Chapter 2
Elodie
If I weren’t in so much pain, I’d think I was dead.
No such luck, I guess. Every inch of my body hurts, even my eyelids.
I take stock again and realize I lied. My leg doesn’t hurt.
In fact, I can’t feel it at all. Huh. Not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.
Maybe that alien devil monster thing ate it and that’s why I can’t feel it. Wouldn’t that be something?
My brain is a bit foggy, and I’m struggling to remember why I hurt so bad.
Slowly, I open my eyes. It’s not as easy as I expect it to be—as it’s supposed to be.
God, it feels like my lashes are crusted and stuck together with some kind of gross, gritty substance.
After exerting far more energy for such a small task, I manage to get it done.
Almost immediately I wish I hadn’t. The sun is a blinding, blurry mass overhead.
I slam my eyelids closed and jerk my head to the side.
Big mistake. One that makes me whimper in agony.
“Be careful. You do not want to injure yourself further.”
That voice is new. Once more, I peel my eyes open and search out who spoke. I guess I wasn’t imagining him. Wait, this isn’t the same one. This is like a miniature version of him. I blink slowly a few times—squeezing my eyes tight—but he doesn’t disappear. Instead, he cocks his head.
“Is there something in your eyes, female?”
“Elodie.” My name falls stupidly from my lips in a harsh sound. Even harsher than what came from the slender and young—I think—alien kneeling next to me.
“What is this word you speak?”
I try again, but have to clear the roughness from my throat. God, my mouth is so dry. “Elodie. It’s my name.”
“Elodie,” he repeats or at least I think he does. It doesn’t come out quite the same, but I suppose it’s close enough.
“That’s me. What’s your name?” Am I talking to a real being or is he merely a hallucination?
He glances up and to the right. I follow his line of sight and suck in a harsh breath.
Standing over me is the larger version of the alien.
He’s massive and imposing with his oil-slick black skin shimmering in the sunlight.
Even more so with the beady black eyes that stare down at me with an intensity that sends a shiver running down my spine and the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.
“You may give her your name.”
Another shiver hits, but this time it’s from the rumble of his voice vibrating through me.
Okay, so not a hallucination. I’d read once about some phenomenon called frisson where music and song could give some people goosebumps.
While this towering alien dude—I’m assuming his gender—isn’t literally singing, there’s something about how he speaks that makes my eardrums tingle.
“I am called Gannen.” I flinch slightly, because I’d somehow forgotten the kid. He glances back to the elder version of himself. “My gogo is called Ortak.”
What the hell is a gogo?
I shift, and agony unlike anything I’ve ever experienced pierces me.
Or my leg, rather. The one I couldn’t feel, but sure as fuck feel now.
The pain is excruciating. I think I might be sick, except being sick means moving and if I move again, I might pass out.
Black spots already swim in my vision. Shit, maybe I should if it would make this pain go away.
“Elodie, you must not move,” Gannen commands in a strong enough voice to grab my attention. “Gogo, we must hurry.”
“I am nearly finished.” He—Ortak—kneels down again at the opening of what I’ve come to realize is a fucking hole in the ground.
I still have no memory of falling into it.
Unless I was pushed? I’m still in pain and my brain throbs when I try to think too hard.
The agony flowing through me isn’t helping.
A loud thud comes from close by and I manage to open my eyes once more.
Ortak squats. Gannen mirrors his pose. I’m swarmed with fear of what they’re going to do to me.
“You need a healer,” the elder alien says. “There is a human one in the Tavikhi village we will take you to, but we have to get you out of this trap first. Your leg is twisted in an unnatural way. It will be painful to move you, but if you remain down here, you will die.”
Well, that’s grim as fuck.
“Do you understand my words, female?”
“Elodie.” I don’t know why I’m insisting Ortak knows my name.
He dips his chin. “Elodie.”
Like Gannen’s, his pronunciation isn’t quite right, yet I like the way he says it.
“Here.” He shoves a piece of hard leather in my face. “Bite down on this.”
I’m wary to do what he says, but I open my mouth enough for Ortak to slip the thing between my teeth.
He reaches for me and the moment I’m lifted off the ground and my leg turns with the movement, a muffled scream explodes from behind the leather.
I grind my molars against the gamey tasting material and when I can’t take the pain any longer, my vision goes dark.
Cool liquid hits my lips and I suck it down, desperate for the relief it provides despite the gross bitter flavor that accompanies it.
“Easy now,” a soft, feminine voice coaches. “There’s plenty more. We don’t want you getting sick by drinking too much too fast.”
I comply even though part of me begs that it’s not enough.
Every single part of me hurts. There’s a vague memory trying to push its way to the front of my brain of a large alien with shimmery greenish-black skin and coal eyes that stared almost into my soul.
A memory of a rough, guttural voice that settled deep inside my chest. A small, young alien who mirrored the larger’s image.
“Elodie, my name is Sage. I’m a healer here in the Tavikhi village. Are you able to open your eyes?”
All of my concentrated effort goes into doing what she asks, but god, it’s so hard. It hurts. I open my mouth to tell her so, but nothing more than a croak spills out.
“It’s okay if you can’t. Don’t try to talk though,” she says. “See if you can drink more water. I know it tastes terrible, but it will help with the pain.”
Something touches my lips so I part them.
Once more, bitter liquid coats my tongue.
I swallow as much as I’m able. There’s a frantic need to know what’s wrong with me, but a heaviness weighs my entire body down.
I can feel myself drifting. I attempt to fight its pull, but it’s no use.
It’s too strong and a wave of darkness drags me under.
Warm light spreads across my face. A shadow crosses it. I struggle to open my eyes, but finally I’m able to after several lengthy blinks. A hard surface beneath me is only softened by a thin layer of…something. Overhead is an arched roof made of a type of animal hide.
Carefully, I turn my head. On the other side of the large space is a redheaded woman standing at a waist high table. She appears to be organizing items. As though sensing my stare, she lifts her head and turns my way. Her lips curve upward until her teeth appear. She rushes over.
“I’m glad to see you awake. Do you need some water?”
My tongue stutters forward, skidding across dryness. I try to say please, but it only comes out on a rough croak. She snatches a cup from nearby and, with a hand behind my head, lifts it and places the vessel against my lips.
“Nice and easy,” she coaxes.
I take several long pulls of water until I turn to indicate I’m done. She lays me back.
“Do you remember where you are or what happened?”
I lick my lips again and pray I can answer her this time. “No.”
“Ortak and Gannen were out checking their traps and found you had fallen into one. They were able to get you out and bring you here to the Tavikhi village. I’m Sage, one of the healers. Ortak tells me your name is Elodie?”
“Yes.”
“I assume you’re from the human settlement?”
An image of a gated homestead filled with tents comes to mind. Alice. Gary. Bruce. Adam. Various other faces. That’s right, we’re on the planet Tavikh. “Yes.”
With that comes other images. Two males—one young, the other older. Pain like nothing I’ve ever felt before. Soothing words in a harsh voice. Soft, gentle touches to my face. I blink and the woman—Sage—comes back into focus.
“There were two aliens.”
She nods. “Ortak and his son Gannen. They are members of the Krijese tribe who live up in the hills.”
I glance around as if they’re here.
“Ortak is with our shefir and Gannen is with the other children, if that’s who you’re looking for.”
My gaze returns to Sage. “How long have I been here?”
“You’ve been in and out most of the day.
You were pretty banged up when they brought you here.
An ugly head wound that needed some stitches and a broken leg,” she explains.
“I set it and you’ve got a make-shift cast to keep it in place until the Bohnari send one of their ships with a healing pod.
They’ve got their engineers building a solar- and battery-powered one for us in case of emergencies, but it’s still a work in progress. ”
I’m sure what Sage is saying should probably make sense, but my brain just can’t piece together exactly what it is she’s talking about.
A rustling sound from nearby draws my attention.
I turn my head that direction just as the door flap swings open, and a broad-shouldered lavender alien with long, flowing golden hair steps through.
Directly on his heels is an even broader alien.
An almost familiar one with greenish-black skin and long, rope-like hair pulled back off his face and tied in a thick tail.
His piercing black eyes bore into mine and my stomach swoops and flips at the intensity of his stare.
He draws closer and closer still. The lavender alien is talking, but his words are like background noise. All I can focus on is the the alien who has stopped several feet behind him.
“Elodie.”
My name is said so sharply, I flinch and whatever hold this male has on me is splintered. I swivel toward whoever spoke to me. The golden-haired male and Sage observe me.
“Sorry.”
“I am Zander, Shefir of the Tavikhi.” He inclines his head. While I’ve never met him personally, his name is familiar to me. “I know you may be in pain, but are you able to tell us what you were doing so far away from the human settlement and how you stumbled into that trap?”
My mouth opens, but nothing comes out. I snap it shut, because no answers come to me.
Everything inside my brain is fuzzy. Staticky.
I know who I am and that I left Earth to settle on this planet.
I’ve been here through two cold as fuck winters.
Why can’t I remember why I wasn’t in my claustrophobic tent in the middle of the settlement?