#3
Quickly I hoist the female out and over my shoulder. She’s light and delicate and her warm rump is round under my palm.
I stride to the entrance of the passage. I can’t hear the other vehz but I am hopeful because I have a head start.
And surely they won’t follow me to Jakarty land.
From what I could see El-Frankin and In-Sar were unarmed. They would be crazy to set foot on the other side of this passage. The Jakarty are not known for being a welcoming bunch.
I step over a small stream and then up onto a boulder, then another, being careful not to lose my footing. To my right I see the lava flow that nudges its way over the top of the passage in a stream of molten rock and poisonous smoke.
The woman over my shoulder moans and her left leg twitches. This spurs me on.
I reach the entrance as I hear a vehz approaching. I’m not convinced they won’t notice the small dark mouth in the landscape. It’s not large but it is the only place I could have gone.
But I don’t dwell on this and I rush into the darkness not even pausing to let my eyes adjust. This has to go where I think it does. I have a good memory for maps and an even better sense of direction.
The ceiling is low and I stoop as I rush along, keeping a tight hold of the body over my shoulder.
The air is musty and damp but it doesn’t hold prion and with each step I am stronger, anticipation spurring me on.
Damn it.
I hear voices. Their voices. They are following me.
Idiots.
I splash through a stream, my feet instantly wet as I have holes in my boots. It doesn’t slow me.
With my hand skimming along the wall, I take a left turn, it’s the only way I can go. Here the rocks are sharper and a few are milky white with the bony remains of millennia ago.
I am breathing fast, she is bobbing on my shoulder. I am running quicker now.
So are they. Their feet splash and I hear the muffled call of my name.
As if that would stop me.
And suddenly there is light. I am racing along a jagged, uneven tunnel and there is a small pinprick of light at the end. A beacon of hope.
It’s my land. I am sure of it.
Safety.
I adjust her on my shoulder, fasten her closer and grip her ass to hold her steady as I duck and swerve. My feet are slapping on the uneven floor. I can’t get there quickly enough.
I mustn’t fall, she could get damaged.
And the fools are following me. Don’t they know the tables have turned. They are in my territory now.
The pinprick of light gets bigger. My heart swells with it. I am so close.
When I am an inch from the salvation of the sunlight I pause and slide her from my shoulder to hold her in my arms. The kerchief has gone; it must have fallen off somewhere back there.
And her eyes are open as she clings to my shoulder for balance. Her legs are weak, the way mine were not so long ago, and I grip her torso tighter to support her.
“Who…who are you?” she asks, her big blue eyes wide and unblinking as her small fingers dig into my flesh.
Now I am glad that I speak her language. Grateful they made me learn it.
“I am Yar-Sh of the Jakarty.”
“But why…?” She frowns and her button nose wrinkles.
She is so pretty, so alluring and cute that my entire body reacts.
My heart thumps and I suck in a breath. Instantly I think about mating with her, something I have never done because I was so young when the women went.
I want to fill her with my purple seed, reach a climax in her pussies, not in my own hands.
My eye line dips to her two breasts. Quite odd and I wonder why Athos didn’t find a planet with females with the correct three.
“Yar-Sh,” she repeats and licks her lips. “Why…?”
Her lips are likely dry like mine. Prion can do that.
“Now you are with me, not with them. Get used to that.”
I tug her into the sunlight. Its heat rains down on my bare chest and I breathe deep, glad to be home.
She gasps suddenly and clutches her hand to her throat. “What the…?”
I see why she is shocked.
Before us are at least twenty mounted Jakarty. Each rides a handsome big ghinut; their purple coats glint and the one long horn on each of their heads is long and carefully sharpened as weapons.
It’s the Sandors. A splinter Jakarty group who patrol the territory on their horse like creatures.
I hold up my hand and call out in my native tongue, letting them know who I am—the brother of their leader who has escaped imprisonment.
And then behind them I hear the two idiots who don’t know when to give up.
They are puffing and panting and shouting my name and the word Nina whatever that means.
In a sudden rush they practically smack into me. Two big bodies that hurtle into the light and then screech to a halt.
The ghinuts whinny and stamp their feet. The Sandors draw swords and take a step closer.
She shakes in my arms, pressing close. Oh, I like that…a lot.
I turn to El-Frankin and In-Sar. “You shouldn’t have followed,” I growl. “Fools.”
“But you have…you have a woman. An Earth woman…Nina.”
“Let’s call Nina compensation for my years mining for your brain-washing king.”
“Do not insult King Athos.” El-Frankin’s jaw tightens.
“I don’t think you are in any position to tell me what to do.” I gesture to the Sandors’ grim stares and the ghinuts’ lethal horns. The Sandor closest snarls and his ghinut shakes his head. “You are captives now,” I say, “there is nothing you can do to escape.”