Chapter 24
- Nora -
“Try to grab me,” I tell him.
Krix’vorr tilts his head. “It seems so dishonorable. You’re half my size.”
I take up the ready stance. “Oh, are you scared? I’ll toss you at the wall.”
“I am actually scared of hurting you,” he says as he turns his side to me. “But I’ll do my best not to.”
“Come on,” I goad him, part of me wondering how smart this is. “I think you’re afraid I’ll beat you up.”
“Yes,” he admits. “I’m deathly afraid of–” He suddenly lunges and reaches out to grab my shoulder. It's exactly what I expected. Bigger opponents always want to grab higher up first, and once they have hold of you, the fight is usually finished.
I quickly step aside and catch his wrist with both hands, pivot underneath the arm, and pull. His weight and movement unbalance him and he stumbles past me. I let go and push at his back with all my might, sending the giant locust alien crashing to the floor, defeated by his own momentum.
“Ah,” he says as he gets up, “That’s interesting.”
We’re in a training chamber deep inside the Beast. It’s basically a cube with walls of living tissue, and the ceiling is high.
There’s a big rack of extremely alien-looking weapons and other items I can’t identify.
Krix’vorr took me here to make me ‘less defenseless’, as he put it.
Well, I guess I’m not as harmless as he thought.
I back off a few steps, tensed up like in training. I’ve never fought anyone in earnest, but I’ve spent a good number of hours in Space Force gyms practicing unarmed combat, often with larger opponents. It’s an entertaining way to stay in shape. “Yeah? Losing a fight is interesting to you?”
Krix’vorr strokes one antenna. “No, you misunderstand. I was simply doing a surprise inspection of the floor. Thank you for assisting me with that.”
“Mhm. Checking that it’s soft enough for next time I drop you?” The taunting comes naturally when practicing combat. Or maybe it’s a Space Force thing.
“No,” he grunts, “making sure it won’t crack your skull when–” he lunges again, and goes for my arm.
It’s not a bad move, and if he hadn’t signalled it so clearly he would have caught me.
I just manage to avoid his hands and try the same move as last time, but this time his balance is better and he just stumbles before he catches himself and whips around, grabbing at me with his other hand.
I yelp and instinctively back off, but I’m too close and his reach is very long. He grabs me and swings me around until I’m staring up at him. “You’re fast.”
His other hand slides down my back and briefly strokes my hip outside the tape. “And you’re slippery.”
I snort and twist sideways, trying to free my arm. “No, just agile. Different things.”
He lets go of me. “The result is the same: I caught you.”
I adjust the tape that’s wound around me. “Don’t get used to it.”
I immediately put more distance between us. The fact that he lets me go annoys me far more than if I'd escaped on my own. “Now try to predict what I’ll do.”
I begin circling him again, trying to work out how to describe something that most humans do automatically.
“You keep watching my hands. That's sensible, because hands are dangerous.
But you're focused on what I'm doing right now.
Opponents usually give away what they're about to do before they do it.”
“How?”
“Eyes. Weight. Breathing. Tiny movements.” I deliberately glance toward his left side.
Immediately his attention follows my gaze.
I point at him. “There.”
“I see what you mean. You pulled my eyes to the side.”
“That’s right. If I’d had a weapon in the other hand, you might not have seen it for a tiny moment. That could have been enough.”
“‘It could. And an opponent will try this?”
I shrug. “Some opponents will. Grab me again.”
This time he doesn’t try to surprise me, but I feint to the side to force him to misjudge.
He doesn’t. Quick as a cobra he matches my movement, ducks and grabs me around my waist, then lifts me up over his head on straight arms. “I think I’m getting the hang of it.”
“Yes, fine,” I concede. “The view up here is very nice, but maybe- aieee!”
He tosses me high into the air, then catches me easily and sets me down. “I like this combat move.”
“That’s not a combat move!” I protest. “That’s just… annoying.”
I swear he chuckles in his alien way. “So quite demoralizing, you mean? Good, I’ll do it more in actual fights.”
“The more you do that, the more likely you’ll lose,” I tell him. “Have you been in many fights?”
“I’m a Chief Harrower,” he says. “Getting to that level meant a lot of fighting, both aliens and my own kind. Some of them used weapons, while I never did. Except for the final blow, the mercy killing, for which I use my dagger. It’s an honor I extend to those fairly defeated.
” He gestures for me to come closer. “Now I will teach you something.”
The tone makes me cautious. “What kind of something?”
He gives me an amused look. “The kind that keeps you alive.”
I walk over and he positions me near the center of the room. One large hand settles on my shoulder while he studies me for a moment. “Most of your enemies are larger than you.”
“One, rude. Two, yes, they probably are. So?”
“Most enemies are larger than you,” he repeats. “And stronger. If one catches you, strength will not save you.”
I roll my eyes. “Thank you for telling me.”
He frowns. “Are you about to faint?”
I easily out-frown him. “Huh? To faint? No.”
“Then what was that eye thing? A reflex?”
“Mmm… yes. A reflex I use when someone states the obvious. Saved my life many times.”
“Kindly keep it under control. I find it aggravating.” His hand rises and one long claw stops beside my eye. “If you are trapped in combat, strike here.”
“The eye? That could blind somebody.”
“Exactly!” he beams. “You’re getting it. Very good. Unfortunately we can’t practice that specifically… actually, I can get an underling to practice on. We are at the Nest, where a blind crewmember can easily be replaced. Beast!” he thunders up to the ceiling.
I quickly put a hand on his arm. “Don’t! I don’t want to actually blind someone.”
“No? Then why am I teaching you this?”
“I’m not entirely sure. But I promise to use that move if an enemy attacks me. I don’t want to put my finger in some innocent crewmember’s eye. And I might break my finger trying.”
“Those fingers are laughably thin,” he ponders.
“Oh, very well. Eyes are only one option. You can also target breathing organs. Antennae. Any vulnerable structure.” He taps one of his own antennae.
“If you can’t escape, cause enough damage that your opponent wishes they had chosen an easier target.
Use any means necessary. And allow yourself to not hold back.
That’s very important. If you’re in any kind of a fight, you must end that fight. You must. Repeat.”
“I must end the fight,” I state obediently. I suddenly feel a bit raw - this is a lesson I may well come to need. And soon. This is a much more brutal universe than most Earthlings think, and the locust society must be at the very center of that brutality. “Yes, okay. Thanks.”
For a while we continue practicing. Krix’vorr shows me where larger species tend to have weaknesses and how to create opportunities to escape.
In return, I keep pointing out the little signals he misses: changes in posture, wandering eyes, tension in the shoulders, and the tiny betrayals that reveal intention before action.
Finally I launch an all-out attack on the giant alien, using all the tricks. He deflects and defends, but can’t get a good hold on me. Seeing an opening, I gently tap the skin right under his left eye.
“I just ended the fight.”
We struggle for another couple of seconds until Krix’vorr grabs both my wrists. He glares down at me with eyes that shot lightning. “How dare you attack me!” He pushes me into the wall and lifts me so that we’re nearly eye to eye.
Shit. Was that too much? Did I trigger some alien reflex that makes him really mad? “Sorry…”
The locust glares at me. “Did you think this was just a fun exercise? Did you think you could assault a Chief Harrower in his own ship?”
“But we were just…” I begin.
“We were just training?” he snarls. “Is that it? It was just harmless? That’s what you thought?”
“Yes…” Damn it. I may have to poke him in the eye for real.
He lifts me higher. “Then let me tell you this: it was.” He leans in and places a kiss right on my mouth.
“And it was wonderful. Nobody else dares practice with me. And certainly nobody dares try to teach me something new. You’re the most unafraid female I’ve known.
” He kisses me again. “Your softness is only on the outside. On the inside, there’s something else entirely.
” He sets me down and comes down himself, sitting on the floor and making me straddle him.
The position puts us face to face for the first time. His hands settle on my hips and his eyes hold mine with an intensity that makes my stomach flip.
"This isn't training," I point out, breathless.
"Maybe not," he rumbles. "But it's even more important."
His antenna touches the tape and loosens it. When enough of me is bare, he pauses and simply looks. His hands hover a fraction above my skin, close enough that I feel their heat but not their touch.
"What are you waiting for?" I whisper.
"I'm memorizing the territory before I enter it." One finger traces from my collarbone down between my breasts and continues to my navel. "A good Harrower always does."
The laugh that escapes me turns into a gasp as his mouth follows the same path. His tongue is warm and textured and unhurried, and the scrape of his mandibles against my skin sends shivers racing in every direction.
I rock against him involuntarily, and discover that the shield at his midsection has already parted. The hard, ridged cock presses against me through what little tape remains. The contact draws a low, resonant sound from his chest that I feel vibrating through my thighs.