Chapter 10
Naomi
I thought I was a goner when that wall with weapons suddenly moved and something with red scales came barreling out of it.
I’d slung my makeshift weapon before I had a proper look, and now I felt really bad that I’d whacked Krashe.
Of course, he was acting like he hadn’t even noticed, again.
I wondered if that was just a macho attitude or if that was really the case.
I knew I’d hit him really hard that time, he had to be at least a little bruised, right?
Maybe I just hoped that because I didn’t want to believe how ineffectual I was against these Naga. I knew I was at an extreme disadvantage, unable to walk and all that, but I didn’t want to be a soft target.
When I realized it was Krashe and not an enemy coming through that secret doorway…
I had been so relieved that I’d just thrown myself into his arms, hugging him like there was no tomorrow.
And damn it, when he hugged me back, that was like the best hug ever, firm, warm, protective.
I knew that I had nothing to worry about at that moment, he was here, and was going to keep me safe.
Maybe that mating thing really was true, but how could I possibly be the right match for a big, badass Warlord like him?
He had been prepared for just this kind of situation I realized when he pulled out an already partially packed backpack with supplies.
The empty bookshelves suddenly made more sense too.
He hadn’t been hiding those tablets and scrolls from me, he’d moved them somewhere while I was sleeping.
They couldn’t be in the backpack, but I was now certain he’d stashed them somewhere so he could recover them later.
Maybe he knew he was a bit of a rebel to his Clan, making gadgets out of wood.
Maybe that’s why he was hiding the evidence when he made his getaway with me.
Burning his models and the prototypes, hiding the books, and taking that chest with the datapads and holographic picture frame.
I needed to better understand this, and for that, I needed to get answers, honest ones.
We’d long ago left the smelly tunnels behind in favor of dark passageways with ethereal streaks softly glowing in various shades of violet or pink along the walls.
He’d given me the all-clear so I knew we weren’t being chased, but Krashe was still going at a fast pace, dashing through the tunnels with a clear direction in mind.
Or maybe he just looked hella confident as he got us more and more lost in this maze.
“Krashe, can I ask you something?” I started out quietly.
It still didn’t feel right to talk out loud, my voice echoed against the walls in a very creepy way.
In the faint light, I could see him dip his chin in my direction, the bone-white horn on his chin giving him away, along with the glimmer in his beautiful wine-red eyes.
“Your people, your Clan, why do they hate me so much?” I knew the blue ones I’d met the first day hadn’t, they had been excited about our presence.
He was quiet for a few drawn-out seconds, his eyes flicking away from my face to focus on the passage ahead of us. Then Kiwi made his chirp kee kee noise and I saw how that caused Krashe’s mouth to tilt into a grin. My heart melted for that little smile, he was a total marshmallow for my new pet.
“To understand that, I must tell you what I know of the history of my people… It’s a long story.” Krashe’s voice was this lovely deep rumble that I could feel along my chest, where he held me clutched to his body with his powerful arms.
I settled my head against his pectorals with a content sigh, “Go ahead, I’m pretty sure I could listen to your voice all day.
” My smile was wide when that made his breathing stutter for a moment, then he tightened his grip on my body, holding me even closer.
I didn’t know where the confidence had come from to say such a thing, but I was happy about it.
This was the new me, the brave version of Naomi that I could be proud of. Saying things like that fit right in.
“Is that so, my mate?” he drawled smugly.
But he didn’t wait for me to respond, diving into that history lesson instead.
“Long ago, the Naga lived in cities and built sky-ships. You saw those images, you know this is fact. Then calamity struck and we were brought down to a simpler life. Bitter Storm has a long memory, my ancestors charged the Clan with the all-important task of preventing another such calamity from happening again.”
His gaze seemed to turn inward as he mulled over these words and I was almost holding my breath to see where this was headed. What kind of calamity did he mean? Did he even know? It just had to have something to do with aliens from outer space, or they wouldn’t be this hostile toward me.
“My mother was the lorekeeper for Bitter Storm before she was killed. That chest with the strange books and the image crystal? They were hers. And having them is against the law of our Clan. We were taught that it was technology that brought about the end times, so we must never touch it again, and destroy it when we find it.”
Krashe’s voice turned darker when he said the next words, “It is the other Clans that flirt with danger each day, when they scavenge the ruins of the past for relics they know nothing about.” Then he added with a growl, “They would deserve what they would bring down on themselves, but they would take Bitter Storm with them. We can’t allow that. ”
I frowned as I realized how passionately he believed that and yet…
He was the one who had built some kind of mechanical locking system for his home, and he was the one with scale models of a trebuchet and some kind of water system—technology he was creating.
Not to mention what was in that chest that belonged to his mother; that was definitely contraband according to him.
So why was he so eager to save those items if he truly believed that?
“I see,” I murmured in response. “And they think that because I came from that crashed shuttle, I’m here to bring about the end times?
Do I look like a threat to you, Krashe? I can’t even walk, damn it!
” I wanted to laugh at how absurd that idea was, but I knew only too well how differences and ignorance could create hate and fear.
I’d grown up in a society riddled with technology and rife with the chance at education.
Yet a trip to the store in my wheelchair could still net me many glances and even people awkwardly crossing the street so as not to get close to me.
For some, I knew it was just because they felt sorry for me and didn’t know how to deal with that.
Others definitely seemed to think that my condition might be contagious.
Hah, as if I could give them a car crash that would cripple them.
It was stupidly ridiculous, the things people thought, just because they didn’t know.
“I know you aren’t a danger to the Clan, Nah-omi,” Krashe said, drawing out my name to capture that elusive A-sound.
I was pleased that he was trying so hard to pronounce my name right, but the ‘Nomy’ thing was starting to grow in me too.
It was like he had a private pet name for me.
“And I do not believe that during my mother’s time as lorekeeper, the Clan would have been quite so hostile either.
Things have turned darker the last few years, since the food shortage, and the Queen taking over the role of lorekeeper. ”
Food shortage? I hadn’t seen any evidence of that, in fact, the Queen had been downright fat.
It had been really surprising to see an overweight Naga after all the lean, muscled bodies of the warriors I’d seen.
Krashe himself didn’t seem to carry an ounce of fat on him, he was packed with muscle though, which meant a lot of food or he wouldn’t be able to maintain all of it.
“How come your Clan has a food shortage?” I asked.
They lived in one place, inside that huge cavern, and the Clan was huge and numerous.
If I dug deep for my history knowledge on Stone Age people, I was pretty sure that if they were hunter/gatherers, they had to be migratory to stay with their food sources.
They weren’t, so that had to mean they had farms somewhere, didn’t it?
Or was that the issue, their food migrating away from them and no farms to sustain them in the meantime?
“Orshala Peak is rocky, which means the ground is not fertile like the territory of the Thunder Rock Clan. It means it is less attractive for bigger herds to migrate through. Our Clan has simply grown too large to be sustained by so small a piece of land. We need more.” He lifted a hand to gesture in a direction, not that it meant anything to me.
“That is why I drew up war plans to take what we need from Thunder Rock, I will not let the younglings starve.”
Oh boy, that was bad. Because it was clear that while Krashe had willingly made himself a fugitive to keep me safe, he wasn’t ready to give up on helping his Clan.
Somehow, I didn’t think they’d reciprocate that kind of loyalty in the same way.
Right now, if they saw him with me, they’d kill him on sight.
I had not a shred of doubt about that, and I didn’t think he had either.
I suppose it was sort of admirable that he was so hellbent on finding a food source for his Clan, when it was clearly the young that were suffering the most from this.
I just wasn’t sure if all-out war was the answer, why couldn’t they try trade or something?
When I asked him that he scoffed, “We do not offer trade with those that willingly put our entire planet at risk!” Ah, that again.