The Girl from the Stars Series Boxed Set

by Cheree Alsop

  Liora looked from Rucko to Devren. The human’s eyes were wide and fear showed in his gaze. He had no idea what was going on, and she couldn’t tell him. For all he knew, they were going to let him drown. He fought against the hands on his arms, but they wouldn’t give. He didn’t have leverage in the water. Liora had felt the difference the change in her body made before. The density lessened and she could move through the water with ease instead of struggling in her human form. As a human, Devren would have no chance to break free and get his breather back.

  Liora looked over her shoulder at Rucko. There was no guarantee she could change form again. Devren’s only chance, and hers, may be if she could get the breathers back from the big Creetian.

  He followed her gaze to his hand.

  “Go ahead and try, little fish. I’ll snap you in half.” He waved his other scaled hand, indicating the cavern. “You may have strength up there, but in these depths I rule.” He lifted his palm to show the breathers. “Breathe through gills or die.” He closed his hand into a tight fist.

  Ven gave a deep laugh that reverberated off the walls.

  “Show him, girl,” Vist said. “Show him what you showed me.”

  There was an edge of panic to the red-haired Creetian’s voice as though he worried that he had made a mistake. If he was wrong and they both died, Liora wondered briefly the price he would pay.

  A glance behind Devren showed a detached hand impaled on one of the spikey fish. Liora’s lungs began to burn. She kept the panic from her face. Devren shook his head, fighting to keep in his last breath.

  “Are you going to let him die?” Rucko asked.

  Liora kept her gaze on Devren’s. She didn’t know how to make her body change. She wanted to save him, to help him breathe, but so much depended on something she feared. She fought against that fear. Darkness colored her thoughts and pain throbbed in her head. She saw the last few bubbles escape from Devren’s lips. His eyes were wide and he pulled against the hands on his arms, but his struggles were weakening.

  “Let him go!” Liora tried to shout. Her breath escaped, bubbles that drifted up to the ceiling.

  She dove for Rucko, attempting to get a breather from his hand. He backed away, keeping his fist easily out of her reach. He grabbed her by the throat and looked past her at Vist.

  “What is this?” he demanded.

  Vist shrugged. “It happened, just like I told you. I wouldn’t lie, Rucko, honest!”

  “He’s telling the truth,” Ven said, confusion clear in his tone.

  Rucko lifted Liora up by her throat.

  “You’re letting your human die. Is that what you want?” he growled at her.

  Liora tried to pull his hands away, but her grip was weakening by the second. She glanced over her shoulder to see Devren’s head lolling forward. His eyes were half-shut, his gaze on her.

  Liora clawed at Rucko’s hand, but the huge fingers wouldn’t let go. Devren was drowning behind her. She felt the blanket attempting to smother her thoughts, to give into the pain and pressure, to breathe the water into her lungs. She heard Devren gulp behind her. The water would kill him.

  Liora glared down at Rucko. His orange eyes widened. She closed her mouth and drew in a breath. The slits formed on the sides of her neck, gills that brought in oxygen from the water. Rucko’s hand opened in surprise. Strength filled her. Liora kicked Rucko in the face, flipped backwards in the water, and shot toward Devren. It took two well-placed punches to drive the Creetians away. She grabbed Devren’s face in her hands, drew in a breath through her gills, and breathed it into his mouth.

  Devren’s head jerked back. He coughed out water. Liora drew another breath and breathed it to him. This time, Devren sucked it into his lungs. He stared at her, his dark eyes filled with shock and questions she didn’t know the answers to.

  Behind her, Rucko gave a grunt of approval.

  “You didn’t lie, Vist. It’s a good thing. The urchins are hungry.”

  Vist’s face paled, but he gave a twisted smile at the Rielock’s words. “I’d never lie to you, Rucko. See?”

  Rucko nodded. “You did good.” He motioned to one of the other Creetians. “Get him his reward.”

  Liora glared at Vist and said in Tanli, “He doesn’t deserve a reward. He deserves castration for what he was going to do to me.”

  Rucko’s black scaled eyebrows lifted at her words. “You speak quite fluently, little one. And what was his plan?”

  “He and his comrades wanted to teach me a lesson for being a, what did you call it?” She speared Vist with her gaze. “A Staruck. You took my breather so that I would drown and you could use my body however you wished before you disposed of it where nobody would find it again.”

  Vist’s smile fell. He looked from Liora to Rucko. “I-I didn’t mean it, Rucko, honest. I wouldn’t do that.”

  Rucko’s expression was unreadable. He studied the Creetian. Vist ran a hand nervously through his red hair.

  “Normally, I would look past such a thing,” Rucko said. He met Liora’s gaze. “However, this is an unusual circumstance. You endangered my guest.” His eyes narrowed thoughtfully. “Though she wouldn’t be my guest if you hadn’t been so inhospitable in the first place.”

  “She’d be some other Rielock’s plaything,” Vist pointed out.

  Rucko nodded. “It’s a conundrum, indeed.”

  Liora pulled in another breath. Devren held her gaze as she breathed for him. She was grateful he couldn’t speak because she wasn’t ready to hear whatever he wanted to say.

  Rucko sighed. “Though I am grateful for you bringing them here, your intentions weren’t as pure as you first projected them to be.” He lifted a shoulder, his cloak of skins rising with the motion. “Though I would be deceitful if I didn’t admit to having a little fun of my own with a Staruck or two.”

  Vist gave a nervous laugh as though unsure what the appropriate response should be.

  Rucko opened one meaty hand. “I can’t punish my own for following in my slipstream, so to speak. Vist, you’re free.” He stabbed at the water with one big finger. “But if you find a Staruck again, take care to remember in your tiny brain that they belong to me first, and then you if I am feeling generous.”

  “Yes, Rucko,” Vist replied. He looked relieved that he had escaped punishment, but disappointed that whatever reward was to be his had been revoked. At a wave of Rucko’s hand, he left the cavern with Ven and the other Creetian behind him.

  Rucko’s gaze locked on Liora’s. “Now, my little fish. We have things to discuss.”

  Chapter 3

  “Can I have a breather for Devren?” Liora asked.

  Rucko’s lips cracked into a wry smile. “You can’t blame me for forgetting about the needs of humans in our company.”

  He held out one of the breathers. She gave it to Devren. He quickly put it over his nose and mouth and took several deep breaths.

  “I’ll get us out of this,” Liora said in the common language to him.

  He nodded, but there was anger in his eyes when he looked at Rucko. Liora wished he could say all the things he so obviously wanted to. Perhaps it would knock Rucko down a notch. The Creetian could use a little lowering of his estimation of himself.

  “We’re going back to Ries,” Liora said in Tanli.

  Humor touched Rucko’s gaze. “Are you now?”

  Liora nodded. “You aren’t any better than Vist. You would have let us both die.”

  Rucko nodded. “Your skin would be a beautiful addition to my cloak, especially with those tattoos. What do they represent?”

  “Lives I’ve taken,” Liora replied in a level tone.

  Her response must have caught Rucko off guard, because he gave her an appraising look. “Tiny and deadly. I may have gauged you wrong. If I didn’t know any better, I would ask you to join my humble family.”

  His tone caught Liora’s attention. “Yet you know better.”

  “More than I think you do,” was his level reply.<
br />
  Liora crossed her arms in front of her chest to keep from listening to the instincts that begged her to pull her blades and shove them into his heart.

  “Explain yourself.”

  Rucko watched her quietly for a moment. The sound of Devren’s breather was loud in the stillness.

  Rucko snapped. Movement caught Liora’s eye. She turned to see the Rielocks leaving the cave. To her surprise, Rucko didn’t have any of them stay. The last Creetian filed out until it was just the three of them.

  “You’re not afraid of me?” Liora asked to gauge his reaction. She didn’t know why he would do such a thing. Either he felt truly confident in his strength over hers, or he wanted to project a feeling of camaraderie to put her at ease. She kept his mention of adding her to his skin cloak in the forefront of her mind.

  “Terrified,” Rucko replied. He gestured to where the others had left. “They have no idea who you are.” He watched her closely. “And something tells me you don’t know, either.” He looked at Devren who watched them both, his brow furrowed with confusion as to what was happening. Rucko switched to the common tongue. “Perhaps we should speak in a language your friend understands.”

  “I appreciate that,” Liora replied. It surprised her how easy it was to talk in the common tongue under the water. Something about the way her gilled mouth shaped the words made them easy to understand.

  She knew Devren couldn’t do the same. He appeared to realize it as well, and so instead ran his finger crosswise on the blade he held, testing the sharpness. Liora wondered how long he had held it in his hand.

  “I suppose we should start with the boring necessities dictated by social etiquette,” Rucko began.

  He had changed from the rough dialect of the Rielocks that dwelled in the Grunge to the more sophisticated tones of upper Ries.

  He must have seen the surprise Liora tried to hide, because he tipped his head in acknowledgement of the change. “To be a leader, one must be trusted by those he leads.” He waved a hand to indicate the cave. “If they knew I grew up in the heights of Ries, they would never let me sit on this throne.” He swam behind it, running a hand over the carved bones in an admiring caress. “The things I did to sit here makes the deception small by comparison.” He held out a hand. “I am Drafo Ruck, cousin to the Fikes that run Ries.”

  Liora carefully kept her expression blank. Fike was Malie’s last name. Given what she had learned of Rucko’s lack of moral conscience didn’t dictate well for what he would do if he knew her brother was pretty much engaged into the Fike family. She didn’t want the possibility of a ransom mixed up in everything else.

  “I am Liora Day,” she said, “And this is Devren Metis.”

  Rucko gave a mockingly noble bow. “It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

  Devren’s eyes narrowed as he watched them both in silence.

  Rucko’s eyebrows rose and he gave Liora an interested look. “It just occurred to me that there were rumors. Yes, there were rumors of something just like this.”

  “Like what?” Liora pressed, her patience running out.

  Rucko’s tone lowered. “Of a Foundling’s birth, its sire unknown. Though that Foundling couldn’t be you,” he said with a hint of teasing in his tone. “No, that child’s skin was said to be gray as death, its eyes dark like the reaches of space where even the universes have yet to touch, and its aura one of fear and destruction; everything in its path crumbles and fades away.” Rucko gave her another appraising look. “That couldn’t be you.”

  “What is the origin of the Foundling?” Liora asked.

  Rucko spread a hand, indicating the cavern in which they stood. “The origin is here, it’s there; it’s everything. The Foundlings were the beginning and will be the end. They were the first specks of life, the first to eke out an existence amid the darkness and the dust that was the start of this Macrocosm we call home.”

  Liora watched him carefully. “You’re saying I’m one of these Foundlings?”

  Rucko lifted his shoulders in a small shrug. “Who knows? None of the origin race has been seen in centuries—” He gave her a closer look. “Though as far as I know, you came down here human, now you exchange pleasantries with me as a Creetian. The Foundlings were form-shifters. They evolved; it was their survival skills. Whatever the environment called for, they adapted to meet it. This is why there are so many races in the Macrocosm. Their bodies eventually stopped changing; their children’s children lost the need as their forms perfected survival in the harsh demands of the various galaxies. The Foundlings died off. They became few and very far in-between.”

  The look the Creetian gave her was calculating. “Though if I’m looking at a Foundling standing in the water before me, I know I have quite the bartering chip.”

  Liora glanced at Devren. “Why is that?” she asked Rucko.

  “As you can imagine,” Rucko answered, “My hold on the dwellers of the prestigious Grunge is tenuous to say the least.”

  “You seem to have done well for yourself,” Liora replied, keeping her voice level.

  Rucko gave a half-smile of acknowledgement. “Just the same, I could use a little solidification of my position here in the recesses of Ries’ finest.”

  Liora drew in a slow breath. She let it out in bubbles that rose to the cave ceiling.

  “What do you want, Rucko?”

  His gaze sharpened. “As I see it, I have the power in this situation.”

  She swam forward and drew her knives in the same smooth motion.

  Rucko lifted his hands. “Kill me and there will be a thousand Rielocks between you and the surface.” He indicated Devren. “You may survive, Foundling, but your human there will be a hindrance and may have to be left behind. I’ve seen him swim. Not a pretty sight.”

  Devren’s hands clenched into fists, his knife held tight. He swam forward to Liora’s side.

  Rucko grinned, revealing perfectly straight teeth. “I’ll call off my family if you do something for me.”

  “Out with it,” Liora replied, tired of his game.

  “I need the gem,” Rucko told her.

  Liora and Devren exchanged a glance.

  “I don’t have a gem,” Liora said.

  Rucko chuckled. “You don’t have the gem yet, but you will. Follow me.”

  As much as Liora wanted to get back to Ries and ensure that Devren was safe, she knew Rucko wasn’t lying about the number of Rielocks that lay between them and protection. She might be able to fight her way to their rooms, but having Devren at her side was a hindrance she couldn’t overlook. Her Damaclan instincts whispered for her to bide her time and take whatever advantage she could make in the situation. If that involved listening to Rucko and perhaps doing what he asked in exchange for their safe travel, so be it.

  Rucko crossed to the back wall where a gray fish nearly blended with the rotting coral. Rucko released something that appeared to be a fish eyeball into the water and the gray fish lunged forward to snap it up. The coral around the doorway it revealed was nearly black.

  Rucko grinned at them over his shoulder. “And now to the part of Cree most people don’t get to see.”

  “Lucky them,” Liora said in an undertone to Devren.

  His hand touched her shoulder before she could follow Rucko into the hole. When she looked back at the human, he shook his head.

  “We don’t have a choice at the moment,” she replied. “Let’s see what he wants, then we can decide.”

  Devren looked as though he wanted to argue, but taking off the breather wouldn’t allow him to talk. He shook his head again as though he didn’t like the idea.

  “Wait up here,” Liora suggested.

  Devren glared at her and followed her into the tunnel.

  “I thought you might have gotten cold feet for a moment there,” Rucko said when they turned at the first corner of the winding tunnel.

  “Just debating whether it’s smart to follow some deep ocean Rielock lord into his dark and murky
lair,” Liora replied. She waved a hand in front of her face to move away a cluster of black particles drifting there.

  Rucko chuckled. “You have a point,” he said. “This may be the most inhospitable place in all of Ries, or Cree for that matter. There’s a reason the Rielocks won’t even come down here.” He winked at her. “The creature in the deep and all that.”

  “Sounds inviting,” Liora replied.

  “I figured you’d like it,” Rucko said.

  Liora and Devren followed behind him. The empty eye sockets of the faces sewn to Rucko’s cloak watched them as they made their way deeper into the murky depths. The black and brown pieces of rotting coral thickened in the water and Liora found herself breathing shallowly to avoid taking it in. Creatures they could barely make out in the muddy depths scurried out of the way before they were stepped on. A long, skinny, snake-like reptile trailing three split tails slipped into a hole on Liora’s right side only to reappear with a toothy snarl before they passed.

  Liora and Devren carefully skirted the hole.

  “It does have a certain charm, doesn’t it?” Rucko asked over his shoulder.

  “Pleasant,” Liora replied, her tone dry.

  She followed Rucko’s chuckle into the darkening water.

  They turned the last corner to find Rucko waiting in front of a metal gate. Seeing something so modern and new caught Liora by surprise. Whoever had installed the gate had sunk the hinges deep into the coral on each side after chipping away at the rot to ensure that the foundation would hold. Unlike the black fuzzy substance that covered the walls, the gate was completely clear of grime and debris. She wondered if the gate was there to keep whatever was inside in, or to keep outsiders away.

  Rucko slipped a thick chain from around his neck and revealed a key that had been tucked beneath his shirt.

  “Can never be too safe,” he said.

  It was the first time Liora had heard the tightening of his voice that spoke of fear. She figured the gate was to keep whatever was inside in, because apparently nobody in their right mind would enter the cave in the depths of Cree.