Protected by the Alien Warrior Triad

by Corin Cain

  Why didn’t they get sick? Why, why, why?

  My heart pounds faster and faster and I start to feel dizzy with anxiety. Darok sees my fear and wraps his huge arm around me, pulling me close. He seems more certain now – as if he has to be strong to protect me. I know that my vulnerability is bringing out his will to fight – to survive.

  I stare down the waterfall and see a beautiful deer slowly walking into the open. It looks around, as if it fears that something might be near.

  I am not like that deer.

  I clutch the hilt of the dagger. If my triad is unable to defeat the fish-eaters, I’ll not submit easily to the fate their victors have planned for me.

  The deer snuffles against the ground, searching for food. I watch as it reaches forward and nibbles on something. Suddenly, I want to get close to it. I slowly get down from the cliff, moving with tiny movements so that the beautiful creature will not be alerted to my presence.

  Darok watches curiously from on top of the waterfall as I lower myself down.

  I feel like I’m in a trance as I walk towards the beautiful creature. I’m just ten feet away when it suddenly looks up at me and bolts away, and I get a sudden feeling of deep loss.

  I don’t know why I wanted to touch the deer so badly – but now it’s gone, slipping through my fingers like sand.

  Tears spring to my eyes as despair hits me. The deer was just a distraction. I was trying to keep my mind off the horrible inevitability – that my three beloved Aurelians are going to die.

  There’s a small hole from where the deer was looking for food. I stare into it and see a black mushroom. There’s something about it that suddenly makes me pause.

  “Darok, come here,” I shout up. He dives into the water, his body lean and sleek as he slides through the icy water below without even a splash. Eventually, his head breaks the water and he swims over to me. He makes a striking sight as he emerges from the water, the drops sliding down his gorgeous abs and muscles. It’s enough to make me lose my train of thought for a moment.

  I shake my head to get my lustful thoughts from my head. I can remember every precious second of last night, and don’t want to imagine that those might be the last memories we ever make together.

  “Darok, have you seen these before?”

  He shakes his head, looking at the mushroom. I reach forward and pick it up. Suddenly, it bursts into spores – like a balloon filled with powder popping.

  The black spores fill my lungs and I start hacking and coughing. Darok grabs me, picking me up and rushing me away from the spewing mushroom.

  I cough so hard that my vision starts going black. I wretch and hack and cough, and see blood and blackness covering my hand as I pull it from my mouth. My stomach feels horrible – like daggers have been plunged inside of it.

  I suddenly realize something. The deer was eating that mushroom!

  My mind clears as I breathe in fresh air. Suddenly, it all makes sense. The fish-eating triad never got sick because they never ate tainted meat. I didn’t get sick because I was eating beef jerky ever since I came to the jungle planet. It is not a contagion – not a virus or bacteria. It’s a toxin that’s causing this illness.

  The Scorp-Blood tribe needs to move to where the game is healthy, change their diet, or eradicate the mushrooms.

  I smile. I’m going to be able to show the Scorp-Blood tribe that I can help them. I’ll save them, and prove that it was fate that brought me here. Then I suddenly cough hard again, and feel dizzy. The blackness in my eyes increases, and I struggle to stay awake and conscious.

  If I pass out, I can’t show the tribe what happened. Even if Darok tells them the cause of the illness, what if they say it was… It was him that found it… Oh, Gods...

  I feel so dizzy. Darok holds me to his chest as my mind goes blank. I can’t think anymore. I cough harder and harder, gasping for air. I need to stay awake long enough to warn the tribe not to eat the tainted meat, to…

  Darok lays me on my back as I cough harder and harder, and I look up in horror. The sun is nearly at its peak. It blinds my eyes, but I can’t stop staring. The cough wracks me as I spit up blood and blackness from my lungs. Suddenly, I don’t know if I’m dying, or just falling into a deep coma… I suddenly remember the weakest of the Scorp-Blood tribe in the cavern, with their eyes already closed...

  Darkness takes me – and no matter how hard I try to cling to reality, I can’t help but slip away into the blackness.

  No, no, no…

  21

  Hadone

  Diana watches as I duck a blow and tackle Forn to the ground. I’m the best grappler of all of us, but I know deep in my heart that Ton of the fish-eaters is stronger. This will not be a glorious battle. This will be a brutal fight to the death, and we’ll most likely lose.

  The three of them have hated me ever since their woman left them. Her name was Ginger, and she left her tribe for me.

  She haunts me to this day.

  They believed that Ginger left this planet through a portal, because she wanted me, yet could not have me. She did want me – that part is true. Ginger professed her love for me, and when I told her I didn’t return her feelings, she threw herself from a cliff.

  She killed herself, rather than return home.

  I buried her, and yet her face still haunts me to this day.

  It is true what Ton said. She left them because of me. I still feel the guilt every day of my life – bearing the knowledge that I was the cause of her death. Some part of me has been aching to repent for what I did to her all this time.

  Some part of me thinks I should be beaten to a bloody pulp by Ton. Part of me still hurts every night for that woman – not because I had feelings for her, but because the fate she chose and the hole she left in our tribe still haunts me.

  Maybe I should have pretended I loved her – if only so she might still be alive today.

  Fear and horror come through the Bond from Darok. I stop my training instantly. We were all preparing for the battle of our lives, and yet I was not prepared for such raw emotion to come pouring through the Bond.

  “Tammy! Something has happened to her!”

  For much of my life, there was the call of the void reaching out to me – a siren’s song attracting me to oblivion that I’ve constantly had to fight against. Now that I have Tammy, it feels as though I finally want to live again. She brings me back a joy for life, a lust to be alive.

  What if something has happened to her?

  Forn stares, eyes wide as he looks over my shoulder. The sun is hanging high above us and sweat drips from my body. It is nearing the time when we’ll have to do battle for our lives. I turn, and gasp as I see Darok running towards us carrying the limp body of Tammy.

  I can feel his grief through our Bond.

  22

  Forn

  I lean over Tammy, trying to wake her up.

  “What happened to her?” I growl, feeling anger at Darok. He was supposed to keep her safe. If we can’t keep our mate safe, then we are surely not worthy of her. We should die in the battle today if we can’t even guarantee that the future mother of our children will be in good health.

  “She found out the reason we’re sick. There is some sort of poisonous fungus that the animals are eating. That’s why we all got better when we were searching for a new home for our tribe. It’s because we were eating untainted meat.”

  I stare at Darok, realizing that this answer makes perfect sense.

  “But we got too close to the mushroom,” he explains, “and she breathed in its spores… It’s an undiluted dose, and I fear…”

  Hadone clenches his fist. “I deserve this. I deserve this for that dead woman. I kill everyone that loves me, and I deserve nothing but pain.”

  Diana rushes to Tammy’s side. She holds her, crying. I look down at the second human female, feeling immense guilt that I couldn’t keep her friend safe.

  The horn sounds. It’s a deeper horn that the one which is used to annou
nce the presence of Aurelians. It’s the war horn – used only to declare that a battle against another tribe is imminent, or that there will be a fight to the death between members of our own tribe.

  Today, it’s our turn to fight. A fight that we will likely lose.

  I’d thought that if Tammy was on the sidelines, watching me fight, that perhaps she’d cheer me on. I’d hoped that seeing her would buoy my spirits, and grant me strength.

  Now, I do not have even that. My fated mate is going to die, and there is nothing I can do to save her. She died discovering the cause of our people’s sickness.

  If Tammy dies, there’ll be nothing to fight for – and yet the fish-eating triad will claim that because she is dying, and not yet dead, that the fight should still take place.

  According to our traditions, I suppose it should. We will have to fight to the death, because I know we’ll receive no mercy from the fish-eaters. Their hatred for Hadone is too strong.

  Perhaps if they knew the truth of what happened to that human woman, they’d not even care about keeping the battle within the rules of our society. They would attack my triad without even care of banishment.

  Perhaps I can’t blame them – not because I feel Hadone is deserving of such hatred, but because I feel the pain that the fish-eaters must have experienced when they lost their fated-mate.

  I pick up Tammy. She’s so light – like a child. Her eyes are now closed, and she doesn’t breathe easily. Despite being in a coma, she’s unable to maintain the slow breathing rhythm of sleep. Her breath is raspy, instead; each lungful a struggle. I am glad that she’s not awake to feel the torture of her ragged, bloody lungs.

  We walk slowly. Each step of my feet on the soft dirt makes my toes wriggle. I’d ache to feel this soft earth beneath my bare feet for a lifetime, walking hand-in-hand with my mate. Yet now, she has been taken from me – and in a few short minutes, we shall be taken from her.

  We reach the hidden entrance to our tribal caverns, and descend into the darkness below. Together, we walk down the long tunnel until it opens up into the place we’d called home for nearly two centuries – until we were exiled because of our conflict with the fish-eaters.

  And, appropriately enough, there they are. The fish-eaters are waiting for us. Waiting to end us.

  And yet they look at us with shock.

  “You could not even keep her safe? You’re failures – not even fit to be members of the Scorp-Blood tribe.” It’s their leader, Cornal, and his words are scathing.

  “Does she live?” Ton demands.

  “She lives,” I reply.

  “Then we will still fight for her.”

  23

  Forn

  I turn to Chief Rattler. He sits in the place of honor. In front of him, the ancestral fighting ground is open and cleared. Rattler and his triad stare at us without blinking.

  “Tammy found the source of the sickness,” I say, to a chorus of gasps that turn into hacking coughs. A sick Aurelian is about to bite into a haunch of deer, but I rush to him, ripping the meat from his hands.

  “What farce is this?” Yells Cornal, aching to fight us and rip our throats out with his bare hands.

  I show everyone the piece of meat. There is black residue, so faint that unless you were looking for it, you’d never notice.

  I show everyone the piece of meat. There is black residue in the other haunches that had been prepared for mealtime.

  “The meat has tasted rotten ever since the beginning of the sickness. Now I think about it, I remember noticing it – and many others of you have said the same. This is because it’s causing the sickness. Tammy saw a deer eating of a black mushroom, which makes us ill. That’s the reason that our tribe is dying – not a disease, but a poison. We must eradicate the mushroom, and in the meantime, eat only fish like the fish-eater triad. That’s why they never got sick.”

  An idea hits me. I’ll take a gamble, hoping that I can convince my tribe and spare my triad the bloodshed of a losing battle.

  “Tammy was brought to us to save our tribe in our time of need. She is fated to us, but in a bond greater than mere love. We must consult the Orb-God.”

  Ton growls. “You accepted the challenge. You will fight first.”

  I shake my head. “We have the right to consult,” I reply. “That is our tribe’s most sacred rule.”

  Ton growls, but doesn’t protest. Even he must abide by that standard.

  I gently pull Tammy from the ground, grabbing her and holding her tiny form tight against my body. Her harsh breathing breaks my heart with every rasp. It was she who stopped me from seeking audience with the massive, pulsating Orb-God that rules our tribe; and at the time it had been the right thing to do. She was being tested just as the warriors of our tribe are; and she had not yet found the key to solving the mystery of this sickness.

  But now she has – she has proven herself worthy. Having recognized that will be the key to our survival. Without the Orb-God’s judgement and benevolence, we have no chance of finding our fated mates; so even the fish-eaters will respect its demands.

  Benevolence. No, that is not the word. Our God demands violence to prove our worth – a bloody sacrifice, to be given before he allows our people to grow and spread our seed.

  Chief Rattler tries to stand, but he is too weak. “He has the right,” he nods, coughing and wheezing. More of the blackness leaves his lips. It was so simple all this time. The meat of game animals is what has been poisoning my tribe.

  At the end of the cavern is the long pathway to the shrine of our deity. I have seen the Orb-God only twice before, both times to consult it for our future. The thing is huge, dwarfing me and making me feel so small and insignificant in its presence.

  Our Orb-God is a rippling sphere of pure power, floating above the rocks and crackling with barely-constrained energy. It is a thing, a presence – a sentient creature that can show you visions of your future, or smite you down just as easily, depending on its constantly shifting whims.

  Those who have tried to take advantage of our tribe have all been smote down by the Orb-God in the past. Few dare to consult our deity for fear of what could happen if they are judged unworthy. Only those who are truly pure in their purpose – like a triad seeking a fated mate - have the courage and conviction to face the pulsating, sinister entity.

  I now have that courage. In fact, I have no such fear. There is nothing the Orb-God can take from me that the poisoned mushrooms and the fish-eaters are not already threatening to.

  I walk towards the back of the cavern, and the fish-eating triad moves to block my path.

  “You would halt me from my blood-born right to consult our God?”

  “Aye,” says Ton, staring with hatred towards Hadone. “I would. This one will die at my hand first.” He turns to me. “Damn it, put your wench down. I care not for what the Orb-God says. We fight, and we bleed today.”

  I am painfully aware that I have no weapon. My Orb-Dagger is tucked away in Tammy’s robe. I could reach for it, but it would do little against the three full Orb-Blades of the fish-eating triad. Hadone and Darok are unarmed and would be cut down in seconds.

  “She died.”

  Hadone’s voice is cold and emotionless. I can feel nothing from him through the Bond. It is as though his aura is suddenly a piece of ice.

  “Don’t speak in riddles, boy. What do you mean?”

  24

  Hadone

  I hate that I have to dishonor the dead woman’s memory, but I must do whatever it takes to keep Tammy safe.

  I can remember Ginger’s face as she begged me to love her back. We stood on top of the mountain, on a hunting trip far north during the lean times one hundred years ago. My whole tribe was forced out of our jungle home after the game dried up, and we were forced to compete with the northern tribes for resources.

  She’d stood there, with her red hair burning in the sun. Ginger was a beautiful woman- one I’d thought too good for me, with a heart of pure gold. Sh
e’d been taken from some far-off world by the fish-eaters, snatched away by Ton’s triad and her life here had been one of heartbreak ever since. At first, she’d seemed content – but the moment she’d laid eyes on me, she’d never looked away.

  As for me? I felt nothing for her.

  When I refused her, she snapped. I spurned her love, and Ginger threw herself from those cliffs right in front of me. She snuffed out her existence, no longer able to bear the pain of rejection.

  Her loss still haunts me. I used to see her face before I slept every night. Only now, after meeting Tammy, have the horrid visions stopped. I look at Tammy, held so close by Forn, and I know I do not deserve her, either – and yet the fates chose her for me.

  But for how long? She is rasping – her breathing harsh. Tammy is dying. I failed her.

  My whole triad need not die. It is only I that the fish-eaters truly hate.

  “What are you doing, fool?” Telepaths Darok, and his aura pulses with fear for my safety.

  “What I have to,” I whisper, and step into the fighting circle. My mind instantly focuses. When two Aurelians enter the circle, only one ever leaves.

  There are gasps from the rest of the tribe, at least from those who are healthy enough to spare the breath.

  “She died. Your fated mate, Ginger, did not leave you through the portal. She’s not living her life in the city you took her from, back on her home world. She is buried here, in an unmarked grave.”

  “No! No!” Yells Ton, the grief obvious in his face. I hate that I have to say the words so scornfully, but for me to have any chance of defeating him, I’ll have to cause his anger to rise so overwhelmingly that he cannot beat me with skill.

  “She died. She did not love you, Ton. She loved me – and when I told her that I felt nothing for her, she cast herself off the cliffs. I buried her. You don’t hate Darok and Forn. You hate me. It’s I who must pay this price; not my blood-brothers.”