaan reassured me that Amber and her Fire Valos had safely reached E’Lek a few hours after we had left for the wreckages. They’d stayed for a couple of days to sort everything out and had been quite disappointed not to see me before their departure. It saddened me not to have given Amber a proper farewell. She had been the leader of our little band of survivors before Lucie took us in. Knowing they had survived the monster and the blizzard warmed my heart. Hopefully, their own mission would prove as successful as ours was shaping up to be.
After Zak and Duke gave the valos a quick update on what had transpired during our mission, they herded our new guests to the lower city, which I had yet to visit myself. A stairca
se near the entrance of the city led us down to the mouth of a cave unlike anything I had ever seen before. I imagined the Mines of Moria from “The Lord of the Rings” would have looked like that with intricate, glowing carvings around the arched doorway. The same beautiful, illuminated latticework decorated the white stone walls within, while large glow stones on pedestals provided a soft, welcoming light to the spacious rooms. The circular greeting hall opened into a long hallway. On the left, an imposing meeting room with tables and a fitted kitchen welcomed us. Duke explained he had added the kitchen upon Lydia’s arrival a few months back.
Past a couple of storage rooms, a winding corridor led us to multiple bedrooms. Enough for each one of them to have their own, except for Bethany and Frederick who would share one. None of them had doors, and the beds resembled the ones found in ice hotels in northern countries on Earth. A carved slab of ice constituted the mattress, covered with a thick fur. I wondered how comfortable they would prove to be.
Duke reassured all the humans that doors would be fitted to their rooms and softer cushions would be provided for their mattresses. The pool-sized hot spring at the end of the hallway took my breath away—and that of all the other humans. The sculpted walls and ceilings would put the Sistine Chapel to shame. I had previously admired Ky’s artwork but never fully understood its extent. A giant-sized carving of Lydia sitting in a sea of iwaki flowers with her pet Cutie cradled on her lap looked over the pool. My fellow humans squealed with delight when Lydia told them they could use it to bathe until permanent housing arrangements could be devised for them.
I couldn’t deny a certain pang of envy. But even where I stood at the entrance of the room, the heat made me feel indisposed. Duke led me back to his house and chilled his own roman bath for me while the others bathed in Lydia’s romantic hot spring getaway. The lower-city contained five levels, the others inaccessible without the aid of a valo to create an elevator similar to the one Duke had made to get us up the cliff. The lower levels were dedicated to crafting and storing the ore and gems the valos had gathered for the Creators before their departure. Duke also told me they had built a shrine there to the deceased valos. He would give me a proper tour at another time.
E’Lek buzzed with activity. While we bathed, the Hunters prepared us a feast fit for a king, the Builders worked on providing the bedrooms with privacy, and the Crafters prepared comfortable bedding, warm clothes, coats, and footwear for the new residents. When I expressed concerns to Duke that his people might resent the burden we gave them, he laughed, telling me that the valos were excited to have a purpose. Three valos had volunteered to spend the night teaching the newcomers their language while they slept. For this reason, the humans had agreed to share three bedrooms, two groups of two and one group of three for that night only.
Those not busy helping the newcomers settle in prepared for an expedition back to the Luxlan Cave to heal the iced tribes. Millia arrived almost three hours after us under the blessing of the Northern Lights. Without breaking stride, she immediately joined the efforts of preparing for almost immediate departure to the cave. I admired the tireless energy of the valos, but above all, I understood her eagerness to be reunited with her twin. How horrible it must have been, having regained her emotions for months and wondering what had become of her sibling. And then finding out his location only to be told he couldn’t be awakened without putting his life at risk.
That night, in spite of his eagerness to join the others who left right away for the Luxlan Cave, Duke stayed in E’Lek with me so that I could have a good night’s sleep first. After getting my hoo-hah pounded into oblivion by my lover over the past three days, I had expected him to come at me with everything he had. But nope, not tonight. This time, we didn’t have sex, we made love. With my delicate constitution, I’d never expected to enjoy rough sex, especially not with a partner as physically strong as Duke. And yet, every time he unleashed his passion on me, my toes curled and I saw stars. I doubted any other man could have pulled it off. As little as I knew him, I trusted him with my life.
While I had grown to crave the rough but controlled way in which he took me, Duke proved just as skillful as a soft and gentle lover. He had me speaking in tongues simply with the expert use of his own on my clit. When he refused to stop feasting on me, upon my request to reciprocate, I finally convinced him to do a sixty-nine instead. My man tasted good. With his cold skin, going down on him felt like gorging on a lime-flavored Popsicle. The flatter head of his cock and the rippling ridges along its length had thrown me for a loop the first time I’d seen it, but the way they felt inside me had me throbbing with need.
His single, larger-than-human-male’s testicle still fascinated me. To my delight, I’d discovered that Duke was particularly sensitive having his ball sucked and nibbled on. I had barely begun licking it while stroking him, when a hungry growl rose behind me. The room spun around as he flipped me off of him and onto my side. Before I could recognize which way was up, he pulled my back to his chest, spooning me. His hard shaft slipped into me, filling the painfully hollow sensation that had been torturing my core. I leaned my head back onto his shoulder with an ecstatic moan.
Duke cocooned me within his embrace, and I never felt more cherished than in that instant. The cold, hard muscles of his chest on my back made me feel both weak and protected. I could die happy in his arms. My lover took me in slow, gentle thrusts, the fingers of one hand worshipping my clit, while the palm of the other venerated my breasts. Liquid fire ran through my veins, setting me ablaze. Only Duke’s cold aura saved me from instant combustion. When not busy whispering words of affection in my ear, his lips trailed a path down my nape and along the curve of my shoulder, interspersed with gentle nips and grazing of his teeth. Duke made me climax twice more, adding his voice to mine on the second one.
He didn’t pull out of me after spending his seed, drawing me even deeper into his embrace. “Sleep, my Kira. I am here with you,” he whispered.
Chapter 13
DUKE
Morning came at long last. With my mate fully rested and properly fed, and with Lydia taking charge of the humans, we raced to the Luxlan Cave. Waiting for the night to end had driven me to the brink of insanity. However illogical, I wanted to be at the cave. We couldn’t awaken my mother for at least two weeks. Although my titanium casing still didn’t appear to cause any allergic reaction, we would first test the new casings on the least infected of the dormant tribes. Once awakened, we couldn’t replace their casings until the infection had been purged from their systems and the flesh around the hole had fully healed. That meant days and, in some cases, weeks.
Entering the cave gave me a sickening sense of dread. Countless numbers of my brothers and sisters lay down on operating tables, their lifeless eyes staring at the ceiling while other people messed with their heartstones. Thankfully, this time our own people performed those procedures and with far different motives. Still, my stomach churned and roiled as I descended the three steps into the main area.
No doubt sensing my distress, my mate slipped her dainty hand into mine and squeezed. I turned my head to face her. The tenderness and compassion in her eyes soothed the dull ache that squeezed my heartstone. My chest swelled with a feeling I had never truly expected to experience. Yet, here she was, my Snow Spirit, my mate, my beautiful Kira. Who would have thought that one day, this frail looking stranger from the stars would save the other half of my people? Drawing her closer, I tucked her under my arm. She leaned into me, her arm wrapping around my waist.
We stopped by Coelvek’s table. Although conscious, he stared off in the distance, watching time go by until he could be reunited with the seat of his soul. For all its cruelty, the absence of one’s heartstone did provide a sense of peace. No more worries or fears, no more unattainable desires, anger, jealousy or impatience, just an acceptance of what was.
Kira leaned over Coelvek, her hands covered in surgical gloves she had taken from the farmasee of the wreckage. She fingered t
he edges around his chest hole, observing his face for any reaction. My own chest swelled with pride as the valos watched her with trusting eyes. My female didn’t realize that she had unequivocally earned her place among us and in the heartstones of my people. I had sung her praises to all who would listen for her heroic contribution during our mission, but it was the Hunters’ retelling of how Kira had frozen and shattered the evil human Shon, how she’d saved my life with her healing skills, and then how she had trapped the rimurak with greater frost power than any of us possessed, that left the tribe in awe.
Since mating, Qaezul and Lydia had enhanced each other with their respective abilities. I didn’t know yet if Kira had changed me, but her frost power had clearly increased. I suspected that as our bond strengthened and, with the blessing of the Ancestors, if she consented to become my mate before all of Sonhadra, our blood exchange to seal our union would significantly enhance us both like it had our friends.
“The flesh is healthy,” Kira said, drawing me out of my musings. “I see no signs of inflammation left. It’s very clean, like yours had been when we swapped your casing,” she added, looking sideways at me.
“It was our assessment, too, that he seemed healthy enough to receive the new casing,” Lorvek said. “We were just worried that it might be our impatience speaking.”
Kira smiled in understanding, and I curbed the urge to caress her snowy hair. I always felt an irrepressible need to touch her. Lydia had warned me how humans liked their space and I certainly didn’t want to drive Kira away by invading hers too much. The thought of life without her to call mine made my chest burn like my heartstone would combust any minute.
“I feel confident that it is safe to proceed,” Kira said.
Grinning from ear to ear, Lorvek stepped aside as Zak placed the casing inside Coelvek’s chest. It slipped in without resistance, fitting snugly into the hole. Kira exhaled loudly the breath she’d been holding. This earned her even more approving glances that she didn’t notice, too focused on the well-being of her patient. Watching her interact with Coelvek, inquiring about how he felt about the new casing, if he felt any pain, the ease with which she had slipped into the healer role told me she had once been great as a nerse in the past.