Her Alien Warrior

by Mira Maxwell

  Worry starts to trickle into my mind as the snow falls faster and the forest seems just as far away. I’m starting to think of alternate ideas for shelter when I notice something in the distance. My heart beats faster in my chest. It looks like another jageon with white shaggy fur, but they don’t typically travel alone. And whatever is moving towards us looks like it’s on its own. As it moves closer I can tell that it’s walking upright, not stalking on four feet like so many of the predatory animals in this region. It moves towards us quickly, incredibly lithe and agile in the snow. Perhaps for the first time since we’ve left the caves, we’re going to catch a break.

  Within a few more minutes we’re finally close enough to see who it is that has come to meet us in the middle of a snow storm. I’m relieved until our savior comes close enough for me to realize who he is. The tall athletic body is unmistakeable but it leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

  Help has arrived in the form of a wanderer.

  It looks as if we’re going back down into the caves.

  Eleven

  SAVANNAH

  I can tell it’s a wanderer. I don’t know if I tense up knowing how Ozmyx will react, or if he actually tenses, gripping me tighter.

  “Come,” the wanderer says when he gets close enough. “There is shelter close by. I’ll lead you there.”

  Before he can turn away, Ozmyx says, “We are going to the trees. We will find shelter there.”

  Desperation grips me. I’m cold and tired. Not to mention my back is constantly aching from my encounter with the ragadh. The last thing I want to do is trek through this blizzard another few miles when we don’t even know what kind of shelter we’ll be able to find.

  “Ozmyx,” I say. “We have to go with him. I’m freezing. I can’t take much more of this.” I’ve pulled his face around so he’s forced to look at me. I can barely feel my fingers through my gloves as they touch his face, his warmth seeping through and feeling like heaven on my hands.

  His eyes meet mine and I can see the moment he softens, just slightly. Maybe it’s the way my teeth are chattering together uncontrollably, or the way I’m gripping onto him trying to absorb his heat. I don’t know why he has such a bad attitude toward the wanderers. This is the second time they’re helping us, even if they found it necessary to chain him the first time. Maybe once I can feel all of my limbs again, I’ll get to the bottom of it. Until then, I’m just grateful when he finally makes some sort of grunt along with a nod of his head and falls in line behind the wanderer.

  I’m surprised when we stop a short distance later. “Here,” the wanderer says. He moves something that’s hidden behind a boulder, revealing an opening below. Something I never would have seen on my own. Ozmyx sets me down and I move forward to crawl down the hole. He stops me before I can step down.

  “Wait, I’ll go first.” He looks down the hole and steps in first. Within seconds his whole body has disappeared. Then, his head pops up again. “Come, it is safe.” He waves me forward with his hand and I don’t hesitate. I’m practically frozen through at this point. I step down and then feel his strong hands grip my waist to help me down. Moments later the wanderer steps down, stopping to pull the entrance closed behind him. We’re standing in a huge cavernous space, larger than any of the spaces I saw the first time I was down in the caves. This must be a different section, but I have no idea where we are in comparison to last time. This entire planet is just a huge maze to me.

  “More caves?” I ask, turning to the wanderer. “Did you make some of this or was it here all along?”

  The wanderer takes off the snow gear that makes him look like an abominable snowman. “A very long time ago, volcanic lava used to flow through these tunnels and caves. It’s hard to believe, I know.”

  He must have noticed the look of utter disbelief on my face. The idea of volcanoes ever being on this planet is extremely hard to believe.

  “My name is Tanish, by the way,” he says.

  “I’m Savannah,” I say, extending my hand to offer a handshake. I pull it back quickly, though, remembering my mistake. Attalans don’t have the same customs as humans. A handshake is as foreign to them as humans. “Thank you for helping us,” I say instead. And then as if I’m finally remembering the elephant in the room, I introduce Ozmyx. “This is Ozmyx, by the way.” I gesture to where he’s standing with his arms crossed over his chest. Still and proud like a stubborn damn tree. I roll my eyes even though it’s purely for my benefit. “How did you find us anyway?”

  “It wasn’t hard,” Tanish says as he begins walking, leading us deeper into the caves. “There’s no one else crazy enough to be out in this storm.”

  “Obviously it wasn’t our choice,” Ozmyx says in his gruff tone. “We were caught in an avalanche earlier. It wiped out our camp and separated us from the rest of my men.”

  I give Ozmyx a look, trying to get him to ease up a bit. We’re guests in the wanderer’s home and there are certain manners that go along with that. Regardless of their past relationship, they’re helping us out right now and I don’t want to get kicked back out into the freezing blizzard above.

  “Sounds like you’ve already had quite a day,” Tanish says.

  “Is Edek close by?” I ask Tanish, changing the subject. My back is so sore, there’s a steady throbbing where my skin was scraped off and it’s causing other parts of my body to ache now.

  “Why?” Ozmyx asks, sounding very accusatory.

  I don’t know if it’s the exhausting day we’ve had or the pain in my back but I’m not in the mood for his horrible mood.

  “My back really hurts. I want him to look at it for me. And I’m sure he’ll have something to help the pain.”

  He makes an audible sound of frustration before saying, “Why didn’t you tell me you were in pain?”

  “There was nothing we could do about it. How would you have helped me in the middle of a blizzard?”

  He doesn’t answer me but I’m not waiting around for an argument. I continue following Tanish through the tunnels, hoping he’s leading us to Edek and that we’ll be there soon.

  “Edek will be in his work space. It’s in a different section of the tunnels but I can lead you there if you’d like.” Tanish carries on answering my question, somehow remaining unphased by Ozmyx’s attitude.

  “That would be great. We lost a lot of our supplies in the avalanche so I’m hoping he’ll have something to help the pain in my back.”

  “Oh, he’s always creating new concoctions. He has been gifted with incredible scientific skills…just like his father.”

  I’m certainly hoping that he does have something that will fix me up quickly so I’m back to my normal self. Things certainly haven’t gone the way I expected them to on this trip and at this point, I’m ready to just get back to the fortress and head home.

  We continue walking through the tunnels, Tanish leading the way, then me, with Ozmyx bringing up the rear. This area of the caves doesn’t look to be inhabited, but more another entrance into the cave system. From what Tanish said, we’re approaching their home from a different direction. These caves must be massive, it’s almost hard to wrap my head around it.

  The walls of the cave are smooth, the path that we follow has clearly been used for years. There are sections of the path that narrow significantly and other sections where we could easily walk side-by-side. Though we’re protected from the wind down here, it’s still colder than I would expect being underground. It reminds me of being in the basement of my childhood home growing up. When it was an especially hot summer all of those years ago, the basement would be a cool relief from the humidity. I suppose it makes sense, there is no way for them to heat the caves aside from fires and the heat cubes…if that’s even something that the wanderers utilize.

  It isn’t much longer until we finally see a few more wanderers. I imagine they’re like guards, though I don’t know if they even have a need for guards underground like this. They acknowledge Tanish and look us over. I imagin
e they’re questioning why this warrior is in the caves.

  Eventually the tunnels widen again and we’re lead into a much larger space. It’s much warmer here, with a huge fire blazing away in the center of the cavern. There are many more wanderers milling around here. A few sit by the fire, cooking various foods. Others are just walking through on their way to a different part of the caves. From what I can see, they all look to be men.

  “Edek will be this way,” Tanish says. We continue to follow him as he veers off down a different tunnel. I’m impressed that he has a sense of direction down here. It all looks the same to me. There’s no way I’d ever find my way again if I were on my own. “We aren’t too far now. Once you’ve had a chance to meet with him, we’ll get you something to eat and then find somewhere for you to rest for the night.”

  “That sounds amazing. Thank you Tanish.”

  Once again I hear what sounds like a disgruntled harumph coming from behind me. It makes my blood start to boil. I want to turn around and ask him what crawled up his ass, but I don’t want to make a scene when we’re guests down here. The last thing I want is to be escorted out of here in the middle of huge snow storm. Though I don’t think they’d really make me leave. It would be Ozmyx that they would want out of here but his loyalty to his job would prevent him from leaving without me.

  Tanish leads us into a large room with a table against the side full of bowls, and baskets full of various materials. I immediately recognize the space as Edek’s, but he’s not here. “I’ll go see if I can find Edek. Do you mind waiting here for a few minutes?”

  “No, we don’t mind at all.” And with that he nods and leaves the room. Ozmyx and I stand next to each other in silence. I look around the room while we wait, noticing the latest concoctions that Edek is working on. I’m focusing in on the chairs in the room, aching to sit down. My back is so sore that I’m starting to wonder if my ribs might be cracked.

  After a few moments of quiet, Ozmyx says, “You should have told me that you were injured.”

  I close my eyes and breathe out. Feeling every ounce of tension in my body. “Honestly, I didn’t think you’d care.”

  There it is. Finally, I’ve said it. Now that I’ve actually said it out loud, I realize that this has been the problem all along. The reason he makes me feel so uncomfortable when I’m around him. Though he’s tasked with protecting me, he has never made me feel like he really cares about me. I’ve seen him interact with other people at the fortress. He prefers to ignore me and it shouldn’t bother me as much as it does. I shouldn’t care that he’s indifferent to me. I don’t know why it makes me question what’s wrong with me.

  “Of course I care. It is my job to make sure you’re okay.” He turns so he’s looking at me, but I can’t look at him. I’ve never been good at expressing my feelings. Honesty, at least when it comes to myself, always makes me uncomfortable.

  “Well you have a funny way of showing it,” I manage to say while looking around the room. When he doesn’t say anything, I catch a glimpse of him out of the corner of my eye. From the look on his face I can tell that he’s confused by my comment, but I don’t have time to explain myself. The next thing I know, Edek and Tanish are back.

  “Savannah,” Edek says happily. “I never thought I’d see you again so soon.”

  “I didn’t think we’d see each other again either. Sorry I left so abruptly last time. I didn’t even have a chance to say goodbye.” I look at Ozmyx, sending the blame his way, and realize from the scowl on his face that he’s back to his grumpy self.

  “I understand. And I hope you understand why our leader felt the need to keep an eye on you,” he says, turning to Ozmyx.

  “Chaining me and keeping me prisoner is keeping an eye on me?”

  “Well, to be fair, you imprisoned one of ours first. We were unsure of your motives.”

  “Because she was spying on the fort. We thought she stole from us.” He’s getting worked up again and I’m losing my patience. I’m irritable and want to move past this silly feud.

  “Sorry to interrupt…Edek, would you mind taking a look at my back? When we left here we walked into the woods and failed to see a huge camouflaged giant hiding in the trees. He scooped me up and scraped up my back. Maybe even cracked a few ribs. I could use something for the pain.”

  “Of course, of course,” he says, gesturing for me to sit down in a chair. He pulls it out from the table and then moves around the room collecting things while I sit down heavily, glad to be off my feet. He’s back at my side a moment later, setting a few things on the table. “Okay, let’s have a look.” I pull my arms out of my coat and let it drop on the floor. Slowly I’m able to pull my arm out of my sleeve and pull my shirt up in the back.

  “Shit,” I hear Ozmyx say from behind me.

  “Yes, that doesn’t look good,” Edek adds. I lean forward and rest my body weight against the table, letting my head rest in my hands. “This cream has regenerative properties. It will help the wounds heal. Granted, we’ve never used anything like this on a human, but it shouldn’t have adverse effects.”

  “Hopefully it’ll make the pain go away faster because I’m human.”

  “It is possible. Your skin is very different from Attalan skin. It isn’t as thick, so it’s possible the cream will work faster.

  He applies the first layer of ointment to my injury and at first it feels cold, but it quickly changes to feeling like my skin is overly hot. As long as the sensation doesn’t get any more intense, the pain will be manageable. Hopefully it means it’s working.

  “Once you’re starting to feel better, you’ll have to join us for dinner tonight.”

  Before I can answer, Ozmyx replies. “That won’t be necessary. Just show us where we can sleep for the night and then we’ll be on our way once the storm passes.”

  Now I’m just embarrassed. After everything the wanderers have done for us and Ozmyx still needs to act like he has a chip on his shoulder. I roll my eyes and look over at him. “I’m going to dinner. And since I’m sure you’ll insist on not letting me out of your sight, I guess that means you’re coming to dinner as well. So why don’t you stop being such a grumpy pain in the ass.”

  Finally saying the words is all the satisfaction I need. Getting to see the look of utter astonishment on his face is just the icing on the cake.

  For once he doesn’t reply.

  Twelve

  OZMYX

  At dinner, Savannah sits next to me. She is the only human in a room full of Attalans, but somehow I’m the one that feels out of place. I’m surprised how well we’ve been treated. As warriors, we have always looked down upon the wanderers because of their choice to be exiled over serving as protectors of the city. We look at it as cowardice. But now we’re sitting here at a banquet-sized table, a table that I have only ever seen in the wealthiest parts of the city, being offered food and drink while the wanderers socialize happily around us.

  And they do look happy. And they could have left us out in the blizzard…but they didn’t. Savannah already has more color in her face and the pain that was prominent in her eyes has cleared. Her eyes give away everything. When she’s upset, when she’s in pain…even when she’s happy. I can see it all in her eyes. I saw how hurt she was when she accused me of not caring. The problem is actually that I care too much.

  Savannah is engaged in a conversation with Edek and a few other wanderers. She looks right at home and I want to be a part of it. When there’s a break in the conversation, I take the opportunity to join. “Edek, how did you learn how to make these healing ointments?”

  Complete silence follows my question. I look around the table, unable to tell if they aren’t interested in talking with me or if it’s something I said that I shouldn’t have.

  “Savannah, you didn’t tell him about our conversation, I see.” Edek says to Savannah. She looks guilty but adds, “There wasn’t any time to tell him.”

  “Tell me what?”

  “My father w
as in charge of making the injections of genetic enhancements that the warriors receive. I spent a lot of time with him in his lab in the city. I know a lot of things that you don’t know about the warriors and their beginnings.”

  Before I can even respond, I grab the pitcher off the table and refill my drink. It’s strong and not pleasant tasting, but it’s helping calm my nerves. Maybe that’s why it’s sitting in front of me in the first place.

  “Well, go ahead,” I tell Edek, gesturing with my hand for him to continue. “I have a full goblet of spirits. Educate me on my beginnings.”

  Savannah looks uneasy, but I smile at her to try to reassure her. I’m on my best behavior tonight. But somehow the smile makes her even more uneasy. She takes a big swig from her cup as well and I’m quickly losing my patience with being the only one in the dark.

  “Well, there’s no easy way to say this, so forgive my bluntness. Attalans were not the city’s first attempt at creating a guard. The Salthu were.”

  All eyes are on me as I digest this information. At first I wonder if my ears are playing tricks on me, but by the way everyone is looking at me to catch my reaction, I’m sure I’ve heard him correctly.

  “How can that be?” I ask, shaking my head in confusion. From what I’ve always understood about the Salthu, they’re a separate tribe living on Attala with the desire to take over our land. For as long as the guard has been formed, we’ve been enemies with the Salthu. I don’t see how it’s possible that they were part of the guard.