by Marie Dry
“We both know there is no other way. Please, Larz, don’t deny me a death with honor.”
He retracted his claws, turned, and held her against his chest. He held her so tight it hurt, but she didn’t protest. She clutched him as tight as she could. If he held her close enough, maybe she wouldn’t feel the moment death claimed her.
She looked up at Larz. If she looked at him, she’d have the courage to do this. “I would’ve liked to find out what a first knowing is.”
His body jerked against hers. He held her while the doctor injected her and he was still holding her when the darkness claimed her.
CHAPTER 12
When Marcie went slack in his arms, Larz glared at Zacar. “I cannot lose her.”
He’d take a thousand years of being a citizen if it would save her. He needed more time with her. He wanted to make their dwelling comfortable for her. As he should have done, even when she had no honor. He’d make it so that she could always look out at the mountain. He had taunted her with not receiving the first knowing. She’d pretended not to care, but her last words were a wish to be honored as a breeder.
Zacar slapped his shoulder. “You will not lose her. She is sleeping.”
“The nanos are not neutralizers as she believes, but another bomb,” Viglar said.
If she was going to explode, it would be while he held her. He would make Viglar wake her so he could tell her that she was his breeder. That he honored her. “Can you get it out?”
Viglar flashed a disgusted fang. “To humans, it’s advanced technology. Compared to ours, it’s primitive, so old I have my doubts it still works. All it does is leak radiation.” He held up a hand when Larz stiffened. “I dealt with it.”
Larz forced himself to remain standing, to hold her. His face would be the first thing she saw when she woke up. “Parnell told her she had to sacrifice herself for Sarah.”
“We will deal with him,” Zacar said with grim promise.
“Parnell is mine.” That excuse for a woumber would die a very long and painful death. Parnell would suffer for everything Marcie endured.
The atmosphere changed, became dense. Dread and oppression hung in the air. Larz didn’t have to turn to know The Zyrgin had appeared on their ship. He didn’t care. If he had to, Larz would battle him, too.
“I will allow you to deal with Parnell because your breeder was willing to sacrifice herself for mine,” The Zyrgin said behind him. “She showed courage and honor.”
Still holding Marcie, Larz turned to face The Zyrgin. His ability to appear at will across any distance was only one of his terrifying abilities. Larz and Zorlof had speculated on how he managed to listen to thousands of conversation to decide where he had to appear and where he was needed. Now Larz didn’t care. If the leader tried to harm Marcie in any way, Larz would find a way to deal with the most powerful Zyrgin in their history.
How long had The Zyrgin observed them? Did Zacar know he was there? Did he trick Larz and Marcie into believing she would die to show The Zyrgin she had honor. That she was willing to sacrifice herself?
“Why is she not waking?” he asked Viglar.
Larz was a loyal citizen and would be a loyal warrior. With Marcie lying so pale and still in his arms, he didn’t care that their ruler was in the room and that he should show respect to the being who was known to kill when he perceived an insult or threat. All he cared about was the woman in his arms--the woman he never gave a first knowing. “Is the bomb out of her system? Not even one nano can remain. If the technology is as old as you think, it could poison her.”
“She is clear.”
“Why didn’t you find it before, when you scanned her?”
Viglar stood rigid, keeping The Zyrgin in his sight. “Only one was implanted. It started to multiply only recently and very slowly.”
“When will she wake?” Larz asked Viglar.
He needed to see her looking at him with those brown eyes with the green flecks, the eyes that sometimes turned back to green. The eyes that had always reflected love for him while he refused to openly acknowledge her as his breeder.
“Thirty Earth minutes. I’m running several tests to make sure she’s healthy.”
“I’ll be merciful,” The Zyrgin suddenly said right behind him.
His hand fell on Larz’s shoulder with enough force that Larz had to let go of Marcie to avoid hurting her. Larz turned and saw Zacar and Viglar subtly shifting their weight, ready to defend him against The Zyrgin.
“You will be a citizen for a hundred years. The challenges stand. I have enjoyed your growth as a fighter.”
“Thank you, my leader,” Larz forced himself to grit out.
He didn’t care what he was for the next hundred or two hundred years. His breeder lay unconscious and all he wanted was for The Zyrgin to go away so that he could hold her again.
“She may attend the deployment of the new weapon,” The Zyrgin said and disappeared.
Viglar checked Marcie again and Zacar stepped back to give him room. Larz held her against him and dared Viglar with a look to try and stop him.
Viglar shook his head. “I do not agree with The Zyrgin’s new policy of allowing breeders to attend important events. I don’t mind Natalie and Julia attending some of the minor ceremonies.”
“It’s Zurian’s fault. His breeder amused the leader.”
“Soon he’ll have his own breeder to amuse him,” Zacar said.
None of them said it aloud, but they all knew Sarah was too delicate, too timid for their powerful ruler. It was a great honor that he’d allow Marcie to attend, but Larz would’ve preferred that The Zyrgin forgot about her existence. It would be safer for all concerned. Apart from her insistence to save Sarah, she seemed to have become the angry, abrasive woman she’d been before she lost her memory.
Larz lifted a strand of hair the color of the Zyrgin night sky. “She’s gone through so many changes. Lost so much weight no matter how much I feed her.”
“Her body changed back gradually, which made the transition easier for her. And she is returning to her normal weight,” Viglar assured him.
“Will the red pieces stay in her hair?” Larz didn’t care if they stayed or not. He just wanted her to wake up and be healthy.
“Yes.”
She wouldn’t like that. When all her hair had been red she never went near a mirror.
“I will honor you,” he whispered against her ear.
***
Maeve opened her eyes and stared up at Larz, who held her so tight she could barely breathe. She lifted a trembling hand and touched his face that was still faintly bruised. Even though their skin was too tough to frown she could see the worry on his face. He stared down at her, not blinking, and she had the impression he’d been holding her and staring at her from the moment she fell asleep. Did she fall asleep? She looked around. How did she get to the infirmary?
“What happened?”
“You do not remember?”
She tried to touch his face but her hand wouldn’t obey her head. “No. Wait, I was sitting next to the tree.”
“Is that the last thing you remember?”
She managed to lift her hand to his chest. “Yes. No, wait. Sarah. What’s happening to Sarah?” She frowned down at herself. “How come I’m still alive? I thought I had to die to save her.”
“You did not have nanos that would neutralize Sarah’s bomb, but another bomb inside you.”
“I’m going to explode?” Was there no end to Parnell’s evil? Now he’d finally taken everything from her. “You’ll have to do it.”
She’d been ready to die. She didn’t know if she had it in her to be noble a second time. She wanted to scream and demand that they rid her of the bomb. But she wanted to be someone he admired.
“Do what?”
She surged upright, still in his arms. “Jettison me into space.”
Parnell had done this to her. Stolen the time she could’ve spent with Larz. Made her into a walking weapon.
“Please, I know you’re a warrior with honor and would never want your breeder--wait, I’m a breeder now?” She shook her head. “Never mind that. I know you don’t want me to die alone, but you can’t die with me. Please tell me you won’t jettison yourself with me. Please, I need to know you’re alive and happy in this world.”
“I am not a warrior.”
“What?”
“I am a citizen.”
“Because of me?”
“Viglar took the primitive bomb from your body.”
She forgot about asking him why he suddenly called himself a citizen. “Primitive. It was injected inside me, set to explode at a certain time. That’s not primitive. It’s bloody scary.”
She sank back on the hard table, suddenly limp in his arms that carefully lowered her down. She’d live. She’d walk outside with Larz, hear the eagle scream that agonising sound that gave voice to her feelings of rage and pain in way that she couldn’t.
“Sarah?”
“She is safe. The nanos were removed.”
“Are you sure? What if some of them remained in her bloodstream and multiplied?”
“Do not question my work, human,” the doctor said.
Larz snarled at him and the doctor pointedly turned his back on her. That one would never like her, even if she managed to breed a million little babies for their empire and save their emperor.
“Where are we?” she whispered.
“On the mother ship.”
She struggled between excitement and panic at the thought of being this high up, enclosed between these steel walls, almost as if she was buried alive.
“I thought breeders weren’t allowed on the ship.”
Her mind still scrambled, trying to hold onto a personality. One moment she wanted to snap her fingers at him and demand answers and the next she wanted to ask permission to do the simplest things. He’d called her a breeder, something he’d never done before.
“We have better equipment up here. Zacar gave his permission for you to be here for a short time.”
“I could’ve destroyed the ship.”
“We docked in a secure bay and no human bomb can harm our ship.”
“Oh.” She couldn’t fathom a space ship with areas strong enough to withstand nuclear explosions. Nuclear. A chill went down her spine. “What about radiation?”
“I cured you of it. Zyrgin technology is far above your primitive nuclear bombs,” Viglar said. He said it in a voice that told her he’d rather let her explode or die of radiation poisoning than help her. “It is safe to take her away. I still don’t want her in my infirmary,” he said in English.”
Maeve sat up and deliberately smiled at him. “Thank you for saving my life, Viglar.”
If she wasn’t afraid she’d drive Larz to murder, she’d have kissed the doctor just to see his reaction.
Larz stepped between them. “Woman, you do not smile at the warriors. You do not talk to them.”
“Yes, Larz.” She could afford to give in on this. She was alive. And she’d be merciful to the rude doctor since he saved her life.
Larz caught her chin in his hand. “Why are you agreeing?”
She shrugged. “I don’t always argue. Besides I don’t want to talk to the warriors.”
He picked her up and, at the door, the doctor grated something at him. Larz stiffened, then nodded and they left the infirmary. It must’ve been an insult. She couldn’t worry about it now. She needed to know her friend was all right.
“Larz, I have to see Sarah.”
“No.”
“Please tell me where she is. Can I talk to her with your communications? I have to see her. I have this voice in my head that keeps telling me to help her.”
And this vague memory of a machine changing her.
“She does not need help. She is safe and on her way to the home world.”
Their home world? “Why?”
“This is not for you to know.”
“Did she go willingly?” She couldn’t bear the thought of Sarah being kidnapped a second time. She wanted Sarah to be safe and happy for the rest of her life.
“Yes.”
A door opened and they entered a long silver colored corridor. She touched the wall. The material was smooth and warm against her hand. “What is this stuff? Do you make everything from it?” She’d meant to get her hands on it for Parnell. Hell would freeze over before she helped him now.
“You are not to ask questions while we’re here.”
She sighed and shook her head. “If it makes you feel better, I’ll pretend I’m deaf and dumb while I’m here.”
“That will be best.”
He stopped, stepped back against the wall, and held her next to it and slightly behind him as a group of aliens passed them without acknowledging them. Dressed in their uniforms, they walked by without even glancing at her. She looked at Larz’s clothes. His uniform were slightly different from the ones he wore before. “Why is your uniform different from theirs?” she asked once they’d passed.
“They are warriors, I am not.”
“I don’t understand. When we made love, you called yourself a warrior.”
He shot her a sharp glance but kept walking. Instead of gadgets and a spectacular view of Earth through a port window, all she saw were endless twisting silver corridors that reminded her of the cave. They came to a stop, and it was only when the door slid open that she realized they’d stopped in front of one.
“Why aren’t you a warrior anymore?”
“When I wore my warrior clothes, when we made love the first time, was six months ago.”
“Six?” She rubbed her temples. “I remember being held in the guest house for almost six months. I can’t think about this. Tell me why your clothes are different.”
“I am being punished by The Zyrgin.”
Vague impressions flitted through her mind. “Because of me?”
“We will stay here until the shuttle is ready.”
He set her on her feet and she walked into the austere room. No ornaments adorned the walls. No clothes lay around, and no Earth souvenirs were displayed anywhere. It was bigger than she thought a room on a space ship would be. Still, the walls wanted to smother her.
“I thought you’d only have bunks, you know, to save on space and to be able to carry more fuel and stuff for the ship.” She looked around the small cabin. All in silver, it had a bunk big enough for a warrior but no other furniture. Is this your room or do you all sleep here at different times?”
“We each have a room like this.”
The realization suddenly hit home. Her eyes widened. “I’m on a space ship?”
He looked ready to grab her and run back to the infirmary. “Are you losing your memory again?”
She almost jumped up and down with excitement. “No, it just suddenly hit me. With everything else happening, it didn’t really register that I’m in a spaceship orbiting Earth. For a human, that is incredible.” Even during the golden age, humans couldn’t manage space travel. One ship sent to Mars was hit by an asteroid. Another exploded before it could launch. The last one was never completed. It probably still sat in a secret warehouse somewhere.
“For a human, this would be incredible. Zyrgins regards space ships as average technology.”
She looked up at the ceiling and shook her head. “Will you show me around?”
He crossed his arms over his chest. “No.”
“What about the kitchen? Just show me what a kitchen on a space ship looks like.” She’d have to see something interesting on the way there.
“No.”
She shook her head and sat up against the wall with her knees drawn up to her chest. “Why are you guys so secretive? Really, what is it you think we’ll find out? For that matter, w
ho on Earth will we tell it to?”
“Parnell.”
She snorted and didn’t care that it was a crude, unfeminine sound. “He betrayed me. I wouldn’t tell that monster anything.” She clenched her fists. “I want the nanos back. I’m going to put them in Parnell. I’ll enjoy seeing him panic. I’ll keep the detonator and make him think I’m going to explode him. Make him sweat for a few months.”
“I will deal with Parnell.”
The grim promise in his voice thrilled her. If Parnell had any sense he’d dig a deep dark hole and disappear.
She needed to move on, to find a way to forget what Parnell did to her.
“I want to be the one who give him what he deserves.
“Can you torture him for hours?”
She swallowed. “No. Thinking about doing it, and actually doing it, are two different things altogether.”
“You are a breeder and do not need to be tough. Your Zyrgin will be tough for you.”
She scowled at him. “He deserves to suffer for a very long time, and I hate that I don’t have the stomach to do what needs to be done.”
Danger thickened the atmosphere around him. “I do have the stomach to deal with Parnell. I promise you will feel vindicated by the time I am finished with him.”
She doubted she’d ever be reconciled with what that monster had done to her. The worst of it was, she wasn’t even sure what he did. Her memories were still all jumbled together. Some of them so out of context she couldn’t make sense of it. Tired of struggling with her own mind, she looked around the spartan room. Already the walls closed in on her. “How long will we stay here?”
“We have permission to depart in four hours.” He watched her with strange intensity. As if he wanted her to notice something.
“So what will we do with ourselves for four hours?”
“I will make love to my breeder?” he said.
“That would be a good way to pass the time. Wait--what? Your what?” Did it mean he accepted her? That he thought she could be a person with honor. Wait, he called her his breeder earlier, in the infirmary.
“My breeder.”
“So now I’m good enough to be your breeder. Is it because of the bomb?” She scowled at him--her best scowl. “You’d better not feel sorry for me.”
