by Ella Long
We used gold thread in our royal robes. For effect, it did quite well. Otherwise it was useless. I can’t imagine why so many people would flock here for it, enough that they would actually form a town.
What could anyone want with that much gold?
I entered the prison. It was built of solid rock with metal bars on the small slits of windows. I saw Sadhbah straight away, sitting with Winton, the officer of punishment.
Winton nodded to me and let his eyes sweep back across the cells.
He was old and thin, his hands tough and crossed with scars. He had been torture master for many years and had suffered many bites from the Najiik while doing his work. He was now almost completely immune to their poison.
“No changes, my lord.” Sadhbah said softly.
I nodded, walking down the dark hallways to inspect the cells.
The first few cells contained humans. Most were young men who screamed and yanked on the bars of their prison, eyeing me with murderous rage.
They tried to attack everything they saw and even the other humans could not calm them down. They had to be locked up for everyone’s safety.
The next cell held three women. Thinking of Ashley, I felt a tickle of emotion, but one of these women had killed a Xael soldier.
She had been stealing food and when the scuffle ensued, she got a hold of his long knife and skewered him with it.
She was awaiting judgement.
The next cell held another woman, tall and blonde. Her eyes stared at me like chips of ice and two small children, twins, cowered behind her.
She was some kind of warrior, with a fighting style unlike anything we’d ever seen. After it took five Xael and three human soldiers to restrain her Sly had made comments I didn’t really understand. Something about having a ‘black belt’ and years of training that made her hands and body hard.
As far as I could tell, she wasn’t wearing a belt.
She glared at me as I passed. Not even the humans could make her talk. She had spat in Sly’s face and called him a traitor, before almost taking his head off.
I didn’t want to kill her, but if she refused to behave ending her life might be kinder than keeping her confined.
In the last few cells were Najiik prisoners.
The first one was a short, horrid thing.
I think it was brain damaged or something. It definitely had stunted growth. It only came up to my knees and had a bright blue mane of spines down its back. The muzzle was long and flat and as I came near it threw itself at the bars, slavering and growling.
I kept walking.
That thing was of no use. We had found it running through the camp. I had no idea if someone sent it or if it was just mad.
The next cell held a very rare Najiik female.
She was about my height and had impressive curves. She stood in the center of her cell, hands pressed together in front of her chest.
Her scaly skin was patterned in shades of blue and her hair was violent red, a haze about her face and a long trail down her spine.
As I stopped by the door her shocking gold eyes opened and she smiled, an ugly expression on a face with a wide, toothy maw.
“Hey there, high commander.” Her voice was sultry. Disturbing.
I kept walking.
In the last cell was a Najiik warrior. He was sitting in the corner, grinning and drooling.
I paused, leaning on the bars.
This was the one who had the information we needed. I knew I’d be here for a few hours while we attempted to find out everything he knew.
I rolled up my sleeves and pushed Ashley from my mind.
If I was going to embrace my brutality, I couldn’t think about her.
Sadhbah
When Ghislan arrived, I knew it was my cue to move on to the rest of my duties.
I’ve been torturing the prisoners in here for days and he had been getting better results than me, anyway.
I always lose my temper and just start beating them.
The trouble is, they seem to like it.
Especially the female Najiik. She scared the fuck out of me honestly. She was way too calm for a prisoner.
I ran from the prison towards the airfield.
When the shuttles lifted off and the ground troops getting into trucks, I felt an intense excitement.
I wanted to be going out with them.
My military service on the front lines had ended some years ago and my talent was in operations and strategy.
I could hold my own on the front lines and there was no Xael who would dare take me on with a bone spear, our ancestral weapon.
Still, even I knew that I was better at preparing others for battle than charging at the enemy.
I made myself busy on the airfield. Swarton shouted orders to me and the other men, clearly as frustrated as I was that he wasn’t able to deploy.
Both of us were itching for a bit of action, but where I was valuable to the higher-ranking Xael, Swanton was an integral part, a genius at military tactics.
The shuttles pouring out overhead made for an exciting sight through the camp. Everyone knew something exciting was going on.
More soldiers were starting to pour out as more returned to refuel and top up their ammo.
I spent a furious few hours putting guns together and filling weapons belts.
Swarton and I did nothing but run back and forth in the command tents shouting into radios and tossing equipment bags.
At one point a gasoline pump caught alight and for a few seconds there was true panic in the air. Xael shuttles ran on renewable crystals, but human vehicles still used the crude and primitive fossil fuel.
Using something so volatile to run a machine you had to sit in seemed like insanity to me.
Still, we had little choice.
Xael did not have ground vehicles. Why would we need them, when we had shuttles, had a life based aboard our ship?
But now we were here, and the facilities for growing more crystals had not become fully operational.
We’d have to learn to use human tech until then.
Once the fuel was safely doused and the pumps turned off while we cleared the fumes, the fighting began to abate. Swarton and I had a moment to gulp down water and plan the retreat of our soldiers.
We sent a contingent of a few hundred in to reinforce the humans in Denver itself with instructions that their vulnerable citizens would be safe here.
We knew that the humans in Denver were keeping most of their population underground. We didn’t know how many survivors remained, but we did know they couldn’t have many resources left.
They probably wouldn’t trust us, but it was worth a try.
I headed off on my rounds, quickly assigning people to tasks. We had to make up numbers for those who had gone out to reinforce Denver as well as keep our perimeter protected.
I put a couple of younger trainees in charge of the days exercises and then I noticed how high the sun was in the sky.
I hadn’t had a break since breakfast and stopped into a cooking tent to grab a piece of hard bread and a jug of water.
Now that my thoughts had time to idle, I found my them turning straight to Ashley.
My eyes closed lazily as I looked into my mind and saw her there. Soft, curving smile. Warm, sparkling eyes.
Her giving and open sexuality.
I realized I was getting hard right here in the middle of the dining area. I got up quickly and went back through the kitchens, grabbing a bit more water and fruit as I went through.
I knew I would never focus on anything else today unless I saw her.
As I moved up to the old house that housed Ashley’s kids, I heard a bright, cheerful singing. I looked through the window carefully, not wanting to disturb the scene.
Ashley sat in a big chair, looking down on the kids with love in her eyes. She was leading them in a little song and when it finished everyone laughed and clapped.
The old nanny joined her, happily helping ou
t.
Ashley stood up, getting excited as she handed out pieces of paper. She asked the kids to draw with crayons something that they liked, something that made them happy.
They scrambled for colors and Ashley got down on the floor, starting to mark her own piece of paper.
I was fascinated by the way her tongue crept to the corner of her mouth as she focused on the blank page. She narrowed her eyes in concentration, making colorful sweeps across the paper.
This was not the powerful sex queen I had seen this morning. That woman was all cold fire, grace and lust. This one was all softness, gentle care. I found that I had trouble putting both sides of her together.
I watched her stroke the hair of one of the girls while they chatted over their pictures. I thought she took care of the kids out of a sense of duty, but it was plain to see that she really loved them.
I was amazed by the strength of her heart.
To be able to give herself to each and every one of these children and share herself with them she must have a lot of love to give. Clearly her nature was nurturing and selfless.
It just made me want to know more about her. I started backing away slowly, getting ready to head back to work. I couldn’t stand there all day watching her, I was needed in several different places at once.
I took one last look through the window, allowing myself a little smile as I saw her holding up her picture and asking the kids to suggest more things to draw. I had only seen her under complete control, and I wasn’t sure which was the real Ashley.
Perhaps both sides of her were equally true. I found this concept fascinating. What did I have to do to see those two sides brought together?
The universe had certainly done well for me, providing me with a mate so sultry and yet so loving sat the same time.
All I had to do was gain her trust and for that, I would work tirelessly for the rest of my life.
Ashley
I noticed that the angle of the sun had changed and felt a sharp tug of regret in my chest. I wouldn’t be making dinner with the kids and settling them for sleep. I had to go back to Ghislan’s quarters.
I went in and checked on Ben.
Finbarr was still there, carefully monitoring the boy’s vitals. Ben had woken up a couple of times to talk to me before dropping out again.
“Is he getting better? Shouldn’t he be awake by now?”
It was a stupid question, but I still couldn’t believe the turnaround could be so fast.
He’d been so terribly, terribly ill.
“I assure you, my Domna, this is normal. The child is undergoing nannonite reconstruction, which can be a tiring process even for a Xael warrior. For a young child, sleep is the best healer.”
Right then.
It sounded pretty terrifying to me, but Finbarr obviously knew what he was doing.
The protesting of the children as I left broke my heart. Mishra promised to call for me if I was needed but she was firm about bidding me goodbye.
Whatever authority I had, it didn’t extend to me being out after dark without the men.
I hurried down the steps, trying not to think about the kids. If I thought too much about it, I wouldn’t leave, I’d be out well past my curfew.
I wondered if I could get into trouble, enough that they would punish me, and my cheeks warmed.
Did I want to be punished?
I paused in the darkening evening. The camp seemed far busier today than it had been before and I was a bit scared to walk through it on my own. I could see Ghislan’s mansion rearing up behind the lines of tents and I knew I didn’t have far to go.
Still, the crowds of heavily armed men and aliens gave me pause.
What was I doing here?
“My lady?” A warm voice rumbled beside me and I almost jumped. I managed to keep myself under control with some effort and glanced to my side as if he was a chirping insect and nothing more.
“What?” I demanded with as much imperial pride as I could muster.
“Nothing.” He shook his head. It was that strange looking Xael with the bronze hair that was always nearby, whittling. He bowed low, hands wide and even though he spoke to me with the utmost respect, it felt like he was mocking me.
“I am Lochin, my lady.” He stood up, still smiling his creepy smile. “I noticed your hesitation, I thought I may be of service to you.”
I eyed him warily.
“I’m just trying to get back to the mansion. What’s happening? I’ve never seen it so busy.”
“Ah, an incursion my lady, in the nearby city of Denver. Human and Xael relations may come closer to resolution this day.”
“Well, that’s nice.” I muttered, anxious to be gone. “I’m heading to Ghislan’s quarters now.”
I started walking through the camp and Lochin stayed a step behind me. Even though he was perfectly polite and held up traffic for me as if he was a trained servant, he made me nervous.
I was happy to enter the manor and get away from him.
Which was completely unreasonable. He’d been nothing but nice to me, and if something about his mannerisms struck me as strange, that might have something to do with him being a giant alien warrior.
And who was I to talk?
I was sleeping with two of them.
As I headed up the stairs, I forced my thoughts away from Lochin and towards the kids and the bare rooms in the old house the kids were staying at.
It had obviously been an infirmary for some time that had been converted into living quarters hastily for my kids. A few buildings behind it were now relegated as med bays for triage after the attack waves.
From the look of it, Xael didn’t need much patching up, unless they were very badly injured.
Cartoons, crayons and paper were all very well, but I was hoping I could get some toys for them, maybe even a computer or games console.
More books. Not necessarily even textbooks, although that would be ideal, but something I could base a lesson plan around.
I hadn’t seen a single computer here, even though I’d seen plenty of earth tech cobbled together with their crystal chambers to make radios and other tracking devices.
In Denver, they would have all those things. Were my men powerful enough to collect such things for me?
I guessed there was only one way to find out.
When I arrived upstairs the big room was still empty. In its heyday it had probably been a parlor or something, now it was a massive sitting room full of comfortable chairs and tables leading to the massive bed under the window.
There was a tall slender Xael at the door who nodded as I entered.
“Domna Ashley. I am honored.”
I still wasn’t used to this shit, but I drew myself up, trying to look severe and graceful at the same time.
I wasn’t sure how to reference my question, but I decided to just put it as bluntly as possible.
“Are my mates here yet?”
He bowed low, head almost touching the floor. “No, my lady. They should arrive presently. May I get an attendant for your bath?”
“No—ah—no. I think I’ll be fine.” Okay, so I couldn’t pull off the regal bullshit for very long. “Thank you—what do I call you?”
He looked up with huge, dark purple eyes. “I’m Nerin, my lady.”
“Thank you. Nerin. As you were.”
He watched me go with a shocked expression.
Maybe I wasn’t supposed to ask his name. Fuck knows.
I could be wrecking up custom left and right.
Everyone seemed to indulge me like I was an excitable pet. I pushed all my uncertainty away and filled the bath, plunging into it the second the water was deep enough.
It had been a long time since I had regular access to a bath, and I was going to make the most of it. I scrubbed myself down, rubbing sweet suds into my hair. When I got out, I rubbed down with the thickest and most luxurious towel I’d ever used before putting on a satin robe.
When I reached the main roo
m Ghislan was there, taking off his clothes. I stopped in the doorway, feeling uncertain.
He smiled casually when he saw me and I realized, we were practically married now.
Or something.
There was no need for modesty.
“Ashley, my dear.” He came towards me with his hands out and even though I wasn’t comfortable being called ‘my dear’ I did feel happy to see him.
I let him hug me and felt myself softening under his hands.
As his head brushed near mine, I felt that strange moment, like our minds were falling in sync. My bites ached. It was only then that I realized that the bites had closed cleanly almost immediately after they had been made.
There was nothing left of them but a thin line of purplish red dots.
Sadhbah came in, boots clumping as he threw them off.
“I don’t know what you two have decided, but I’m hitting the bath next.” He threw off his tunic as he walked towards the bathroom. As Ghislan and I turned towards the table, Nerin darted through the room, picking up all the fallen garments.
Food was brought in and Ghislan smiled at me gently, watching my face. I was full of questions about how the day had been. Something exciting had been happening, that was for sure.
I didn’t know how to ask or even if I was supposed to know.
A knock at the door made Ghislan rise and attend the soldier who called him. I tried not to pay attention but when I heard someone whisper ‘crying children’ I actually stood up and whipped around.
“Crying children? Is there a problem with Ben?”
“No, not Ben. Not any of yours.” Ghislan said quickly.
The other guard responded without thought. “The ones in the prison.”
I was so shocked that I just sat back down. My voice was very far away, and I couldn’t reach it. Sadhbah came out of the bathroom and I still sat mute.
As the men came to sit at the table, my head was teeming with thoughts.
I had come back this afternoon with the intent to ask for more supplies for my kids, but if children were being imprisoned then I had a lot more that I wanted to ask for.
