by S. E. Smith
Gril relaxed his stance. “Why are you here?” he asked.
A crooked smile curved Joren’s lips. “The same reason that you are, I want to save Madas,” he explained.
“Why haven’t you already?” Gril demanded.
“Because we aren’t the only ones here. There were two more in the group than when we headed out—I counted. One is Cardin. I can handle him, but I didn’t recognize the other one—he was wearing a cloak with a hood—but I saw him carrying a weapon like the one you’re holding. We don’t have those here,” Joren said.
Gril stiffened. The saboteur of his ship! That was the only person it could be. There had been a tracking device on his ship. It appeared that whoever was searching for him had decided to use the situation to his advantage. If he couldn’t find Gril, he would have Gril come to him.
“Do you know where they are?” he asked.
Joren nodded. “Near the hot spring where Madas is caged. I saw them, but had to come back to this side when Cardin started repairing the barrier to keep the night crawlers out. This is the main path in and out. Neither have come back through, and it isn’t like there are a lot of places they can go without getting eaten, so I’m assuming they are still there,” he replied.
Gril looked up. It was hard to tell what the time was with the rain and cloud cover.
Joren must have realized what he was thinking, because he said, “We have less than an hour. There is a small explosive under the cage that will blow the pin holding the bar in place. The bottom will open and Madas will fall into the boiling water. She’ll be dead in a couple of minutes,” Joren said.
“I want you to get Madas out of the cage before that happens. I will take care of Cardin and the saboteur,” Gril growled, pulling the thin cable over his shoulder and handing it to Joren.
Joren nodded, turned, and took the lead. He knew the way better than Gril. They went through the curtain of moss to the Goddess’s Fury and were quickly enshrouded in the heavy fog. Gril sheathed his laser sword and pulled the rifle off of his shoulder and into position. He had one focus—kill anything that stood between himself and Madas.
Madas leaned back against the bars of the cage. Her gaze was locked on Cardin and the other Tearnat. Cardin fingered the long, slender tube in his hand.
“If you shoot me with another dart, I swear I will rip off your shaft and shove it down that tube! It is about the same size as a dart, correct?” she asked snidely.
The pale Tearnat chuckled and Cardin released a low curse, hiding the slender tube in his cloak. Madas turned her attention to the Tearnat who had sat silently throughout the brief period that she had been awake. Leaning her head back, she tried not to focus on the throbbing in her head or the nausea roiling in her stomach.
“I almost like you,” the Tearnat stated.
Madas shot a heated scowl at the cloaked figure before closing her eyes. “The feeling is not mutual, but you have my permission, if you like me so much, to release me. I’ll even get rid of that simpering pile of night crawler dung for you. I’m sure you’re as tired of his endless sniveling as I am,” she offered.
“This entire mess is your fault, Madas. If you had agreed to be my mate, none of this would have happened,” Cardin defended.
Madas opened her eyes and stared back at Cardin until he looked away. “Do you really think you could have made it to the pits in time? You can barely take a piss on a tree without getting lost,” she retorted.
“I was raised to be a future councilman, not a hairless beast taking a shit in the woods. Your father should never have taken you out in the forests. Your place was in the village, not studying some obscure plant or daydreaming about going to the stars,” Cardin snapped.
Madas surged forward, uncaring of the way it made the cage swing. Rage and grief filled her. She had lost everything—everything—that she had ever cared about. Her father, her grandmother, L’eon, and possibly Gril.
“Don’t you dare talk about my father. He was a better Tearnat male than you could ever dream of being!” she snarled.
Cardin took a step closer to the hot spring. “Did Matteu ever tell you that he wasn’t really your father? Did your mother ever tell you that you weren’t really from her egg? Matteu found you, abandoned in the forest—unwanted and left to feed the creatures that you love. Your father could never produce any eggs, so your mother opened her legs to any male that could fill her womb,” he cruelly said.
Madas sat back and shook her head. “You lying piece of Night Shadow dung. If you think this lie will save you when I get out, you must be delusional!” she growled.
“I’m not lying, Madas. Why do you think your mother didn’t mind how often your father left the village? Why do you think each of your siblings is so different from the next? Goroff is my half-sibling. Did you ever wonder why she resented you so much? Your father found you and treated you like you were his. He loved you more than anyone else—including Tima. You were just like him in almost every way, but you weren’t his biological daughter,” Cardin said in a quieter, less emotional voice.
“You lie,” she whispered.
He shook his head. “If you don’t believe me, you could always ask Joren—that is if you live. He knows. He has your father’s personal journals. Your father made him promise to give them to you one day—before you left to go to the stars,” Cardin said.
“Enough!” the Tearnat suddenly growled.
“Look out!” Madas’s cry of warning came too late.
Cardin was in mid-turn when the booted foot caught him in the side. Madas watched in horror as Cardin’s arms reached out, searching for something to grab hold of. His tortured screams filled the air when he hit the boiling waters of the hot spring. He flailed for a moment, his screams fading as his body rolled in the water until he was face down.
“Now you get to see what will happen to you,” the Tearnat sneered.
“I think not, Dev. Drop your weapon,” Gril coldly ordered.
Madas clung to the bars of her cage, ignoring the pain of the hot metal. Her breaths came in small pants as she tried to calm herself. She kept her focus on Gril so that she wouldn’t see Cardin’s lifeless body.
“So, you made it to your true mate’s side. I hope you enjoy watching her die like her former lover,” Dev commented, dropping the laser pistol as she held both hands out with palms toward Gril.
“Gril, she has another weapon!” Madas shouted when she saw Dev reaching behind her back.
Gril jerked to the side when his former mate threw a series of blades. One of the blades sliced a deep cut along his bicep. He rolled when she threw several more. He dropped his rifle and pulled two of his own blades.
Dev had disappeared in the fog. He rolled and stood up with his back against the trunk of a dead tree. He ignored the blood running down his arm, reassured by the familiar weight of the blades in his hands.
“Why, Dev? You wanted your freedom—I gave it to you,” Gril called out.
“Do you think this is about you and me, Gril? This is about something much larger than either of us,” Dev scoffed.
Gril turned and threw one of his blades. He heard Dev hiss. He threw another slightly to the left. This time, there was no mistaking the sound of it hitting flesh.
“That will cost you, Gril,” Dev swore.
Dev fired wildly through the fog. Gril jerked out from behind the tree when he heard Madas’s frightened cry. He dove closer to the hot spring. Peering over a nearby log, he could see Madas clinging precariously to the bars of the cage. The bottom of the cage had fallen open and was swinging vertically, rocking the entire cage.
“Hang on, Madas,” he shouted.
“Well, I sure as hel meiya don’t want to let go. Will you just kill her already?” she snapped.
Dev’s coarse chuckle echoed through the fog. “I have to admit I like my replacement. Did Gril tell you that I was his mate and that I laid two eggs for him?”
“Poor eggs! I hope you aren’t raising them, because I h
ave to tell you that you are a horrible role model,” Madas growled.
Gril chuckled. “Devac wasn’t a very good mate either. I should have known when you tried to kill me the first time that I should have done more than send you away,” he called out.
He was rewarded for his comment by several flying pieces of debris when Dev fired at the log he was using for cover. His gaze swept the fog, wondering where Joren was. The Tearnat better not betray him or Madas, or he’d make sure that Joren joined Cardin in the hot spring.
“I was a fool for not making sure you were dead. You always said that the Goddess must be watching over you. You should have died in the crash, but this will be much more satisfying. You can listen to your precious little mate scream as she is cooked alive before I slice you open and let you join her,” Dev vowed.
“Goddess, does she go on like this all the time? I think I would have slit my own throat if I had to listen to her constant whining,” Madas growled.
“I am really looking forward to watching you die,” Dev snapped.
“Well, that was a short-lived friendship,” Madas retorted.
Gril listened to Madas and Devac, and realized what Madas was doing—she was distracting Dev so that he could get a better fix on her position. He continued listening to Madas bait Dev as he silently worked his way closer to Dev’s position through the fog.
A brief thinning in the fog gave him the chance he needed. Dev turned as he rushed her. He gripped her wrist and they turned as her finger fired off several shots. Madas’s scream and the loud sound of a splash broke through his concentration. He turned his head and gaped in horror when he saw the cage submerged in the boiling water, just the top visible.
“Feel the pain, Gril,” Dev hissed, striking his knee with her booted foot and bringing her knee up into his stomach before she turned and struck him across the face with her tail.
Gril fell backwards and twisted, his fingers clawing at the ground, his horrified eyes focused on the hot springs. Dev kicked him in the ribs and he rolled closer to the edge. Superheated steam rose from the edge and mist dampened his skin. He looked up to see Dev pointing a laser pistol at his head.
“Let’s see how many lives you really have,” she hissed with a malevolent smile.
Time seemed to slow as Gril watched Dev’s finger tighten on the trigger. He braced himself for the blast… and felt a heavy thud on his chest but no pain. Looking down, his eyes widened when he saw the small but all too familiar lizard sitting on his chest with his mouth open.
Dev’s outraged, shrill curse filled the air and she fired several more times. Each time she did, L’eon jumped and swallowed the blast as if it were a delicious sweet. Dev backed away, her eyes growing wide with alarm when he sat up. Her eyes grew larger when Madas appeared out of the fog, Joren at her side.
“L’eon, you can kill the bitch,” Madas growled.
L’eon grinned and crawled off of Gril’s lap. His body began to glow and he looked at Dev with malicious glee. Gril rose to his feet and wrapped his arms around Madas’s waist, his eyes glittering almost as brightly as L’eon.
“Run, Dev,” Gril ordered.
Dev backed away, holding the laser pistol in front of her. She repeatedly fired at L’eon. The small lizard caught each bolt of energy. Turning on her heel, she disappeared into the fog. Gril watched as L’eon sneezed and burped up a glowing ball of energy that rolled across the ground like a marble.
He turned to Madas just as they heard a terrified scream. Gril held Madas to him until the screaming stopped. He looked over her shoulder at Joren.
“I guess she stepped out of the protective area of the moss,” Joren stated with a grin.
“How…?” Gril asked in a tight voice, looking down at his precious Madas, alive and well in his arms.
Joren nodded to L’eon. “He appeared out of nowhere as I was trying to figure out how to get the cable across the hot spring in case your former mate cut the rope. Anyway, L’eon appeared out of the fog, grabbed one end, and ran across the vine above the hot springs to the other side. I don’t think you’re going to get your cable back. He used his tail to weld it to the post while you were fighting with your former mate—who by the way was a real piece of work! I thought I had it bad, but you did a lot worse—”
“Joren,” Gril growled.
“I was able to crawl out the bottom,” Madas continued the story, “and was climbing up the side when one of your former mate’s shots cut through the vine. Fortunately, I had one hand on the cable when it snapped,” Madas finished, wrapping her arms around his waist.
“Will you both quit calling her my former mate? It was an arranged agreement that lasted less than a year before she tried to kill me, and it happened a long, long time ago!” he said.
Madas turned to her brother. “He’s a lot older than I am,” she explained to Joren.
Joren’s eyes lit up. “Is he an egg snatcher?” he joked.
“By one hundred and sixty-five years,” she laughed.
“Nice!” Joren said, grinning at Gril.
Madas turned and looked at Gril. “I’m ready to leave this place—without any other goodbyes,” she said, suddenly overwhelmed.
Gril saw her eyes flash over the hot spring before moving away. He could understand her feelings, but there were a few things that needed to be settled before he left and he still needed to acquire the part for his ship. As much as he wanted to protect Madas from any further distress, the attack on them both had to be addressed.
“We need to return to the village. The part to my ship and the items you wish to take with you are there. We will not leave without them,” he said.
Madas closed her eyes and nodded. He caressed her cheek. She slowly opened her eyes and gazed back at him. He could see the shimmer of tears.
“You owe her nothing, Madas,” he quietly said.
“I know,” she replied.
“Come on, L’eon. I think Madas could use some of your love. She missed you terribly,” Gril summoned, bending to scoop up the amazing lizard.
L’eon scrambled up to his shoulder and quickly hopped onto Madas’s. She rubbed her cheek against L’eon’s and smiled at Gril. He could see the joy as well as exhaustion in her eyes.
“I should probably return to the village,” Joren muttered. “If I left now, I could probably make it there before dark.”
“That is a good idea. We will be there by midday tomorrow. Madas and I need some time alone before we return. Do not speak a word of this. I will take care of those responsible,” Gril ordered.
“I won’t,” Joren promised.
They all turned at the same time when the ground suddenly shook under their feet. Gril hissed out a warning and pulled Madas behind him. Joren fumbled for his pistol and held it with both hands. Gril pulled his laser sword and pressed the power button.
Out of the fog, a gigantic leg suddenly appeared. Gril stepped back as far as he could, trying to shield Madas. He spread his legs and raised his sword.
Glowing red eyes and the large rounded body moved above the moss. This night crawler was larger than anything he had yet seen. Joren issued a hoarse curse.
“Down.”
Gril blinked when he heard the strange voice. Joren looked around in confusion, trying to see who was talking. Madas stood frozen, her head tilted as she looked at L’eon in shock. The little lizard was standing up on his hind legs on Madas’s shoulder, pointing at the night crawler. The ridges on his back were raised and he was glowing.
“Down. These friends. No hurt,” L’eon ordered with a wave of his finger.
The night crawler looked at Joren, then Gril, then Madas. L’eon gently stroked Madas’s hair. He stared at the night crawler.
“My pet,” he said.
Gril raised an eyebrow when the night crawler slowly sank down to the ground and stared at Madas. It lowered its head to the ground, then slowly rose and turned. They all watched in stunned silence as the night crawler disappeared.
“I b
ossy,” L’eon said with a grin.
“I think I’ve seen everything now,” Gril muttered with a shake of his head.
Madas looked at L’eon with a crooked smile. “So, I’m your pet?” she asked with a delighted laugh.
L’eon grinned and rubbed his cheek against hers. “You and Gril. You make good pets,” he said.
Madas turned her soft gaze to Gril. “Yes, we do,” she agreed.
Epilogue
Two days later:
“Do you have everything you want to take with you?” Gril asked.
Madas looked at the pile of boxes. There weren’t many, six in all. In some ways it was sad to see her father’s entire life reduced to six boxes—but in those boxes were thousands of drawings, notations, and documents.
“Yes, I think so. Did any of the power crystals Joren brought to you work?” Madas asked.
“No, they are all low grade. I need something that can produce a lot of energy. Joren said there would be another transport ship arriving in a few weeks. I can use one of their communicators to request a replacement,” he said.
“It’s a shame that Devac’s ship was never found,” she said.
Gril nodded. “It is possible I could have salvaged one from it,” he agreed.
Madas walked over to him and wrapped her arms around his waist. He looked down at her and released a loud sigh. She caressed his cheek.
“We could always go back to our spot until the transport arrives,” she teased.
He grimaced. “Am I so obvious?” he asked.
“Just a little. Thank you for not killing Tima and my brothers,” she murmured, fingering the collar of his shirt.
“I wanted to. I will report what happened when we return. There will still be consequences, Madas,” he warned.
“I know. I’ll let Tima deal with it. Joren said they were able to retrieve Cardin’s body. There was no sign of Devac,” she said.
