by Regine Abel
The sun had reached its peak and beat down hard on us. There would be no shelter from this. We pulled up against the tall grass by the bank while Millia blanketed it with cold blasts to scare any predator or vicious creature hiding among the weeds. A few scurried away, too fast to make out what they were, or if they had represented any real threat.
Once more, I built a ramp and we filed out of the boat. The heat struck us like a physical blow. Kira whimpered, her knees almost buckling. We surrounded her in a triangular formation and shifted to our battle form. The cold aura from our ice armor helped cool the small space around her. I cast a grateful look at my valos companions. In this form, the heat battered us even more savagely but, on this mission, Kira’s welfare came first.
We trudged along the short, yet seemingly endless, distance to the burnt husk of what Lydia and Kira had called a pod. It had been utterly gutted by the crash, the half facing the river having been all but torn off. Zak and Millia climbed inside first to scout for any wild beasts that might have settled within. Nature had begun to claim the wreckage, but vegetation had barely made its way into the smoke-darkened hallways.
“I know this place,” Kira said after I helped her climb in. She pointed to the left side, down the most darkened hallway where a damaged door lay partially open. “This is Sobin’s operation room.”
She sounded both excited and troubled. I grabbed her arm to hold her back while Zak went ahead. Millia covered our rear in case something came from the other corridor that seemed least affected by the fire. Zak raised his arm to signal the all clear, and we moved in to join him. My stomach sank at the utter destruction the fire had caused. Nothing could be salvaged here.
“That’s Sobin,” Kira said with an oddly detached voice as she pointed at a human skeleton sprawled on the floor near the operating table. “And that’s Jonah, the bastard guard who took so much pleasure abusing us. Lucie told me she hadn’t buried either of those fuckers when they came here.”
“This is where they were torturing Lydia when you crashed?” I asked, looking at what I assumed to be the operating table she’d been strapped on.
“Yes. Those straps actually saved her life.” Kira approached the skeleton named Jonah, propped at an odd angle in the corner of the room, his neck clearly broken. She shifted his remains with the tip of her foot. “Figures,” she mumbled, sounding disappointed. “I was hoping to recuperate his shock baton,” she said pointing at a dark, half-melted stick. “Let’s go. There’s nothing for us here. This melted pile here was the 3D printer. Whatever didn’t burn and was of any use, Lucie already took before she came for us. We might be luckier in some of the other pods.”
We hastened back to the boat, verifying no new occupants had claimed it. Despite the searing heat—for us—the boat had handled the wait well and required only minimal adjustments before we sailed off again. The next wreckage loomed ahead only minutes after we’d reached a decent speed, giving us little time to enjoy the cool air within our frozen vessel. This time, we took even longer walking to it, being extra cautious during our approach. A bloody battle had clearly taken place here. Nearby trees still bore the scars of the vicious claws of some wild beast. Make that beasts, plural. The dried up broken branches and the faded state of the scars suggested the fight had occurred a while ago.
This one, too, proved disappointing after first giving us false hopes. No fire had damaged the wreckage, but the impact on landing had. No one remained inside except for some rodents who had taken up residence in one of the rooms. After a quick exploration, we entered a place Kira called farmasee. She rejoiced at the sight of the preentur device on the floor, but after further examination, she declared it defective. Something had probably broken on impact.
The sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach deepened. Seeing the same despair lurking in the eyes of Zak and Millia did nothing to ease mine. Despite all of those setbacks, Kira remained confident we would find a functional one. I had no reason to doubt her, and above all, I wanted to cling to hope.
We hurried back to the boat. Although it was still early afternoon, Millia kept glancing up at the sun. If days were dangerous on the plateau, nights were deadly, both on land and on water. We had no sooner gotten onboard the boat than a large silhouette brushed against the underside of our vessel.
It took me seconds to recognize the prowling creature as an adult rimurak. While we usually referred to it as a fish, it didn’t quite fit the profile. Shaped like a giant, eyeless, grey worm, the rimurak had a huge mouth full of teeth. Tentacle-like limbs circled its waist like a skirt, the extremities shaped like a leaf with suction cups that could either latch onto its prey with unbreakable adhesion, or shoot poisonous toxic darts to paralyze—sometimes even kill—its target.
I pulled Kira to me and gestured for everyone to keep quiet and to crouch inside the boat. They proceeded as quietly as possible. While deaf and blind, the rimurak targeted its prey through vibrations and touch. Pushing frost into the sides of the boat, I began building a dome over us. Zak and Millia, quickly catching on, assisted as well. The scent of fear rose from my female.
I pressed my lips against her ear and whispered, “Cover yourself in frost.”
With a frantic nod, Kira summoned a thin layer of frost over her skin. It would not only dampen the scent of her fear, but above all, it would slow her biological functions, including her pulse which currently fluttered like that of a trapped bird.
The leaf-like hand of one tentacle crawled over the outer side of the boat, slowly climbing where the edge had been before I built the dome. Another tentacle joined, then a third, exploring in a slow, deadly caress. We couldn’t close the remaining gap too quickly or the noise would alert the beast. For a nerve-racking few seconds, I feared we wouldn’t close it in time, but the tentacle reached the seam just as we sealed it and continued its exploration, none the wiser.
To be on the safe side, we thickened the inner face of the dome. The boat size wouldn’t fit in the rimurak’s mouth, so we didn’t have to fear it trying to swallow us whole, but it might try to crack our shell open in the hope of finding something edible in a more appropriate size.
Kira trembled in my arms, taking quick, shallow, panicked breaths. Eyes wide, she followed the movements of the tentacles with transfixed horror. Thankfully, the valos no longer needed to breathe, so despite her state of near hyperventilation, the boat contained enough oxygen to last her until the rimurak moved away.
“Do not fear, my Kira,” I whispered in her ear. “It doesn’t know if we’re a living creature or just some big floating debris. The boat is too big and too hard for it to eat. It will give up soon.”
I nuzzled her cheek before kissing her lips. She locked eyes with mine, hers searching. I held her gaze, unwavering, and smiled. Whatever she saw on my face somehow reassured her as her trembling receded and tension drained from her shoulders.
Without making a sound, she mouthed, “I trust you.”
An exquisite ball of heat exploded behind my heartstone, and I tightened my hold around my female as she snuggled deep into me. In that instant, I knew I could never let her go. We weren’t just a paired unit, she was my mate. As long as I walked this world, no harm would ever come to her.
Time stretched for a short while longer before the rimurak finally abandoned its exploration and moved away. We gave it a few more minutes before unraveling an opening in the dome at the front of the boat, big enough to allow us to see where we sailed, and a couple more at the back for Zak and Millia to frost blast us into motion.
The fisher in me groaned at leaving such a great catch behind. Before the change, my tribe would have made sport of capturing the vicious creature. Its flesh was quite the delicacy, and its organs served in the production of many healing salves and hunting poisons for our bows and darts. However, aside from this not being a hunting party, we no longer had enough mouths to feed in E’Lek to justify this kill.
We picked up speed quickly. Only once we felt at a safe enough ra
nge from the rimurak did we unravel the dome. The afternoon heat reminded us we weren’t on a leisure sail. By the time the silhouette of the third wreckage loomed on the horizon, I had begun to despair. The mood in our frozen vessel shifted as we got closer. This was a massive section of the ship, easily ten times the size of the previous pods we had encountered.
And moving in front of it, at least a dozen or more humans.
This was an unknown factor we didn’t quite know how to handle. Zak, Millia, and I exchanged concerned looks. Would they prove hostile? If yes, how much force would be acceptable to Kira? Her welfare alone concerned us. More of them poured out of the wreckage as they noticed our boat nearing the bank.
“Kira?” I asked, my voice thick with tension.
“It’s okay,” she said, but her voice betrayed an underlying level of stress. “Let me handle them, okay? Don’t go into your battle forms unless I tell you. Humans frighten easily. That also means no snarling with those sharp teeth of yours!”
She said that last part in a teasing tone, trying to lighten the mood. I played along.
This time, Kira insisted on walking in front. Millia and I flanked her sides with Zak behind her. We still pushed an aura of cold between us to diminish the discomfort of the heat, especially for Kira. Despite my limited knowledge of human protocols, I knew my female couldn’t appear weak or indisposed before them.
My anxiety steadily rose the nearer we got. Although clean, they looked underfed, nervous, and the way they held the foreign objects in their hands convinced me they were brandishing weapons towards us. I glanced at Kira. She looked tense and eyed her people warily. When a couple of males and one female raised the metal stick in their hands, pointing the hollow tips at us, a threatening growl rose in my throat.
Kira touched my arm in a calming gesture and shook her head discreetly.
“Stay here,” she whispered, turning her head slightly towards me but without breaking eye contact with a dark-haired male standing in front of the group of humans.
I wanted to protest, but she knew her people. Interference could put her in harm’s way, but I remained ready to shelter her with my body at the first sign of trouble.
Judging by the way the others kept glancing at him, as if seeking guidance, I assumed the male to be their leader. Kira advanced towards him, spreading her arms wide to the side, her palms open, and her fingers splayed in a non-threatening gesture.
“Hel-o. My naym eez Kira,” she said.
My stomach dropped. I wouldn’t understand a word they’d say.
Chapter 10
KIRA
My heart threatened to pound its way out of my chest. While happy to see so many people had survived the crash, many of them had been hardened criminals. At least thirty of them stood outside the wreckage, and more kept coming out. There would easily be over a hundred of them, if not more. From the way their skin stretched on some and sagged on others, they hadn’t eaten their fill in a while. Hunger and desperation often made people stupid.
Not a single guard uniform or scientific jacket among them told me all I needed to know on that front. Only six of them had weapons, three of them trained on the valos and me. The rest held makeshift weapons and what looked like quite a few slingshots. A quick glance around indicated they were transforming the wreckage into their new settlement. Close by, on a small piece of plowed ground, young sprouts stretched their limbs towards the sun—the hope of a harvest that might come much too late.
Wishing I had a white flag in hand, I made myself as non-threatening as possible.
“My name is Kira. These three locals are my friends,” I said jerking my head back towards the valos. The humans stole frequent glances at them while keeping wary eyes on me. I just prayed none of them were trigger happy. “We come in peace. We don’t want any trouble. As you can see, we’re unarmed.”
The dark-haired man gestured with a nod for the three gunslingers to lower their weapons. I could have peed myself with relief.
“Name is Dave,” he said before pointing his chin at my companions. “What are they?”
“They are valos. Northern Valos. One of the few species of valos that inhabit this planet,” I said, giving them a quick look over my shoulder. “They are smart people, good people who live in cities with social structures fairly similar to ours.”
“There ain’t no cities for miles ‘round here,” a skinny, blond man with a thick southern accent interjected. “Just them crazy critters trying to eat us every time we set foot out.”
I can totally relate.
“No kidding. I’ve come close to being beast food one too many times myself.” I glanced at the growing crowd. They now numbered in the sixties, at least. “I didn’t realize there were so many survivors left in the wreckage.”
Dave stiffened, his eyes narrowing at me. His suspicious reaction took me aback. Did he think I was here fishing for their strengths and weaknesses?
“Or any survivors left for that matter,” I amended. “The last couple of wreckages we encountered were completely deserted, one of them a burnt out husk.”
That remark somewhat appeared to calm him but not fully. “Are we the first humans you’ve met then since the crash?”
“No,” I said, shaking my head, wishing we could go inside, in the shade. “Six other humans and I found refuge with a different valos species. The Fire Valos in Caldera city.”
“Fire Valos?” asked a gorgeous redhead, her own hair looking aflame.
I cleared my throat, knowing how my next words would be taken. “Yeah. The locals are different kinds of elementals. Our original hosts are fire, these guys are ice. The other valos cities are water, air, stone, light, shadow...”
The crowd bursting out in disbelieving laughter spared me from mentioning death. That one would likely not be too well received.
“You almost had us going there for a second,” Dave said.
Annoyed and bothered beyond words by the heat, I gestured for my companions to approach. I couldn’t keep my stoic front for much longer and I was draining myself from trying to replicate the cool aura around me that the valos had.
“Hey! Hey! What’re they doin’?” the southern guy said, visibly itching to raise his gun again.
“Relax!” I said. “They’re still unarmed. I just hate being called a liar.”
“Nobody called you nuthin’, little lady,” he mumbled.
Duke stopped beside me, his closeness giving away how tense he’d been standing more than ten meters behind me.
“Can you show them how you can extend your arm into ice?” I asked. “Nothing threatening, just so they understand what a Northern Valos is.”
Duke frowned. I couldn’t blame him. I didn’t mean to turn him into some kind of circus show, but humans could be pretty damn stubborn when it came to believing in magic, even after their collective asses landed on an alien planet. Monsters they could deal with, magic, not so much.
Gasps, startled cries, and a whole lot of swearing rose from the crowd as Duke’s hand slowly extended in a long ice spear, pointed up at the sky. When it reached about two meters long, he unraveled it twice as fast.
“Fuck me sideways,” Dave whispered, studying the valos with new eyes.
“That a female?” southern dude asked, giving Millia a once over.
“Yes, Millia is a woman,” I said, looking at her. Then gesturing at the two males in turn, I continued, “and this is Zak and Duke, both men.”
“But she ain’t got no tits!”
I rolled my eyes, and Dave shook his head in discouragement.
“So what do you all want with the wreckage?” asked a handsomely creepy, brown-haired man with a scar over his eyebrow. Tall, muscular, square jaw, and striking blue eyes, his tanned skin and heavy tattoos screamed sexy bad boy. But the hard glint in his eyes, and the disdainful slant of his lips set in an eternal sneer, screamed epic asshole.
I licked my lips, my nerves stampeding through my knotted stomach. “We’re hoping to use o
ne of the 3D Printers to replicate a few items their people need.”
“Damn looters,” creepy, hot guy snapped. “Do we look like we can afford to spare anything?”
“That’s enough, Shaun,” Dave said.
“You don’t fucking tell me when I can or cannot speak, Dave,” creepy, hot guy Shaun said. “Why the fuck should we let them take what little we have? What’s in it for us?”
I knew a battle for power when I saw one. A couple more rough looking guys stood by Shaun. His minions, no doubt. They held the other three guns I could see, so far. From the way the crowd eyed Shaun with wariness and Dave with caution, as if waiting to see how he would respond, I came to the conclusion that Dave was holding a precarious leader role but that Shaun might be gaining people to his side. I doubted his good bedside manners were the cause. But if the people were starving, they’d look to new leadership, even that of a dictator, in exchange for a full belly.
The valos’ questioning gazes weighed heavily on me. I turned around and gave them a quick summary of what Shaun had said.
“A trade then,” Millia said, matter-of-fact. She looked at Zak. “They hunger. We hunt for them in exchange for use of their preentur.”
I beamed at her and squeezed her hand in thanks. Turning back to the survivors, I relayed her message. Eyes wide, a few of them shifted on their feet, others licking their lips in anticipation, but all shared the same look of hope and uncertainty.
“It’s not easy hunting out there,” the beautiful redhead said. “Everything is massive, fast, with crazy teeth. We can’t even forage for food because half of it is poisonous or turns out to be some camouflaged predator.”
The valos looked at me questioningly again, and I repeated her comment.
“We can show them what is safe to eat,” Zak replied.