Mutual Trust

by Lea Linnett

  “Bree!” Shouts rang out as he raced for her, and to his relief, her eyes lit up at the sight of him. She struggled to her feet with her limbs bound, falling into him as he wrapped his arms around her. “You are all right,” he breathed into her hair, his breaths shakier than he’d thought they would be. “You are alive.”

  “And you. I was so scared the jail would catch fire,” she said, nuzzling him as best she could with her arms restricted. “Are you hurt?”

  “Do not worry for me.” He pulled back, running his gloved fingers over the sharp cuts in her cheek. “You are injured. Who did this, I will—”

  “It was Peris. But I think I got off lightly,” she said, her gaze cutting to the dead bodies on the other side of the firepit.

  “Bree…” He tugged her into him again, needing to feel her body safe and whole against his chest. “I am sorry. I should have been by your side.”

  “You should have been fighting alongside the solayans,” came a voice in Levekk Trade behind him, and he spun around to find Urek strolling lazily toward him. His brother tore off his mask despite the biting cold in the air and smiled. “But I am thankful, anyway. Your help has been critical to our success, today.”

  It took Marek far too long to realize that Urek had understood him, even though he had spoken to Bree in English. “How did you…?”

  Urek turned his head, tapping his earpiece. “You recognize this? Maybe not. It has been a long time since you first developed it.”

  The device was a small, black disk that fit snugly behind Urek’s ear, and Marek’s eyes widened in horror when he recognized what it was. “Is that…?”

  “Your translation device? Yes,” Urek said, looking pleased. “I had the karanaan replicate it for me. I only wish it could have been completed sooner. It has been very useful.”

  “But that’s impossible. It needs mesilisi to function, and I’ve never—”

  He fell silent, his stomach dropping as he remembered what Bree had said before.

  Urek grinned. “Your human told you, then? About how she had mesilisi with her when she was caught spying on the mine? It was crucial, along with the research data and language logs we found in your office. I suppose I should be thanking you,” he said. “We could not have completed the prototype without you both.”

  Marek’s arms tightened around Bree instinctively, and he felt her eyes on him as she said in English, “Marek, what is he say—”

  “I’m saying I finally saw the wisdom in your invention, little brother. It truly is useful to be able to speak on the same level as sub-species. Or, at least, to listen,” Urek added.

  “If you could understand everything we said, then why even allow me to stay in her presence?” Marek asked. “Why imprison us together?”

  “Because I knew that, even if I couldn’t trust you, I could still use you. I knew you could never let go of your humanity, or your sympathy for these sub-species. It has been a constant weakness of yours.”

  “Marek, what’s going on?” Bree asked, but Marek couldn’t answer her. His blood was pounding in his ears, his heart a rapid staccato that he could barely process.

  “So I thought, why not let you?” Urek continued with a shrug. “I knew that you would never reveal your plans while I was present, but all it took was a little bit of theater to get you alone with her, and a bug beneath the table feeding your plan back to the karanaan to be translated later. Originally, I intended to allow you to escape by yourselves, but then you chose to use a transport. There’s a reason we’ve never found the humans before now, and it would have made following you north in one of those rather… perilous.”

  Marek’s eyes widened. “The mesilisi.”

  At that moment, there was a shout from one side of the square, and a levekk cut through the crowd with something cradled in his hands. “Sir, we found it!”

  Despite the smoke whirling overhead, the item flashed in the light when Urek took it, multiple hues of blue and purple shining across the white, bone-like plating on his skull. Marek’s heart lurched. More mesilisi—a chunk even larger than the one that the humans had burned in the watchtower.

  Urek smiled as he held it up between them. “Magnificent, isn’t it? A sample this large could be worth an entire army. It could create weapons so powerful that the neighboring powers would tremble in their ships. It could—”

  “I know what it is,” Marek spat. “And what it is capable of. This is why you wanted the location of Bree’s people? So you could steal their resources?”

  “What isn’t owned cannot be stolen, Marek. They ran into the mesilisi deposit by chance, hundreds of years ago while on the run from us. They did not even know it was here until our artificial earthquakes floated it to the surface like gold in a river. But they benefited from it. You know as well as anyone that the mesilisi’s incompatibility with our navigational systems is part of why it is so rare. This is why I could not let you take a transport north.”

  Marek gritted his teeth, biting back the anger that rose within him. “If you could not track us, how did you follow us?”

  “Ah,” Urek said. “You will not like that answer.”

  Any further questions he had were silenced as Urek stepped forward, placing the mesilisi in his palm with a hard thunk.

  “I need your help again, brother.”

  Marek looked down, horrified. The mesilisi was warm in his grasp, the violet tendrils glowing deep within the blue stone. “My help? After everything that has happened?”

  “No matter what you might think of me, I am still your brother, and I am willing to give you yet another chance, for our mother’s sake,” Urek said. “Plus, you upheld your part of the deal, however reluctantly. It’s only fair that I uphold mine.”

  “What do you mean?” Marek asked.

  Urek placed a clawed hand on his shoulder. “You will study this for me, find out as much as you can about it—its makeup, its effects, any possible uses. You will be the foremost expert on mesilisi in the entire Constellation. You will be respected by your peers because they will have no choice but to defer to your knowledge, and you will never work in the mines again.”

  Urek’s eyes were dark as he stared at him, his gaze intense. “I know we have had our disagreements, but I hope you will use this opportunity to its fullest. It is the best that I can do for you. It is the best way for me to fulfill our mother’s final wishes.”

  Speechless, Marek stared down at the mesilisi, pulsing softly in his palm.

  “Marek?”

  He jolted. Bree still stood at his side, her eyes wide. She had understood none of their conversation, but she was eyeing the mesilisi with a look that told him she understood everything she needed to know. He turned toward her, still cradling the mesilisi, but she stepped back a pace, a question in her eyes.

  “Erect a holding cell and gather the humans inside it,” Urek ordered, and two levekk stepped towards Bree.

  Marek put himself between them with a growl and said to Urek, “Let them go. You have what you wanted.”

  But his brother’s eyes had hardened. “Unfortunately, I am not finished with them, yet. You see, that is only a small taste of what this planet has to offer,” he said, pointing to the rock still clutched in Marek’s hand. “There is a vein here so deep that it bathes the northern part of this continent in darkness, blinding our technology, and these humans are living right on top of it. So, I will keep them until they tell me where their village is, and the vein that must be nearby—”

  “They do not know, Urek!” Marek yelled. “They will not tell you anything you do not know alrea—”

  “Ah, but you’re wrong.” Urek tapped the translator by his ear again. “Now that we have your technology, we can interrogate them ourselves, in whatever way we see fit.”

  “If you lay a claw on her—”

  “You’ll what? Fight every levekk here? This is my final concession, brother,” Urek growled, drawing in close enough that his plated forehead nearly touched Marek’s brow. “I
offer you a place with us only because it was our mother’s wish. I can easily take it away.” He gestured for the levekk to apprehend Bree and the others, and before Marek could stop them, he added, “Do not choose to be powerless like them, Marek. Choose to be powerful.”

  The words shocked through him, planting his feet in the snow.

  “Hey, what the hell is going on?” Noe yelped as she was grabbed by the guards. She beat and kicked, but they were too strong, so she turned her vitriol on Urek. “You won’t get away with this, lizard scum!”

  The smirk brewing on Urek’s face fell. “Take them away!”

  Bree was silent as Peris wrapped her claws around her wrist, staring at Marek with a look that haunted him.

  But he could not move, could not speak. He was locked in place by his brother’s words, feeling more powerless than ever before in his life.

  All the while, Urek watched him carefully, as if assessing his reaction, and then nodded. “Your first job is to create more of these,” he said, gesturing to the translator. “Your device only works one way, and I need the humans we interrogate to understand our questions. We have mesilisi to spare, after all. There’s equipment in one of the transports. You can set up there.”

  “Yes, Urek.”

  Bree’s gaze pierced him as she was pulled away, but he forced himself to meet it. Every step she took away from him hollowed him out from the inside, his heart aching. He wished he could go to her, to explain that he was not abandoning her, but he could not. He had to let her go.

  Urek was right: to be sub-species was to be powerless. It meant loneliness, servitude, frustration. So Marek would choose to be powerful. He would choose to be levekk.

  Because now, it was the only option he had left to save Bree and her people.

  30

  “I’m gonna rip that asshole’s scales right off his fucking body!”

  Even after they’d been deposited in the large, blank cell, Noe continued to yell and scream, beating her fists against the metal door. Bree pressed her ear to the wall, listening to the sounds of large bodies plowing through the snow and machines whirring as the solayans constructed buildings for the levekk. A window set high in the wall showed the clouds brewing overhead, merging with the smoke from the battle, but it was far above even Luis’ reach.

  There was no escape.

  “Goddammit!” Noe kicked the door before turning on Bree. “So are you still going to defend him? Because when I’m done with the asshole, Marek is next.”

  Bree gritted her teeth. “You won’t touch him.”

  “How can you say that when Urek just gave him a pat on the back and a room all to himself?” Noe snarled. “How can you say that when your alien ignored you that entire time? He doesn’t care about us, Bree.”

  “I’m telling you, he didn’t bring them here.”

  “How do you know?! They’re in our territory—in our home. How else could they have gotten here?”

  “It’s Urek. There’s something strange about him. Didn’t you see? It was like he could understand you, and it’s not the first time I’ve noticed that.”

  Noe scowled. “So what? Bottom line is, we’re trapped again, our comrades are dead or dying, and without us, the village is defenseless. Are those consequences real enough for you? Do you see now why I told you not to bring him with us?!”

  “Everyone, calm down!” barked a new voice, and they both spun to face Luis, who stood in the center of the room, glaring at them both. His injured torso had been bandaged, and he pressed his hand against it as he stepped forward. “You’re soldiers, aren’t you? We’ve trained for this.”

  “For alien weapons and enemies twice our size?”

  “Shut it, Noe,” Luis snapped. “Now, we need a plan. I want a team searching every inch of this place for potential weaknesses, and another caring for the injured as best you can. Noe, you join one of them—just keep busy.”

  The blond scoffed, but tore herself away from the door as the others scattered. Then, Luis turned to Bree.

  “What did you say about their leader understanding you?”

  “His name is Urek,” Bree said. “When we were trapped in the aliens’ territory, there was a time when his reactions were too fast, as if he’d understood what was said before Marek translated for him. And before, when Noe insulted him, he seemed angry with her.”

  “If you’re right, how is that possible?”

  “I don’t know. Their technology is so advanced. Marek showed me something he was making that could translate words within the mind, somehow, but it was unfinished…”

  “So they are working together?”

  “No!” she said quickly. “No, I don’t believe that. He wouldn’t have wanted it to be used like this.”

  Luis’ hard face softened with pity. “Bree, you must be able to see the patterns.”

  “I know what you think you’re seeing, but you don’t know him, Luis,” she said, holding her leader’s gaze. Her heart was beating in her ears, and her stomach couldn’t decide whether it was going to sink or make her throw up, but she had to stand her ground on this. “He isn’t like the others. He doesn’t think like them. I’m telling you, Noe and I would still be trapped in that mine without his help.”

  “Unless he meant for you to lead him here the entire time.”

  Bree’s mouth snapped shut, her brow creasing. It was certainly possible, but somehow, she couldn’t bring herself to believe it. She’d seen Marek lie, and she had seen him at his most honest. The words he’d spoken to her in the watchtower, the promises he’d made—they had to be real.

  But then she thought of how quiet he had been as they traveled towards the Barracks, and her heart sank.

  “It changes little,” Luis said as the silence stretched. “No matter what you may believe about him, we cannot sit here and wait for his help. He’s an outsider.”

  “He’s one of us,” Bree insisted, swallowing down the lump of doubt in her throat.

  “Then once we take back our home, he’ll be given the chance to prove it.”

  With that, Luis walked back towards the soldiers checking the cell walls, and Bree shivered. It was cold in the cell, even in the heatsuit, and she realized that the dense levekk material didn’t seem to be holding as much heat as before.

  “Here.”

  Bree turned to find Torrin holding his thick coat out towards her.

  “I’m fine, Torrin.”

  “Take it. Your alien clothes are thin.”

  When she breathed out a sigh, it misted the air, and Bree took the coat with a shrug. “Thanks.”

  They stood in silence, watching the other soldiers go about their work, until eventually Torrin spoke. “Do you truly believe that he didn’t betray you?”

  She bit her lip. “I want to believe it.”

  “Either way, Luis is right. We can’t rely on him.”

  “I know that.” Bree pulled the coat more tightly around her shoulders, her voice wavering as she said, “But I still want him with us.”

  “Even when you can’t be sure of his loyalties?”

  “I know him, Torrin. I have to trust him. After everything we went through in that goddamn mine, I don’t have a choice.”

  Torrin looked at her sidelong, his eyes widening. “He’s that important to you?”

  The answer came to her without hesitation. “Yes,” she said. “He’s more important than anything.”

  ---

  Marek was preparing the first batch of mesilisi shavings to be liquefied when the door to the transport hissed open. He glanced at the door, his entire body on edge and ready to fight, but the figure in the doorway made his spirits rise.

  “Silas?”

  The solayan approached on surprisingly soft feet, ducking his head beneath the low-hanging pipes and modules set into the ceiling. The transport was meant to carry cargo, but that was hard to believe with the hulking alien filling the space. “Marek. I wanted to speak with you.”

  “Does Urek—”

/>   “Urek doesn’t know I’m here. We’re supposed to be holding the perimeter while the levekk relax in their heated cabin.”

  “No one saw you?” Marek pressed. “He knows we are friends. He must know that you helped us, before.”

  “He does.” Silas’ gaze dropped to the floor, a shadow flickering behind his eyes. But then he shook his head. “I believe he does. But he will not worry about that now that he has what he wants.” He stepped closer, his thick brow creasing as he said, “I am sorry, Marek. It is my fault that he found you. When I helped you escape—”

  “Do not feel guilty, solarren. You could not have known that we were playing into his hands again.” Marek paused, looking down at the mesilisi. “Sometimes it feels like that is my curse. That my choices will always end up benefiting him, no matter my intentions. Even now, I work under his claw in the hopes of securing Bree’s freedom, but what if I just end up giving him exactly what he wants?”

  The solayan opened his mouth, about to argue, but then his yellow eyes widened. “Bree’s freedom? You have a plan?”

  “Yes.”

  “One that he cannot twist to his own ends?”

  Marek’s expression turned grim. “I hope so. I think I have found a way to get all of the humans to safety, but I am not sure they will like it.” He met Silas’ gaze. “I may need your help yet again, my friend.”

  “Marek, I…” The solayan paused, glancing briefly at the mesilisi that Marek still held in his hand. “Of course I will help you. When?”

  “Soon. Urek will begin his interrogations as soon as I am finished preparing the mesilisi for these,” Marek said, gesturing to a pile of duplicated translation devices that sat on the table. “But we have time. Urek’s team made an impressive prototype, but making sure their process is able to be replicated, and that the mesilisi will be compatible with the humans and other sub-species in addition to levekk physiology…”