by A. G. Wilde
The metal looked like gold and as she traced her finger around it Xul raised his hand and brushed her hair behind her ears.
Athena shivered at the feel of his touch and Xul frowned slightly.
“Still cold?”
“No, I—” Athena blinked a few times to clear her thoughts. Just what was she doing?
This was wrong, wasn’t it?
But when she raised her eyes to his and her gaze fell to his lips, a sudden intense feeling rushed over her. What was so wrong about it?
She had no answer.
Raising her head slowly, Athena swallowed hard, her gaze focused on his lips as she drew near to them. She felt Xul stiffen beside her but he didn’t move away.
As their lips touched, what she could only describe as a lightning bolt ran through her spine and she wondered if he felt it too.
His lips were firm against hers and as she ran her tongue over his bottom lip, Xul let out a groan and turned to pin her beneath him.
His tongue forced her mouth open and then he was kissing her.
Athena gasped into his mouth.
His kiss was fierce and butterflies fluttered underneath her eyelids as she opened her mouth to his. He tasted good. So good. So unexpectedly good and she found herself returning his kiss with as much fervor as he was giving her. His tongue was larger than hers and thicker and the way it curved around hers had her moaning underneath him.
As the sound reached his ears, Xul paused to look down at her, his eyes searching hers.
“Why’d you stop?” She croaked. God, that was not something she thought she’d be asking him.
There was conflict in his eyes and he blinked a few times as if trying to sort through his thoughts.
“I should get you a fresh coat and desert flowers to heal your wounds,” he said, his voice hoarse.
She couldn’t hide the disappointment that suddenly flooded her features and Athena just nodded.
Xul gulped as he eased himself off her and grabbed his spear.
“Do not leave the tent,” he said.
Athena nodded, pulling her legs toward herself.
Her nakedness made her feel open and vulnerable and those feelings couldn’t be stronger at this moment.
Grabbing his spear, Xul gave her one final glance before exiting the tent.
* * *
He was gone for what felt like hours but she was sure it wasn’t that long.
In the meantime, Athena had checked her wounds and he was right. She needed some healing or at least some better bandages.
The zehmip skin he’d put outside the tent was now dry and she’d pulled them inside to try and turn them into something more fit for travel.
Cutting small strips to use as thread, she used the metal shrapnel to hack the zehmip coat into a pair of trousers and closed the legs with the thread. She also made a drawstring waist.
Now for the blouse, she had to settle on a poncho type of covering and a wide band to tie her breasts back.
Putting the ensemble on, she was sure she wouldn’t make it to Paris Fashion Week but it would have to do.
The remaining scraps of zehmip skin she used to wrap around a section of the metal shrapnel that she held in her hand. That way, she wouldn’t get cut again.
She’d just decided to lie down again when she heard movement outside the tent.
The suns were still high in the sky so she assumed it was just after midday so no creatures should be messing about, right?
Her mind ran on the invisible snake-dragon thing. Maybe not all creatures.
Grabbing the piece of metal shrapnel, she crouched with it in her hand as the barrier opened and Xul popped his head in, his face coming inches away from the metal edge.
He glanced at the thing, then at her and she could see a small smile grace his features.
Athena gulped and lowered her weapon before scooting to the side.
She eyed him as he entered the tent and put down the zehmip skin he’d fetched. He also had some kind of long rope that looked like he’d made it out of twine.
When he glanced at her again, it seemed he finally noticed she was clothed.
“You’ve been busy,” he said, crouching before her.
Athena didn’t answer.
Was he just going to not talk about what happened earlier?
Well, she could play that game too.
In his hand, he produced the same flowers she’d seen him use on her earlier and he motioned to her that she should give him her leg.
The limb pained as she stretched it out to him and Xul unwrapped the bandage.
Crushing the petals in his hand, he cut a strip of zehmip skin, placed the crushed petals within it, and rewrapped her leg.
He did the same thing to her arm and head.
When he was finished, he turned his back to her and began husking the zehmip stalk.
As she watched him work, what she could only describe as a feeling of rejection hit her like a brick.
Had she done something wrong?
Said something?
Did she smell?
He’d kissed her back. Didn’t that mean he’d wanted to?
Trying to ignore the questions in her mind, she watched him work for a few more seconds before she moved the barrier to gaze out into the desert.
It was so unassuming, the sand out there. One wouldn’t guess the dangers that were hiding out there, some in plain sight.
Something glistened in the distance and Athena squinted.
She was sure she had seen something in the light. But there was nothing. She was about to move her gaze from the spot when she saw something reflect in the light again and her eyes widened.
“Xul,” she whispered, craning her neck a little further. She did see something and it was flying in the distance. It looked like a spaceship. It had to be a spaceship.
“Xul,” she said a little louder. “Are there inhabitants on this planet?”
She heard him pause what he was doing and assumed he was now looking her way.
“Muk is largely undeveloped and the Mukkians are few. But yes,” he said.
“So, they wouldn’t have spaceships, would they?”
In a second, he was beside her.
“Qrak,” he said underneath his breath. Grabbing his spear and the fresh rope he’d made, he glanced back out the barrier.
It was still far away but they could see it better now and it was definitely a spaceship.
“Is that...” Athena’s eyes widened. “That’s not your friends, is it?”
A look at Xul answered her question.
His eyes had gone hard and his jaw was ticking.
“We must move,” he said, “before they spot us.”
He didn’t even wait. She was just able to grab her metal shrapnel before he was pulling her out of the tent by her good arm. As soon as they were out, he collapsed the tent and began heaping sand over it.
Taking the cue, Athena helped him cover the tent and soon he was pulling her by the hand again.
“The food...” She murmured.
“We will have to hunt again later.”
We.
Athena blinked. She’d have to dissect that thought later.
There was a dip in the sand and Xul was pulling her down it. Athena grit her teeth against the pain that was shooting up her leg and ignored it. Her heart was hammering in her chest.
There was only one reason why Xul would be acting like this.
Their captors were after them.
As they ran down the dune, Athena lost her footing and fell on her side, causing Xul to lose his balance as well. There was no way to stop what happened next, and they both slid down the hill of sand to the bottom.
The sand was coarse and grated on her skin. She was sure she was going to have some horrible friction burns later.
As they reached the bottom, Xul was up on his feet in a second, his eyes wild as he glanced around them. Then it looked like he spotted something and, holding her hand, he pulled her to
ward it.
It was a hole in the side of a dune and she heard him mutter something that sounded like a curse as he stepped in it.
It was big enough for him to crouch in and Athena just had to bend her head.
Xul had his spear poised for battle and Athena gripped the metal for reassurance, ready for a fight if they had to. They were ducked into the dark space when she turned her wide eyes on Xul. He was looking at her with his finger on his lips.
Got it.
Be quiet.
Athena almost held her breath as they waited, her ears perked for any sound.
Around them, she noticed the same flowers he’d been using to put on her wounds were growing out of the sand.
She’d have to get some before they left.
The sound of the spacecraft was close now, almost like it was hovering directly above them.
She squeezed the hand that was holding hers and Xul met her gaze.
Maybe they would fly over them and continue searching someplace else.
Please let them fly over and go search—
But then it hit her and Athena inhaled so deeply that her back arched against the walls of the cave.
She knew this pain.
She remembered it.
They’d found them.
17
Her entire body was trembling though there was nothing in her immediate location that was causing the pain. And whoever it was that was holding on to the torture remote wasn’t stopping.
She couldn’t breathe as the fire in her veins threatened to eat her up.
She was going to die.
She was going to die if they didn’t stop it.
In the midst of the pain, the thought crossed her mind that death was probably their intention.
They meant to kill her if she did not show herself.
Athena’s fingers dug into the sand beneath her as her entire body twisted and writhed. She was breaking apart from the inside out.
Her vision went in and out and in those flashes, she saw Xul’s murderous expression as he crouched over her.
He was about to dash outside of their hiding place when she gripped his hand, tears running down her cheeks as she tried to speak through the pain, her body convulsing as it pulsed through her entire frame.
They’d never pressed the button for this long before.
They were trying to kill her.
But if Xul went out, they would kill him too.
She couldn’t allow that.
His mission depended on him getting back into space. He needed to get to the outpost.
If they didn’t find him, then there was a chance the other women still stranded on the ship had a chance to escape back to Earth.
Xul seemed to read her eyes and his expression became even more murderous. Pulling out of her grasp, he dashed out of the hiding spot and into the light.
* * *
The light outside was blinding for a second but Xul didn’t care. They were killing her. He didn’t think she understood what they had done to her while she was unconscious but it was evident the biological microorganisms they’d pumped into her body were still functional, and the Isclits were emitting that signal that made the little organisms destroy their host from the inside out.
As he looked above, the wind generated from the ship’s engine blew sand across him.
He could see their faces.
An Isclit and two of their guards.
Aiming his spear, he could see them snarl at him as he tried to get the trajectory right in his head. He knew where the engine was on the ship. He just had to pierce it and the thing would fall.
He just had to—
The first shot hit him in the side and made him stagger. Gripping the area, he pulled his hand away and it was covered in blood.
He looked up just in time to see them aim at him again, but he managed to dive out of the way, falling to his knees as blood rose in his throat.
They shot again, and this time it caught him in the leg.
Xul roared in pain, as his vision turned red.
He was not going down like this.
Ten years would not end like this.
Grabbing his spear, he pulled back and aimed, throwing the spear through the air with all his strength.
He heard as it pierced through the metal and a stray shot whizzed by his head.
As the ship began to teeter, one of the gator-guards jumped out and began running towards him.
His entire body was in pain, the wounds were deep, but he was not going to die here.
Today was not his day.
A growl from somewhere behind him in the cave made his heart almost stop.
Athena.
She was not safe.
He knew it hadn’t been wise to enter the sand cats’ den but it had been their only choice. The sound of the ship must have woken the beasts up.
As he coughed up more blood, his vision going in and out, he staggered to his feet and tried to head back in her direction.
He could not let her come to harm.
He didn’t know how he felt about her yet but he’d one thing strongly after they’d kissed.
That feeling of possessiveness.
A need to make her his.
It was something he’d been able to fight when they weren’t in danger, but now, now it was coursing through his veins.
“Athena!” He called out. “Run!”
He was just able to see her crawling from the hiding spot when the gator-guard pounced on him from behind and he crashed into the sand.
The thing was strong, gripping his throat as it sunk its teeth into his shoulder.
Xul roared as the pain shot through his arm. Rising on his knees, he gripped the guard between the jaws and forced its mouth apart, freeing himself.
As he continued to stretch the thing’s mouth to the point of ripping the jaws apart, the gator-guard swung its tail, hitting him in the midsection.
He was mildly aware of something brown dashing towards them and was just able to turn, swinging the gator-guard’s body with him and causing the sand cat that had bounded toward them to bury its sharp teeth into the guard’s back.
As the guard released him, Xul saw another small animal running toward the fallen ship.
Athena.
But he had no time to call out to her as he was hit in the head from behind. The other gator-guard had exited the ship and was now digging its sharp claws into his head.
Grasping behind him, Xul grabbed the arms of the guard and launched him over his head. As the guard fell into the sand, a yelp behind him made him turn just in time to see the other gator-guard break the neck of the sand cat. The guard turned to him now and Xul heard a shout to his right.
Turning, he saw Athena running towards him. Her face was covered with blood and the sight alone made his heart wring in his chest.
She was carrying his spear, the ooze of the Isclit dripping from it, and she headed for the guard that had fallen.
Xul nodded.
Dashing for the one in front, he crashed into him headfirst and the guard roared, its head lolling backward.
The exertion made his vision blur and Xul could feel his own blood running from his wounds and coating his body.
He needed to get rid of them.
He needed to at least make sure she was safe, if it was the last thing he did.
He could feel the gator-guard’s blood against his face as his horn impaled the beast. It screamed and thrashed around him, digging its claws deep into his skin as it died.
One more.
He just needed to take out one more and then she would be safe.
Turning, Xul’s vision darkened and he could hear his heart beating in his ears.
Just one more.
He staggered forward, only to fall on his knees.
He was losing too much blood. He could hardly see.
But he needed to protect her.
He needed to.
In the dimness of his vision, he saw a little
body dashing forward, a war cry echoing from her lips as she drove his spear deep into the second gator guard, just sliding low enough in the sand for its tail to miss her.
The guard cried out and clutched at the spear in its chest but the little fighter hung on, pushing it as deep as she could.
Its tail swung again, but this time she wasn’t so lucky.
It hit her head on and she was knocked away into the sand.
Athena...
Xul choked on the blood in his mouth.
Must save...Athena.
Got to save...
Athena.
His vision darkened as her name died on his lips.
18
Athena regained consciousness with a start.
The suns were going down and every bone in her body hurt.
Her wounds were bleeding afresh and dried blood was caked over her face.
Her body trembled as she rose, pain shooting through her frame.
Xul.
She could see him. He was lying face down in the sand.
Her stomach clenched.
Crawling on her hands and knees, she crawled past the gator guard with Xul’s spear still jutting from its chest. The other guard lay crumpled not far from Xul.
“Xul,” she whispered when she reached him
He wasn’t moving and tears were already forming in her eyes.
No. He couldn’t die.
Not now.
“Xul!” With the little strength that she had, she turned him over and her heart caught in her throat.
There was blood everywhere. Coating his body and coating the sand beneath him.
Oh God.
This was all because of her.
He’d have never exited the hiding spot if it hadn’t been for her.
Checking for his pulse, she tried to calm her nerves.
There was something there, but it was faint.
Very faint.
Another sob caught in her throat as she looked about them.
There was nothing but carnage, death, and wilderness.
Glancing back at the ship that had crashed, she realized that it must have blown up while she was unconscious.
Didn’t matter. She’d already managed to kill the Isclit. Hopefully, before he had radioed for backup.
Now, her main priority was Xul.