by Poppy Rhys
Dania was having a hard time keeping her eyes open. All the warring emotions of the day were catching up with her in the form of exhaustion. She crawled to the middle of the den, surprised to feel shed feathers beneath her palms.
“You’ll stay while I sleep, won’t you?” She felt a little chicken-shit for asking, but she didn’t want to be left alone in this place.
Jruviin reassured, “We will be here.”
TWENTY-ONE
JRUVIIN
When Dania’s breathing deepened, indicating slumber, he turned his attention to his teammate. They’d been together long enough that he knew when something bothered Val’Koy.
The revelation that she wasn’t his mate answered questions for Jruviin. It was logical she hadn’t known his name and referred to him as a businessman. Not only had Vu’Mal’Su fabricated a lie to entrap Val’Koy, but he’d tortured Dania for entertainment.
Jruviin’s hatred of their sponsor increased tenfold.
“Look at her feet,” he swept a hand in her direction, keeping his voice low. “Her tender flesh was not meant for this place.”
“None of us are meant for this place,” Val’Koy sneered.
Jruviin grunted. “She will not last long here.” He said what they both knew. “Even if we do not meet death on the sands and her flesh does not wither or her fragile body die in this environment... it is only a matter of time before someone takes her from us.”
“They can fucking try.”
He nodded. “They will, and we may win against them, keep her safe for a while longer, but one day it will happen. Then, if the afterlife is real, we will wish we had given her a swift death ourselves.”
Val’Koy’s claws etched into the stone beside him, outwardly irritated. He needed to hear this though.
“Her scent, her pheromones,” Jruviin’s quills nearly puffed just thinking about it, “it is too tempting.” His eyes found Dania again. “She would be addicting.”
A tiny chattering sound bounced off the walls, drawing their attention.
“She is cold,” Val’Koy stated.
“Of course,” Jruviin groaned. Tundrin’s temperatures declined rapidly during the night cycle. Dania was extremely bald. Clearly her fat layers didn’t keep her warm, and the covering she had was too thin for warmth. “We were thoughtless.”
He had his quills to insulate himself, and Melier could regulate their body temperature to stay warm or cool. This Therran had nothing.
“How should we proceed?” Jruviin asked.
After a long moment, and a rough exhale, Val’Koy dragged himself away from the edge. “Help me warm her.”
Slowly, so as not to wake her, they lay at her sides.
“Draw closer,” Val’Koy whispered and quickly hissed. “Her feet are like ice!”
“Shhh,” Jruviin hushed his teammate who growled, immediately choking it down when Dania stirred.
The minutes ticked by, each one agonizing. “It is hard to breathe,” he wheezed.
“Mm,” Val’Koy hummed. “Her pheromones.”
The night grew quiet, and Jruviin suffered. An uneven rattling came from his partner.
“Are you... purring?” Jruviin accused.
“Fuck you.”
While the comment was undeniably rude, Jruviin grinned and settled down. It proved the Melier he’d befriended was still there. This revelation hadn’t ruined him.
****
DANIA
Dania stretched awake and gingerly wiped the grit from her eyes. Jru and Val were already up and patiently waiting at the edge of the den.
Jru and Val... She had shortened their names. A sure sign she was growing more comfortable.
How long had she slept?
“I’m sorry, were you waiting for me?” She sat up, wincing. The hard stone just wasn’t her luxurious mattress at home.
“You needed rest.” Val’Koy’s eyes traveled down her body. It was littered with... feathers.
“Apologies.” Jruviin sheepishly canted his head.
“He molts,” Val’Koy shrugged. “You get used to it.”
Dania squinted, sure the number of feathers had multiplied since last night, but it had been dark. It wasn’t like she’d counted every feather before snoozing. She stood, brushing the pretty blue quills away.
“Here,” Jruviin uttered and outstretched his hand, plucking feathers from her hair. “Missed a few.”
Despite the awkward stretch of silence, she found herself kind of smiling. She couldn’t say she’d ever been in that situation before, but the gesture was sweet. There hadn’t been much sweetness lately. Alternatively, he could’ve let her walk around with feathery bedhead.
“Thanks.”
“Are you hungry?” Val’Koy probed, holding out a piece of dried meat. She accepted the food and examined it before tasting. She wouldn’t ask what creature it came from.
It took her a little while to chew through it and she accepted the water Jruviin offered to wash the salty aftertaste away. During that time, she realized the back of the den was empty. All of their stuff sat near the edge.
“Are we going somewhere?”
Val’Koy nodded as Jruviin stuffed the water pouch into a bag with the rest of their extras. “Yes. Our next fight is in sector twenty.”
“Oh.” She crouch-walked closer. “Where are we now?”
“Sector thirteen.”
She vaguely remembered the announcer saying her victors were from sector nine. “You don’t stay in one sector?”
“No,” Jru answered. “We travel wherever our fights are scheduled.”
“Who decides that?”
“Our sponsor,” Val’Koy nearly growled, startling her.
Jru shouldered the pack. “It is two days travel. We should head out now.”
Val’Koy hefted his bulk from the edge and picked up her collar. “This is necessary.”
Dania’s heart sank, but she nodded, lifting her hair for him. The cold metal was a swift reminder of the dangerous place she found herself in.
“Ready?” Val gestured to his back when he crouched. Dania’s middle cramped with the call of nature.
She groaned, the pressure of squeezing tightly around him making her middle twinge against her bladder.
“Just... be careful,” she mumbled, hoping he wouldn’t jostle her too much. The thought of accidentally pissing down his back made her burn with embarrassment. “I’ve gotta pee.”
They paused, registering her words, and then animated again.
Jru went down first and then Val moved, scaling the ladder as quickly as he’d done the night before.
“There.” He pointed, depositing her in a darkened alley just outside the Trenches. She noticed holes along the sides of the alley, a handful of individuals doing their business where anyone could see them when passing by.
“What?” she squeaked, clenching her thighs together and nearly dancing.
Val’Koy gestured to a hole right beside them, and Dania’s stomach lurched. She expected it to smell awful, but anything foul she could detect was minimal. It mostly reeked of pungent chemicals.
When she looked at him again, then Jruviin, her eyes implored them, hoping they were about to chuckle and lead her to the real cleansing rooms—ones with doors, perhaps. They turned their backs.
Her gaze dashed around, noticing their bodies blocked the passing crowd, but others in the alley sent stares her way as they tended to their own needs.
She couldn’t hold it any longer!
Quickly, she straddled a hole, squatting down, thankful that the baggy, sack-dress she had on provided a decent amount of cover.
The sound of urine splashing below made her want to curl up and die, since she knew Val’Koy and Jruviin could probably hear it.
Ugh.
She’d used a bucket while in the Trepnil ship, but it had been different. The women had their own rules, giving the illusion of privacy. Whenever she made it back to Dor Nye, she would never take for granted the simple pri
vilege of a private cleansing room.
At least the alley had disposable paper and running water to wash her hands. She detected a faint cleansing fragrance on her fingers afterward.
“I’m done,” Dania peeped when she finished up. Val’Koy nodded and grasped her leash again.
They led her to the edge of the city until they were descending a deep set of stairs underground.
The musty scent of damp earth and rotting wood stuck in her airways. Lights embedded in the stone walls lit the way, casting a yellow glow over the individuals that were coming and going. Jruviin closed in at her back so she was nearly sandwiched between the two.
“Why are we going underground?” She wouldn’t lie—she had a slight hesitation when it came to underground spaces. Heights and small spaces didn’t bother her in the least but being underground did.
“These are the travel routes,” Jru raised his voice above the crowd buzz. “I will grab the tickets.”
Immediately, Val’Koy gave a nod and pulled Dania around to his side. Jruviin went off in a different direction.
They moved off the steps, reaching flat ground.
“Wow,” she exhaled, gaping at the massive cavern they walked into. “This place is ginormous.”
A crowd of people waited on the platform. Ahead of them, the occasional gray transport zoomed by, its orange underbelly glowing along the stone road.
Jru returned and he was smoking a thin black pipe. The pink curls of smoke smelled like cherries and her mouth watered. She was just about to ask what it was when a quiet skittering sound pricked her ears. It grew by the second.
In no time, a gargantuan centipede-like bug appeared with multiple open-top caravans constructed along its back like cars of a train.
Dania took a step back. "Wh-what is that?"
"Our transportation."
"But it's a giant... bug."
"It is a harmless mount," Jru claimed. "They carved these hard-stone tunnels with their sharp mandibles. Great workers. Did you know—"
"Jruviin, shut up," Val’Koy bit out, his stare never leaving her face. Dania scratched her elbow when Jru took a long pull on his fruity smelling pipe, brows stitched into a scowl that spoke of his annoyance.
A whistle blared.
"Come." Val offered his hand, curling his fingers as if he'd help her up the rope ladder that dangled over the nearly black carapace.
"I am not getting on that thing."
Val'Koy's hairless brow ridge flattened and a muscle in his cheek ticked. In one swoop, he tossed her over his shoulder.
“Put me down!” she hollered, squirming while a rush of vertigo made her head spin.
“Be still,” he groused, and curled his left arms tighter over her thighs. Dania wheezed when he hoisted himself onto the ladder she’d refused to climb. The sight of the ground getter farther and farther away made her stomach churn. She could see the many legs of the giant bug-train restlessly tapping, making a sandpapery sound of chitin rubbing against chitin.
“Oh god,” she moaned, her simple first meal threatening to make a second appearance. “I’m gonna be sick.”
At those words, Jruviin—who’d been about to ascend—sidestepped, likely to avoid getting puked on.
In swift seconds—seemingly motivated by the threat of getting showered in her stomach juices—Val’Koy was atop the train and setting her on her feet. She held her head and grasped the side of the cart, regaining her balance.
“Stars above, help me survive this hell,” she whispered as a hushed plea.
A few minutes later, Dania clutched Jru's feathered arm while they sat on the wooden bench as the centipede took off down the tunnel. She planned to stay as far away from Val as she possibly could. At least until she got over being manhandled.
She clipped a glance at him.
He scowled deeper, eyeing her hand that gripped Jruviin.
Ass.
They were in the last cart. Private, only occupied by her and the two aliens. Half of it was open while the other half was covered like a lean-to, a waste bucket in one corner and a cot in the other.
It wasn’t as nice looking as the ones nearest the centipede’s head, but at least a floor and four half-walls separated them from the bug-mount.
It was going to be a long two days.
TWENTY-TWO
Planet Melierun – Frolten Galaxy
LUCIA
"You cheat, old man,” Val’Zun grumbled from across the table where he and Soren sat, Re’Len, and Jacinna—her middle youngster—were fighting over a toy and climbing their fathers like monkeys to a tree. Rays of the twin suns shone through the floor-to-ceiling windows that overlooked the lush palace gardens, and brightened the lounge they occupied.
Lucia shared a covert grin with Gramps beside her.
"Agreed.” Soren squinted suspiciously, peeling Jacinna’s grubby hand from his forehead and pulling her down into his lap where she wiggled free again. "They collude against us by placing distractions in our path."
Lu played her long, point-riddled word with a smug ‘booyah’. "Welcome to fatherhood."
Soren grumbled, and Zun harrumphed loudly, accompanied by a toy bouncing off his bald head.
"Where is Sola?” he rumbled, inquiring about the nanny.
"Oh-ho-ho no." Lucia wagged a finger. "Sola is on a much-needed vacation."
Zun crushed the toy in his large hand, eliciting a shocked howl from both younglings.
“Daddy!” Lenny cried, aghast, crocodile tears welling in her eyes. “You broke it!”
Both wailed in earnest, the warped, misshapen toy falling from Zun’s fingers. He looked as shocked as the girls.
“Look what you have done!” Soren gestured to the wailing younglings dramatically sprawling in her mates’ arms as if they were dying.
She formed her fingers into a steeple against her lips, brows raised, biting the inside of her cheek to stop from laughing at how easily flustered her mates got.
“Guard!” Soren yelled to the one posted along the threshold of the palace lounge where she and Gramps had teamed up against her mates in a game of moco; their favorite. “Get Sola!”
“Don’t you dare!” Lu pointed at the guard, who stopped in his tracks and resumed his post. Eyes darting back to Soren, she squinted. "You may be the 'lome warrior' on Sanru, but here, you're dad.”
That tail of his twitched back and forth. “But Sola is—”
“No buts.”
“Loo-Sha—”
“No buts!”
She was doing all she could to look serious while her daughters cried, Jacinna swinging a little balled fist in the air for emphasis.
Lord were they ever dramatic.
Wonder where they got that from?
“If you two don’t hush, you’ll wake your sister,” Lucia warned. Kepyn, her youngest, was down for a necessary nap. She was... clawing? That’s what Lu called it. Though a late bloomer—just over three years old—Kepyn had finally hit that stage where she wanted to shred and bite everything and tested every last nerve Lucia had.
“All right, I think that’s enough!” Lu said with her mom voice. She stood, sternly eyeing the drama queens when they kept keening.
Immediate quiet.
Her mates shared a look, like they usually did whenever she put on her mom voice—inwardly cringing that she sounded like her own mother—and silenced their younglings.
“But mama...” Lenny picked up the mangled toy in her small, pretty blue hands. “What about our toy?”
“You’ll survive with one less toy, I’m sure of it.”
Jacinna whined, silencing when Lucia turned her narrowed gaze upon her.
“Sorcery,” Zun mumbled under his breath.
“Aye.” Gramps nodded, a twinkle in his eye.
The doors to the lounge opened. Queen Gi’Moy buzzed through in her usual glory, bedecked in webbed gold chains that draped down her shoulders and various dazzling pieces upon her body amongst her regal, billowing green robe.
/> “Grandma!” the girls chimed in unison, wiggling from the laps they sat upon and beelining for Gi’Moy.
MoMo chuffed from his perch on a plush pouf nearby, as if to alert Lucia her old enemy was back, before rolling over with a gasp and going back to sleep.
Lazy thing.
“My beauties,” the queen cooed and bent down, stroking the silky black curls upon the girls’ heads as they hugged her.
Despite the years, it still took a few moments of adjustment for Lucia when she saw the queen—who once threatened to slit her throat and feed her to the birds—look at her younglings with fondness.
Much had changed.
Lu moved closer, scooping up the mangled toy Lenny dropped. As expected, they’d already forgotten about it. “Any word?” she inquired. She didn’t need to specify. Everyone already knew she asked of Val’Koy.
He’d been missing for months now. Twelve, to be exact. It was as if the universe had swallowed him up, leaving no trace. There was no trail to follow. They’d surmised something grave had happened, that Val’Koy might’ve been forced into an ultimatum.
It was the only way to explain why he would incapacitate his guards. The only reason his data trail could have been wiped like it was. Val’Koy must have been forced into covering up his own disappearance—at least, that was the narrative they chose to believe.
They’d scoured Pin Lang for information. Dor Nye officials had been contacted, and notifications were sent to the Intergalactic Coalition. Yet nothing had come of it.
Gi’Ren had worked tirelessly, combing over every shred of information they had—which wasn’t much—and though no one voiced it aloud, Lucia could tell he blamed himself.
He couldn’t have known what would happen on Pin Lang. No one could have known.
What bothered Lucia was why. Why did Val’Koy choose to leave his family? What could be that important?
Everything about it again reminded her how easy it was to disappear in such an infinite universe. Just as Soren had once been lost, now Val’Koy was too.
But while Soren’s family had believed he was dead, the search for Val’Koy continued.
“Nothing,” Gi’Moy sighed, and though the queen was a force to be reckoned with, her eyes glinted a vulnerable sadness Lucia empathized with. She couldn’t imagine how cuckoo she’d go if she lost her first born—or any of her younglings.
