by Maia Starr
“How many?” came the Vithohn’s sudden, unfinished question.
I looked up at him, blinking in surprise as his sudden desire to speak. Suddenly my mouth went dry and sticky.
“How many…” I repeated slowly and then looked up to meet his eyes before quickly looking away. “What?”
He swallowed nervously and kept staring at me. “How many humans?”
“Just me and Wi—” I began to say my friend's name but then thought better of finishing it, in case he could use it against her somehow. He kept staring at me, and I started to feel like an idiot, so foolishly finished, “Just me and Willow.”
“And the man in the cave?” the Vithohn asked with a cocked brow, resting his chin in his palm as he sat in front of the fire: elbow rested on thickly armored thigh.
“We don’t know him,” I lied, trying to sound firm.
I sounded like a mouse.
“Still stickin’ with that, huh?” he said: his English perfect, yet somehow muddled with a strange alien accent. “I’m impressed.”
I set my jaw and looked away from him, feeling the heat of the fire leave the side of my face I had turned.
“Where was she going, if there were only two of you?” he asked, still looking bored.
She was going up to our village to get help, but I didn’t want him to know that. I struggled to come up with a lie and knew that too much time had already passed since he’d asked the question. Now whatever came out of my mouth would probably sound forced or untrue.
“There’s an herb on the side of the mountain called lilandra. It’s said to have healing properties,” I nipped.
Outside, I was trying to be laser-focused. Inside, I was giving myself a million air high-fives. Good lie, Reina. Good lie.
“Is that right?” he said slowly. “Rumor has it there are hidden packs of you people.” He waved a regal hand my way. “Hiding out, just waiting to take your planet back.”
“You fought in the war?” I asked, changing the subject.
“Of course,” he said, curiously, staring me down. “Didn’t you?”
I blinked quickly and felt slightly taken aback by the question. I must have had an ‘are you stupid?’ look on my face, because he began to get agitated.
“No,” I said flatly. “I wasn’t born yet.”
“How very odd,” he said, more to himself than to me.
“How old are you?” I asked.
He pursed his lips, deciding whether or not to answer me most likely, and then seemed to roll with it. “I’m not sure, exactly.”
“That’s weird,” I half-scoffed.
“Why are you talking to me?” he demanded suddenly.
“I’m… not a big fan of silence,” I shrugged. “Besides, you were the one who started talking to me.”
“Huh,” he puttered out before standing from the wet rock he was seated on. I could see the spring dew and bits of grass still stuck to his armor as he walked around the fire.
“Willow says I’m too stupid to stay quiet,” I offered, splaying my hands out in front of me.
“Maybe she’s right,” he said slowly, walking by me and turning his back.
I could use his turning as an opportunity to run, I thought, but I probably wouldn’t get very far.
He stopped in his tracks and turned to look at me. The way he did, it seemed ominous. He was really looking at me: studying the every curve of me.
I shied away, staring down at my feet and the orange light from the fire that reflected onto them, but then I raised my chin and met his eyes, feeling defiant.
He had long, pointed ears and muscular body. The Vithohn were known for their smooth-textured skin and the plates of bone that cascaded horizontally around their faces.
The creature had strong cheekbones, brown skin with a green patch of flesh that colored in a large spot across his left eye. There were dots of black and yellow skin discoloration that dotted down his nose and across his cheek, all the way up to his ear.
Like a tribal tattoo.
He had more yellow, green, and black markings up his jawline and down the rest of his body. Smooth horns that fled backward and down into a limp spire.
“What’s your name?” I asked, brazenly.
His eyes watched mine: studied me as he winced. Then he said, “Oron.”
“I’m Reina,” I said.
“I’m taking you back to my Voth commander,” he said, as though we were still introducing ourselves.
“It’s generally customary to change your tone if you’re going to say something offensive,” I snapped, looking away from him once more.
“No comment about your soon-to-be home?” he asked, bemused as he moved his neck back in surprise.
“Have you run into other humans before?” I asked, ignoring him.
A smile slid up Oron’s face and seemed to settle there as a cocky chuckle left his lips. “Why are you ignoring me? I said I’m taking you back to the Vithohn.”
“Oh, that?” I said, finally feeling strong. “I’m ignoring that because it’s not happening.”
“Really?” he asked.
I nodded, and my voice went high as I repeated, “Really.”
“And what do you think is going to help you get away, exactly?” Oron said, drawing a hand back into his thick, black hair.
“Unlike you, I’ve lived in the wild my entire life,” I argued. “I’ve lived in the forests for twenty years. Something tells me you just got here.”
“And you think you’ll… what? Run away?” he mocked. “What, suddenly you have nothing to say?”
I wanted to spit at him. I wanted to tell him I killed one Vithohn and I wasn’t afraid to try again.
But I said nothing.
Our conversation ended there and for a while he just watched me. It was uncomfortable at first, and then I got the eerie feeling he was… checking me out?
The way his eyes roved about my body and the suddenly strange and familiar look he got on his face as he watched me was unnerving and then alluring. If only for a second.
We went to sleep that night on the cold ground. I could feel the mud beneath the grassy, wet surface had turned warm, offering a slight reprieve from the cool night air.
I pressed my body into the ground, thankful not to be tied up, as I had been in the nights before.
Previously, I’d been tied to a tree: a thick rope encompassing my body against the massive bark.
Now Oron sat up most of the night watching me instead.
I pretended to sleep, hoping he might doze off and give me a chance to run, but instead, he tended to the fire and made quiet sighs. He must have been exhausted.
Unless the Vithohn didn’t sleep.
What the hell did I know about them?
My heart lilted for one moment when I heard him stand and march around the fire, then it sped up when I felt him come near me.
I could feel him near me: that ghostly feeling when you can’t see someone, but you can feel that something has invaded your airspace. He leaned down and touched my hair, almost causing me to flinch.
He rubbed a long, blonde strand between his fingers and then lay it gently back down against my face.
I didn’t sleep for the rest of the night.
The next day we walked for hours without food, deeper into the dense, impossible forest.
“Here,” Oron said, pulling my hand into his oversized, armored palm. He swallowed hard and squeezed me, bringing me into a large clearing at the edge of the forest.
I looked around and saw a roadway. My brow plucked up at the sight of it, and I wondered if this was going to be the part where he killed me and tossed me into the dirty ditch at the side of the road.
Then I realized what we had been walking towards: an abandoned Ixu.
The Ixu speeder was a fifth-generation hovering vehicle that could bring you a far distance in a matter of moments. I’d seen one in a junk heap once, with my father. We fixed it up and made use of it around the mountain, but eventually tr
aded it with a traveler for medical supplies.
“You found an Ixu?” I asked, squirming my hand away from his and inspecting the speeder.
“Yeah,” he said with a quick, nervous exhale. “I’ve been repairing it for some time now.”
I looked around the area and realized it was a makeshift camp. His, no doubt. A fire pit had been carved out and secured with stones, a dagger, a wooden shelter like a tipi, and a station for hanging and drying skinned game.
It was then I realized that Oron, my reluctant captor, had been scoping these grounds for a while now and was probably more familiar with the area than I’d first thought.
He’d probably been watching Matthew, as well.
My stomach sank at that, and I tried not to change my demeanor too much.
“Did you get it to run?” I asked, running my hand along the handles and kicking the thrusters.
“Nope,” he said slowly, letting the P in his word pop off his lips.
I didn’t believe him. I smiled at him as I circled the vehicle and suddenly realized the one tactic I hadn’t even thought to use since being taken.
“I can help you,” I said, curving my body around the vehicle. “I used to fix them,” I offered.
“Is that right?” he flirted back. “And why would you want to help me?”
“To be honest?” I said with a forced laugh. “If I have to stay with you, I’d like not to be walking all day long. At least we can get this wrapped up a little quicker.”
I hoisted a leg over the seat and set my hands on the thrusters. “What’s wrong with it?” I asked.
He swallowed, and his eyes flicked up, watching me carefully. Then, in a show of submission, the Vithohn smiled and opened the hood of the vehicle.
“It’s almost up and running,” he said quickly. “Just a few wires need to be connected. Have a look for yourself.”
I looked over the wires under the hood, knowing all of them were connected. I smiled at him and cocked a coy brow.
“Are you trying to trick me?” I said flirtatiously.
I knew he was. The thing was ready to roll, but there was no way he wanted me to know that.
“Why would I be trying to do that?”
“Oh,” I said, breathlessly, “Maybe so that I won’t do... this.”
Within an instant, my foot hit the thrusters and I was forced into the distance, leaving the Vithohn behind me.
I wanted to let out a wicked laugh and announce: “I WIN! I WIN! I WIN!” but even if I had the guts to do it, the sharp, strong wind would have prevented me from opening my mouth without getting a throat full of air.
The speeder careened into down the trail, back towards my giant mountain town, which I could still see in the distance.
Things were finally going my way, I thought too soon. And then reality set it: I hadn’t gotten away with it after all. That much was clear and became all the more startling as I saw wild creatures running alongside the speeder.
Without warning, one of them attacked the speeder, getting run over and burning itself on one of the thrusters in the process.
I went tumbling over, screaming and yelping at the top of my lungs as the speeder flew away from me with a loud THWOOSH sound.
“Holy shit!” I cursed to myself, shielding my head with my arms as I went rolling into a collection of junk, housing scraps, and debris that was in a giant pile in the middle of the red clearing.
I looked up and realized there were more Vithohn with their dozens of eyes and sharp tails, slapping hard against the dusty pink ground, kicking up a cloud of colored smoke that made it both hard to breathe and see.
My lungs felt cakey, slick with the red dust, and I burst into a fit of coughs that made my eyes water and widen. Then I felt one of the creatures slither its tail around me.
One whipped me from side to side, like an animal does to confuse its kill and break its neck.
I was in no mood to be treated like an animal.
And luckily, I didn’t have to.
Just as I felt like my bones were going to twist and break, Oron was at my side, letting out a terrifying cry that made all the creatures stand up on their tales.
“Grab the Ixu!” he shouted, ravenously attacking the creatures with his claws.
I saw Oron’s tentacle begin to pulsate and glow, but whatever he was trying to do wasn’t working.
Still, he pulled out a laser pistol and began firing wildly at them, just as I had some days ago.
I scrambled forward and tried desperately to flip the Ixu, my hands shaking and sweating. I screamed out in frustration, unable to make my hands do what I wanted them to: like being in a dream where your hands are mush, and you can’t seem to move any of your fingers.
One of the pink, slimy creatures bared its many fangs to Oron and seethed acidic drool: splashing him on the shoulder and eliciting a loud gasp from him, like sucking air through teeth.
I flipped the Ixu and sat on it, shakily, watching as Oron battled against the creatures: protected me. His muscled flexed as he held the creatures jaw open before snapping it back so that the alien slumped to the ground and twitched—its final movements.
“You ready?” he shouted, obviously waiting for me to speed up and let him jump on.
I had a split-second hesitation, wondering if I should leave him here to die. But something wouldn’t let me go.
“Jump on!” I yelled and felt the weight of his body pull the Ixu closer to the ground.
I cranked the thrusters as hard as I could and felt his arms wrap around my waist as we sped off into the night.
We came to a crawl sometime later when I couldn’t bear the drive any longer. I skidded the machine to a halt and jumped off, shaking and crying.
“Are you alright?” Oron demanded, following after me. His dark eyes were beaming as he grabbed my arms, grazing his hands along my cheeks to inspect me.
I nodded feverishly, feeling faint. I set my shaking hands on his chest and asked, “Were they the Vithohn?”
“No,” he said, swallowing hard and then scooping me up into his arms.
My limbs flailed like an idiot before wrapping around him. I wasn’t sure whether I wanted to continue my pursuits in getting the hell away from him or if staying had now become the safer option.
Slowly, my legs found their way around his back and I slumped my arms around his neck, holding on for dear life.
Then it occurred to me… if those weren’t the Vithohn, then neither was the creature Willow and I had killed and slumped into the well.
The thought made me break out into a cold sweat. If I didn’t know what I was up against before, I was beyond lost now.
“No?” I repeated, feeling his heart thumping against my breast.
Oron wiped his face, tracing the marks that dotted along his nose and jaw and removing the sweat and blood that had splattered there. He gave me an annoyed look that said it all.
They were definitely not friends.
“No,” he said with some effort. “That was the Kilari.”
Chapter Six
Oron
After the attack, we walked the rest of the way back to my camp. The trail back took long enough that I got used to feeling Reina’s warm body up against me. I set her down in my tent, and she sat up, pulling her legs up against her chest and holding them there like a child.
There was a pull I felt toward her suddenly: the way she’d looked at me when she was on the Ixu, before she took off.
It infuriated me, yet I felt worse not to have her in my company than I felt frustrated by her constantly trying to best me.
I left the tent without another word, giving her the much-needed time alone she’d been craving.
Reina was not a human female to be trusted, that much was made abundantly clear to me. I wasn’t fond of running around, but that’s all I felt like I’d been doing since meeting her.
I patrolled the area, waiting for the return of the bastard Vithohn. I had never wanted to get back to Bolmore so b
adly. I looked up at the black night sky and the shimmering stars that seemed vast and endless. I wondered why my heart raced so fast when I thought I was going to lose the girl. My prize.
And then I realized… I felt something.
For her.
What’s more, being around her gave me a sense of peace that I’d never experienced before. My people were known for being ruthless; aggressive; driven by instinct. It’s what kept our kind going for so long, undefeated.
But the animal hostility I felt, the nerves that spun and vibrated in my fingertips and spire, had disappeared.
I was filled with something new, and the thought of it made me feel sick.
The truth was, I hated showing mercy. I hated the weakness of it. Vithohn are taught to exterminate their enemies, not show pity for them.
Yet, here I was, wondering if Reina was alright and worried about what she must think of me. How she hated me and what I might be able to do to change her mind—as if saving her life wasn’t enough.
I jumped, embarrassingly, as I heard a twig snap behind me. I spun around in a hurry and saw it was just Reina, emerging from the tent. She swirled her fingers around one another on either hand and stared at the ground.
Looking up, my eyes focused on her fingers and then down her wide hips and then back up to her chest: her nipples hardened under her shirt.
I cleared my throat just to make something happen and nervously stammered out, “Is everything alright?”
She had a strange look on her face: her eyes, which were always asking for something, always looking sad or wanton, were now glossy and expectant.
I wandered up to her in a hurry, wondering if she was making attempt number five-billion to escape.
“Are you coming to bed?” she asked meekly.
I wrinkled his lips, revealing a single, sharp tooth, and shook my head. “I’m going to keep watch.”
“Oh,” she said in surprise and then nodded, turning back into the tent. “Alright.”
I swallowed nervously and watched her disappear behind the flat of the tent. I could feel myself getting hard as I thought about crawling into the bed with her and pulling her body up against mine.
What was I thinking saying no?