The Vori's Secret

by S. J. Sanders

  “But where, oh where, is the door my friend, snake-man?” she mumbled, moving toward the other end of the room.

  Resting her hand against the wall, she skimmed it along the surface until she came to the end of the what seemed to be a short, winding passage. There, her fingertips grazed over a distinct wooden surface with carved rivets and wooden bolts securing it, locked against the outside world.

  Her fingers trembled as she pulled back each bolt. When the last one slid free, she threw her weight against the door. It didn’t give easily but inched open, slowly revealing a narrow stream of light that peaked through the crevice of rocks in front of her. She wondered how an alien of such obvious size accomplished squeezing between them.

  She was less than half his size and she would barely fit. While she’d inherited her father’s height, hazel eyes, and red hair, she owed her deep golden-brown complexion and solid build to her mother. She’d never bemoaned her broad bone structure and generous curves when it came to having an upper hand on whooping her brothers’ asses, but it wasn’t going to be an asset here, especially with the crevice being narrower at the ground level than it was higher up. She looked up, hoping for handholds that would allow her to shimmy up before she made her attempt, but the rock was worn smooth, likely from the alien passing through.

  Jenn sighed and narrowed her eyes at the opening in front of her.

  This was not going to be enjoyable.

  Not daring to breathe, Jenn tucked in what she could and turned sideways to slide her foot through the opening. With a twist of her hips, she got her thigh and hip through. It took a bit more wiggling to push her ass through. She felt a genuine Winnie-the-Pooh moment when her bottom popped through. The scrape of rock across her ass and breasts through the thin fabric of her dress was painful, and the delicate material tore in a few places in the process, but she wanted to cheer when she was able to breathe again. Pulling her other leg and shoulder free took only seconds afterward.

  She blinked her eyes and fought nausea as she faced the sunlit world she’d re-entered. A wave of dizziness swept over her. She likely had a mild concussion. Jenn winced as pain shot through her head. The light was bright, despite filtering through the trees. As her eyes adjusted, Jenn noticed that the trees were in fact thinner where she stood, the terrain rocky with a harsh slope. It seemed that her alien had carried her up the side of a mountain. That was a pretty ambitious trek for someone carrying dead weight, even a strange serpent alien.

  Picking up a broken branch for a walking stick, Jenn debated which way to go. Should she return down the mountain into the thicker brush and see if she can find any signs of tech that she can make use of to send a message to the Intergalactic Council? Or should she continue further into the mountain range?

  Neither option seemed promising, but the mountains seemed like they would be easier passage than the jungle had been. Although the Budo had left crates for locals in the valley, she figured she would find some sign of locals, perhaps a village, in the higher elevation away from the dense jungle floor. Like Peru. It seemed like a reasonable hypothesis to her. Even if it was more snake people, she would feel more comfortable approaching on her terms a settlement rather than taking her chances with a lone male keeping her in a cavern.

  Decision made; Jenn began to make her way further into the mountains. She was entertained briefly by watching various small brightly colored lizards slipping among the trees, some nearly as big as iguanas, with anywhere from two to ten legs carrying them through the brush. A few tiny rainbow-hued species that appeared to her like mutated geckos scrambled up and down the sides of the trees.

  Sometimes she heard a strange, unsettling rustling in the trees above her, but every time she looked up, she was unable to make out the source of the sound. The mountainous jungle was just as alien to her, filled with unfamiliar sounds and scents. Her skin prickled and a cold sweat popped out over her skin. She refused to even allow herself to think that she might have made a mistake. She just needed to get the upper hand on the situation. Make her position more... secure.

  EYUUL GROANED AT THE blinding pain shooting through his head. Now he was quite certain that he knew how the human had felt when she’d awoken. In retrospect, he should have expected her to defend herself against an unfamiliar male. While Reggie had never been violent against any of his people, it was not unusual to see aggressive females, especially among the Vori. She was likely hiding, even at that moment.

  He scanned the small den, looking for any sign of his guest.

  “Female?” he croaked. “Come out. I won’t hurt you.”

  Silence returned to him. His brow furrowed and he slithered toward the door, dread creeping in on him. Light shone through a crack of the door where it hadn’t been securely slid all the way closed. Eyuul yanked the door open and stared at the crevice in front of him.

  His human had escaped and was alone in the most dangerous territory of the region. There were many predators, chief among them the shoyla if she were to go further into the mountains. A shoyla would eagerly hunt her if given the chance.

  That was not even taking into account any possible dangers that the human could face if found by the mountain clan. Although they were the kin of Vadal’s nestmate, Shaagra, they were often uncouth and barbaric in their behavior.

  Eyuul wasn’t certain he would trust any of them around the female he found.

  He snarled a curse and whipped through the entrance, his crown coils snapping aggressively. In the dirt on the other side of the crevice, he could make out the imprints of the small coverings she wore strapped to her delicate feet. The path veered further into the mountains. The trail was old. She’d obviously passed through some time ago. Even the taste of her on the air was fading. But he wouldn’t let that stop him.

  Eyuul wouldn’t rest until he found his human and returned her safely to his den. Then, they would have a long talk and he would lay down the rules. She would not run from him again. He would excuse it this time, but he refused to allow her to risk her safety in such a way again.

  Chapter 4

  Jenn grimaced as she peeled what she could only guess was some kind of native leech off her ass. The eight mouths stuck to her flesh, each one accompanied by a pair of needle-thin appendages. Though the legs helped it move and cling to its host, each mouth hooked on with what she suspected were tiny barbs. Detaching the legs and mouths made her hiss in pain and curse the little bastard to the abyss. She ignored the legs scrambling for purchase as she gradually pulled each mouth free.

  When the last mouth released, she pulled it away, her face contorting to an expression of horror. It had no eyes, or any head proper, only numerous mouths along its “belly” between its leg segments. Its barbed mouths wiggled from side to side as its little legs waved in the air, attempting to reattach to her. Jenn flung it to the ground with a shriek. The parasite stilled, raised a pair of legs, and rushed her unerringly, no doubt locked onto her body heat. She brought the end of her walking stick down on it, grinding it until she heard a loud pop, staining the ground with a smear of her blood. Her stomach heaved as a sickening sweet musk rose in the air.

  Disgusting!

  She went to work pulling off the smaller parasites one by one and crushing them before they could turn and rush back toward her heat. At first, she’d ignored the annoying twinges. That was until she managed to pick up the big bastard she’d extracted from her flesh. The pinch from its bite had forced her to stop and yank up her dress, revealing an entire colony of parasites stretching from her ankles up the entire length of her legs.

  Unlike leeches, which lived in the water, the leaf-colored species native to Vora crawled through the trees. The smallest among them were the size of a dime, but the largest, with its swollen abdomen, was easily the size of her fist. All it took was a downpour, and the little beasts were out in force, crawling along trunks and branches in search of a host. She shuddered as a fat reptile scurried by with a small colony of the damn things clinging to it.
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  She had a feeling that dealing with the leeches was just a matter of life in the mountains.

  With the last one finally pulled off and killed ingloriously, Jenn winced at the dull sting from where they’d all attached to her. In several spots, she could feel the warm track of her blood seep before it slowed and finally stopped, though it continued to feel uncomfortably sticky under the sweltering heat of the afternoon sun.

  The rising heat after the rainstorm made the air heavy with humidity. That seemed to drive the leeches back into their cool hiding places, since she didn’t see any others after an hour of walking through the jungle. She avoided direct contact with the trees when she could help it, though. She didn’t know enough about the native wildlife to feel comfortable risking exposing herself to further contact. She was, however, able to relax enough to turn her mind to other things.

  Chief among them was the male from earlier. She wasn’t sure that he would just give up. It seemed like he’d put a bit too much effort into returning home with her to not make an effort to retrieve her.

  She would have to be prepared once she found the right place to stage her counteroffensive. A few traps might discourage him from pursuing her further. It was a shame she didn’t have the tools to dig a pit, but she could take advantage of what nature provided with just a few adjustments to work in her favor.

  It didn’t have to be much. Just enough to make him reconsider—that maybe she was more trouble than it was worth.

  It never seemed to take much for her old flames to move on to greener, and easier, pastures. She had no illusions. Jenn knew that she had high standards, which inevitably led to the death of the fledgling relationship. Despite her track record, she always went into a new relationship certain it would be “the one” until it too failed. Then, once again, she’d sit with her girlfriends, nursing drinks as they cursed their exes in solidarity.

  But all her friends seemed to find that certain magic. Jenn had watched as they got married, and she was left behind. It had become harder to watch the weddings turning into baby showers, and girls’ night postponed in favor for playdates. She wanted those things, but it never worked out.

  Signing up for the information exchange program offered by the Budo had seemed like an opportunity to do something new. She hadn’t hesitated to give notice to her manager at the bank where she worked as a teller. The journey was supposed to take her mind off her romantic failings and give her a new purpose.

  How funny that she’d acquired the one thing she wanted—and it had nearly killed her.

  As her eyes fell upon long, slender vines dripping down from the trees, Jenn pulled down several lengths and coiled them over her shoulder. She considered using them to set a trap, just in case the male was dogging her trail. Something like a tripwire, one of the easiest traps used to frustrate an opponent. Unfortunately, she didn’t think it would work with the massive length of a Vori’s tail. Even a snare would be discounted for the same reason. That ruled out two of the easiest and least lethal traps in her arsenal, much to her frustration. Why couldn’t the Vori have legs? Still, she wasn’t about to give up perfectly good rope. No doubt it would be useful at some point.

  Without an immediate answer to her predicament, Jenn walked on, conscious of the fact that the Vori likely moved quicker and was probably gaining on her. It wasn’t until later in the day, as the sun hung low in the sky, that she came across exactly the very thing she was looking for: a large natural fissure that dropped about thirty feet. She’d almost stumbled into it before she caught herself on a low-hanging vine. Her heart had nearly burst out of her chest as she stared down into the depths. It wasn’t until she was safely upright that her lips had curved with satisfaction as she inspected the source of her near demise.

  A fall like that would have either killed her or broken more than one bone. For a local, it would be a painful inconvenience that would take a considerable amount of climbing to get out of.

  All she needed to do was disguise it and bait her trap.

  With quick industry, Jenn broke several large fronds and wove them into the roots and growth of the forest, strategically kicking moss and dirt over it so it resembled much of the forest floor littered with fronds and fallen branches. Taking a spare frond, she snapped it so that it would resemble one that had broken free by her passing. She dabbed it on the wet blood that had refused to dry in the high humidity, certain her pursuer would notice. Then she would have him! She tossed the branch in the center of her trap and high-tailed it out of there.

  If lady luck were on her side, it would slow him down considerably.

  EYUUL HATED WAITING out the storm high in the canopy, but it was the only place that was safe from the winves. The small bloodsucking parasite dwelled in the roots of the trees, emerging to crawl along the jungle floor and the lower trunks and limbs of the trees after heavy rains in the mountains. It was especially bad in the late part of the hot season, when they were out in force before they went into hibernation during the wet season. For a Vori, they were a painful nuisance, and their removal often resulted in the loss of several scales.

  He hated the delay more due to his concern for the female. Her entire body was vulnerable to the winves. Prolonged contact with them could result in terrible fevers and seizures from the toxins they pumped into their hosts. She didn’t know how to avoid them or even to be aware of them. As he’d rested in the canopy, he had terrible visions of coming across the human convulsing or even dead, her entire body covered with the engorged parasites.

  As soon as the blistering sun came out again and the heat climbed, Eyuul returned to the ground, his senses alert. He had not been surprised that nothing of her trail remained to be followed. Instead, he’d examined his environment and plotted what he considered the most logical course for a human to take, following along a rocky stretch of the forest floor. It wasn’t foolproof, but it should get him within range to be able to scent her on the air.

  Vori were expert hunters, and Eyuul ranked among the best of them.

  Elation filled him when he finally caught her scent. It was faded, mingled with a pungent odor, but concentrated. More importantly, it told him without a doubt that he was heading in the right direction. He grimaced when he saw the source of the smell. A patch of earth was littered with the corpses of winves. Not as bad as his imagination had conjured up, but it still made him wince in sympathy. He knew from personal experience that dislodging a winve was never a pleasant experience. There were no fewer than ten, from what he could tell from the smears on the rock. At least she’d become aware of them.

  Winves generally fell off their hosts under the heat of the midday, returning to the earth to burrow into the cool soil near the roots. It made them a temporary nuisance but if not caught in time, one could make even a Vori sick. He had no idea what it could do to a human after exposure to one’s bite, much less that of several winves. Her scent trailed off from that site, no doubt where traces of her blood fell on the foliage as she passed, and he followed it until that too finally disappeared. Confident, he continued east.

  It wasn’t until hours later that he began to worry that perhaps he’d misjudged the female’s course. Humans did not always act predictably. He’d seen that more than once with his brother’s mate, Reggie. If that were the case, he would have traveled a great distance in the wrong direction and would have little hope of finding his female. Eyuul struck his tail against a tree as he snarled.

  That was not acceptable!

  He turned to retrace his steps when a tantalizing smell rose on a breeze. Eyuul’s tongue darted out, drawing the scent further in as he tasted it. The familiar sweetness of his human burst through him. The sharp edge of blood worried him, however. Was she injured and alone? Whipping the great length of his tail to side, he adjusted his route, homing in on the pungent sweetness that teased him.

  He slowed as he came to the point where the scent of blood was the strongest, focusing on the broken frond smeared with crimson blood shades brig
hter than its own purple hue. It seemed odd to him that nothing else showed signs of her blood. He crept forward to inspect it, scanning the trees for any sign of a trap. He wouldn’t put it past a rival clan to attempt to drop a net on him. He didn’t scent any sign of any others of his kind, however, nor did he see any evidence of anything rigged to fall from the high branches of the trees. He turned his head at any angle to inspect a cluster of branches overhead when suddenly his tail dropped out from beneath him.

  Uttering a hoarse shout, Eyuul plummeted, a thin barrier of branches breaking around him as he dropped into a deep crevice. His tail and torso struck the walls on his way down, but he was thankful that the drop itself wasn’t as deep as it could have been. Groaning, he lay there for several minutes, taking inventory of his injuries as he blinked up at the sunlight filtering through the trees.

  “Kashesh,” he cursed as he pushed his torso up from the ground, allowing the coil of his tail to support his weight. Eyuul surveyed the hole, his crown coils whipping around his head, their lengths stretched out in an inspecting fashion. A single frond dropped down to his head before slipping off to join the number of plants that had fallen inside with him.

  Someone had covered the fissure.

  Did the female set a trap for him?

  Fury and pride warred within him. He wanted to shake sense into her, and he wanted to sing her praises.

  Lashing his tail, he beat against the sides of the cavern as he worked to right himself, drawing the massive length of coils beneath him. Rising as high as he was able, Eyuul inspected the jagged sides of the crevice. This was going to take him some time to get out of, but it was not impossible.