Bhyr

by Penelope Fletcher

  ‘What Lumen thinks no longer matters.’

  ‘Because you got what you wanted and screw what anybody else thinks?’

  He faced me. His gaze left me shivering. ‘You answer your own question.’

  ‘The dizzying heights of your arrogance never ceases to amaze.’

  ‘We return to the nest.’

  I pushed off the wall and straightened. ‘Fine.’

  We walked apart in impenetrable silence until we left the building. He stopped me with a hand to my waist. The next moment, his body trapped mine against the icy wall.

  He glowered at me.

  My arms shoved between us to cross over my breasts, hair whipping across my eyes and neck in the wind. ‘I thought we were leaving.’

  ‘You frustrate me.’

  ‘I haven’t done anything but speak the truth.’ My chin lifted. ‘That it frustrates you is an indication what I’m saying is getting though to the sliver of conscience you have left.’

  ‘I do nothing without thinking it through.’

  I sighed. ‘You’ve lost me.’

  ‘You asked if I was thinking. That bothers me. There were reasons behind the incursion of Od. Many. But the ones most valid matter little to you. You look at them and see oppression. I see… a chance.’

  ‘A chance at what?’

  ‘A new beginning. The L’Odo Chieftain lost trading rights. He could not afford to feed his people. They would have sickened, starved and become animals. I cut that short. I have given the young males a chance to build a better world. In my Empire, they will be safe from predators and free to redevelop their civilisation. They may mould it into whatever they dream.’

  ‘Is that what you wish for?’ Heart hurting, I touched his chin then rubbed along his jaw. ‘A clean slate?’

  He closed his eyes. ‘You see what I inherited.’

  I dropped my hand. ‘Any action that brings an entire species to its knees isn’t well thought out, Bhyr. Regardless of how many good reasons you can come up with.’

  ‘I needed information from Zython’s Avatar’s mate. Either the destruction of Od would earn me Lumen’s favour or scare her enough she’d know not to challenge my will and rile the untrustworthy in my Horde. Either way, I got what I wanted.’ The hand on my waist squeezed. ‘I found you.’

  ‘I understand the practicality of what you did, even if the coldness of it terrifies me. What I don’t understand is why you spared them.’ I gestured the way we’d come. ‘What do you gain?’

  ‘My actions are not uncontrolled. Od needed to be scorched, and there are L’Odo ships in space that would have regrouped had I left it habitable. I decimated the warrior class and kept as many of the neglected as I could gather because I know what it is to belong to a dying race. I would not do that to someone else if I can avoid it.’ He leaned closer. ‘They are diminished, but will recover.’

  ‘Other Firsts eradicated whole species. I’ve read it in your histories.’ Accounts that read like horror novels opposed to great feats of learned sentients. ‘Thousands of years from now, when all this is ancient history, scholars wouldn’t judge you harshly in comparison to them.’

  ‘True, but my ancestors did not know better. I do.’

  I stared, uneasy. Troubled. I understood him so much more than when we first met. I itched to gather him closer, to kiss, but held back, unsure if I was strong enough to handle the baggage that came with him.

  Understanding his motivations didn’t make his past actions any less horrifying or worthy of condemnation.

  ‘What can I do?’ he asked, teeth clenched. ‘Tell me what will make you smile at me.’

  ‘Don’t do it again.’

  He stared, thinking hard.

  ‘Bhyr.’

  ‘I cannot promise this. What if I must?’

  ‘Life is precious, and you treat it as if it’s disposable. It’s not. Don’t do it again.’

  He caught a flyaway skein of my hair and curled it around his finger. His thumb stroked the strands as they slipped free.

  ‘Bhyr?’

  ‘Come. We go.’

  By the time we reached the nest, the night was half gone. Bhyr stalked off to tend to our mounts, while I stoked the fire and peeled off my outerwear.

  I called Cristina.

  ‘Do you have any idea what time it is?’ Heavy-lidded, her hazel eyes glared, braids tucked into a high bun.

  ‘I need to talk to you.’

  She propped her chin in her hand. ‘You don’t say.’

  I climbed into bed. ‘You know how the Horde took us to be their breeders?’

  ‘No, Indie, I missed it.’ She rolled her eyes. ‘Bihter says he picked me because I reminded him of clear skies after a storm. Isn’t that romantic?’

  I stopped fluffing the covers to wrinkle my nose. ‘If Bhyr said that to me I’d gag. Or jump off a cliff.’

  ‘You make me laugh.’

  ‘Uh huh.’ Picking fitfully at a scab on my hand, probably a healing cut from the courtyard earlier, I ducked my head to hide my face. ‘I need to tell you something about a tradition they observe here.’

  She waited with a happy innocence to her expression.

  Avoiding her gaze, I summed up what Bhyr told me and what it might mean for her. Halfway through, I peeked up to see her face again had that vacant, sleepy look to it. Her chin slipped off her palm, startling her fully alert.

  She yawned, jaw cracking and showing uvula.

  ‘Hey!’ I clapped. ‘Am I boring you or something?’

  Batting her thick, black lashes, Cristina sent me a reproachful look. ‘Honestly? Yeah, you are, kinda.’ Her face screwed in concentration. ‘Indie, sweetie, didn’t you already know all that?’

  I stared. ‘What? No.’

  ‘Bihter told me this days ago. Poor thing tore himself up with guilt.’

  ‘Did you know about Od?’

  She winced. ‘Bihter didn’t participate. He wasn’t there. He admitted he would have if he’d been with the First. He worships him.’

  I went up onto my knees. Sat back down and rubbed my face. ‘So you know. And you accepted it all? Just like that?’ I snapped my fingers.

  ‘Of course not. I threw shit. Screamed. Called him a fat dick. The usual. Then I calmed down and listened to what he had to say. We worked past it.’ She shook her head with a bemused smile. ‘What I don’t get is how you don’t know this?’ She chewed her lip, cocked her head. ‘Did you seriously not know?’

  ‘Did I know that the alien who kidnapped me planned to impregnate me, steal my baby, then sacrifice me to a primordial death god?’ My tone was wintry. ‘No, Cristina, I did not know this. If I did know this, guess what, I’d tell you.’ I gave her a fulminating look.

  ‘Boyyy.’ Her head moved back until her neck doubled as a second chin. ‘When the rest of us found out, I guess we assumed you’d know.’

  ‘How?’ I yelled, arms spreading wide in question.

  ‘Don’t you and Bhyr talk? It’s a billion degrees below zero outside, and there’s no video streaming, no internet. What do you do over there all day?’ A funny expression crossed her face. ‘He must be giving it to you good to have you acting this backwards.’

  ‘Cristina.’

  ‘The old you would have sniffed this out from day one. Oh, you like like him.’ She giggled and bounced around like we were still in school gossiping about boys. ‘Yaaas. Finally.’ She stopped dancing and pushed her braids back. ‘Are you bow legged? Is your tongue sore?’ She scrunched her eyes, mouth puckering with sucking noises. ‘I bet he’s got a massive cock.’

  ‘I can’t talk to you when you’re like this.’ I went to cut the connection as she cackled, hand thrown over her belly and open mouth showing wisdom teeth, but she squeaked, ‘Send me a dick pic,’ before the holosphere winked out.

  ‘Degenerate,’ I mumbled, fighting a smile.

  Rough hands thrust through my hair and cradled my scalp. I leaned back against Bhyr and laughed at myself.

  The stress
of the day dissipated and the tension seeped from my muscles.

  Cristina had me pegged.

  Despite the sewer of shit he’d dragged me through that day, I still like liked him.

  Bhyr massaged my head.

  I went limp.

  Turning in his arms, I hooked my arms around his neck. Expression relieved, he bent, and I went up on my toes to meet him halfway.

  26

  Bhyr

  Indira swam with lazy strokes across the hot pool.

  In less of a rush, Bhyr squatted on the rock edge. He rest his elbows on his knees and let his hands fall between his thighs, content to watch her. She’d lit a single lantern and set it in the far corner, leaving the chamber dim. The discordant susurration of the waterfall masked the sound of her movements. Combined with the diffused light, it gave her a surreal look, as if she floated through a mist. His breeder preferred her surroundings hot when she bathed, so had closed the air vents. The cave had become humid, the air soft and close, thick with her salt and sugar scent. Steam wafted from her sleek, dark flesh. Her long hair trailed along her back in inky ribbons.

  Bhyr rumbled in his throat.

  He had seen nothing so pleasing.

  Indira twisted in the water and started back the way she came. She realised she was no longer alone and jerked upright to paddle in place.

  Light sparked off ripples she made in the water.

  Her lips winged into a curved human smile. ‘Hello there, handsome.’ She swam to him, face bright at his presence. It made his chest ache. ‘You coming in?’

  His fingers flicked the water. ‘I bathed at first sun.’

  ‘Ugh, an early riser.’

  ‘Says a sleepy beast,’ he countered with a smile.

  Getting Indira awake and from under the furs before the second sun travelled halfway across the sky was a rare thing.

  She swam to the edge and folded her arms over it, resting her chin on her forearms. Her lips were shiny, eyelashes spiked wetly and her hair plastered to her round scalp. ‘Get in with me, anyway.’ She reached for his knee, fingers walking up his thigh. ‘I bet you’d enjoy this bath more than your first.’ She pushed away from the edge. Water lapped at her breasts and brown nipples.

  ‘Yes.’ He knew he would. ‘But I cannot.’ He softened the refusal by ducking down to graze her mouth with his. ‘Traders arrive soon.’

  She tilted her head, licking her lips. ‘Oh?’

  ‘You wanted floor cushions. The males who come crafted the ones you saw around the Mother Rock.’

  ‘They did? Perfect.’ She straightened her arms, hiked a knee to rest it on the edge and surged up until she could climb from the pool. ‘Hang on. Let me come with you. I want to choose the ones I like.’

  Bhyr made a rough noise, eyes fixed on her body as she dried off with a thin fur she had set aside for the task. She wrapped and tied herself into her clothes in a practiced manner. More than once, his female settled her gaze on him in invitation. He forced himself to walk away, only to hear the peal of her delighted laughter.

  Less than a span later, Bhyr traded his favour for the luxurious furs and pillows his breeder fawned over.

  The males stared at her with eyes shocked to hues of a deep grey. Their gazes flicked to him when she questioned an item’s quality. He remained alert for signs of aggression, but signalled they should answer her as they would him.

  Erd Styng glared for the entire exchange.

  Arj Kryll displayed the least reservations, attending to Indira with consummate care Bhyr appreciated and was sure the male had learned from his own human breeder.

  Vyper, a male Bhyr had little experience with, followed Styng’s lead, seeking approval from an elder, while Arj Grhym stared at her with a longing that bordered painful.

  ‘Why was the short one staring?’ Indira asked after the males left. She plumped the cushions and moved them into an arrangement she said promoted good fengshui, a concept he was not sure he understood despite her varied explanations.

  ‘Arj Grhym lost his breeder during the Testing.’

  Indira stopped. ‘Ah.’ She struggled to speak for a moment. ‘He looked sad.’

  ‘He will survive.’

  Grhym would have had another opportunity in a hundred solars once they raided Earth for the second wave of breeders, but Bhyr now leaned towards a diplomatic solution rather than forcing a new generation of females to leave their homes.

  ‘And the old guy with the missing eye?’ she asked. ‘What was his problem?’

  ‘He is one of our more vocal opponents. He believes Sah Rahm is right to doubt my fitness as Destruction’s priest.’

  ‘Don’t let them get to you. The younger generations support you and the middle generations are leaning towards your way of thinking, right?’

  He nodded.

  ‘Great. Patience, remember? Once the middle generations side with you, the elders will have no choice but to fall in line.’ Indira went to shift a cushion further from the rock pit and almost knocked over his stool. Her attention honed onto the instrument he kept tucked under it. She crouched and trailed her fingers over the carved surface. ‘This is gorgeous. What is it?’

  ‘My luneflute.’

  ‘Oh!’ She picked up the triangle to offer it in both palms. ‘Play for me?’

  Bhyr clasped it, hesitating.

  This facet of himself he had kept private for solars.

  He remembered playing for his father when commanded, but the male had dismissed his proficiency. Ridiculed for the only beautiful thing he could create with his own hands, he’d stopped playing for anyone but himself, and even then, only when the silence of his surroundings became too crushing to endure without physical pain. He now knew what that pain was. It wasn’t a lack of piety as his father had told him.

  It was loneliness, a yearning for his mate.

  ‘Please?’ Her gaze fell to stare with longing at the instrument. Her fingers pressed against the bored note holes. ‘I miss music. I never realised how much it was in my life.’

  Guilt twisted his middle.

  He’d taken her from her musical world. Much like his father had taken his.

  Bhyr nodded his assent, shifting his gaze from the pain dimming hers. ‘Sit.’

  She dragged over a floor cushion and dropped onto it. She placed her pointed chin on her stacked hands.

  He settled on the padded stool built by Drayg, a craftsman of remarkable skill.

  Bhyr brought the mouthpiece to his pursed lips.

  He played a languid, flowing piece he’d favoured as a youngling. The sonorous notes soared from his heart and through the vibrating reed chambers. He played until his dancing fingers cramped and his lungs ached. As the last note faded, he licked his lips.

  Indira’s eyes leaked, face wet until water dripped from her chin. She stared at him as if he were a stranger, her dusky face shades too pale.

  Heart sinking below his stomachs, Bhyr set the luneflute aside. He shifted from the stool onto his knees.

  She shook her head, hands coming up to pat his tense shoulders. They moved to grip the sides of his neck. ‘I’m not hurt. I didn’t expect it to be so moving.’ Her thumbs stroked the sensitive hollows behind his ears. ‘I have chills.’

  ‘You liked it.’ Satisfaction caressed the underside of his flesh.

  ‘Like isn’t the word.’

  He ducked his head and hid his face. ‘I enjoyed myself.’

  ‘Of course you did.’ She chuckled, the sound breathless. ‘Bhyr you’re talented.’

  ‘My compositions are fair, but others play better.’

  ‘I have no one to compare you to, but I suspect you’re being modest.’ She leaned forward, paused, then brushed a kiss to his brow. ‘Thank you. I hope you play again. Soon.’

  Uncomfortable, he rose and set his instrument and stool back to rights. He already thought of what he’d play next. ‘Did you play an instrument?’ He was sure he could fabricate a design similar enough for her enjoyment.

&
nbsp; ‘No, Believe it or not, my hobby was cooking. I was good at it. I considered becoming a chef when I was younger, but decided not to turn my passion into a job.’ She sounded wistful. ‘My kitchen on Earth was a dream. The crowning glory of my home.’

  ‘Kitchen. A place humans prepare meals.’ Bhyr thought cooking a waste of time.

  He supposed as humans needed to process their food into more digestible forms outside their bodies first, it made sense to have a room dedicated to the art. Food had always been plentiful on Vøtkyr. They’d never developed a need for the preparation, preservation or storage of it, though they could do both with innovations from long forgotten Aztekan males. For interstellar journeys, to planets like Vayhalun and Zoi, they kept raw food stuffs in cold chests. For longer intergalactic trips, such as the one to Earth, they took harvests from the bio chambers while aboard the vessel, crops grown to help balance the breathable gasses in the recycled air tanks. On Vøtkyr itself, Bhyr and his people picked food from trees and pulled them from the ground or hunted for meat.

  Simple.

  Humans had a way of complicating things.

  ‘Speaking of food, I’m hungry.’ She stood and approached with a smile. ‘Fancy lunch with me?’

  He nodded and jerked his head in the direction of the cold chest. ‘I will feed you.’

  ‘Ah.’ She caught his arm. ‘I was thinking more of a picnic. Outside. With food we prepare together then, um, eat and digest separately.’

  ‘Why must we eat outside when there is food I gathered for you inside?’ He straightened. ‘Wait. I understand. You wish to look at clouds then put me on my back again, yes?’

  His groin tightened and his tongue swelled.

  Indira cuddled closer, chuckling. ‘I’d planned to snack and enjoy the view, but we could fool around, too.’

  Bhyr carried the food she selected and followed her out the nest, directing her to safer paths when she would have strayed into territories claimed by surlier inhabitants.

  He sat on a rock, bemused at his fascination with his little human.

  She lounged in a sunbeam and ate, making noises of appreciation or dislike, her eyes straying to the scenery in wonder. Light flowed down the clean lines of her face. He’d examined the faces of his warrior brothers’ breeders and found a common theme amongst them. Jewel toned eyes, shiny hair, snubbed, convex noses and rounded cheeks set in triangular faces masked with soft skin. They blended together well as a people. The pinks and browns of their complexions more attractive when contrasted by each other. Yet his female held a strength in her features he found compelling. A look from her left him winded in such a way he wasn’t sure if he wanted to catch his breath. There was never dithering or clumsiness to her actions, but confident grace and meaningful failure.