Bound to the Alien Barbarian: An Alien Warrior Romance (Crashland Castaway Romance Book 1)

by Leslie Chase

  “Listen, Tessa, be rational about this,” he said, in a tone designed to make me want to smash his face in. He used that tone a lot. “We’re a long way from this Joint Colony, we’re not in great shape for a long hike, and our rover didn’t make it through the crash. We don’t have supplies, and we don’t have any way of carrying them if we did. No. We’re staying here.”

  Nothing he said was wrong. That didn’t mean I had to agree with his conclusions, especially when he phrased them like orders. I crossed my arms.

  “Staying put isn’t a good option either. We’ve got whatever water’s left in the tank, and then we’ll have to go somewhere. Why not head for the colony? It’s got to be safer than anywhere else on the planet.”

  “There’s a stream,” he objected, and I laughed darkly.

  “First, who knows how safe drinking that is? Second, it’s a twenty-minute trek each way. It’s better than nothing, but we won’t be able to rely on that. We’d have to move closer, which means setting up our own camp there, and if we’re doing that we might as well—”

  I cut off, closing my mouth with a click as the blood drained from my face. Fanwell had unslung his rifle. He didn’t point it at me, not quite, but the threat was blatant.

  “We don’t even know where the colony is,” he said, in a quiet and measured voice. “It might not even be on this continent.”

  Before I managed an objection, he raised the rifle to his shoulder, aimed, and fired. A ruby-red flash, a deafening crack, and the radio burst into flames, sparks showering me as I fell from my seat.

  “You ass,” I shouted, fear forgotten in my rage. “That was a week’s work. Now we can’t find out where we are, if anyone’s close to us, or anything.”

  He nodded, lowering the rifle. “Which means the Prytheen can’t find us, either. We’re settling here for the long run, Tessa, and make no mistake — I am in charge here.”

  I met his eyes, wanting to argue. But he was bigger than me, stronger, and he had the only laser. Even if I won a fight, I wouldn’t come out of it clean. Biding my time made a lot more sense.

  “First thing tomorrow, you get to work on the ultrasonic fence posts. The solar panels ought to give us enough charge, and then we can clear some land for farming.”

  He said it so confidently, as though it would be the easiest thing in the world. As though either of us knew anything about farming beyond ‘seeds go in the ground, plants grow, eat plants.’ Arguing wasn’t on the table though. Not now.

  “Fine, okay, whatever,” I said, pulling myself slowly to my feet. Kitty Fantastic sat a few feet away, glaring at Fanwell while Killer growled at her. Even my companion was being bullied. “I’ll get that fence working as soon as I can.”

  “Good,” Fanwell said, slinging the rifle and offering me his hand as though that made us friends again. “That’ll keep those bastard spawn of a tiger and a squid off our back. We’ll have a great time here, you’ll see.”

  I suppressed a shudder, not wanting to think about what he meant by that. None of the possibilities were good.

  4

  Zarkav

  Following the acolytes was easy: they’d never learned hunting skills beyond what they absolutely had to. I, on the other hand, had devoted my life so far to them. When they set out from the temple, I let them get ahead, confident I’d pick up their trail once they left our cave.

  They gave me no challenge at all, making no effort at stealth as they made their way down from the cave mouth and into the hills. Chatting and laughing amongst themselves, blinking against the harsh, unfamiliar light of the sun, they set out South. I followed in their wake.

  A stupid way to travel. The noise they made would frighten off most animals, but the larger predators might seek it out. True, the four of them carried heavy spears, and Mi-Zrak had three javelins in a case over her shoulder. They would probably be safe.

  Creeping along behind them in the long grass, I wasn’t. I split my attention between the Zrin I followed and the sounds around me, listening for anything unexpected moving through the grasses. Doing both at once would have made following Marakz a challenge if he’d made the slightest effort to avoid pursuit.

  As it was, the first day passed without incident and they settled down for the night in a hollow oft used by hunters who came this way. No surprise: the woods were too far from the temple to reach in one day’s travel, and I didn’t expect them to press on through the night. It was still frustrating to stop. Especially since I couldn’t light a fire.

  The scent of cooking meat from their camp was the worst part of it. I chewed on hard strips of jerky, trying not to resent their comfort and laughter. Izdril and Mi-Zrak wrestled playfully to the amusement of Marakz and Carnor, and they spent no effort on watching the night for predators. If I’d wanted to attack, two of them would be dead before the rest knew I was there.

  As tempting as that was, all I wanted was sleep. Impossible while the acolytes were still awake; if any of them left their camp, they might stumble on me.

  At last, Izdril and Mi-Zrak collapsed and the camp quieted. Those two had been frustrating to be around ever since they realized they were mates, and this time was no different, but it seemed they’d worn each other out.

  “Goodnight, taru-ma,” Izdril said. Despite his use of the formal title to address his mate, for once his voice lacked either smug superiority or servile deference. Those were the only two modes of speech I’d known him to use.

  “Sleep well, Izdril-ma,” Mi-Zrak replied, less formally but without her usual harshness. Perhaps, given time, they’d mellow each other and become worthy members of the Temple Tribe?

  With enough time, perhaps. I’ll check on them in a hundred years. I shook my head at the thought as Marakz and Carnor jeered their sentimental companions.

  Camping in the cold, listening to them, I regretted that I’d yet to find my taru-ma. Not that I’d consider anyone like Mi-Zrak — she and Izdril were of a kind, petty bullies, and I did not envy him that. But a mate suited to me… she would be brave and clever, make me laugh, soothe my angers and comfort my sadness.

  And I would do the same for her, keep her safe and secure, well fed, happy. I smiled, drifting off to sleep thinking of her.

  The next morning came too soon, pulling me out of dreams of a warm embrace and sparkling eyes. I would have stayed in that dream longer, but I had no choice about getting up — movement from Marakz’s camp meant that I had no time to spare.

  Frustratingly, they took their time getting up. The sun was high in the sky by the time they were ready to leave and my impatience threatened to get the better of me. I considered skirting the camp and pressing on alone: at the speed they traveled I’d arrive a quarter-day before them, maybe more.

  With some difficulty, I restrained myself. Marakz and his companions might be the worst priests the temple had to offer, but they were priests. Even thugs like them might know more about how to deal with demons than I did.

  Plus, if I took my eyes off them, I might not spot them coming. No, better to stay close and see what they were up to, even if that meant putting up with this excruciating slowness.

  Things felt better once we were moving, though. We traveled without interruption and by evening we approached the forest where the falling star came down. The scent of smoke lingered here, burned wood and flesh. Mixed in were stranger, unfamiliar, unpleasant smells, something indescribable. The woods were eerily silent, no animals to be heard. I wondered if perhaps there was something demonic loose in the shadow of those trees, something cast down from the skies by the Sky Gods.

  Even if it’s so, the Sky Gods test us, I reminded myself. If this is a test, we’ll not pass it by hiding from it. Only by confronting it and overcoming it.

  The others didn’t seem the least bit discomforted by the thought of being so close to what might be a demon or a visiting god. They did get a little more serious, though. Marakz settled them down at the edge of the woods, their laughter stopped, and they gripped their we
apons tighter. All their attention was on the trees as Marakz spoke.

  I crept closer through the long grass. There would be no better chance to hear their plans, so I had to take the risk. Distracted as they were, none of them noticed me getting in eavesdropping distance.

  “… remember, make it look good,” Marakz said as I approached. “Got to keep anyone else from wanting to come this way, right? So, check out whatever’s there, kill any fuckers who’re there already, and make sure we get ourselves bloodied up.”

  My blood ran cold. They were planning on killing any other investigators? Faking a demonic attack to frighten off others? For a moment I wanted to hurry back to tell the Eldest, but no. There wasn’t any gain in this for Marakz and his little gang — not unless someone promised them a reward for their trouble.

  Why would the elders want to cover up whatever’s here? I realized it was a foolish question as soon as it crossed my mind. Without knowing what mystery waited in the forest, how could I guess why they wanted to hide it? I’d either have to follow and see what Marakz did, or confront him here and now.

  And I’d had enough of skulking. I drew breath to announce my presence, only to be cut short by an awful noise that sliced through my mind like sharpened glass.

  If they’d been paying the slightest attention, the acolytes would have spotted me then. But the noise hit them as hard as it did me. They clutched their heads and cried out in pain, giving me the time to duck out of sight and recover. The high-pitched buzzing kept on, barely audible but bringing bone-deep pain. An unease filled me, a sense of dread permeating the forest, and the urge to flee nearly set me running. Suddenly the tales of a demon haunting this place made more sense.

  The four bullies looked at each other, fear-blue patterns showing on their ssavs. I’ll give them this: the fear didn’t overwhelm them. Marakz snarled, cutting his speech short, and gestured for the rest to follow him.

  Twitchy, eyes looking this way and that, the four stalked forward to seek whatever demon brought forth such terrible sounds.

  Forgetting my planned confrontation, I followed stealthily. I had to know what was in there, and Marakz and his gang were priests. Their training might give them an edge we needed over a demon, and if not, I’d see what horrors pounced from the dark shadows beneath the trees.

  I hoped that no monster attacked them. The last thing I wanted was to end this by coming to their rescue.

  5

  Tessa

  One thing we got from the Joint Colony’s broadcast was an updated ultrasound frequency, one that they promised would frighten off the local wildlife. The settings for Arcadia, they said, drove local animals berserk instead.

  Armed with that knowledge, I got to work updating our ultrasonic fence. After that tentacle-faced thing went for Fanwell on our first day, we’d assumed the ultrasound didn’t work — and now we knew it was worse than that. Altering fence posts took days, but finally I had them all set and ready.

  “You’d better work,” I said under my breath, and pushed the activate button. From my point of view, nothing changed apart from a tiny light on each post blinking three times. A moment later the woods outside the fence erupted with noise as nearby animals fled.

  I’d planted the fence posts in a rough circle around our crashed colony pod, and behind that barrier I felt a tiny bit safer from the dangers of this planet. Crashland, the colony’s broadcast called it, which sounded apt to me. The modified fence worked as advertised, keeping away Crashland’s wildlife.

  If only it would deal with all predators as easily.

  “All done?” Fanwell’s false cheer grated as he swaggered over to me, an alien animal that I’d call a deer for want of a better term slung over his shoulders.

  I had to admit that the week I’d been working, he’d kept us well fed. He wasn’t lazy, and the outdoor work agreed with him. Fanwell looked a lot healthier than he had, leaner and stronger. The trouble was he expected it to get my interest, and ew no. Nothing about him was attractive, not his fake smile or his newly visible muscles. Especially not the way he showed them off to me whenever he had an excuse, or made one up.

  “They’re all fired up, no more trouble with animals sneaking in,” I said. The scavenged solar cells would keep the fence running indefinitely. Not with much spare for other uses, admittedly, but besides the fence, the rifle, and our wristbands we didn’t have much to power.

  One of the few advantages of losing all our gear, I supposed.

  “Then power it up,” Fanwell snapped. “It’ll be dark soon, and I don’t want to worry about some alien animal crashing in and eating us while we sleep.”

  “Okay, Orson, first of all it’s already on,” I told him, unable to hide my exasperation. His face heated as I spoke, but I was too tired to care. “Second, we’re perfectly safe inside.”

  We’d been sleeping in our nooks aboard the colony pod, the metal doors enough to protect us. It was the supplies we had to leave outside I worried about the animals getting to, not us.

  Fanwell had something else on his mind, though. His eyes darted around the heavy forest as though he expected a horde of those tentacle-faced big cats to appear at any moment.

  “Not good enough,” he told me. “Turn it up.”

  “There’s no point. Literally none. It’ll already stop any animals from coming into the camp, if we power it up it won’t be any safer, it’ll just use more power and drive away your prey for tomorrow.”

  His face clouded and knuckles went white as he tightened his grip on the carcass. I tensed in turn, ready for a punch and determined to give as good as I got, but his look of fury vanished as quickly as it had appeared.

  The anger was still there, just buried. I saw it in the tight little folds beside his eyes, the tension that didn’t leave his shoulders. He was on edge and ready to lash out.

  “Killer, turn up the fence to full power,” he said, keeping his gaze locked on me. His companion obeyed, Kitty Fantastic yowling a protest in vain. She showed me the power levels spiking, almost up to the danger zone.

  Around the crash site, the forest erupted into movement as every animal within hearing turned to flee the terrible noise. It was eerie, more so because we humans weren’t able to hear the sound they were running from.

  Fanwell grinned and some of his tension bled away, for real this time. “There. Now we can feel safe outside the pod, right?”

  I nodded reluctantly. “Sure. We’d have been safe anyway, though, and this way we’ll burn through stored power much faster.”

  He shrugged that off, along with the alien deer carcass. It fell to the ground with a squishy thump.

  “So we can get that prepared, have a barbecue tonight, sit out under the stars.” He stepped closer as he talked, and I shrank back. “And then maybe share the bottle of wine I rescued from the cargo? Celebrate having a safe home base.”

  His smile was more like a leer, and if I’d had any doubt about what kind of ‘celebration’ he had in mind, the wink he gave me killed it. I didn’t have an excuse to lock myself in my ‘room’ anymore: with the ultrasound to keep away the animals, there was no reason to sleep in the cramped and uncomfortable chambers we’d been using.

  I raised a hand to his chest, holding him back as he stepped closer. Nothing for it now but to be clear, blunt even. “Whoa there, champ. I’m flattered,” — a blatant lie — “but not interested. We can share the deer-thing, sure, but I don’t need the wine and I’m not going to sleep with you.”

  Fanwell’s suppressed rage flashed to the surface and I flinched. He towered over me, lips tight and cheeks dark, before forcing another of his fake smiles.

  “Who said anything about that?” He asked, as though his intensions hadn’t been blindingly obvious. Turning away, he took his kill off to clean and prepare it, looking back to get a last comment in. “We’ll just have a drink and see where the night takes us.”

  Sure we will. And you won’t stop until you get into my panties, right? I didn’t say it alou
d; the fight might be coming, but there was no reason to set it off now. Putting the problem off wouldn’t get me far, though. In a few hours I’d have to sit down to eat with him, and Fanwell didn’t strike me as a man with much patience for a woman who said no.

  I’m sure as hell not going to say yes, I promised myself as he turned toward the fire pit he’d dug. So what other options are there? Run away?

  Not a brilliant idea, but the only one I had. If I filled a pack with supplies, I’d have maybe three days’ worth to get me to another settlement. Water would be the problem again. That stuff’s heavy.

  Without a way to contact the other colonists, I had to deal with this alone. Though from the sound of things, the other humans had their hands full already — I doubted they’d be willing to drop everything to come and rescue me. No, I had to deal with this on my own.

  Kitty Fantastic mreowed at me and headbutted my shin. The tiny forcefield generator in my wristband let me feel that, like the ghost of a touch, and I leaned over her to scratch behind her ears. Again, the forcefield simulated fur under my fingers and Kitty purred.

  Tension flowed from my shoulders. Not just because of Kitty’s support: she also had a subsonic purr designed to relieve her human’s stress.

  “Thanks, Kitty, I needed that,” I told her, and the pleased look on her feline face made me smile. Sometimes it wasn’t easy to remember that Kitty was only a piece of software. Not when she was the only friend I had.

  Night crept over the forest, shadows lengthening and the bright sun dipping behind the trees. I had to admit that it was a beautiful sight now that I wasn’t constantly watching the shadows for predators.

  Fanwell waved as I stepped around the pod, and I hid my grimace. There was one predator inside the fence with me and he felt no need to hide in the shadows.