by Elin Wyn
“I’ll tell you,” Joe said. “See, back when our lovely Nesta was six, oomph.” He grunted as I hit him in the head with some mud from where a water spigot had recently been discharged.
“Don’t you dare!” I shouted, laughing at the look on his face.
That started a small mud fight. It wasn’t something we should have done as adults, but it was fun. I was aiming another ball of mud at Joe when a glob of mud hit me on the left cheek.
I looked over to see Sylor standing there, clean somehow, with a handful of mud and a smirk on his face. “Oh, you ass.” I said as I threw my glob at him. He barely moved, but it was just enough to make me miss. He threw his handful at me and I hit the ground to avoid it.
The mud fight lasted a few more minutes before we finally called a stop to it. We were all laughing as we looked at one another. Topan had gotten the worst of it from how he looked. He was covered from head to toe in mud.
When one of the women, I think her name was Sophie or something, came over and took a bit of food off his plate and ate it, she cracked, “Mmm, you taste good.” We all burst out laughing even more, Sylor most of all.
I was happy to see that he hadn’t gotten away clean. He looked as if he had been hit by most of the mudslinging. His green skin mixed in well with what he was covered with.
I walked over. “You look good for a dirty guy,” I joked. I cleaned a bit of dirt from his cheek and gave him a quick kiss.
I wrapped my arms around his neck, forcing him down to my level. I kissed him. He tasted sweet.
“This was fun,” he whispered to me when we separated.
“Yeah, it was.” I laid my head against his chest and held him close. We slowly began to move back and forth. After a moment, I heard a slight hum. It was coming from Sylor. It sounded like he was humming a song as we moved.
We were dancing. I sank even more into his arms and let his muscles carry me back and forth.
“Aww, you two are so cute,” one of the older kids said as she walked by. “But, can you help out? Sheesh.”
Sylor and I looked at one another and burst out into laughter. We kissed quickly, then pulled apart and got back to cleaning up.
A few hours later, everything and everyone was cleaned up. Topan found us as we were getting ready to leave. “You’re not leaving, are you?”
“Well, it’s getting to be a bit late,” I said.
“Oh, come on. You finally introduce us to your boyfriend, he beats everyone in a food fight, and now you want to just take off?” Topan shook his head, grabbed me by the hand, and pulled me back to the party. “I don’t think so. We got something we need to talk about.”
“What about?” I asked as I pulled Sylor with me.
“Give me a second,” Topan said. He led us to the center of the party where a stage had been hastily constructed. He pulled us onto the stage. “Can I have your attention?!” he called out to everyone.
The conversations died down quickly as everyone turned their attention to us. Topan smiled as he looked at us.
“Now, I was never Nesta’s biggest fan,” he started with a gentle elbow in my shoulder. “But I think she’s managed to prove all of us wrong. She’s shown herself to be strong, intelligent, and a pretty good judge of character. I mean,” he cleared his throat, “she chose Florina to be her second instead of me, so that has to tell you something.”
“Yeah, that you suck as a leader,” Joe shouted from a far corner. The crowd laughed and Topan nodded.
“Alright, alright. There’s a minor point there,” he said to another chorus of laughter and comments. “But! But at least she was smart enough to include me in her decision council, so, like I said, she’s shown her intelligence.”
“She felt sorry for you!” Sam shouted.
I stepped forward. “No, I didn’t. He’s got a good head on his shoulders, especially now that we’re trying to be legit. He’s a terrible criminal, but a pretty decent good guy.” I put my hand on his shoulder and smiled at him. He nodded his thanks.
“But, that’s not why I brought her on the stage tonight,” Topan continued. “I brought her up here to thank her for helping us find our way.” Whatever he tried to say next was drowned out by the cheers and applause. I felt a bit embarrassed by that adulation. I didn’t deserve it.
“Now, I’m willing to bet that she’s currently thinking that she doesn’t deserve this,” Topan said as the cheering died down. “But she would be wrong. She deserves all of this and so much more. As would her boyfriend, our new friend, Sylor!”
Everyone started cheering again. I looked up at Sylor and swore that I saw his cheeks darken. Was he blushing?
“This man has taken our rough and annoying Nesta and turned her into a fantastic person that we all like. Now, we’ve all admitted at one time or another that Nesta’s a beautiful woman, but we all knew that there wasn’t anyone down here that could handle her.” That brought laughter and a few groans. “Okay, okay, awkward moment. Sorry,” Topan apologized. “But, what I’m trying to say is this…” he turned to look at us. “Thank you, both of you. If you, Sylor, had not come into her life, she would not have matured and grown like she has. And you, Nesta, if you hadn’t already been strong and stubborn as shit, we’d be falling apart instead of on a path to a better life.”
The cheering overwhelmed the warren as Topan hugged the both of us.
“One last thing…Nesta is in charge of Sabre, and Sylor is hereby our newest member!”
The party went on for a few more hours before Sylor and I were finally able to sneak away. We made it back home, me leaning against his arm as my eyes got heavier and heavier.
“That was fun,” Sylor said as he opened the door.
“It was,” I said through a yawn.
“You’re tired?” he asked.
I nodded, too tired to answer.
“Hmm. I thought we’d be able to ‘celebrate’ my inclusion into Sabre,” he whispered in my ear as his hands started to travel up and down my body. My exhaustion was replaced with desire and I moved my head so our lips could meet.
I was home, and enjoying every second of it.
Letter from Elin
With every book I realized the world of Ankau is larger and more complicated than I originally dreamed!
Nesta and her underground weren’t part of the original plan, but when I started wondering how we’d get past the Puppet Master’s dome, I realized we had three options:
Over
Though
Or Under….
Now that the dome is gone, life will be easy for our valiant heroes, right?
*snerk*
You know me better than that.
The Puppet Master isn’t defeated. But the crisis we’ll be dealing with in Iq’her is closer to home.
Much, much closer.
Keep reading for a sneak peek, or get it on Amazon now!
XOXO,
Elin
Iq’her: Sneak Peek
Iq’her
General Rouhr let out a deep breath, sat back in his chair, and closed his eyes. “Estimates on how long our food supplies will last?”
“Unknown, sir. This could simply be a blight that is temporary or this could be the result of something far more sinister,” I answered. “When Sylor killed the first set of vines, the numbers increased by nearly nineteen percent. In the subsequent weeks, with all of the vines making the dome now destroyed, the numbers had increased at an alarming rate of just over thirty-seven percent. More than a third of the plants on this continent, half of which were used for food, were either dying or dead.”
“How quickly will that affect us?” Rouhr asked.
This would create a problem of nearly apocalyptic proportions before too long. During the near year that we’d been a part of the population, I’d noticed that many humans knew next to nothing of proper distribution, use, and storage of their perishable goods.
Of course, I was a bit biased and perhaps a bit spoiled. While living on the Vengeanc
e, the food simulators were capable of taking the most basic of edible materials and could turn them into meals.
The simulators could take two tons of materials and feed sixty full grown Valorni three meals a day for an entire year. The simulators aboard the Aurora were even more efficient.
However, there was a slight problem.
“If I were to put a timeframe to it, I would say at current levels of consumption and loss, less than a year.”
He let out a groan that sounded as though he had just been struck in the chest. “This is not something that I wanted to have to deal with,” he said quietly. He never mumbled, but I wondered if he had said those words more for himself than for me. He looked up at me and rubbed his hands together. “So, what are your suggestions?”
“There are only two reasonable courses of action that we have, sir.” I sighed. “For long term stability, both will require investigating if the Puppet Master is involved or not. We need to understand the connection between those vines and the rest of the planet’s ecosystem.”
“Tell me.” He pursed his lips.
“Rationing, or finding ways to create new and more efficient simulators.”
He cocked his head to the side. “Could we build enough simulators?”
I shook my head. “Even if we used every system from the Aurora, as well as every computer system in all of Nyheim and Duvest, we would not be able to create enough simulators to feed the entire population. We would be forced to eliminate nearly eleven percent of the population in order to feed them.”
“And that’s obviously a terrible plan.” Rouhr sighed and shook his head. “What we need is to follow your original suggestion of rationing.” He clicked a button on his office comm unit. “Tobias?”
Nothing.
Another click, and static answered.
“This thing hasn’t worked properly all week,” Rouhr muttered. “What does it take for a general to have working hardware?”
“Would you like me to take a look, sir?” I offered.
“No,” he waved the offer away. “I know resources are still tight. Everyone is doing the best they can, there’s just too much to do. I’ll wait my turn.”
He stabbed the button again.
“Sir?” finally came the response.
“Bring me the records of our city-wide food stores, if you please,” Rouhr ordered.
“Will do, sir,” Tobias’ enthusiastic voice answered. I smiled at Tobias’ optimistic nature. He had taken the tragedy that came with our arrival in stride.
“With the amount of food we have available, and I’m guessing based on the reports I read last week,” Rouhr started. “We’re going to have to share some of our food with the small settlements, and we still might not have enough.”
“No, sir, we won’t. At least not in the long run. If every major city donates food to help out the smaller settlements, we will still only make it through a year,” I explained.
“I know.” He sighed. “But, it will help the smaller settlements stay alive, and that is what we need to focus on. We need to find a way to save everyone, if possible.”
“And if it’s not possible, sir?”
“I’m not going to think about that for now,” he answered. “Let’s concentrate on right now and what we can do to fix all of this.”
I nodded.
Tobias brought in the reports that Rouhr requested and we spent the next hour reviewing them with Vidia.
Finally, face tight with strain, Vidia looked up.
“There’s really only one way to handle this, isn’t there.”
Rouhr wrapped his hand over hers and nodded. “Rationing. There’s no choice.”
Decision made, Vidia nodded sharply and rose. “I’ll start telling people, and start contacting the other cities. This affects us all.”
She left, Tobias in her wake, noting down the list items she’d already started making in her head.
“What about us, sir?”
He sighed. “You and the teams are going to need to be on patrol to make sure that first, the Puppet Master doesn’t decide to stir up more trouble, and second, the people don’t start to riot. And then we’ll need to coordinate with the other settlements, arrange for distribution. You may need to set up guards for the food drops, just in case.”
I nodded in understanding. It was the only reasonable way to proceed.
As soon as Vidia and Rouhr announced that we would need to start rationing, people would become upset. They would start demanding answers, and without any immediate answers to give, those upset people would then become angry.
Angry people weren’t likely to listen to reason or take kindly to being asked for patience.
Rouhr reached for the desk comm. “Attention all strike teams. Effective immediately, we are instituting a mandatory rationing system. I repeat, effective immediately, we are instituting a mandatory rationing system. Meet immediately for details--”
Tobias rushed into the office, face white.
“Sir! The message… Your desk comm...”
Rouhr stopped. “What about it.”
The human male swallowed, then again. “It didn’t broadcast to just the strike teams channel.”
Srell.
“Where. Did. It. Go?” Rouhr asked, every word falling like a stone into the silence.
“City wide emergency broadcast,” Tobias whispered. “All over Nyheim.”
“Srell.” we said in unison.
“You better get out there,” Rouhr commanded. “I’ll contact the other teams to let them know immediately.”
“Yes, sir,” I said. I left his office and headed for the armory. I was going to need some protection.
Stasia
“CHUG! CHUG! CHUG!” Everyone screamed as they banged the bottom of their glasses against the counter. Roddik was standing on top of the counter, waving both arms in the air as he enticed the crowd.
Only when he was satisfied with the noise, the window panes already rattling in their frames, did he bring his beer up to his mouth. With the expertise of a man that was used to drinking far too much, he downed his pint glass in no more than two seconds.
The bar exploded with applause and congratulatory whistles, and the bartender went as far as handing Roddik a congratulatory free pitcher of beer. That wasn’t a good idea, the way I saw it, but what I could do? I was more than tired of playing the responsible-older-sister part, and it wasn’t like Roddik listened to anything I said anyway.
Ventil was one of those hole-in-the-wall bars that seemed to be impermeable to whatever happened in the real world, and even a giant alien invasion hadn’t been enough for the owner to close its doors. No more than a watering hole, it still was my brother’s favorite place in the whole city.
“C’mon, Stasia.” He laughed, climbing down from the counter and draping one arm over my shoulder. “Cheer up, will ya? The vines are gone, the sun is finally shining again...have a drink and put a smile on your face.”
“I’m having a drink.” I held up my own beer. “And I am smiling.” At that, I forced my lips to curl up and showed Roddik what must’ve looked like a snarl.
With a dismissive laugh, he pulled me closer to him.
“You should really lighten up, sis.”
“Yeah, well, it’s hard to lighten up after working double-shifts all week long,” I said, but Roddik was no longer paying attention.
He, along with all the other men in the bar, had turned toward the various screens that lined the far wall of the room. The screens had been turned off just moments ago but, all of a sudden, they lit up with the city’s emblem and the word STANDBY glowing under it.
“Attention, attention,” a raspy deep voice boomed through the speakers mounted next to the screens. As for the image, it remained the same, the word STANDBY replaced with PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT. “Ladies and gentlemen of Nyhiem. We’ve just been told that effective immediately, we are instituting a mandatory rationing system. I repeat, effective immediately, we are instituting a mandat
ory rationing system.”
When the announcement ended, there was no more raucous laughter inside Ventil. Instead, there was just a deep silence, one that was fraught with tension. What were the city officials thinking?
The whole city was still reeling from the vine incident, and now they mandated a rationing system out of the blue?
“This is fucking bullshit,” Roddik spat, slamming his glass down on the counter. The foam tumbled over the rim, splattering on the greasy metal counter and making a few of the men pulls their elbows back. Roddik grit his teeth hard, a furious expression on his face, and pointed toward the dark screens. “Who the hell do these people think they are? Food rationing? We were going hungry just a week ago!”
While most of the men nodded their agreement, I merely sighed. Roddik had never really cared about pretty much anything, let alone politics or government. That changed after the Xathi invasion, and his political rants were a constant reminder of how much life had changed in Nyhiem.
“Damn right, Roddik!” A burly man shouted from the other end of the bar, wiping the beer foam from his beard with the back of his hand. “We’re not their alien soldiers. We’re not their subjects!”
“Damn right we’re not!” Another voice said.
“They didn’t even care to tell us why,” another protested, and it didn’t take long before the bar was housing a chorus of protests and complaints against the sudden rationing system.
The dome had cut all of Nyhiem supply lines for long enough for most people in this bar had gotten to know hunger intimately. Now that the vines had been driven back, most people were looking forward to resuming their normal lives. This so-called public announcement really threw a wrench into those plans.
“Tell you what,” Roddik started, climbing up on the counter. This time, though, no one was chanting. The mood was somber, and I could already see that it’d become even more so in the days to come. “I’ve had it with these fucking assholes!” Roddik cried out at the top of his lungs, a vein throbbing on his forehead. The crowd shouted out its agreement, and I simply sunk deeper into my seat.