The man who captured her said a few words as the old woman came right up to Lexi, reached out, and took her chin in a gnarled hand. Lexi pulled away, eyes flashing. The old woman murmured something and the next moment, two of the men who found her grabbed her arms, holding her motionless. She struggled but they held her in an iron grip.
The old woman pulled her cloak apart, staring at her nearly naked body. She gave a start and shifted, so Lexi’s body would be hidden from the view of the others. Then she looked more closely into Lexi’s eyes. Lexi met the woman’s gaze squarely, while activating the mental shield that kept strangers from invading her thoughts. The woman nodded once to herself, as though she’d confirmed something, then issued a terse command. The men holding her arms let go at once. Lexi pulled the edges of the cloak around her again, burying herself in its folds like a cocoon.
Turning aside, the woman began speaking in that guttural language, lowering her voice so only the five men surrounding them could hear what she said. The Tellex chip still hadn’t kicked in and Lexi was forced to rely on body language and facial expressions to make out what they were saying.
The old woman’s voice took on a somber tone. As one, the men glanced back at her with varying expressions of horror and alarm. Apparently the woman had warned them she could be dangerous. Maybe that would work to her advantage. Lexi glared back at them, trying to summon up her most fearsome expression.
The old lady spoke again. The man wearing body armor stepped forward, holding out an arm. The old lady put her arm through his, allowing him to bear some of her weight and they joined the line of workers heading away from the kill site.
Her captor motioned her to follow. When she hesitated, he narrowed his eyes and swept his palm through the air in a swatting motion. Lexi’s bottom still smarted from his earlier whack and she didn’t want to give him any reason to repeat the unpleasant experience. Summoning up as much dignity as she could under the circumstances, she fell into step alongside him, joining the workers hauling bits of the creature away single file like a line of busy ants.
She forced herself to take one weary step after another, plodding along for what seemed like hours. The landscape never varied—an endless sea of reddish-brown coarse sand, barren of any life form she could detect.
Except for the people around her. They sang as they walked and even though the loads they bore looked heavy, they seemed jubilant. Maybe it was the prospect of a good meal, although they certainly didn’t look malnourished. Just the opposite. Men and women, old and young, had a stocky, robust build, although none of them matched the impressive physique of her captor.
She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. Striding along effortlessly, spear in one hand and sword hanging from a loop at his hip, he looked like a mythical god of old. She’d never seen partially clad humans and the sight was both disturbing and oddly fascinating. The swell of muscle rippling under his skin as he moved, the way the moonlight played across his bronze skin, covered with a fine sheen of perspiration.
The look on the face of the young woman she’d seen in the corridor back on Earth popped into her mind. No doubt these people, like the inhabitants of Neodyma, engaged in every kind of physical contact imaginable. What would it be like to be clasped in the arms of the strong, virile male next to her, his lips crushed against her mouth, his bare skin touching hers?
Bare skin. Everywhere around her. Her scientific mind drove all other thoughts out of her head as she suddenly realized the night must be warm. She couldn’t feel the exterior temperature through the cylerian, but those around her showed no sign of discomfort with the temperature. They had air they could breathe, a source of food, a defined social structure. Somehow these people had adapted, surviving and to all extents, even thriving in a world Earthers thought devoid of all life. More fodder for her scientific study.
They neared a rocky outcropping. Ahead the line disappeared into the yawning mouth of a dark cave. Lexi had a moment of panic as she got closer to the entrance. These barbarians were preparing a feast. What if they planned to eat her too, another prize from their successful hunt? She stifled an irrational giggle. Maybe they’d keep her tied up, fatten her a bit first. Slim as she was, she’d scarcely make a good dinner for these hefty-looking savages.
She stepped into the mouth of the cave, following the line of workers through a narrow passageway that twisted and turned, heading downward all the way. She felt like an insect, traveling deep into the anthill. More torches lined the tunnel, their dim light bouncing off rock walls showing the deep scars of chisels and picks. It looked as though the passageway was once a tiny crevice, widened into a corridor by human hands.
The sound of singing grew and swelled. The deeper they went, the louder it became. Lexi rounded a bend and stopped dead in her tracks again. Nothing she’d seen up till now prepared her for the sight before her eyes.
Chapter Three
“The Apache, the Anasazi, and other Pueblo Indians told stories of their ancestors dwelling in an underground world after some cataclysmic event. In these tales, the ancestors were star gods who came to Earth from a home far away in space.”
That long-forgotten snippet from a university lecture years ago was the first thing that popped into Lexi’s mind. At the time her instructor dismissed it as just another myth created by primitive people to explain their presence on Earth.
But looking around her, Lexi realized just how real the origins of the myth may have been. She stood in the entrance to a bustling multi-storied city, carved from the walls of a huge underground cavern. It looked like the cliff-dwelling ruins of a pueblo in the American Southwest come to life, only on a much larger scale. Wide-mouthed smaller caves lined the walls of the level where she entered, their entrances crowded with tables brimming with a dazzling array of wares. Strange-shaped fruits and fungi were heaped on open tables, soft furs and fine fabrics on others tempted the passerby to stop and stroke them.
Easily twice the height of the federation’s Great Hall, the ceiling of this cavern soared hundreds of feet above her head. She could see row after row of dwellings carved into the rock walls of the upper stories, with a series of winding stairways leading to each level. The entire space glowed with a strange phosphorescent light, emanating from a substance that coated large stretches of bare rock.
The endless line of workers halted in an open area on the main level. Their singing echoed off the stone walls, magnifying the sound. They deposited their burdens and then took a break, dropping to the ground or onto stone benches placed here and there to rest before rejoining the line snaking back out to the kill site.
Another group dealt with their haul. Some wrapped wads of a gray-green substance that looked like wet seaweed around the chunks of meat, piling them to one side. Others cut pieces into wide strips, then dipped them into what looked like a mixture of salt and herbs before layering them into enormous clay jars.
A large open area in the center of the space held row after row of stone benches surrounding a massive fire pit, where flames already danced. Yet another row of workers carried dark lumps of some combustible substance to the fire pit, piling them on to build it even hotter. Massive clay pots filled nearly to overflowing lined the outside edges of the pit. Into these went chunks of bone, left to simmer with a mouth-watering variety of ingredients. Lexi was sure she smelled onions and garlic, along with a host of other ingredients she couldn’t identify.
She looked up, following the column of smoke as it rose from the fire pit. The cavern must have some sort of ventilation system, since the air inside was clear. Much cleaner and easier to breathe than the air outside the cave.
As her eyes adjusted to the unusual light, she caught sight of something even more astonishing. In the distance, at the farthest end of the space, a waterfall fell from the heights, splashing into a deep pool at its base.
The sight and sound of water made her realize how dry and parched her throat was. She swayed on her feet, suddenly unable to take another
step. Her captor sprang forward, grabbing her around the waist as she was about to collapse.
He called out and the old woman turned. She clapped her hands and two younger females ran forward. All four held a short conversation. The next moment, the young women surrounded her, half dragging, half carrying her away to another cavernous opening in the rock wall on the other side of the city center. Her captor stayed behind.
They led her into a dimly lit room, where more torches flickered high on the rock walls. Depositing her on a fur-covered stone bench, the women bustled around. One disappeared and came back carrying a clay vessel filled with water while the other mashed up a handful of odd-smelling dried plants in a stone bowl. Lexi sagged against the stone walls, watching closely. She’d seen an implement like it in a museum exhibit. It was called a mortar and pestle, often used by primitive people to grind corn and grain into flour for cooking.
The second woman mixed the gray-green pile of ground-up leaves and stems into the jug of water, poured out a cupful and handed it to her to drink. When Lexi just sat there, the woman raised the cup to her own lips and drank. Then she smiled, nodded her head encouragingly, and held out the cup again.
Lexi sniffed, then took a tiny sip. The plants gave the water a bitter flavor. But at least it cut through the metallic taste left in her mouth from the outside air. She took a bigger sip, then another, draining the cup. The woman took it, refilled it, and bade her drink again.
Before long, Lexi had emptied the entire jug. Her fatigue vanished, as did the crushing headache. She handed back the empty cup. The women seemed pleased and took her by the hand, leading her further into the cave.
They came to another room, smaller this time, with a wide stone basin carved out of one wall. One of the women leaned forward, pulling a thick plug out of a hole in the smooth rock face. To Lexi’s shock, a stream of water poured into the basin. Somehow, these people must have tapped the underground river, diverting part of it to flow through their city. The women came at her from both sides, running their hands over the cylerian and chattering back and forth. One reached for a corner of the garment, trying to pull it off her.
Lexi pushed her away. The woman wasn’t expecting resistance. She lost her footing and crashed against the edge of the stone basin, crying out as she fell. With a dark look at Lexi, she muttered something to the other woman. Then she scrambled to her feet and ran from the room. The other woman grabbed the handle of another clay jug off a table nearby, brandishing it like a weapon. Never taking her eyes off Lexi, she backed off to stand in the doorway, blocking the only exit from the room.
Lexi held out her hands, both palms facing the woman, and took a few steps back herself, sinking down on the edge of the basin. She sighed. Dealing with these savages was exhausting. Behind her, the water continued to pour into the basin. She longed to bathe, but she didn’t dare remove the cylerian. If the women got their hands on it, she might never get it back. She’d seen the harsh conditions outside the cave. These people had had centuries to adapt to the climate. But without her cylerian, she might not survive.
She was contemplating climbing into the tub with it still on when her captor burst into the room, with the attendant she’d shoved on his heels. The woman chattered nonstop, pointing and gesturing toward her all the while, probably reciting a list of grievances including Lexi’s failure to drink their nasty-tasting concoction at first.
He crossed his arms over his chest and glared at her, then said something to the women. They advanced again, one on each side. With nowhere to go, Lexi eyed them warily. Suddenly they both pounced at the same time, curling their fingers around the opening at her mouth to tear off the cylerian.
Calling on skills she’d learned in the hand-to-hand combat drills that were part of her training for this mission, Lexi fought back, throwing one to the ground while giving the other a solid punch in the stomach. The woman let out a whoof and collapsed, clasping her hands around her midsection and gasping for breath.
The man’s eyes narrowed and Lexi pressed herself back against the stone basin. She’d never seen anyone radiate such strong negative feelings. On Earth, the injections everyone received didn’t only temper the sex drive. They leveled out nearly all extreme emotions. Exuberance. Rage. Passion. The only emotion unaffected was fear.
Lexi pegged his response as anger. The intensity of it activated every synapse of her fear response.
In two long strides he was at her side. He grabbed her by the arm and sank down onto the rim of the stone basin next to her, then dragged her face-down across his lap. Lexi fought hard, kicking and punching, but she was no match for his much greater size and strength.
She cried out as his broad palm connected with her backside. First in shock, then in pain. She struggled even more fiercely. In response, the savage locked her legs tightly between his, shifted her body on his thighs, and whacked her again, spouting off all the while in a harsh tone.
Lexi hardly registered the sound. Her entire being focused on the hand now cracking down over and over on her nearly bare bottom. The cylerian might protect against heat and cold, rain and wind. But it did nothing to stop the overwhelming sensation of burning and stinging he’d ignited on her backside.
She’d heard of spanking. An ancient form of discipline practiced back on Earth, used primarily on wayward youth by primitive people who lacked the ability to control their offspring with reason and logic. But she’d never heard of it being practiced in the modern world. You’re not in the modern world, she reminded herself. You’ve been thrown into an uncivilized land filled with crude beings. And right now one of them is treating you like a naughty child.
She tried to control her thoughts, send her mind far away from the sensory overload her body was experiencing. It was no use. Nothing in her training had prepared her for this. The sound of his sharp, rhythmic swats. The warm bare hand sending licks of fire up and down her backside. The hard masculine thighs crushing her nearly naked stomach and breasts. The tension she could feel radiating from him, tightly controlled power pouring through his body, ready to explode in an instant.
She’d never felt so helpless in all her life. He whacked her again and she squirmed wildly, trying to evade his hard palm.
He stopped for a moment and shifted her again on his lap. In her heightened state of awareness, she caught a strangely compelling scent emanating from him; at the same time she became aware of a growing bulge in his crotch pressing up against her.
Lexi froze, remembering the swollen penis she’d seen on the other man, the way he stroked it and leered at her. This time the man who’d protected her was the one in an obscene state of arousal. Would this crude savage try to engage with her in some bizarre sexual act after his display of mastery?
She panicked, writhing and struggling on his lap. But that only increased the contact, grinding her lower body against his engorged member. And now, the fire on her bottom seemed to be spreading, flooding her with a different kind of heat. A jolt of desire rocked her and she shivered. To her surprise, she could feel dampness building between her thighs like it did when she pleasured herself with her holographic device.
“…behaving like a wild… Can’t keep you safe if you…”
Bits and pieces popped into her consciousness. It was like sitting in one of Director Nilsson’s boring lectures. Her mind roaming free, brought back from time to time as an odd phrase here and there intruded on her thoughts.
She forced herself to concentrate and the words suddenly snapped into focus. She could understand everything he was saying. Far from being guttural primitive utterances, the sounds he made formed a rich and expressive language. Capable of expressing complex thought. Some of the words he used were unfamiliar. Lexi thought they might refer to things unique to Iridia—people, places, even creatures for which she had no frame of reference.
To her horror, another thing snapped into the forefront of her consciousness now that she could make out what he was saying—the fiery sting his palm was crea
ting on her backside. He continued spanking her as he spoke, lecturing her as though she were a wayward child.
“Don’t you know Mara and Nadina are only looking out for your own good? If you do not bathe in cleansing herbs soon, the rays of our suns will do lasting harm to your body. I don’t know what this odd covering is all over you or what it does, but I do know it has to come off. Right away.”
As he spoke he emphasized his words with more firm swats to her backside. Lexi squirmed again, but that only increased her contact with the hard bulge between his legs. She forced herself to remain still, thinking fast.
He had no idea she knew what he was saying. That might work to her advantage. If they thought she couldn’t understand them, they’d speak freely in front of her. She’d be prepared for anything they planned to do.
She quit struggling and lay there across his lap, docile and limp, as though admitting defeat. He gave her a few more smacks to assert his control once and for all, then stood and pulled her up.
He pantomimed taking the cylerian off. Lexi bowed her head and began the slow process of wiggling out of the garment that fit her like a second skin. She worked it slowly, stalling for time. The opening around her mouth stretched wider and wider, enough to pull it down off her head. As she did, her hair sprang loose from its tight bun. The humidity in this small room was much greater than in the climate-controlled environment on Earth and it fanned out around her face in a mass of wild, golden-brown curls reaching below her shoulders.
His eyes widened. She looked at him and then at the two women. They both had thick dark hair, straight and shiny, plaited into long braids and tied with leather thongs. Everyone she’d seen had the same deep brown hair, except for a few men who shaved their heads bald. Some, like her captor, showed streaks of gray here and there and the old woman’s hair had been nearly white. But she could never hope to go unnoticed here, not unless she cloaked herself head to toe. And from what she’d seen, that too would make her stand out.
His to Claim (Alien Masters Book 2) Page 4
