“Be-er-tha.”
Maybe it was a keeper of this place and had discovered her. It might kill her. Zabbie grabbed a piece of broken wood from the ground. The limbs of the trees became so cold they snapped off and crackled as they hit the frozen ground. She would sneak up on it.
You will not kill me, snowman.
Zabbie dropped to her hands and knees, ready to spring, preparing to smash the creature across its head. Once she had it subdued, she would decide what to do with it.
* * * *
Titus saw the movement from the corner of his eye.
“Bertha?” Titus whispered, not wanting to alarm or scare her. It had been a number of months since he’d seen her last. Her lost lonely features passed before his eyes. His heart jumped when he spotted the moving being walking upright. “Don’t be afraid, little female. I won’t hurt you, it’s me, Titus.”
Titus was elated. He had finally found her. The fur clad being had to be a female human. Bertha was wearing furs when he put her in the shuttle. That meant it had to be Bertha. Please let it be Bertha. He circled the small hill. It was low enough he could see her on her hands and knees going round and round as he approached to avoid him. He moved faster, she moved faster. Soon they would both be running and Titus tired of all the spinning. He stood still and waited. She continued to crawl and he ducked down so his head and shoulders were out of her line of vision. She would come to him.
“Bertha?”
No answer. Darn the stubborn female. Titus took a quick glance at his surroundings. There was ice surrounded by a wall of fire. The sky was a flat screen of more fire, billowing hundreds of feet high overhead. Dead trees were ice covered. The frozen air swished in tendrils and smelled stale. The air was thin; with the trees dead it would be nonexistent soon. He thought the female would have thrown herself at him in relief. She was either afraid or pissed. He was certain the thing he followed was human. It was too small to be a human male. Titus had seen human males; most were built a bit bigger than their females. She rounded the snowbank and for a second stopped dead. Head down, she was staring at his feet. A wild bellow rent the air and the furry creature jumped up and came at him wielding a club.
“Die, Abominable Snowman.”
Huh?
It had to be Bertha; the female could speak his language. Only an altercation with the Gorgano could accomplish the skill and one of the foul aliens had boarded his last vessel and killed a female before the human Bethany had stopped it. Mouth open in surprise, Titus grabbed the club as she ran at him and stepped to the side.
She must really be pissed with me.
Her momentum crashed her head first into another hill. Last moment, her arms came up to shield her head or she would have been knocked senseless. The furry lump fell back onto her ass groaning and swore. It had to be big mouth Bertha. Huffing and puffing, the little being rose and dived for Titus’s waist. She clung to him, her arms heaving, yanking, and trying to knock him down. Titus stood still rolling his eyes. Round and round she went, bent over, ass wiggling in her exertion. Titus scratched at his head.
She moved to his ass and Titus yelped when she grabbed his pants and tugged them around his ankles and shoved. To his surprise he almost toppled over.
“Little demon. If you’re so interested in seeing my cock why didn’t you say so?”
He grabbed her by her hood and thrust her to her knees in front of him, her face inches from his engorged and ready cock. Titus had zero nudity issues. When Zargonnii Holidayed both male and female entered the woods naked. But, Titus knew human females were skittish when confronted by a large cock, and he was hung. She yelped.
“Holy hell, torpedo.”
“Now that I have your attention you will stop this nonsense,” Titus demanded.
She head-butted his dick. Titus was surprised it hurt, not much, but she had his admiration. Tough little bean. Bertha seemed to have developed a set of balls in her absence. She leaned forward, no doubt to bite. Titus flipped her onto her belly and yanked up his pants. He pulled her outer layer of fur over her head and flipped her onto her back. Wide-eyed, a terrified female stared up at him.
“You’re not Bertha.”
“You’re not a snowman?”
“I’m a Zargonnii warrior. You understand me, don’t you?”
“I do.”
“What’s your name?”
“Zabbie.” Her breaths were heaving pants and little puffs of air haloed her cheeks. “Are you going to eat me?”
“Not unless you piss me off.”
“I’ve been here a long time. I haven’t seen you before. The inside of this sun is getting smaller, the fire is creeping closer. Are you even real?”
“I’m real. I came looking for someone else. Damn. I’d say back to square one, but I’ve run out of fucking squares. Why the hell couldn’t you have been Bertha?”
Titus released her and walked a few steps away. Zabbie squealed and lunged for his leg and hung on. Titus settled his gaze onto her. She tilted her head to peer up at him. Titus took a step and dragged her behind him.
“Will you let go?” he demanded.
“No way.”
Titus crouched and sat back on the balls of his booted feet. “First you tried to kill me then you try and catch me.”
“But you can talk back. If I have to talk to any more fruit I really will go insane,” she wailed.
“You talk to fruit?”
“Oh it’s okay, it never answers; it rolls away.” Her last whispered words would have made his hair stand on end if it wasn’t already flying around in battle mode. She sounded that creepy.
Great, I look for a shrew and end up with a female who’s a thruster short of a shuttle craft.
“How did you get here, female?”
Zabbie released his ankle and shimmied up his leg until she was kneeling before him. As though loath to release him she touched his chest and then arms, she lifted his hand and examined his fingers.
“What are you doing?” Titus asked.
“I have to have some kind of contact before you vanish.”
She yanked off her mitts and slipped her hand into his. To his surprise she placed his palm on her cold cheek and she closed her eyes.
“Are you alone?” Titus asked.
“For ages. You feel so warm. Please don’t go away. I thought you might be dangerous. I won’t attack you again. I promise I won’t hurt you.”
Titus snorted. When he stood she jumped to her feet. With her hood back, she gazed up at him. Short tuffs of dark hair stood at all angles from her head. He’d never seen a female with short hair. She was taller than other human females he’d seen, but still much smaller than Titus. She was cute. Her eyes were green and round.
“How did you get here?” he asked.
“A space shuttle. But it’s gone.”
“Someone dumped you here? Alone?”
“No. Um, no. There was an alien, an alien called a Gorgano that brought me here. I originally left Earth in a space shuttle. It crashed on a different planet. One day we were air raided and huge aliens, tall, but thin and ugly, came. I, I was captured and held for a long time. There was a battle in space and the ship was blown up. A Gorgano dragged me onto a different vessel before the explosion and we escaped. We were chased by another vessel and hit. The ship was damaged, the Gorgano flew into a worm hole and I could hear its mind working, there were thoughts in my mind. We were off course, spinning. When we flew at the sun I thought we were dead, but we made it half way through.
“The alien managed to straighten out the vessel because we stopped spinning, I hated the spinning, and we stopped spinning, so we didn’t crash, but the panel’s lights were off, fried I guess. When the alien opened the vessel door, it died. Collapsed onto the ice the second its foot touched the frozen ground. Too cold, I guess. When it tried to breathe the smoky mist, the air made droplets of moisture into snowflakes of ice. The ice expanded its lungs, filling it; I could see the snowflakes travel through fine veins,
until its insides burst. It was winter on the part of the planet I was kidnapped from and I already had these furs. The Gorgano was naked and bald.”
Titus studied her. If cold killed the Gorgano, the information was priceless, as long as she wasn’t lying. Her words were babbled as though relaying a story. Or telling one. It wasn’t anything he could put his finger on, but something was off. She seemed to search her memory when she spoke of how the Gorgano died. The air was misty around them, but Titus saw no snowflakes. There was very little snow, mostly ice. The icy, snow banks had a fine layer of what was more flakes of ice. He gathered the mist must settle and form the ice he saw to cover everything.
“How long did the Gorgano have you?”
“A few weeks in the larger vessel. Maybe a week in the smaller one. It was taking me to its planet, but I was kept secured in a strange room most of the time. It took me out to study me. I was out when we were attacked, on the bridge. Flying into a sun is spooky.”
Titus concurred. His experience was wild. His trip to the dark planet was fruitful. A planet inhabitant told him it saw a vessel of sorts fly into the sun and never emerge. It had happened some time ago. The being he had spoken to was odd, Titus asked it questions, and each time it moved away from him, then stopped. He was getting exasperated until he realized the sticky substance it left behind were written words in his language. Titus was intrigued.
The being had no clue who or what was on the vessel, but it was enough for Titus to decide he had to know. Now he knew. Bertha was lost to him. Flying a vessel worlds within worlds was impossible. Finn said if he hadn’t left the warrior creature Arax’s world through a portal of water, he and Bethany never would have made it home. Their shuttle was completely destroyed. Finn was the only protection Bethany had or she would have been smashed to pieces.
The idea made Titus close his eyes. Poor Bertha would be dead with no Zargonnii warrior to shield her from the vicious entry to another dimension. Images of her little body crashing against the ceiling, walls and floor made him cringe. Her death would have been brutal. She would have died terrified.
Poor little female.
Her death was his fault. Titus didn’t deserve a human female. Unfortunately, the little crazy female he was now stuck with was back to examining his hands. Like a pet toff she grabbed the tips of part of his hair to still its movement, then released, then grabbed. Titus shook her off. For a being with only two hands, she was a busy little thing.
“Listen crazy, I mean, Zabbie. I will take you out of here but my shuttle needs to sit for a bit. I have to run a complete systems check for damage,” Titus said.
“I’m going to leave? With you?”
She sounded astounded. Titus disengaged her arms when she locked them around him. Her open excitement was apparent and creepy as she did some kind of a dance and uttered strange words. She stopped suddenly.
“You really are real?” she asked.
“Yes.” Titus was growing exasperated. “What happened to the Gorgano vessel?”
“It burned as the fire wall came closer. I couldn’t move the vessel, but I stayed in it for a while when I first arrived. I, I dragged the alien away because it was gone. The alien, I mean, was gone, and I learned how to open and close the door. It must have been a self-heating vessel, it stayed warm. I was hopeful it would. I replicated as much food as I could and took it to an ice cave, but my supply eventually ran out. It was awful when I had to leave the vessel’s safety. I’m always so cold; I’m surprised I haven’t gotten sick. Maybe there was something in the rolling fruit that kept me from dying.”
He gripped her arm and propelled her to his shuttle, he hadn’t landed far and had seen smoke coming from a small cave. The shuttle door opened, riding on a swirl of white gasses and Zabbie hesitated before boarding. Titus had her in front of him and almost ran her over. He walked into her back and grabbed her around the waist before they both fell face forward.
“What?” Titus asked irritated.
“Are you going to hurt me?” Her hand clasped his arm.
“Why would I do that?” He had her almost off her feet, ready to leap inside, but hesitated at her wary tone.
“The Gorgano hurt me.” Her mitted hand reached up to touch the tufts of hair on her head. She seemed to be looking back into memories. “It burnt my hair short. My flesh isn’t burned, but I was scared.”
Now Titus understood why her hair was so short. The Gorgano were brutal with females. He was surprised she was allowed to live. He settled her onto her feet. She sounded so scared he was annoyed with himself for being abrupt with her. It wasn’t her fault she wasn’t Bertha—pretty damned lucky on her part. Not his. Titus turned her in his arms having a thought.
“How long have you been here?”
“Almost a year or more. It wasn’t as cold when I first came. I have a tunic under my fur I could wear during the day at first. The replicator the Gorgano had didn’t fabricate clothes, I guess because they wore none. Or blankets, I guess because they didn’t use any, they seemed to sleep standing up. The food replicated was dried like a jerky, and they didn’t use plates or cups or bowls. The jerky was odd because inside there was a watery substance. I couldn’t make the replicator give me a simple glass of water.
“When I first landed there were barren places void of ice and patches of grass on the ground. There was running water in streams to keep me hydrated. Every day it gets a little colder. Freezing would be a blessing before being burned.”
Titus thought she must have been here a while. The Gorgano recently discovered human females were weapons while battling in thought. Zabbie had been spared because the Gorgano had no clue back then she could be dangerous.
“Did it do anything else to you?”
She shuffled around. “It didn’t touch me physically. It violated my thoughts. It searched every memory, every action. I had to relive my entire life over. Every hurt I felt again, every embarrassing moment. All of it.”
Titus hooked a finger under her chin to tilt her face. “I won’t do that. Zargonnii warriors fight with their strength. I would not fight you. You’re too small.”
She blinked, looking surprised. “Small? You’re the first man, well male, to call me small.”
Titus chuckled. “You’re a wee little thing compared to me.”
“I guess I am.”
Zabbie turned and climbed into the shuttle. When Titus closed the hatch, she immediately removed her fur coat. He noted the short sleeved tunic made of an animal hide she mentioned. A few bruises adorned her pale skin. He imagined she must have fallen on the ice. She searched every inch of the shuttle within moments. Titus checked the shuttle’s systems; it would need an hour at least. He prepared for the human female to talk his ear off and ask a million questions. He wasn’t disappointed.
“Are you at war?” she asked. “You said you’re a warrior.”
“Yes. We war with the Gorgano and Tonan warriors.”
“Tonan. Yes a few of the women were stolen by Tonan warriors and a few men killed on the other planet. We learned to hide from them underground in a cavern in the winter season. The Gorgano found us.”
A few bells and whistles went off in his mind. “I thought you said the Gorgano couldn’t take the cold.”
“They can’t, but the cavern wasn’t cold, the ice wall was but when it ended the cavern began. The Gorgano would simply appear or beam in, or maybe they came through a different wall, or something. When I was stolen there were eleven of us left. The Tonans came first.”
Again Titus felt there was something missing or strange about her story. She frowned as she spoke as though straining for her mind to grasp a solid memory. She looked honestly confused and he decided to keep things simple.
“Eleven males or females?”
“Seven men. Four women. Three women after I was gone.”
“Did you learn anything from the Gorgano? Or anything else about them besides the cold effecting them.”
“Yes. It wouldn’t
touch me because humans carry disease. It was afraid I’d kill it if I sneezed on it. I wanted to cough on it, or something, but in my mind I knew I couldn’t fly the craft. I’d crash; I needed the Gorgano as much as I hated it.”
Of that she seemed more confidant. “Did the Gorgano have anything else?”
“No beds or furniture. The Gorgano who captured me had a replicator, I already mentioned that. Do you have food? Meats? Cheese? Anything, I’m so tired of fruit. And booze, I would love some alcohol.”
The booze she wanted would knock her on her tiny ass after a sip, which Titus would keep in mind. If she became hysterical he would need to calm her. The food was the easiest route for now.
Titus moved to the shuttle’s replicator and asked for food he knew she would enjoy. The built in rectangular box was small; it was intended for short journeys. It had recently been modified with help from the Castians to serve foods easy on a human’s teeth and digestive system. Zargonnii fare was much tougher; their jagged teeth could rip through tires with ease.
When the plate emerged and he handed it over, she pounced on it squealing in happiness, a wide smile on her animated face. Her mittens off, Zabbie stuffed her cheeks full, piece after piece until Titus was certain she would choke to death. She couldn’t close her mouth she’d crammed so much in. Her hand was almost a blur she moved food so quickly. Pieces fell out and she shoved them in resembling an Earth chipmunk gone overboard.
Too late, Titus realized he should have begun with a smaller portion. She’d been deprived too long. Poor thing. He grabbed the plate and held it away from her, wanting her to slow down and finish what she was eating. She stood openmouthed for a moment, bits of food spilling past her lips to plop to the ground. Ew. Her eye lashes batted.
“The Gorgano did the same thing. It would always tease me with food. Never letting me have enough. That’s cruel.”
It was hard to understand her, and he took a step back not wanting food in his fur as it flew while she spoke, a chunk landing on his nose, but there was no mistaking the sorrow in her pitiful gaze. Her bottom lip began to tremble. Her eyes started to tear. Next thing Titus knew she was wailing at the top of her lungs. Huge howling sobs were belted out at high levels. She cried and tried to chew and swallow at the same time at the mass she had in her mouth.
To Catch A Warrior [Unearthly World Book 5] Page 3
