by Calista Skye
My knees go weak and I sag to the floor. “Jax'zan!”
It comes out as an anguished shriek. Because the dactyls are diving for him, screeching like a million giant nails on a chalkboard, and I know they will kill him.
Someone slaps the button and the door slams shut.
27
- Jax'zan -
She's safely inside and I can now go to my Ancestors with pride and honor. I have protected the Mother until she could get to her friends. The Ancestors will protect her on Bune, their home.
Another irox dives for me, a flying horror that our tribesmen tries their best to avoid. I took the first one by surprise, but these are now aware of what they're up against. They don't like it, I know. They're cowardly in their own way, and prefer to attack in huge numbers and sometimes flee when they realize that you intend to fight. But I've never seen this many at the same time.
I laugh out loud as the fighting spirit fills me. It's a good way to go. I have done what I can for Sophia. It's proper.
I fling my sword at the nearest irox and cut a wing off. It tumbles to the ground and tries to crawl away as the next one swoops down and I run to retrieve the blade.
I empty my mind. To fight these things you have to act on instinct. They're too fast to allow you to think and plan each move. Only a warrior acting intuitively has any chance at all.
I have to fill my conscious mind with other thoughts while my arms guide my sword with animalistic instinct. And my thoughts are filled with Sophia anyway.
It was the hardest thing I've ever done. I had to see her safely here without her seeing me. And of course we were hunted by all kinds of Bigs, even the rare and terrifying xervs. I had only one chance against that one. I had to throw my sword and hope that it would penetrate the beast's tiny brain. The Ancestors were merciful and made that happen. Then they allowed me to spot and neutralize every danger in Sophia's way until we were here and she hadn't seen me. They guided and protected us all the way. It's the clearest sign I've seen. The Ancestors support me.
I had no idea the Mother would be this spectacular. In every way. She escaped from the village the first chance she got. Why? To help her friends! It almost floored me.
When I put the ladder there, I half expected her to stay, realizing that her life in the tribe wouldn't be bad. I would have preferred it if she had remained, but I wanted her to have the choice. Something deep inside me rebels at the thought of breeding with a woman who is only doing it because she's in a difficult situation. It feels wrong. Even if she is the sacred Mother of Xren and the Prophecy states that I'll mate with her.
In the beginning, it was my opinion that she was mine. That I had ownership of her. The Prophecy states it, and it seemed right that she should somehow be my property. But before we came to our village, it dawned on me that she's not mine. She's her own. I have no right to own her. Not at all. Having known Sophia for many days, it has become clear to me that a woman is more more than just a vessel for mating. She's a full person in every way. She has ideas, courage, strength, emotions and a deep integrity that I'm not going to breach. And all the things we did together felt much better to my soul when I felt that she did them because she wanted to, not because she had to.
Sophia is the Mother, of course. But that seems less important now. The main thing is that she's also a woman I love. I want her to love me back. And if she doesn't – well, then I have to accept it, like any warrior has to accept adverse fate when he's done everything he can to avoid it. And I did mate with her. More than once, even. I should be content.
My sword is dripping with irox blood. I have slayed a good heap of them by now. My muscles are sore and I'm breathing heavy. But I can take out a few more.
I wanted to honor Sophia by letting her reach her friends on her own. I didn't want her to know that I helped her get here safely. It would have made her bravery lesser, in a way. She made her choice when she escaped from the village. It was a choice so courageous my heart soared while at the same time breaking into pieces. If I had offered to accompany her, she would have to make that same choice many more times. That would not have been fair to her.
It was my intention to see her safely here and then to return to the village to offer myself up to the judgement of the council and the inevitable death that would follow. But when I saw the flock of irox attack, I had to cross the boundary into forbidden Bune and protect my love. After this, the village will not take me back. I will not lie to them to keep my status. I have defied them. And I have stepped on Bune. Both are punished by death.
I picked Sophia over the tribe. I am an outlaw now. But it was the right choice, even so. I don't regret it at all.
The sword dances in my hand. I'm wet with cold, sticky irox blood. And my own. I'm tiring fast. I have taken down many irox, and they're becoming more careful. I think I may just be able to chase them away. If I survive that long. I'm fighting heroically, but I have sustained many injuries and I can't feel my hands.
I glance to the side. The round container that Sophia's friends live inside is being attacked, too. I can only hope that it will hold together.
The world is shrinking around me and I can no longer hear the irox' terrible screams.
I grin into the sky. I found the Mother. And then I helped her as well as I could. The Ancestors will welcome me among them. I will be an Ancestor and I will remain right here on Bune. I will protect Sophia and guide her as a spirit.
And, I decide with evil glee, I will haunt the shaman. He won't have a moment's peace after I die. His idea to force Sophia's friends to become involuntary breeders for the tribe is the worst and most dishonorable nonsense I've heard. But it was too tempting for the tribal council to reject. He knows what appeals to old men who are nearing the end of their lives without having known the embrace of a woman, and then suddenly have the possibility dangled in front of them.
I heave the sword at another irox. I can't remember the blade ever being this heavy before. I accept it. I don't have much longer to live. Even if the irox are clearly losing their spirit to fight and it will take very little for them to retreat now.
I lose the grip on my sword and when I go down on my knees to pick it up, I don't have the strength to get back up.
I smile again. This is how a warrior dies. Sophia will see that it was right.
I wet my lips. No one will hear them, but every warrior should have some last words. And what mine will be is plain.
“Sophia,” I whisper, making sure to get the sounds of her alien name right. “Kra tun kateh.”
28
- Sophia -
I hiss and curse and scramble and try to claw my way to the door button. I have to help him!
But the other girls hold me back until I calm down.
“There's nothing you can do,” someone says into my ear. “We have no weapons. You'll just get in his way.”
I realize that it's true, and I take a deep, shaking breath and try to keep from breaking down into a screaming heap. A sore sob forces its way out of me as my world is filled with black despair.
Still I notice that the girls are filled with something else.
“God, that's him? That's her boyfriend?”
“Fuck, he's hot!”
“Are they all like him?”
“He just chopped its head off with a single slice. I've never seen anyone jump that high!”
Yeah, the other girls saw him, too. For the first time, I realize.
I can just shake my head. They're definitely not all like him. Not at all. No one's like him. In the whole universe.
I can hear the screeching from the not-dactyls outside and I clamp my hands over my ears.
And then the whole tuna can reverberates with a bang so loud Caroline loses her balance and falls on her butt. We stare at each other.
“What the hell?”
Then there's another bang, and another. And I realize that the walls of the tuna can are getting dented from the outside. The dents protrude into the can. Th
ey're big and pointy. Like dactyl beaks.
“They're trying to break in,” someone whispers.
“Shit, I wonder if it'll hold together.”
We sit in a huddle on the floor and hug each other, looking up at the ceiling where more and more dents are forming with loud, rattling bangs. It's like being inside a huge drum when someone's throwing large rocks at it.
“The gun is empty,” I whisper unnecessarily in a sore throat. “Do we have any spears?”
“Just this.” Aurora holds out a stick that's only the size of a pool cue. “But I think it's pretty much worse than nothing.”
The tuna can is now reverberating constantly with bangs, and the dactyls are definitely sitting on top of it and pecking hard at the metal. Many new dents develop, and the sound is taking on a strained sound, as if the metal is starting to give in.
Then a streak of daylight appears on the ceiling.
“That's a hole,” someone says.
“It's not holding.”
“Fuck, this can't be good.”
But I feel a calmness come over me. I'm pretty sure Jax'zan is dead. Those dactyls are fierce, and there were hundreds of them. He can't defeat them all.
This whole thing just has no good outcome for me.
Because it's time to get real. We have no way to get off the planet. The Plood aren't going to come back to get us again. Even if we survive this, we'll be killed by something sooner or later. And this, being eaten by dinosaurs, is probably better than being kept as a sex slave by a stone age tribe and better than being sacrificed and better than being slowly killed one after the other by the various horrors on this planet. Maybe dying like this isn't the worst thing that could happen. At least we'll die together. In reality, we were dead the moment we were kidnapped from Earth. I've known it all along. I just haven't admitted it to myself.
“Don't worry, girls,” I say, and I can hear the flatness of my voice. “This is going to be okay.” Well, whatever happens, I'm going to stay in character as the cheerful one to the end.
No one replies, and they probably think I've gone crazy.
There's a horrendous, metallic shriek as a portion of the roof is being rolled and ripped off, and a long beak dips down. We all squeal and bunch together up to the wall by the door.
Other parts of the roof are breaking down too, and pieces of the metal are torn off like the top of an actual tuna can being attacked by a maniac with a blunt knife in each hand.
Pointy not-dactyl snouts with terrible teeth are being stuck in from above, and now we can smell them, too. It's a smell like rotting meat and sulfur.
“I think this is it, girls,” Delyah says calmly. “We deserved a better end than this, but for what it's worth, it's been a pleasure working with you all.”
We all look at each other. It's hopeless, but we've faced certain death so many times now that we just don't have that many more fucks to give.
We clutch each other's hands. Slender, dirty, sore and bruised hands that were used to lifting coffee mugs and using cell phones and writing on computer keyboards, but that had to do very different things on this planet. I'm proud of us. I think we've done really well. Even if it ends like this.
“Damn right. It's been an honor, guys.”
“Thanks for everything, ladies. We were the best fucking tribe on this shitty planet.”
“The best by far. I heard the other ones don't even have women.”
“Fuck this useless planet and the pitiful loser kidnappers that dumped us here.”
“I'd like to see anyone else do this after us. Earth girls rule. Thanks, guys.”
Something makes me get to my feet and the girls are looking at me in puzzlement. My knees are weak and my movements are jerky with fear, but I know what to do. Jax'zan is alone out there. He has to be dead already. But I want to go to him.
No. I need to go to him. I will die holding around his dead body. It's right.
“You know, I'm not sitting here like a trapped rat just waiting for a damn not-dactyl to decide to eat me. Gun or not, I'm going out fighting.”
I slap the door button and step outside.
29
- Sophia -
Just as I exit the tuna can, all the not-dactyls take off and soar into the sky, more like a flock of giant starlings than a swarm of deadly predators.
I can't count the not-dactyls lying dead on the ground. They're too big. But there are probably at least twenty. The rest are now flying off fast into the distance. Weird. I hadn't noticed that they had stopped hacking on the roof.
I peer skeptically up to the sky. But it actually does look like they're all leaving. Probably they're not used to resistance. And certainly not the resistance Jax'zan must have given them.
But where is he? The huge not-dactyl carcasses strewn everywhere make it hard to find him. But then I finally see him, and my hands to go my mouth. “Oh my god!”
He's on his knees and the sword is on the ground. He's bleeding profusely from many cuts and slashes and irregular wounds that I realize are not-dactyl bites taken out of him.
I run over with panic rising once more. “Jax'zan!”
He raises his head and says something. But I don't have the translator and I don't know what he's saying. The blood is dripping from him and already collecting in a black puddle under him.
“Help!” I scream towards the tuna can, because this is more than I can handle on my own. I never expected him to still be alive.
I see the girls looking out and up to make sure the not-dactyls are gone, and then Delyah and Heidi come running.
“Is he okay?”
“Shit, he chased them away! That's insane!”
I realize that any place is as good as the other right now, and we can treat him right here in the shade. Finding him alive re-ignites the hope in me. “We need something he can lie down on. Then bandages. Rip up lab coats into long strips. And take care of him while I go and find herbs. We have to stop that bleeding. And maybe prevent infection, too.”
I run into the woods to where I know there are many different bushes and plants and herbs. I'm still choked up with fear for Jax'zan. I have to stop or slow the bleeding somehow. If he has internal injuries, I don't think there's much I can do.
I find the herbs I know will clean the wounds and hopefully help slow the bleeding, and I pick every leaf of it I can find. I run back to Jax'zan, half expecting to see him dead on the ground.
He's on the ground, but he's still alive and even smiling with a face that's so pale I feel my face scrunch up in fear because his blood loss scares me. But if ever there was a time when I should be happy-go-lucky, this is it.
I use two rocks to mash the various herbs into a green, fresh-smelling paste and gently apply it to his biggest wounds.
Caroline and Emilia bring one of the primitive mattresses they've made for themselves to sleep on and Jax'zan slowly shifts his position so he can lie down. He says something with a smirk, and I know he's making a joke. Black humor. That scares me, too. He knows this is bad.
Caroline goes back to the tuna can to boil water and Emilia goes to get water for him to drink.
“What can I do?” Aurora asks.
I show her the medicinal plants “Get more herbs like this.”
She runs into the woods.
Heidi runs over with a lab coat, then starts ripping it up and carefully puts the strips on the wounds that we've put the herb paste on. “I'm sorry if this is inappropriate, but I never saw a guy this totally jacked. Do they have a huge gym at his village?”
I glance up at her. I'm not really in the mood to chitchat. “Not that I know of. I think maybe they're born pretty strong, and then their lives make them even stronger. But not all of them are this muscular.”
She lowers her voice conspiratorially. “So did you ... you know.”
I know perfectly well, but she's going to have to spell it out more if she wants an answer. “Did I what?”
“You know, you and him ... I mean, there
's no women in his tribe and he looks like this ... Probably had to be tempting to hook up, right?”
I mash up more of the herbs. Despite everything, Heidi's light tone about a not-vital topic is actually perking me up. There's been too much life-or-death stuff lately. “Probably.”
“So did you? Hook up?”
I can't help a little smirk to play around my mouth. “Some hooking may or may not have taken place.”
She grins. “Ohmigod I knew it. Umm ... is he like other guys? I mean, down there? Because he's only wearing a kilt and I can see, like, straight up-”
“Yes, I get it,” I say before she can go on. “No, not exactly like other guys. Or Earth guys, I guess. A little different there.”
“In a good way?”
It feels totally inappropriate to talk about these intimate matters with him right there, but I'm kind of bursting with pride about it and he can't understand what we're saying anyway. And he's breathing easier now. He's still pale as a sheet, but he's tougher than anyone has any right to be and now I actually have some hope that he'll pull through.
“In a good way,” I confirm and smile at the memory. “Actually, in the best way you can imagine. And then some.”
Heidi is impressed. “Oh my god. And he has a body like this. And he's totally confident and defeats a million dactyls all alone. Does he have a brother?”
I lift a heavy arm and apply more green paste. It looks like his tiger stripes are much harder and resilient than the ordinary skin around them. Like he's wearing natural armor. If he survives, that's what saved him. “I don't think they have those. They're all clones.”
Heidi gasps excitedly. “They're clones? So there could be many just like this one? Millions? Like those from Star Wars?”
“Not as far as I know. I think he's the only one who's just like this.”
“Oh. Well, even so. Heck, forget the brother. I'd settle for a cousin or even an acquaintance of this guy.”
Emilia comes over with water and Jax'zan drinks greedily.
It occurs to me that he'd probably like that juice he gave me. “He probably brought his bag. Large, green thing made of dinosaur skin?”
