Gentle Beast

by Margaret Afseth

  “Why are you crying? Did I maybe hurt you?”

  Against his shoulder, Twila shook her head.

  “I am so ashamed. I never meant it to happen like this. I haven’t had heat, since my first mating…I wanted our first time to be special…a willful encounter. Instead, I shamed myself…us, before the entire med bay. And, oh Nyle…it is I who should ask: did I hurt you?”

  Nyle laughed, both relieved and self-conscious. “Well…it was definitely a wild ride. I’ve never known anyone quite like you.”

  For a second, Twila faded in embarrassment.

  “Hey,” he chided. “Come back, girl. I’m certainly not sorry. But, next time we’ll take it more slow and easy. It will be even better than this time.”

  “You are not angry, that I waited too long?”

  “Never. How could I be mad at you? It’s just, the whole thing caught me off guard.”

  “It must have been all the stress,” Twila excused. “You’re being attacked; the thought of losing you…I’m sorry.”

  “I’m not,” he repeated. “This means, I’m yours now, for life. Right?”

  “Yep!” She squirmed tight up against him, and he relished the closeness. “And you are stuck with me!”

  “Oh, I like that, female!”

  Twila laughed, and hugged him harder.

  CHAPTER 36

  Tusha had no more chocolate to give away, but she still always sat up on the examining cot, as Loki tended his pregnant patients. It was more difficult to encourage and comfort them now, as Tusha felt just as despondent as they. The full realization of her situation had finally hit home.

  She had guessed the real purpose behind Loki’s actions: she had heard Bom say it, give Loki two more months to serve, but the actuality of it, brought home the fact that eventually, he was going home. And no doubt, she couldn’t come with.

  Was that what Bom told him, when he sent me away to talk privately with Loki? Did he give some alternative, Loki has no power to refute?

  She was certain that had been why he had tried to distance himself.

  Tusha had gathered; Loki didn’t want her to probe for the answers in his mind, so she did not try again. One thing she had learned from his blocking her was how to do the same to another, and so their silences were truly excluding, their minds barred to each other, the severance complete.

  The fact that Loki had done this with her caused Tusha to wonder if he wasn’t already on his way out of prison.

  Where will that leave me? Back where I was at the beginning?

  It made her shudder with dread for the future.

  Behind Loki, at the entrance to the tunnel that led to the cells, an aged human black man appeared.

  “I need the one called Loki,” he shouted timidly.

  Everyone ignored him. Loki was preoccupied, and the man wore no translator, so the others did not understand his words. Only Uel reacted.

  “What does that human want?” he hissed in annoyance. “Why can’t they give them a communication device so we can understand them?”

  Tusha pulled at Loki’s hand. Apparently preoccupied with his own thoughts, he looked at her in puzzlement.

  “The man behind, in the doorway, wants you…”

  Loki turned around.

  “What would you like?”

  Uel hissed in frustration. “You, too. Do you have to cater to them by conversing in that stupid gibberish?”

  “I speak your tongue…to the annoyance of other kinds,” Loki rebuked.

  Again, he addressed the old man. “What do you want, human? Do you have a name?”

  The senior was shaking visibly. “I am called Norris, but none have used my given name for years…The master, Bom, has said, if I do not bring you quickly to the kitchens, I will lose my life by his hand.”

  Without further consideration, Loki turned to Uel, and switched to the Feline tongue. “I am needed in the kitchens. Take over my patients.”

  Tusha was somewhat shocked.

  Why is Loki not objecting? It isn’t like him to leave a patient, even at Bom’s bidding.

  Perhaps, he thinks to save the old man a violent death? We all know the warden could inflict it.

  With the human leading, Loki took off so quickly Tusha almost got left behind. At the last minute, before they disappeared, she jumped from the exam table, and hurried after the pair.

  ****

  Norris flew toward the kitchens fearing for his life. There had been way too much delay.

  Life was always preferable to death, no matter how gruesome existence in the kitchens was. And even though he was near seventy, he’d been spared the hellish death of those called ‘meat’. Along with his Caucasian wife, Downy, he’d been given the pleasant chore of baking the endless loaves of bread for the population, and the pair, in turn, fed well off their labours. They were much better off than most.

  Breathless, he arrived in the kitchens, leading the physician, Loki, and as he turned around, he realized another human had followed. This one had been sitting on the cot, watching the Noor work. He took her by the arm, and pulled her back.

  But Bom noticed.

  “Ha! Finally! And you bring his she-pet with you. Good! She can watch! Come here, male!”

  Trembling, almost unable to breathe for fear of the giant cat-like dog, Norris moved forward, alone.

  “Stand before me, in the middle,” ordered Bom.

  As Norris obeyed, Loki objected, challenging Bom. “Leave him be. If we are tardy, it is my fault. What is your whim, this time?”

  “Ha! So you mock me, do you Noor? What have I told you about that?”

  “Just tell me what you want, and I’ll do your bidding, without question.”

  “Will you now?” Bom pointed to Norris. “Put it down!”

  Loki was suddenly silent. Norris began to moan. He heard Downy, behind the scenes; go to softly keening with dread.

  And then the physician spoke, giving respite.

  “I am healer, Bom. I’ve told you many times, I do not kill.”

  “Put it down!”

  “No!”

  “Then it is your life, I will take!”

  ****

  Tusha watched in horror, as Bom raised the weapon wand. She had never seen it used, never fully understood the vulnerable position the belt placed Loki in.

  Bom pressed the handle of the stick-like apparatus; Loki folded to his knees, gasping.

  Tusha felt a hand upon her arm once again, directing her to go into hiding with the other humans. Using a habit she'd acquired from the Roog guards, she growled under her breath, as she fled beneath the cutting counters in the room, out of the way of Bom’s anger, leaving the centre to the two would be combatants.

  If Loki can just fight back! Surely, Bom doesn’t fully have the upper hand; Loki must have some defense.

  Tusha watched as Bom changed the setting on the wand, raised it again, and the instrument shot out a black ray toward Loki.

  She almost screamed when she saw the result.

  Blood spurted; a deep jagged gash appeared across his chest from shoulder to opposite hip. And then came another, and another…

  Tusha’s eyes flashed a rainbow hue, but no one else saw. Suddenly Loki’s words were in her head.

  He’ll put you in a belt too. Be wise, female. Don’t reveal yourself.

  She trembled with the effort to hold back. Instead of fighting for him, as she was inclined to do, she remained in obscurity, knowing he was right, and this was not the time to challenge.

  Even in his agony, Loki is protecting me.

  Tears sprang to her eyes, as they went back to the normal hue of blue again.

  I was so angry with Loki, and all along, he’s known this moment would come!

  Bom continued, strike after strike…until Loki fell forward on his belly, unconscious.

  The Roog/cat moved forward, kicked at the prostrate form, rolled the Noor to his back with one foot. Bom was facing away from her; Tusha could easily have taken him…
/>
  Maybe?

  The doubt, and Loki’s warning, caused her to hold back.

  “Are you dead yet, Noor?” Bom laughed. “Well, if you aren’t, we’ll just turn your belt up a notch.” He reached over, a key in his hand, pushed it into a slot she had never noticed on the belt before; then adjusted the setting.

  When he stepped back, Bom pressed the wand again. Loki began convulsing; frothing at the mouth, chewing his extended tongue, blood mingling with the foam sliding from his lips. Moisture spread across his leggings, as his body released the bodily waste.

  Tusha closed her eyes, disturbed by his violent treatment and imposed shame. She could no longer watch.

  ****

  When the Noor male finally stilled, Bom turned and peered about him. “Where are you, humans? Come out; come out, wherever you are. Where is that head male? Darren! Where are you?” His voice took on the thunder of command. “Get out here!”

  As a frightened Asian human crawled out into the open, Bom snarled at him. “You will not tend to this one’s wounds; do you hear? He is to be left to die a slow, painful death, lying in his own filth!”

  When the kitchen overseer nodded that he understood, Bom growled back at the small human man. “Get these creatures back to work! The feasting begins soon, and we hunger. Git!”

  The thin human fled, calling out, as he went, for his other workers to join him.

  Bom turned on his heel, and strode from the enormous cavern of a kitchen, to join his comrades in orgy.

  I am so looking forward to this night; I am going to celebrate!

  It seems, he had already forgotten his victim, and equally, the small, supposedly human pet that followed after Loki, considering her of little consequence.

  A mistake he had now repeated twice, one that would eventually come back to plague him…if she had any hidden skill at all.

  CHAPTER 37

  Tusha didn’t crawl out from under the counter until the sounds of Roog revelry beyond the kitchen had died down. The entire time, Loki had not moved.

  She was certain he was dead. And when she approached his side, she felt sure of it. His body looked like a steak on which a tenderizer mallet had been used. It was crisscrossed with ugly cuts, some deep enough to expose the bone.

  Loki lay on his back, his arms at his sides, the hands open, as if he were paralyzed, and couldn’t move them had he wanted. His eyes were closed; mouth slightly open, dried spittle and blood on his chin, and at the corners of his lips.

  At his waist, the traitorous weapon, the deadly belt, still held him captive.

  If he is able to recover at all, that must be removed!

  But it appeared too late for that.

  Tusha knelt beside him. Then suddenly overcome with the loss of him, she gently lay down spread-eagle across his chest, hugging him with all her might. The tears came hot and heavy.

  The kitchen workers around them did not stop their constant labors, simply stepped around them, carrying out tasks. While others worked, some took turns in pairs to go to a corner and sleep. Obviously, there were mouths, other than Roog, to feed after sleep break, and in here, the preparation of food never stopped.

  Loki’s body was cold, but as she lay over him, Tusha felt the shallow ragged breaths. When she realized how near to death he was, she could not check her sobs. Weeping shook her form. She placed her cheek next to his.

  It wasn’t until she felt movement against her face that Tusha became aware of where her tears were travelling. Loki had widened the gap of his lips so his tongue could escape, and as the moisture made its way from the corner of her eyes to his lips, he was licking across his teeth to take in the wetness.

  With sudden clarity, Tusha knew what to do.

  ****

  She was on her feet in a second, searching the room for a water tap. Over in a corner, a facet was dripping silently, one drop at a time, on the floor. Beside it was a ladle.

  Tusha fled to the waterspout, filled the dipper with fresh water, and brought it to Loki. But then, she was faced with a dilemma.

  How am I going to lift his head, and give the water at the same time? Loki is twice my size.

  And then, of all people, Darren stood beside her. He did not speak, simply went around behind Loki’s head, and slipped his arms beneath the shoulders, raising him, so Loki could drink.

  “You will get in trouble,” Tusha cautioned, as she tipped the dipper up, so Loki could imbibe the liquid.

  The Asian grunted. “If I, a human man, have become so cold as to not give water to a dying man, I am no better than these dogs, and I do deserve my fate.”

  Tusha liked this Asian.

  Loki did not open his eyes, and when he sipped the water, he needed to gasp for air between, as if he were damaged deep inside. Nonetheless, he would not stop until all the liquid had been drained from the container. When the task was accomplished, Loki went limp, and Darren eased him down on his side, so if what he had taken in decided to come back up, Loki wouldn’t choke. Then the human went back to what he’d been doing.

  Tusha decided, first order of business was to get Loki out of the drain-belt. Leaving him to rest, she began to search the nearby drawers for some utensil to jimmy the lock.

  Suddenly, a pleasantly plump white woman stood at her side.

  “I think I have what you need,” she said, slipping a straight small piece of metal into Tusha’s hand. “It was in a drawer at the back that holds cast-off keys.”

  “You have a key for the drain-belt?” Tusha challenged suspiciously. “How did you just happen to have such a thing here in the kitchen?”

  “It was before my arrival here,” the woman explained. “From when they killed the Noor queen. The story passed down is, after her physical died, they brought the carcass to us to prepare it, and gave us a key to unlock her belt. The Roog never reclaimed it, because of what happened after.”

  “What did happen?”

  “When the Roog ate her meat, they got very sick. Those that had eaten it died a horrible death, rotting from the inside. That’s why the Roog consider the Noor a contamination. The virus was incompatible with their systems, and killed them instead of giving them the anomaly.”

  This explanation gave Tusha new insight, and the truth of it was both fascinating and disconcerting, considering how she had been infected. It could have gone either way, even with her.

  The story put the Roog/Feline warden in an entirely different light.

  Is this why Bom hates Loki so much?

  But Tusha had a more immediate question she wanted answered.

  “And…why are you helping me, when you know Bom warned against it?”

  “Your male saved my Norris. I am Downy, his partner. We owe you…him. If there is anything else we can do, just ask. Oh, yes. And when you’ve turned the key, you need to press two points at the back of the belt to make it open in the front.”

  Then Downy faded back into the shadows, to return to the work she’d been doing.

  ****

  Tusha went to work on the belt immediately. The key did fit the lock, and turned easily, but when she eased her hands to the back of the instrument, Tusha could only touch one small pressure oval at a time; she could not reach around Loki’s entire girth.

  She sat back to think.

  I can get help from Norris or Darren, but, they are in enough jeopardy already. Why risk them further, when it is not necessary?

  Tusha looked around her, made sure all eyes were turned away. Then with her mind, she willed the small round buttons on the back of the belt to depress. There was a quiet click as both disks released, and then, the front of the belt parted in the middle and slid open.

  Loki’s eyes flew open. He had realized, what she had done. The astonishment that she could manipulate to that extent was written in his eyes. Then weakly, he surrendered to the silent waiting, closing his eyes once again.

  She pulled at the offending item, trying to rip it away, but it was somehow sticking to his skin.


  Loki gasped, as the quick pull set him free. It was then she realized, there were spike-like probes inserted into the flesh on the other side.

  Oh man! What new agony have I inflicted upon him? If I had known that belt had barbs imbedded in his flesh, I would not have yanked so hard.

  Loki reassured by thought.

  To pull away slow, would have been far more excruciating.

  She looked at him annoyed.

  You could have warned me.

  Too much effort to thought project.

  He never once opened his eyes.

  She harrumphed aloud.

  ****

  He seemed to sleep after that, absorbing the energy from the bare light fixtures hanging everywhere. Tusha went for a basin and water, and though the water had come from the lava heated underground beneath them, it was only pleasantly warm.

  And so she bathed his wounds, while he slumbered.

  CHAPTER 38

  Loki opened his eyes, and gazed around him. His sight was returning; hearing, as well, and with feeling, he was also aware of many aches, and…his nakedness. His clothing had been shredded in the vicious attack.

  Tusha lay asleep in the crook of his left arm, weary from emotional battle, and physical ministrations on his behalf done during the many days that had passed.

  The kitchens continued to be an active place. He still lay at the centre of the enormous cavern; he’d been too heavy, and in too much pain to be moved, and his little she would leave his side only for the bare necessity and only to a short distance away.

  Bom had not come back to gloat, nor had he sent any of his sentries to check the progress of his dying nemesis.

  Loki could now see to the walls far away in the shadows. The room was as big as the storage area beneath his home nest back on the med ship of his foster mother, Dia. The cavern had obviously, long ago, once been a large granite grotto, complete with an excessively high ceiling, reaching beyond the vision range of most.

  Though of a primitive nature, it amazed him how well equipped the facility was. All along the walls, forming a circle, the monster ovens sat, their stacks reaching and disappearing into the expanse above. There was no smoke in the dimly lit room, so Loki assumed there must be an escape hole above, through which the acrid vapour passed out and away.