"We should go before the sun sets," he said at last.
"You can go. I don't see any point in going on."
"Loraine, you are a star woman. You are stronger than this. Please, we will start a new life together."
"I keep telling you that I'm nothing special, and I can't keep going on like this," she says, "but you should just go if I'm not good enough for you."
"You're being ridiculous," he snapped at her.
Loraine sat up. "Oh, I'm ridiculous? That's fucking rich coming from a guy who's never worn pants in his life! We're on the run because your most likely inbred tribe wants to kill me, so that I can float back up into the sky and somehow get back to my own planet, which they think is some magical place in the clouds no doubt. Fuck off, Raxar."
"I've been careful not to upset you, Loraine. Everything I have done since we met, has been to win your adoration. If you really feel this way, I will leave you alone to navigate your strange and illogical emotions. I'm going to get my club and spear. Shall I bother returning?"
To that … she did not answer, so he went silently and without saying goodbye.
21
-RAXAR-
The brute of a man walked sullenly across the sand, letting his feet drag and make serpent trails in the looming dusk. He hated many things about his own tribe, but at least he understood them. They often failed to understand him, but they were never confusing like Loraine. She had every right to be sad about the passing of her shipmates. But how Raxar should respond to her strange turns of mood—that was the most bewildering thing he had ever encountered.
This star woman, Earth woman, whoever she is, will never think of you as her equal, he thought. Still, it was impossible for him to actually leave her, even if it was only long enough to make the trip to recover their weapons, assuming they hadn't been taken. There were no other Druazz tribes nearby, but it was possible there were other races in the area.
He sat down in a clearing and watch the setting sun slink away behind the horizon. It had never failed to lift his mood in his entire life. There was always a first time for everything. Forlorn and lost, Raxar nearly fell asleep sitting up after the sun had completely gone. He didn't want to move and be forced to choose a new direction, a new path in his life. Could he actually leave Lorraine and return to his people? They would only have him back if he could prove that she was dead. The very idea made him feel heavy, as though the deed had already been done.
With so many things bombarding his relatively simple mind, he didn't notice someone creeping up on him until they had cast a net over his head and begun hitting him with clubs. It was dark, and he could not see well, but the voices were familiar.
22
-LORAINE-
As soon as the sun was nearly down, Loraine began to snap out of her stupor. The fire was out completely, letting billows of smoke whip about in the rising wind that came from the beach. It was getting cold quickly, especially with the orange flames now dead. Loraine thought about what she'd said to Raxar, what he'd said to her in return. No matter how many times she ran the scene over in her mind, it didn't seem right. Things kept changing with each new rendition, up to a point where she wondered if he had done anything wrong at all.
"Why would you say such horrible things to such a simple, selfless guy? You're an idiot." She said it out loud to make sure the words sank into her brain and heart. That part of her felt like a dead weight, yet somehow hollow at the same time. Heavy and without the thing that had made her feel okay about being stuck on this planet nearly a century after she'd been kidnapped from The New Horizon. Shit, Raxar had managed to make her feel more than okay—he had made her feel damn great. Too bad it was too late to keep their new relationship free of arguments. But she could still catch up to him, and he said that he'd come back, didn't he? Now she wasn't so sure what he'd said.
Loraine got up and started to run back down the path. "Raxar?" she called out, her heart fluttering yet still heavy. "Are you still here?!"
"Over here!"
She ran toward the voice without a second though, but it wasn't Raxar. No, he was tied up on the ground and surrounded by shadowed figures.
"Get her," said one of them.
23
-RAXAR-
They were not given a chance to plead their case or argue. Raxar was bound and gagged tightly before they lured Loraine over and pounced upon her. He closed his eyes to avoid seeing her killed, but could not permit himself such a luxury. If this was to be her last moment with him, he could not avert his gaze and leave her even more alone as she died.
He struggled against his ropes, but they were strong, made of the fibers of the urall tree's leaves, which were also used to bind their tools and weapons. Raxar began to scream into his gag but to no avail. Eventually, one of the Hungdar whispered, "Shut him up."
"You should have stayed true to your kin, Raxar," quietly said one of the other Hungdar, kicking down with a chunky heel that caught Raxar right in the face several times. He eventually passed out, trying to scream through a filthy rag.
It was several days travel to get back to the Hungdar village. In that time, the others carried on with their lives as usual, as though they were out on a regular hunting trip. Raxar was only permitted to have his gag removed to eat and drink. Even so, that was only once a day. The two captives were dragged along the whole way on litters made from the sturdy trunks of saplings.
Loraine was treated with more kindness, at least, as the others were mainly afraid of her. This was the only saving grace that kept Raxar from losing his mind for those days. If she had been treated with cruelty or, spirits forbid, injured or tortured in any way—his mind would have surely shut down from the pain and misery of it all. At least he could hear her voice from the litter he'd been tied firmly to.
She called to them to untie her, to put her down. He particularly enjoyed when she questioned the group leader's virility, calling him a 'limp dicked prick' and saying that his wife had never had an orgasm. Naturally, Loraine had to then explain to the older Druazz man what a female orgasm was. Also, "Fuck you!" was a favorite thing for the fiery red head to scream when she grew frustrated at being ignored.
The worst part was how this seemingly endless trip was really a funeral march. Raxar was confident they would not kill him. To waste an excellent hunter when he had not even spilled the blood of a fellow tribal member, that kind of thing was nearly unheard of. However, he knew they would kill Loraine, follow through with their plan to 'send her home.' By the time they reached the Hungdar village, Raxar had almost convinced himself that the spirits could leave their bodies. Out of sheer desperation, he hoped that the star woman would not truly die.
It was the middle of the day when they got back. Raxar was brought before the village leader, Thukger. "You have caused me much duress, young hunter," he told Raxar with the disapproving tone of an estranged father. Loraine was kept alone in isolation.
"Let us pray that the spirits will forgive us," said the spirit walker from beside Thukger. He looked anxious, worried, and had dark rings around his eyes, which he did not move to look upon Raxar directly even once.
"The fate of the star woman has been decided for days. Raxar, now is your one and only chance to prove that you should not share her destiny." Thukger nodded to one of the men who stood nearby, who then went and undid Raxar's gag.
"The only way to appease the spirits for my actions is a fitting sacrifice. You must take my life, but are you truly willing to harm a star woman, physical body or not? You must be mad."
"It has been decided!" said the spirit walker, now turning to face his prodigal pupil directly. "You are correct though, in one regard. We'll kill them both, and the spirits will uplift our curse!"
"What curse? Nothing has happened!" cried out Raxar, but the crowd of Hungdar was cheering and banging the butts of their spear shafts on the hard ground to make a cacophony of sound that overpowered Raxar's pleas.
24
-LORAINE-
/> When two Hungdar men came to take her to another unknown location, Loraine began to shout at them as she had before. "Where are you taking me this time? What have you done with Raxar? The spirits will haunt you, and your children, and their children—until the end of time!"
"No, they won't," said one of the men, "the spirit walker is going to make sure of that."
If she imagined that this was all happening on a documentary on TV, it was almost possible to disconnect from the terrifying reality of death. They brought her before a large crowd, where there was a small hill. At the top of it were large stones that stood upright. They reminded Loraine of obelisks from ancient societies on Earth. There were dark stains on them, and ropes were sitting ready beside them, as well as one person she never expected to be unhappy to see again.
"Raxar! What are you doing here? It's me they want." He was bound to one of the tall stones, and she was tied to the one beside him. "Why would they want to kill you just for leaving? Tell them that you went to get me, that you—"
"They know the truth," he said. "I am sorry, Lorraine. I thought that if I convinced them that killing me was the real answer, they would decide to let you live. You are a star woman, after all, and who could ever hurt such beauty and purity?" A tear was welling in his eye. He didn't try to hide it either. "I love you, Lorraine."
"You stupid … incredible, kind, perfect man. Why did you have to go and say that?"
The crowd began to roar, and the spirit walker approached the raised mound. He held his black blade in his hand. "Raxar. I gave you this knife because I had hoped I would never use it again. You are a fool."
"My whole life, I never realized that you are the real fool, spirit walker." Raxar spat at the old man and bared his teeth.
The old man looked sad but tried to hide it. Making it to old age in this savage society meant knowing when to turn to stone. It looked like he hit Raxar in the throat, then quickly ran the blade across the same spot.
Blood oozed down from the cut and Loraine's heart shattered, while Raxar sputtered and fought against his restraints. He stopped struggling after a minute or two and hung his head down, dead.
"And you, star woman, I am truly sorry you were brought into this. I hope this makes up for all you've gone through." He winked at her, the most cruel thing an executioner could have possibly done.
"Fuck you," she said.
"Maybe if I were a little younger," he replied, raising the black knife in the air and letting its shiny blade glint in the sunlight. The Hungdar were practically rabid with excitement and anticipation. It had supposedly been some time since this had happened. The spirit walker turned to her and cupped his palm to her throat, hard enough that she coughed and nearly started to choke. He brought the blade up to her exposed skin and ran it lightly across.
Loraine couldn't even feel it at first, and the cheers and whooping from the Hungdar filled her mind.
Looking into her eyes, the spirit walker said, "Play dead like your man has, if you want to live."
25
-LORAINE-
It didn't take much for the spirit walker to sneak two dead bodies away without question. He was expected to deal with the executed or sacrificed anyway. Loraine was the only one he could move without help, so he brought her to his ruin on the outskirts of the village first.
"I need to sit down," said the spirit walker after finally dragging her seemingly lifeless corpse all the way there. "This was the stupidest idea I've had in my long life."
"Serves you right," Loraine said. "You could have told us what you were planning, you old bastard." She felt grateful to him for going through the effort to spare them in secret but still could not stop shaking from the built up nerves.
"Let me be," he said. "I have to go back and drag your 'dead' lover all the way here. "You would have only given it away to the crowd if I had told you," said the spirit walker. "Besides, and I don't mind sharing this as it's true—I did not decide what to do until the last few minutes before the killings were due. Now, you can keep that to yourself if you want to spare his feelings."
"You were actually going to do it? So everything until we were tied to those obelisks, that wasn't an act?"
The spirit walker gave her a long, hard glare, a crooked smile on his face. He finally let out a long huff of air and slowly shook his head as he hauled his old body onto his bed.
"When are you going to collect Raxar?" Loraine asked impatiently. "They're going to find out that he's faking it. What if he isn't pretending anymore?"
"Then he's too stupid to live, isn't it?" snapped the old man sharply, then he retired his head to his weathered pillow and closed his eyes.
Loraine could not tolerate this waiting, wondering if something was going to happen to ruin this so-far cleverly executed plan. The fact that she'd played no part in it didn't matter to her. She was a part of the trick now, and she wasn't going to let it be discovered by any of the Hungdar tribe.
"Anyway," the spirit walker said, noting that she could not stop pacing up and down his living area. "I can't move the big brute alone. We will go and collect him under cover of dark."
When it got dark, Loraine wrapped a fur over her to hide her long, red hair, and her slim, very un-Druazz like body. They crept to the mound where Raxar was still tied. Raxar was still there and doing a good job at being a corpse. He was barely able to speak. It might have been because he was feeling emotional and confused about how to express himself. Or, maybe he was just shocked from the whole thing. "You had me believe that you wanted me dead," he said to the old man. "And that you wanted to kill the woman I love."
"The woman you love?" interrupted Loraine with wide eyes sparkling in the glow of the moon above. "Are you sure about that?" She went over to him and kissed him deeply, then undid his ropes and helped the spirit walker drag his corpse.
"Hey!" called out one of the villagers who was finishing expelling his bladder outside. "Who is this, spirit walker? Why does he wear such a strange covering?"
"You question me? Do you want the spirits to be angered again?"
"No, I j—"
"Idiot!" shouted the old man. "Get back in your home and never speak of this to anyone, lest the curse returns and come for you first."
The Hungdar ran back to his cave without saying another word.
"Do you think he'll stay quiet?" Loraine asked.
"If he doesn't—" the spirit walker began to say.
"We'll be far, far away," said Raxar.
26
-LORAINE-
Loraine and Raxar traveled for days, weeks, months. The time on this planet was impossible for her judge correctly, and he'd never been tied to any clock or calendar. Eventually, they began to find remnants of civilization, living in the skeletal remains of what must have been far greater people. It was sad, yet beautiful; new life sprouting up within the very remnants of what had passed.
They didn't find a sky ship or any more escape pods, but owning a regular ship was a beautiful idea to hold on to after a while.
LORAINE SAT on the edge of the dock, just outside a small village they had stopped at for a few days. It was not their intention to settle down anywhere, at least not yet. She'd almost given up hope that their species might have enough similarities to allow them to mate and have children one day. In that case, they would need a permanent home. By the time they found out the truth of their biological compatibility, the idea of having their own boat was too firmly entrenched in both of their minds to give up.
It wouldn't be possible until she was more mobile again. But they wanted to continue exploring this great, crazy planet one day. There were clearly many things to discover. Maybe one day she would find her friend, Talia, and the other crewmembers from The New Horizon and they could have grand adventures together.
Raxar appeared around the cove, piloting their small but seaworthy vessel with a surprising amount of skill. He'd never been on a boat, so he said, but did not have too much trouble bringing their new ship up to th
e dock where Loraine waited.
"Oh, it's perfect, honey! Did you get a good price on it?" she questioned. "Maybe I should have come with you."
"No, I said I could handle it. Besides, you're caring for two now. We can't have you walking into town just to stand around and barter with a particularly fish-smelling ship builder." He stepped off the side of the boat, having tied it to the dock, and went to her. Raxar could not remove the beaming smile on his face every time he looked at his love. Placing his hand on her full, pregnant belly, his grin actually widened.
Loraine smiled and put her hand on his, over her belly, imagining the life they had created swelling up within her being. The new would replace the existing, and that was just the way things went. Nothing was permanent, but love could reign every now and then.
MORE SAVAGE PLANET ACTION!
Savage Planet Book 1
(Book one in this stand alone series introduces The New Horizon and how it was attacked by aliens, then takes you, along with two more potential lovers, to a different part of the savage planet!)
Stranded in a primitive place where violence is a way of life, Talia's only hope is the strange, red alien man who shared the escape pod with her. And this is before she becomes the grand prize in a sacred tournament of death, one in which her new alien lover must compete!
Buy it or read on Kindle Unlimited for free!
Savage Planet Book 3
Savage Planet Caveman Page 10