Chapter 30
It had been three days since I last held Jacqueline.
I’d been loathe to leave her, and I found myself reaching for her when I was just on the verge of sleeping and waking as though we’d been together for a long time.
I was painfully aware that it would likely be another five days until they got back and I didn’t like it.
Kyvar entered my office. Given the hard mask he had over his features, he didn’t have good news.
“The Consortium reacted to our message through the Intergalactic Oversight Commission.”
“Oh?” My lazy tone concealed the twin emotions of rage and worry that I’d been running on for the last few days.
“They would like to set up a holo-meet.”
I had almost hoped they would respond that what I’d accused was preposterous, and that they had nothing to do with our affairs. “I will respond.”
He nodded curtly. I tapped my desk screen and sent a date and time to the Intergalactic Oversight Commission for a meeting.
“The gathering should be done in the next couple of days.” Kyvar gazed out the bank of windows in my office.
“Indeed.” I watched him. He must miss the little female. He still hadn’t shown interest in any other females.
“Are we going to tell them?”
“We tell them nothing.” I said sharply. “They are not involved in this.”
He inclined his head. “I agree.”
“That means no whispering things to your little human.”
He swung his gaze to me. “She’s not my little human.”
“Why not? I haven’t seen the usual parade of females through your life. There must be a reason. You don’t need to hide anything from me, you know that.”
With a heavy breath through his nose, he tapped his claws on the chair. “What did you do to ease the concern of mating with Jacqueline?”
“Got her excited and pushed in slowly.”
He snorted. “Fair enough.”
We both sobered. “Are you keeping the other Vorazyr up to date on the situation?”
“For now, only Luuciyn and Zyroth. Zyroth because he’s been inquiring.”
“Spirits forbid that rough bastard not have all the intelligence on this planet.”
“He’s a good ally.” Zyroth was ferocious and nearly unbeatable in a fight.
His strong will often clashed with the other Vorazyr, but he was loyal and I didn’t have trouble dealing with him.
After all, we both only worked toward the betterment of our territories.
And since he had literally clawed his way into the position after a trying youth, he was especially protective. I could respect that.
Vuldrex came to the door, and I beckoned him in. I informed him of what was happening, that the situation wasn’t to be revealed to anyone outside of the few I’d chosen to advise me on it, and to quash any gossip or rumors as we implemented changes.
“And next steps, Vorazyr?” he asked.
“We prepare for negotiations and increase the training of the warriors, as well as the timing of patrols. I want patrols going out even further and will assign contingents to the smaller villages on the outskirts of my territory.”
His face was grave as he listened. “Understood, Vorazyr.” He clapped his wings and left.
I waved for Kyvar to join me as I pulled up a map and a list of our warriors and the different contingents they were assigned to.
“Let’s get this sorted and send them out immediately.
You and the captain will be in charge of coordinating the increased training.
Focus on battling enemies with weapons instead of other vorpyr. ”
He clenched his jaw. “Krauling Consortium.”
A sound announced incoming information and I tapped the screen to receive it.
“Looks like we have our first meeting set.”
I closed my eyes as the breeze picked up, soothing my flushed skin. I had traveled with a small group up a steep incline. The breeze and the views of the open valley we had been working in were worth it.
“Isn’t it nice?” the vorpyr closest to me asked. Myka had taken me under her wing since Arrazyl left and I was grateful for someone else who spoke the intergalactic language.
“Yes, I’m glad I made the hike.”
“Do you see the cliff in the distance there?”
I squinted in the direction she was pointing. “Yes.”
“That’s one of the cliffs our vorilh breed at.
Our warriors go to cull the predators that gather.
Vorilh produce the milk that our territory sells to intergalactic conglomerates.
There’s a limit to the amount the vorilh produce, and it’s used for many different things depending on which species buys it, so it sells for exorbitant prices. ”
“How do you milk them?”
“Hmm.” She frowned as if trying to understand. “What do you mean by ‘milk them’?”
“Well, such as—” I couldn’t think of a single animal I’d learned about here that nursed their young like so many animals on Earth. “Like how milk is pulled from a female’s breast by her baby.”
“Oh.” Her eyebrows shot up. “How interesting. They do not physically nurse their hatchlings. They produce sacs of milk for their young to drink from. Once the hatchlings are about two months old the sacks that they haven’t used to live and grow are gathered.”
“Fascinating.”
Someone called out in vorikaan.
“Ah, they found another area full of gyksh leavings.” Myka hurried in that direction, but I waited a minute to catch my breath.
Unlike her, I could not catch the breeze with wings and glide across the mountain.
And my vorpyr-sized basket was half full already from everything I’d gotten on the way up.
“Time to go.” I muttered, not wanting to get far from the group. I hadn’t seen any predators, but I sure had heard frightening sounds at night.
Movement a short distance up on a flat ridge caught my eye.
When I looked up there nothing stood out, but there was a great deal of low foliage, plants and large flowers and bushes.
Something sinister could easily hide in the underbrush.
I was about to break into a jog to where the vorpyr had gathered when something moved again and I froze.
This time, a sound came with it. A muffled scream.
“What on earth?” I dropped my basket and ran up the incline. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I got to the ridge. “Oh shit, oh shit.” I gasped, hurrying forward.
A vorpyr child was flapping his wings wildly and kicking his legs. I didn’t know what the rest of him was doing because he was halfway inside the mouth of a grey plant. A plant that had massive barbs that looked like teeth.
I wanted to run to him and pull him out, but the barbs were angled so that if I pulled him out, he would be shredded.
“I’m here, sweetie. I’ll help you.” I knew he couldn’t understand me, but it made me feel better to say it.
I ran to the edge of the flat ridge and yelled as loudly as I could for Myka, before running back to the boy.
Something told me he couldn’t be in there long.
Whether he would suffocate or something else, I didn’t want to know.
A plant that could take down prey the size of a teenage human likely had mechanisms to kill the prey before it could struggle free.
What I had with me was woefully inadequate to deal with the situation at hand.
Since I couldn’t get him out of the mouth, and the razors on his wings hadn’t been able to cut it when he flailed, I needed to try a different method to get it to let go.
As I looked around, an idea formed. I ran to a bush with lush perfectly round fruits that were so acidic they had burned my mouth horribly when I’d tried them.
Thyra had been horrified, and both Junyv and Vuldrex had nearly drowned me in water as tears streamed down my face.
It had made me less keen to try what they ate so easily.
The boy screamed again.
“I’m here, I’m trying. Myka!” I called her name at the top of my lungs, not stopping what I was doing.
Time was of the essence and I couldn’t waste any going to get her.
“Please let this work.” I took an armful of fruits back to the massive plant.
Leaves decorated its stem all the way to the dirt and I pushed them aside so I could see.
I clawed at the dirt at the base, pushing it away as I dug deeper and deeper. “How secure is this thing?”
A network of thick roots spread out about a foot down. I cracked the fruit open with a stone, held it over the roots, and squeezed. I did the same with three more in quick succession. Nothing happened.
“Please work.” I whispered. If it didn’t…
The plant began to jerk and heave, slapping me with its huge leaves as it trembled as if it were in its death throes.
Open up, damn it.
It spit him out.
I ran to him, dropping to my knees by his sticky form. He was having difficulty breathing. I wiped at the sticky mess that coated his nose and mouth.
“Ah!” I jerked away as my hands burned. That’s when I noticed he also had burns on the upper part of his body. “Shit.” I yanked off my outer shirt, leaving my cropped cami to cover me, and wiped the substance off him as quickly as I could.
“Jacqueline?” the call came from close by.
“Myka, over here!” I continued my work. He was awake, thankfully, but he was trembling and clearly in pain. I grabbed the container of water I had with me and carefully tested it on a small area. No reaction, good. I began washing away the substance that was left with the water.
“By the divine spirits, what happened?” Myka was there an instant later.
“That plant.” I waved vaguely behind me.
She looked at the slowly dying plant and then back at me, lips parted in surprise.
Then she seemed to collect herself. “I must take him. There are medical kits at camp and his grandmother will want to know what happened.” she gathered him up into her arms. “Go to the group and help them. I do not want you staying here by yourself.”
“Don’t worry, it’s not a place I plan to vacation.” I had already gathered my bag and was making my way down toward where I dropped my basket when she took off, sailing down the mountain.
I joined the group and received a couple of wing waves from some who recognized me. I waved back and got to work.
Myka didn’t come back and eventually we’d gathered everything in the area and headed back to camp.
I was sore and tired, and despite having wrapped a cloth a friendly female gave me around my blistered hands, they throbbed.
“This place.” I muttered, looking them over in front of the cook fire.
It would be a couple of hours until dark, but I wasn’t about to go out again.
I needed to find a medical kit and some cream.
I went in search of a kit. I happily found one near another campfire, and was crouched next to it, swiping the healing ointment over my hands, when a familiar voice made me cringe.
“You.”
I turned to see the cranky senior who had denied me service but had brought Arrazyl all those wonderful treats. “Yes?” I sighed tiredly, getting to my feet. I wasn’t about to pretend I was happy to see her. She needed to bug off and leave me alone, and I would tell her that.
“Do you know that it’s impossible to rescue someone from a ykth without energy swords to chop it down and then pry open the mouth?”
My lips parted as I desperately tried to understand what on earth she was talking about. “You mean the plant that had the boy?”
“My grandson.” Oh good lord. She would probably blame me for his being there in the first place. “I haven’t changed my mind about what I think of your kind, but…” she seemed to struggle with the words. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. And if you don’t have an energy sword on hand, dump acid or something extremely acidic on the roots.” I walked away, smoothing binding leaves over my palm. They adhered and already my hands felt cool and the pain numbed.
I stopped to gaze up at the clear sky and wished I could talk to Arrazyl. Had his day been this eventful?