by Calista Skye
Oh fuck. He's going to sacrifice me.
He comes closer and lifts the knife over my chest, holding it in both hands with the point down. That thing will pierce my heart and kill me in a half second.
“I'm not a virgiiiin!” I scream as a last resort, because I know that some ancient peoples on Earth practiced virgin sacrifice. But of course the translator is turned off. And I'm pretty sure it wouldn't have worked anyway. I shot this guy. He's angry and he wants revenge.
I scream at the top of my lungs.
The leader lifts the knife higher.
And then suddenly he has no head and his body collapses on the ground. It's hard for me to see what exactly is happening, but there seems to be some kind of whirlwind passing through the kidnappers, and there's blood and screams and grunts and clangs.
I'm suddenly not restrained, and I get down from the boulder and crouch down.
Then I hear the sound of many fast feet running away through the jungle, and only one man is left.
“Jax'zan!” Relief washes over me and makes me collapse to the ground in a shivering heap.
He walks over to me and picks me up in strong hands. “Sophia.”
He passes his eyes over my front, then turns me around to check my back.
Then he takes me into his strong arms, hugs me hard and kisses my hair like he often does. He says something in his language that sounds tender, and I don't need to activate the translator to know that he's just as relieved as I am.
Two of the kidnappers are lying dead on the ground, and the leader is one of them. I don't like seeing dead people, but after what they were about to do to me, I'm not going to call the cops on Jax'zan.
We don't talk for a moment, just stand there and hold on to each other. Then I notice my hand is wet.
I gasp. “Oh my god, Jax'zan, you're injured!”
He turns his back and I see that he has a long gouge stretching from his shoulder and down to his waist. He's bleeding pretty bad, and I immediately start to worry. He can probably handle the blood loss, but the spears those guys had didn't seem all that clean, and I have to guess that these people don't have a whole lot of penicillin, even at his village.
But I remember the herb I found, the acidic one that Delyah agreed might well be seriously antiseptic.
I sit him down and look around the clearing. If I can find some of that and put on him, it might not get infected.
“Sit still, don't move,” I say, knowing he can't understand me but trusting that he gets the meaning. I draw my gun again, just in case those kidnappers didn't get the message. It's got four more shots in it, and even though it might not be too effective against dinosaurs, it should work fine against aliens as human as these ones.
It doesn't take me long to find all I need. Those herbs and plants are everywhere, pretty much.
I rinse the long cut along Jax'zan's back with the water from the sack, then crush the herbs into a paste and apply them to the wound. It has to sting terribly, but Jax'zan makes no sound and keeps breathing evenly.
I have no bandages or sticky tape, so I can't do much more. But I'm hoping that his village isn't too far away. And the herbs seem to help stop the bleeding, too. I keep some of the paste to apply to his wound when needed.
And now I want to get away from this place where I was almost sacrificed. Jax'zan puts his sword back into his belt and I take his bag. I don't want him to carry it on that injured back of his. It's pretty heavy, but I can handle it.
We walk on. I'm pretty shaky still, but I can handle that, too. And before I know it, we've walked out of the jungle and we're standing in the middle of his village. I can't help but gasp.
The village is a whole bunch of caves in a rock face, like an old piece of wood full of wormholes. And it's a huge, tall cliff with hundreds of caves all over it. They all look natural, but some of them seem to have been widened and smoothed. Somehow I'm not too surprised. I did meet Jax'zan in a cave, and I always thought about him as a caveman. And that's what he is.
We're standing in what has to be the city square. It's a worn patch of rocky ground by the face of the cliff. We're attracting a lot of attention, and soon we're surrounded by curious warriors who are asking many questions of Jax'zan. He answers calmly, and the others stay at a respectful distance.
Now that I see them, it's clear that Jax'zan is a pretty typical member of the tribe. Perhaps he's a little taller and wider than most of them, but they all have that straight spine and the calm movements of men who know who they are and who are okay with that.
Emphasis on men. Because I can't see a single woman anywhere.
I can see boys and adolescent males and grown men and old men. But not a single girl or woman or even a crone.
We sit down in a shady place and people bring us food and juice. It's weird being the center of attention like this, like I'm a circus act and these people are just watching. But as an alien, I suppose I should expect nothing else. They're cute, though. Whenever I make eye contact with one of them, whether it's a kid or a man, he smiles shyly and gives me a little wave or friendly gesture. My hope rises. If they're as cool as they seem to me right now, I'm sure they'll want to take in the girls or at least give them the help they need.
Two of them exchange a few words with Jax'zan, and then someone brings a basket of jars and various fluids, and they begin treating his wounds. They don't seem too concerned, and I notice that his injuries appear to be healing already. I guess it makes sense. On this planet, it's probably a good idea to heal fast.
A clearly important person comes striding through the crowd, bows for Jax'zan and looks at me with no expression on his face. He's an old man, and he gives me a vibe that says he's either the chief or some kind of priest. Probably a priest, I decide from the large, bronze-like pendant that he's got hanging around his neck and the furry cape over his shoulders. Maybe Jax'zan is higher up than I'd thought, if the priest bows to him.
They talk for a while, and this seems to me to be a good time to activate the translator.
“... the Mother,” Jax'zan says, and the translator chirpily interprets.
Everyone looks at me.
“Yeah, it's my translator?” I hold it up and Jax'zan explains what it is.
The crowd talks and whispers among themselves, but the priest doesn't seem too impressed.
They get back to business.
“As foretold by the Prophecy,” the priest states, scrutinizing all of me. “Most interesting. Sensational, even. Yet I don't doubt it. This is clearly a woman.” He smiles and turns around to face the crowd. “Who will become the Mother of Xren and give us the Treasure!” he yells.
The crowd erupts in cheers and celebration, and I smile, but of course all this means little to me. Except it might increase my chances of getting help for the girls.
“There is more,” Jax'zan says. “There are more women. Five more.”
A hush descends on the crowd. “Five more?” the priest asks and frowns more than I thought any living being could. “That is not in the Prophecy.”
“And yet, they are there,” Jax'zan continues. “They are on Bune. Five women, just like the Mother. And they need our assistance. The Plood dropped them there.”
The translator has no suggestion for the word 'plood' and just gives the word on to me. I would have liked to know what it means. My guess is 'creepy little alien kidnappers whom I hate with a passion'.
The priest frowns even harder. “Just like the Mother? Surely not. The Mother is as much a part of Xren as you or I or Bune or the holy cavern underneath it. Surely the five others have nothing to do with the Mother and are simply aliens desecrating the forbidden land.”
I'm not sure whether to smile or to punch the priest. On one hand, my little device seems to have adjusted itself to interpreting their speech with proper grammar, which is a major victory for my project and makes me wish I could tell Professor Wilkins. On the other hand, it doesn't sound like this guy will support helping the girls.
Jax'zan straightens and looks downright majestic, with a calm fire in his red eyes. “The Mother has herself stated that they are her friends and that she arrived on our planet along with them. They need our help to survive. Would you deny them this? Would you deny the Mother this reasonable request?”
The priest is just one big frown. “Aliens desecrating Bune, our forbidden land, have no claim on any support. The jungle and the Bigs and the Smalls will take them to their alien Ancestors before long. Indeed, that has probably already happened.”
I don't like what I'm hearing. “No, it hasn't,” I state, and that damn chirpy translator says it in what I hope is decent Xrennish. Everyone is staring at me, but I'm pretty angry now. “They are still alive and thriving as a colony. They have all kinds of vital skills that would make this tribe both more respected and more powerful. Without my friends, this tribe will perish.”
I'm maybe coming on a little strong. This tribe looks vital enough to me. But these guys seem to put a lot of importance on respect. I'll use my female cunning if I have to. Not that I have any cunning, to my knowledge. But this is probably a good time to check if maybe I do after all.
“The wishes of the Mother must be respected,” Jax'zan backs me up, “or she will withdraw the Treasure and Xren will be without a Mother for eternity. What will the Ancestors say about that? Their Prophecy and their sacred Mother discarded by a stubborn tribe?”
The priest is thinking hard. “Anyone who treads on forbidden Bune has the death sentence anyway,” he says. “Except the Mother, who can freely tread anywhere she wants on the planet. Certainly aliens must respect our laws or take the consequences. In this case, the planet and the Bigs will make those consequences as severe as they must be. I am the shaman of the tribe. The Prophecy and the Mother and the Ancestors are my concern. I want what is best for the tribe. The Ancestors have, in their infinite wisdom, seen fit to wrap this wonderful and longed-for occasion in a trap. The Prophecy mentions no other women. Any other women are not holy. Only the Mother is. And aliens on forbidden Bune? Do we need a clearer answer?”
22
- Sophia -
Jax'zan hesitates, and I can see that the priest's arguments are making an impact on him.
“No one doubts that you want what is best for the tribe,” Jax'zan says. “Indeed we both want that. I as the chief and you as the shaman. This is the most important event in the history of the Rexvi tribe. And in the history of Xren. We must make absolutely sure that everything we do is right. I repeat: The women and the Mother were dropped on Bune by the Plood, against their will. They would not knowingly desecrate the forbidden place. The Mother requests that we help them. I submit that the time of the Prophecy ended when I found the Mother in the holy cave. And we are now in times that have not been prophesied about. The Mother is found. Now we must realize that the Prophecy has done its part, and we must direct our actions from what she wishes.”
I want to applaud. Jax'zan is a pretty good speaker. And I can see the priest grinding his teeth. Even I realize what's going on – this is a power struggle. The priest – or shaman, as the translator insists - can't accept that the time of the Prophecy is over, because that undermines a lot of his authority. He won't want the girls rescued, for the same reason. It would be like sawing over the branch he sits on. He can talk about the Mother for years and years, but he never expects her to actually appear. And now that she's here, he's suddenly not that important anymore. And if his damn prophecy doesn't even mention more than one chick, then its authenticity isn't exactly strengthened. That will erode his authority further.
“Perhaps I was too quick in accepting this as the Mother,” the shaman says. “While she did arrive in the water from Bune, the fact that the Prophecy states nothing about her having friends, other women, even, might be a sign that she is an imposter.”
Jax'zan's face darkens and he places a hand on his sword. “What was that?” His voice is cold and flat and deadly.
“Though I think I was right the first time,” the shaman says quickly after a glance at Jax'zan. “I have no doubts about your description of events. And the unlikelihood of any other woman falling into the holy waters under Bune makes it quite certain that this woman is the Mother of Xren, as prophesied. But what we will do about the other women is not to be decided rashly. I must meditate on it and pray, and I will then give my recommendation.”
The shaman bows once to me and once to Jax'zan, and then he strides off with his head held high, the very image of pomposity. I realize that I don't like that guy.
I take a sip of juice. “What happens now?”
Jax'zan sits down next to me. “The tribe will decide whether or not to help your friends.”
“Uh-huh. Did I hear that guy refer to you as the chief?”
“I am the chief of the Rexvi tribe,” he says. “It doesn't entitle me to make large decisions, except in battle. In the daily life of the tribe, the council makes most decisions. The shaman is also influential.”
“But your decisions will be respected, right? And most will agree with you?”
He thinks about it. “I am respected. The shaman is also respected. The Prophecy and the Ancestors are very important for the tribesmen.”
“So this could go either way?”
He looks at me. “Yes. The daily tribal meeting is at sunset. It will be decided then.”
Well, he's being honest. I've met too many guys who would give me bullshit about much less important stuff than this, just to make themselves look better.
I look around at all the male faces. “All right. Jax'zan. Do you not have any women in the village?”
He frowns. “Sophia is the only woman on Xren. Except for your friends.”
“Yeah, you told me. But I didn't believe it, not literally. Because how do you make babies? I see kids here. How are they born, if not from women?”
“They are born from Lifegivers.”
“And what are they?”
He stands up and smiles down at me. “I'll show you.”
- - -
“That's ...”
I don't even know what to say. Weird? Insane? Creepy? Revolting? Cool? All of those. But I'm supposed to be a university girl, so I go with what we call everything we don't really understand: “... interesting.”
They look most of all like plants. They have green stalks the thickness of my thighs and leaf-like things that move a lot more than the weak breeze should indicate. Each one is the size of a car, about five feet tall and much wider. It's like a snake's nest of green and purple creepers and branches and vines. And in the middle is a large, orange bud. And when you lean over to look into it from above, you can see that there's a fetus in there. A living one, curled up and inside a translucent sack of what pretty much has to be amniotic fluid.
Jax'zan knocks on one of the sacks with his finger. It gives a hollow resonating sound and looks hard to the touch.
Yeah, that's an egg. With a little human baby inside.
The Lifegivers are both clearly plants and clearly animals. A cross between an extremely weird and exotic bush and a bunch of ostrich-like things, if ostriches had no heads or wings or legs and about five bodies each. It's weird, is what I'm saying. And insane and creepy and so on. But mostly interesting.
“So these are your women,” I say when I'm able to talk again.
“Not women,” Jax'zan says. “Lifegivers. There have been no women on Xren for many generations. They were taken from us and all of our kind seemed to be doomed. Without women, no children. In desperation, warriors tried other methods. It had been known that the Lifegivers could nurture and gestate other species, but no one had ever tried with humans. It was taboo. Now, they had to try. And it worked.”
I'm speechless again. “Um... how?”
“One mature warrior who has survived many battles and hunts and who is still in perfect health may deposit his ... hmm ... manly juices inside a small Lifegiver bud. The Lifegiver then allows the fetus to grow inside it until ripe
ness, sensing its needs and giving it the nutrition it requires. The bud opens and the egg cracks. A new young warrior for the tribe!”
He smiles warmly and with some pride, even.
My mind is reeling. “So ... you were born from one of these?”
He points. “That one over there. They live for a long time, the Lifegivers.”
I'm not sure how to react to it. But it's really not that much worse than the way I was born myself, the more natural way. “Right. I wonder, did anyone ever tell you that you look a lot like your father?”
Jax'zan arches his straight eyebrows. “Yes, of course. All warriors look like the man who donated his juices. It's only natural. A way the Ancestors have created for us to honor that man.”
“Clones.”
“Hmm?”
“Yeah, on Earth we call that clones? You're born from the genetic material of only one person, not two. So of course you look a lot like that person.”
“Ah. This is a known procedure on your world as well? You also have Lifegivers?”
I scratch my head. “Not like this. We know the basics and I do believe some cloned animals have been born. But the old-fashioned method is still preferred. Much preferred.”
“Yes,” Jax'zan agrees and pinches my butt, making me squeal. “Much preferred.”
I slap his shoulder. “Take your hands off me, you sexy brute. But yeah, making babies the normal way is better for everyone, I think. Something about more variety when you mix the genes of two people? The babies are more robust? I don't remember. But you haven't given up your juices for something like this?” The idea of little carbon copies of Jax'zan running around here weirds me out a little.
“I have not. And now I never will.” He leans in to kiss me on the forehead, which is probably fine. I don't know how prudish these people are about public displays of affection, but I guess I better not take any chances.
“Unless your tribe decides not to help my friends,” I remind him as sweetly as I can.
He glances at me. “Perhaps. Would you like to see my home?”
“Yeah. I really would.”