The Iriduan’s Mate by Susan Trombley
Twenty-One
The smuggler’s market wasn’t the safest place in the column, despite the excessive numbers of enforcement officers sent by the city bosses to patrol it. Shulgi kept an eye on their movements as he and young Alad made their way to the stall that provided a front for the procurer they had connected with in search of the equipment Namerian needed.
He wasn’t the only one eyeing the enforcement patrols determined to collect the bosses’ due from the market vendors. Every single stall had one or more thuggish guards who sized up the equally thuggish officers. Even the customers of the marketplace looked more than capable of holding their own in a fight. In this place, battles often broke out between rival factions, or between smugglers and city officials.
Shulgi hadn’t wanted to bring Alad along on this expedition, knowing this marketplace well. He’d hoped that the minion of Zaska’s he’d been in touch with could smuggle in the equipment in the under-tier, but it was rare enough that it would take several Standard months to receive it through those means. Instead, the helpful minion had connected him with a dealer in the smuggler’s market on third-tier. Namerian had insisted that Alad accompany him, arguing that the youth needed to be hardened up in order to survive on this world. He’d claimed Shulgi was the best person to keep Alad safe while he learned about column 212 and all the dangers and iniquities of Za’Kluth.
Alad proved to be quicker on the uptake than Shulgi had feared. He remained close, and now kept his wings ready despite his obvious reluctance to have them brush other patrons in the press of the market crowds. Whatever training he’d been given hadn’t prepared him for the chaos of the smuggler’s market, so his blue eyes remained wide, his gaze darting nervously back and forth as it lighted upon aliens far larger and stronger than himself.
Yet he followed Shulgi’s commands without question and jumped to obey him, and that was something Shulgi could appreciate, even if he found escorting civilians to be a tedious mission at the best of times.
This market was not in the best of times. A scuffle broke out after an ear-piercing shouting match between rival stall vendors. The press of bodies as some patrons moved away from the violence—and some moved eagerly towards it—pushed Shulgi and Alad backwards until the youth stumbled into a hulking thokost.
The antlered male stood a head taller than Shulgi, casting the young Alad in a long shadow as his lips pulled back in an enraged snarl that bared many sharp teeth. His rough, bark-like skin began to weep with toxin as he caught the front of Alad’s robe in one meaty fist and jerked him off his feet.
Alad’s wings fluttered wildly as he struggled in the thokost’s toxic grip, apologizing profusely for any offense he’d given.
“Prissy little weakling,” the thokost snarled, mossy green eyes narrowed in a glare at Alad, “you dare to bump into me? Do you have a death wish?”
“Do you?” Shulgi asked in a hard voice as he caught the thokost’s thick wrist, squeezing it until the thokost grunted in pain and slowly lowered Alad back to the ground.
The male dropped Alad onto his feet so suddenly the youth stumbled. Then he jerked his wrist out of Shulgi’s grip and shoved Alad aside, causing the young Iriduan to go flying into the crowd that had begun to form around them with avid looks in their many different types of eyes.
“Now, you look far more capable of giving me a good fight,” the thokost said, sizing Shulgi up. “It might take a little longer to kill you than the weakling.”
Shulgi shifted his stance, his veins flowing with combat stimulants until time seemed to slow around him as his senses and reflexives and perception all sharpened. He heard subtle sounds now that had been barely detectible before as their new audience grew silent, watchful. No doubt curious to see if an armored Iriduan soldier could defeat a towering thokost male.
A quick glance told Shulgi that someone had taken Alad out of the mass of people now forming a circle around the small space they’d left for Shulgi and the thokost. He spotted a sky-blue hand waving from over the heads of some of the watchers, silvery wings flicking as the youth tried to take flight, but someone pulled him back down.
Shulgi snarled beneath his mask, aware that he had to make this fight quick. He needed to retrieve Alad before the youth came to harm. Namerian had entrusted him with the youth’s safety. Perhaps that had been a foolish trust to put in Shulgi.
The thokost boastfully taunted Shulgi as he scanned the crowd, hoping to spot Alad again.
“Shut up, you overgrown shrub,” Shulgi finally snapped, shifting his full attention to the thokost again.
“Your people are a dying breed,” the thokost growled in rage as he clenched both clawed fists, vine-like muscles bulging on his arms. “Let me speed up their extinction by killing you!”
The thokost followed up these words by swinging his fist at Shulgi’s head. Shulgi easily ducked the swing, though it had come at him fast. The thokost hit like a sledge and any punch that landed would have impact, even through his armor. More importantly, the creature wanted his bark-rough flesh to make contact with Shulgi’s skin, which was only bare on his face. His toxin would do far faster damage to Shulgi than his brutal punches.
Shulgi didn’t have the time or patience for this fight, though his blood pumped with eagerness for a prolonged and challenging battle. It was one he wouldn’t be able to indulge this time. As the momentum of the thokost’s punch drew his huge body forward, Shulgi slipped under his second swing, drawing a dagger from the sheath attached to his forearm.
Thokosts had only two weak points on their body that were easily accessible. Shulgi knew exactly where both of them were. He spun away from the thokost’s other arm as it swung around to grab him, then stabbed the thokost below his ribcage in the narrow gap between the ropey muscles that protected one of his hearts. Two stabs in quick succession staggered the other male.
He roared in agony and stumbled away from Shulgi, both his hands covering the wounds that now wept with sap-like blood.
With the ease of long practice and the aid of the enhancing stimulants, Shulgi threw his dagger.
It struck the creature in the center breathing hole between his two green eyes, the force of Shulgi’s throw rocking the thokost’s antlered head backwards. Then the towering male slowly toppled like the twisted tree he somewhat resembled.
The crowd muttered with disappointment at the brevity of the fight, but Shulgi had no time to address them. He ran past the body of the thokost, bending as he reached the creature’s head just long enough to retrieve his favorite dagger, which came free with a scraping sound. Then he charged the crowd that stood between him and the last place he’d spotted Alad.
The people watching wisely moved out of his way as he sheathed his dagger and drew his pistol. Even the city bosses’ thugs kept their distance. He remained well aware of their threat and tracked them with other senses than his vision, but he focused on finding Alad.
He spotted the vivid blue coloring of Alad’s robe further along the path towards the stall where they’d been heading and gave chase, shoving startled patrons aside. Angry protests died on their lips as they caught sight of who had pushed them. Realizing the impracticality of a ground pursuit, Shulgi leapt into the air, his wings expanding and then fluttering as he rose above the mass of bodies.
He dipped and darted around unmanned drones used to constantly record the market, skimming low enough over the crowd to keep his eye on Alad and the cloaked figure that pulled him along. The youth struggled to no avail against someone clearly far stronger than him. Shulgi couldn’t make out what species he would face yet, but he had no doubt he could kill them. Especially now, with his blood pulsing with stimulants that filled him with euphoria and bloodlust.
He flew much faster than Alad’s captor could run. Within only a few Standard minutes of him taking to the air, he passed overhead, and the cloaked figure glanced up with six eyes growing wide with obvious fear.
An alfgoi. A male, based on his smaller stature. Still much stronger than Alad, but he’d offer little challenge to Shulgi. Unless he managed to reach his mistress’s web.
Shulgi had never had the misfortune to battle a female alfgoi in her own web before, and the creatures rarely left it, expecting their males to venture out and bring back “gifts” for them.
He dropped to the ground in front of the alfgoi, straightening as the creature squealed in fright, his hood falling away from a pale, humanoid face, six black eyes blinking as he desperately scanned his surroundings for an escape. Seeing the pistol in Shulgi’s hand, he must have realized he couldn’t run, so instead, he thrust Alad at Shulgi.
As the young Iriduan stumbled into Shulgi’s line of fire, the alfgoi darted into a dark alley between ramshackle shops. Shulgi caught Alad and steadied him, then pulled him towards the alley as he checked for the kidnapper, already knowing the creature had undoubtedly gone to ground in some hole unknown to Shulgi.
It wasn’t likely that he would find the creature, and he still had to get to the procurer before their contact grew too nervous to stick around with the equipment Namerian needed.
“I’m so sorry,” Alad said in a breathless voice behind his mask. “I tried to fight the creature off, but he proved too strong.”
Shulgi holstered his pistol and then clapped the youth on the shoulder. “I will take you to the combat arena to harden you up from now on. You’re not prepared for this.” He gestured to the market, noting the curious glances that some patrons shot his way. “It was my mistake to listen to Namerian and bring you here.”
Clearly shaken, Alad audibly swallowed, the sound amplified by the speaker in his mask. “The creature—he said I would like my new role in the brothel.” The youth’s entire body trembled. “A brothel!” He shook his head, his long, mussed hair flying with the force of the motion. “I did not come this far from Iridu to serve another’s sexual whims.”
Shulgi grinned beneath his mask, pleased at the anger he heard in the youth’s tone. “Good. I will see that you’re trained so you can fight anyone who would try to force you to.”
Though his blood still buzzed, Shulgi calmed his mind, keeping his attention on their surroundings as they left the area where the scummy alfgoi had escaped. He pondered returning to this place later to see if he could track the creature into whatever hole he’d used to disappear.
Then something caught his attention that chased all other thoughts from his mind.
A flash of a green cloak moving between two hulking Ultimen was enough to put Molly into his mind, and he sped up his steps, catching hold of Alad’s arm to drag him along in his wake. As distracted as he was, he wouldn’t let the youth out of his grasp again until they’d safely returned to Ma’Nah.
He followed the dainty cloaked figure, recognizing the billowing garment—and the two guards. It was definitely his Molly. No doubt she was once again serving as Zaska’s mouthpiece. He couldn’t fathom why else she would come to this marketplace.
The crowd swelled around him as he impatiently shoved aside protesting customers for the stalls that crowded the thoroughfare. He could no longer see Molly’s hooded head, but still spotted the tall forms of her guards moving towards an intersection. They rounded a corner before Shulgi could pass through the crowd between him and them.
Alad protested Shulgi’s rough handling, and Shulgi realized he’d been squeezing the youth’s upper arm so hard that he’d come near to breaking it. He quickly released Alad, glancing around in frustration at their surroundings. There was nowhere safe he could leave the young Iriduan in this place. He was also already late to his meeting with the procurer.
This whole day cycle was turning into a disaster. Still, he wanted to see Molly again. He also felt like he had to know that she’d reached her intended destination safely in this dangerous place. She had her guards, but he wasn’t sure even they would be enough to protect her from a crowd like this.
“Forgive me, Alad. I saw someone I know. I just need to head around that corner to see that they remain safe.”
Still rubbing his arm with a pained squint to his eyes, the youth nodded his understanding. “I will remain close, sir. I won’t be captured again!”
Shulgi gestured for Alad to fall in beside him and grit his teeth in frustration as he slowed his pace so the youth could keep up. Finally, he reached the corner where Molly and her guards had turned. The path they’d taken led into a nicer section of the third-tier. One where some of the city bosses’ enforcers and officials made their homes.
Traffic through this area was much sparser, and Shulgi didn’t like the looks he and Alad received as they passed buildings that grew progressively more expensive and lavish the further along the path they traveled. The path terminated at the gate of a mansion built in a boxy, old-world ramsuta style that left a lot to be desired aesthetically, but would no doubt contain luxuries far beyond the reach of the other residents of this tier. The gate protected the mansion but stood open at the moment. He quickly spotted the reason why.
The gatekeeper was in the middle of gesturing for Molly and her guards to pass him, just as a stocky ramsuta male walked down the stairs fronting the mansion.
The look on his face as he stared at Molly made Shulgi tense up, his fists clenching as he ducked behind one of the stone gateposts so the ramsuta didn’t spot him.
Nor did he want Molly to spot him. He had no right to follow her. Not really. She wasn’t his woman, even if he wished she could be. She had her guards with her, and the well-dressed city official clearly expected her arrival.
He glanced around the gatepost, taking another peek at the scene, unable to help himself.
Alad caught his arm before he could charge out into the open. “Sir, where are you going?”
The alarm in Alad’s voice snapped Shulgi back to his senses and he ducked behind the gatepost again, his heart thundering and his blood burning with jealousy and anger—and intense frustration.
When he’d spotted that ramsuta with Molly’s arm familiarly wrapped around one of his, he’d felt like he’d taken a blow harder than the thokost’s would have been. When the ramsuta lowered his free hand to grip Molly’s ass like he had the right, Shulgi wanted to kill him.
If Alad hadn’t been there to stop him from making a fool of himself—not to mention jeopardizing everything—he would have.
