by Calista Skye
Harper pulled her jumpsuit back on, noticing that patches of it were black with soot. But the dirt would fall off. It was a very high-tech suit that could be split into many parts. “These facts? It's pretty obvious, isn't it? The vegetation has to regrow in four hundred days and spread its seeds before the fire burns them up. It's a short life cycle, so it gets intense. Those trees have to grow insanely fast.” She spoke slower than she otherwise would to make it easier for him to understand and to learn, while at the same time pointing and using hand gestures to hopefully explain the meaning.
“Insanely fast,” Vrax'ton agreed. He quickly put his pants back on, and they started walking again. “Where is Harper's house? Harper's republic?”
Harper fell into step beside him. She was getting used to his attempts to speak English now and mostly felt that she got the intent from context. “My home? I come from the moon that we call Gideo. Well, I really come from Earth. Many light years away. We have a base on that moon. Stars, Vrax'ton, your back is all sooty!”
He glanced over his shoulder. “Fire burns hot. Not much left after. Only sooty under new plants. Vrax'ton lie on soot ground. Is only dust. You travel with Gulg?”
No, that she couldn't interpret. “Gulg?”
“Aliens. Discontent. Aggressive. Angry. Dangerous. Loured upon you. Not liberty for all.”
“Oh, the aliens that abducted me are called Gulg? No, I didn't travel with them. They hypnotized me and lured me into their ship and ... well, you saw what they were planning.”
Vrax'ton was walking towards a little grove of blue trees. “A forced union.”
“Forced, yes. Or rape, rather. Thanks for saving me from them.”
The trees were not too tall, but they smelled much better than any other plant Harper had seen that day.
Vrax'ton motioned for her to stand still a little distance away, while he got his axe from his belt.
He walked carefully towards the grove, looking relaxed. Suddenly there was a rustle from the trees and a ghostly, glittering specter the size of a horse pounced at Vrax'ton at great speed.
Harper yelped and her hands flew to her mouth, but before she had time to get worried, Vrax'ton had swung his axe through the air, there was an explosion of glittering shards and he casually ducked as the large being, now lifeless, tumbled over his head.
He waved Harper closer and bent down to get something that dripped with red blood.
He held it out. It looked like an internal organ of some kind. “Plants feed the fire. This feed us.”
Harper gingerly touched the organ. It looked like raw meat. On the ground there was more of the same, along with a heap of shards.
She bent down and picked up one of the shards. She could see her own reflection in it, just a little distorted. She had sooty patches on her face, too. “Glass, huh? So this animal is well suited to resist the fire. Or was, rather.”
“Glassy skin,” Vrax'ton agreed. “Being is named 'herg'. Very dangerous. Vrax'ton more dangerous when providing for the common defense. Now can feed us.” He held the organ up with a satisfied smile on his face.
Harper was pretty hungry, now that she thought about it. But raw alien animal meat ... she wasn't sure she wanted that. She was actually pretty sure she didn't. “Um, maybe that could be plan B? I mean, I agree that some food would be nice right about now. Maybe there are some fruits or something somewhere? I think I saw some in those woods.”
Vrax'ton frowned. “Fruit dangerous. Made to feed fire, not feed Harper.” He peered into the grove where the mirror-skinned herg had been hiding. “But some can feed. Also change.”
He walked in among the trees and returned with two different kinds of yellow fruit and one fistful of deep red berries that appeared to be bursting with juice.
Harper's mouth watered just looking at them. “Those look pretty delicious. Are they safe to eat?”
Vrax'ton handed her one red berry. “Will not kill Harper. Also will make pleasant but dizzy.”
He put a berry into his mouth.
Harper bit into the berry and gingerly got a drop of juice on her tongue. “That's very sweet. And just a little tart. Do you think I can eat the whole one?”
He shrugged. “Will not kill Harper.”
“Uh-huh. But will it make me sick? I mean, it's delicious. From survival training, I remember that if something that you pick from a plant tastes sweet, it's probably okay to eat.”
Vrax'ton scratched his chin and thought for a moment. “Will not kill Harper.”
Harper popped the whole berry into her mouth, ready to spit it out at the first sign of anything out of the ordinary. And now she understood what he meant. “Oh my stars. This is pretty much pure alcohol, isn't it?”
The alien warrior started slicing up the herg meat with the edge of his axe. “Plants and fruits made to feed fire, not feed Harper. Burn glorious. Hot. Will make dizzy, but will not kill.”
Booze or not, the berry was delicious and reminded Harper of a sweet liqueur with a citrus flavor. But she had to limit how many she ate. She should probably avoid getting hammered.
Vrax'ton cleared the grass from a patch of ground, revealing the black soot underneath. Then he sliced the other fruits open with his axe and placed them on the soot in a heap. “Vrax'ton will make hot. Fire.”
He gently pushed Harper further away, then bent over the heap and rubbed a metallic stick against the shaft of his axe. A rain of tiny sparks fell on the fruits, there was a little whoosh and pale, almost invisible blue flames shot up from them.
Harper backed further away, alarmed. “Won't the heat light this whole area on fire?”
Vrax'ton threaded slices of alien animal meat onto a wooden spear he had fashioned with his axe. “Plants only light on fire from very, very hot fire. Important for them they not light on fire from small heat. This only small heat.”
The fruits were so full of concentrated alcohol that the fire didn't go out after the first burst, and Vrax'ton got a heap of similar fruits to put on his intense little bonfire. He placed the spear with the meat slices across the fire, and soon there was a delicious smell in the air, like a mix of frying bacon and beef. Harper had never been much of a meat eater, and after she went into space she hadn't had any. But now her mouth was watering again.
“Herg good to eat,” Vrax'ton said and put another berry into his mouth. “Hunt other animals that run from fire. Much power and ...” He pointed to his own biceps and raised his eyebrows quizzically.
“Um ... muscle?”
He nodded. “Much power and muscle. Feed Harper and Vrax'ton.”
He sat down close to the fire, which didn't give off much smoke.
Harper sat down close to him. “How do you know so much about this planet? I mean, you don't live here, right? I'd think that fire would make it hard to settle here.”
He rotated the spear holding the meat. Juice dripped down from the slices and hissed in the fire. “This not Vrax'ton's house or republic. Bosh is important planet. It is... under God. Blessings.”
Harper could guess what he meant. There were many theories about the planet Bry, some of them spiritual. “Under God? Meaning that it's holy? A sacred planet?”
Vrax'ton nodded. “Holy. Sacred. Spirits live here. When young, Vrax'ton and others stay here for long time. Survive only. Not provided common welfare. Only knife provided. Very dangerous. Fire very hot.”
He showed her the underside of his left forearm. The skin was all wrinkled and ruined, and it looked as dry as parchment, as if it had been burned.
“Oh stars, that must have hurt!”
He nodded. “Hurt. Yet, Vrax'ton survived.” He pointed to the intricately swirling tattoos that adorned his other arm, and his boyish price was obvious. “Fantastic garlands. Now fire is part of Vrax'ton.”
Harper took his hand in hers and looked at it. It had been bleeding. In her earlier aroused haze, she hadn't even seen it. “And you hurt yourself recently, too. Was it in the crash?”
“In the cra
sh,” he confirmed. “Glass pieces cut.”
Harper rustled through the pockets of her jumpsuit and got out the little first-aid kit that all the base personnel always carried. “Let's see what we can do about that.”
She opened the kit, got out the nanogel sterilizer and smeared it onto his wound. The ruined skin was dry to the touch, but it was warm and alive. “So this planet is sacred to your people, and they send their young warriors here to prove themselves. Those who survive become full warriors and get the tattoos as a sign of their status. Am I close?”
Vrax'ton raised his eyebrows in amused surprise. “Harper is close. Yes. Vrax'ton is warrior. Became warrior on Bosh.” He looked around, and there was a frown on his face. “Is now back again.”
Harper held his hand and got out the roll of gauze. “So your people come here once in a while? I mean, I guess they have to, if they're going to drop their young hopeful warriors off and then come get them after they prove themselves. How often do they come here?”
Vrax'ton watched her put the bandage on his hand. “Fire two times between warrior trials.”
Harper did some mental calculations. If he meant what she thought he meant, it was bad news. “The fire takes four hundred days to go full circle. So eight hundred days between each time a batch of young men have to prove themselves here?”
“Eight hundred days,” Vrax'ton confirmed. “Harper also knows the planet Bosh, which she calls Bry.”
Shit. She had gotten her hopes up for no reason. “Vrax'ton, do you know if there are anyone from your people here right now? I mean, we pretty desperately need to get away from this crazy planet.”
He shrugged. “Vrax'ton has been in movement for many days. Many things happen on Acerex. Not know times for Warrior Trials.”
Okay, so he didn't know. Harper taped the gauze on his hand. “The nanogel will help it heal.”
She held onto his hand and looked into his luminous eyes. “Vrax'ton. I just want to check. Is there any chance that we will get away from that fire?”
He didn't reply, just leaned over and lifted the spear off the fire and took one cooked slice in his hand and bit into it.
“Herg meat,” he said, chewing happily. “Not much Vrax'ton miss from Bosh. Herg meat only thing.”
He took a fresh twig, speared another piece of cooked meat on it and held it out to Harper. “Feed.”
She gingerly accepted it. It looked and smelled pretty enticing after months of canned food and the veggie stuff they could grow in the biodome on the base. The alcohol from the berries was starting to kick in, too, and it made her brave.
“If this kills me, I'll haunt you as hard as I can,” she warned Vrax'ton. “You don't want that. Earthling ghosts can be pretty nasty.”
Vrax'ton took another bite. “Will not kill. Will feed. Need feed for escaping Fire.”
Well, that made sense. Without energy, they wouldn't be able to walk as fast as they really had to.
Harper nibbled the alien meat. The fire had glazed some of the fats and turned them into a sweet and spicy substance that was perfectly crispy. “Not bad,” she conceded. “Like bacon and chicken rolled into one. Tender, too.”
They chewed in silence for a while. It didn't feel awkward, just like a natural break in the conversation.
“Harper ask leaving Bosh,” Vrax'ton said and dried his lips with a leaf. “Will be difficult. But Bosh is sacred planet. Must not give up hope. Holy things can occur under God.”
Maybe it was the alcohol in the berries, or maybe it was the energy the herg meat had given her. Either way, Harper was feeling much more optimistic. Vrax'ton was right – it was better to not give up hope. The survival course she had been sent on before she could go to space had been pretty useful, she realized. And one thing the instructors had stressed was that no matter how bad things looked, there was always hope. You just needed to keep your eyes open for any opportunity and not be dead set on one specific kind of rescue, because that could trick you into ignoring the good things that could happen. And all that was easier if you had food.
She took another piece of meat, and Vrax'ton put his arm around her and gave her an encouraging smile. “Good Harper,” he said sincerely. “Feed on herg. Will help escape fire. Feel better. Eat berries, also. Not many.”
His strong arm around her felt pretty great. Alien warrior or not, he had a way of making her feel safe even here.
“Good Vrax'ton,” she deadpanned in the same tone of voice. “Kill herg. Find food for Harper. Get her drunk on space berries.”
He just stared at her for a long moment and his eyes lit up in green.
Shit, Harper thought, and a spear of ice shot through her. Had she offended him? Damn those berries!
Then his face broke into a smile, he chuckled and squeezed her shoulder. “Meehn Mahan.”
She breathed out, relieved that he wasn't offended. This was one alien she probably shouldn't alienate.
They finished the herg meat. Vrax'ton got to his feet and picked more berries and fruits that he gave to Harper, and she filled her pockets with them.
Vrax'ton shaded his eyes and looked back in the direction they had come from. “Must travel fast. Travel by night much dangerous. Many streams and mountains. Fire approaches.”
Harper looked at the sky. The sun was still up, but even in the daylight it did look as if the horizon behind them was pulsating with yellow and orange. Well, it was a big fire.
Vrax'ton took her hand and walked fast in the other direction. His hand was warm and dry around hers.
It felt good. She could get used to this.
7
- Vrax'ton -
Her slender little hand was cool in his. It was not necessary to hold her now that they could communicate, but it felt good. Everything about her felt good. Her voice felt good to his ears. Her face felt good to his eyes. Her body felt good to all of him.
The fire was so close he could see its reflection in the sky, even in sunlight. They had wasted a lot of time here. But he had to learn her language to warn her of the many dangers. And they had desperately needed energy to travel as fast as they had to.
In his mind there was a fierce battle between joy and despair. Joy of having found his Mahan and of being so close to her now. Despair of their situation and the hopeless task of protecting her against this planet. If she had been another Acerex warrior, they could have tried the Gerezi approach and just run headlong away from it, stalling for time. But of course that wasn't a permanent solution at the best of times.
They had to get off the planet. Probably their only hope was that a ship transporting young men from Acerex for their Warrior Trials would somehow land right by them, either to pick up graduated warriors or set down candidates. He remembered from his own test that they were set down twenty-nine days ahead of the Fire, and that they were picked up very close to it. Dangerously close. But that could happen at any time.
He didn't especially remember this area of the planet, but of course if he had been here back then, it would look completely different now. The vegetation always changed. It burned, then took hold again on the other side of the fire to wait for the blaze to come again. Where there was forest now, there probably hadn't been forest then. Where there was grasslands now, it could have been desert or savannah back then.
What else did he remember? The Ice Caves might provide shelter. Or they may not. Of course they would be impossible to find. They could be on the other side of the planet.
At any rate, the one thing that stayed the same was the oceans. The Interior Sea lay in the middle of the landmass, like the hub of a wheel, and the fire always revolved it. It was so salty and acidic that swimming in it was certain death. The Outer Sea was a normal ocean with fish and a pleasant temperature, but to get there, they had to go to the outer edge of the continent. Out there, the Fire always moved faster than further in and it would overtake them before they knew it. They wouldn't even reach that side before the blaze was upon them. Closer to the Interior Sea t
he fire moved slower, but there was also less vegetation and more bare cliffs that were hard to climb and slowed you down.
The middle ground, which was where they were now, was probably better.
Now that Vrax'ton had eaten and gotten his energy back, it was easier to look ahead to what had to be done. If Harper stayed close to him, he could protect her. And no one had ever given much thought to the idea of completely escaping the fire, as far as he knew. The warrior test wasn't about outrunning the fire, but about staying alive close to the fire front where there were all kinds of lethal animals and dangers.
He looked behind him, and the little smile she gave him melted his heart, as always. How had he ever found such a beautiful Mahan? Alien or not, it didn't matter. Not when she was that feminine and not when she had a gift for healing. His injured hand felt much better now after she had tended to it.
Well, things weren't all bad. He had his axe and he had his Mahan. Maybe this was the end of his life. But it was a pretty spectacular end, a fever pitch that would probably end in a blaze that lit up the solar system.
And miracles did happen. This was Bosh, the sacred Fire Planet.
- - -
They walked on for hours until the white sun was close to setting and the sky pulsated brighter and brighter behind them. He was just about to stop and look for a campsite when he saw something glitter a half mile in front of them.
“That's water!” Harper said and pointed. “Maybe we can stay in it when the fire comes, and it will go around us.”
Vrax'ton shrugged. The planet did have rain, and sometimes lots of it. It was never nearly enough to put out the fire, but sometimes little pools and lakes would form. Then they would evaporate in the blink of an eye when the fire came. He saw no point in telling Harper about that yet.
He wanted another language meditation so he could make more sense of what she said without having to concentrate too much. When they were just talking, he would also learn fast, but not as instantaneously as when he meditated and heard her speak in the background. It was a way to open his mind and see the whole language take its natural place in it, perfectly formed and ready to use as if he had known it all his life. Only some individual words had to be learned before he could start figuring out the rest of them on his own. It took a toll on the brain, but it was extremely useful and a major part of the education that every Acerex warrior received.