Dark Offering

by Elizabeth James

  “Obviously something is wrong or he wouldn’t be firing a gun to get your attention,” the guard said, clearly disgruntled. “I’m taking your gun, too, Jarl. No chances.”

  Jarl went to his bedside and retrieved his gun, then handed it over. He wasn’t surprised that the guard knew his name; it seemed like everyone in the colony knew him now. He wondered who the guard was going to tell about this. Hopefully no one except the people in charge of guns and whoever did the anger management. It was a fairly standard punishment. Jarl had even gone to anger management after getting into a fight with another harvester. Their colony was too small to allow feuds and anger to run wild, so it was strictly regulated. Ender would sit through a lecture for two hours and spend a few more hours practicing handling his anger in positive ways, and then he would be done. Jarl was relieved that there wouldn’t be any other consequences, because he wasn’t sure if Ender would tolerate anything else before saying what he had seen.

  The guard started to hustle Ender away.

  “Wait,” Jarl said, and came to Ender’s side. Very carefully, he embraced the man. Ender was at first stiff in his arms, then softened and hugged him back. “Thank you,” he whispered.

  “You’d better make it up to me,” Ender whispered back with a hint of humor. That was good, Jarl thought as they parted and grinned at each other. Ender didn’t realize what had truly happened, that Jarl was in love with the creature. He thought he still had Jarl’s heart and as long as that was true, he wouldn’t say anything. Then the guards pulled Ender away and he was left alone in his room. He went to the window and looked out over the colony, wondering how Arlen had gotten in and hoping he got out safely. Then his eyes, almost inevitably, were drawn to the glowing moon and he felt happy as he hadn’t since leaving Arlen’s side six months ago.

  Chapter 12

  Despite Jarl’s protests that he could handle his path alone during the harvest, Doss insisted that the girl who had been training with him should accompany him. Normally only one person went because of the danger but they didn’t view the danger in the same way since people had begun surviving. The other paths would still have one person but Jarl’s would have two, and he knew some of that was because of the oldest woman, who still feared that something would happen to Jarl and he wouldn’t finish his harvest.

  His heart sank as he and Keisha set out early in the first morning of the peace. He was a little tense as the entered the woods, since there was always the risk that the peace wouldn’t come each year and while he wasn’t in danger from the woods, she was. But nothing happened and they went quickly. They had to pause more often than he preferred, as she had never walked such a long distance over ground like this. It was quite a bit of an adjustment. The paths were clear and easy to follow, but they weren’t roads like in the colony. Of course, Doss arranged for them to practice with fallen trees and rough terrain, but there was a big difference between practice and walking like this for five days. Walking with a mask also made a difference, he knew. In in the colony it barely made a difference but out here, the mask cut off his peripheral vision and always put him on edge, and he knew Keisha felt the same.

  As the sun began to sink, he explained how to walk in the dark, and when to put the goggles on. He usually went an hour after the sun fell before putting on the goggles because it was generally still light enough to get by and the goggles were bulky and made walking more difficult. As the sky darkened and he considered telling her to put them on, the path suddenly grew lighter and there was a familiar clopping sound. Surely Arlen wouldn’t come to him with someone else here. They rounded a bend and he stopped with a gasp.

  A crack rang through the night and he saw that Keisha had fired immediately and was crouched in a defensive position. The creature in front of them stared at them, unharmed. It wasn’t Arlen, but it wasn’t like the female who had threatened Jarl last year. This one looked as approachable as Arlen had and lifted his arms the same way Arlen had, as if to indicate peace.

  He was quite handsome, though not nearly as perfect as Arlen. Jarl glanced at Keisha, whose eyes were wide in surprise at the sight of the creature. Was this creature drawn from her dreams and desires? He had to be, and he felt almost embarrassed to have such an intimate look into what she wanted.

  “I mean you no harm,” the creature said, and Keisha looked at Jarl fearfully.

  “What do we do?” she hissed.

  “Nothing,” he said. “He can’t hurt us right now. We continue.”

  “But there’s a creature in our path,” she said, clearly terrified.

  “I saw one last year, and he didn’t hurt me,” Jarl said, and the girl’s eyes narrowed.

  “You what?”

  “Yeah,” he said. “He was friendly. He let me pass and even helped me.”

  “Creatures aren’t friendly,” she said, puzzled. But her fear was starting to pass. She straightened and lowered her gun, looking at the creature. “Are you friendly?”

  “I can be,” the creature said. “I’ll move out of your way if you prefer. I know this is your path.”

  The creature politely moved to one side and gestured for them to pass. Jarl went past him without hesitation and after a long moment, Keisha followed, glancing at the creature warily as she walked past him. Once they were past, the creature joined them on the path and Keisha stopped again, looking bewildered.

  “Are you going to follow us?”

  “Unless you object,” the creature said. “I’m curious about you. Aren’t you curious about me?”

  That was the same technique Arlen had used, he realized. They were trying to approach humans the same way Arlen had, probably hoping that humans would react the way he had. He was relieved, but also a little irritated that they thought all humans would act the same and respond to the same stimulus. Still, Keisha did look curious. Maybe it was a good strategy.

  They walked in silence, Jarl and Keisha next to each other in the path and the creature immediately behind them as the path only allowed two people to walk next to each other comfortably. Jarl looked back at him, wondering if Arlen planned on joining them at any point.

  “I think one creature is enough,” he said. “I hope we don’t see any others.”

  The creature looked surprised, but nodded. “I’ll make sure we don’t.”

  Jarl felt a low pulse in his mind, a command to stay away. He didn’t know if it was directed at Arlen specifically or at all of the creatures but he was reassured. Keisha could handle one creature, but not more. And he didn’t want to have to hide his feelings for Arlen.

  They walked another hour and then he could tell Keisha needed to rest. He found a small hollow where they both could fit and she looked at the creature.

  “Aren’t you leaving?” she asked nervously.

  “Would you feel safer?”

  “Yes,” she said without hesitation.

  The creature grinned and she shivered. The fangs were not reassuring and Jarl had forgotten how large they were. “Then I’ll leave.”

  The creature headed into the woods and Keisha looked at him.

  “You really saw one of those? It helped you?”

  “Yes,” he said. “They can’t hurt us right now, remember?”

  “Was that why you were lured into the woods when you returned?”

  Jarl was silent for a moment, not knowing how to answer.

  “Yes,” he said, deciding to go with the truth. “That one will lure you out as well. But you’ll survive.”

  “All I have to do is look at the moon, right?” she asked, not nearly as frightened at the thought of being lured as Jarl had been. He smiled and nodded, but inwardly he wondered if that would be enough to satisfy the creatures. They wanted people to adapt, like him, not simply survive.

  He woke when it was still dark and could sense the creature nearby, though he couldn’t see him. Four days left. He shook Keisha awake. She needed to learn to wake earlier on her own, he thought. He would point that out to Doss. They needed to reach
the plants tonight or they would be behind and might not make it back on time. She was groggy but got up obediently and they got ready for the day quickly. Soon they were on the path again and the creature appeared as if out of nowhere, though Jarl had felt him coming. Keisha flinched but the creature smiled in what Jarl knew was meant to be a reassuring way. Keisha did not look reassured.

  “Did you sleep well?” the creature asked her.

  “No one sleeps well in this place,” she said shortly, and Jarl realized he hadn’t had a single nightmare this past year. He hadn’t mentioned it to anyone, but he hadn’t realized just how long it had been since the kinds of dreams that were a trademark of living on this planet.

  Jarl focused on making good time and the creature kept coaxing Keisha into talking to him, and she was beginning to loosen up. It helped that Jarl was here and wasn’t threatened by the creature, he knew. She felt safe because he felt safe. They didn’t talk much in the morning but when the creature returned as they approached the plants, she began to open up. She was far more willing to talk to the creature than he had been, and soon her curiosity was leading to ask all sorts of questions, far beyond the basic topics he and Arlen had talked about. He was almost jealous at how quickly their relationship was forming. Arlen had his heart, but they had never had this kind of casual conversation before.

  “We’re here,” he finally said as the phosphorescent plants came into view. She let out a breath of awe at the sight of them. “We’ll sleep and harvest them in the morning.”

  “There are so many of them,” she said, sounding almost dismayed. “We have to harvest all of them?”

  “Every single one,” he confirmed. “You can’t leave any unless they aren’t ripe.”

  She looked at the creature, who left into the woods without a word. She and Jarl got ready to sleep and went to the edge of the plants so the light would impact them less. He closed his eyes and dreamed of Arlen, a dream of longing. When he opened his eyes, he almost expected to see the creature, but Arlen wasn’t there. He sighed. Three more days.

  Chapter 13

  The plants were all ripe, luckily, and it was nice being able to split the bags between them as they headed back on the path. The sun was still high in the sky when Keisha asked for a break. He sighed and agreed. She took too many breaks, but they were making good time. Still, would she be able to do this on her own? Surely he hadn’t needed this many breaks when he took over this route.

  “That creature,” she said slowly. “He’s not what I expected. He’s almost like a friend.”

  Jarl thought about how quickly he had fallen for Arlen once the siren’s wail filled his mind, and how he had offered his body as well as his heart. He had stopped Arlen from killing his body by looking at the moon, but he suspected it was Arlen feeding on his heart that had bound him to the planet. Was there a way to get Keisha to offer her heart and not her body?

  “He’s like a brother, isn’t he?” Jarl said, and she looked startled and blushed.

  “A brother? That’s not exactly what I was thinking, but I guess you’re right.”

  “You should try to see him that way,” Jarl urged, because clearly Keisha was attracted to him sexually and if that happened, she might die.

  “A brother,” she mused. “I guess I’ll see when he comes back tonight. He will come back, won’t he?”

  “Yes,” Jarl said.

  “Good,” she said, and he urged her to start moving again. This time, he gave her all the bags despite her protests.

  “You need to get used to carrying everything,” he said. “It’s difficult and slows you down, and you’re already going slow. You need to know what it’ll be like if you do this alone.”

  “I don’t know why I’m training like this,” she muttered. “The path is yours. It’s always been yours.”

  “It was someone else’s before it was mine,” he pointed out. “And I didn’t have someone to help me the first time. You need to move faster so you can get back on time.”

  She groaned but obeyed, and soon they were slowly making their way down the path. He took half of the bags after a while. They did need to get back on time, after all. When the sun was fully down, the creature appeared and took most of their bags and they moved even faster. If Keisha got help from the creatures every night then she could probably do this on her own, he thought. Otherwise there was no way she could manage. He had never realized how grueling the path was even though he was shocked every year at how underprepared he was for the physical trials, but he had always been able to do it. She wouldn’t have been able to do it without his help, or without the creature’s help, and that worried him. If something did happen to him, the colony needed a way to get this pollen and she was the one in charge of taking over after him. He would definitely have to talk to Doss about her training.

  When they went to sleep, Jarl stayed awake and just waited until she was sound asleep. Then he got up. The creature was nearby and he went to where he could sense him waiting. He realized he could see in the darkness. In fact, he had been able to see well this entire trip. Maybe being connected to the planet let him peer into its shadows. The creature looked surprised when he approached.

  “Where is Arlen?” he asked softly, not wanting to wake Keisha.

  “I thought you didn’t want to see him,” the creature said, equally quiet.

  “I don’t want her to see him,” Jarl said. “But I want to see him.”

  “He’s not nearby, but I’ll summon him,” the creature said. “He’ll be here by the time you wake up in the morning.”

  “No sooner?”

  The creature shook his head. “We assumed you didn’t want to see him.”

  Arlen must have been crushed by that, he thought. He remembered how upset he had been when he thought Arlen had given up on him after he was unable to get to the woods after being summoned the first time, and how hurt he had been as months passed in the colony and Arlen didn’t come. He didn’t want Arlen to experience that kind of rejection. He should have been clearer about why he didn’t want to see Arlen, he thought angrily. He should have explained to this creature why it was dangerous having Arlen where Keisha could see him. Because he still didn’t want Keisha to see him and if he couldn’t get here until the morning, then he couldn’t see him then.

  “I don’t want Keisha to see him,” he said. “If he comes in the morning, there’s no way to avoid that. But I need to see him. I’ll wait until Keisha is asleep again tomorrow night. Can I see him then?”

  “Yes,” the creature said, then added, “He’s hungry. You’re his only food source now and he didn’t feed from you properly last time. He’s gotten weak.”

  Jarl winced, his heart aching at the thought of a weakened Arlen thinking Jarl had rejected him.

  “He can feed tomorrow night, then,” he said. “I didn’t know he was weak or I would have asked him here earlier. Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “You’re clearly hiding things from her,” the creature pointed out. “I didn’t know what was appropriate to tell you.”

  “Do you think she’ll survive?”

  “You barely survived,” the creature pointed out. “If she offers me what you offered Arlen, I might kill her.”

  Jarl blushed and looked away, humiliated that this creature knew about what should have been something private between him and Arlen. He didn’t like to think about the fact that other creatures had watched. He hadn’t had control over his actions, after all, and had been desperate to offer himself. But even though it was instinct driving him to offer himself, he still felt ashamed that his impulse was to offer himself sexually in a public setting. If he had just given his heart, he would be able to stand the thought of what had happened, but because he had given his body, too, he was too embarrassed to look at the creature for a long moment.

  “I don’t think she will,” he said. “I told her to think of you as a brother. You don’t offer your body to a brother.”

  “Let’s hope that works,”
he said. “I like her. I wouldn’t want to kill her. But you should rest. Tomorrow is your long day and she seems to be slowing you down.”

  “She’s not suited to this route,” he agreed, wondering how the creatures knew his route so well. Did they always track him? He supposed it wouldn’t be unusual and if these plants were designed with humans in mind, the creatures probably knew the routes and how long it took humans. “You’ll make sure Arlen is here tomorrow night?”

  The creature grinned, baring his fangs, but it invoked no fear, just a longing to see Arlen’s smile.

  “He’ll be here,” he promised. “Now sleep.”

  Chapter 14

  Jarl’s dreams were filled with excitement and the usual longing, and when he opened his eyes it was still dark. Two days left. He probably could have had time to see Arlen before Keisha got up, he considered, but they needed to start moving, not spend time talking. He shook her awake and she grumbled but got up. The creature appeared and helped them get going, and as the sun started to rise, he left and Jarl gave her all the bags again.

  “I don’t see how this is fair,” she complained. “If I weren’t here, you would be doing this all by yourself. Why are you dumping it all on me?”

  “Because I can do this on my own,” he said. “You can’t, and you’ll never learn unless you get real practice. Let’s go.”

  After only two hours, though, he took back half of the bags. She just moved too slowly and they needed to get farther than she would be able. After a few more hours, he took all of them. Even though she wasn’t getting tangled up in bags anymore, she was barely able to keep up. He tried not to snap at her as she asked for break after break but as afternoon stretched into evening, he couldn’t help it. Not only was he starting to feel the pressure of getting far enough on this most important day of walking, he knew he needed to get to a good resting place as soon as possible so he would have more time with Arlen. He could not afford to be walking half the night.