by Luna Voss
I continue to swim around, enjoying the water, until I become aware of the sounds of something moving toward me through the trees.
I freeze, trying not to splash. Unfortunately, I know that my efforts to hide are essentially pointless: the water is far too clear to obscure my presence. I dip under the water as far as I can without losing the ability to breathe, hoping against hope that I somehow won’t be seen.
Ragga crashes out of the woods, hacking through the thick forest with his sword. My stomach does a backflip. I know that I’m busted.
Not just busted, but also completely naked.
Ragga sees me, and his eyes widen. He marches quickly to the edge of the water and points to me.
“You. Out of the water. Now.”
My face turns hot, despite the coolness of the water. “I’m not… exactly wearing anything,” I say back in a small voice.
He raises his eyebrows, as though daring me to object again. “Get. Out. Of. The. Water. Now.”
The intensity of his tone has an immediate effect on me. I guess I’ve never really been one to challenge authority. I start to move toward him slowly, covering my private parts with my hands.
“Wouldn’t Lurkka be angry at you if you saw me naked?” I try to reason with him, moving as slowly as I can. “You should at least look away as I get dressed.”
His lips twitch in what seems to be amusement. “Lurkka would be a lot more angry if I allowed his woman to run away again,” he growls. “Do you really think I’m going to give you another chance to escape? No, you’re going to get out of the water right now, and I’m going to watch.”
I blush intensely. I can tell that he’s dead serious, and I don’t think I’m going to be able to change his mind. I wade to the shore, using one hand to cover my breasts and the other to keep my lower parts hidden. My heart rate increases as the stream gets shallower, and more of my body emerges from the water. Ragga’s eyes are glued to me, his face an approving smirk.
Suddenly, his face changes. His eyes seem to land on something behind me, and he rushes forward in an instant. Without saying a word, he stomps into the water, scoops me up by my waist, and lifts me onto the shore.
I squeal in surprise as he handles my body. “What the— I’m going! Ragga! I’m getting out!”
A splashing sound comes from the water behind me. I spin around just in time to see a horrendous, sharp-toothed creature leap out of the water, snapping at the place where my ankle was just a moment before. Its body is long and scaly, and its mouth enormous, filled with jagged teeth. It lands back in the stream and hovers near the shore, as though waiting for me to get back in.
If Ragga hadn’t just pulled me out of the water, I would be that thing’s lunch.
“Thanks,” I say in a small voice.
Ragga doesn’t answer, just gives me an amused look that clearly says I told you to get out of the water. He allows his eyes to scan up and down my naked body, not making any attempt to hide what he’s doing.
I get the strong impression that Ragga likes what he sees.
Then, with seeming reluctance, his eyes flit back up to my face. “Get dressed,” he orders me, gesturing to my bodysuit hanging from the tree. “We have a long way to travel.”
I slip into my bodysuit while Ragga watches, and it doesn’t make me feel much less naked than before.
“Give me your wrists,” he commands as soon as I’m dressed.
I frown at him. “My wrists? Why?”
“Your wrists,” says Ragga again, his tone making it clear that there is zero room for argument.
I extend my wrists meekly, not sure what the Kyrzon has in mind. He reaches into the small satchel dangling from his belt and pulls out a leather cord, which he uses to bind my wrists tightly together.
“Is this really necessary?” I sigh, glaring at him.
“Completely necessary,” Ragga grunts, fastening the leather bindings. “Am I cutting off circulation?”
“No,” I admit, before realizing it probably would have been smarter to lie and try to get him make my bindings looser.
Ragga takes the other end of the cord and fastens it to his belt, restricting me from wandering more than about 5 or 6 feet away from him. “So you won’t be tempted to run away,” he says in response to my disapproving look.
I glare at him. He smiles.
“Safer for everyone this way,” he says with a chuckle, glancing back at the stream where the sharp-toothed water creature is still watching us. “These woods are no place for a human.”
Chapter Ten
If I thought navigating the forest was difficult before, doing it with my hands tied up is even worse. Ragga, with his long Kyrzon legs, has no problem with many of the obstacles that cause me tremendous difficulty. After watching me pathetically try to climb over the third fallen tree, he resorts to just lifting me over such things when they happen to be in our path.
“I see why your species needs our protection,” he says as I struggle to keep pace with him. “You never would have survived if you had landed here alone.”
“Yeah, well, it helps when you’re actually native to a planet,” I shoot back, rolling my eyes.
Ragga gives me a bemused look. “Kyrzons are not native to this planet,” he tells me.
“Yes, they are,” I say. “Kyrzons evolved here. You were here when our ancestors landed. I mean, the planet is literally called Kyrzon.”
“Humans named the planet Kyrzon,” says Ragga. “That was not our doing.”
I frown. “What do Kyrzons call the planet?”
“… Also Kyrzon,” Ragga admits. “But that came from your species.”
“And what do you call yourselves?” I ask, strangely curious.
“Well, we call ourselves Kyrzons,” says Ragga. “But that word is the name of our race, not of the planet. I do not know what we called this world when our ships first landed here.”
“Your ships?” I repeat in surprise. “You came here on ships?”
The idea that the savage, primitive Kyrzons would have developed spaceship technology is shocking to me.
“How else would you expect us to get here?” Ragga chuckles. “Our ships crashed on this planet, just the same as yours. You know how you have the Ship in New Sutter? There are several Kyrzon clans that claim similar vessels as their strongholds.”
This is quite the revelation. I was taught in school that the Kyrzons were uncivilized creatures native to this planet, who had only gained the use of technology from humans.
I stumble over a branch, and Ragga reaches out to catch me. He keeps his hands on me just a little longer than is necessary as I find my footing.
“You know, I would have fallen on my face right there if you hadn’t been there to catch me,” I say, staring pointedly at my bound hands.
“A good thing I was there to catch you, then,” says Ragga, smiling.
* * *
The morning passes, and we continue to hack through the forest. I’m relieved that we don’t run into any predators, although we do hear sounds. Occasionally, a raptor wails in the distance, and I cower.
“They’re not close to us,” says Ragga, looking amused as I shrink to his side at the sound of a howl. “That raptor is at least a half mile away, and that’s a mating call, not a hunting call.”
“You can tell the difference?” I ask in amazement.
“Kyrzons are well-versed in the ways of the creatures of this planet,” he tells me. “It is not merely our strength, but our knowledge that allows us to survive.”
I nod, but I’m not really listening. As he was talking, I just noticed something. To our left, the forest is thinning, and the terrain that I can see through the trees looks surprisingly familiar.
“Where are we going?” I ask him abruptly.
“I am taking you to Clan Broga territory. Thanks to your little escape attempt, we now need to make up for lost time. We are only just getting back to the place where we entered the forest at the beginning of our journey.
”
So I was right. What I’m seeing through the trees is the same path we took earlier.
The path that leads back to New Sutter. To my parents. To my life.
“I sure am getting hungry,” I say, concocting a plan. “Do Kyrzons eat?”
This might be my only chance to escape while I’m near Human Territory. I have to try to find an opportunity.
“Of course we eat,” Ragga tells me. “Actually, this would be a good time to stop for food.”
We sit down together on a rock, and Ragga pulls some nuts and seeds and dried meat out of his satchel.
“What is this?” I ask, eyeing the meat warily.
“Tusk-ox jerky. Try it. It’s good.”
Cautiously, I take a tiny bite from a stick of jerky.
“This is good,” I say, chewing. Already, I can feel myself gaining strength and focus. I guess I was hungrier than I realized.
A few minutes later, I’ve wolfed down two more sticks of jerky and several handfuls of nuts. I feel much, much better.
I’ll need that energy to escape.
Chapter Eleven
After our meal, Ragga passes me a canteen of water, and I sip it gratefully.
“I’m going to go pee, and then we’ll continue walking,” he tells me as I drink.
“Are you going to bring me with you while you pee?” I ask him dryly, pointing to the leather cord attaching me to his belt.
“… No,” says Ragga, shooting me an amused look. “You think you can manage to stay here for 30 seconds without running off?”
“Yeah, I think I can avoid running away for 30 seconds,” I say, mentally planning to do exactly that as soon as he’s out of eyesight.
Ragga gets up and walks into the bushes. I see him stand behind a tree, facing the other direction.
It’s now or never.
Cautiously, I pick myself up off the rock, gathering the leather cord in my hands. I creep through the trees in the direction of Human Territory as quietly as I can, doing my best not to make a sound. As soon as I think I’m out of earshot, I start to run.
Fuck yeah. Freedom. I hurtle through the trees, drunk on the excitement of my own escape. I can’t believe I managed to pull this off.
I glance behind me, but I don’t see Ragga giving chase. I slow down, just slightly, allowing myself to pick my way through the trees a little more carefully. As I move, the setting grows increasingly familiar: this is definitely the same way I remember traveling yesterday.
Human Territory, here I come.
It only takes a split second for my newfound joy to turn to horror.
As I scramble up a small incline, my eyes land on something at the top that I’ve never seen before: a great, black, catlike creature, with sharp fangs and gleaming yellow eyes. Its fur is sleek and shiny, its body twice the size of mine. The animal slinks toward me, letting out a terrifying hiss.
Panic rushes over me, and I begin to walk backwards away from it. The predator continues to approach, baring its fangs, its eyes trained directly on me. I keep backing up, down the hill, and then I trip, tumbling down and landing on my back.
I try to pick myself up, but the creature is too fast. It sprints toward me with amazing speed, and then pounces through the air. I throw my bound arms up to protect my face, bracing to be torn apart.
I hear a roar. Not an animal sound, but a person. I peer through my arms, and am amazed to see that Ragga has appeared, and is wrestling with the creature. The cat thing is standing on its hind legs while Ragga pushes against it, his forearms rippling as he grasps the animal’s front paws. It snarls at him, spitting, trying to reach his face with its fangs.
With a tremendous effort, the Kyrzon warrior throws the animal off of him, and it tumbles down the hill. It scrambles back to its feet, hissing, and Ragga throws himself between me and the creature, protecting me with his body.
“Go away!” he roars at it, drawing his sword. “Find your meal elsewhere.”
The animal glares at him, but it doesn’t keep walking forward. For a moment, it hisses, its eyes trained on his blade.
And then the creature turns, and slinks back into the forest.
Ragga keeps standing in front of me until the last of its furry black tail disappears into the woods.
Then he turns around and stalks toward me, anger on his face.
“30 seconds,” he growls. “I turn around for 30 seconds, and you’re running around the woods, practically getting eaten by a blackfang.”
“I wouldn’t have been quite so defenseless if you hadn’t tied my hands together,” I pout.
“It wouldn’t have been a problem in the first place if you hadn’t just started sprinting into the woods,” he says, his face not softening even a little. “Are you determined to become some creature’s lunch?”
My face is red. I’m embarrassed that my escape attempt was such an utter failure. The way Ragga is talking to me is almost parental, as though he’s disappointed in me for making such a stupid, dangerous decision.
Still, I’m feeling defiant. The very fact that Ragga is keeping me as a prisoner is the real issue here, not the fact that I tried to escape. I pick myself up from the ground, glaring at him.
“Maybe you should do a better job of keeping track of me, then,” I retort, trying to rile him up. After two failed attempts to escape from him, needling Ragga is the only form of control I have over my situation.
“I’ll tell you one thing,” he growls. “You so much as think about running away again, and I’m going to spank that little ass until you wish you hadn’t.”
I raise my eyebrows. “You wouldn’t dare. “
“I would. Try me.”
This whole topic of conversation is exciting to me in a way I don’t fully understand. In another context, it might almost feel like flirting.
“And what would Lurkka think if he knew you had laid hands on me?” I challenge him.
He smirks. “Lurkka has given me permission to discipline you in any way I see fit,” he says. “If you’re going to act like a child, I’m going to punish you like a child.”
“And I suppose that makes you feel like a big, strong man?”
“It doesn’t make me feel like anything. It helps you be on your best behavior.”
I give him a defiant look. “If you think I’m going to be on my best behavior, you’ve got another thing coming.”
Ragga raises his eyebrows threateningly, and then lets out a chuckle. “Okay,” he says, shaking his head. “Okay. That’s it. That’s it. If you want to do things your way, we can do things your way.”
He starts to march toward me, and I back up.
“Wha— what do you mean we can do things my way?” I ask, my face suddenly hot.
“You know damn well what I mean,” he growls. “I told you I wanted your best behavior, or you’d get a spanking. You just told me you weren’t going to be on your best behavior. Considering I just saved your pretty little ass from a hungry blackfang, I have exactly zero tolerance for disobedience from you right now.”
I keep backing away from him, feeling a little bit panicky. It’s true that I was provoking Ragga on purpose, but that was just a game. I didn’t expect him to actually do something about it. And the idea of him spanking me… well, that makes me feel all kinds of things.
The truth is, the thought of his big, strong hands on my ass brings me a confusing twinge of excitement.
I’ve never felt that before.
Bad Lily.
Stupid hormones.
“I’ll be good,” I whimper as he towers over me.
“I know you will,” he smirks. “Because you’ll be remembering what happened to you the last time you weren’t.”
I give him big eyes. Maybe being cute will get me out of it. “I almost just got eaten by a giant scary cat-monster, isn’t that enough?”
“Apparently not,” he says, stopping in front of me.
For a moment we stand in front of each other, making eye contact, and I t
ry to look self-assured as I stand my ground. Then Ragga picks me up, throws me over his shoulder, and carries me over to a big fallen tree trunk that is nearby.
Ragga sits down on the log, and then effortlessly positions me over his knee, despite my struggling. My face burns as I think of the view of my butt he must have, protected only by the thin, almost see-through fabric of my bodysuit.
“My job is to keep you safe,” says Ragga softly, his voice measured. “And that job becomes very fucking hard to do when you keep running off into the woods like that.”
Slap! Ragga’s hand smacks down on the left cheek of my ass. Not hard enough to cause intense pain, but certainly enough to get my attention. I let out a squeal, almost more surprised than anything. I’ve never been spanked before. This is a whole new experience for me.
…And not a wholly unpleasant one. My cheek may be stinging, but I also feel a certain stirring inside me, one that I’m only used to feeling alone in my room at night.
What the hell, Lily? Getting spanked by an alien turns you on?
Slap! Ragga spanks me again, this time on the other cheek. I squeal again, and this time it’s almost a whimper. I can feel my lower body tingling with arousal, the stinging of my ass only adding to the experience. It hurts, but you know, like a good hurt.
“If the two different times that you almost got eaten today didn’t teach you a lesson, then I guess teaching you a lesson is up to me,” growls Ragga, spanking me again. “Little human girls—” Ragga smacks my ass. “Don’t belong—” another spank. “Alone in the forest!” He finishes with a final, loud slap across both cheeks that causes me to moan and leaves my ass stinging.
Oh shit. I definitely just moaned. Did Ragga notice? Tell me he didn’t notice. Please tell me he didn’t notice.
The huge Kyrzon warrior pauses. I hold my breath, my face burning, feeling incredibly vulnerable bent over his lap with my hands tied. When he finally speaks again, I have trouble interpreting his tone.
“Have you learned your lesson, Lily?”
“What lesson?” I mumble awkwardly.