by L P Peace
Alethia watched the flames lick around the stone in quiet contemplation.
‘My intent has always been to establish a home planet,’ Thanesh told her. ‘I have had my eye on this one for some time.’ He gestured to the world outside of the cave. ‘It is conveniently positioned. Life is abundant. It requires strength to live here.’ He took a deep breath, his eyes falling back to the vegetables, touching them. ‘I felt like this was a good fit for my people. Actually, being here, I am changing my mind.’
‘Yeah, it would be terrible for me if you decided to build your prison here,’ Alethia laughed. Thanesh’s answering smile was thin and half-hearted.
‘My people need a home planet. When we have one, we will finally have influence with the IGC.’
Alethia grimaced. ‘I’m really happy for you, Thanesh. Why are you telling me this?’
‘Tell me where Tessa is.’ He looked at her. ‘When I find a new home planet, I will move your people there. They will be safe in Protectorate space.’
Alethia bit her lip. She saw realisation appear on his face.
‘Tessa is already in our space,’ he whispered.
Alethia shook her head. ‘No, it’s—’
‘Yes,’ he said firmly. ‘You are already in Protectorate space. Of course you are. Where else? Your appearance to any slavers who could potentially stumble onto you is far more convincing if your location is in our space.’ He smiled at her. ‘Your fathers were not fools, were they?’
‘No,’ Alethia whispered. ‘They weren’t.’
‘I am not going to imprison you, Alethia,’ Thanesh finally said.
‘You’re not?’ Alethia sat forward. ‘I don’t understand. Then what do you intend on doing to me?’ The word ‘slavery’ jumped into her head. Her chest tightened, her heart speeding up as her anxiety climbed.
‘My people have a fundamental problem, Alethia.’ His voice seemed to caress her name. ‘In three hundred solars, my people have taken lovers. I have taken lovers. We have had a total of twelve children in all that time.’
Alethia gasped.
‘All of them have been boys,’ Thanesh continued. ‘I feel that if we do come from your race, we might have more success procreating with your kind than other species.’
‘Then humans do have something to exchange for your protection,’ she said.
‘You might have,’ Thanesh corrected.
Alethia smiled. ‘You’re going to help us. But what about me?’
Thanesh touched the root vegetables again. Seemingly satisfied, he got out several strips of badly sliced meat and laid them around the greens.
‘Well, first, I am going to move my people to Tessa,’ he said thoughtfully, ‘and I am going to accept your people as my people. Next, I am going to talk to my allies and those systems that contract with us, about slavery. After that, I am going to provide ships for all of the suddenly freed slaves, to bring them to Tessa or send them home to Earth.’ He looked at her. ‘You already desire me. So finally, when I have earned your gratitude, trust and love, I will take you as my mate and we will test my procreation theory. Repeatedly.’
Alethia’s head swam with his words. She saw the sincerity on his face. He was determined, resolute. She realised he was telling the truth and believed he could make every word come to pass.
Standing, she rounded the fire, and dropping to her knees, she took Thanesh’s face in her hands and kissed him.
Thanesh’s lips were firm, warm, soft. His mouth opened; his tongue grazed her lips, sending a shiver down her spine. He groaned as it slipped into her mouth, meeting hers. He placed a hand at the back of her head, his kiss gaining more urgency, his fangs grazing along her lips as they kissed just as she knew they would. It sent a zing of something strong, dark and needy to her core, which tightened in response. In the back of her mind, Alethia remembered his last sentences, and a shock brought her back to herself.
‘I’m sorry,’ she said, pushing herself away from him, ‘I shouldn’t have done that. Thanesh stared up at her open-mouthed, a dazed, disappointed look on his face.
‘It is fine, Alethia.’ He recovered quickly. ‘You will know I am telling the truth soon. You will learn to trust me; the rest will come later.’
Alethia shook her head. ‘No.’ She stepped away from him. ‘Sex is a nightmare that causes nothing but pain,’ she said, forcing her voice to convey a conviction that was suddenly shaken.
‘You said that the other night.’ There was compassion on his face. Alethia didn’t know what to do with this version of Thanesh.
‘No, I didn’t.’
He nodded. ‘You did, Alethia. You were fever-talking.’ He shifted, reaching out to the meat on the rock and flipping it.
Alethia watched the mundane action. It was as though a moment ago she hadn’t experienced kissing him for the first time.
‘I never thought about slavery before I met you.’ He looked up at her. ‘You said some things the other night, and it made me realise that I could help. That I haven’t been shames me,’ he admitted.
She stared at him, unsure what to say. When the silence continued, he grabbed two large, shiny leaves, placed the meat and vegetables onto it and held one out to her. She took it from him and crossed back to her seat.
‘Thank you,’ she gestured to the food. Thanesh smiled at her. A thousand butterflies lifted in her stomach, their wings beating across every nerve in her body.
He acknowledged her thanks with a slight nod of his head. ‘You are welcome.’ Had his voice always been that rich? That deep? When had she begun to care enough to take notice of such things? She knew the answer. Since she met Thanesh. Since she saw him on that screen. Since the first time he said her name.
They ate in silence. Alethia chewed on her food and thought through all of the things Thanesh had said. Could he do it? Would he? Was he trustworthy? Or was this a ploy to get Tessa’s coordinates out of her?
An engine noise broke her reverie. Thanesh walked to the cave entrance. The sound built up, moving towards them until a ship went overhead. Thanesh took a step back and looked back at Alethia.
‘The Ulidon are here.’
‘Please don’t go,’ Alethia said again. Thanesh shook his head.
‘I have to.’ He wasn’t looking at her; it was that more than anything else that was scaring her. ‘I will backtrack our path towards the pod. Take them out before they get anywhere near you.’ He looked up at her there. His eyes were hard. Unyielding. ‘I promise Alethia. I will not let them hurt you.’
‘I’m more concerned about you not coming back,’ she admitted.
He looked at her, his face softened. ‘I am sorry,’ he said, before crossing the space between them. He took hold of her, his lips crashing down on hers. His fingers almost fisted in her hair, his sharp nails scratching against her scalp, a moan escaped her lips, met by a groan from him. His fangs grazed over her lips; a shock went through her. He nipped at her lips and a desperate whimper, wholly unlike a noise she would make, erupted from her throat. There was no mistaking the needy pulse between her legs now or the way her heart hammered inside her chest. When his tongue thrust into her mouth, she met it with her own and dug her fingers tighter into his top. She hadn’t even realised she was holding onto it until the material’s weave stung the pads of her fingers. When he finally broke the kiss Alethia held tight onto him as though she could physically stop him from leaving.
‘I will always come back,’ he promised her.
‘We could leave,’ she whispered. ‘Just keep moving.’
Thanesh touched her face delicately. The sting of her skin was all she needed to know she wasn’t going anywhere.
‘Just stay here,’ he whispered. ‘I will not let them get close to you.’
‘It took us a day and a half to get here,’ she whispered.
‘Alethia, this is less than a rote’s walk from the crash site.’ He smiled to soften his words. ‘Running, I can do it in significantly less time.’ He slipped something into her h
and. Alethia saw a pistol. ‘Do you know how to fire it?’ he asked, and she nodded. ‘Stay here. Be careful. Be quiet.’ He looked down at her lips before reclaiming them in one last kiss. Then, grabbing his bag, he walked out of the cave and into the jungle.
The jungle went by in a smear of green and brown. Flashes of colour passed Thanesh quickly and were gone before he had time to acknowledge them. The crash site wasn’t far now. He wanted to get there and back before nightfall. Alethia awoke as the sun rose, and it was still cresting the horizon when he left her. He wanted to scope out the site. See where they were and what they were doing.
Thanesh reached the edge of the forest and looked across the expanse of plains they crossed rotes before. He could see their ship parked close to the pod. Three Ulidon were walking around it, pulling out the supplies they had left behind. Their body language was aggressive as they hauled their loot to their ship and returned for yet more. Amot was a valuable shipbuilding metal, in constant demand.
When they had cleared the site, one stayed behind to break up the ship, the other two ran towards the treeline where Thanesh crouched. Even running, it would take the Ulidon time to reach his position. As soon as they did, they would scent and hunt him.
He couldn’t afford to let either of these make it to the cave and Alethia. Working on a plan, he made his way to the clearing where he had first bathed Alethia’s face rotes before.
Thanesh had one stun blast with him. He placed it on the ground and covered it, then found a place from where he could watch their approach.
The Ulidon would not fall to it as the Huan had; it was there to take their attention for a moment. Thanesh had given his only pistol to Alethia. All he had now were his Adunis poles, a dagger and that one stun blast.
Thanesh smelled the Ulidon coming before he heard them and set his mind to focus on the task ahead. They smelled of burnt oil and rubber. It was thick and cloying in his throat.
They entered the area where Thanesh had left the stun blast. Not far in, they paused, watching the bushes ahead. There was a short exchange before they split up, deviating away from the area he needed them to be. Thanesh swore silently. He just needed them to be a little closer.
Thanesh stood in challenge to them. Both Ulidon stopped when they noticed him, one of them baring his teeth in a hiss as both turned towards him. They only took a few steps when Thanesh triggered the blast.
Aiming at the Ulidon furthest from the blast, Thanesh threw one Adunis stick, blade out. It struck a gap in his armour above the knee and cut a mass of flesh off that plopped to the ground beneath him. The blade skidded off behind the Ulidon as his leg gave out and he fell, barely making a grunt. Thanesh crossed the space and using the other Adunis stick, he plunged the blade through the chitinous armour and into one of the creature’s hearts. The Ulidon cried out, his armoured faceplates pulling together for a moment in an expression of agony. Thanesh withdrew the blade and swung it across the Ulidon’s throat, severing its head entirely from its body. It rolled a short distance, hitting a rock and settled as the body dropped to the dirt beside it.
The other Ulidon tackled from the side, knocking Thanesh to the ground and onto his back. The creature climbed on top of him and drew his lips back in another hiss. With no time to recover or pull air in, he stabbed desperately at the Ulidon as he used his bladed tail to strike. Ulidon didn’t carry weapons; their claws, their tail, their teeth were weapons enough.
The tail hit the ground next to Thanesh’s head, the edge of the blade cutting the skin over his cheekbone. The weight of the creature compressed Thanesh’s lungs, preventing him from breathing. Careening towards the edge of panic, he pushed at him to no avail. Giving up, Thanesh hefted the Adunis stick, the pointed blade aimed at the soft skin under the creature’s chin. A hand slammed his, pinning it to the ground. The other grabbed his neck, stopping him from drawing in air and leaving Thanesh prostrate and vulnerable.
The Ulidon leaned in towards his face, lips pulled back into a grin, revealing sharp black teeth. Its eyes scanned over Thanesh’s face and throat in a calculating look and turned his head to the side, pressing it into the dirt and drawing back to strike.
Thanesh’s eyes fell on a broken branch at his side, just within his grasp. He grabbed it, darkness at the edge of his vision. As the Ulidon fell to tear out his throat, he thrust the stick, watching from his peripheral vision as it pierced the Ulidon’s eye.
He shrieked and scuttled back from Thanesh.
Rolling to his side, Thanesh forced air into his lungs and stumbled to his feet. Behind him, the Ulidon was still screeching. He looked over his shoulder and saw him flailing. His tail whipped and struck at the ground around him, tearing up clumps of earth.
Retrieving his other Adunis stick, he turned at the same time as the raging, pained Ulidon turned to him. They met in the middle. The creature’s tail struck out at where his face had been half a heartbeat before. Thanesh stepped into the space of the massive insectoid creature, preparing to strike at the unarmoured area under his chin. A clawed hand struck out, forcing him to retreat and lose his advantage. He stepped back farther as the tail lashed at him once again.
The creature grabbed hold of the blood-soaked stick and pulled it from his eye with a sickening squelch. Bright lime green blood ran freely from the wound. The crest on his head flared in the first sign of genuine anger Thanesh had seen from the creature.
The Ulidon bared his teeth, chittering at him, lips vibrating in threat. He walked to one side, keeping Thanesh at the same distance as Thanesh mirrored the action. They were each calculating, assessing, trying to gain the advantage.
Thanesh cut the Adunis sticks through the air once, shaking off the blood that splattered to a line on the forest floor. The forest had gone quiet in the wake of the fight, yet it seemed to be watching them, waiting, holding its breath for the inevitable coming clash.
He thought about Alethia. Her hair, her eyes, her skin, her lips. He thought about her dropping to her knees in the cave and kissing him. He thought about kissing her the last time he saw her. He thought about the first time they would make love. He thought of what this creature would do to her, given the opportunity, and it filled him with fire. When his emotions sprang up in reaction, he didn’t suppress them; he used them. They became a focus, a tight-beam of his rage, and he turned it all on this creature. Thanesh took three, long strides before throwing one stick in an upward arc at the Ulidon’s exposed chin. A tail knocked the blade out of his hand, opening up its body to Thanesh’s actual attack. When his blade sunk into its neck, he didn’t stop until it had exited from the back, thick with lime green blood. The cut severed the creature’s spine and it fell to its knees and crumpled in a heap on the ground.
It wasn’t until Thanesh was pulled down with it, that he realised it had gotten one final strike of its tail, puncturing his side.
Putting an arm out to break his fall, he settled onto his knees before clutching at the tail and pulling it from the wound. He grunted, taking a deep breath and forcing himself to stand. He pulled one stick out of the creature and found the other. Grabbing his bag, he quickly treated the wound with the same nano injector he had used on the shoulder in the pod. The nanobots set to work, but it would be hours before he was fully healed.
He packed his things and walked to the edge of the wood and beyond. His eyes locked on the remaining Ulidon, he started across the expanse of the plains and spotted it still stripping the pod.
As soon as the Ulidon realised the others weren’t coming back, he would go after them. When he found the bodies, he would follow Thanesh’s scent back to the cave and to Alethia. Thanesh wouldn’t allow that.
The plain was too immense; there was no way for Thanesh to sneak up on the scavenger before it saw him. Instead of hiding, he strode across the grass and called to the Ulidon. He was spotted a moment later, abandoning his work the Ulidon broke into a run, heading for Thanesh. Walking to conserve his energy, he allowed the creature to do all the work a
nd come to him.
When it was less than a hundred fenth out, he dropped the bag, pulled the sticks from their sheaths, tripped the blade release and charged.
This creature was far less impressive than the previous two explaining why he was the one left behind. It was still Ulidon, still naturally armed, naturally armoured.
He swung his tail over his right shoulder and struck at Thanesh who dodged the attack and sliced at the Ulidon’s left thigh, slipping between two sections of chitin and cutting at the tendons beneath. A high-pitched noise erupted from the Ulidon and its next step was jerky, telling Thanesh he had struck his goal.
His tail whipped out at Thanesh; who ducked and struck at the back of the knee on the other leg, slicing deep and taking out the tendons there. The creature fell to one knee as his tail lashed out once more.
Without mercy, Thanesh struck out with both blades to the base of the tail and severed it from its root.
Even the shrieking of the previous Ulidon was nothing compared to the sound that tore from this creature’s throat. Thanesh felt sorry for him for half-a-breath before shutting it down. Would he have felt pity for Alethia when they brought her aboard their ship, or would he have used and abused her too? He wouldn’t ask; he already knew the answer.
The Ulidon’s other leg gave out from under him and he fell forward, his arms holding him from the ground.
He grabbed the crest at the back of his head, pulling the long, thin appendages back into his fisted hand. He felt them break in his grip, but they stayed deeply rooted in the Ulidon’s skull. He used it to pull the creature back onto his knees and drove an Adunis blade into one heart; he cried out.
Thanesh pulled the Ulidon’s head back and studied it. None of the those he had fought was the captain he’d spoken to from his ship.
‘Where is your captain?’ Thanesh already knew the answer, but he had to be sure.