“And what was that whole relax thing you did to me before?” she asked. She wasn’t sure what else to call it, but he understood immediately.
"I shouldn't have done that," he said, lowering his head slightly.
“Why? What was it?”
“When a bond begins to form, at least between my kind, the presence of one person in the bond can have a very strong effect on the other. It’s not a bad thing—it’s good, actually. It’s as if by simply being with the other person, you become immediately comforted. Just having them close brings some sort of peace, no matter the circumstance.”
“But you can control it?”
“Yes,” he nodded. “Because sharing that connection makes the bond stronger. It’s as if it were solidifying the relationship almost. But, obviously, it doesn’t have that effect on you.”
“It relaxed me, that’s for sure.”
“Yes, but it didn’t link you to me in any way. But for me, it’s not that simple.”
“So, you are like ‘bonded’ to me now? Forever?”
“No,” he smiled as he shook his head. “The bond doesn’t become permanent until… well, until…”
“Sex,” she finished his statement for him.
“Yes.”
“That’s why you didn’t want to go that far tonight, or the time before.”
“Exactly.”
“So, if we slept together, you could never be with another woman again?”
“I’m still a man, Allison. I can have carnal needs which can be met by whoever I choose. But, I won’t bond with anyone else, no.”
“I don’t know what to do with that,” she said truthfully. “That’s a lot of pressure on me.”
“And that’s why I didn’t want to tell you.”
“Why didn’t you tell me any of the other stuff, though?” She wanted to change the subject, at least for the moment. She needed to process what he had told her before she could say anything else about it.
“You mean about keeping you here forever?”
“That, and about my people being here before? I had no idea.”
“Like I said, when we took you, I didn’t expect for all of this between us to happen. The truth is we planned to kill you when we killed the rest of your group. There was no point to tell you anything.”
“But, after everything started happening between us?”
“I didn’t know how to tell you. Honestly, I wanted to hate you, too. I didn’t tell you about your people coming before because everything that happened then was difficult for me—for all of us.”
“I heard that you lost a lot of your kind.”
“I lost my brother,” he said slowly “He was the lead warrior at the time. I swore in that moment to do everything in my power to make sure nothing like that ever happened here again. We knew it was only a matter of time before you came back. I’ve spent the last ten years preparing for it. Myself, more than any of the others, has felt the burning lust for revenge. I’ve wanted nothing more for the last decade than to destroy any and every one of your kind that set foot on our planet.”
“And now?”
“That hasn’t changed, Allison,” he spoke softly, but his words hit her hard.
“But…”
“You are the only exception to that. I’m sorry, but I still need to do this—for my brother, and for my people.”
“You’re still going to attack?”
“I never wasn’t going to.”
The light from the torch went out, sending a blanket of darkness across the room. She felt like the heavy stone walls were starting to cave in on her, and her breathing again became labored. She inhaled deeply, trying to calm herself down, but she couldn’t.
"You can't," she said her words coming out, in short, quick gasps. "They're not all bad people."
She felt like the room was getting smaller and smaller, and her heart raced wildly in her chest.
He reached out to take her hand in his, but she pulled back quickly. “Don’t!” she ordered him. “I don’t need you to calm me down.”
“Okay,” he said, pushing himself up to his feet. “I’m sorry…” he started.
“Leave!” she cut him off.
“Allison.”
“Get out.”
He let out a quiet sigh as he turned to walk towards the door. "You wanted the truth," he said to her over his shoulder as he pulled the door open and disappeared into the hallway. "I'm sorry that it is what it is—but it's the truth."
Chapter 11: Simply Complicated
The next day, Allison remained in her room, again. It would appear that even though Hakona was doing well with convincing Kasma not to have her executed, the Samou still didn’t trust her. Hence, she wouldn’t be allowed out of her room for a while. Or, perhaps they would just keep her in there forever. She didn’t think about that, though. Because every time she did, a tight feeling in her chest would appear and panic would set in, and it would take her an hour to calm herself down again.
She focused, instead, on something else that terrified her, but only slightly less. Hakona and his troops would be leaving soon to stage their attack on her camp. She wanted to try to stop him, but it would do no good. She knew that he was set on moving forward with his plan.
It was another day before a familiar face came to her door. Queane had brought her dinner. It was late, she assumed. She had no way of knowing for sure, being that there were no windows in her room. She judged the hour by the light from the torch. It was lit every morning, and by the time she went to bed, it was nearly burned out.
“Eat quickly,” Queane said as she handed her the small wooden plate, with a few pieces of fruit piled on top.
“Why?” Allison asked as she hurriedly grabbed for the food.
“We have to go somewhere.”
A shiver of fear ran through her. “Where do we have to go?”
“Just hurry,” she said, looking over her shoulder. The guard that normally stood outside Allison’s room was gone. “I told him to take a break,” she said looking back at Allison.
“Okay,” Allison said nervously. She took a quick bite from the bright red apple-like fruit and slammed the plate down. “Let’s go.”
“You didn’t eat.”
“I can’t. I’m nervous. Let’s just go.”
She pushed herself to her feet and walked toward the door. When she slipped quickly into the hall she turned to the left, the direction they always went to exit the caves.
“No,” Queane said stopping at the entrance of her room, “this way.” She turned and began heading in the opposite direction.
“Where are we…?” Allison started to ask. But, Queane turned and shushed her quickly.
She led her down a few short hallways, the walls slowly inching in further and further around them until it was impossible to walk further without turning sideways. Up ahead, Allison saw the soft moonlight pouring into the small, cramped space.
The anticipation she felt building up inside her to finally be outside again had pushed aside any concerns she had about their destination and any claustrophobia that threatened to work its way through her inside the narrow, dark passageway.
They emerged into the crisp, cool night in a section of the forest she had never seen before. It was almost as if they had exited through the side-door of the caverns.
“Come on,” Queane instructed as she dove deeper into the thick brush of the forest.
“Can you tell me where we’re going yet?” Allison asked as she quickened her step to keep up.
“Hakona wants to see you,” Queane explained.
“Hakona?” Allison asked. She stopped suddenly, not sure she wanted to continue forward.
Queane turned and walked back towards her. “We need to keep moving.”
“I don’t want to see him,” Allison answered quickly. She missed him, but she was still angry with him. She wasn’t ready to talk to him again. She didn’t want to see him until she had dealt with the million other things running
through her mind.
“That’s why he sent me,” she explained.
“Of course, it is.”
“He told me about what happened between you two,” Queane started.
“He did?”
"Not everything," she added quickly, shaking her head, "and honestly, I don't want to know."
“What did he tell you then?”
"He told me that you had a fight. I think it's completely ridiculous if you care to ask."
“Our fight?” Allison asked, confused.
“That you two are even having fights in the first place. What the hell kind of game do you two think you’re playing?”
“Then why are you trying to help him? To help us?”
“Hakona has been a close friend of mine since we were little. I’ve known him my entire life. He asked me to do this for him, so I will.”
“That’s very nice of you.”
“It’s very stupid of me. I’m involved in all of this now. I’m as responsible as both of you are for whatever bad comes from this.”
“That’s all very sweet of you, but I really don’t want to speak to Hakona right now. Can we go back, please?”
She turned to walk back in the direction they came, but Queane reached out and stopped her. “Allison,” she said pulling her back quickly.
“Let me go,” Allison demanded.
“Just hear what he has to say. I know that you fought about the attack. That you want him to call it off to save your people. But, he can’t do that. And asking him to is very selfish.”
“Selfish?” Allison asked, her mouth dropping open. “Asking to save people’s lives is selfish?”
“It’s asking him to choose you over his own people—to save the lives of your kind at the cost of his own.”
“I have to defend my group as best as I can,” Allison replied. “I can’t just sit back and let them all die.”
“And he has to do the same. You’re both facing the same dilemma. Only, his is worse.”
“How is his worse?”
"Because it's not just the potential of losing the people he knows, it's the question of losing our entire race."
“But we—my people—wouldn’t wipe out all of you.”
“Can you say that for certain? Really? Allison, you have to open your eyes! You’re blind to the truth that’s right in front of you. Hakona told you about what happened before.”
“He told me that it was your kind who killed an entire military unit sent here.”
“Military unit!” Queane repeated emphatically. “They didn’t come to make friends. They came to kill us.”
“It doesn’t matter! Those people back at my camp, they’re my friends some of them are like family to me.”
“I am not the one you need to have this discussion with,” she replied. She still held a firm grasp on Allison’s wrist. “It’s Hakona. This is what I was telling you before, Allison. You have no idea what you’re getting into. There’s no way this can end up well for either of you! I tried to warn you. I tried to warn you both, but you didn’t listen.”
“Where is he?” Allison asked, pulling her arm back from Queane.
“This way.” She turned and walked deeper into the forest.
She kept her gaze down at her feet as they walked. The ground was littered with twigs and stones jutting up, waiting to trip her. She stepped carefully, making sure not to lose her footing, or make too much noise. It amazed her how gracefully Queane was able to move through the brush. Her steps were nearly completely silent. Allison’s were awkward and seemed to echo loudly around them.
Or, maybe it was just the pounding of her heart in her ears that she heard. She was excited to see him. That almost made her angrier. She shouldn’t feel that way. She should be furious with him. But, Queane was right. They were both facing the same problem. They both had to make a difficult decision. And whatever happened, one or potentially both of them would end up hurt.
“Thank you, Queane,” Hakona’s voice broke into her thoughts.
Queane replied in their language. Allison hated when she did that.
“I know,” Hakona replied. “And I shouldn’t have put you in the middle of all of this. But, I really needed to speak to her. She wouldn’t have come if I went for her.”
“That’s true,” Allison added with a quiet scoff.
“Well, you’ll have to take her back,” Queane said turning and walking back the way they had come. “I’m going now.”
“Thank you, Queane,” Allison said quickly as she disappeared into the darkness.
“She’s angry with me,” Hakona explained, looking down at the ground as he spoke.
“She’s angry with both of us,” Allison added.
“Thank you for coming.”
“I didn’t have much choice. I’ve learned that when someone tells me to do something around here, it’s not open to negotiation.”
The air was cool. But, standing just a foot away from him, she could feel the warmth coming off of him. It swirled around her and comforted her slightly. "What did you want to say to me?" she asked.
The moonlight up above was almost completely hidden by the branches of the trees. Only a few rays were able to break through, and they fell around them, illuminating the area slightly. The scales that worked their way through the right side of Hakona's face glimmered and his eyes sparkled dully whenever he shifted his weight further into the light. His long, dark hair seemed even darker, and the blue of his skin somewhat lighter. The patterns weaved into his strong, muscular chest shone on their own accord. The light coming from them was dull, and barely noticeable at first, but as her eyes adjusted she could seem them clearer.
“I wanted to explain some things to you,” he started. “About me—my people.”
“I know as much about your people as I want to.”
“You know one, very specific side of who we are,” he started. “You’ve seen the angry, aggressive side and, on some level, you’ve seen the community aspect that is shared between us.”
“Is there more?”
“Yes, Allison. Much more.”
"Does it matter?" she asked, stepping towards him and looking up at him. He had avoided her gaze up to that point, and the moment their eyes met, she felt a rush of nervous tension run through her. "You're just going to kill me in the end. Either that or hold me as a prisoner forever—locked away in my cell so you can rest easy that you didn't senselessly murder someone you've come to care for."
“That’s not fair,” he replied.
“I know. It’s not. It’s not fair to me, or to the people from my team who came here, thinking we were doing nothing more than exploring a planet and trying to save our race.”
“No,” he said firmly, “it’s not fair that you say those things to me.”
She let out a hearty laugh—the demeaning, mocking sort of laugh that let him know she wasn’t the slightest bit amused by what he had said. “And where do you get off thinking that?”
“I told you already—I can’t control how I feel about you. But, I can’t control who I am, either.”
“That’s the most ridiculous…” she started. But he stopped her by reaching out and wrapping his hand around hers quickly. The surge of heat that passed between them filled her, distracting her completely from what she was going to say.
“Please, just give me the chance to explain.”
She inhaled and exhaled slowly. “Why did you have to bring me out here to do that?” she asked.
He released her hand and took a small step back. “How many senses do you have?” he asked her.
“What? What does that have to do with…?”
"Just answer the question."
“Five.”
“We have six,” he said matter-of-factly.
“Six?”
He turned and reached out to press his hand firmly into the trunk of a tree nearby. As he did, he looked over his shoulder at her, watching her response.
The instant his hand touched th
e wooden bark the tree became illuminated. It wasn’t a bright, blinding light, but a soft, blue glow that seemed to run up and down the seams of the splitting bark and reaching up, running wilding through the branches and leaves.
"Whoa," she said stepping forward quickly.
He pulled his hand back and lifted hers. He placed her hand on the tree, and nothing happened.
“That’s your sixth sense? You can make a tree glow?”
He laughed quietly. “We can sense life.”
“What does that mean?”
"We can feel the energy that is put off by everything and anything that is living. We can sense when something is dying, and, what's worse, we can feel when the system of life surrounding that dying thing becomes disrupted."
“Like the eco-system?”
“Sort of. You see, everything that lives gives something to the world around it. It’s there for a reason. It survives because it is meant to. If it dies, it’s because it is meant to.”
“Survival of the fittest,” Allison muttered.
"Yes. Nature has a way of keeping itself in balance if you let it. We need that balance, Allison. That's what keeps us grounded, what keeps us living."
“You can’t expect me to think that if a few trees get knocked down that it’ll end up leading to the extinction of the Samou.”
“No,” he said quickly. “It’s not that. It’s more complicated, but more simple, really.”
“Again, you’re not making any sense,” she said. She turned to look up at him, leaning back against the tree behind her.
“We believe—no, we know—that we are nothing more than a product of nature. Nature is what brought us into existence. We are living forces, at work in the system of balance that surrounds us. We respect that; we embrace it. Perhaps that’s why we have evolved differently than your kind has on your planet. Perhaps that’s why we have more abilities than you do.”
“Or, maybe the fact that you’re really a dragon has something to do with that.”
“It’s all part of the next step in evolution, Allison,” Hakona said harshly. “On your planet, your species is on the top, correct?”
“I guess.”
“Well, here, we would be even more evolved than you.”
“Because you…”
Hakona: Dragon Warrior (Scifi Alien Dragon Romance) Page 9
