The Mercenary's Dawn

by L P Peace

  She sliced the meat into thin strips so it would cook quickly, store easily and they could eat it on the go. They needed to get much farther away from the pod than they were and that meant stopping as seldom as possible.

  She was still feeling off. The forest was great for shade and was cooler than the plain, but it was still unbearably hot and the UV seemed unusually harsh, even through the trees she could feel it prickling her skin. Tinar’s desert sun hadn’t been as bad as this.

  Once again, Alethia looked for a plant that had long, thin leaves suitable for making a hat but it was difficult to see through the thick undergrowth. Further, the plants all tended towards greens that had hints of greys and browns, sages and olives, seaweed and pine, pale pistachios and crocodile, whatever any of that was. It meant the brush all blended together, making it challenging to distinguish anything just at medium length; even if they could see farther than that, she imagined it would all blend into a formless lump. She cast her eyes about, but there was nothing up close. She could only hope to find something before the day's end.

  Alethia looked over at Thanesh, who was overfeeding the fire.

  ‘Don’t put too much on,’ she said when he reached for yet more wood. ‘Let it breathe. Fire needs air to burn.’

  The Protectorate looked at her, a quizzical look on his face.

  ‘How do you know to do all this?’ he asked.

  ‘Remember my mother and her two Kuyon mates?’

  Thanesh nodded. For a moment, he looked genuinely interested, then a scowl appeared. ‘Yes,’ he said in an oddly formal voice, nodding again.

  Dismissing his mood shift, Alethia continued. ‘My fathers… to me they were, anyway. Teyrin and Adanith. Teyrin grew up with this stuff.’

  ‘He just taught you this?’ Thanesh said. ‘Because you settled on a planet where you needed to know this?’

  ‘You know I’m not going to answer that,’ she sighed.

  ‘I know.’ He shrugged. He flashed her a wicked grin that was gone almost as soon as it appeared.

  Her stomach lurched treacherously.

  ‘My mother got sick.’ Alethia ignored him. ‘And she wasn’t getting better. By the time we realised it was serious, there was nothing to be done. Three months later, she died.’

  ‘Your fathers not long after,’ Thanesh said. His voice was quiet and respectful.

  Alethia nodded, focusing on her task. Kuyon bonded for life; for them, that meant life.

  The Protectorate had laid one of the spare thermal blankets next to her. She was depositing the slices of meat onto it and building it up into small piles.

  ‘They taught me everything they could from the moment they met me,’ she whispered. ‘So, they weren’t afraid of leaving us. They made sure we’d survive.’

  ‘How old were you?’

  ‘Around sixteen,’ she said. ‘It was harder for my brother, though. He was eight, and there was so much about what he is, he didn’t understand for a long time because his fathers weren’t there to teach him.’

  ‘What were they like?’ Thanesh asked. He pulled a tripod from one of the bags retrieved some of the meat, preparing them for cooking.

  ‘My mum was strong. The Huan had us for six-years and made her do terrible things, but she refused to let them break her.’ Alethia kept her eyes on her work. ‘It was watching them put me in the crate… My fathers healed her.’ She turned the carcass around, looking for any spots she might have missed. They would leave the remainder of it here for animals to scavenge. ‘My dads… Teyrin was quiet, intense, very loving and patient.’ He had taught her to read and write, to fish and hunt. He had managed the building of the cabin where Alethia still lived and built every stick of furniture himself. When she and her mother had nightmares, he held them, comforted them, he made them feel safe and protected.

  ‘Adanith was loud, funny, boisterous. Dairon takes after him personality-wise.’ She sucked in a breath when she realised she'd spoken Dairon’s name out loud. ‘Goddammit,’ she cried out, frustrated at her own stupidity. She dropped the knife and moved closer to the stream next to her; washing her hands in the water.

  ‘All is well, Alethia,’ Thanesh said quietly from his place by the fire.

  ‘All is not well,’ she shouted. ‘I just betrayed my brother to someone who wants to lock us both up.’ She stood and scrubbed her hands down her face, then cried out when the pain from the sunburn flared. ‘Dammit.’

  ‘You really are bad at deception,’ he said, suddenly at her side. He was holding the top she’d been using to soak her face. He wiped her tears away, then dipped and wrung out the top again. ‘Here.’ She took it from him.

  ‘You’re really bad at comforting people,’ she moaned.

  ‘I am not trying to comfort you.’ He picked up the thermal blanket and carried it over to the fire. ‘Come.’

  Cooking was soothing; it always had been for Thanesh. This was less cooking then heating meat, but it was mindless, repetitive work that allowed him to work on other things in the background. Like the kind of traps he was going to build if the Ulidon gave him time.

  Not for the first time, his eyes wandered to Alethia. She sat across from him, watching as he moved strips of meat around to ensure even cooking. He couldn’t hunt, and he couldn’t recognise edible plants, another skill she had revealed to him. But he was a vrokking good cook. The rest he could learn. He didn’t want to examine too carefully why it was so important that she see this.

  ‘What about your parents?’ She asked him.

  ‘I do not have any,’ he said matter-of-factly. ‘I was made in a lab.’

  ‘You grew up in a lab?’

  ‘I woke up fully grown.’ He shook his head. ‘Three hundred solars ago.’

  ‘Three hundred solars ago?’ Alethia’s expression was startled. ‘You’re three hundred years old?’ Thanesh nodded. ‘How many of you did they make?’

  ‘A little over fifty-thousand.’ He reached out and turned the meat. Another minute and it would be done. He looked up at Alethia. She was watching him, open-mouthed, a speculative look on her face. ‘What?’

  ‘Thanesh, I—’ She shook her head. ‘It can’t be though you’re all so big.’ Alethia stared at him, as though trying to divine something. ‘And you’re at least a foot taller than the average human male.’

  ‘I hope so.’ Thanesh chuckled. ‘We are not human.’

  ‘It’s too much of a coincidence.’ Her bright red skin looked so wrong against the whiteness of her. ‘I think you are human. Started out human, anyway.’

  ‘We are not,’ he said, feeling a sudden flare of irritation.

  ‘Just listen, okay.’

  He gritted his teeth but nodded. He glanced at Alethia, then turning his attention back to the food. A prescient feeling fell over him; he was on the cusp of learning something significant.

  Alethia took a breath and swallowed.

  The meat was sizzling in the pan. Thanesh snatched it off, strip by strip, placed it in two mess-tins and handed one to Alethia. He grabbed more pieces of raw meat while Alethia took a bite of food, chewing and swallowing quickly.

  ‘Not bad,’ she said, looking at the meat.

  ‘Alethia,’ he growled. He filled the pan up.

  ‘Did you ever wonder why there aren’t more human slaves about?’

  ‘I do not think about humans.’ His tone was hard, his words clipped.

  ‘No, of course not.’ She swallowed. ‘There are billions of humans across Earth’s system. The reason there aren’t an abundance of human slaves is because of an event they call The Violation.’

  ‘The Violation?’ He moved the meat around to avoid looking at her.

  ‘Yes.’ He felt, rather than saw, her nod. ‘It was the twenty-first century on Earth. We’d only just begun colonising Mars, another planet in the system. Mum said humans weren’t even sure there was life outside of their system yet.’

  Thanesh snorted.

  ‘Yeah, they were a little human-centric back the
n,’ she agreed, ‘but then, alien ships arrived. Around a hundred appeared on Earth all at once. People thought they were being invaded, but they weren’t.’ Alethia took another quick bite of the meat. She chewed it and though it could only have been a few seconds; every flex of her jaw muscles counted the long seconds away. ‘Instead, they hit high-density centres, city centres, hospitals, universities. They used some device to knock everyone out. They tagged the men with something, then,’ Alethia whistled, one finger turning to point towards the sky.

  ‘Speak plainly,’ he growled.

  ‘They grabbed them with something. Mum said it was some sort of energy that pulled them up into their ships. Then they left. The aliens were on Earth for an hour.’

  ‘How many?’ Thanesh’s throat was tight.

  ‘More than fifty-thousand,’ she whispered.

  ‘Do you know what the aliens looked like?’

  ‘Tall, slender. They had white hair, pale eyes and white skin.’ Alethia pressed her lips into a thin line. ‘For a long time, my mum thought it was you guys until she saw one of you.’

  ‘They were Cealin.’ He knew it deep in his bones.

  ‘I’ve never seen a Cealin,’ she said.

  ‘They do not often leave their space,’ Thanesh told her. ‘They believe in their own supremacy. To them, all other races are beneath them.’

  ‘It was their lab you woke up in?’

  He nodded.

  ‘My God,’ Alethia whispered. ‘Earth has been speculating on what happened to those men for three hundred years. I’m sitting with one of them.’

  ‘So, Earth worked on planetary defence after that,’ Thanesh finished the story for her.

  ‘It was another thirty years before aliens showed up again. They’ve sacrificed developing own FTL engines to keep their home safe from invasion. But it can’t last. Sooner or later, the Bentari or the Fedhith will put together a force big enough and humanity will become slaves just like the Aavani. Earth will become a resource for them to exploit.’

  ‘They need to join the IGC,’ Thanesh said. He was ignoring the churning in his stomach, the whirlwind of thoughts spinning in his head. He concentrated on cooking the food and the mechanics of the conversation. ‘Or a contract with us.’

  ‘They can’t afford a contract with you,’ Alethia said. ‘They don’t have any of the resources you take as payment. I’ve checked.’ She shifted in her seat, picking up another strip of meat. ‘They need to apply to the Intergalactic Council, but that can only be done in person at the IGC station.’

  Thanesh nodded. He had made himself familiar with the process and intended on claiming this world as his home planet.

  He looked at Alethia’s sunburnt face. Maybe not this world.

  Four hours after packing up their impromptu camp and setting off through the forest, the midday sun was trying to burn her through the gap of every leaf.

  ‘What else did your mother tell you about Earth?’ It was the first time Thanesh had spoken since they broke camp.

  ‘Not a lot.’ Alethia was already breathless. ‘She didn’t like to talk about it. It made her sad.’

  ‘But she told you about The Violation?’

  Alethia could only nod.

  ‘There’s an annual remembrance.’ She pulled in several breaths before continuing. ‘To remember The Violation and the people they still take.’ Thanesh stopped and looked at her.

  ‘What happened to your father?’

  ‘He was killed, trying to stop my mother being raped by some of the slavers.’ Alethia’s breath was catching in her throat now. She had grown up walking the forests of Tessa. She didn’t usually struggle, but the sun here drained her energy and she was straining to keep up with Thanesh, who seemed to move forward with relentless energy.

  ‘Where were you?’

  ‘Inside my mother.’ Alethia tripped on a root. She didn’t see Thanesh move, but suddenly he was there, catching her before she hit the ground.

  ‘But that did not stop them.’ He helped Alethia find her feet. She shook her head in response to his statement.

  ‘Animals,’ Thanesh growled. His eyes raked over her, assessing, checking.

  ‘It’s normal, according to the women in my home.’ Alethia was determined not to give any more information away about Tessa. At the same time, she needed him to understand what she was doing. What it meant and who it would harm if the colony was found.

  ‘How are you doing?’ Thanesh pulled the thermal blanket tighter around her head.

  Alethia’s brow furrowed from beneath the shiny material.

  ‘I take it I’ve burned more?’

  He grimaced, answering her question. ‘We will break for a rest now.’

  Alethia looked around and shook her head.

  ‘This isn’t really a good place.’ She pointed to the sunlight flooded clearing. ‘Besides, I need a certain kind of leaf to make a hat.’ Thanesh moved back to get a better look at her. He clearly thought she was crazy, she almost giggled.

  ‘There are certain leaf shapes,’ she said. ‘I can weave a hat in twenty minutes. But I can’t seem to see one that’s the right shape.’ She looked around as though the correct shape would sprout before her eyes as she spoke.

  ‘We will find a more suitable spot,’ he nodded. ‘Suitable, not perfect.’

  Alethia nodded in agreement.

  Despite Alethia not complaining, Thanesh stopped them for regular breaks, during which she would bathe her face. The sting of touch was worth bearing for the cooling water.

  They continued walking. Occasionally Thanesh climbed a tree to try and get a lay of the land as well as an idea of when they could expect sunset. When they were about a Hacri away, they stumbled through a thicket of trees and found a small clearing.

  Thanesh looked around, a calculating look on his face.

  ‘This is perfect. Very defensible. We’re still near the water. We’ll camp here.’ Assessing the site herself, Alethia agreed. There were three of the enormous trees around them. The roots were massive; they towered above her so that even Thanesh head barely had clearance to see over them. There was only one route in and one route out through the trunks and roots. There were thick branches covered in sticks and twigs that were themselves covered in leaves. If anything came over the roots, they’d have to sacrifice stealth to attack them.

  Alethia followed Thanesh and noticed the temperature here was slightly higher than the forest outside. The ground was compact beneath their feet and covered in fallen leaves, sticks and small plants. She looked up and for the first time, she realised there was a network of thick, connected branches in the canopy, like arboreal pathways. Part of her itched to explore them, but she knew that in a place like this, most life lived in the trees. They weren’t safe on the ground, but they were probably safer here than up there.

  Thanesh pulled something out of one of his bags and set it up in the clearing before brushing the area clean with his hands.

  ‘We should avoid lighting a fire at night,’ Thanesh said. ‘If the Ulidon arrives, the light will lead them to us.’

  Alethia looked over to see Thanesh setting up a metal frame. She looked at him, a question on her lips. He glanced at her, then back at his work, before turning back to her.

  ‘In three hundred years of running your little…’ she waved a hand dismissively, ‘empire, you’ve never had to just, survive, have you?’

  ‘On the battlefield—’

  ‘Oh yeah, on the battlefield I’m sure you’ve been a moment from death many times. A big warrior like you that goes without saying. I mean,’ she gestured to the forest, ‘in a place like this? You against the elements? You against the wildlife?’ Thanesh looked around at the enormous forest, then turned back to Alethia.

  ‘I am trained in all of this equipment. Most of my wars have been in space,’ he said defensively.

  ‘In all your time, you’ve never been stranded on a hostile world?’

  ‘I would not call this hostile,’ Thanesh said.<
br />
  ‘Even the light of this planet is harmful to me. The animal we came across tried to eat me.’

  ‘That was your fault,’ he countered.

  ‘Oh, don’t get me wrong. That was totally my fault. I know better, and I should have been more aware. But it’s not like it was coming up to me for cuddles and kisses. It would have torn my throat out and feasted on my dead flesh.’

  ‘Can we talk about something else?’ he snapped.

  ‘I’m sorry.’ She held up her hand. ‘Why are you so upset?’

  Thanesh moved the frame he had built against the trunk of the nearest tree and pressed a button; a drilling sound filled the clearing. When it stopped, Thanesh pulled against the frame; it was stuck fast to the tree.

  ‘I did not like the image you were conjuring,’ he admitted. It took Alethia a moment to realise he was talking about the idea of her death.

  ‘Get us rations out to eat,’ Thanesh said after a few moments when she still hadn’t spoken.

  Alethia nodded and sat down, pulling the bag towards her.

  The words hung between them. Alethia didn’t know what to think except that he was trying to win her trust so he could get his hands on Dairon and Makios. Then he would find the colony, and the fate of every person there would be at the whim of his mercy. She shook her head. It was simply better not to trust him.

  She looked up at him. His eyes dropping as they caught hers.

  I can’t trust him.

  She repeated it as a mantra as they both finished their tasks.

  They ate before the sunset. By the time twilight fell, Alethia could barely see. It had been a long day and she was exhausted. She went to the lean-to, expecting Thanesh to stay up, but almost as soon as she lay down, he was moving into the cramped space beside her. Pressing herself against the colossal trunk at her back, she made room for him and tried not to think about how safe he made her feel pressed against her.