by Auryn Hadley
Without a word, she stepped away. The soldier clawed at his throat, his attempts to scream little more than a gurgle. When she turned, her pupils were dilated in ecstasy. Ashir tried to step back, but strong arms held him. One movement had changed her from a sweet child, so like his daughter, to a feral beast. She sucked at the knuckle of her hand, stepping to the next man in line.
"What about you?" she purred.
"I'm unarmed," he said. "We surrendered!"
Sal shook her head. "He didn't." She grabbed his face, blood from her hand smearing across his cheek. Her lip raised, and she chuckled. "Being human isn't a crime. Relax."
The man nodded, all too aware of the bloody knife still in her hand. She held his eyes for a long moment, then her shoulders sagged. The man whimpered and shook his head, his eyes widening. "No, please no." He fell to his knees. "Not like that."
"Why?" Sal asked.
With little more than a touch, the Kaisae brought the Terran soldier to tears. He wept openly, his sobs the sound of true defeat. She stepped back and licked at her bloody hand again, watching him.
"Wait then," she whispered, and his eyes rolled in his head, his body falling limp to the floor.
"He'll be like that for about ten minutes," she told the Anglian woman holding him. "I'll want him again."
"Yes, Kaisae," she said.
Then the Kaisae turned to Ashir. Her eyes met his and held them before she smiled. "You're last, I think." She moved to the next man.
"How did you know he was human?" the prisoner asked. "He's pale!"
Sal giggled and gestured dramatically as she said, "It's magic." A man in grey armor laughed behind her. "Wanna see?" she asked.
Her hand grabbed his face, and she snarled. Her eyes had barely locked to the Terran's before she swung the blade. With a low growl, she turned as he fell dead.
"Give one to Rhyx and one to Raast." The slip of a woman gestured back toward her table.
Two beasts stood. Grauori, but these were smaller than most. At first glance, they seemed so like dogs, but now, closer, they weren't. Their eyes were large, their noses convex, but their lips were not split. He looked back to the Kaisae and saw her watching him.
"See something you like?" she asked.
"They aren't canines." The fear he could hear in his own voice shamed him.
"No, iliri. Can't you smell them?"
He shook his head. "The wind's the wrong way."
"Ah. Why can't we read you?"
"Grant me a boon?" he asked in a sudden rush of bravery.
Sal looked at him, waiting.
"I've never seen one up close. I've always wondered what they are." Ashir's eyes flicked to the white beasts.
"Amma?" one asked.
"It's ok, Raast."
The beast on the right walked up to him then stood on her hind legs. Her head reached to the Kaisae's shoulder, and their eyes were identical. Side by side, Ashir saw how truly similar they were. Salryc Luxx had no hair on her body but the shape of the head matched, her nasal structure was more delicate but built with the same arc. Then he saw the ears. His eyes went from one to the other, then widened.
Sal smiled. "Go have lunch, baby," she said to the beast beside her. "Take them inside, though, you know some still can't watch."
"Ok, amma. Come on Rhyx," the beast said in clear Glish.
"You're the same," Ashir breathed.
Sal nodded. "Humans made us from them, thinking they'd domesticated us."
The pups moved to the two corpses and sank their teeth in the armor, pulling at them. A few men in grey stepped forward, muttered something, then grabbed the bodies. The grauori trotted ahead, ducking into a large black tent behind the table while the soldiers carried the dead men behind them.
Before he was ready, the guards released him and Sal stepped forward. She met his eyes first, and he couldn't help but glance down. Her hand caught his chin, raising his face back to hers. She smelled amazing. Ashir had never smelled anything like her. It was like a summer sky, children's giggles, and flowers in his wife's hair all at the same time, if those things had a scent. He smiled, suddenly feeling completely at ease.
Then it hit him. A touch sorted through his mind, seeking something. He tried to hide it. He couldn't let her find his mission. He had to do this. If he could just do this one thing, Deela and Liani would be safe. He would die regardless, but he had to do this to save his family. It was the only hope he had. A tear ran down his cheek, and he slowly shifted his hand forward, brushing the clasp. When he felt the click against his chest, he surged, as fast as his Iliran ancestry would let him, grabbing the secret blade and shoving at her. She was so close, he couldn't miss.
And then he stopped. His arm out, the thin, poisoned dagger in his hand, still inches from her skin, he just stopped. Ashir tried to shove closer, but his body ignored him.
"Relax," Sal whispered. "This is easier if you relax."
The shuffling in his head continued, and he heard the sound of footsteps running behind him, then she found it. Her mental touch caressed the memory and jerked back for a moment in shock before she grabbed it. He felt as if she split his mind open and dove inside.
"Where are they?" she asked kindly.
"The gaol," he admitted.
She grabbed the memory and twisted it, just a bit. With a gasp, he remembered the hypnotism and the conditioning he'd undertaken to hide his surface thoughts from the Anglians.
"Jase?" she said.
A second hand touched him. "Yeh. I'm getting the same thing, now, kitten."
Releasing him, she stepped back. "Ashir Doyin, I am Salryc Luxx, Kaisae of Anglia. This is my military council. You already met my daughter, Raast. The other is her twin Rhyx. The men in Black are my family, the Black Blades. Grey is the Devil Dogs. White is the Verdant Shields." She turned from him to the men around her. "His wife and daughter are held as ransom for my death in the gaol. There may be more soldiers locked behind those doors. I want them."
"Is he safe?" a man in white armor asked, gesturing to his hand.
"Fuck," Sal grumbled. With a wave, she released his body and Ashir let the knife fall to the ground. "What was it poisoned with?"
"Andromedotoxin," he admitted.
A dark man sighed behind him and rested his hand on his shoulder. "She hates that shit."
Sal scooted the blade away with her foot, looking at it as if it disgusted her. "One of you humans grab that?"
Zep stepped forward and picked up the blade. When Sal glanced at him, he shrugged. "Still human biology, demon."
The small iliri man on his other side, Jase, chuckled. "So who are we sending for his pack?"
A human in grey stepped up. "Ryek and Meia are free. How many in there?"
Sal looked back to Ashir. He shook his head sadly. "I don't know."
"Send four, Pig," Sal ordered. "Better too many, than none return. Take a healer."
"Yeah. I'll send two Hounds. That puts me short. Just keep it in mind."
"No, we're staying here a while." Sal turned back to Ashir. "We're pleased to have you, professor. Your wife and daughter should be with us shortly."
He felt suddenly like someone had knocked the wind from him. Collapsing to his knees, he let the tears flow. "Why?" he asked. "You killed them. You said nothing, you just killed them, but this?"
Sal squatted before him, her hands across her knees. "We're here to save the iliri. We're here to free Unav. I won't make you swear to Anglia, but you're welcome to. Those men," she said with a growl tinting her voice, "want to see all of us dead. Their minds felt like nothing but hate. You can't hide it from me if I touch you, Ashir. I am a Kaisae. I am a real Kaisae. It's not vanity that keeps hands from me, it's that I don't want to be in your head all the time. Ok?"
He nodded.
"Ilija?" Sal asked. "I want that compartment added to all of our armor. The girls will set their chest plates aside."
"Can I wait until they're done, Sal?" he asked. "My stomach doesn't handle th
at shit well."
Sal giggled and ducked her head. "I don't care. It's not a rush."
"What shit?" Ashir asked.
"They're eating." Sal looked up at him. Her eyes met his and waited.
Realization suddenly dawned. "The..." He looked at the deep red stains on the ground where she'd just killed two men. "Them?"
Sal nodded, and a smile slowly spread across her face. "Did you want some?"
Ashir looked up at the humans around him, his heart beating faster. They watched him carefully. He wondered if it was some kind of a test. The small, pale man beside him chuckled and grabbed his arm.
"Come on. I'll make sure my girls share."
Ashir resisted but found his feet under him regardless. "I'm not a beast," he said, looking at the soldiers around him.
Sal just laughed. "You are. I can smell it." She leaned close to his ear and whispered softly, "It tastes better than it smells," then patted his armor and turned back to her table.
Jase just chuckled and drug him forward. The scent from the tent was sweet and tantalizing, but all the human eyes made him wary. Suddenly the pull stopped, and the larger man stepped to his side. "We're Anglian. Dead is dead, and they don't care what happens to them. Sure, the humans would rather not watch our kind feed, but they don't begrudge us what we need. We are Anglian, not Terran."
"But you're human," Ashir said, confused.
"Nah," Jase said from his other side. "He's just a really fucked up iliri."
"Fuck you, little brother."
Jase laughed and guided the man into the tent.
Chapter 10
Sal leaned on the table in front of her, feeling so tired. With her back facing the last prisoner, she glanced over her shoulder. The look brought him awake.
"Let's try this again, ok?" she asked.
"They said if we killed you, the war would be over." The soldier sat up, completely awake.
The men around them laughed.
"Nah," Pig said. "First off, those damned blades," he gestured at the one Zep held, "wouldn't kill her. Secondly, it'd just make us fight a hell of a lot harder."
"Why?" the soldier asked.
"Because you're killing us," Zep said.
"We're trying to get rid of them." The man pointed at Sal. "They're barbaric. They crave human flesh, they spend their evenings in orgies, and - " the laughter around him made the soldier's tirade fall silent.
Zep just stood before him, grinning. He shrugged and walked to Sal, turning her away from the table, then kissed her. She leaned into him for a moment before stepping back.
"Tease," she whispered.
Zep chuckled, then looked at the Terran soldier staring at him. "I am Taunor, little man. I happen to enjoy those orgies. Rather a lot. I'm also not human."
"So," she said. "Now that you men are done posturing, what I want to know, Kraiton, is what we should do with you. You don't want to die, you don't agree with us, but you've lost the desire to kill me. I don't have room for you. So what should I do with you?"
He chuckled. "Let me go?"
Sal stormed to his side, grabbing his jaw in her small hand. "What would you do if I let you go?" she snarled.
"Go home," he said softly. "I just want to go home."
She released him and stood. "Dag, do we have a Terran horse we can spare?"
"Yeah, Rragri had them rounded up."
"Give him one and let him go." She sighed. "And a sword. They've ruined this place. He won't live to make it home without a sword."
"Can do, Sal," Dag said before jogging through the rows of tents and out of sight.
"Don't try this again," she warned Kraiton. "I'll kill you next time."
"Why?" he asked, not daring to move.
Zep pulled the man to his feet. "Why did she let you live?"
He nodded, the look of disbelief on his face mixed with terror, as if he expected to die any moment.
"Regret."
Kraiton shook his head. The answer clearly made no sense.
"She can't feel it, but you do. You regret thinking you'd kill her. Sal can't comprehend that, so she's giving you a second chance. Anger she understands, and hate. Love is what she's made of, but she can't understand doing something you'd wish you hadn't done. Be grateful. It just saved your life."
"I am sorry," he said. "I just want this all to end."
"It will," she assured him. "With each step we take east, that much more of the continent will know peace. Stop fighting us and start fighting him." She growled. "I just don't want to see any more of us dead. You can't expect I would like it!"
He shook his head. "No. I didn't think about it, but no."
"What did you think about?" she demanded. "What makes you think you can blame an entire species for anything?"
"They proved it. They showed us how iliri are ruining the world. How every generation, more babies are mix breed than pure humans."
"Or pure iliri," she pointed out.
"We're dying, and you're killing us!" Kraiton shot back.
"No." She stepped toward him again. "You have it backwards." She touched his head and closed her eyes.
A light grew in his mind, forcing Kraiton to look at it. Flashes of pain and disgust flared through his brain as if he watched through someone else's eyes. The man's skin felt greasy against him, like rotting meat, but he was a woman and she didn't want to touch it. He smelled sweet, too sweet, but the breath in his/her face was stale. When the man kissed him, he felt as if a beast tried to molest him, wanting nothing more than to be anywhere but there. Her mind wished for death, for release, for anything but the touch of the human. Kraiton gasped and sagged against Zep's hold on him.
"What did you give him?"
Sal smiled. "I showed him what it's like to touch a human. Kraiton, do you believe me now? We do not want you."
"Then why does it happen? That! Why does that happen?"
"Because not every iliri knows how to use a sword. Because you can't help it. I can see the flush on your cheeks." She leaned into him. "If I asked, you'd be in my bed without a second thought, never worrying about those bastard iliri crossbreds. I do not want you. It's you that wants me. Look in the mirror before you try to cleanse an entire species from the planet, boy."
She turned back to her table and waved her hand. "Send him home. That will fester in his mind for a while. If he comes over, fine. If he stays home, fine. If he raises a sword against us again, kill him. They shouldn't be able to block his mind now."
"Yes, sir!" Dalyr said, taking the man from Zep.
"Hey, Dalyr?" Sal asked before he left. "You mine again?"
"Nope. Still grauori. I'd rather stay, too. If you're ok with that."
Sal smiled and nodded. "I'll make it a permanent appointment, then."
"Thanks, Kaisae. You should wear the crown more." He turned and directed the Terran through the ranks of Anglian soldiers, quickly lost to her eye.
Sal sighed and shook her head. "Where were we?" she asked the men around her.
"Iliri townsfolk are begging to speak with you. They aren't all happy, Sal," Ilija replied.
Her shoulders drooped. "Yeah. This is one of those things I can't push off on Dom either, right?"
"Right."
"Ok. Clean up this mess and start bringing them in. Ilija, I'm going to need you to deal with the corpses. Pig, give me a sweep of all the internal buildings. Use maargra if you need to. Blaec's got the Blades looking through the main building, sorting documents they left. Zep? Find me some mead?"
Sal turned and saw Ashir Doyin looking out from the tent so gestured for the men to wait. His hands were stained pink, but his face was clean. She smiled.
"Feel better?"
He blushed brightly and nodded. "I thought it was a test. I thought I was about to fail."
Sal shook her head. "It stops the maast. I don't know why, but we need it. They understand that. You're fine, Ashir. Just tell me about your mission."
"They took my family and told me I could ei
ther kill you or watch them die. When I agreed, they hypnotized me." He giggled. "I feel very strange."
"You're tipsy," Zep told him.
Ashir just nodded. "Why?"
Sal cocked her head, watching him. "You tell me, professor. I just know I can't resist it."
He turned and looked at Zep. "How is he alive?"
The men all laughed, and Zep shrugged. "Cessivi."
Ashir's eyes went wide. "With a human? That it happened at all is amazing, but..." He stared at Zep with unabashed amazement.
"Him too," Sal said, gesturing to Jase as he slipped from the tent. She never even looked in his direction.
"Two?" Ashir gasped.
"Is it really that big of a deal?" Pig asked.
Ashir nodded. "Cessivi are rare. True cessivi. Two? Which is Ahnor?"
Sal nodded at Jase.
"Ah, then you are Dernor," he said to Zep, nodding.
Zep chuckled. "Taunor. Dernor is not cessivi."
"I'm so confused. I think I may have had too much."
"No, you're fine, Professor," Sal assured him. "I have three mates. My second is not cessivi, but I love him the same."
"I'm also cessivi with the Taunor," Jase said from behind him. Ashir's head snapped around and he staggered slightly. Jase just tilted his head. "Do you know why?"
"What'd I miss?" Ilija whispered a little too loudly as he watched.
"He's a Professor," Sal explained. "Formerly of the University of Unav, more recently in Syhar. His area of studies is Iliran history, anatomy, and sociology."
Ashir nodded. "But don't tell the Emperor that. He thinks I study archaeology." He staggered slightly as he shifted to face Sal. "Kaisae? Can I see your teeth? They are amazing."
Zep grinned and shook his head, but Sal walked toward him. She lifted her lip up with her hand, exposing both her upper and lower teeth.
"Amazing. They're all serrated." He reached forward and Sal opened her jaw slightly, smiling when he gently touched them. "Sharp, too. The canines are serrated along the edge. Fascinating. How well do you eat?"
"Meat is fine, fruits are sloppy, and I have no taste for vegetables." Sal was patronizing him.
"Amazing. No, with those teeth, I wouldn't think so. A true carnivore. May I touch your ear?"
