by Calista Skye
On her face he saw no fear or worry. All he saw was a calm bliss. She was enjoying herself! She was at the very top of her game as a pilot, the best one who had ever lived, and this was her masterpiece. She was fighting a pack of Fire Planet firebirds in an unarmed shuttle with no armor. And she was winning! He knew he had never witnessed anything like it and that he never would again.
He just sat there, holding their baby in his arms, making sure she was as protected against the sensations and the hard, erratic movements of the shuttle as Charlotte avoided the firebirds' fire, confused them and surprised them while still moving the craft further and further out of the atmosphere. He cupped the little baby's head in his hand and gently covered her ears to keep the worst of the metallic creaking and tortured engine noise from her.
Then they were surrounded by the darkness of space and Cori'ax could no longer hear the engines, just feel their vibrations in the seat. He looked all around. “I think they're gone.”
“They've been gone for a while. But I'm not taking any chances with this damn planet.” Charlotte had the shuttle accelerate at full force for a long time, just heading away.
Then she engaged the autopilot and reached over to stroke the baby's cheek with one finger. “So,” she said, and there was a little glint in her eye, “just a bed warmer, huh?”
He took her hand and kissed it, then gave her a little smile. “So that was why you left. I suspected it, but I didn't think you could understand High Warrior. No, you were never a bed warmer for me. But you are a couple of other things. Such as the best pilot who ever lived. The best friend the Acerex people ever had. The born warrior. The mother of my children. My love. My Mahan. And, hopefully, one day my wife.”
He could just lose himself in those warm, brown eyes. And he intended to do just that many times.
She held on to his hand, squeezing it with both or hers. “I want that day to come pretty soon.”
He nodded slowly. “You know, I think it will.”
She stood up and gently took little Elerea Blaze in her arms, looking at the baby with mild eyes and a little smile. “You want to fly us in while we girls go and change diapers and get dressed and girly things like that?”
For a moment he didn't know what she meant. She hated having anyone else fly. “To Gideo Station? Don't you want to?”
“No.”
Still he didn't understand. “Shall I get you when we're close to the station?”
She shrugged. “No. You can handle it fine.” She gave him a little smile. “Yeah, I know I never let anyone else fly. Because I don't trust them. And I don't. But you came for Elerea and me and you were about to die for us. Cori'ax, I don't trust easily. But I trust you. Totally.”
30
Three days later
- Cori'ax -
“You were nowhere to be found!”
The older man was furious, but Cori'ax was unmoved. He turned the skewer over the fire. Here on Acerex, he often preferred to eat meat cooked like this, under the open sky in some remote location. It gave him time to himself, time to think, time to relish being home. “I was busy. I had to find someone myself. Charlotte got away from me for a while.”
“Charlotte? Oh yes, that alien who entertains you at night. You're not suggesting to use her as the pilot for the event, are you?”
“No.”
Bandi'ex nodded once. “Very well. That would be completely out of the question. The aliens simply can't be trusted. But I wish you'd not be so reckless and cavalier about this, the most important action of our times. Yes yes, I know your reputation, Cori'ax. Some recklessness is to be expected from you. Have you now prepared your part in the act?”
He looked up at the starry sky. He'd only been away for an hour and he missed her already. “There will be no act.”
Bandi'ex stiffened. “What do you mean? Of course there will! The future and glory of our people depends on it!”
“There will be no act because I don't want the Earthlings gone from our planet. They're the best friends we've ever had. With them on our side, we will keep Acerex safe forever.”
The other man didn't speak for a while, and when he did, Cori'ax had almost forgotten that he was there. “You too, Cori'ax? An alien female turned you against us, too? You, the ultimate patriot? You, our brightest star? Turned into an enemy of your people, like King Vrax'ton and Chief Ravex'ton?”
Cori'ax sighed. It was so obvious. But he supposed he had to give the older man a chance. “The Earthlings are not enemies. They're everything they say they are, and much more too. They're making us better and richer and safer. But they have no desire to rule us. That is in ourselves. We looked at them and saw the things we have inside us. I only wish I'd realized it sooner. We were wrong about them. You are wrong about them. Completely, shamefully wrong.”
“They're witches!” the other man exclaimed. “They possess some power that makes Acerex men go insane with lust. All the more reason to remove them from our world!”
“She flew us into combat many times,” Cori'ax said, talking more to himself than to the other. “She could have died at any one of those missions. Many times over. She risked her life. But she's good. She's got the warrior in her. Other Earthlings have died fighting for Acerex. I have seen it. They are helping us. They want us to be strong and healthy. They save our lives and expect nothing in return. They've showed us how to more effectively fight our enemies, how to improve our society, and they have made no attempt to control us. There's no betrayal in them. All that is in us. We don't recognize good when we see it. We're the traitors.”
Bandi'ex pulled a black gun out of his robe and aimed it at Cori'ax's chest. “I will not be talked about in that way by a simple grunt. Any treason here is entirely yours. Well, I can't have you running to the king and telling him about our plans. They're too important for that. We'll find another warrior, one who actually loves his planet, one who won't put alien interests before those of his own people.”
Cori'ax casually drew his sword and slashed it across the gun. It flew from Bandi'ex's hand and clattered against rocks many yards away. He placed the sword back in its scabbard before the gun had hit the ground.
Finding his Mahan had not only made him happy. It had also made him a better fighter. Something had come loose in him, something that had held him back, something that had blocked him from being his best. What he had just done seemed normal to him, but he knew that the other man had only seen his hand and sword as a blur. That was how he had kept those firebirds at bay, too – he was much faster now than he had been ever before.
He couldn't help grinning. He owed her so much!
“We have the same interests,” he said as if nothing had happened and they were just having a pleasant discussion at the campfire. “They're aligned. Anyone can see it. I have not yet told the king about the plans we had to murder all the Earthlings on the Friendship, including his wife. I want to do it along with you. Together. To confess and repent and throw ourselves at his mercy and his judgment. It is honorable.”
“He will kill us!”
“He might execute us,” Cori'ax agreed. “And he should. I know I would kill anyone who threatened my wife-to-be. But I know King Vrax'ton is a better man than me. He might decide otherwise. I will tell him about our conspiracy. You can come if you want. In fact, I insist that you come.”
The other man was clutching his wrist of the hand that had held the gun, and now he was quite pale. He got unsteadily to his feet. “You would betray us to the king! The alien-controlled king with the alien queen!”
Cori'ax took the skewer from the fire and examined the meat. “I don't think revealing a plot against the royal family counts as treason. Indeed I think it's the opposite. You're a Chief of the Dirt, Bandi'ex. A legend of our times. You will repent and be safe.” He couldn't hold back a smile. “She's given me a child. She's my Mahan. Anything is worth that. Even being executed as a traitor. She's safe, they both are. Charlotte is a hero and our daughter will be a legend.�
�
“I will do it anyway! I will do it myself! I will chase the Earthlings from our world, whatever the cost!”
“Squad Nine is on the Friendship,” Cori'ax said mildly. “I ordered them there before I came here. They'll arrest you on sight. And tomorrow, every warrior in the kingdom will be instructed to do the same. I will go straight from this place to the king.” He looked up suddenly. “Come with me! The offer is still open. It is honorable. Bandi'ex! Choose honor!”
But the old war hero fled without a word, and soon after his shuttle was just a moving light in the sky.
Cori'ax chewed thoughtfully on the meat, then extinguished the campfire and made the signal.
Shortly after, his own shuttle landed.
He got inside. “He's not coming.”
Charlotte shook her head and took off. “So stupid. I'm sure Vrax'ton won't punish those who turn themselves in. He understands that the situation is unusual. But if he has to come get them ... well, I don't know. There is honor in seeing one's mistakes and wanting to correct them. After all, no harm was done.”
Cori'ax lifted little Elerea out of the makeshift crib he had designed and welded in place between the pilot's and copilot's seat. “Hello, little angel. Spirits, I'll swear she's grown in just an hour!” He kissed the sleeping baby and cradled her as they shot up through the atmosphere of Acerex. “Yes, there's honor in it. And without you, I might have made a very bad and dishonorable mistake, harming many.”
Charlotte glanced over. “Are you sure you would have? Seems to me you spent a lot of time and effort looking for a way not to do that. Even to the point of almost killing yourself in every battle you took part in.”
He looked out the side window, down on his home planet. He loved it. But the first time he had visited the Friendship, he'd known in the depths of his soul that he would not take part in the bombing that would kill all the Earthlings. Of course it was too late to claim that now; he hadn't exposed the conspiracy back then. But at least he could answer the question truthfully. “I would not.”
To his surprise, Charlotte just laughed, and her eyes twinkled with amusement. “See, I know that, Cori'ax. But I think it's important that you know it, too. ”
He smiled. Of course she had seen through him like no one else ever had. She was his Mahan, after all.
He leaned over to kiss her again. He still had trouble keeping his hands off her.
She turned to let his lips reach hers. “I'm sorry, I shouldn't laugh. It's just that you said it like you're revealing some deep secret, when anyone who knows you realize you would never have done it. It's just not your way. I can't believe they even asked you to take part. They must have been blind.”
He stroked his little daughter's head, feeling her thin, dark hair. They had stopped at Gideo Station on the way, resting and getting help from the medical robots there to do everything necessary for a newborn, a mother and a father who had recently fought firebirds. The crew there had helped them as much as they could, in the same selfless way it seemed all Earthlings would. Now that he was allowing himself to see them for who they really were, he marveled at how he could have missed it.
“Yes, they must. And yet, I can't blame them. I was blind myself.”
31
- Charlotte -
“I do.”
King Vrax'ton took a short step back like the Acerex ceremony prescribed. “Then I pronounce you husband and wife. May our two worlds be joined as firmly in friendship as you are now in matrimony.”
Charlotte suspected that last part was not something they usually said in this situation, but she didn't care.
Cori'ax took her hand and looked at her, a little more pale than usual. Kissing right after the ceremony wasn't an Acerex tradition, and the two of them would walk down the aisle and then be left alone for a couple of minutes while the assembled witnesses and guests remained sitting down.
She turned around and they walked out of the little chapel together. She smiled at Harper, who was holding little Elerea Blaze in her arms. The baby was sleeping, as usual. There weren't that many guests, because they had both insisted on a small wedding, but the royal family was there, as well as Lily and Ravex'ton and Ava.
And Cori'ax's family, because this was their village. Charlotte had suggested that the wedding be held on one of the uninhabited islands close to his home town. The little chapel had been built in just one day, but would always stay there, not too far from the house where he had grown up.
She looked up at him. He held her tightly, never too comfortable with ceremony and formal assemblies of people, even a small one like this. “You can relax now, warrior. It's over.”
He relaxed his death grip on her hand and his face started looking more natural. “I would suggest that it's now that it begins.”
“Yeah, I guess you're right. Not a moment too soon.”
He nodded. “Precisely. You're my Mahan. And my daughter is legendary already. How can it not be great?”
She smiled, letting the happiness fill her. She had never thought she'd marry anyone. She'd thought she wasn't the type. But when Cori'ax had proposed right before he went to his very probable death, sacrificing himself for Charlotte and their child, she had known that she wanted nothing more than to spend her life with him. “Good point. Whatever happens, it will never be as bad as the Fire Planet. We know for a fact that we have the worst behind us. How many couples can say that?”
“Not many,” he agreed.
The mild breeze from the ocean blew through the fabric of her thin, white dress, and it brought the scent of the elereon flowers across the narrow strait from the next island. Naming her daughter after them had been pretty obvious to Charlotte, and she knew that the Acerex would appreciate it. The beauty, rarity and strange properties of the flowers suited their daughter well.
“You know, where I come from, it's common to kiss one's new bride.”
“Ah. Yes, I was just wondering when I'd be able to.”
Cori'ax gently held behind her neck and pulled her to him, then gave her the warmest, most loving kiss she could remember.
He disengaged and she looked into his yellow eyes. “And now you're making me swoon. Is there nothing you can't do?”
Harper came up to them with little Elerea Blaze in her arms. “Break it up, you two. I think someone is tired of seeing her parents hogging each other.”
The baby was waving her arms and making little mewling noises.
Charlotte smiled and gripped Cori'ax tighter with one hand, stroking her daughter's head with the other. “Well, she better get used to it, Harper. Because I'm not letting this dude out of my sight from now on. You never know what kind of trouble he can get himself into, with dragons and alien women and babies and I don't know what else.”
Harper laughed softly, conscious of the now very awake baby in her arms. “Uh-huh? That's not the way I heard the story. Which is kind of strange, because it was you who told it to me in the first place.”
Cori'ax reached out to stroke his little daughter's cheek. “That story is still being played out. And it will be for many years yet.”
Charlotte looked up at him. He was her husband now, and the thought made her want to do cartwheels of joy. “You bet it will,” she said. “For as long as we live.”
Harper smiled. “Good policy. Looks like this little brat is asleep again. I guess she just wanted to make sure her parents were actually, finally married. I approve of her vigilance. Can never be too sure about these things.”
Lily and Ravex'ton came over, carrying their little son, Zekax'ton. “Damn right,” Lily said and hugged Charlotte. “Some of these guys take just a little too long realizing that of course we're their fated mates. Congrats.”
Ravex'ton simply slapped his hand to the exotic bow that he always carried, a gesture that showed respect and shared joy. “Acerex warriors are slow to realize the depth of their own love. But when we fall, it's forever.”
Charlotte was struck by the differences between L
ily's husband and her own. Ravex'ton was darker and had a lighter build, even though he was still sensationally muscular by Earth standards. His face was chiseled, and he had a piercing gaze and a brooding manner. Cori'ax was just huge and impossibly strong, burned and scarred, and still his bright yellow eyes were somehow much warmer and milder than Ravex'ton's.
“Very true,” King Vrax'ton said and stood next to Harper, holding little Princess Anabe'lia's hand. “And, I think we'll find, so it is for Earth women. They just didn't know it until they met us. Congratulations, Captain Cori'ax. You have made many wise choices lately, and marrying Charlotte was the wisest of them all. Well done. I understand the army now calls you Chief of the Dirt.”
Cori'ax froze for a moment, then he just bowed. “Your Majesty.”
Lily frowned. “Chief of the Dirt? As in, legendary warrior? I mean, I know what it means, but I thought they were extremely rare. And usually much older.”
“Oh, they are,” Vrax'ton said. “There are only four living Dirts right now, all the most legendary warriors of our world. The warriors of the army decides it by general acclaim; it's not a formal title. But all the more honorable for it. And now, the army is unanimous. Cori'ax's many victories before now, topped by his triumph against the dragons on the Fire Planet, have impressed everyone. As well as his loyalty. He's the most famous of all our warriors. And now he is a Chief of the Dirt.”
Charlotte smiled and wiped her handkerchief across her eyes. She'd had no idea Cori'ax would receive that honor. And it was so well deserved. “Congratulations, my love.”
He squeezed her hand and gave her one of his rare smiles. “It is as much your honor as mine, Mahan.”
“What was that about dirt?” Ava said, wandering up with a drink in her hand. “Not a topic I'd expect from the royal circle. Unless it's about farming, of course.”
“Cori'ax is a Chief of the Dirt,” Harper said. “The army says so.”
