by S. E. Smith
“What—look out!” she loudly warned.
L’eon quickly located what his pet was referring to, and shot his tail in that direction. The resulting bolt of lightning shot straight through the head of the night crawler. L’eon’s body glowed more brightly, driving the night crawlers farther back.
“L’eon, make a path to the forest,” Gril ordered.
L’eon flipped his ridges forward, sending three powerful bursts ahead. The bolts lit up the fog, evaporating the mist. An outraged roar filled the air and the ground violently shook.
Gril threw his torch toward the sound and grabbed Madas’s hand. L’eon transferred the power in his center ridge to his side ridges and aimed them into two bolts, clearing a path for them. His attention was fixed on the alpha as it approached from his left side.
The dark red glow of the alpha’s eyes grew steadily larger as the alpha got closer. L’eon recognized the challenge in the malevolent eyes. He ran his tongue over his lips, smacking them, and he grinned, showing off rows of razor sharp teeth.
The alpha’s two front legs slammed into the ground at the clear challenge L’eon was displaying. The hair on its round body stood up, making it look larger than it really was. L’eon wasn’t intimidated. He raised a foot and obliterated a night crawler that was trying to sneak up behind him without ever looking at it.
The alpha roared again, and several of the night crawlers attacked. L’eon pointed his tail toward a set of ribs, shattering them and sending fragments into the night crawlers. He continued his concentrated assault to clear a path.
L’eon saw Madas’s grief stricken face and her outstretched arm as she reached for him. He trembled at the expenditure of power. Only when Gril swept Madas into his arms and passed through the protective curtain of sweet moss did he reduce the power surging through him. The glow that surrounded L’eon dimmed, and the fog quickly engulfed him.
“L’eon!”
His ears twitched at Madas’s anguished cry. He sat down and scratched behind his ear. He could hear the night crawlers moving closer as the fog swirled around him. With a satisfied grin, he faded—disappearing as he watched the alpha come closer.
Madas pushed Gril away from her when he set her on her feet and ran further into the forest. Tears blurred her vision and she angrily wiped them out of her eyes. She pushed through another curtain of moss hanging from a low branch before she collapsed against the trunk of a tree. Sobs choked her and she turned, sinking to the ground and burying her face in her hands.
Warm, gentle hands ran along her arms. Madas looked up at Gril. His eyes were filled with compassion and regret. Another heart wrenching sob tore from her throat and she threw her arms around his neck, burying her face against his shoulder.
“We left him to those things. We left him, Gril. We left him,” she repeated over and over.
“I know. I know,” he said in a soothing voice.
She shook her head. L’eon had been more than a pet—he had been her best friend. They had been inseparable the last six months, but it had seemed so much longer. She had poured her heart out to L’eon and he had loved and accepted her for who she was—a Tearnat with dreams that went far beyond the forest to the stars.
“He’s so little. The night crawlers will….” Her voice caught on a sob and she couldn’t continue.
Gril pulled back so he could see her face. He cupped her chin and tenderly wiped the tears from her cheeks.
“He is a pretty wily little guy. I bet he is kicking the night crawlers back to the shadows they crawled out of right now,” he said.
Her eyes filled with tears again and her lips trembled. He leaned forward and brushed a kiss across her lips, then stroked her hair softly. She closed her eyes.
When he reluctantly pulled away and stood up, she opened her eyes. He held out his hand, she placed her hand in his and he helped her stand. He gave her a fierce hug before he released her.
“We only have a few hours until sunset. We need to find a safe place to camp for the night,” he said.
She nodded and wiped her palm across her cheek. “There is a spot about two hours from here that will be safe,” she said. “There is food nearby—and—and a place where we can get cleaned up. My village is another half day journey from it,” she sniffed.
Madas looked back with sorrow at the veil of moss and the entrance to the Goddess’s Fury. Her heart ached for L’eon. Pain speared through her at the thought of the horrible fate he must have endured to give them freedom.
I’m so sorry, L’eon. I should not have left you, she thought as tears filled her eyes again.
She silently took her spear from Gril and straightened her shoulders in determination. Gril tenderly rubbed her back as she took in a deep, calming breath before she brushed aside the hanging moss and stepped out. Her gaze focused on the path that would take them to safety tonight—and her home tomorrow.
18
Two hours later, Madas climbed the stone steps in the Goddess’s Mirror. She and her father had given it that name the first time they came here. Madas had told her father that the stones were a reflection of the past and the pool reflected the stars from where the Goddess had come to help their people.
Her hand ran along a smooth, rounded boulder. The forest was beginning to wake with the sounds of the night. The chirping of the insects, the deep calls of night birds, and being here soothed her troubled soul.
“My father used to bring me here. He said it was a special place to come when your soul was tired and you needed to recharge. I never really appreciated what he meant until now,” she reflected in a quiet voice.
“I can feel the peacefulness surrounding it,” Gril replied.
Madas paused and looked at the top of the steps. “You haven’t seen anything yet,” she murmured, feeling suddenly exhausted.
“Madas….”
She shook her head. “We are almost there,” she said.
Her hand stroked the rock like she used to do when her father brought her here. She used to imagine that if she touched it, she could hear the murmurs of those who had come before sharing their stories. Her father had laughed when she explained why—then, he had shown her that the rocks did talk.
When she reached the top, she paused to take in the petroglyphs carved into the towering rock standing sentinel a foot or so from the entrance of this partially enclosed area of clustered monoliths. Once inside, historic art could be seen in every direction on the massive surfaces. These were the stories of the first people to come to the forest—the beginning of her clan. Her father had been very protective of this, and they both had kept it a secret.
The rock in front of her curved upwards, and sometime during the past, a large section had broken off, leaving the crumbled remains to form the steps. The rock-lined fire pit still contained the remains of her last visit here.
The inside ceiling made of huge slabs of rock was dark from centuries of such fires. Deep golden rays of the setting sun gave off enough light to send watery reflections dancing on the rocks surrounding the area as they bounced off the large pool of water further in. Warm water from a nearby fissure in the rock trickled down through the moss, filling a basin that was surprisingly deep on one side, a result of how it had been eroded by the elements over time. A light steam rose from the deep blue water.
“This is incredible,” Gril murmured from beside her.
She looked around the area again, feeling the magic she’d felt in her youth.
“This was my father’s favorite place. He brought me here hundreds of times when I was younger. He was always eager to share the beauty of the forest with me—and the many mysteries that it holds,” she said.
Gril wrapped his tail around her waist, and she smiled up at him when he pulled her into his arms. She stroked his tail with hers.
“Thank you for sharing it with me,” he said.
Pleasure coursed through her when he caressed her cheek with the back of his knuckles. Her eyelids lowered and she leaned forward. Th
eir lips connected in an open mouthed kiss.
Her hand slid down his side, and he moaned when she cupped him through his trousers. An aching need filled her and she wanted to touch every inch of him. She ached to feel his hands on her in return. Her body arched against him when he squeezed her breast. They pulled apart and stared at each other for a moment, stunned by the intensity of their kiss and how quickly their passion had ignited.
“I—I should gather some food before it gets too dark,” she said, feeling dazed by the intensity of their kiss.
Gril nodded. “I’ll gather some firewood and moss,” he replied.
Madas started to pull away, but he stopped her. He cupped her cheeks between his large palms and kissed her hard. His tail possessively tightened around her waist before he released her.
“I’m going to take you tonight, Madas. This will be our special spot, too,” he softly growled before he released her and backed away.
Madas touched her chest. Her heart was pounding. The promise in his gaze held her motionless long after he disappeared down the stone steps until a night bird’s call finally broke through her chaotic thoughts and reminded her that they didn’t have much time before dark. Turning on her heel, she clutched the strap of the satchel draped across her body and retreated in the opposite direction.
She climbed the narrow path to the top of the rocks. From here, she was eye level with the tops of many of the trees. Several nearby trees produced a variety of fruits, and bushes grew between the cracks in the rocks, laden with large seeds filled with tender meat.
She remembered standing here with her father as he told her that this was the one spot in the forest that could provide everything a Tearnat needed to survive—food, shelter, water, wood for a fire, and for those who had the skills, clothing from the plant fibers.
She opened her satchel and filled it with enough green water nuts, meaty seeds, and plump flower fruits to last them tonight and tomorrow. The stars were coming out by the time she climbed back down. Gril already had a fire lit in the fire pit. A cut broad leaf and a pallet of moss lay nearby. He was standing with his back to her, looking at the petroglyphs on the walls. He glanced over his shoulder when he heard her.
“These are incredible. I know at least a dozen scientists who would love to study them,” he said, reaching for her overflowing bag.
Madas chuckled. “My father would have been one of them. That is one of the reasons I want to return to the village. I have all of his notes and illustrations. He was very meticulous when it came to documenting his findings. That is another thing he passed on to me,” she admitted.
“I look forward to seeing them,” he replied.
Pleasure and pride surged through her. No one in her family had cared about her father’s research. All of her brothers and sisters had thought it was boring. Her mother had raged that Matteu’s obsessions had taken him away from his responsibilities to her.
After his brief illness and unexpected death, Queen Tima had ordered all of Matteu’s possessions burned. Madas had rescued what she could and hidden it in a chest under the floor in her room. She had then piled every piece of junk she could find on top of that spot to deter anyone from looking. Her brothers and sisters thought she was a hoarder, and she was happy to keep their delusions alive as long as they stayed out of her room.
“Are you hungry?” she asked.
He nodded and placed the satchel next to the broad leaf. She knelt on the soft moss he had gathered. It didn’t take them long to prepare their simple but delicious meal.
After they ate, they lay side by side on the moss bed, and looked up at the petroglyphs on the rocks curving above them.
“The story that my father told me was that in the beginning, all of our people lived as one. Then, from the stars, strange ships appeared. At first, our people thought it was the Goddess, but soon, terror swept over the land,” she said, pointing to the painted scenes as she spoke. “The creatures that emerged burned the great forests. Our people fought back, but we did not have the power to drive them back to the stars."
She turned to look at another rock where the story continued, and said, “Then, another group of ships came, larger and stranger than anything ever seen before. This species had smooth skin like the Kassisans do—I’ve seen a few traders from Kassis before—but overall they looked quite different, and they turned out to be the attacking creatures’ enemies. The two species fought a great battle, driving the creatures back to the stars. For centuries, there have been tales of the great ships that fell to our world only to dissolve into the soil, leaving nothing behind,” she explained.
“Bioengineered space craft,” Gril murmured.
Madas turned and looked at him with a frown. “What is that?”
Gril looked at the depicted group of spaceships that followed the initial invading force. “Bioengineered space crafts are living ships. I’ve only heard of it as a theory during my military training. As far as I know, there has never been such a ship. The technology to build something as complex as that is far beyond any species we have encountered. The overall design structure of these two kinds of ships is vaguely familiar, but as far as I know the nose and wings designs are unique,” he explained.
Madas looked at the petroglyph again. “Father speculated that he thought our strange allies had ships that were alive and an integral part of the aliens. When you killed one, you killed the other, and they would biodegrade like any other living species. After the ancient battle, the fires started by the invaders killed more than half of the population on our planet, and some believed that the forests were a liability. This is when our clans fractured into those who wanted to preserve the forest and those who wanted to cut down the trees. A wide swath of scorched soil was the result of that war. It is said the Goddess heard our pleas and took pity on us. She created the great ocean and the mountains to protect and isolate us. We have lived in harmony with the forest as a tribute to her,” she said, waving to the remaining drawings.
Gril chuckled. “There is evidence that a great fire happened a long time ago. Our scientists have found layers beneath the sands and deep in the ocean to show that much of our world was at one time covered in great, tropical forests, but it is more likely that a meteor hit our planet and wiped out the forests than an alien species which has not yet been found. We’ve had space travel for over five hundred years now and have traveled to many different and distant worlds. I’m sure if either of these species existed, we would have found them. The stories are interesting, but I think if we had been visited by such creatures, there would be some form of documentation,” he said.
“How many stars are in the universe?” she asked, turning to look at him.
Gril frowned. “Estimating the number of stars in galaxies and the number of possible known galaxies in the universe, I would say a minimum of billions of trillions,” he said.
“Have we been to every one of them?” she asked.
Gril shook his head. “Of course not,” he replied.
She rose to her feet and smiled down at him. “All legends and myths are based on some truth. You said if they had visited, there would be some form of documentation. I would say our ancestors did a very good job, wouldn’t you?” she said with a wave of her hand encompassing their surroundings.
Gril stared at the petroglyphs. It was true—all stories did contain some element of truth in them. The petroglyphs were also a representation of what life was like thousands of years ago. Where he lived, some mountains had been eroded and the drifting sands had covered others. The leading scientists on Tearraid were constantly discovering new artifacts, but in all honesty, most research in the past five hundred plus years had been focused on space travel and understanding life elsewhere.
He blinked when he heard a splash. It took him a moment to realize that Madas had stripped out of her clothes and was now enjoying the pool. His body reacted when he saw her floating on her back, staring up at the stars. Her tail moved back and forth to keep her from
sinking. He could see the tips of her full breasts rising like twin islands.
In seconds, he was on his feet and stripping out of his clothing. He tossed his torn shirt onto a nearby boulder. Removing his boots and trousers, he walked over to the edge of the pool and stared down at the female who held his heart captive. She looked up at him with a dreamy smile.
“I love how this pool reflects the stars so perfectly. It’s like I’m swimming among them,” she murmured.
She moved her arms and the reflection of starlight on the water rippled before calming again. His throat tightened. She was so delicate, so innocent, yet so very strong. He stepped into the pool and followed the slope until he sank into the deeper waters.
Swimming over to her, he gathered her in his arms when she twisted upright. Her breasts slid across his skin, fanning the flame burning inside him to a scorching inferno. Her arms wound around his neck and her legs parted to wrap around his waist.
Their lips met halfway, their tongues tangling together as she slowly impaled herself on his thick shaft. He felt the moment she locked onto him, her feminine core squeezing his cock until he could feel each of the small nubs lining her channel pulsing around him.
“Goddess, Madas!” he groaned, burying his face against her neck.
“Feel me, Gril. Feel what you do to me,” she breathed.
He felt every delicious inch of her. He held her thighs as she moved against him. Her tail had wrapped around his left leg and the sensual feel of every part of her was driving him crazy. Everything about her pulled him closer to her—her touch, her wit, her intellect, her naivety, and her compassion. She was not only the perfect mate for him—but she would be the perfect representative for their people.
A loud moan ripped from his throat when she encouraged his cock to its fullest. He wanted to release his seed so badly that his testicles ached from the fullness in them. She rose up again before sliding down, pulling him deeper into her.