Warriors of Mari-Ur_The Reaping

by Astra Lynne

  Mashda circled them both looking on with delighted smugness. "Mate? You lower yourself enough to rut with a human is one thing, but you expect me to believe you are taking her as a mate? It will never happen. Not as long as I draw breath. You disgust me." Mashda spit towards Mattaki's writhing form. "Give them over to the Scincidians before anyone finds out and brings shame to my family," he commanded before turning and exiting with his contingency of advisors.

  "Please, please…" Amelia begged. The warrior holding her ignored her pleas and tightened his grip. She felt the bones in her arms would break into a million pieces between his fingers. He snatched her back towards his body when she tried to pull away and she could feel his erection pressing into her back and she realized he knew how much he was hurting her, and he obviously enjoyed it. "Silence human," he whispered against her ear. "Or I will take my turn with you in front of Mattaki." A cold shiver ran through Amelia's body. Her body went stiff, frozen in absolute fear for what would be next. Silvery streaks clouded her eyesight and threatened her consciousness.

  "You like that human? Perhaps you would like that? Your weak human males cannot satisfy you?" The warrior threw Amelia to the bed and stood over her ominously. She could see his Nacresscence burning beneath his armor. Amelia flipped and tried to scurry away before the warrior grasped her ankle and pulled her sharply back against his nearly exposed body. She could hear Mattaki's angry screams behind them. "Leave something for the Scincidians, brother." Another warrior laughed.

  A flash of light illuminated the entire room, screams and then blackness.

  Chapter 19

  The acrid smell of smoke awoke Amelia with a start. She was getting real fucking tired of passing out, fainting and getting knocked out and awaking confused in strange places. She leapt from the cot she was on and got low to the ground. Was something on fire? Was her room on fire? Was this even a room? Was she safe? Where was Mattaki? The last thing she remembered was someone trying to rape her while Mattaki was wrapped up in some glowing blue space rope bullshit. She was angry. Everyone has a limit and Amelia was absolutely sure she was at hers. She looked around her surroundings and realized she was in some sort of tent. The ground was sandy and dry, and on one side was a small stove with a fire going. It must be where the smoke smell was coming from. The tent was dark but softly illuminated from the glowing fire and a little sliver of light across from her cot. There were a few containers stacked against the perimeter with Mari-Ursian writing on them she could not yet read.

  Amelia gave her eyes a moment to adjust to the light in the tent and then she searched around for something to use as a weapon. She found a metal bar in one of the containers and figured it would do as well as anything. She stood at the opening of the tent and listened. It was quiet, but she was certain she could hear some chatter a few meters away. She peeked one eye through the slit to see what she could make out in the dimming light. There was not much else to see except the dark blue canvas like fabric of more tents. She had to find Mattaki. She gripped the metal bar close to her chest and took a deep breath, summoning the most courage she ever had and pushed the opening of the tent aside. She noticed at first the tents seemed laid out in a grid so she assumed it was a permanent camp. A quick count showed the grid to be 5 tents wide and ten feet long. Fifty tents could hold a lot of people, especially considering each were the size of a small house. There was vegetation everywhere much like the vegetation at Mattaki's lodge, but slightly different. She could see they were beneath a thick canopy of trees but with lots of light spilling in. Well hidden, she thought, but hidden from who or what she did not know. She moved slowly, close to the tents so she could hide if necessary. She could hear the voices more clearly now as she walked along. She wanted to see who was talking. Were they Mari-Ursian? Human? Or, worst of all, Scincidians.

  "Amelia?" the strange voice behind her made Amelia's blood run cold. In an instant she spun around and lifted the metal bar high above her head ready to strike and defend herself. It was a Mari-Ursian warrior she had never seen before. He towered above her and looked at her strange before his eyes went wide with shock and realization. With a speed no human was capable of, the warrior was on her, disarming her instantly and pinning her to the ground. Amelia let out a primitive scream full of all the anger she had held in from the beginning. The warrior leapt off of her quickly, grabbing the metal bar and backing up. The shock of it made Amelia's scream die in her throat. "What are you doing?"

  "I thought I was hurting you," the warrior replied.

  "Aren't you trying to hurt me," Amelia asked.

  "No, but you are sure to hurt yourself and others with this." The warrior held the metal bar up gingerly.

  "What is it?"

  "It's an explosive."

  "Oh," Amelia said with surprise.

  A crowd of humans and Mari-Ursians gathered around them and looked on the scene with confusion. "What is this?" A human woman Amelia recognized from the ship asked.

  "She was using this to protect herself. I took it from her to keep her from hurting herself," the warrior answered.

  "There is nothing to fear here, Amelia," the human woman assured her. Amelia scrambled to her feet and brushed herself off.

  "Where is Mattaki," Amelia asked. She would not feel safe until she knew where he was.

  "Mattaki is fine. He is with Joshur and Susuda in the Operations tent. We didn't know you would wake so soon." The human woman took a step towards her but Amelia stepped back in response. She felt like a surrounded animal and not sure if she should run, fight or trust what she was hearing.

  "No one wants to hurt you. I am Julia. Do you remember me from the ship? I was one of the first reaped as well."

  "I don't care who you are! Take me to Mattaki right now! You have no idea what I've been through," Amelia screeched.

  "Oh really," Julia asked firmly, "You want to take a good look around and compare notes later, fine! But for right now we have a couple of folks around here that don't handle yelling and the irresponsible waving around of explosive very well, so I'm going to need you to calm the hell down."

  Amelia took several steadying breaths and scanned the crowd that gathered around them. It was a nearly even group of humans and Mari-Ursians. She estimated there were nearly twenty total. Most of the humans were female, and a few looked genuinely startled by the commotion. How could they not, she thought, after all that had happened in such a short period of time. They had been ripped from Earth, had their entire belief system completely upended, and caught in the middle of an ambush with an enemy they didn't know. She had barely taken a minute to consider it all with everything that had happened. Maybe in her own way she knew she couldn't think about it and still function. The hollowness in the eyes of some of the faces looking back at her showed that not everyone had been so lucky.

  "I'm sorry," Amelia said as soft as a whisper. "I didn't realize. I just woke up afraid."

  "It's ok, we're all a little on edge lately," Julia assured her. She held her hand out and gestured in a direction behind them.

  They walked along in silence for only a brief moment before Amelia touched Julia's elbow to stop her. "How long have you all been at this camp?"

  "This camp? Just a few days. But we have been hidden and in an encampment ever since the attack on the Hive on the day we arrived. We came here after we rescued you and Mattaki."

  "Rescued?"

  "Don't you remember?"

  Amelia shook her head. "The last thing I remember was," Amelia closed her eyes tightly and shook her head at the memory of the warriors throwing her on the bed. She had been terrified, not just of the rape, but what it may have done to Mattaki to have been forced to watch it. He had already risked so much for her. "There was a flash of light and then I passed out," Amelia added simply.

  Julia snorted, "Of course you did."

  "Excuse me?"

  "No, I don't mean anything by it, but obviously you passed out."

  "Obviously? What are you getting at?" Amel
ia was starting to take offense to Julia's tone at the insinuation that she just fainted at the first sign of conflict.

  "Oh, you don't know?"

  "Apparently not, but I'd really like you to explain what you meant by 'obviously'"

  "Calm down, I didn't mean anything by it," Julia soothed with amusement. She was starting to like Amelia's spunk. It was a nice respite from most of the other women who seemed to not be dealing with their new situation so well. "Let me ask you something," Julia continued, considering her words a little more carefully. "I want you to think of your life before, your entire life right up to the day before you were brought aboard the first reaping ship."

  "Ok," Amelia agreed.

  "Now how many times can you remember fainting or passing out?" Julia had an amused glint and smirk of a person who knew the answer to their own question already.

  "I don't know, maybe once," Amelia answered. It was a statistical guess, since she honestly could not remember fainting or passing out at all before she left Earth.

  "Now how many times have you fainted since?"

  "All the damn time it seems," Amelia was starting to understand what Julia was suggesting. "But how? Who?" It was both fascinating and frightening to think the Mari-Ursians could make humans drop unconscious at will.

  "My guess would be Mattaki. He was probably protecting you, getting you out of the line of fire or so you wouldn't be afraid during the extraction." Julia continued walking.

  Amelia began to work this new bit of knowledge around in her head. If the Mari-Ursians could make humans lose consciousness, what other physiological systems or emotions could they manipulate? She thought about how wild and animal like she had been with Mattaki. She had never been that uninhibited with anyone before. Had he controlled her to make her that wonton, that receptive to him? She felt it, but was it really her? Her face burned with embarrassment. She shook her head and walked on silently. She couldn't think about that now. Focus, she told herself, was what she needed most right now. There would be time for the bigger answers later.

  At last they arrived at a tent at the edge of the encampment. Julia pulled back the flap and gestured for Amelia to follow. Mattaki crossed the distance between them in two steps and gathered Amelia tightly in his arms. She felt his amazing warmth course through her instantly. Though she couldn't help but think about what Julia had just told her, she didn't care. Mattaki's warmth felt nourishing and everything she needed at that very moment. She could feel the tears burning the back of her throat but she willed herself to not cry no matter how badly she wanted to. Needed to. Mattaki pushed her away at arm’s length and looked her over. "You are well," he asked. Amelia could manage nothing but a quick nod, fearing if she opened her mouth to speak, a whole lot of emotions she was not ready to deal with would come spilling out.

  "We have been waiting for you to awaken," Mattaki whispered against her forehead. "There is much to discuss."

  "You should let her eat and get her bearings first," Julia suggested. "I can fill her in on the high points while I get some food in her."

  "Perhaps that would be best Mattaki," a Mari-Ursian warrior Amelia did not know said from around a large table with a bright pink hologram of the Hive projected in the middle of it. He was a bit shorter and leaner than most of the other warriors, but looked scarier than any of them put together.

  "Yes, Susuda," Mattaki said over his shoulder before turning back to look at Amelia, "On that I agree." Mattaki pushed a long strand of Amelia's flaming red hair behind her ear. "Go with Julia, get food and we will talk later." Despite herself, Amelia agreed.

  Amelia followed Julia down one of the side paths to another tent that had the flaps thrown back. This tent was different. It was cooler than the other tents, and seemed bigger on the inside than the outside. There were several tables lined up along the edges, each loaded with a colorful assortment of fruits and vegetables. On another table were strangely shaped carafes full of liquid, and off to the side were a Mari-Ursian woman towering over a human man. They smiled as they chopped and diced various vegetables and tossed them with some of the liquids and spices. It took a moment, but Amelia recognized the human man from the ship. He had sat to himself in a corner mainly and had not participated in any of their discussions. He looked different now, not as sad and she wondered if the Mari-Ursian female had anything to do with that.

  "Hello Amelia," the Mari-Ursian said in a thick accent. "You have hunger?"

  "Hello, yes, I am famished," Amelia replied.

  "I do not know this word 'famished'."

  "Oh, it means, famished," the human man said, which Amelia thought odd until she realized he said it in the Mari Ursian language and her communicator translated it for her. Which would mean the Mari-Ursian female was speaking English to have such a thick accent. So they were a couple, Amelia thought.

  "You'll need me to take a look at you first," the human man said reaching for a bag under the table he was chopping vegetables on. "I'm David; do you remember me from the ship?"

  "Yes, I recognize you," Amelia offered.

  "Good, good, have a seat over here," David said gesturing to a crate behind where Amelia stood. He reached in his bag and drew out a small card like device and scanned it over her body. "Fit as a fiddle," David declared. "This is Lala," he said proudly, motioning to the Mari-Ursian female. "We do most of the cooking for the camp."

  Lala offered Amelia a bowl of clear soup with a few bits of what appeared to be an onion in it. The warmth felt good against her cold hands and the fragrance was earthy and sweet. Amelia turned the bowl up and moaned her approval at the flavor. "Delicious," she said, making Lala smile broadly.

  "It's a type of turnip, lots of vitamins and it won't be too heavy on your stomach. We'll see how you manage and you can have something more substantial later. Lala makes an amazing roast vegetable dish," David said proudly before joining Lala again.

  "Those two," Julia chuckled as if Amelia knew what she was talking about. "David was a pediatrician back on Earth, now he thinks he is a chef," Julia said over her shoulder so he could hear her. David tossed a bit of chopped vegetable towards Julia playfully.

  "Come, I'll take you back to your tent so you can rest," Julia said taking the bowl after Amelia drained the last of the soup.

  "Rest isn't what I need right now," Amelia challenged. "Right now, I need some answers."

  Chapter 20

  Amelia tugged at the fabric of her tunic. The air was growing cold with the dying light and her tunic was too thin to warm her. "Shall I get you a blanket," Julia offered. Amelia nodded and waited as Julia ducked into the nearest tent and emerged with a folded blanket.

  "We're working on getting you some more appropriate clothes for camping, but it might take a couple of days….err…cycles," Julia corrected herself, fastening the blanket around Amelia's shoulders.

  "What is this place," Amelia asked.

  "Right," Julia sighed, "Let's start with the attack on the Hive." Julia continued to walk along staring at her feet as if she were measuring her words carefully. "When the Hive was attacked, some of us were whisked away by one Warrior or another. Except David, he was grabbed by Lala."

  Amelia smiled at the thought of David being whisked away by the large Mari-Ursian female.

  "Some of us were alone for a while before we were found by a contingency of Warriors who set up a camp to relocate as many of the Earth Ambassadors as possible. Some of the other females were in cryostasis but were jarred out of their sleep by the attack. They had no idea what was going on."

  Amelia's eyes went wide at the thought of what it must have been like to wake up on an alien planet during the attack.

  "The group we are now has been growing slowly as one couple and another arrive after either being rescued like you and Mattaki, or being tracked and brought here."

  "Couples? You mean like, romantic couples?"

  "Yeah, some of the warriors saw human females on their Walk; you know what a walk is right?" Julia stopped for a
moment in case Amelia needed to be brought up to speed. "Anyway, they saw their female on the ship that day, and when the attack happened they all had this overpowering need to run and protect her."

  Amelia stood gaping at Julia's words. "Mattaki saw me on his Walk," she managed through her shock.

  "Not everyone found the human they saw. Some of the warriors, they are still looking. No one wanted to tell anyone else they saw a human female on their Walk, but apparently there are a lot."

  Amelia remembered Mashda referring to her as livestock and understood why the Warriors would be hesitant to reveal such a thing.

  "We move the camp after every rescue, just to be safe. When we rescued you and Mattaki, we almost didn't make it. That guy has some powerful connections so it was a big black eye for the council to have someone like him as part of the Resistance."

  "Resistance?"

  "Honey, War is coming. There has already been a huge human casualty, and before it's all said and done, you and I might be an endangered species."

  Amelia blanched at the thought of it. To have come all this way to be exterminated anyway would be a tragic irony. She felt woozy suddenly like she needed to lie down. "I think I need to lie down," she said, touching Julia's elbow for support.

  "Here, your tent is just back here," Julia said leading Amelia back to the tent she woke up in. "Go lie down, Mattaki will be back soon, or just shout out. We have Warriors walking around at all times."

  Amelia lay in the comfortable, oversized cot and stared into the top of the tent. It reminded her of an oversized Tee Pee much like the Native American's of Earth, and she wondered if that was just a coincidence. But then she didn't believe in coincidences. Coincidence was just what two seemingly unrelated things were called when Science had not yet found the connection. The similarities between the tents and the Teepees were probably evidence of the Mari-Ursian influence back on Earth. No, there were no coincidences, of that she was certain. It was because of this, something Julia said troubled her. She had not yet had a moment to consider why Mattaki saw her on his Walk, but even more troubling, she had not even considered others would have had a similar experience. But why? There must have been dozens in the camp considering the supplies she saw in the kitchen tent. How could there be that many Warriors fated to Humans? While it was true she didn't exactly understand how the whole fated thing worked, she imagined it was some sort of Evolutionary pull towards someone the body knew would be a good genetic match. Humans and animals on Earth had something similar with pheromones and attraction; maybe the Mari-Ursians were just a bit more advanced in their Evolution. But that didn't explain why Mattaki and the other Warriors saw Humans.