by Dean Murray
My elbow slammed into his arm with enough force to make his arm go numb, and then I rammed another elbow home into the side of his neck. It was a telling blow, the kind of hit that would have brought most lesser foes to their knees, but my opponent was already bringing his other arm around for a shot at my kidney.
I couldn't match him in a straight-up contest of strength, but rather than backing away in an attempt to get out of his range, I charged forward with everything I had left. It shouldn't have worked, it probably wouldn't have worked if not for the fact that I bit down on the side of his neck a split second before I crashed into him.
I could feel his shock, feel the way his body tensed up as my teeth latched onto him. It only lasted for an instant, but it was enough. He was off balance and unprepared when my full weight crashed into him.
I've never particularly liked biting as an offensive tactic, but my beast was enough in control of me this time that I didn't even notice all of the blood other than to thrill at the fact that I'd hit something important. I knew it was only a matter of time before the lamia would bleed out, but until then I needed to stop him from doing more damage to me.
I had hold of his wrists, but he was just too strong for me to control like that. His claws were shredding my back despite my best efforts.
Instead of continuing to battle where I was weak, I spun around so I could get my legs into the fight. I sank my talons into his left arm, and then once I had that arm immobilized I moved my left hand up to his right wrist. Even he wasn't strong enough to out muscle me when it was just his arms against nearly every muscle in my body.
Despite my advantages, I could feel myself tiring. He was strong in the way that a werewolf was strong, and between that and the amount of blood that I'd already lost, I knew he would eventually wear me down enough to break free.
I clamped down even harder on his neck, trying to exert enough pressure to snap it, but in the end simple blood loss did what all of the rest of my efforts hadn't been able to. I pulled myself up to my feet and stumbled towards the mouth of the cave.
I knew that later on I'd regret the fact that I'd been forced to kill yet another lamia for no good reason, but right then I just felt numb. Even the normal high I'd grown to expect from surviving a fight to the death was absent. I made it less than two steps into the valley before I collapsed to the ground in a slowly growing pool of blood.
Chapter 20
Isaac Nazir
The Lamia Enclave
For several days I drifted in and out of consciousness. Celeste must have been taking care of me, but I couldn't remember any of that. Mostly there was just the black oblivion of deep sleep interspersed with dreams about training with Set. Even in my dreams he was a harsh taskmaster. I ran through everything he'd ever shown me—even things that I'd thought I'd forgotten from the first training session.
It didn't make for restful sleep and I was grateful when the void finally started to lose its grip on me. Nobody else was in my room when I opened my eyes, but there was a cup of water and a small melon on one edge of my bed.
The water went down my throat like pure joy. I couldn't remember any other time when I'd been as thirsty, or when the taste of clean, slightly warm water had been quite so satisfying. I'd pulled myself up to a sitting position to drink the water, and from there it seemed silly not to test out my legs.
I grabbed the fruit—my curiosity was stronger than my hunger, but that didn't mean that I wasn't starving—and swung my feet down onto the soft carpet. It turned out to be a good thing that the bed wasn't very far from the wall. I almost fell down after just my first two steps and it was only the presence of the wall that allowed me to make it the rest of the way to my door.
I pushed through the heavy green curtain and found Set standing only a couple of feet away. The sight of an enormous lamia waiting just outside of my room should have freaked me out. Celeste was standing over by the fruit vines and she seemed plenty unnerved by having Set in our rooms, but for some reason it didn't bother me at all that he was there.
"Welcome back to the enclave, Isaac Nazir. Will you make a full recovery?"
Somehow I'd forgotten to check myself over for injuries. I wanted to blame it on being fuzzy after having been asleep for so long, but I didn't think that was the answer. The first thing out of my mouth should have been a question as to how long I'd been asleep, but I already knew that it had been approximately two days.
That wasn't something that I should have known, but I let that question drift away and instead patted myself down in search of bandages. I could feel them on my back still, and there seemed to be a lot of tape across my stomach and the right side of my chest, but the fact that I was standing there, with all of my appendages still working, was pretty good evidence that I was going to eventually be back to full strength.
Set wrapped his hand around my arm, propping me up as I made my unsteady way towards the vegetation-covered slab of rock that served as our couch.
"Thank you, Set. Yes, I believe that I'll be okay. How did you know that I would be getting up today?"
"The queen told me it would be today that she let you return, and I could see your sun glow strengthening again."
I looked over at Celeste, confused. Had she been drugging me? I didn't remember seeing anything in any of the first-aid kits that would have been capable of keeping me out for more than a few hours.
Set shook his head. "No, not your queen, my queen."
"Set, how would your queen know that I was going to wake up now? I haven't been anywhere. At least not under my own power."
That earned me another frown, almost as though I was a particularly dense student who'd just failed some kind of test.
"Not here," said Set as he tapped me on the forehead. "Down here." He pointed at my chest, at my heart, for several seconds until I nodded. I didn't understand, but I had a feeling that further questions at this point were only going to frustrate all of us.
I wasn't sure if it was a breach of etiquette to eat around the lamias, but by that point my hunger had gotten bad enough that I couldn't stop myself from taking a bite from the fruit that Celeste had left for me.
Set waited patiently while I chewed and then sat down on another chunk of rock that served as the lamia equivalent of an easy chair.
"You were the victor in your last fight. I've come to ask you what boon you would like to ask of the men here in the enclave."
Somehow I'd forgotten that I still had that coming to me. I looked over at Celeste, hoping that she would give me an idea of what she thought I should ask for, but she steadfastly refused to meet my gaze.
I knew that things had been tense between us before my last match, but I couldn't put my finger on what had set us off. Even if I'd had a clear memory of whatever it had been that had set us off, I got the feeling that it wouldn't have seemed important now.
I almost said something to her right then despite the fact that Set was there, but I bit back the words at the last second. Internal divisions might cause the lamias to take us less seriously, but the very act of not saying anything just increased the bitterness that had been preying on the back of my mind for days.
It was bad enough that I was stuck in some kind of weird pocket dimension where I was forced to fight for my life every few days. I was surrounded by creatures I didn't understand and my friends were still both in comas. To top it all off, the only other one of my kind here was refusing to talk to me.
Celeste was the one person I should have been able to talk to. Even if we didn't like each other, this experience should have brought us closer together rather than setting us at each other's throats.
In that moment I wanted nothing so much as a friend, but that was the one thing that nobody could give me. Set couldn't compel Celeste to stop ignoring me anymore than he could magically get past the cultural and species barriers that kept him and me from truly becoming friends.
I had an idea that I thought might get me what I wanted, but it felt like
a waste to use the gift that I'd fought for, that I'd killed for and very nearly died for, on something so simple. It would just be giving into the weakness inside of me, weakness that had driven Jess away from me.
"Set, if I'm unable to think of something I desire right now can I wait to name the boon?"
"I'm sorry, Isaac Nazir, but that is not how honor works. If no boon is named now you will forfeit the opportunity and we consorts will consider that we've done our duty in easing your stay here."
"Very well, then. I'd like to have my electronics work here so that I'll be able to call home. I have family and friends I'm worried about, people who are likely worried about Ash, Kristin and me. I'd like to be able to talk to them as soon as possible. I don't know if that is within your power or not, but that is what I want."
The responses I got from Celeste and Set were both baffling. Celeste looked like she'd just been told that her family had all been killed in a hit and run accident. She closed her eyes and grabbed the table to stop herself from collapsing.
I opened my mouth to ask her what was wrong, but she opened her eyes and shot me a look that told me in no uncertain terms that she wasn't going to be answering any of my questions.
As odd as that was, Set's response was just as atypical. He looked confused. I would have said that it was a language problem again, but after just a couple of seconds he held his hand out and asked for my phone.
"I'll get it."
Celeste disappeared into my room and was back a short time later with not just my phone, but also my tablet.
"You did say that you wanted your electronics to work."
Now it was Set's turn to look unhappy, but he nodded and took both devices. He didn't seem to be doing anything with them. He just sat there in the chair with his eyes closed, one hand on my gear, the other on the 'arm' of the chair he was sitting in.
Five minutes later he opened his eyes and put the tablet on the arm of the chair. I started to ask him to be careful, but the words died in my throat when I saw that the charge light on the tablet was glowing. It was impossible. I'd seen cable-free chargers before, but none of my electronics was set up for that.
There was no denying my eyes though or the fact that as he set my phone down on top of the tablet that it also lit up with the glow of an active power feed. If I'd still had any doubt as to the fact that the lamias were capable of astonishing things, that would have cured me of my disbelief then and there.
Set handed me my phone and when I turned it on it was showing that it had a network. A huge grin split my face right up until I remembered the issues that Ash, Kristin and I had experienced on our way across the continent.
"Set, there isn't any way to trace this, is there? We have powerful enemies and I wouldn't want to have them track us back here and create problems for you."
Something flashed across Set's face, almost too quick for me to catch. In a human I would have said it was bitter irony, but I didn't think that Set had spent enough time around humans to have absorbed our mannerisms to the point where they would become unconscious like that.
"I normally wouldn't have brought this up, Isaac Nazir. It stinks of dishonor, of giving a boon and then trying to take the boon away, but your concerns have moved me to talk. Your enemies won't be able to use your phone to find you while you are here, but your use of the phone will make it easier for our enemies to find us."
"the Consumed?"
Set nodded. "the Consumed is always searching for us, always trying to find a chink in our armor that it can use to come here to the enclave. The phone by itself won't cause problems and therefore honor demanded that I grant you that request, but along with other…factors it makes it that much harder for the enclave to remain hidden."
Apparently I wasn't the only one whose mind was whirling as it tried to absorb what Set had said…and what he hadn't. Celeste couldn't remain silent in the face of such a juicy piece of information.
"Wait, who are the Consumed and why is one of you talking about them in the plural and the other in the singular? Are there multiple Consumed or is there just one?"
Set nodded. "Yes."
"That isn't an answer. It's an either-or question, not a yes-or-no question."
I held a hand up, stopping her before she could press Set further. He'd already gone completely still in the way that he did when he didn't know how to respond to something.
"It's not that simple, Celeste. There are concepts that don't translate well from Set's native tongue to English. He's trying to answer us, but I suspect that we aren't asking him the right questions."
For a moment Celeste just sat there looking at me. I could smell the shock coming off of her. I wasn't sure how to proceed. I didn't want to make things worse by further contradicting her in front of Set, but the situation seemed to call for some kind of additional response.
Before I could decide which was the safer path Celeste stomped past Set and disappeared into her room. She hadn't just been embarrassed, she'd been shaking the way shape shifters only did when they were mere heartbeats from being forced into a change by their beast.
I waited for the rush of power that would have told me that she'd lost the battle for control of her own body, but it never came. Relieved that I wouldn't have to throw my battered body between Celeste's hybrid form and Set, I turned back to him and apologized.
"I'm very sorry, Set."
He held up a hand. "No apology is necessary between the two of us, Isaac Nazir. Honor does not require such from someone given the lot to have a difficult queen. It speaks to your honor that you choose to remain at her side and fight as her champion."
I nodded as I powered my phone down and reached over to do the same with my tablet. Set frowned at my actions.
"If you fail to use the phone then the others will say that I have failed to uphold honor, Isaac Nazir. I would not have that. Please use the phone as freely as you would have if I hadn't told you of the Consumed. It is our problem, our concern, not yours."
I nodded, not necessarily because I agreed with his view that the possible arrival of the Consumed wasn't any of my concern, but because I needed to buy myself some time to think.
"I did not state earlier the number of times that I wanted to use my phone, Set. What if I only wanted to make one or two calls?"
"Honor is not something to be trifled with, Isaac Nazir. We would be poor hosts to give you back the ability to communicate with your home enclave and then limit its usage."
"I understand that, but what if I choose to voluntarily limit my use of the phone? What if I asked for something else in exchange for keeping my phone off most of the time?"
"It seems a poor bargain for you to make. I was able to see how much you desired to talk to them. For you to choose not to talk to them would only be a sign that I have incurred dishonor."
"Unless I have thought of something else, something that I want more than I desire to talk to my friends back home. Then it might be possible for us to modify the terms of our agreement, right?"
Set looked doubtful. I didn't blame him. I was playing with something very important to him. The lamias seemed willing to die rather than risk dishonor, but Set wasn't just some grunt, he was one of the consorts, possibly even the highest-ranking consort. He had to worry about more than just his personal honor, he had to worry about the survival of the enclave.
I needed something important to me, something he could be convinced would be doing me a favor at the same time that he got what he secretly wanted, which was to protect his people. It was a tall order. The need to hear a friendly voice, to talk to someone who missed me, who was glad to hear from me was still overpowering.
The temptation to just admit defeat was strong, but then I realized that I was looking at things wrong. Set couldn't force Celeste to be my friend, but that was still a worthy goal. A friend here in the enclave would be just as valuable as being able to talk to Andrew or any of the rest of the pack. You could even make the case that it would improve my life
beyond being able to talk to my friends just because Celeste and I wouldn't be constantly one step away from ripping each other's heads off.
I laboriously levered myself up off of the couch and motioned Set to follow me outside where there wouldn't be any chance of Celeste overhearing us. He steadied me with a hand on my arm and a few minutes later he'd guided me over to a rock in one of the meadows that bordered the stream.
"You spoke truly earlier, Set. My queen is very difficult at times. Being away from her enclave wears at her in ways I didn't anticipate and she then takes out her displeasure on me. The speed of our…journey here did not allow for her to bring all of the possessions that she would have liked to have brought for such an extended stay."
"I do not understand. Has our hospitality been lacking?"
I hadn't anticipated that interpretation of what I was saying. I needed to head him off before he decided that he'd failed in yet another way.
"No, your hospitality has been beyond reproach. Truly we have everything we need, but sometimes it is our nature to want things that we don't need. I don't know if it is the same way for your people, but surely that cannot be construed as a lack of hospitality. I do not think honor would demand that a host meet every unbridled want of their guests."
Set's nod was a hesitant, begrudging kind of motion, but he nodded. "It is true, that is why honor circumscribes the requirements of a hosting enclave. It stops the visiting queen from becoming an undue burden on the enclave. What are you trying to say, Isaac Nazir? What is it that you lack?"
"Clothes, Set. My queen has only one change of clothes and I think it puts her in an ill mood. If you could provide us with some additional clothes then I think it would make my service to her easier and eliminate the need for me to call back to my pack, my enclave."