by Leslie Chase
A knife gleamed as he drew it slowly from its sheath, letting me see my death approaching. I struggled against the warriors holding my arms, but with two of them on each I didn’t stand a chance of freeing myself.
Cruel laughter on his lips, Marakz came closer. I snarled at him and judged distances. If he came even one step closer, I’d be in kicking range. Come on, come on, I’m beaten and helpless.
As long as he thought that, he wouldn’t look too closely. And if I managed to kick him my claws would open his stomach. I’d die taking him with me, and that would have to do.
“Stop!” The Eldest’s practiced voice filled the room, and all eyes turned to him. He’d pulled himself back to his feet, eyes flicking around the room. His desk lay in chaos, blood stained his precious carpet, and curious acolytes peered in through the door.
“Demons have maddened Zarkav,” he proclaimed. “Take him to a cell and keep him there until we determine how best to free our beloved brother from this curse. Skyman Orson will know.”
Marakz shot him a look, but the Eldest was impervious to such things. He lowered his voice to a whisper that I barely caught.
“Don’t be a fool, Marakz,” the Eldest said. “Too many witnesses now, and he’s popular with the hunters. We’ll lock him up, keep him out of trouble, and find a solution.”
“Or he’ll have an accident in the cells. Some people do.” Marakz’s voice was steady but the angry red of his ssav showed his true feelings — he was determined to see me dead.
“They do, Marakz, but not before I consult with the Elders and Orson. Understood? Too many people have seen him here.”
15
Tessa
Zarkav was, I reminded myself, safe. This was his home, the Zrin his people, and no harm would find him here.
I wished believing that were as easy as thinking it, but the awful feeling that something was wrong wouldn’t leave.
Waking without him beside me, for a moment I’d thought the whole thing had been a dream. I must have made it safely to Arcadia, and when I told the others about my dream, they’d all laugh with me.
Except, when I opened my eyes, I wasn’t in my quarters in the colony pod. Strange, alien light leaked in through the shutters and the bed I lay in had weird proportions.
As reality reasserted itself, I realized that it was built for aliens, not humans. Aliens like Zarkav. Aliens who were real, solid, touchable. I badly needed to touch Zarkav, but he wasn’t there and the house felt empty. I wondered how long I’d slept for.
Telling the time down here wasn’t easy, and while Kitty’s clock was perfectly accurate, it offered the choice between Arcadia and Earth time. Crashland’s days were different enough from either that she’d drifted off true, and I didn’t know how to recalibrate her.
Back in New York, it would be 3am now. My parents asleep in bed, waiting for the sun to rise behind the wall of pollutants. I didn’t miss the city, not one bit, but Mom and Dad were a different story. Aggravating as they often were, I still loved my family.
Peering out between the shutters, looking at the Zrin city, I suddenly realized that I had probably seen the last of my friends and family. I didn’t know where in the galaxy we’d crashed, and there was no reason to think anyone else did. Would anyone even try to find us?
They should. The Arcadia Colony Corporation had all the resources they’d need for a rescue mission. They might be the cheap option for colonization, but any company in charge of a whole planet had plenty of money. The question was, would they know where to start?
Kitty Fantastic meowed insistently, breaking me out of my reverie, and I smiled as I scratched behind her ears. “You’re right, Kitty, there’s no point worrying about that. Let’s get to work on the things I can do something about. Like food.”
My stomach rumbled, punctuating my words. We still had some supplies from the cave, but not much. It would last me a day on my own, I estimated. The bad news was that we were out of water.
I searched the house, staying as quiet as possible to keep the neighbors from hearing me. There wasn’t much to see. Every room was a mess, furniture scattered and overturned, drawers pulled out, broken remains of crockery lying on the kitchen floor. And no water. Or rather, there was a bucket full of water which had been there for far, far too long. I backed away hurriedly from the stagnant stink, cursing.
After that, I stopped looking. I really didn’t want to find food that had spent years in storage — it might start demanding the right to vote or something.
“Okay Kitty, I guess we’re down to what we brought with us,” I said glumly. “Let’s have breakfast, then we can sort out a plan.”
A few bites of preserved meat reminded me how salty it was, and I grimaced, revising down my estimate of how long I could stay hidden. With only this to eat, I needed to drink.
I glanced in the temple’s direction, thinking about the oh-so-tempting lake there. All the water I wanted, out in the open where anyone could see me. That wouldn’t do at all.
“Okay, I need to work out how to get water without getting caught,” I said aloud. “Maybe there’s a well?”
Kitty washed her ears, indifferent to any question she didn’t have an answer to. I sighed.
“For a top of the line personal survival companion, you could be a bit more useful in a crisis.”
Kitty yawned, adorable and infuriating, and holograms sprang up around her. Maps of the city, my location marked.
“Oh, clever kitty, I take it all back,” I gushed, crouching to pet her thoroughly. She put on a show of enduring the indignity while enjoying every second.
The maps weren’t complete, but they showed more of the city than I could piece together from memory. The canal linking the lake and the underground river was close, but flanked by open areas. Too exposed for comfort.
The river itself flowed across the cave not too far away though, and there the buildings went right to the riverbank. Enough cover that, with some luck, I could sneak right up to the river.
Other markers appeared too, charting the data Kitty picked up. A red haze showed where she’d picked up people moving, thicker over the main streets, thinner in the alleyways. Crimson dots marked aliens she heard right now. She’d even marked hazy outlines of the rooms in some of the buildings, labeling them with her best guesses.
“Who’s the cutest little super-spy?” I asked Kitty, who affected a look of complete indifference to my praise while purring quietly. “That mapping module was worth every credit! Okay, with this I might stand a chance of getting to the water and back.”
It wasn’t as though I had much choice. Waiting here for Zarkav’s return would leave me dehydrated and if he didn’t reappear soon, I’d be in trouble. He’d already taken too long for comfort.
An idea hit me. “Kitty, can you show me where Zarkav went on that map?”
Somehow, Kitty Fantastic managed to look both pleased I’d asked and offended that I’d questioned her abilities. A bright yellow dot appeared in the hologram, tracing a route out of the house and along the street outside. But all too soon it diffused as Kitty lost track of him in the red haze of other Zrin. I sighed. A long shot, but if I’d been able to follow his trail, I might have found his friends.
I started to stand, but Kitty hissed in annoyance as soon as I shifted my weight. Her paw landed on my knee and she looked up at me, somehow giving the impression she thought me the stupidest human she’d ever met.
“What’s wrong, Kitty? I don’t blame you for losing track of Zarkav in the crowd, it just — oh.”
The yellow dot reappeared. According to the timestamp floating beside the map, Zarkav hadn’t been away long. But instead of returning to my side, he marched straight up to the temple.
“What are you doing, you big blue idiot?” I glared at the display, wishing that shouting would do some good. The satisfaction alone wasn’t worth the risk of being discovered.
The dot vanished into the temple, Kitty lifted her paw with a smug expression, a
nd I sighed. “Yes, you’re right, I did want to see that bit too. But why the fuck didn’t you wake me when it happened?”
With a tiny huff, Kitty turned away, ignoring my question. My cheeks heated — I wasn’t used to having my manners critiqued by an AI, but Kitty Fantastic wasn’t just any AI. She was more like a friend to me, the only friend I had beside Zarkav. And I’d only known him a week!
“I’m sorry, Kitty,” I said, biting my lip. “I didn’t mean to offend you. It’s not like I’d have been able to do anything if you had woken me, so I guess you made the right choice.”
She turned and scampered back to me, mollified, and I thought about what to do next. This time it was my turn to rescue Zarkav, and I didn’t want to let him down.
This might be the stupidest thing I’ve ever done. I wrapped my cloak (improvised from a blanket) tightly around my shoulders. It trailed along the ground as I walked through the alley which was both good and bad. Good, because it hid my obviously not-Zrin legs. Bad, because it made me look ridiculous.
I was already too short, short enough that my only hope was for any Zrin who saw me to mistake me for a child. It was the closest thing to a disguise I had available. My real plan was to stick to the alleys and pass unseen through, the disguise worn as a last-ditch backup that might save me if someone saw me from a distance.
Maybe I wouldn’t have worried so much if I was armed, but I hadn’t been able to find the field-cutter. Which might be for the best, because I couldn’t come up with a scenario where I got into a fight and didn’t end up dead.
At least the streets were quiet. Using Kitty’s stored information, I’d done my best to identify the Zrins’ movement patterns and stayed put until the night was at its quietest. The city (did it even have a name? Zarkav hadn’t mentioned one) sprawled around me, silent but just as well-lit as it had been since we arrived.
That gave it the creepy feeling of a zombie holovid. Instincts honed by years of bad films kept me looking over my shoulders, expecting to see the shambling dead chasing me. That irrational fear made me hurry, quick steps as quiet as I could make them.
Still, better to worry about fictional zombies than the real threat of the Zrin. Kitty, hidden inside the cloak, scratched me whenever she detected someone close by, her forcefield claws just sharp enough to feel. Each time, I ducked into the nearest shadow and waited for the Zrin to leave.
Once that had meant watching an alien walk past close enough to touch. If he’d looked to his right, I’d have been right there and my pathetic disguise wouldn’t have stood a chance.
Your luck will hold, I told myself. We’re nearly there. Just a little further…
Turning the next corner, I saw my destination. The river running through the heart of the city, a flat surface like dark glass. More like a canal, now that I saw it: the banks were carved stone walls, straight as a laser beam.
Cautiously, I made my way to the edge and looked down. My reflection stared back at me, the water so impossibly flat I wondered if it was frozen. A ridiculous thought — the night was chilly, but not freezing.
Gently, carefully, hoping to avoid a splash, I lowered the bucket I’d brought from Zarkav’s home into the water. As soon as it touched, a fierce current had it, yanking it to my left. Despite its placid appearance, the subterranean river flowed with frightening speed.
Overbalancing, I barely avoided falling into the water, the bucket’s drag still threatened to pull me in. I bit down on a squeal of shock, fighting the current to keep my grip and trying to drag the bucket up.
Impossible. The flow was too strong, and I too off balance. My fingers burned where the handle bit into them, my shoulder ached, and no amount of pulling would help. But sheer stubbornness kept me from letting go. What would I do if I lost the bucket?
What will I do if I’m swept away by the river?
The sting of holographic claws digging into my arm got through to me. There was no point in dying for a drink of water, so I opened my hand. The bucket vanished downstream and the river went back to its deceptively still look.
Okay. So time for Plan B. I wished I knew what it was, because I was parched already.
“I needed to steal some food anyway,” I told myself, speaking softly. “Guess I’ll just have to hope there’s some water in the pantry too.”
Food being less urgent than water, I’d planned to leave that until tomorrow night… and hopefully never, because I’d have Zarkav back by then. I’d rescue him just as soon as I had a plan better than marching up to a Zrin and hoping they threw me in the same prison as him.
That’s for later, now I need water.
More terrified scuttling through the alleys of the Zrin city brought me to the nearest room that Kitty had identified as a probable kitchen. Too much time was passing, and soon Zrin would be more common in the streets. I had to move fast.
Fortunately the shutters weren’t locked. I pulled them open and, with a struggle, heaved myself up into the window and tumbled into the room beyond. The stone floor struck me hard, but I managed to contain a yelp and lay still.
No sound, no warning from Kitty. No one had heard my entrance. Careful and slow, I pulled myself up and looked around.
The hologram cat had every reason to be proud of her senses — this was a kitchen. Most of the tools looked strange to me, and there was very little metal, but it was still recognizable as a place to prepare food.
Quietly searching around the room, I spotted a barrel in the corner. Water? Milk? I’d take anything to quench my thirst. Just so long as it wasn’t a barrel of apples or something.
The lid lifted easily, letting me dip a ladle into the dark interior. It came back full of a clear liquid — water? Alcohol? Something else? For all I knew, Zrin cuisine contained deadly poisons.
Not much choice here, I reminded myself. Drink this, get too dehydrated to do anything, or surrender.
Of the three options, only drinking held any appeal. I brought the ladle to my lips and sipped cautiously, then more urgently. Water! Water with an odd taste, yes, and maybe dangerous… but water still, sweet, drinkable water.
Heedless of the danger, I drank ladleful after ladleful. At last, unable to drink more, I reached for my water bottle to refill it. Only then did I realize I was being watched.
In the doorway stood a Zrin, broad-shouldered and tall. Not as tall as Zarkav, but still enough to tower over me. His eyes narrowed, and red colors mixed with blue in the patterns on his scales. Shit.
Kitty’s claws dug into my shoulder, a warning I’d ignored in the excitement of finding water. That would teach me to let my guard down while burgling.
The Zrin overcame his shock and advanced on me, baring claws and oh-so-sharp teeth. My mind blanked, the few words of the local language Zarkav had taught me wiped away by my fear.
“Kitty, ultrasound,” I said in a rush, hoping to make him flee. There was no change that I could hear, but the Zrin jerked back hissing, giving me space.
But he didn’t flee. At the doorway he caught himself, stopped, and shouted. I didn’t understand his words, but there was no mistaking a call for help.
Okay, no time to try explaining. I turned back to the window, wondering how far I’d get before he overcame his fear.
Not far. The Zrin reached the window first, blocking my path and baring sharp teeth. He roared something, maybe words, maybe just noise. Either way, it was loud enough to make me back off, hitting the kitchen counter opposite him. Shit. Fuck. Dammit.
We watched each other warily. I knew how dangerous a Zrin was in combat, and he’d never fought a human. Kitty’s ultrasound made me more intimidating than I ought to be, so neither one of us had reason for confidence in the coming fight. Reaching behind me, I fumbled for something, anything, to even the odds.
My hands closed on the hilt of a cleaver. Heavy, sharp, it wasn’t a field-cutter but it would have to do. The Zrin stalked forward, watching me closely, and I knew I’d get exactly one chance. If I disabled him with the firs
t blow, I might win.
I hesitated at that thought. Yes, with luck and a weapon, I might manage to kill this Zrin… who was defending his home from an intruder and, as far as I knew, not a bad person. This is why I’d never make a good criminal, I thought as I sighed and let go of the cleaver, raising my hands in surrender. I’d rather get caught than kill a witness.
16
Zarkav
Deep inside the temple the Elders kept their treasures, the wealth stored up for centuries ready for the Testing. Fine weapons and robes, given as tribute. Precious metals. And now me, caged like an animal, snarling into the darkness.
In theory, the treasures in this vault belonged to the tribe as a whole, not to the temple. That was one reason it was kept separate from the vault at the top of the temple, where the relics were stored. A pity: if I’d been held prisoner there, I’d have the chance to steal the Gift of Words on my way out.
No one had occupied the cage in a long time, which was both a disappointment and a relief. Disappointment because the bedding had rotted away, decaying into the sawdust on the floor. Relief because it meant that the temple wasn’t in the habit of keeping prisoners here.
It was good to know I still had enough friends in the tribe that the Elders had to be careful about murdering me. I’d worried that the rot had spread too far; now I had reason to think it could still be excised.
Elders would take their time making up their minds on how to deal with me. It wasn’t as though they’d worry about me escaping from this deep, dark hole. Which gave me time to plan while they thought I was helpless.
I’d have been happy with this result if not for one sticky detail — Tessa. My human mate was alone, with few supplies and no idea what had happened to me. She should stay put and wait for me, but even on a few days acquaintanceship I knew her better than that. Tessa wasn’t the type to wait for an answer to a problem she could solve herself.