5. Rally
Chapter 5
Rally
R ally felt every sharp scrape of doubt’s claws flaying the darkness in his mind. He’d stayed in shadowed places so long, so comfortably, that peeking into the light of his Honored’s love felt scary and new.
Deep, deep inside, he believed he was his Coalition’s weakest link. The most damaged. The most vulnerable.
He felt his fears devoured and delighted in. The vicious being excruciatingly dug into his past to shame him to his Mates.
Vai and Kano shored him up with their devotion, but Rally felt torn, fighting the soul-destroyer’s influence and himself. With such a divided defense, it was inevitable he would lose.
Memory took him.
B low after blow landed on young Kiraly. Kicks, punches, hits. Whether fists, mag-boots, or blunt weapons, they all hurt the same. Never ending.
His growls became weaker as blows unceasingly landed through his unshielded defense.
He’d let a helpless-looking Honored Nel convince him to leave the protection of the Dome on Lio Apoctah during his first Prowl through the Known Galaxies.
The moment he’d looked over and saw the tell-tale atmospheric shimmer of a small, cloaked Land-to-Space Vessel lurking nearby, his supposed ‘friend’ snuck a Shield Cap on his Mimetic Shield Disc in the muscular groove under his collarbone, leaving him vulnerable. Earthers in full SpaceGear descended upon him en masse.
With every strike, he’d felt the depth of his betrayal. And his stupidity. His PrideFamily had warned him. He was ashamed he hadn’t listened.
Kiraly was close to unconsciousness when an Earther female cleared her visor, and the blows stopped. He looked up at her, panting, his entire body throbbing with pain.
She crouched low, looking him over.
Maybe she will show me compassion.
“He has extraordinary color, Steiner.”
She looked over at Kiraly’s ‘friend.’
“Excellent choice. The dark-tipped golden mane alone will fetch a high price. But with all that pretty, gold-tipped fur! They will line-up and pay triple to get their hands on this pelt!”
Lio poachers.
They would kill him for his mane and fur without a care. Exactly as he’d been warned.
I ’ m such a fool. A dead fool.
The Earther female stood, looking down at him with blank, soulless eyes.
“Finish it. But don’t damage the fur, only the muscle and bone. Go for the neck. Make it quick. They may be on to us.”
Kiraly tensed to defend against the final blows, when a figure stepped out from the cloaked shimmer of the hidden Vessel.
“You murderous bitch!”
The Earther female turned.
“Carlo, I thought you were waiting for me in my bed.”
“You mean drugged into a stupor until you had a use for me. No. That’s not what I’m here for.”
Kiraly caught his breath as a new group of SpaceGeared Earthers surrounded the vicious ones. The Earther male walked close to the female.
“I had to see the truth for myself. All the rumors were true.”
His eyes never left the Earther female.
“Take them, Officers.”
The fight among the Earthers was brutal. The Officers saved him, taking painful laser blasts to shield him until they could remove his Shield Cap and he could protect himself. The poachers were defeated and taken away.
They sent Kiraly to Lio HomeWorld to heal.
His body healed and recovered, his heart and soul did not. He could not go home to his PrideFamily, could not go back to Lio Fleet Draux.
All he had left was despair.
T he invasive spirit fed deep on Rally’s wretched shame, rasping with delight as his beloved Vai shuddered in fierce mental defense.
“ Yesssss. You will always be weak. Gullible. Defenselesss .”
My fears are true.
The voice spat gratingly.
“ Too pretty. A danger to others because of it. They will suffer because of youuu !”
I ’ m the lynchpin that will break my Coalition apart.
A small feminine hand firmly gripped his neck, pricking him with her tiny nails, bringing him out of his dark reverie.
A displeased yowl raked their dream-scape.
She pressed close, bringing their cheeks together, her voice strong and clear.
“ No, Rally. I won ’ t let you go into that abyss. You ’ re mine .”
She dug her hands deep into his mane, shaking his head with her grip.
“Feel this.”
Rally plunged into agonizing hopelessness as Arden shared her harrowing memory of being teased and taunted. Refuse thrown at her. Unwanted, cold, and hungry.
There was a brief memory-flash of a red-bearded male rescuing her, taking her away from her abusers.
He gasped at the slashing sting of Arden’s mortifying moments.
“ Rally. Do you hate me now? Am I less because people tried to hurt me?”
His heart broke for her, rejecting such thoughts about the beautiful soul he adored.
“ No! Why would you say this?!”
“ I was horribly weak, Rally. I accepted their awful words for a long time. Should I be ashamed?”
Rally grabbed Arden tightly to him, burying his face in her neck, wishing he could experience the true depth of her delicious scent.
“ Not for even a second, my beloved!”
Arden grasped him to her just as desperately as he embraced her.
“ That ’ s how I feel about you , my Rally.”
Rally stilled.
Oh, Abah-Sah.
He was now in Arden’s delightful memory of the delicious spicy scents of food cooking at home. Good-humored loved-ones surrounded her and her belly was nice and full. Her heart still felt unsure, but she tentatively trusted these people to care for her as much as she cared for them. She had a warm home and a wild new family. It felt good.
Next, Arden and her sisters were thrilled and frightened as they furtively crawled on hands and knees to spy on a Slarr Slink. They piled on each other, peeking through the grate of a low-level air intake in one of the Private Nester Lounges on SpacePort Bazzini.
The scary, yet beautiful, snake-like Slarr slink-danced in matching patterns for hours, leaving Arden in awe. Then they got all wrapped in a writhing ball, which was much less interesting, so she and her sisters discreetly left.
They’d loved listening to Slarr music. She and her sisters slink-danced in patterns together often, giggling with the fun of it.
Rally’s heart melted at the cheerful memories Arden shared.
I have those, too. I can do this.
Rally remembered inviting dreams with Arvai and Takano. Freshly arrived on Lio HomeWorld, he slept in the Bon’Fiel Lio Nel Sanctuary for Prowling males.
They’d warmly accepted him, kindly understood him, deeply wanted him despite his brokenness. He fit them like a puzzle piece. His Brethren.
Takano left his Bon’Fiel PrideHome to meet Kiraly and never went back. All of them choosing to live at the Abassani together as Arvai completed his studies. They had been together since. Rally took deep satisfaction in this.
He remembered how they’d taken Arden’s lovely dream-names as their own. It gave them all a fresh identity. A new way to be. Only she, and now Shane, knew them.
Shane slid close, hugging him and Arden tightly, as Rally wrapped his arms around his precious treasures.
Rally experienced the joy of tentatively trusting again. Stepping into the light to grasp the hope of Coalition with the shining soul that was Shane, the first Honored Nel he’d allowed himself to confide in since the incident.
Shane grasped his neck where he felt the moist drip of tears in the fur on his shoulder. Shane’s voice rasped huskily.
“ Rally. Dear Rally. I may not be able to physically protect you right now, but I ’ ll keep your heart safe.”
A chafing hiss of frustration filtered over the dream-scape.
Rally kissed Shane, gratefulness sweeping through him.
“ Thank you, Shane.”
He stroked Arden’s cheek and gave her a heart-felt kiss.
“ Thank you, Arden.”
He felt her smile against his lips.