by Ramona Gray
“Holy shit. I mean...holy…shit,” Wallace said.
Vida walked by their small group. He was headed toward the second pinkie and Rose’s eyes widened when the creature suddenly turned and fled into the jungle.
“Son of a motherfucking biscuit,” Wallace said. “The giant fucking Smurf just killed a pinkie and scared the other one off.”
“Do not call me Smurf,” Vida said.
“Sorry, big guy.” Wallace glanced at Teagan who was studying Vida. “Did you see him just crack that fucker’s neck like it was a fucking egg? Shit, he’s fucking faster than the pinkies.”
Teagan nodded. Duncan slid his sword into the sheath around his waist and took the knife from Rose’s hand. Rose took a few hesitant steps toward Vida. He smiled at her and held out his hand. “Come to me, small flower.”
She ran forward, ignoring the pain in her back, and wrapped her arms around Vida’s waist. He hugged her and she tried not to wince, but he immediately pulled back and turned her around.
“You are bleeding.” There was alarm in his voice. “Why are you bleeding?”
“The baby blowcat – I tried to save it from a plant and it dug its claws into me, but I’m okay and I – are you okay?”
“Why would I not be?” He cocked his head at her.
“You just – you killed a pinkie,” she whispered.
“It was threatening my sweet flower,” he replied. “You should not be wandering in the jungle alone.”
“I wasn’t. I was with Brian and Peter, but we were attacked, and they died.” Her voice broke and Vida bent and pressed a kiss against her mouth. She took a deep breath and studied the guns tucked into Teagan and Wallace’s waistbands. “Are you seriously out of bullets?”
Wallace nodded. “Yeah. Doc was the only one carrying his kit when we got sucked into the orb and his kit had med supplies. The rest of us just had our Glocks.”
“Why wear the guns then?” Rose asked.
“Habit.” Teagan turned to Vida. “Did you find it?”
“I followed the trail of the wounded beast and put it out of its misery. I hung it in a tree, but we should return to it before other animals go after it.”
“Wounded beast? Did you kill a brino?” Rose asked.
Duncan shook his head. “No. It’s one of the creatures of the forest that eats the plants. It has antlers and is similar to deer on my world.”
“Our world too,” Wallace said. “We were lucky to find one. There aren’t many of them on the island. I think the pinkies go after them when they can’t get humans. The blue guy’s right, we need to go back and grab it before some fucking blowcat yanks it out of the tree. Speaking of which…”
He studied the sleeping baby at his feet and Rose hurried over and picked it up. She held it against her chest as Wallace glanced at Teagan. “We can’t take it with us, Rosie-girl.”
“It’ll die if we abandon it,” Rose said. “I’m not leaving it.”
“Teag?” Wallace turned to the big man.
Teagan studied Rose for a moment. “She’s right. She can bring it with us.”
“Oh great,” Wallace said with a grimace, “now we’re raising blowcats. Awesome. Fan-fucking-tastic. Patrick isn’t going to shit the bed over this at all.”
“Leave Patrick to me,” Teagan said. “It might be handy to have a trained blowcat in camp. They’re -”
“Something is coming.” Vida crossed to Rose and pulled her against him.
“More pinkies?” Teagan asked.
Vida shook his head as the bushes in front of them shivered. A man, he was wearing a loincloth and a wreath of flowers around his neck and nothing else, stepped out. He held a spear in one hand and a dagger in the other. His thick black hair was short, his skin tanned from the sun, and his eyes were dark brown. He studied them without fear.
“Shit,” Teagan said as more of the islanders stepped out of the bushes. They were completely surrounded by over a dozen of them and Wallace glanced at Teagan.
“Do we fight?”
“No.”
The leader stepped forward and prodded at the dead pinkie with his bare foot before turning to stare at Vida. He said something in his native language and another of the islanders moved toward Rose. Vida growled at him and the man hesitated before speaking rapidly to the leader.
The leader nodded and pointed at the sleeping blowcat. Rose held it a little tighter as three of the locals gathered around the leader. They spoke quietly for a few minutes before the leader nodded again. He pointed at their group then pointed into the jungle and made a ‘come’ motion with his hand.
“They want us to go with them,” Duncan said.
“Yeah, thanks, Captain Obvious,” Wallace replied. “Teag, do we go?”
Teagan stared at the locals behind them. They were moving forward slowly, their spears pointed at them. “I don’t think we have much choice.”
Chapter Twelve
Rose held Vida’s hand in a tight grip. He had taken the baby blowcat from her and was holding it in one arm. It slept on, oblivious to the hundreds of people staring at it in a combination of awe and fear.
“Why aren’t they killing us?” Wallace asked.
“I have no goddamn idea.” Teagan studied their surroundings. The locals had led them through the jungle to the west side of the island and the giant stone wall. Its surface was completely covered in yellow flowers. They had followed the wall to massive wooden doors, even they had vines of flowers growing up them. One of the men had whistled piercingly and, after a few moments, the giant doors groaned open.
Beyond the wall was an enormous clearing in the jungle. Numerous huts populated the space and there were hundreds of islanders milling around the clearing. Furs were stretched out in the sun, cooking fires were dug out in front of most of the huts, and Rose could hear the gentle noise of the ocean.
“The village sits on a cliff,” Vida told her. “The wall curves around to the cliff on both sides. They are protected from their enemies by the wall and the ocean.”
“Fucking brilliant,” Wallace said. “How do you know that?”
Vida shrugged. “I explored the island when I first got here.”
“We did too and almost got killed by these guys for even getting close to their wall.”
“I am faster and quieter than you,” Vida said.
Wallace nudged Duncan. “I want to argue, but the guy ain’t wrong, you know?”
“Quiet,” Teagan said.
A man was approaching them. He was tall and lean, and his dark hair was on the longer side. Like the others, he wore a loincloth and nothing else. Wooden beads were strung around his neck in long loops and a scar slashed across his naked chest. He stopped in front of them, studying the blowcat that was in Vida’s arms.
Rose’s mouth dropped open when he said, “My name is Gormet.”
“You speak English,” Teagan said. He sounded as surprised as Rose felt. “How?”
“A man named Walter taught me and some of the others in my clan, your language. He came from the orb with his mate Freida, just as you did.”
“Where’s Walter now?” Teagan asked.
Rose had a bad feeling that both Walter and Freida were dead. After all, Vida was living in what was obviously their home.
“Dead. As is his mate.”
“Killed by the pinkies or something else?” Teagan said.
“Neither. Simply old age. We burned their bodies as is our custom and they live forever beyond the great gates now.”
“So, why aren’t you killing us?” Wallace asked.
“Wallace,” Teagan snapped.
“What? It’s a valid question. They’ve always tried to kill us in the past.”
Gormet stared at Wallace for a moment before pointing at Rose and Vida. “She attempted to save the young of the mighty voprea, and he killed one of the elidas.”
“We call them the blowcats and the pinkies,” Wallace said with a grin.
Gormet considered this for a momen
t. “I do not understand either of those words. Voprea means striped one in our language.”
“What does elida mean?” Duncan asked.
Gormet’s gaze slid to him. “Death.”
“Figures,” Wallace replied. “So, what? Now that we’ve killed death, we’re considered gods to you people, is that right?”
“Not you,” Gormet replied before his gaze shifted to Vida.
“Ouch,” Wallace said. “Hey, Rosie, looks like you’re banging a god now. That’s quite the step up from that douchebag Solomon.”
“Shut it, Wallace,” Teagan said.
“Yes, Sir.” Wallace gave him a cocky grin but lapsed into silence.
Gormet moved close to Rose, stopping when Vida put his arm around her waist and growled at him.
“Is this your mate, female?”
“Um, well…” Rose flushed bright red.
“Yes,” Vida replied. “Neither you nor your clan will go near her if you wish to live.”
A brief smile crossed Gormet’s face, but he didn’t move closer to Rose. “Why did you attempt to save the voprea, even at risk of your own life?”
“Because it was a baby and it needed help,” Rose said. “The poor thing’s mama was dead and… I don’t know, it seemed like a good idea at the time.”
“Until you nearly got eaten by a giant, nightmare-inducing plant.” Wallace couldn’t resist joining in again. “What was up with those goddamn spiders by the way? Did you see those things?”
“Wallace,” Teagan warned.
“Mouth shut, right…sorry, Teag.”
The baby was starting to wake up and when it made a low and raspy purr, the locals who had gathered around them in a loose circle, all gasped in excitement. They spoke rapidly to each other in their own language until Gormet held up his hand and they lapsed into silence.
Vida set the baby down and it studied its surroundings before rubbing up against Rose’s leg and purring loudly. It sauntered toward Gormet and they watched as the leader’s eyes widened. When the baby rubbed against him, he reached down and petted it, a look of reverence on his face.
He turned and spoke to the man on his left. The man nodded and disappeared into the crowd. The baby blowcat sniffed at a few of the local’s feet, each of them stood in stunned silence, and when he batted at one woman’s calf, she giggled in unabashed delight.
The man returned carrying a leg of raw meat. Rose wasn’t sure what creature it was from and her stomach curled a little at the blood dripping onto the ground. The man set it in front of the baby and they watched as it attacked the leg with fierce determinedness, ripping and biting into the flesh.
Gormet turned toward them again. “You have brought us a great gift, and for that we will spare your lives. You will join us in celebrating the life of the voprea and the death of the elida. We will give you a bed for the evening and food for your belly.”
“Thank you, but we should be returning to our home before it gets dark,” Teagan said.
Gormet shook his head. “This is not a choice, big one.”
* * *
“Thank you.” Rose smiled at the woman who was applying a thick green paste to the wounds on her back. She had no idea what it was, but it soothed the pain and stopped the bleeding. The woman had helped her remove her shirt before rinsing the puncture wounds with water and applying the paste. The woman added another layer before stepping back and washing her hands in a bucket of water.
She said something in her native language and Rose glanced at Vida. Gormet had invited all of the men to join him around the largest fire in the center of the village, but Vida had refused. He had followed Rose and the woman to the hut instead.
“I have no idea what she’s saying,” Rose said.
“Nor do I, flower.”
The woman cocked her head at them before pointing to her paste-covered back. “No wash.” She held up one finger. “One day.”
Rose nodded. “Got it. Leave the paste stuff on for one day.”
She went to put her shirt back on and the woman shook her head and pointed to the paste. Most of the women in the village wore just a loincloth like the men did, but Rose had seen a few with fabric wrapped around their upper half like a tube top. The woman tried to pull her shirt away and Rose shook her head and clutched it tight against her naked breasts.
“No, I can’t go topless.”
The woman eyed her for a moment before sticking her head out the door of the hut and yelling something in her language. After a few moments, another woman entered the hut. She was holding a piece of fabric in her hand and she and the other woman wrapped it around Rose’s small breasts before tucking and securing it at the back.
“Thank you,” Rose said.
The woman stared at her before grinning. “Welcome.”
The second woman was staring at Vida’s naked chest and when she pressed her arm against Vida’s stomach, studying the difference between his blue skin and her tanned skin, a surge of jealousy went through Rose. She moved toward them, taking Vida’s hand and feeling mildly ridiculous when she had the urge to push the woman away. Vida put his arm around her waist and the islander smiled before leaving the hut.
The other woman crooked her finger at them and Rose and Vida followed her to the main fire. They sat next to Teagan who studied the paste on her back. “How do you feel?”
“Better. I don’t know what this is, but it took the pain away,” Rose replied.
“Many healing plants in the jungle,” Gormet said. He was smoking a pipe and he took another deep inhale before handing it to Wallace. Wallace shrugged and inhaled his own lungful of smoke.
He blew the smoke out. “It’s like a combination of weed and tobacco. Teag?”
Teagan shook his head and Wallace glanced at Duncan. “Duncan, you want to try it?”
“No.”
“Rose? Big guy?”
They both declined, and Wallace handed it back to Gormet. He was speaking to another local and Teagan turned to Rose and Vida. “Here’s what we’ve learned. The locals think the blowcats are some kind of ancient gods. They worship them, have an alter where they make sacrifices to them, that sort of thing.”
“What kind of sacrifices?” Rose asked nervously.
“Smaller animals,” Teagan said. “Anyway, the fact that you tried to save one of the babies and Vida killed a pinkie, has us in their good books.”
“Walter had many of these good books,” Gormet said. “He tried to teach me to read them but…”
He shrugged and took another hit off the pipe in his hand.
“I wonder where all of Walter’s shit got to,” Wallace said. “Unless they’ve got it tucked away in one of their huts.”
He scanned the huts as Rose glanced at Vida. She was surprised when Vida said, “I found the human’s home on the island and have made it my own.”
Wallace laughed. “Big surprise.”
He accepted the pipe from Gormet again. “Hey, any reason why you tried to kill us when we first tried to make contact with you? We didn’t threaten you or take any of your shit.”
“Wallace,” Teagan said.
“What? It’s a fair question.”
“You killed a voprea,” Gormet said.
“Uh, pretty sure I didn’t,” Wallace replied. “I mean, we were attacked by one when it was protecting its babies, but Duncan didn’t kill it. Did you?”
Duncan shook his head. “You know I did not.”
“Not you, two others in your camp.”
Teagan leaned forward. “Can you describe them?”
“One is dead,” Gormet said. “The one you cut open. The other leads your tribe.”
“How do you know we cut him open?”
“We watch you.”
“Shit,” Wallace said, “why the fuck do we even bother keeping watch? Between Vida and these guys, we don’t fucking notice shit.”
“When did they kill the blow – the voprea?” Teagan asked.
“Only a few days after the orb
brought you,” Gormet replied.
Teagan turned to Wallace. “Do you remember them killing a blowcat?”
“Fuck, no.”
“I don’t remember either. If they weren’t killing it for food or -”
“They killed it not for food or for its fur but…” Gormet hesitated and Rose cleared her throat.
“For sport?”
“What does sport mean?”
“It means they killed it because it was fun, they didn’t have a reason to kill it, they just did it because they could.”
“Yes, that is it,” Gormet said.
“No,” Teagan replied. “Garrett wouldn’t do something like that. It must have been attacking them. They must have been defending themselves or -”
“They were not,” Gormet replied. “Killing a voprea is an unforgiveable action. It is why we will not allow you to join us in safety behind the wall.”
“What if we left Patrick – the one who killed the voprea – behind?” Duncan asked.
“Hey,” Teagan said. “Shut your mouth, Duncan.”
Duncan ignored him. “Would you allow us to stay with you?”
“We’re not leaving Patrick alone to die,” Wallace said. “I get that he’s a first-class asshole, but if we abandon him, he will fucking die. You want that on your conscious?”
“He is insane, Wallace. You know that.”
“I don’t give a shit,” Wallace said. “We don’t leave a man behind. Right, Teag?”
Teagan nodded before turning to Gormet. “We didn’t know what the voprea meant to you. If we had, they would never have killed it. We’re stronger together. Let us live with you. We’ll help you hunt, protect you from the pinkies. We can be an asset to you, Gormet.”
Gormet sucked on his pipe. “We do not need your help, big one. We have survived the elidas for nearly a hundred years and will continue to do so long after your bodies return to the dirt and your spirit travels beyond the great gates.”