by R. R. Banks
"Yes?"
"I love you."
I felt my breath catch in my throat and my grip loosen on the knife. I had to regain my composure quickly to prevent myself from dropping it.
"I love you, too."
If I had been vacillating at all in my determination to continue forward, that had sealed it. I had never seen the Klimnu and I didn't know exactly what they were capable of, but in that moment there was absolutely nothing that could have frightened me enough to stop me from fighting to protect Ty, his people, and our future together. I tightened my grip on the knife even further, set my jaw, and surged forward. I picked up speed until I almost left the other women behind. The faster I walked, the less nervous I felt, and suddenly I realized that I was excited to find out what was at the end of the tunnel. I knew for certain now that if this was in fact the path by which Ullie had been interacting with the Klimnu to remain undetected, he had not been acting alone. Unless the creatures had always come to him through that tunnel, which was highly unlikely considering the amount of vigilance the warriors used to protect the compound, there was someone else, someone small, who was acting as a go-between for the Traitor and the Klimnu.
I was determined I was going to find out who that was.
Chapter Eight
Ty sat on the floor of the cave beside the entrance to the tunnel, leaned back against the cold stone wall so that he could listen for any sound coming from the tunnel. It felt like he had been sitting there for hours and he wanted to connect with Samira and talk to her the entire time she was away, but he knew that she needed to be able to concentrate if she was going to gather all of the information that they needed about the tunnel and wherever it led and then get back to them safely. Pyra had gone back outside of the cave to talk to the other warriors and the silence surrounding Ty was becoming overwhelming. He closed his eyes and went back over the events of the last few days in his mind.
He never expected this. From the time he was a little child he knew that he was not going to be a warrior. The destiny of each Denynso man is set from the time of birth and it is evident early on what a man is going to do with his life, whether that is to join up forces as one of the clan's fearsome warriors so that he can march into battle and help the others defend the clan and the planet, or take on another role within the group. As a very young child it was already evident that being a warrior was not what he was made to do. While he was nearly as massive as Pyra, his spirit was gentle and nurturing, not aggressive. He had never been prone to fighting or lashing out. Instead, he was drawn to cooking and baking. He used his skills to prepare food for the warriors to take with them while they were in battle and to strengthen them when they came back.
It wasn't until Samira came along that he ever felt the intensity of what the warriors felt. She sparked something in him that was so powerful he was almost afraid of it himself. Suddenly he was ready to use his tremendous size and strength for more than he had ever used it for, and was ready to step forward and be a part of defending the planet from the Klimnu in what they hoped would be their final showdown. He always knew that he would change when he met his mate, but he never expected that the change would be so drastic and powerful. It brought to mind elements of his inner self that he had hidden for so long he didn't even know if he could still use them, elements that he had always feared and tried to forget that he had, but now knew may be the key to him helping the warriors.
"Can you hear me?"
The sound of Samira's voice suddenly coming through the tunnel broke Ty out of his thoughts and brought him to his feet. For a moment he thought that he may be hearing her talking to him through her mind, but her voice sounded too loud for that to be what was happening. He leaned into the mouth of the tunnel.
"Samira?" he shouted.
"Ty! Is that the first time you heard me calling for you?"
"Yes. Just now. Are you OK?"
"We're fine. We're coming your way, but the torch finally went out so it's dark. Just keep talking to me."
Ty nearly sagged with relief. He felt a smile break across his face as he crouched down so that it was easier to call into the tunnel.
"I'm here, Baby. I'm right here. Just keep coming toward me. Listen to my voice. I'm right here waiting for you."
Ty kept talking, repeating himself over and over because he couldn't think of anything else to say that he would want the other two women listening to as they walked through the tunnel. Finally he heard footsteps coming toward him and a few moments later he could feel Samira's presence near him. He reached out and his hands touched her. Even in the intense darkness he knew he was touching his mate. She curled into his arms and he pulled her back away from the mouth of the tunnel so that the other two women could step out into the main chamber of the cave.
"Pyra!" Ty shouted, "Bring us a new torch."
Heavy footsteps sounded in the front part of the chamber and Ty saw the bright glow of a new torch flame cutting through the darkness toward them. They rushed toward it, using the illumination to guide them around the stalagmites that jutted up from the floor of the cave. As soon as they stepped out onto the plateau, he saw Samira take a deep breath and lean over to rest her hands on her knees. She continued to draw in long breaths as if she were trying to replace all of the air from the tunnel in her body with fresh air. He stroked her back gently, trying to calm her, as Gyyx and Ero rushed forward to scoop Leia and Zuri into their arms. Everyone stayed silent for a few seconds as the men comforted and cuddled their mates. Finally Pyra stepped forward.
"What did you find?" he asked.
Samira straightened and curled close to Ty's side before she spoke. He wrapped his arm around her waist, giving over as much of his strength to her as she needed.
"I don't know if we'd be able to describe it to you effectively," Samira said.
"But I can draw it for you," Leia said, "I just need some paper and a pencil and I can sketch everything we saw out for you."
"Let's get back to the compound, then. The sooner we can find out what you saw, the sooner we can start building our defense plan."
Leia, Zuri, Gyyx, Ero, and Pyra started back down the side of the cliff to where the rest of the warriors were waiting for them. Ty held Samira back, waiting until the last of Pyra's Mohawk disappeared beneath the edge of the cliff to turn to her. He curled her up into his arms so that her chest pressed against his and her arms looped tightly around his waist. She rested her head against his chest for a brief moment and then looked at him, leaning back slightly so that he could see her entire face gazing up at his.
"I love you, Samira," he said softly.
A smile broke across her lips and he thought he saw the glimmer of tears in her dark eyes. She cuddled him a little closer, bringing her body forward so that as much of her pressed against him as possible.
"I love you, too, Ty."
His heart swelled and he felt his body getting hot again. The heat radiating off of his skin told him even more that he had definitely found his mate in Samira. That searing, glowing heat told all other females to stay away from him and gave both him and his mate even more reason to take off their clothes. She took her arms from around his waist and trailed her fingers down his arms, tracing the curves of his muscles with her fingertips. He could see her eyes getting smoky as she touched his skin, feeling the warmth on hers.
"I wish we didn't have to go with the warriors," he murmured to her.
She nodded, her long eyelashes dipping down over her eyes as she continued to touch him tenderly.
"I do, too. How long do you think that the meeting will be?" she purred back.
"I don't know. However long it takes for you three to tell us what you saw and for them to decide how we should move forward with the war."
The mention of war seemed to dampen the smoldering building inside her and she got a solemn look on her face.
"What's going to happen, Ty?"
Ty put his hands on her arms, gently squeezing her.
"Ever
ything's going to be fine. I promise. The Denynso are the best warriors in the galaxy. Once we figure out how the Klimnu have been learning about us and getting into the compound so easily, the warriors will be able to defeat them."
"Why aren't you a warrior?"
The question stung him a little, but he had to remind himself that she wasn't familiar with their kind and didn't know how things worked with them. She wouldn't understand that it wasn't his choice what role he was going to play within the clan, or what skills he would have. From the little bit that he knew of Earth, he knew that each person had a choice of what they were going to do with their lives and what types of skills and abilities they were going to use throughout their lives. He figured that as strange as that seemed to him, it must seem strange to Samira that each of the Denynso were born to fulfill a certain role and meet their specific responsibilities so that the entire clan operated effectively.
"I wasn't meant to be," he answered.
He expected her to pry, to try to figure out more, or to criticize him for not being one of the powerful, fierce men who had a reputation throughout the galaxy. Instead, she smiled at him and got up on the tips of her toes to touch a kiss to his lips.
"We should probably catch up with everyone else before the think that we've been kidnapped. I don't think that they need any more stress in their battle planning."
Chapter Nine
I pondered what Ty had told me as we hurried across the plateau and down the side of the cliff. The rest of the group was already considerably ahead of us and we took off at a run to catch up with them. Even at my height, though, Ty's long legs created a stride with a length that far outdid mine, putting him several steps ahead of me within just a few seconds. I called up to him and he turned back to me. As soon as I caught up to him, he reached down and scooped me off of my feet, draping me over his shoulder so that he could carry me as he ran. I let out a scream, but it quickly turned into a laugh as I bounced along with my head at his waist level.
I was dizzy by the time we caught up to the rest of the group and he finally lowered me back to my feet. He held me stable for a few seconds so that I could get my wits about me again and then we started back toward the compound. Everyone was silent as we walked, each person lost in his own thoughts and absorbed in his own worries. I fought off the ominous feelings that fell over the group, trying to remain positive as we walked. I knew that what we found at the end of that tunnel was going to change everything, and I needed to find as much strength as I could in my positivity before we had to tell them about it.
When we made it back to the meeting hall, I noticed that everyone who had been in the main room was now gone. The long tables and benches were empty and there was a strange sense of tension in the air like the walls and floor themselves knew that something was about to happen and they were bracing themselves for it. One of the warriors rushed out of the room and came back a few moments later carrying several large sheets of parchment and a dark pencil. Leia sat at one of the tables and spread the materials out in front of her. She took a breath like she was preparing herself and stretched and wriggled her fingers. She had the look of an artist who had not drawn in quite a length of time and was trying to get herself back into that flow that allowed her to create.
She picked up the pencil and let the tip hover above the parchment.
"The tunnel was long and narrow," she described, starting the sketch, "It was only a couple of inches taller than Zuri and Samira, and tight enough that we had to walk single file."
"That means that Ullie was not the only one helping the Klimnu," Pyra said, leaning on his palms on the table so that he could watch as Leia drew.
I nodded and picked up where Leia had left off.
"What's strange about the tunnel is that we noticed we seemed to have gone much further than we should have. I called out to Ty, but he couldn't hear me. There's no reason why he shouldn't have been able to hear my voice when I was calling to him from what I thought was just a few dozen yards away. Especially with my voice coming through a tunnel like that, he should have been able to hear me for much longer. The same goes for when we were heading back. He wasn't able to hear me until we were almost at the mouth of the tunnel."
"What do you think that means?" Gyyx asked.
"We aren't sure. What we know is that we walked for a while and then everything seemed to feel different. The tunnel got cold and wet, and then we started feeling moving air."
Leia took the page where she had drawn the tunnel and set it aside, pulling a fresh sheet closer to her.
"Samira had us wait in the tunnel while she went ahead. After a few seconds we heard her calling for us. The tunnel took a sudden turn and when we came around it, the tunnel opened out into what looked like a jungle."
Leia started sketching, her hand moving feverishly across the paper as what we had seen in the subterranean jungle developed under the tip of her pencil. She drew out what had looked like massive trees hung heavily with thick, rope-like vines. The light produced by the torch seemed small once we were out of the tight tunnel and it only illuminated enough of the area to show that the tops of the trees seemed to connect with each other to create one thick, dark ceiling that overhung the entire area.
"How do the trees grow underground?" Pyra asked as we described the forest.
I shrugged.
"We don't know."
I kept describing the underground forest, letting Leia bring my words into visual reality on the page as she sketched the thick roots of the trees that spread through small sections of undergrowth. All around the trees was calm, deep-looking water. Though I couldn't see much of it, I knew that these surroundings didn't have the expansive feeling of being outside. We hadn't managed to go through a tunnel into an outdoor area of the planet. Instead, we were definitely in an underground chamber of the cave, contained within an area of indeterminate size.
"What else did you find?" Ty asked.
His voice sounded strained, like what we were telling him frightened him.
"We couldn't see much, but it looked like there were sections of the tree ceiling that were broken and there was a strange slime dripping from those areas. That's what started the torch going out; a big glob of it fell right on the flame. I got a little on my arm, too."
I held out my arm to show them where the goo had hit, and noticed that the skin was starting to redden. I touched it and it stung. Ty grabbed my arm and looked at the area.
"What's happening?"
I stared at my reddening skin and a memory suddenly popped into my mind. I turned to Zuri and held my arm out to her.
"Zuri, do you remember when you first got home and you had that section of your back that you said had been hurting? I looked at it and it was red and you said it stung when I touched it?"
Zuri nodded, reaching out toward my arm. I pulled it back sharply, shaking my head.
"What's wrong?" she asked.
"Is that where the Klimnu touched you while you were in the forest?"
I remembered what she had told me about the night that she ran from the meeting hall and ended up lost in the forest at the edge of the compound. A Klimnu had hung from one of the trees, dangling down to grab at her as she ran past. The experience had terrified her, but it had also apparently left a reaction on her skin.
"The Klimnu touched me more than I care to discuss while I was with them, though," Leia said, looking up from where she was sketching a droplet of the clear slime coming down from the trees, "And I never had a reaction like that."
"Maybe it is like an allergy. Some people react to it, and some people don't. I've never been near the Klimnu, so I don't know what they feel like, but you described them as slimy."
"Yeah, they're disgusting. They're like pale, slimy skeletons with long fingers and really disturbing eyes."
"Could this slime have something to do with that? Could some people be vulnerable to the slime and react really strongly to it, and other people be resistant to it?"
My mind was spinning as my research projects came pouring back to me and ideas started to form in my mind.
"What are you thinking, Samira?" Zuri asked.
She could recognize the look on my face as the one I always wore when things started to make sense to me. She had always been the one to nurture my curiosity and help me use my intelligence to work out solutions, form ideas, and discover new things through my research.
"I'm thinking that I need to get to Eden, Eliana, and Ciyrs."
Chapter Ten
Ty paced through the living room of his house, pausing every few steps to listen closely to see if he heard the door to his shop opening. It had been several hours since Samira and Zuri had run off with Pyra to Ciyrs's shop to tell them whatever it was that she had figured out. He had wanted to go along, but she told him that he should go home and get some rest, that it could be a while before she was finished. He knew that there wasn't really anything that he would be able to do to help, but he hated being away from her and not even knowing what was happening. A few times he thought about checking in with her telepathically, but he didn't know what she was doing and didn't want to risk distracting her at a critical moment and possibly ruining her work.
He took a deep breath to calm himself. Pacing around the house and worrying about her wasn't going to do anyone any good. If he was going to be a part of this war, he was going to have to start with being courageous enough to face the demons inside him and take control of the part of his destiny he had run from for so long.
Ty glanced toward the door one last time, and then looked around the room. He would have to start with something small, just to make sure that he could even do it anymore before he tried anything more impactful. His eyes fell on a small plant that sat on the table across the room. It was a bioluminescent fern he often used as illumination at night when he didn't want to access the solar energy collected from the panel on his roof and stored in a small cell that would allow him to do things throughout the home like turn on lights and heat water for a shower. It was nearly morning, but it was still dark enough that the vibrant blue glow of the plant stood out against the shadowy room.