I’d never been one to suffer from motion sickness. The steady rocking back and forth of Dagas as it raced through the woods at dizzying speed wasn’t responsible for my insides having liquified and turned into a bubbling pool of lava. Szaro’s firm body rubbing against mine with each galloping step of the Drayshan was driving me insane. His wretched tongue flicking from time to time, the smug smile stretching his lips, and the occasional teasing glance he would steal my way only confirmed he knew how this ride affected me.
I tried to ignore the intoxicating feel of him wrapped around me and focused on the breathtaking view of our surroundings. Thanks to the inclined position in which we lay on the Drayshan’s back, I didn’t have to strain my neck to keep my head up and look ahead. We left the Krada region, clearing the valley where I’d been hunting alongside their border and moved further northwest into new-to-me territories. Szaro began pointing out various landmarks and gave me some background information and stories about the local flora and fauna. I was so caught up in this improvised guided tour, further lulled by the hypnotic sound of his deep voice with that purring rattling sound, that the distant screech of a Flayer startled me.
Szaro tensed behind me. The team slowed their mounts, angling them towards the mountain range we’d been following. Some of the Ordosians dismounted their Drayshans before they even came to a full stop. None of them bothered with the carrier Drayshan and rushed towards the shouting beasts a short distance ahead as soon as Szaro nodded at them. The speed with which they slithered away made me wonder why they bothered with mounts.
I ran to the carrier to pick up my bag. Szaro removed his staff, affixed it to a harness across his back, and joined me. I expected him to race to catch up with the others, instructing me to follow at my own pace. Instead, he turned his back to me.
“Hop on my back,” he ordered.
I froze for half a second, then slipped on my backpack and came to stand behind Szaro, my legs on each side of his tail. He closed his hood, folding each flap against his head as I wrapped my arms around his neck.
“Can you hold my staff?” he asked, extending it to me.
I grabbed it with my right hand, and Szaro slipped both of his behind my knees to lift my legs to his sides, carrying me piggyback.
“Hang on tightly,” he ordered.
Before I could answer, Szaro surged forward, carrying me effortlessly and moving at the same astonishing speed as the others, as if I weighed nothing. For a brief instant, I wondered at the Drayshans that had been left behind without being tied to anything. Did the Ordosians not fear they would wander off or run away from fright? But a look over my shoulders showed the beasts all standing idly, apparently unfazed by the distant roaring of the Flayers.
Heart pounding, I tried to make out what was happening ahead as Szaro swayed from side to side, gliding in between the sparse trees at the edge of the forest like an ice skater would. We stopped about fifty meters from where Mandha and four Ordosians were fighting the first Flayer.
“Arm yourself and come assist my unit when you are ready,” Szaro ordered before dashing towards a group to the left of Mandha.
A dozen or so Flayers were moving north towards the clearing, which led to a massive cave in the mountain. Actually, it didn’t fit the description of a cave since it was open on both ends, creating, rather, a tunnel that opened onto the cliff above the river below. At least twenty meters deep, the side walls of the open cave overflowed with fresh hatchlings chirping in the countless nests built directly into the recesses of the stone.
I quickly removed my weapons from my backpack, including six bolas, and hooked them onto my belt. I tossed my backpack to the side and ran towards Szaro’s position, a bola in hand, ready to be thrown. Sadly, by the time I got close enough, he was already severing its spine. The four males swiftly moved to another target. This time, I managed to throw my bola, shackling the Flayer’s two front legs, seconds before the Ordosians reached it. Without blinking, the three males each immobilize two of the beast’s six remaining legs with their tails, then Szaro went in for the kill. I proudly lifted my chin at the approving grin he cast my way.
Just as I was spinning my second bola, thinking how obscenely easy this was proving to be, three Flayers charged forward as one. My team scattered out of their path, but the beast on the left chased after one of them. I let my bola fly. It caught the creature’s hind legs in extremis, but it was enough to trip it. It fell flat on its face, giving our teammate a chance to escape… or so I thought.
I realized too late that he’d in fact pretended to be slower to lure the beast away from the nests. Impeded though it was by my bola restraining two of its legs, the Flayer got back up and resumed chasing its target with a clunky, yet swift gait. Up ahead, Szaro and the other two members of my team were also attempting to draw the Flayers away from the cave. But the Acales males protecting the nests—in a pointless attempt to scare them away—rushed towards the beasts. This only made the Flayers hungrier for easy prey.
Realizing they wouldn’t be able to get the creatures to stray from their current targets, Szaro and the others converged on the biggest of the two. I grabbed another bola, but just as I was about to throw it, the sight of the birds ineffectively attacking the ‘smaller’ beast suddenly triggered an old memory. On instinct, I launched my bola at that creature instead of the one my team was rushing.
I yanked out the whistle from the attachment pocket on my left arm, swiftly entered the program setting on the interface, and blew in it. The Acales jerked their heads towards me, a few of them appearing to want to come to me before resuming their attacks on the Flayer that was getting back on its feet. It swiped its scythed limbs at them, cutting down too many Acales. I blew in my flute again, my fingers moving over the holes, modulating the sound.
And then it worked.
The Acales collectively emitted a loud screech then flew towards me, the Flayer hot on their trail. I locked the pattern into the flute and continued blowing the rally call as I ran towards Mandha’s team which had defeated the other nearby Flayers and was running our way. Heart pounding into my throat at the sound of the beast quickly approaching behind me, I turned around only long enough to fling another bola. It completely missed its mark. However, in its attempt to avoid it, the Flayer dodged to the side, the legs I’d previously restrained making it lose its footing. It fell onto its stomach, its momentum causing it to slide a short distance.
It never had a chance to get back up as Mandha’s team descended upon it.
Ignoring my wobbly knees, I continued blowing into the flute and lured the Acales back into the cave while Raskier’s team and Szaro’s handled the last two Flayers. Once inside the cave, I stopped the rally call. The Acales flew in circles over and around me for a few seconds then, one by one, they returned to their nests.
I walked out of the cave, worry quickly replacing the adrenaline coursing through my veins as I watched Szaro approach me with a severe expression. I swallowed hard and braced.
“You didn’t follow my orders,” he said sternly.
“I know. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to go off on my own,” I said in an apologetic tone. “It’s just that when I saw the Acales, I realized they looked almost identical to the Shivarees, a species I’ve done protection jobs for in the past. And I got this hunch that the whistle could spare them from getting slaughtered. I acted on instinct.”
“Your instinct was correct, and you did save most of the males,” he conceded, his voice still as serious. “But if you had been wrong, and worst still, if Mandha’s team had not been done with the beast they’d been fighting when you began luring, many of you could have been injured or killed.”
“I know,” I said, hanging my head in shame. “I truly am sorry.”
“I know you are,” he said, his tone softening. “I do not fault you for adapting to the changing situation of a battle, and I do not expect blind obedience. You actually made the right call, just not the right way.”
I recoiled, getting whiplash from the sudden turn around. “Not the right way?”
“You correctly assessed that the rest of our team and I could handle our beast without your assistance,” he explained, “but you didn’t plan where you would go with the second one, or who would assist you once you got the Acales away from it. I believe you acted the same way when you rescued Salha and Eicu. You saw vulnerable beings in danger, and you rushed headfirst to the rescue without much concern for your own safety. You have a big heart, my mate. But you cannot help anyone if you get yourself killed in the process.”
My cheeks burned, and I scrunched my face. “Right. I may have a tendency to act first and think later under certain circumstances,” I said in a small voice. “I’ll work on that.”
“See that you do, my mate. I will not be widowed,” he replied teasingly. “You did well,” he added with an approving glimmer in his eyes.
“More than well,” Mandha exclaimed from behind him, as he approached us with the others. “That was impressive. What was that sound?”
“It’s the Shivarees’ rally call,” I said, standing straighter at the praise, echoed by the others as they joined us. “They are a bird species from Marvix 5, a small planet in the Crastar sector. They are quite similar in appearance to these Acales. On our way here, Szaro told me the Acale males are smaller and protect the nests while the females are the hunters and fighters of their species.”
“Like those Shivarees?” Raskier asked.
“Exactly like those Shivarees,” I replied with a nod. “When their nest is under attack, the group of defending females will emit that cry so that the males and their young can rally to that position to be protected while the other females go to battle. The pitch isn’t quite the same, which is why I had to modify it a bit, but I got it close enough to work.”
“How did you guess that was the problem?” Szaro asked with obvious curiosity. “How did you know what pitch to set?”
“That was also a hunch, to be honest. Their shriek is a few tones deeper than that of the Shivarees. So I lowered the call accordingly.”
“Smart female,” Raskier said, his eyes gleaming with the same admiration I could see in the other hunters’ eyes. “Your timely intervention saved this species from returning to the brink of extinction.”
“This is their only nest?” I exclaimed.
“No,” Szaro replied, “but it is the biggest. You are proving to be a natural Guardian, like the rest of us.”
“Thank you,” I said, basking in their collective approval. I’d been so scared of royally fucking up.
“But now we must tend to the wounded and see if there is any additional threat lurking nearby,” Szaro said, sobering.
He looked at Mandha simply nodded in the way people with years of working together no longer needed to speak to understand what the other wanted or needed. Mandha gestured with his head for two of his teammates to follow, and they hastened to where we left the Drayshans. Szaro then spoke a few words in Ordosian to Raskier who nodded as well. His team and one other immediately headed south through the woods. To my shock, Raskier lagged behind, going from one fallen Flayer to the next to mark them with a beacon gun.
“We’ve got to claim your kills,” Szaro said with a grin.
I burst out laughing. “You guys are amazing.”
“No, my mate, you are amazing,” he said before raising a hand to caress my cheek.
He seemed as surprised as I was by the tender gesture. Although I didn’t pull away, he dropped his hand almost immediately thereafter. His suddenly embarrassed look made me conscious that our team and the two remaining members of Mandha’s team were still present, observing us. The approving look in their eyes communicated their pleasure that our union appeared to be on the right track. It hadn’t been a calculated move, but it didn’t hurt our pretense that we were giving it an honest go.
Is it a pretense though?
Not from Szaro’s point of view. My husband was definitely playing for keeps. It disturbed me how quickly he was making me want to reconsider my own stance on this.
“Recover your bolas,” Szaro said. “Everyone else, let’s get to work.”
I nodded and went to recover my weapons. Before joining the males, I ran the short distance to where I had tossed my backpack and shoved my weapons back inside. As I approached the cave, I was shocked to hear the rattling of the Ordosians’ tails. A number of Acale males had taken flight, circling in a menacing fashion as Szaro and the others approached the nests. Gradually, the birds landed, losing all aggressive stance despite the Ordosians closing in on them. When I entered the cave a powerful sense of peace washed over me.
The rattling is doing this!
But how? During the wedding, the entire crowd had shaken their rattles, and it hadn’t affected me. Then again, when Szaro had rattled his right next to my ear, I’d instantly gone into heat.
The pattern had been different.
No… not just the pattern but the pitch as well. I watched in fascination as the Ordosians examined the birds one by one, placing the wounded ones aside to be treated. The creatures docilely submitted to them.
Mandha and his teammates returned with the Drayshans. They brought the bags of medicine from the carrier so the males could treat the wounded. To my surprise, Mandha carried a huge silver bag with the logo of the Federation and started filling it with the remains of the dead Acales. Once done, he sealed it, which automatically sucked the air out of the bag, thereby preserving the bodies in their current state. He placed it next to one of the dead Flayers, inside the protective dome created by my beacon.
I joined Szaro and, for the next few hours, I assisted him and the others in caring for the wounded birds. An hour into it, my heart leapt in my chest at the sight of the Federation shuttle landing in the clearing to recover the remains of the Flayers. The extraction team worked swiftly and efficiently under the watchful eyes of the Ordosians.
As they were coming back out of the shuttle to pick up one of the last two beasts, one of the agents noticed my presence. Shock gave way to pity in his eyes. I could only imagine what kind of wild speculations were going on at the base camp as to my fate. I beamed at him and waved in a friendly manner to express that all was well. That seemed to throw him for a loop, which only made my smile broaden. I would kill to know what tale he would tell the others once he returned.
Thirty minutes before we were finished, Raskier returned with those who had accompanied him into the forest. By then, the sun was setting on the horizon, and my stomach was clamoring for food. I munched on an energy bar under the amused gazes of the Ordosians.
“No wonder humans eat so often,” Mandha said teasingly as I drank a sip of water. “There is no way that tiny bar provided sufficient sustenance. These birds eat bigger meals.”
“That bar may look small, but it’s surprisingly filling,” I deadpanned. “It’s not the best meal, but it’s practical, and I’m actually quite full now.”
“And you’ll be hungry again in a few hours,” Raskier retorted. “Can’t you store reserves so that you do not need to eat for a few days?”
“Our stomach doesn’t have much room, and we have a high metabolism,” I replied. “Anything in my stomach will be processed in a matter of hours, some things take even less time depending on what they are.”
“Our stomach is also relatively small,” Mandha said while giving me an assessing look. “But even though they are slender, your legs are long. Can you not store food there to be digested at a later time?”
I burst out laughing, immediately slapping a hand over my mouth and feeling horrible at the thought I might have offended him.
“I’m sorry. I’m not laughing at you, but the thought of having food storage in our legs is very funny,” I said with a sheepish expression. “I’m assuming that means you guys… errr Ordosians store food in your tail?”
They all nodded.
“Wow, okay. That explains a few things,” I said, feeling a little silly. “But no. We don’t have any food storage anywhere. Our legs are only bones surrounded by skin, tendons, muscles and nerves.”
Having twenty pairs of reptilian male eyes all staring at my legs had me squirming in no time.
“So… what now?” I asked to shift the attention away from my legs and eating habits.
“There are more packs moving northwest,” Szaro said. “I’ve received a couple of reports from my father. Their scouts had to deal with a number of Flayers but are keeping an eye on the packs beyond their normal range. They will keep us informed. Considering that it’s already late, and as we’ll likely have to come back to this sector tomorrow, traveling two hours to get back to the village doesn’t make sense. I suggest we stay the night.”
“In the usual cave?” Mandha asked.
Szaro nodded.
I stared at Szaro in shock. First, I didn’t realize his father was still around. As he hadn’t introduced me to either of his parents in the village after our wedding, I’d assumed they had both passed away, not that they lived with a different tribe. And two hours?! Had I been in such a lustful daze on our way here not to realize we’d been traveling that long?
While excited at the thought of sleeping in the wild with the Ordosians, I regretted not bringing my inflatable mattress. Sleeping on the hard surface of the cave would leave me sore and aching in the morning.
We walked a short distance west of the Acales nests to a rather impressive cave. The large entrance split into two winding corridors with little nooks along the way. Szaro led me down the left branch. For a moment, I almost pulled out my flashlight as the darkness thickened around us, but light quickly reappeared a short distance ahead. We reached a dead-end with a natural skylight in the ceiling of the cave. The ground of the relatively large, roughly oval space, maybe four meters wide and six meters long, was mostly even and made of packed dirt.
To my surprise, the others didn’t follow us to the back, most of them settling in the entrance or in some of the nooks at the beginning of the corridor.
“We are newly bonded,” Szaro said in a gentle voice, guessing the thoughts crossing my mind. “They are granting us some privacy.”
“I see,” I said, heat creeping back up on my cheeks.
I cast a look around the barren space, wondering where I would settle down.
“I would like you to lie on me,” Szaro said matter-of-factly. “The ground is too hard for you. I should have anticipated that we might stay overnight and told you to bring your mattress.”
I tried to reassure him. “It’s okay, I can survive one night on the hard floor.”
“It might be more than one night,” Szaro countered. “Do not worry. I am not trying to take advantage. And you should find my tail quite comfortable to sleep on.”
“I know you’re not,” I mumbled. “But how would that even work?”
He folded his tail into a spiral, turning it effectively into a rather large ‘cushion’ that I could curl up on.
“But you use your tail as your own cushion,” I argued weakly, remembering how he slept last night.
“Ordosians deliberately sleep on a flat and hard surface,” Szaro said in a ‘don’t be silly’ tone. “I do not need the cushion. You do. Now, stop arguing, female. Hunt Leader’s orders.”
“Ah!” I said with playful defiance, similar to his falsely commanding tone. “We’re not hunting right now. You can’t dictate what I do.”
“Fine,” he grumbled. “Then comply to save your mate from an entire night of being tormented by guilt for making you sleep in inadequate conditions due to his lack of foresight.”
“Wow, you really play dirty!” I said, shaking my head at him with a chuckle.
“I do what I must to protect you from yourself,” he deadpanned.
“I don’t need protecting,” I countered.
“You need to let me take care of you. Come to me, my mate.” He extended a hand towards me.
“Hang on,” I replied.
I kicked off my boots, then removed the vest and pants of my hunting uniform, and carefully folded them on top of my backpack. When I turned back towards Szaro, the way he looked at me made my knees wobble. I took a glance at myself, wondering what had triggered such a reaction. While they did hug my curves, my sports bra and training pants weren’t suggestive in their design. When I looked back at Szaro, the neutral expression on his face gave me whiplash. Had I imagined his previous reaction?
Once again, he extended his hand towards me. This time, I went to him. He leaned his upper body to the side, resting his head on his hand. It felt strange to climb on top of him like and even more so as I curled on my side, facing him. The softness of his scales against my skin left me reeling. But his happy smile erased any last hesitation I still held. I folded my left arm under my head.
“Okay, you win. You’re a very comfortable mattress,” I said in a whisper.
I didn’t know why I’d lowered my voice like that, but lying on top of him, our faces so close to each other seemed to call for it.
He didn’t respond with the teasing reply I expected. His face just softened with a tender expression, and he gently caressed my cheek.
