Rock glided noiselessly next to me. It was bizarre how easily this wall of muscles could move through the foliage without making a sound. Next to him, the slight cracking noises from under my boots made me feel like a stomping hippo crashing through the wilderness.
I thought of Vlunn alone back at the cave, wishing he were here with us. He insisted he didn’t want to go hunting, but maybe he would like to come for a walk here with me one day.
This time, being intimate with just one of the two didn’t immediately strike me as cheating. Neither Rock nor Vlunn showed any jealousy towards each other. Rock sure didn’t appear to suffer from any guilt after taking me on his own this morning. As for me, it felt natural, physically and emotionally, to be close with both or either one of them. My feelings for each didn’t change.
Suddenly, Rock stopped and lifted his hand, signaling me to remain in place. I looked at where he was pointing and saw a creature by a tree trunk in the distance.
The lanky animal was probably the size of a large dog, but seemed taller because it was as skinny as a stick. It had three pairs of thin long legs with several joins in each that bent in opposite directions. When the creature walked, it lifted its legs by collapsing them in a folding-ruler fashion. Its large, perfectly round head sat atop a super skinny neck, reminding me of a lollypop.
The thing didn’t look dangerous. It wouldn’t have scared me even if I were here alone. With Rock by my side, I definitely didn’t find it intimidating. I glanced questioningly at Rock, but he just watched the animal intently without giving me any explanation.
With its back to us, the skinny creature remained standing on four legs and lifted the two front legs up like a praying mantis from Earth. It then scratched the tree trunk with its front feet, which appeared to be shaped like hard, pointy hooves. Blood-red sap oozed from the grooves in the bark, and the animal lapped at it with its long wide tongue.
“Is it edible?” I whispered to Rock. At that moment, the creature stopped eating and looked around nervously. Rock grabbed me around the waist and promptly retreated deep into the forest in complete silence.
We made it a fair distance away from the animal before he stopped and put me down.
“I’m so sorry,” I whispered, even though we must have been way too far for the skinny animal to hear us. “I didn’t know it was dangerous.”
“Not dangerous,” Rock said, with a somewhat sheepish expression. “Just . . . messy.”
“What do you mean?” I found it strange that Rock, who could punch the life out of a boar-monster, would run away from a small skinny thing like that.
“That was a deh. They eat a lot of sweet stuff, and can spit across long distances. Their spit is slimy and sticky. We’d have to go all the way to the river to wash it off.” He rolled his shoulders in disgust, and looked at me apologetically. “It’s gross.”
“Wow.” I giggled, seeing him so squeamish. “Who would have thought that there was an animal on this planet capable of bringing terror upon the Mighty Rock!”
“Come on, Zoya. It is disgusting,” he protested in defense. “Nobody would want to walk around covered in pink, sticky goo all day! They’re fast runners too. Had he noticed us, he would’ve chased us all day, trust me.”
“Have you been chased by a deh before?” I teased, a laugh bursting out of me. “D-did he really chase you all day?” I imagined Rock dashing through the forest in panic, being chased by the stick on six legs, and laughed harder, doubling over. My own legs gave out and tears sprang to my eyes.
Seeing me, almost rolling on the ground with laughter, he finally smiled too.
“Not a whole day. I’m a fast runner too. I got away. Eventually.”
His words made me choke, gasping for air.
“S-stop it, Rock, You’re killing me,” I squeezed out between bouts of laughs, giggles, and hiccups. “Now we have to turn back home. Sticky Terror has been sighted!”
Finally, wiping away tears, I sat up on the ground and smiled at Rock through my hiccups. He was sitting next to me, his elbows on his bent knees, a wide smile on his face.
“Are you done?” Exasperation rang through his voice even as the soft glow of his eyes bathed me in warm affection.
The good belly laugh was exactly what I needed that morning. It felt cleansing. But most importantly, it made Rock smile.
“I just can’t believe that I’ve found a weakness in the Indestructible Rock.”
“I never claimed I had no weaknesses.”
“Do you have more?”
He sighed, and I felt like kicking myself for asking because his face clouded over again. The shadows chased away the rare smile from his face.
“I do. I have a couple.” He got up from the ground and moved ahead, without elaborating. I had to hurry to catch up.
He padded away in silence for a little while then asked unexpectedly, “Zoya, was the man who wronged you your fated mate?”
I had told him and Vlunn about my life on Earth. However, I never went too deep into a discussion of my relationship with Jeremy.
I met him at the student lounge of my university during one of my few visits there. Most of my studies were done remotely, and I continued living with Aunt Judie during all of my university years, only venturing to the student lounge if I needed to meet anyone for a group project.
Painfully shy, I actually mustered the courage to approach Jeremy with a solution of the computer code that he had been trying to solve. He had put it up on a hologram for everyone to see, asking for help. The code was a series of numbers, letters and characters from different alphabets, but to me it was just another pattern of sounds strung like beads on a string.
Jeremy acted genuinely interested in me, asked me out, and made me believe that we were a couple. I felt flattered by his attention, giddy that I finally seemed to impress someone in my life.
It all turned out to be a complete lie. He took off as soon as he got the money I had helped him to steal, leaving me without a goodbye or an explanation.
They found and arrested him soon enough, recovering most of the money. Unfortunately, it was too late to make any difference in my fate. By then Dr. Zukov had already become aware of my existence, determined to make me the subject of his experiments.
“No, Jeremy and I weren’t married if that’s what you mean. Things are different on Earth. There are no fated mates.”
“How do you know whom you’re supposed to be with for the rest of your life?”
I sighed. “You don’t. You just hope that you find the right person one day. Somebody who would care about you, with whom you’d want to raise a family together.”
“For the rest of your life?”
“You hope it would be for the rest of your life. I’m sure everyone does when they get married. But sometimes things don’t work out. That’s why we also have divorce.”
“Divorce?” The English word sounded heavily accented in his interpretation, but still recognizable.
“Yes. You can part from your partner, your mate, if you wish.”
“You can part from your mate.” Rock appeared to taste the foreign concept on his tongue. “Why would you ever want to separate from them?”
“Because humans make mistakes. It’s in our nature. It doesn’t always happen that you meet the right person on the first try. And it’s good to know that you’re not tying yourself down forever. No matter what, if it doesn’t work out, there is recourse. A chance to cut your losses, lick your wounds, and start anew. Free.”
I was talking largely about myself here. I wasn’t married to Jeremy, but I had made a huge mistake, and I paid dearly for it. Personally, I viewed finding myself on Sonhadra as getting another chance to start anew and find happiness. Being with Vlunn and Rock had made me believe that I could be happy again.
Rock didn’t seem to understand my words the way I intended, though.
“Freedom is important for humans? More important than being mated?”
“Marriage doesn’t mean g
iving up your freedom, Rock.” I imagined being shackled by an eternal mating bond to somebody like Jeremy for the rest of my life and shuddered at the thought. “On Earth, you always have the freedom to make choices. Even if it’s a wrong choice that you come to regret later, you still have a chance to fix it. It’s never too late. Divorce may be hard and often painful but not impossible.”
I wasn’t sure if Rock understood me perfectly well this time. He just nodded briskly, “I see.” And marched ahead, making me hurry to keep up.
Chapter 18
We ended up accomplishing more than I hoped the first half of the day. When I described the bush with red berries I ate on the day of the crash to Rock, he took me to a large patch of the same bushes, all covered with the ripe, crimson-red berries.
“Wow! This is amazing, Rock.” I rushed to the nearest one, eager to finally have some variety in my stomach. Rock’s hand on my upper arm stopped me.
“Eating the wrong foods can make you sick.”
I remembered throwing up after eating the berries the first time. I was convinced, though, that it happened because I ate too much and too fast. My condition at the time would have made my stomach expel any food that wasn’t delivered via IV laced with drugs.
“I’m pretty sure I’ll be okay. I’ll eat a small amount.” I made another move towards the coveted bush.
“No.” His hold on my arm remained firm. “What if you die?”
“I won’t die. Not from these. I’ve tested them already.”
“Have you had them before and nothing happened?”
“Well . . . I threw up, but—”
“No.” he said firmly, without waiting for my explanation. He moved me aside and approached the bush himself.
“I wasn’t well back then. I would have thrown up anything!” I protested.
“I will test them for you.” He grabbed a handful of berries off the bush and shoved them in his mouth, his eyes firmly on mine.
“You can’t digest plant food,” I reminded him.
He shrugged. “I’ll survive no matter what I get from them. If it’s more than a simple indigestion, though, you are not to touch them ever again,” he replied around the mouthful of berries. He grimaced, and a shudder of repulsion rocked his massive frame. “By Creator, it’s gross! Are you sure you want to eat them?”
“Well,” I smiled. “It’s not the stinky ixilip meat, of course. Honestly, how can you eat that and like it?”
“Ixilip meat is flavored, not stinky. And it’s not sweet like this.” He flipped his thumb at the offensive bush.
“Sweet is bad?”
“Of course it is. Rotten things taste sweet.”
“Ripe, Rock, not rotten. Fruit is sweet when it’s ripe.”
“First it’s ripe then it’s overripe and then it rots,” he explained patiently, as if talking to a child. “And every time it gets sweeter and more sticky.”
“Fine,” I sighed, abandoning the argument. “More for me then.” I pulled a piece of clean cloth from his pack and marched to the bush to pick some berries to take home with us.
Rock watched me like a hawk, his eyes narrowed.
“Don’t worry, I won’t eat them and render your sacrifice useless. I’ll just get them for later.”
I gathered enough berries to wrap them in the piece of cloth and then put the bundle into the bag, careful not to squish them.
“Would you eat anything that is not as sweet as those?” Rock asked me when I was done.
“Oh, I don’t need sweet stuff exclusively. I’m just looking for a variety. Anything I can digest and find pleasant to the taste would be great. Besides, these berries are more tart than sweet.”
“If you say so,” he replied, not sounding convinced at all. “I’ll show you a root that I remember Ilena used to eat.”
“So, her diet was not exclusively meat?”
“No, she ate other things too. Here.”
He pulled a stick from the ground nearby. It looked like a meter-long reed, light purple on top. A long root as thick as my thumb dragged from the ground. Rock broke off the purple top and shook the dirt off the smooth, yellowish-green root.
“It’s anohlo. You can add it to soups and stews or eat it raw.” To demonstrate, he took a bite of the root with a loud crunch, and chewed on it.
“Thank you.” I took the root from his hand and dabbed the skin on the inside of my wrist with the clear juice dripping from the end, to test for a possible irritation. “Thank you for volunteering to test the plants for me. I hope you won’t suffer too much as a consequence.”
He shrugged.
“Nothing I won’t survive.”
I broke the anohlo root into a couple of smaller pieces and put them in the pack as well.
“How about this one?” I snapped a wide pinkish leaf growing at the base of a tree. Its appearance reminded me of iceberg lettuce, and I’d already envisioned a bowl of pale pink salad I could make with it.
“Let’s see.” Rock reached for the leaf in my hand, but I pulled it away quickly.
“Hold on. Did Ilena ever eat it? Do you know? Have you ever seen animals eat it at all?” Reluctantly, I had accepted the possibility of a mild indigestion on his part as a sacrifice for my life and wellbeing, but I didn’t want to inadvertently make him suffer more than necessary.
“No, I don’t recall Ilena having it. I don’t know of any animals that eat them either. Othu lay their eggs on it, though.”
“Othu?”
“Small flying things. We’ll see them sooner or later. They’re always around.”
He squatted by the tree trunk where I got the pinkish leaf, and moved other leaves and undergrowth aside.
“See?” The bottom part of the trunk was covered in clusters of smooth disks—as large as my palm—attached to the tree bark very much like mushrooms on Earth. “Othu leave those for their larvae to eat when they hatch.”
I lowered myself to the ground next to Rock to take a better look. He carefully broke off one of the disks and offered it to me.
“Where are the eggs? Or the larvae?” I took the disk from his hand. “Oops!” I didn’t expect it to burst in my fingers when I squeezed the middle a little too hard. I expected it to feel like a firm mushroom in my hand, but it crushed in my fingers like an eggshell. The gooey pinkish centre oozed out.
“Don’t worry, this one is not sticky,” Rock reassured me. “Just wipe your hands off, and you’ll be okay.” Rock inspected the underside of the nearby leaves. “It must have been a while. The larvae have turned into the adult othu and flown away. They always leave some of their food untouched. I’ve seen these disks turn hard and white when a forest fire got too close to them once.”
“Really?” I took another disk with my fingers and gently nudged it off the tree bark. It fell into my palm undamaged, and I lifted it up for a closer inspection. The white outer shell had a pale purple tint to it. It looked glossy and felt considerably smoother than eggshell. “I wonder if the centre is as rich on protein as the egg whites on Earth. Do you know if anyone ever ate those?”
“Many animals eat them whenever they find them.”
“Yet animals wouldn’t eat these leaves?” The fingers of the hand I used to pluck the leaf tingled slightly. The tingling was slowly replaced by a mild burn, like from strong chili peppers. “You know what, Rock? I think we’ll ignore the leaves for now. But I will get some of this larvae food.” I smiled at his puzzled expression. “I may ask you to taste some of them for me back home. First, I want to heat them up to make them turn white and firm like you said.”
He lifted an eyebrow ridge at me but didn’t argue.
“As you wish.”
As we continued on our way through the forest, having several different kinds of foods in our bag now filled me with a sense of accomplishment and emboldened me to explore further.
“Rock, you said that deh back there eat a lot of sweet stuff. What is it around here that’s really sweet?”
I wasn’t
expecting to find a chocolate factory anywhere nearby, but a little sweet treat in a form of a local equivalent of honey would have been delightful.
“Their favourite food is gleruesta tree.”
“A tree? Does it have sweet fruit?”
“No. Deh eat the inside of the tree trunk.”
The wood of a tree trunk didn’t sound as appetizing as I hoped my treat would be.
“Right there.” Rock tipped his chin at a tree a few meters from us. “Can I borrow your knife?”
He made a long cut in the tree bark, and red juice, the color of blood seeped from it. It ran down the trunk and dripped to the ground, exactly like blood from an open wound.
So far not appetizing. Not at all.
Using my diamond knife, Rock continued to carve a piece of the trunk out, then proffered it in my direction.
“Don’t eat it. Just smell. I’ll taste it for you . . . if you like.” The repulsion on his face was almost comical.
“I won’t force you to taste it if you find it that gross,” I laughed, and swallowed my words as soon as I caught a whiff of the delightful aroma emitting from the piece he held in his hand. Raspberry? No, something slightly stronger, and even more delicious, like a jam filled pastry. “Mmmm, Rock, this smells amazing!”
“Really?” He looked crestfallen.
“Sorry, but I have to try it.” I clasped my hands in front of me, begging him to allow me to take a bite. “Can I at least lick it?”
“No.” He jerked his hand away from me. “I’ll taste it first.”
Without even a glance at the loathed thing, he took a bite of the piece in his hand. His eyes firmly on mine, he chewed slowly but with determination, stifling a shudder of revulsion. Judging by his expression, I was expecting him to spit it out any moment, but he bravely swallowed it and exhaled with relief once he was done.
“Ugh!” He shook his head. “I hope you’ll like it. Even though I have no idea how anyone would.”
“You really don’t like sweet.”
“Sweet? Cloying, sticky, sickly . . . But, whatever makes you happy.”
Enduring (Valos of Sonhadra Book 8) Page 11
