by Mara Frost
“Warriors! All so big and strong! So brave!”
All the men look at the ancient woman proudly and bow their heads with respect.
But then she continues.
“So stupid! So eager to spill blood!”
At this, the warrior heads’ shoot up, clearly not expecting to hear such harsh words from their little leader. They quickly lower their heads again in respect, but this time with traces of shame.
I look at the little old woman and bow my head tentatively as well. She’s clearly a person of power, but more importantly, she seems to be a fan of people not stabbing each other - and that makes her one of the coolest people on this planet as far as I’m concerned.
“Roktari, who are guests?”
With the little woman’s attention suddenly on him, the war leader puffs his chest out proudly and bows deeply before he replies, “Chieftain, intruders on our land. Must pay price.”
I look to the little old bald lady with slight surprise. Chieftain? She’s the Chieftain for this whole giant city? The entire people and their bloodthirsty warriors? That’s gotta be a tough job.
The old woman nods her head knowingly, apparently aware of the toll.
“Female can pass. She is sister-orphan.” Roktari then nods at Dakhar and adds, “Blue dum-dum pay toll and fight 20 wooly xer’taks.”
The Chieftain nods once more, silently processing what Roktari is telling her. I can’t help but hold my breath, waiting to hear what she says…waiting to see what she will do. The last thing I want is for the old little lady to suddenly say that Big Blue will be fighting 40 instead of 20 of those wooly Xanax’s … or whatever they’re called.
“Why 20 xer’taks, Roktari?”
Caught off guard by the question, the war leader stutters and blinks blankly for a moment. “Uh…20 seemed good number.”
She snorts. “Why not 5?”
“He kill 5 easily. Blue man is big.”
“Why not 40?”
My heart skips. Oh God, 40?
Roktari shakes his head. “Death too quick. Not sporting.”
The Chieftain nods her head knowingly, as if she knows where he’s going with it.
“And 10?”
The man shrugs. “Could be good fight. Blue man might win though.”
“And 20?”
“20 will be worthy battle for both man and xer’taks, but xer’taks will win.”
I cover my mouth, feeling sick to my stomach. My heart feels like it’s in my throat as I hear the two speak so freely and casually about Big Blue…and what they want to do with him.
“So, toll for crossing our land is death?”
Roktari shakes his vigorously. “For sister-orphan to pass.”
“Ah!” she nods her head again. “We are not cruel people, Roktari.”
My ears perk up, a sliver of hope begins to surface inside.
“Better he die a painless and quick death. Not for our entertainment.”
Nope. I was wrong. Feeling sick again. My stomach begins to lurch unexpectedly as I hear the old woman speak of Big Blue’s death sentence. I want to puke and I can’t breathe. We somehow went from Big Blue fighting over a dozen hairy creatures to him being outright executed? How did that happen? I guess a part of me had hope that he could actually beat the monsters…but now? Now…they’re going to kill him…
“NO!!”
They all turn and look at me - Roktari, the old wrinkled bald boss lady, Big Blue….all of them just look at me. And I freeze.
“I-I…just…No!”
Yep, that should do it. I sure told them.
So yeah, I’m pretty sure I’m going to get us both killed.
The old chieftain eyes me critically and squints her little old eyes. Then a small creepy smile spreads across her tiny face, as if she has a secret but she was going to keep it to herself. Obviously, this just makes me more nervous.
“Speak,” she commands with an excited grin, her mouth only half full of sharp teeth.
I swallow deeply. Okay, here we go. Words…words…please come out and form proper sentences. Don’t fail me now. My stomach lurches violently again. I grab my stomach, silently begging it not to empty onto the chieftain right now.
Apparently, noticing my struggle, the old woman’s eyes dart to my belly briefly and then move back to my face. She nods her head, quietly encouraging me to speak.
Okay, it’s now or never. I take one more final breath, steadying my breathing.
“This isn’t right,” I say evenly, my voice trembling only a little. I take another breath. “It’s not fair. You’re sentencing him to death just because we attempted to pass through your land? What sort of toll is that? Death? It’s wrong…and unfair,” I say, my voice becoming more firm and confident with every word.
My back stiffens as I stand taller and continue. “How were we to know that we were passing through your land? There were no indicators, there were no signs and there definitely was no indication that there was a fee.”
I pause and take another breath and look around, noticing that all eyes are virtually glued on me. My eyes manage to find the old chieftain, like a magnet, and I see her looking at me with strange knowing eyes. I can’t look away. So I continue, just looking at her.
“You all seem to be such a proud and strong people, but you also seem wise and kind, and I find it so hard to believe that you don’t have a sense of fairness. Can you not look inside and see that it’s wrong to sentence this man to his death simply for not knowing that we were walking on your land?”
There we go, I threw some compliments in there too! Hopefully that will puff up their egos a bit and they might throw some pity at the poor aliens who just crash landed on to their planet.
“No!! Xer’tak! Xer’tak! Xer’tak!” Roktari yells. The men surrounding him quickly join in, quite animatedly too.
Fuck. Well, that worked.
The group surrounding us begin to chant “Xer’tak” over and over again as their faces split into big terrifying grins. Yep, I’m definitely going to puke. I reach for my stomach again and try to get control over my body. This can’t be happening. This is a nightmare. I cast a glance at Dakhar and he looks around the crowd with a completely blank look on his face, showing no emotion at all.
Good for him. At least, he’s not terrified. Apparently, I’m more traumatized over this than him. Typical. I bend over and take deep breaths. Am I having a panic attack? Or is it a heart attack? Maybe I should have a heart attack and be over with this shit already?
After what felt like a million hours of chanting and giddy screaming, the Chieftain yells, “Quiet! Silence!” And silence spread through the crowd almost immediately.
I straighten upright slowly, watching the Chieftain cautiously.
“You.” She points to me. “You ill?”
I glance down at my hand on my stomach and I quickly take it away.
“Oh, no. Not ill.” Knowing them and my luck they probably throw sick people into molten lava or something.
The old woman nods at my stomach. “You sick?”
I shake my head firmly. “No. Just upset.”
Moving faster than I thought possible, the old Chieftain closes the space between us and darts towards me until her hand is touching my stomach. My instinct is to pull away and freak out, but for some reason I allow the little woman’s strange touch.
Silence and curiosity sweeps through the crowd as we all watch the little lady mildly molest me.
“What…are you-“
The old woman looks at me, her eyes full of life and twinkling, almost laughing. “Blue barbarian your partner? Your mate?”
“My mate…?” I repeat, a little lost and dumbfounded before lightening suddenly strikes.
“Yes! He’s my mate!” I yell out excitedly. I look around the crowd briefly, barely noticing Big Blue’s furrowed brow…or the look of confused terror on his face. It doesn’t matter though because I have an idea that just might save his ass, so I continue.
; “Yes! He’s my mate,” I announce again proudly and then reach for my stomach. “And he’s the father of my baby.”
Instantly, murmuring and voices spread across the crowd, but the old wizen chieftain only nods her head knowingly. I nod eagerly and look around again. My eyes brush over Big Blue, and again I don’t notice that his eyes are about to fall out of his face or that his mouth is open so wide that it looks like he could swallow a few of the people around him whole. I don’t notice that it looks like he’s having a panic attack. I don’t notice any of that.
Why? Because I’m busy trying to save our asses – his blue ass more specifically. And it’s time to perform now.
I reach for my stomach and hold it protectively. “Yes, he’s my mate and the father of my baby. And…” I allow my voice to trail, trying to make it sound heavy with emotion. I turn away dramatically and see Big Blue staring at me, still in shock and his face contorted in a strange mix of confusion and…maybe pain?
I take a deep breath, pretending to collect myself and then continue, “And if you go through with this, then my baby is never going to know his father. He’s never going to know the love and knowledge that only a father can give…” I make my voice quiver and then cover my mouth and look away again.
That should do it.
The little old woman nods her head knowingly and gives me a pat on my back. Although, I have to say, the pat felt less soothing and comforting and more like “okay, that’s enough now, be quiet”.
“Roktari, you found them on our land?”
The war leader steps forward and nods once.
“You say she is sister-orphan, so you spare her life?”
He nods once more, but this time less sure and less firm.
“Do you wish to bring more orphan like yourself into world?”
This makes him stop.
Bingo bango.
He pauses for a moment, but then shakes his head no and then lowers his head as if in shame. The old woman nods her head once knowingly.
“Wise, Roktari. Child should have father.”
Roktari nods his head in agreement, this time more sure of his answer. At this, the Chieftain smiles and looks to the crowd and says loudly, “In Roktari’s wisdom because of his own sad orphan life, we have decided that female will have mate, even if it is big blue barbarian!”
Surprisingly, the entire crowd breaks into a cheer. I jump with a start as everyone around me hoots and howls happily. A massive flood of relief washes over me. Are you kidding me? It worked? It actually worked? My tightly wound body begins to relax and I’m struck by how badly I want to just collapse into the fetal position and sleep for a million hours.
Noticing my “delicate state”, the old woman steps closer to me and places a soothing hand on my back. “You have your mate for your child now,” she says with a smile and then winks at me.
I smile and chuckle nervously as I glance back at Big Blue, who still looks completely confused by the way. “Heh, yeah…I do. Thank you for lifting the toll and saving my…mate,” I reply back somewhat awkwardly.
Unexpectedly, Roktari steps in and shakes his head vigorously.
“I’m sorry?” I ask, feeling suddenly nervous again.
“No! Toll still!! Blue dum-dum still must pay!” he announces loudly. The war leader looks at Big Blue and smiles a big toothy grin. “Entertain!!”
At this, the entire group stops cheering and begins to chant “entertain” in perfect unison.
I look back at Big Blue. This time rather than looking confused and in shock like earlier, he just looks miserable…and if I didn’t know better, like he wished he was dead. I have a feeling he would have preferred the death pit with the hairy monsters…
“I sure hope you know how to sing,” I yell back at him over the chanting.
He says nothing. He just rolls his eyes like he’s in unimaginable pain.
“Fuck.”
Okay, so he manages to say one thing.
***
Dani
Hours later…
They wanted entertainment and dammit the man gave them entertainment.
Who knew that a half naked blue alien doing a weird death dance could be so…hypnotic?
After it was ruled that his life would be spared so that he could be alive for our little bundle of joy, they escorted us to their arena area. And in front of an intimate audience of about a thousand people, Big Blue was ordered to “entertain”.
And my golly did he entertain. To be honest, I had no idea what to expect from him. For the most part, they kept us apart before the big event, but I did get close enough to him for a minute to ask him what he was going to do…and he just scowled at me and then mumbled something I couldn’t quite understand. Not understanding him was probably for the best because I had a sneaking suspicion that it probably wasn’t very nice.
Once everyone was in the gathering area, we all just waited for Big Blue to perform. And even though he was “safe” from death, I was still pretty terrified for him. In fact, my 12 year old self, who was forced to sing in the school talent show, would probably agree that performing before a live audience is a fate far worse than death.
But he pulled through – with, like, flying colors.
After we were all seated, we waited for him to enter center stage. It was now evening and the night air was full of excited chatter and the smell of sweet minty alien trees. It was nice. Interestingly, the arena itself was a giant ditch or cavern that was dug out and the benches that we sat on were actually grooves that were built into the dirt walls. And the “stage” was at the center of the ditch, illuminated by glowing fire-like rocks.
Once he entered the arena, silence swept through the crowd, the buzzing chatter immediately stopped. And so did my heart. He walked into the arena silent and proud.
Oh and shirtless. He was shirtless…and it didn’t look…bad. Actually, I’m full of shit – it was a thing of beauty. I briefly saw him shirtless on the shuttle when we had our hot and sexy moment together, but…I was a little preoccupied at the time to really notice the fine details of his body. But his torso was just beautiful.
The smooth lines of his blue muscles, the rippling of the corded lines along his chest and shoulders, it looked like sculpted perfection. Don’t get me wrong, he had scars and marks up and down his back and stomach, souvenirs of his past battles I’m sure, but he wore them so naturally and proudly that it somehow accentuated the beauty of his body. And oddly, the injury on his side didn’t look nearly as bad as it did yesterday.
So yeah, my jaw was on the floor when I saw his naked torso and I had to stop myself from standing up and clapping right then and there. Which I’m sure confused the person sitting next to me since they all thought that he was my “mate” and I should already be intimately aware of his torso.
Also, his crazy glowing alien tattoos were front and center. At first, I barely noticed them since he was a good 30 feet away from where I was sitting, but once he started to “perform”, they started to glow like hot fire and I knew right then and there that I wanted to touch ‘em. Or lick ‘em…or whatever.
Once he began I – and everyone else in the entire arena – became mesmerized. For his “performance” he decided to do a series of movements with a long spear-like weapon and it was just…breathtaking. It looked like he was dancing, but it was clear that every movement and every motion was deliberate and deadly. Despite his large size, he moved so effortlessly…so fluidly…and the long blade he used moved with him as if the two were one, like it was just a natural extension of his arm.
Initially, his movements started out slow and deliberate, but then he began to move faster and faster. He circled and flipped so fast that he began to look like a blur. And with every movement, his tattoos began to glow brighter and brighter –showcasing how they were connected to him on a deeper level in a strange way. At one point he was moving so fast that he just looked like a whirlwind of movement with streaks of blue light dancing across the stage.
“He good mate! Moves well, yes?” she said giddily with a wink.
Bringing me back to the present, I blinked a million times and just nodded dumbly, but that only made her cackle more.
After that, random people just started volunteering and performing. It sort of just became a little weird party actually. And after I had a taste of a funky drink called troudak, which is apparently fermented tree sap, I even went up and did my own little ill-advised performance – which involved me singing Wrecking Ball by Miley Cyrus – which is a little crazy because I didn’t think I even knew the words to that song.
And, based on the crowd’s reaction, I’m thinking I probably actually DIDN’T know the words to the song. If this planet had crickets, the entire arena would have been full of ‘em. After that, I’m surprised they didn’t sentence me to death purely on principle.
And now? Now the party is winding down and the effects of the troudak is winding down with it. I just hope that the after effects of the drink aren’t as strong as the actual drink. The last thing I want to do is nurse a weird alien hangover.
Sprawled across a bench in the arena, I lazily glance around the dwindling crowd. It’s been hours since Big Blue’s initial performance and many have slowly disappeared back to their homes. I look through the few remaining people, trying to find a big blue giant amongst the small hairless aliens and I can’t find him. Oddly enough, with the exception of a few sightings of him throughout the night, I actually didn’t see much of him all night.
“Looking for someone?” an old voice says behind me.
Startled, I jump and sit up. I see the old Chieftain’s toothy grin smiling down at me. “Oh! Heh…yeah, I’m looking for Dakhar. Uhm…have you seen him?”
The old woman’s eyes twinkle as she nods towards the now parting crowd. I look up and see him on the other side of the arena, just staring at me quietly. My heart pounds just a little faster as our eyes meet.