by Aline Ash
But the precarious position I find myself in with Tulo makes me realize I need to get my feelings back under control. I can’t put my heart out there with the very real possibility that Tulo will not escape with me.
“Anyway,” Ryz says. “You’re not pregnant, and you are healthy in all other regards. I will make note of it. You are free to go.”
“Thank you, Dr. Ryz,” I say.
She gives me a firm nod, then turns back to her computers and begins keying things in. Part of me wonders what she’s doing. She took a lot of blood from me and I can’t believe that all of that was used for a pregnancy test. She probably uses some of it for research. If so, she doesn’t necessarily think Wylto’s ideas actually are that outlandish, and she’s trying to crack the genetic code that will allow Tulo to impregnate me.
My intuition about her was right - no matter how much she talks to me, or how open and friendly she seems, Dr. Ryz is somebody I simply cannot trust. She’s not evil, she’s just self-serving and ambitious.
No matter, though. With the time coming when I’ll need to make my escape, the fewer emotional entanglements I’m wrapped up in, the better. Licking my suddenly dry lips and trying my best to swallow down my fear, when Ryz turns away, I swipe her personal datachip she stupidly left lying on the table. I tuck it down into the waistband of my breeches and wait. But she gives no sign that she noticed, and I let out a breath of relief.
Chapter Nineteen
Tulo
“You are certain of this?” I ask.
She shakes her head. “I’m not certain of anything. I’m just telling you what Dr. Ryz told me.”
I lean back against the wall and turn my face to the windows. I look outside to the gardens. So bright and colorful. A chaotic riot of colors, in fact. Which is not unlike what my thoughts are like at the moment, a chaotic riot, though decidedly less colorful and pleasant to look at.
I turn back to Eva and see that her face is a mask of cool indifference. It’s the same expression she’s worn for the last few days.
“Do you think it’s possible?” she asks. “They could use the DNA of a human-Tabiean child to make some sort of cure for all diseases?”
I shake my head. “I do not know what is possible. I am not a scientist.”
She is agitated and gets to her feet, folding her arms over her breasts, and begins to pace back and forth in front of the window. There is a part of me that wants to reach out and pull her to me, to feel the warm press of her body against mine. I want to feel her mouth on mine and her hands roaming and caressing me.
The truth is, I want to mate with her right now. Coupling with Eva has become my one solace in this wretched place. Being inside my little human has brought me peace. The only peace I have ever known in Wylto’s menagerie. Looking into her eyes, feeling her soft, yet firm body, it has been my refuge. My salvation.
What I’ve come to see, though, is that it is not necessarily just about the coupling. My feelings for her are as complex as they are deep. Back in the mountains, with my people, I knew what to expect in a life partner. I knew that someday I would find a mate and produce many children with her to carry on my name. I might, in time, even come to love her after a fashion. That is what I’d come to expect for my future.
We Tabieans do not typically join for love, or any of the notions of romance. We find matches based on a number of compatibility factors, the most prominent being the likelihood a potential coupling will produce offspring. But with Eva, my thinking, my feelings, have changed. It confuses me.
My emotions are so powerful that all I can think about is being with her. And even if our mating will not result in having children together, it will not impact the way I feel about her, which is something I would never have believed possible. It is not typical Tabiean behavior.
Seeing her still so upset with me, and knowing my touch would not be welcomed, is like a constant stabbing pain in my heart.
“I do not know if it is even possible…a human and Tabiean siring a child,” I say.
“It is,” she states firmly.
I turn to her, staring at her in surprise. She nods and purses her lips before turning her eyes back out to the gardens beyond the windows.
I know for a fact the Gargolians have been attempting to breed different species for a host of different reasons. Eva’s story about Dr. Ryz and Wylto’s ultimate goals does not come as any sort of revelation to me. It is partly why he collects this menagerie of beings from other worlds to experiment on—in pursuit of things that will benefit the Gargolian species.
I learned all about it when I was being kept in the subterranean cells. Word gets around in places like that. And because they do, I know that his experiments have not worked out to this point. Yet he persists.
Yet Eva’s declaration that a coupling between a human and a Tabiean could produce an offspring…that is very surprising news.
“How do you know this?” I ask.
“Because I have seen the child with my own eyes,” she tells me. “Kon and Marissa have a child together.”
My mind reels with excitement at such a possibility. It is very exciting, but it is also potentially very, very troubling. If Wylto ever got word of such a child, he would burn down every tree on Tabia searching for it. And if he ever got his hands on it, who knows what his scientists would do?
It could be that this child is the key to bypassing the genetic incompatibility issues between humans and Tabieans, and maybe between humans and Gargolians. And if Wylto succeeds to breed me and to reproduce my powers, with an army of super soldiers at his back, immune to all diseases that could cripple them, the Gargolians would be literally unstoppable.
And I, for one, do not like the idea of an Emperor Wylto. His ambition knows no bounds and I can only assume he is attempting to produce these things for the sole purpose of conquest. There is no end to Wylto’s ambitions, and no telling how far he would take his war. If he were able to produce the hybrid he believes he can, there would be no stopping him.
Although all of this has gotten me thinking and lights the fire that burns in my chest. I have to admit there is nothing we can do about it. We are locked inside Wylto’s compound with no way out. Trying to escape will get Eva and Daca killed, while he probably will keep me alive to go on with his plans of conquest anyway.
The sound of soft footsteps approaching draws my attention. I turn and see the young Tabiean girl, Ilfa, walking over to us. She cuts a nervous glance my way, then turns her eyes back to Eva. She’s normally a bit anxious around me, but there seems to be something extra in her jumpiness right now. She seems more nervous than usual.
Eva favors her with a warm smile and pulls her into an embrace. Ilfa melts into her and it’s as if I can physically see the tension bleeding out of the girl. She relaxes in Eva’s arms and looks slightly less nervous. Though when she lets go of Eva and takes a step back, I can see her eyes still darting this way and that.
“Did you have any trouble getting away?” Eva asks.
Ilfa shakes her head and answers softly, “No, this is my free time. I can do as I please until I am sent for again.”
Eva nods, and it’s then I can see she has something brewing in her mind. There are definitely wheels spinning. As I search her eyes, I can see that she has a plan. And yet she has not spoken a word of it to me. That upsets me tremendously.
Eva sits down on the opposite side of the bed I’m sitting on and huddles close with Ilfa. The pair lean forward, pitching their voices low as if they are conspiring together. Curious, I sit quietly and watch them, listening to their words carefully.
“So did you check the way out of the compound I told you about?” Eva asks.
Ilfa nods, though her eyes widen and her lips tremble. She looks scared. Terrified, in fact. Eva takes her hand and gives it a gentle squeeze.
“I did,” she finally says.
Eva nods and pats the girl’s hand. “Good, Ilfa. That’s really good,” she says. “Do you think you can leave un
noticed?”
Ilfa’s nod is slow and tentative. I can see her fear ramping up again.
“I-I’m scared, Eva.”
Eva gives her a tight smile. “I know you are, honey. I am too. And I hate asking this of you. If I had my way, you wouldn’t be within a thousand miles of this place. But we’re both stuck here, and unless we do something about it, we’re never going to get out.”
“I know,” Ilfa whispers. “And I want nothing more than to get out of here. I want to go home.”
Eva nods. “So do I. And I wouldn’t ask this of you if it wasn’t critical.”
“I know.”
She reaches up and lays her hand gently on the girl’s cheek, her mouth compressed into a tight line. I can see she’s struggling with this, but I can also see that her determination to break out of this facility and rejoin the fight is the strongest of all her feelings.
Ilfa takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly. “I’ll do it,” she says firmly.
“Good girl.”
Eva passes a small datachip to Ilfa, who quickly tucks it into her boot. She stands up straighter, a different look on her face now. The fear has diminished and now there is a look of pride. The look of a Tabiean warrior. The girl wants to join this fight. All I can do is shake my head.
“I’ll get out tonight,” Ilfa says.
“Please be careful,” Eva cautions. “If it looks like—”
The girl smiles. “Fear not, Eva,” she cuts her off. “I am very sneaky.”
They both laugh, and after a little more conversation, her mission given, Ilfa turns and bounds off.
I stare at Eva for a long moment, not sure what I’m more upset by at the moment: the fact that she did not share her plans with me, or that she sent a young girl to do her dirty work.
“You know you probably sent that girl to her death,” I note.
“Don’t,” she hisses. “Don’t even start.”
I open my mouth to reply, but Eva gets to her feet and storms off. But then she stops and turns back to me, her face dark with anger.
“Somebody has to do something,” she spits. “And I got tired of waiting for you.”
And with that, she spins on her heel again and walks away from me.
Chapter Twenty
Eva
He catches up to me in the indoor arboretum. It is one of the purely recreational places we are allowed to go whenever we are allowed free time. It is, of course, a very secure building that there’s no way out of. I walk down a narrow path between trees with thick red trunks and yellow foliage.
The air is redolent with aromas I can’t identify. They’re almost earthy musk and something like pine, but they’re somehow different. Slightly different from the forest scents I remember. The sound of birds warbling overhead fills the area, as does the burble of running water.
I stop beside the stream and sit down on a flat rock, watching the green water flowing swiftly through the channel. Tulo leans against a tree near me, folding his massive arms over his thick chest, and looks at me. We remain in a silence pregnant with tension for several long moments
“She’s a child.” he finally says.
“She’s more capable than many I know, and she wants to see her world free from Gargolian oppression,” I spit.
He says nothing, but gives me a look of disapproval that reverberates down into my soul. I know it’s possible I sent Ilfa to her death. I know I played on her need for vengeance and used her desire to help liberate Tabia to get what I wanted. I sent her out to do something incredibly risky. If she’s caught trying to escape from Wylto’s compound, I know they’ll visit ten thousand horrors upon her. I shudder to think what they’ll do.
But she is our only chance. She is allowed to visit almost every part of the compound, while we are restricted to a very small and most heavily guarded area. She is small and insignificant in Wylto’s eyes; he has hundreds of servants like her. Therefore her disappearance can go unnoticed for a while. Our movements, though, are closely monitored. Slipping out unnoticed would be impossible.
Besides, Ilfa could have opted not to take on the mission I gave her. Ilfa had been more than willing to do it. She was scared, of course. Who wouldn’t be? But she saw it as her duty to help her people and her world. She took on that responsibility. I gave her the chance to say no several times, and she didn’t. She chose to do this, my little hero. I hope I will live to hug her once again when we both are free, away from this damned place.
I look down into the water and see the shadow of a long, snake-like fish swimming below the surface. In the blink of an eye, it launches itself out of the water and snatches a small blue and red bird off a branch that hangs just over the surface of the stream. There’s a soft splash as the fish descends back into the water, slipping below the surface, its prize caught in its long jaws.
I kind of feel like I was the fish and Ilfa was the bird. It’s an absurd thought that draws a quiet, rueful laugh from me, and I try to push it away. But no matter how hard I try to banish the notion it continues to rise to the surface of my mind.
“She made her choice,” I say. “It was her decision to carry the message.”
“You sound as if you are trying to convince yourself,” he replies.
I get to my feet and round on him. “That little girl has more courage in her little finger than you have in your whole body,” I spit. “Unlike you, she actually feels a responsibility to her people and her world.”
Anger flashes in his eyes as he looks at me. It’s as if I hit a most sensitive spot.
“You know nothing about how I feel. You do not know what it feels like to see your entire family and your whole clan wiped out before your very eyes,” he growls. “So do not presume to lecture me on what I feel, or what you think my responsibilities are.”
Tulo lets out a long, loud string of profanities before falling into a dark, brooding silence. He looks down, kicking a small rock near his foot. I can see that although he’s angry, he’s torn. Tulo has no more love for the Gargolians than Ilfa does. Like her, he watched his tribe be massacred. And I know he too would rather see them driven from Tabia altogether. So why is he not willing to take a risk like Ilfa did?
I understand that he’s lost so much already. The thought of losing his sister is a burden too heavy to bear. And I can’t say that I blame him for that. Who knows? In his place, having suffered such terrible losses and facing the prospect of losing the last person I love in the world, maybe I’d be doing exactly as he’s doing.
I can’t say. I haven’t walked a mile in his shoes and it’s not for me to judge him. I realize that now and feel badly for having done so already. It wasn’t fair of me.
“Listen, I’m sorry I’ve been so hard on you,” I tell him. “I know I shouldn’t have been. I know I was wrong to say some of the things I’ve said.”
He says nothing, just continues to stare at me. The anger has faded from his eyes, but I see something different. Something I can’t quite put my finger on. Disappointment? Sadness? Resignation?
“You’re right,” I press on. “I don’t know what it’s like to see my entire family wiped out. I’m sorry for presuming otherwise.”
He remains silent, but his eyes are still downcast. I can tell he has a lot to say, but he’s holding himself back.
“I know you have to protect your sister. I get it. And I don’t begrudge you that, Tulo, but I need to get out of here. I need to rejoin the fight.”
He shakes his head. “I do not know why you fight so hard and are willing to give your life for a world that is not your own.”
“It’s like I told you, this is my new home, at least for now. And if we free Tabia one day, then maybe I’ll have a chance to return to Earth. If not, I’ll live my life here with people I have grown to love and to respect. Both possibilities are worth the risk, worth fighting for. And yeah, it’s worth even dying for to help make that happen.”
“But you seem to hate them,” he says. “Even more so than Tabieans�
�� and we have been at war with them for years.”
I let out a breath and look down for a moment as I marshal my thoughts. I haven’t told Tulo everything. Maybe it’s time. Looking up, I hold his gaze.
“When I was held on Bruc’s ship, he brutalized me. Beat me. Raped me,” I say softly. “Just about every single day he forced himself on me, trying to get me pregnant. And one time, he succeeded. But then he beat me a little too hard and forced me to miscarry the child.”
He sighs a low, deep rumble that starts in his chest. He finally raises his eyes to mine, and I can see the conflict there, and I know what he’s thinking and feeling because it’s the same conflict inside myself. Beyond that though, I can see the rage in his eyes over what I told him. Though he controls himself, I can see the hate twisting his features.
“I don’t know. I should be grateful. I can’t imagine having a Gargolian baby. His baby,” I go on. “But you wanted to know why I hate them so much. That’s why.”
He nods but remains silent. It’s as if he doesn’t trust himself to speak. I can see what I said has hit him hard though. I don’t expect my words to sway him. I just thought he should know since, when I flee this place, assuming I can make it out alive, I may never see him again. I’m going to have to say goodbye to somebody who has brought me closer to knowing what love actually feels like than I’ve ever been in my life. Maybe I’ll see him again when this is all over, but I have a feeling once I leave this compound, if he’s not by my side, the chances are better that I won’t.
I don’t know exactly how I feel about that since I haven’t even figured out exactly how I feel about him. All I do know is that it is going to hurt. And it’s going to hurt a lot. I care about Tulo deeply. I even let myself entertain the silly notion that once this war is over, he and I could build a home somewhere and raise a family together. Maybe we’d even find other G’osha survivors hiding out there among the trees and craggy stone faces of the mountains. I felt that flicker of hope, and even though I knew I shouldn’t, I nurtured it anyway.