Barbarian’s Mate(38)

We sit around the small fire and the talk is constantly that of the women. What color mane do we think they will have? Will they have the attractively dark skin like Salukh’s mate or the strangely speckled skin like Rukh’s mate Har-loh? Will someone resonate immediately or will there be a wait? Over and over, the men ask the same questions. They irritate me, because it makes me miss my sweet Jo-see even more. I realize how lucky I am that my khui chose hers. I picture her back in our cave, taking care of Kira’s kit. My chest aches with pleasure at the thought and I rub it absently.

There is a long pause around the fire as the conversation dies.

Then, one speaks up.

“Do you suppose there are more than two humans?” Taushen asks, eagerness in his voice. When the group is silent, he continues. “I hope that one will resonate to me.”

“I am your elder,” Harrec protests yet again. They have had the same argument for days. “If anyone is to resonate to a human female, it is me.”

“But I am a good provider,” Taushen retorts. “What do you think, Haeden?”

“I do not care.”

“But—“

With a snarl, I get up from the campfire and stalk away. It is the same questions, over and over again, and they look to me for answers. I have none, but it does not stop them from asking. Do they not realize that I do not care a thing for new females? That I would gladly abandon them for season after season if it meant more time with my mate? The only thing that keeps me on this journey is the knowledge that Jo-see wants them rescued.

“What has crawled up his tail?” Harrec grumbles as I grab my spear and decide to patrol the area.

“Resonance,” says Taushen.

“He misses his mate,” cuts in Raahosh. “He is not the only one. The longer this goes on, the longer we are all away from home.” I glance back in time to see him give a sour look to the men. “I expect you all to hike a little faster tomorrow.”

I snort with amusement and go off to patrol the area.



* * *



The next day, the weather is blustery and colder than usual. Kira shivers despite the number of furs piled on her, and I can see the displeasure on Aehako’s normally smiling face. His mate has risked her safety to come see this done. Snowflakes fly on the wind, and the drifting snow grows deeper by the hour, the skies grayer. Raahosh, always ahead of the group scouting the trail, comes back to meet us mid-morning. He heads straight to me. “There is something you should see.”

The others remain with Kira and I jog ahead through the snow with him, over the next ridge. There, half-buried in new snow, is the strange cave. The blinking red light has burned a cave into the snow around it.

Scattered bodies of sky-claws litter the ground before it.

I frown down at the sight, an uneasy feeling churning in my gut. “Dead?”

“Freshly dead. The snow is falling thick, but there are many small hills on the ground.” He gestures at the area near the cave. “Those might be more.” He looks over at me. “What are your thoughts?”

I rub my jaw, gazing down at the dead sky-claws. They litter the ground like dung chips after a dvisti herd. “I am thinking I am glad I did not bring my mate on this journey.”

He nods. “And I, the same. I do not like this. Are they drawn to the scent of the humans?”

“I did not smell anything and I was there for many days with Jo-see.”

“Metlaks, then?”

I squint at the dead corpses. Their wings are spread in the snow, and there is very little blood. Most of the bodies seem to be piled close to the red blinking light. “I do not think so? They do not seem smart enough to kill so many sky-claw. How do they pull them down to the earth?”

He shrugs. “It is not normal. I do not like it.”

I do not like it either, but we are wasting time. “The sooner we get the human females, the sooner we leave this place and return to our mates.”

Raahosh grunts agreement, and we return to the others to tell them of the strange discovery. Aehako pulls his mate under his arm, clearly worried. But we are close, and I will not allow us to stop now, not when it means we are this much closer to returning home. I grip my spear and shake it at the hunters. “Follow me. Everyone watch the skies and remain alert.”

It is a short walk to the strange cave, but it feels much longer. Our group, normally full of trail conversation and the musings of the excited unmated hunters, is silent. Raahosh pokes at a few of the sky-claws as we pass, but they are frozen with cold, the bodies unmoving. There is very little blood, which is strange. If metlaks were truly hunting something as large as the sky-claws, there would be blood everywhere. They are not clean hunters. It all adds to the worry I see on all faces.

But when we get inside the cave, it is just as I left it. The remains of the fire Jo-see and I left are undisturbed, and the hides I had intended to scrape sit in frozen bundles by the cave mouth. There is a fine scatter of snow that has blown in, and no tracks.

“No metlaks,” Rokan says, and sniffs the air. “Storm will get worse before it gets better, though.”

“Where are the females?” Hassen demands, looking around the cave-like room. He turns to look at Kira. “Can you find them?”

“My mate needs a fire and to rest,” Aehako says, the look on his face protective. He keeps his arm locked around Kira’s shoulders. “Once she is warm again, then we will look for the human females.”

Taushen moves forward to protest. “But—“

“They have been here for seasons,” Raahosh bites out. “What is one more day? One more hour? Calm yourselves.”

“It’s okay,” Kira says, but the word comes out shivering, her jaw clacking. “I c-can look. B-but it’s really c-cold and I think they will n-need a f-f-fire to warm up, too.”

Immediately, the hunters scramble to build the fire.

Raahosh gives me a sour look.

I just shake my head.

A short time later, Kira has warmed up by the fire, the snow on the floors has melted, and we watch as she runs her mittens along the back of the cave. It is the strange, flat-black stone like the other walls, but small lights are flashing in patterns. Two of them are green, the rest are red. Kira studies them and then presses her forehead against one, her shoulders sagging.

“What is it?” Hassen demands, frowning fiercely.

Aehako hovers by his mate, stroking her hair and murmuring. After a few words, he looks up and glances over at the nervous hunters. “Two pods,” he says. “There are only two. The ones marked with red are empty.”

“How does she know?” Taushen asks. “Maybe they are marked wrong?”

“I learned the language back on the other ship - the elder’s cave.” Kira’s soft voice fills the tense cavern. She points at one of the bubbles, with red scribbles across the top. “They all say they’re empty. All but these two.” And she swipes at her cheek.

I remember my Jo-see’s worry that Kira would be upset that more girls were in the ship and did not live. It is good that there are only two. I will tell her and she will smile with relief, much like Kira is now.

“Are the others well?” Rokan asks. “Will there be a problem freeing them?”

“I can do it,” Kira says after a moment, and runs her hands over one of the dark, hard bubbles. “It’s just finding the releez hatsh.”

“What—” someone says, but then a hissing noise fills the cave.

We grab our spears. Two rush forward while I watch the entrance. The hiss happens again and I realize it’s behind me. I turn again and the cave wall is moving. Steam fills the air and then a form appears to fall forward. Kira extends her arms to catch the female, and Aehako rushes to help her.

The female looks like nothing but a blur of dark mane and pale, pale skin. She twitches and shivers, and her thin clothing sticks to her skin, outlining her form. I suppose she looks healthy enough, but she does not appeal to me. Not compared to my Jo-see. But one of the unmated hunters groans at the sight of her.

I snatch one of the furs from the fireside and move to cover the female up even as Kira pats her cheek and tries to wake her. I push the fur over her body and glare at the other hunters who are watching her like, I imagine, the sky-claw watched my Jo-see before snatching her away. I do not like the desperate look in their eyes, especially Hassen. I recognize that feeling of despair; how many times did I go to sleep feeling the same?

The human females will need watching. “Is this one well?” I ask Kira.

“I think so,” she says, and pats the human’s cheek again. “Wake up. You are with friends.”

The female’s eyes flutter open and they are green circles floating in a sea of white. I shudder at the sight. She has no khui and it is a repulsive thing to see. The female whimpers at the sight of us, her gaze flicking with confusion and horror as she looks between us.

“Hold her, Aehako,” Kira tells her mate. “Let us get the other girl out, too.”

As they switch positions and the female continues to make frightened whimpers, I stand guard so the unmated males do not rush her and try to force resonance. Raahosh hands me a second fur and we stand guard as Kira opens the second pod and the other female falls forward. This one is pale-haired, like Leezh, and thicker and stronger-seeming than the other, though her movements are equally feeble.