by Leslie Chase
He’s doing his best to make me comfortable, I thought, but nothing hid his lust. If I hadn’t seen it in his eyes, the bulge under his leather kilt was tantalizingly obvious. And the deep sound of his voice flipped every switch in my body to ‘horny’ which made it hard to think.
“Kitty,” I said to my companion without taking my eyes off the alien. “Do you recognize that language?”
A long shot, one I was sure wouldn’t pay off, but it was the only idea I had. As a qualified communications engineer, I’d hoped to speak with lots of aliens once we reached Arcadia, and I’d come prepared. Kitty Fantastic’s database was full of files on every language I’d been able to buy, beg, or borrow. Except that wasn’t likely to help on a pre-contact planet like Crashland, especially not one inside the borders of the isolationist Taveshi Empire.
Above Kitty Fantastic’s head appeared a shimmering display, words flickering past at a speed I had no chance of following. The big alien looked up from his hands with a frown, watching the AI warily. I wondered what he made of it. Just my luck if after all this he burned me as a witch.
He kept talking though, and to my surprise the flickering hologram slowed, calmed, and stopped. Reds changed to oranges, then greens as Kitty eliminated the last few options.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I said. “How the hell is that even possible, Kitty?”
Only a few words showed positive, but that was more than I’d expected. More showed up in yellow, possible hits but unclear. Kitty Fantastic gave a smug meow and preened as I scrolled through the list.
Eskel? How the fuck did this alien know Eskel? The oldest alien language known, studied more by archeologists than linguists. The Eskel themselves vanished millennia ago, and no one even knew what they looked like.
But I’d dutifully loaded a copy of the latest texts into Kitty Fantastic, and now I thanked god I hadn’t bothered to delete the ‘useless’ language. Perhaps the Eskel had contacted these aliens, leaving a mark on the local culture?
And they’re still speaking the language millennia later? I shook my head. That might be possible, but it wasn’t likely.
“Or are you what’s left of the Eskel after their disappearance?” I asked, knowing full well that the alien wouldn’t understand. “Is this what’s left, thousands of years after your arrival?”
He watched me carefully, scales shifting color as I watched. The amber shifted to green, the purple remained strong, the red unchanged. Against the deep blue backdrop of his skin it was a beautiful, almost hypnotic sight.
I refused to let him distract me, though, not when we were finally starting to communicate. Okay, fine, let’s try this.
“Who. You. Question?” Dictionary translation into Eskel, as best I was able. The syntax would be awful, but I did my best to adjust to his pronunciation. His tongue flicked out and his eyes widened.
“Zarkav,” he said after a pause, and pointed at me. “You. Question?”
Zarkav. He’d said that before, along with some other words, back when I’d first tried to ask his name. Okay, that seemed to work. I sighed with relief before replying. “Tessa.”
“Tesssssa,” he growl-hissed back as though tasting my name. It sounded like he enjoyed the flavor, and hearing him say it made me squirm. The hunger had never left his eyes, and the sound of his voice made it hard for me to think about anything else.
I could just give in, part of me whispered. No need to be ashamed, just… stop saying no.
The thought sent a pulse of lust flooding through me, powerful enough to make me bite my lip. Hands tensing, I forced myself away from that idea. We’d just started talking, and I wasn’t about to give up on our progress.
Zarkav spoke again, but none of his words made any sense to me. Shaking my head, I tried more words and compared notes with him as best I could. It was frustratingly difficult and slow.
I’m no linguist, but in communication technology you need to learn the basics of new languages fast. The first contact course was mandatory, ever since a hotshot captain nearly started a war by not having the first clue how to talk to a new species.
The lessons I’d learned there, aside from allowing me to swear in a dozen languages, let me spot the reason we were going so slowly. Galtrade, the one non-human language I spoke, gave me the clue.
Some languages were meaningless without gesture, some aliens didn’t hear the same frequencies of sound, the difficulties were endless. Galtrade was a reaction to that, an ever-expanding system designed to be easy to learn and communicate in — but you still had to know how your counterpart spoke.
In Zarkav’s case, I soon found a reason for our difficulties speaking. While spoken words carried most of the meaning, the colored patterns on his skin were part of his language. Neither of us fully heard the other — he looked for patterns that weren’t there, I missed out on whatever his patterns said.
Which might also explain why he found it difficult to look away from my chest, but I doubted it.
Armed with that insight, I tried to explain to him. It took several goes before he got the idea (or maybe he played dumb so I’d keep touching his chest) but once he did, things got simpler.
‘Simpler’ still meant learning a dialect of an ancient language, one spoken only by scholars and badly understood by them. But one thing at a time. Kitty Fantastic applied herself with enthusiasm, expanding and correcting the Eskel dictionary as Zarkav taught us.
I wouldn’t learn Eskel quickly, though. Simple, individual words were easy to add, but meaningful sentences? Perhaps, given months to study, I’d learn my way around it.
“You aren’t going to teach me your language, big guy. I’m sure you’re a great hunter, and you’re definitely easy on the eyes, but as a language teacher you’re no match for Mrs. Schofield back on Earth.” I sat back, rubbing my eyes and wishing so hard that I’d thought to pack painkillers in my escape bag. All I had was a general purpose medkit, and while that would treat a headache it would be a waste of irreplaceable ingredients.
Zarkav watched, skin patterns shifting to white. Did that mean frustration? Concern? Boredom? No way to tell, no way to ask him.
Kitty mewled at me, batting at my hand for attention. I scratched behind her ears absently, then blinked.
“That might work, Kitty,” I allowed, turning an idea over in my head as the hologram purred at me. “I mean, I’m no Mrs. Schofield either, but I can do my best.”
Focused on learning Eskel, I’d neglected the other possibility — teaching Zarkav Galtrade. The whole point of that language was how easily anyone can learn it, and now we had a little language in common. It had to be worth a try.
With the help of Kitty Fantastic, I carefully crafted a sentence in Eskel. Or a crude copy of Eskel, which was the best I could manage.
“You learn,” I stumbled over the words. “You learn me speak, question?”
10
Zarkav
The frustrating attempts at communication lasted well into the night. Oh, I loved to hear Tessa’s voice, and I rejoiced that we had some words in common now, but they were few and limited. We’d exchanged names, a wonderful gift, and she taught me the rudiments of her language. Or one of her languages — Tessa talked to her animal companion, this Kitty Fantastic, in yet another speech.
This whole situation made little sense to me, but while I’d studied at the Sky Temple, I wasn’t a priest. I didn’t need to understand things like this. Tessa spoke the Sky Tongue after all, but only with the help of her… familiar? And even then, she did not speak it well enough to hold a conversation. Perhaps the priests would explain that; I could not.
But… the priests had already condemned Tessa as a demon. Would they listen to me if I told them she was not? Remembering the Eldest’s reaction the last time we’d spoke, I doubted they would. If I brought her to their attention, the priests would throw her down a pit.
The mere thought brought red to my scales and my tail twitched. I would not let that happen, no matter what.
Tessa was mine, mine alone, and anyone who hurt her would suffer for it.
Her beautiful voice kept up her lesson, and I realized my attention had drifted. Thoroughly lost, I let her words wash over me like the water from a spring, soothing and calming my fury.
“We need a plan,” I said without expecting her to understand. “A goal. I could keep you here for a long time but not forever, and you deserve better than this.”
She fell silent as I talked, frowning as she tried to follow. Her small, pink tongue stuck out of the corner of her mouth when she concentrated, a delightfully cute gesture.
It didn’t help. She shook her head and we both sighed. Her language proved easier than mine, but that didn’t mean I’d learn it in a day, or ten. Perhaps in a hundred? Too long, anyway.
I could not bear the thought of waiting so long to speak with Tessa freely. My heart burned to talk with her, to share my secrets and hear hers, to give her comfort. Yet somehow she didn’t know she was my mate.
My ssav, the fixed patterns that matched her soft skin in color, proved it. She was my soul’s match, the one for whom my heart yearned, the one the Sky chose for me.
But she wasn’t even Zrin. Had this ever happened before? What did it mean for us? Or for the Zrin and the humans?
Tessa looked at me, eyes wide and as full of questions as my heart was. None that I could answer with so little shared language between us. I hungered for more words, for the ability to ask my questions and answer hers.
One burned hotter than the others. Why would my taru-ma refuse to mate with me when we both craved that union? It made no sense, and I wished I had the words to ask her directly.
There was one bright side: it spared me some embarrassment that Tessa didn’t understand the shifts of color on my ssav. Another Zrin would have understood instantly that I’d met my mate, seen it in the fixed patterns. They would see the confusion, lust, love, frustration, all mixing and mingling in the patterns.
Tessa was blind to all that, hearing only the things I spoke aloud, not what ought to be obvious to anyone with eyes.
She said something then, beautiful and meaningless to me, her cheeks reddening. On a Zrin’s ssav that color would have meant anger, but on a human? I did not know. This strange, wonderful creature had no ssav, no patterns that marked her soul on her skin.
“I cannot even show that you are my taru-ma,” I said, keeping the frustration out of my voice. “Do you even know what it means? When mates meet, their ssavs align, freezing until they consummate the bond. It shows all who see that these two are one soul.”
With great care, I reached out to touch her face, feeling the softness and heat of her skin. A shiver ran through her body and she bit her lip but did not draw away.
The patterns of my ssav remained the same. No matching patterns mysteriously appeared on her. The only change was an overwhelming urge to grab her, to pull her to me and kiss her. To bring her the joy I owed my taru-ma.
Her hand rose to hold mine and she swallowed. Speaking in a hoarse whisper, she said something incomprehensible. Oh, there were some words I understood, but the sentence meant nothing to me. My name was in there, the word for no (or was that stop?), and something about her ‘human’ people.
Meeting people? Burning people? I shook my head, giving up. It would take a long time before we understood enough of each other’s languages to have a proper conversation.
It wasn’t conversation that I craved most, not while her skin touched mine. My body ached, my cock hard, I longed to throw her onto the bedroll. To tear her strange fabrics from her. To bury myself inside her and bring us both to heights of pleasure undreamed of.
The trembling eagerness I saw in her mirrored my own, and I tasted her arousal in the air. We both wanted this, yet still she denied us what we needed. Why?
I pulled my hand back before the need became unbearable. Turned away, looked at the wall, tried to get myself under control.
Tessa didn’t help. Coming close behind me, she rested a hand on the small of my back, a tentative contact that brought both comfort and a surge of desire. She spoke again, slowly.
“All. Good. Face, question?” I struggled to work it out. Face? Could she mean ‘mind’ or ‘body’? Either would make more sense, though that didn’t say much.
Sky Gods mercy, why do you torment me with a taru-ma I can’t even speak to? It will take days at least before we can communicate, and we do not have days to spare. The longer the Eldest has to spread his lies, the harder it will be to challenge them.
“And I will not allow that to happen. Not when it would mean your death, Tessa-ma. We must find a way for you to tell your story.”
The irony was obvious, even to me. I hadn’t heard her story, but I was so convinced that it would exonerate her that I took it on faith. Not knowing her story, though, and not having ssavs that showed our bond, I wouldn’t expect anyone else to listen to me. I had to know more — where Tessa came from, how she came to be here, what she knew of the Sky Gods.
Tessa spoke again, as if to answer me. If that was her intent, it failed. I understood only a few words, and none of them made sense together.
“If only I had the Gift of Words,” I snarled. “That would make this so much easier.”
I closed my jaws with a snap. Why not use the Gift of Words? Apart from the fact that it was in the heart of the Sky Temple, the most sacred artifact of my tribe, and anyone not of the priesthood who so much as touched it would be put to death?
Minor inconveniences beside the frustration of not being able to talk to Tessa. A risk worth taking. I’d steal the holiest of holies, bring it here into the cursed forest, and use it to speak with a demon.
“When I put it like that it sounds like a bad plan,” I said. “But it’s the one I have, so that’s what I’m going to do.”
Leaving her behind would not be easy. It might be the hardest thing I’d ever do. But I had no choice; learning each other’s languages took too long. Tessa will be safer here than traveling, I told myself. I have shown her the food and water, all she needs to do is wait for me to return.
“Stay,” I told her, reaching for my pack and trying to speak her strange language clearly. “Will return, taru-ma.”
“No.” Tessa’s fingers closed on my wrist, and instinct took over. Before I knew it, she was pinned to the floor beneath me, gasping for air and eyes wide.
Sat astride her, I looked into her strange alien eyes from a hand’s breadth away. There was fear in her gaze, yes, but the need beneath overwhelmed it. Tessa raised her hands to my chest, as though to push me off, but as soon as she touched me she stopped. Her touch made my heart race, my body tremble, and my ssav shift to purple under her fingers.
Self-control snapped and I growled, pulling her face up to meet my kiss. Tessa gasped, freezing for a moment before returning it enthusiastically.
It was like nothing I’d felt before. The glorious beauty of a spring dawn paled beside the warmth her lips sent through me, the sensation of need and love and power. Tessa shuddered under me, her body pressed up to mine. Through the cloth coverings she wore I barely felt her curves, and that would not do.
The female whimpered into my kiss as my tongue flicked out, teasing and tasting her. With one hand I explored her body, the other supporting me as I worked on the strange catches on her top and pulled it open.
A loud gasp from Tessa brought a smile to my face and I pressed a leg between hers. Now she moaned, a low muffled sound, pushing up against me. Blood burning for her, I hissed, tongue flickering out and tasting her skin.
Tessa’s cry of pleasure filled my heart with joy, and I explored. Pulling her flimsy top wide, I found another garment under it, covering her breasts. No obvious fastening presented itself to me, so I tore it off with my claws, my tongue dancing across the bare, pale flesh beneath.
A moan, half protest, half joy, was my reward as I circled her breast. Tongue dancing over her nipple, I teased her and won another shuddering cry of pleasure from
her throat.
Sky Gods, she was perfect. I’d never met a female like her, and my desire to bury myself in her, to mate and claim her properly, overwhelmed my better judgement. Tessa didn’t help my self-control, grabbing my cock through the leather of my kilt. With a frustrated snarl, she tugged at my belt, trying to undo it.
I laughed, pushed her hands aside, and kissed my way down her body. My sharp teeth nipped at her fine, thin skin, so unlike the scaled bodies I was used to. So unbelievably sensitive, she whimpered and moaned at every touch.
Her belt frustrated me as badly as mine had her, but I didn’t need words to tell her what to do now. Fingers trembling, she undid it along with the rest of her garment. It slid down her legs easily and I kissed my way down her belly. The scent of her arousal drove me mad with desire, and my tongue flicked out to taste her pussy as she writhed.
Words that meant nothing to me filled the air, but the tone was clear. The need, the desperate desire, needed no words to communicate.
Gently, with delicate care, I spread the folds of her wet pussy and hissed with pleasure as I tasted her arousal. My tongue darted across her and she thrashed, hands tightening into fists, skin reddening.
I ached to bury myself in her, but no. Tessa would be mine, was mine, a gift from the Sky Gods — but claiming her would wait until I was certain she understood what it meant.
My reluctance didn’t mean that she should miss out on the pleasure she so obviously needed. I lowered my mouth to her, her hands gripping my hair as I licked and lapped at her. Looking up the length of her body as she writhed, it was difficult to keep my vow to myself.
I’d never been so hard, never wanted anything more than to bury myself in her. No battle had been fiercer than the war in my soul as I fought to control myself. I would not take advantage of her. No matter how much I wanted to, no matter how much I tasted her own desire.
With a cry of joy, Tessa’s orgasm overwhelmed her. She collapsed, spent and exhausted, and I sat up to watch her recover. When she finally caught her breath she looked up at me and gasped words that I didn’t know. Whatever they were, I wanted to make her say them again.