by Calista Skye
I heard no grudge in her voice. She was genuinely thanking him. And that was all it took for his heart to soar. He had to concentrate to not smile too wide. “Perhaps. But Earthlings are full of surprises.”
“Why did you do it? I know a little bit about the warrior code of honor. Nothing there tells me that you're obligated to help someone like this, risking your own life.”
That was one thing he'd been wondering himself. But he didn't want her to know that. “The warrior works in mysterious ways,” he said after a pause. “The less we talk now, the better. The predators are very active at night. But we soon have to stop. I will not enter the lands of dense traps at night.”
He more felt than saw her nod. The darkness was very deep now, and he had been looking for a good place to spend the night. It should be a place where they were covered from at least one side. The side of a cliff would be good, or even by a large rock. But the hills here were soft and grassy. He hated the idea that they might have to climb up in a tree. That would be a very uncomfortable night.
He toyed with the idea of felling ten trees and making some kind of fortress out of them, but his sword wasn't made for chopping wood and would be badly blunted by the dishonor of being used like an ordinary ax.
Then he stopped, and Charlotte did the same. He listened for a moment. “Do you hear that?”
“Running water.”
He turned his head, trying to ascertain from which direction the sound was coming. But the trees made it hard to determine. It sounded like it came from all sides. “Where is it coming from?”
They both listened for a second. Then Charlotte pointed. “That way.”
Cori'ax frowned. That was not the direction he would have guessed. “Are you sure?”
“Wait.” She took a couple of steps to the side, then stood still and listened. “Yep. This way.”
Well, perhaps Earthlings had better hearing than Acerex warriors. Cori'ax shrugged and followed her. Even in the darkness he could see enough of her back to feel the familiar pressure in his pants. That shape, with the roundness and the soft curves further down, right above her thighs, made more so by the tightness of her flight suit ... truly this was a wondrous universe that could contain such things.
He stayed close to Charlotte as she slowly led the way through the forest. It didn't really matter who walked in front – danger loomed from every direction. Now he heard that the sounds of the water were getting stronger, so she was clearly right. Hopefully the stream they heard was large enough to be a barrier against predators, so they could make camp on one side of it-
“Stop.” Charlotte suddenly froze and held up one hand in warning.
In a split second Cori'ax's sword was in his hand and he looked around fast. But nothing moved anywhere. He was too much of a warrior to break silence by asking what she sensed – she would tell him. Ah, and there was a slightly different smell on the air ...
“This feels wrong,” she whispered, and the translator adjusted its sound level to hers when it gave it to him in his own language. “It's too good. And someone's been digging.”
He looked down. The planet Bidri had risen over the horizon, and it cast a reddish light that made it just possible to see that the ground looked slightly different ahead. Darker, with less grass. Indeed someone had been digging there recently. That matched the smell of newly turned dirt, an innocuous smell in most places. It was an inviting place to walk. But here on Ett, with all its traps?
“Remain standing,” he said and came up beside Charlotte. He sliced a branch off a tree and threw it into the large dark patch ahead of them. It was sucked down into the ground without a sound.
Charlotte gasped. “Quicksand!”
Cori'ax frowned. “Something like it, anyway. I've heard of this, but I've never seen it. Something we got from our enemies, the Vroks. Particles that look like fine sand and appear to be ordinary ground, but are in fact a shallow pool of tiny living beings that disintegrate and ingest any substance upon contact. This is a new trap.”
They stood there for a second, contemplating what would have happened to them if they'd stepped into the trap.
Cori'ax shuddered, not a normal thing for him to do. If he had seen Charlotte being eaten by those microscopic, but ravenous little beasts right in front of him, he was sure he would have died of grief and shock. How did you fight beings that small? “We'll walk around. Stay on your guard. Traps often come in pairs.”
Now they walked side by side, much slower than before, checking each bit of ground in front of them and examining every tree in the eerie red light. But they found no other traps before they were standing at the bank of a stream that ran fast over rocks and sand.
Charlotte stopped at a respectful distance to the water. “Do you think that whole thing could be a trap?”
Cori'ax pondered it. “I think it could be. But I doubt it is. Stay here.”
He took some careful steps into the stony channel where the water had washed the dirt away, squatted and placed one finger into the liquid. It looked clear to him, and the finger came back up wet and cool, but otherwise none the worse for wear. He sniffed it, then tasted it. “It appears to not be a trap.”
He straightened and looked around. This stream would give them fresh water and decent cover on one side. A determined bran might be able to jump across it, but that was improbable. The ground was fine, clean sand and it was almost level.
He got the parachute out and unfolded it, then placed it on the sand as a floor. Charlotte got the idea and handed him her own without a word. That pleased him – she realized the danger they were still in and the importance of keeping quiet.
He cut some long branches off nearby trees and fashioned a little tent out of her parachute, using his own as a floor. He soon realized that the branches were not needed, because the fabric of the Earth-made parachutes had a stiffness to it that helped it maintain the tent shape. The texture was different than anything he'd felt before, and the canopy was remarkably well suited to use as a tent. So well suited, in fact, that ...
“It was made for this,” he concluded and rubbed the fabric between two fingers.
“That's right,” Charlotte confirmed, whispering. “All our parachutes are designed for several purposes. They're waterproof and soundproof, and they're shaped to function as tents for when someone has to jump out over uninhabited terrain. It will also clean and hold water. It will let in air, but the air will get scrubbed and cleaned on the way through the fabric. It's rip proof and will instantly stiffen to the strength of carbon fiber if attacked by an outer force. Say, a bran that tries to break in.”
Cori'ax nodded. Only aliens could think like that. So different from Acerex. “Seems useful.”
9
- Charlotte -
It was rare to hear positive things from Cori'ax, so him praising Earth tech made her smile. “We like to think so.”
He sent her a short glance that definitely had a glint in it. “Useful for those who prefer to huddle and hide when attacked, trusting brave swordsmen to defend them.”
“Uh-huh,” she said as happiness spread through her. Finally he was giving her the same teasing tone that he tended to use with the others in the squad. Well, she could match that. “I think this is more for use with people that have outgrown the use of rusty-ass blades and sees the point of, you know, actually being safe.”
“I think we'll have ample opportunity to see just how safe we are inside this rag,” Cori'ax grunted, but there was no anger in him. “We have adequate cover on one side. Let's see if we can't do better. There is some dry wood here. It will make a fine fire. I'll be back.”
Cori'ax strode off into the night and Charlotte quickly collected dry firewood, then placed smooth stones from the stream into a ring.
After a few minutes the huge warrior returned with a dead and gutted animal over his shoulder. He dumped it on the ground, then created sparks, and soon they had a healthy camp fire with meat roasting on skewers.
C
harlotte saw down. The air was getting cold, and the heat from the fire was very welcome. “So this won't attract the predators?”
Cori'ax saw down beside her, instead of on the opposite side of the fire, as she had expected. But she was glad to have him close. For more than one reason.
He shrugged. “It will attract some and repel others. I think it about evens out. And this way, we don't have to eat raw meat.”
“Yeah ... I actually have emergency rations with me.” She took the sealed packs out of their pockets in her flight suit. “They can remain fresh and edible for years.”
Cori'ax frowned at the small silvery packs. “Morsels fit for children,” he grunted. “Warriors need nutrition, not snacks.”
“One of these will keep the warrior going for over a day,” Charlotte countered and waved one of the small packs in Cori'ax's face. “With all the nutrition that anyone needs, even through times of constant battle. They're more than they seem.”
Cori'ax turned the skewers, and the fat from the meat sizzled on the fire. “The honest warrior doesn't understand those things. He likes things that are exactly what they seem. He gets enough tricks and subterfuge from his enemies.”
Charlotte looked out into the night. The red light from the nearby planet was almost pleasant. At least it wasn't pitch black. “Maybe that's why you guys can't seem to ever win your wars.”
The warrior was unshaken. “We win most of the battles we fight.”
“On Earth we sometimes say that it's possible to win the battle but to lose the war. Common, even.”
“Our peoples are very different.”
“That's right. We've never been at war with any aliens. But if we were, you can bet your pants we'd do our damndest to win, using all the tricks and subterfuge we could think of. Because what the hell would be the point otherwise? It would just drag things out. More people would die.”
Cori'ax gave her a strange look, then nodded slowly. “Very different.”
“It looks to me like you guys just like to fight wars. When someone invades your planet, you always try to kill them all. So of course a few years later, the same aliens return and try again, because now they're angry and they want revenge. Then you try to kill them all. Again. You keep them as enemies instead of just deflecting them. You always try to completely eradicate your enemy, instead of just teaching them a lesson. You never leave them a way to escape. They usually have no way to retreat, so of course they fight desperately and kill many more of your warriors. See how that looks a little weird?”
The warrior stared into the fire. “No.”
“Uh-huh. I think maybe you do. I think maybe the endless wars could end if you guys would actually leave the enemy a way to ecape when they're losing. You don't need to eradicate them. Just ... show them that you are capable of defending yourself without having to kill every single alien. Then let them go when they're losing. They'd get the message, and then maybe they'd want to be friends after a while. But hey, what do I know.”
Cori'ax took one wooden skewer off the fire and handed it to Charlotte. “You know much, it seems.”
She accepted it gingerly and sniffed the cooked meat. It smelled like grilled beef, and Cori'ax attacked his own meat with obvious appetite. She bit one small piece off and chewed it. It was tender and had a peppery taste.
“Pretty good. This is one of the prey animals that your people has brought here for the predators to hunt? When they're not hunting aliens, I mean.”
Cori'ax chewed happily. “I assume so. This prey fell before I could ask it.”
Charlotte had been more hungry than she'd thought, and finally eating something felt good. The meat was unusually tasty and delicious, and it had a spicy flavor to it that she really liked. She shrugged. Might as well go for it. She dug in, noticing that Cori'ax still kept an alert lookout, even as he enjoyed the meat.
But he hadn't reached for his sword, so she assumed that there was no danger looming right now. Maybe the soft red light from the planet above made the wildlife calmer.
She finished the meat and looked up at the stars. Some constellations she recognized from Earth, so those were probably the most distant stars. And some of them were new to her and reminded her of exactly how far she was from Earth.
The air was cool and crisp, and the fire and the sound of the babbling brook beside them made for an atmosphere that could almost pass for pleasant.
“This is like camping,” she said and tossed a bone on the fire. “Did you do that when you were younger?”
Cori'ax placed two new skewers on the fire. “Yes, of course. The upbringing and youth of an Acerex male is considered a preparation period for the Trials on Bosh, the Fire Planet. If you've never camped before when you get there, you won't last long. But of course most don't last long anyway.”
Charlotte nodded. She knew that the Trials could be a sensitive topic for a warrior. Even if they had survived the hellish inferno on Bosh in their younger days, the ordeal would usually scar their souls for life. They would have seen friends ripped apart by predators or burned by the Fire itself or killed by any one of the thousands of lethal dangers on the planet. And often they'd been forced to leave friends behind to save themselves. But Cori'ax had brought it up himself, and that was usually a good sign.
She nodded slowly. “I can imagine. I was only there for a day or two, but I still have nightmares about it.”
He turned his head to look at her with a frown on his face. “You have been there?”
“Yeah. That's how I met Vrax'ton. He was running from the Fire with Harper, and Lily and Ava and I had crashed in the jungle. We got so close to the fire we were sure we would be fried.”
“And yet you escaped.”
Suddenly she was there again, back on the Fire Planet, with a broken shuttle and feeling the strong winds and smelling the death that was approaching. And then the alien kidnapper's ship that was their only hope of surviving.
The memory made her shudder. “We escaped. Thanks to Vrax'ton. But it was not a good escape. It was degrading and terrible. I don't feel like I escaped that planet, not really. It humiliated me at every turn and made me panic. It made me feel small, and I still do. You know, sometimes I think I'd like to go back there on my own terms. Go back there and ... well, I don't know. I just want to do something there. Kill a herg, maybe. Or just stand on the surface for a moment without fear. I doesn't have to be much. I just want to ... you know, actually, never mind.” Charlotte cut herself off. She was surprised she was telling him that. She had never told anyone before, and here she was baring her soul to this man she didn't really know. Stars, he must think she was losing her mind.
To her surprise, Cori'ax placed a large hand on her shoulder. “You just want to get back at the Fire Planet. To engage it in any way, however small, and win. Even the smallest victory. To not feel so small again.”
She looked at him, surprised. “Yeah! That's it. Doesn't have to be a big thing. Just ... get some dignity back. Yes, exactly. Just win once. Do you feel the same way?”
“Sometimes. Mostly I'm just glad I'll never have to go back there.”
He removed his hand from her, and she immediately missed it.
“Did you have hard Trials?”
“Hard enough. But I was fortunate. The burns I got only make me ugly. They didn't hurt my ability to fight. Not everyone is that lucky.”
Charlotte looked up at his burned face and head. The half that was not burned was smooth and showed the strong bone structure underneath, while the burned part was wrinkled and looked dry. But both the eyes were yellow and fiery. “May I?”
She reached slowly up and placed her fingertips on the side of his face that was burned and touched it lightly.
He turned his head away and there was pain on his face. But not physical pain.
“Please,” she said and gently reached up again. “It's okay.”
This time he remained still while she gently stroked the ruined skin. It was warm and dry to the touch, and
parts of it felt like a fine-grained emery board. That was a deep burn that must have hurt like hell for a long time. And the Acerex didn't believe in treating wounds from the Trials.
“A warrior should have scars,” she said softly. “It's honorable.”
He glanced at her briefly, just a flash of vivid yellow in the red night.
Charlotte stroked the burns, as lightly as she could. She got a feeling she was the first to do that. Her eyes were suddenly full of tears. “Often the best warriors have the worst scars. I've seen it. How did you get this close to the Fire, that it could burn you?”
“What happens on Bosh stays on Bosh,” he said with a gruff voice, but there was no conviction in it.
She could feel the alien bones under the burned skin. He was tough, but not invincible. “You would stay away from the Fire yourself. You're too smart not to. I think you were saving someone. Trying to save, at least. Someone less good at survival played with the Fire, and you tried to save him from his own stupidity. Am I close?”
Cori'ax sighed deeply at the memory, like so many other warriors did when the Trials came up. “He wasn't stupid. Just ... young. We had to get food. He chased a birn. They don't move too far away from the blaze, but their meat is sweet. They're clever, and they can trick even an inexperienced hunter to get too close to the danger zone close to the Fire. Retia'rek was not experienced. He was younger than the rest of us. He should have waited another year before taking his Trials.”
Charlotte made little caressing moves with her fingers. It felt almost unspeakably good to be this close to the huge warrior and feel his heat and his scent and his presence as the flickering light from the fire played on his alien face. She had never known a more blatantly male person than this, and she relished it. “Did he die?”
“Not then. In the end, a herg got him and two others.”
Charlotte placed her palm against the burns on his face and felt the warrior's strong, slow pulse in her whole hand.
The physical strength in this extraordinary male almost made her giddy. And because it was clearly accompanied by some very human weakness deeper down, it somehow made him that much more attractive. She felt hard tingles shooting through her girly bits. She knew he was the perfect lover, too. Such a man this was!
