Taken to Lemora by Elizabeth Stephens

15

Raingar

Watching her work is an inspiring thing. Turns out, Igmora managed to equip her with all the knowledge under the suns. It seems she’s good at everything and, when word gets out that she’s taking on more tasks — any tasks she chooses to accept — the desire for her assistance becomes a long list she can’t ever hope to accomplish in this lifetime, or the next.

But it’s an impressive thing to watch her try. Because that’s all she can do. Try for her clan, as she tries for me each lunar, pressing her body so temptingly against mine. I know she’s trying to break me but I’m not ready. Not yet.

But maybe…maybe soon?

And in the meantime, she continues her tailoring with Lyla, spinning bulberry fibers with Timor, producing pouches and pouches of her soothing horn oil with Leelee — she’s even been asked to step in to provide courses on stretching and breathing by Moreth who often finds himself inundated by Lemoran mine workers complaining of minor aches and pains that would better require her assistance than his.

The Asgid festival of lightning or sunshine or whatever the ohr it is dominates most of her time now. She has almost everything organized, acting as the intermediary between myself and the rowdy Asgids or just procuring directly the things that she needs for them. The only thing she lacks so far is a space to host it. But I…I have an idea for her. I’m just hesitating on whether or not to show her this solar, or the next, or the one after… Because I’ve been thinking about this for so long, dreaming of it. But am I ready to show her?

My mind says nob, but my body — my ohring cock — screams yeffa every chance it gets.

And my heart? It wants to do something for her. Something spectacular. Because she does so much for my people. And for me? She does even more for me.

She calls me Raingar.

“Raingar!” She jumps up when she sees me unoccupied on my throne. I’ve just finished dealing with the complaints of these hooligans who comprise my clan and was about to go seek her out for second meal. It looks like she’s found me first.

My lips twitch and I stand, descend the short steps that lead down from the throne, and catch her when she tosses herself up at me, like she so often does. I worry about hurting her, but with the new polishing technique Moreth helped me with, my skin glides smooth over hers, and no longer catches.

“What is it, Essmira?” I kiss her freely now and, like every time, I sway into her scent — pure Lemora, unblemished affection. It makes me want her so desperately, I could pull stars from the sky in offering, but I know that when I invite her to complete my mating bond, it won’t be like the first time. I want it to be perfect.

I set her feet down onto the floor below, and though I might not cause her pain anymore with my touch, the same isn’t true for her. She glides painfully over the exposed skin of my chest, her breasts pushing against me through her thin dress. Why is it so ohring thin? I need to get thicker fabrics here on Lemora. Maybe, the Voraxian clan living on the ice planet, Nobu, will have furs I can buy next time I run into them.

“Essmira?”

She looks ready to burst, stars in her eyes like a youngling at the fire celebrations in the north. “Bebette told me that you heard from the Raku of Voraxia!” She bounces on her toes in anticipation.

I scowl, “Bebette has a large ohring mouth!”

She squeals, “So it’s true? And you spoke to him about me?”

“I’m not saying anything!”

She shrieks and grabs hold of my arm so tight that her blunt little claws form half moons on my thick skin. “Oh my stars oh my stars oh my stars, is it true? Is it?”

“Is what true?”

“That he’s truly taken a half-Drakesh, half-human female for a mate? A female who is the same hybrid as me?”

“Perhaps,” I offer. It’s all that I’ll offer. I’m not going to ruin the surprise any more than Bebette already has. She opens her mouth, but I clap my palm over her soft, tantalizing lips. “Now, enough of that talk! I’ll not say any more about human hybrids!”

Her jumping stills and her hands fall off my arm. I release her mouth and she licks her lips. Now, it’s her turn to give me a funny look. “But what about the meeting scheduled for later this solar? I won’t be permitted to attend? I thought it might have something to do with Raku and his mate. At least, that’s what Bebette thought. That’s the only reason she told me…”

“What? What meeting?”

“There is an Egama battleship in need of repairs. It had just docked at clan Bebette when I left to come find you. They have a hybrid-human on board.”

My gut sours immediately. Immediately. I don’t even question the foul sensations my mate’s revelation stirs. This isn’t right. I know it. And my instincts are never wrong. Never. I’m clan chief for a reason.

A protective flare grips me and I immediately step closer to Essmira while shouting out for Gorman. “Gorman, I need you.”

The male must be alerted to something in my tone because he looks up with a frown and immediately abandons the cluster of Rekkaru he’d been helping unload supplies from their cart. He stops in front of us, gaze focusing on my hand as it slides around Essmira’s waist.

“Is everything alright Raingar? Miriga?” All four of the fins sticking out of the sides of his head simultaneously twitch.

“Do you know of the Egama battleship that docked on Lemora? Essmira says it docked with Bebette.”

“Nob, I… Do you want me to check the holo screens and see if Bebette or the other clan chiefs are available?” I hate using the holo screens and almost never do, preferring to send a messenger or go directly to the other keeps myself, if urgent.

“Maybe, it’s best if you go…”

“Are you speaking of the Egama?” It’s one of the Rekkaru. He’s newer to our planet, a recent addition to my clan after he relocated from Kor, and he hasn’t fully picked up Lemoran yet. “I come from there now. Bebette entertain two Egama while kintarr…” He searches for a word, wings flapping animatedly behind him. Many other villagers in my great hall have stopped moving and are listening in. “Fuel. Kintarr for ship.”

I frown, gut hardening along with my grip on Essmira’s waist. I think back to the Egama warriors I fought for her, not liking their presence on our planet, even though stopping by for a refuel is not an uncommon occurrence. Something isn’t right with this.

“Did you hear anything about a human on board?”

“Hoomayn? What is hoomayn?”

Essmira waves her hand and offers the Rekkaru a bright, bright smile. “I am. I am half human-half Drakesh.”

The Rekkaru male stares at her with globes for eyes. “Apologies! I nob offense meaning.”

“Nob! Not at all.” Essmira offers him a Lemoran greeting, catching the air and bringing it to her chest. “You did not offend me. Humans are not a known species in the Quadrants. I just hoped to be able to travel to Bebette’s keep and find out for myself if the rumors circulating the village are true.”

For the first time in my life, I regret that we have not adopted the life drives of the Voraxians or the yeeyar tokens of the pirates. Even the Eshmiri use outdated yamar to communicate with one another among the stars, but we do most of our talking in person. Only when we need to barter transactions do we go to our holo screens and I know that Bebette won’t be at hers if she’s entertaining off-world guests at present. I rub my chin and look down into my mates hopeful face. How can I tell her nob?

Something is wrong.

The thought penetrates again and I do something I haven’t done in the past nineteen solars that we’ve been getting along. I deny her. “Essmira, I need you to…” I choke, start over. “Could I ask you to wait here while I go to Bebette and see about our recent arrivals?”

She blinks, looking confused, and then frowns, looking heartbroken and frustrated. “I thought Gorman was going? Can’t I go along? I’m just as respected…” she winces. “Aren’t I?”

“Nob! Nob, Essmira.” And then I realize what I’ve said and grab either side of my face and wrench down. “Nob, that isn’t what I meant. Of course, you’re respected, I’m just…There’s just…I don’t have a good feeling about this. That’s why I’m not sending either of you. I’m going myself. I’m worried that it could be related to the Egama I slighted in Quadrant One. If they have another human, maybe he was desperate. Maybe they still are. Maybe…I…I don’t know! I just don’t know. But I don’t feel good.”

Her eyes widen a fraction and her face gets deathly pale. “Tyto,” she whispers and the horror on her face is enough for me to feel her fear.

“It isn’t Tyto. Our sensors check for life forms. They would have detected him early and Bebette would know never to let him touch down onto Lemoran soil. You’re safe from him.”

She nods, but her eyes are distant. She shakes her head. “Al…alright. I’ll stay here. But could you send a messenger for me if the human is available to speak to me?”

“Of course. You’ll be the first I contact. But…until then.” I swallow and it feels like swallowing kintarr splinters. It hurts. “Promise me you’ll stay in our chambers until I send for you?”

I can see a flash of pain in her eyes as she remembers the last time I locked her in, and she locked herself in. And then it’s quickly doused by a flare of defiance. “I’ll barricade myself in.” She juts her chin out at me and I grin.

“That’s a little unnecessary. Gorman will stay with you.” I give him a pointed look. “Armed.”

“Armed?!” They both shriek together.

Gorman’s face loses all of its color, turning a sickly yellow. “I don’t think so.”

“That seems wholly outrageous.”

“Just,” I growl, ready to burst. I stomp my foot on the ground, ready to move away from them and investigate these mysterious visitors. “Go in our chambers and barricade the door then! But don’t open until I call for you.”

Essmira is silent for one pregnant pause before she nods, takes my arm, and lifts up onto her toes. She leans in toward me, her breasts pressing against my arm in a way that’s far too distracting. Then she kisses my cheek like she loves me. I love her. Does she know that? I should tell her. Maybe now…maybe later. Maybe…

“Alright. I trust you, Raingar.”

I inhale a breath of pride that I wish I could feel fully, but that feeling of offness keeps me from it. I touch her chin as she drops back onto her heels, coercing her gaze to reach mine. “As soon as I’m sure these ohring fuelless idiots are no trouble, I’ll send for you. I’ll offer them an extra lunar’s stay in my keep, too. That way, you’ll have time to ask the human all the questions you’d like.”

She perks at that and clasps her hands together before unleashing the power of her hug all over me. She pulls me deeper and deeper into her chest and for a moment, I simply close my eyes and let all three of my hearts pulse to a punishing beat.

“Alright. Off with you then! Come back quick, Rainy.”

“Rainy,” I gasp, horrified. “Rainy!”

She giggles and when she starts away from me to the left corridor, I swat her behind. She titters with laughter all the way past the threshold. It’s often that I see Essmira excited, but rarely this excited. It makes me feel excited too, but also like a rat bastard all over. Maybe, I should just bring her…

Nob.

“You truly think something’s amiss, Raingar?” Gorman’s voice is troubled.

Yeffa. “I’m not sure. Just keep an eye on her while I’m gone, alright?”

His teeth worry his lower lip. He nods tentatively and for the first time, I worry that he thinks this task is too great. “It’s alright,” I reassure him, taking his sloping shoulder in a firm grip, “I trust you with my life. I trust you with hers.”

He nods again, gaze unfocused and distracted. “Just hurry back.”

“I will.”

“Good.”

“And take a pad pad.”

I growl, “Never!” And a short while later, find myself on the back of a blasted pad pad, racing from one village to the other.

I arrive a short while later only to find Bebette’s keep a flurry of harried commotion. Merquin is there, too, rushing through the keep’s open doors as I guide the infernal beast through them.

“Merquin, hey! What’s going on?” I shout, lifting my hand to my gaze to ward away the rain that’s just started coming down.

Merquin looks up at me in a daze, like I caught her mid-thought. “Raingar, what are you doing here?”

“Essmira heard there was a hybrid-human in the party with the Egama. She wants to meet one of her own species, but…” Everything is wrong. “I wasn’t sure if the rumors were true.”

“We need ohring life drives.” Merquin curses and wipes rain from her forehead.

I frown and dismount the pad pad, giving its nose a good pat before letting the reins drop to the ground as a stable hand comes to take them. I notice a flurry of activity in Bebette’s keep, which is four walls surrounding a large open space, fit for a variety of purposes.

There’s only a cluster of small stone huts at the back where she sleeps and houses her guests. Smoke is coming from one of them. It’s windy out and I can feel a storm approaching, but it’s only drizzling so far and the temperature has yet to drop. Why would there be a fire this early in the lunar?

“You were misinformed. There’s no human with the Egama. There are only two Egama warriors and they’re in…they’re in a bad state. I’ve never seen anything like it. The ship they arrived in has clearly been tampered with. Their route tracks away from Kor, but over sixty solars ago, and that’s the last location registered.”

“They lost their flight data?” I frown, but Merquin’s already shaking her horns.

“Nob. It seems like they haven’t stopped since then. They haven’t docked.”

“They haven’t docked? Is that even possible? What about stores? Food? Water?”

“Exactly. They’re severely dehydrated and malnourished. I’ve never seen an Egama look in such a bad state. They’re hardly coherent. They had to be carried off of their ship, Raingar and worse…”

Her voice, which had been steadily rising with a panic I’ve never heard Merquin betray before, drops all at once. She steps towards me and grabs my shoulder, guiding me into the keep. Against one stone wall, she turns towards me and whispers, “They’ve been tortured.”

“Tortured!” I shriek.

“Shh!” She hisses, “I don’t want to start a panic. But I need you to return to your keep now and pass by Reyna and Tana’s keeps along your way. Gather the healers. All the healers. They will need to work together on this. We aren’t prepared for Egama’s in such a state. I’m not even sure about their anatomies… It’s…”

“Tortured how?”

“Burns, cuts, bruises, broken bones. One of them is missing all but three of her fingers, the other is missing both ears.”

“FINGERS? EARS!”

“Shh! Get the healers. Meanwhile, I will reach out to the Council of Egama Warriors and explain to them what happened. We can’t have it circulating that these Egama were harmed in such a monstrous way on Lemoran soil. The Council will want to come collect their warriors, too, I’m sure, and we need to prepare something special for this delegation as a show of our support.

“Afterward, I’ll need you to contact Rhorkanterannu of Kor and see if his pirates have any logs detailing what could have happened to the Egama within Kor or after they left it. My guess is that all of their injuries occurred after they left Kor’s soil, but we need to be sure. It’s not like Rhorkanterannu to let something like this happen in his territory without his knowing and if it did, he will want to know to make an example of the guilty parties.”

“If? You think they were injured in the skies? That they tortured one another?” I scoff, throwing out my arms.

“SHH!” Her spittle flies all over my face and I don’t give an ohr. Not when my three hearts are pounding like this, making me think that I should already be back on my pad pad and returning to Essmira. Nob, Merquin assigned me tasks and I need to fulfill them. Yeffa.

Nob. Nob, nob, nob. Go back to Essmira.

I shake my head, trying to focus. “Can’t you ask the Egama what happened to them?”

Merquin grimaces, her cheeks clenching beneath her eyes, striated in purple colors. Heat flares from her skin and her grip on my arm becomes punishing. “Their tongues were cut out and the translators they wear behind their ears were cut out, too, and not cleanly. They’ve lost a lot of blood and desperately need our assistance.”

I firm, steeling myself as the skies start to open. Ohr. What an ohring event. Lemora is a peaceful place, not known for violence. Our Niahhorru enabled shields cost us a pretty pouch of kintarr, but it was worth it. We are rarely attacked and haven’t seen combat or violence on these grounds since the Lemoran clan wars of rotations long past. So long ago, they’re more like fables in our history that teach small children about the importance of being accepting and good and noble.

We don’t have creatures that cut the tongues out of other creatures. This horror is something we’ve never even heard of.

“My miriga and I will return as soon as we’re able. She might be able to provide assistance — comfort, at the very least for the Egama.”

Merquin blinks at me, surprised. A small smile flits across her face before her earlier resolve returns. “Good. Thank you, Raingar. Your and your miriga’s help will be most welcome.”

As I turn to clumsily chase after the Asgid leading my pad pad to the stables, she calls at my back, “You know, we may make a half-decent clan chief out of you yet!”

“Pagh!”

The rain starts to truly come down on my journey from Reyna’s to Tana’s keeps. My pad pad slows, but not considerably, and I’m undeterred, determined to be back to my mate quickly. Like Merquin, Tana’s keep is surrounded by water though, unlike Merquin, not on all sides. It’s more like a lake that I have to go around or cross with one of those infernal floating contraptions.

It takes a little extra time and when I make it around, I find the doors open to me. I find it strange that they are. Stranger yet is that there are actually creatures on the walls at the lookout posts that I have not seen occupied ever, not by Tana or by the chief who came before her, or the one that came before that.

I’m spotted and one of the Lemoran females atop the walls turns around and shrieks, “He’s here! Raingar is here!” Feet squishing through mud is the sound I hear next before I see Tana herself emerge, a small fleet of Lemoran behind her.

And they’re armed.

“Raingar! Thank the stars! Come quickly!”

“What’s happened?” My voice strangles on notes of distress. I’m not used to seeing my clans folk upset and I don’t like it. I don’t ohring like it one bit.

Tana grabs my arm and hauls me off of the pad pad so roughly I fall onto one knee in the mud, soaking the trousers Essmira made for me. I try to tell her that Essmira won’t like that I’ve ruined yet another pair of trousers, but Tana isn’t listening. She keeps pulling, dragging me towards the large castle that forms the back wall to her keep — a rather odd construction I always thought.

“We’re all on the holo screens.”

“You…you are? Wait — who’s we?”

“Yeffa. We had to activate them immediately.”

“Why?”

“It’s Essmira.” My stomach heaves. My mind scatters. And then she has to slam a blade down onto my skull and sever my body in half cleanly. “She’s missing!”

I stagger behind her though I don’t know how. My legs have both been severed at the knees. My mind rings hollowly as Tana leads me up a flight of stone stairs that wrap elegantly to reach a landing. Left and then right and then another right and we’re in a room that’s already full of creatures all looking at me with terror and worry.

The huge series of screens that fill an entire wall are an identical copy of the holo room in my own keep. So rarely activated, except to conclude trades, I’m shocked to see the faces that I do peering back at me.

Gorman fills the screen where I would ordinarily be and begins speaking first, “Raingar, my Lord.” His Lord? Ohr. Nob. Nob nob nob. It can’t be. What’s wrong? What has he done?

“Forgive me!” This male who’s never lost his composure once in my lifetime, sobs while Moreth stands at his right shoulder and tries to staunch the flow of blood from one of his right fins — nob, what was once his right fin. Now, it’s missing. It’s ohringmissing! Like it’s been torn raggedly off of the side of his face, not cut. Torn, like with hands. Is that how the trackers were removed from the Egama? The tongues, too? And what has been removed from Essmira in my absence?

“Gorman!” Pangs shoot through my soul, through the soles of my feet, through my hands. Pains for him, for Essmira, for everyone. I shove through the creatures crowded in front of me brutally, pushing them out of my way. “Gorman, what happened?” I shout up at the viewpane.

“I couldn’t stop him…I didn’t even see him coming…” He shakes his head, eyes looking distracted and lost while Moreth shouts orders in the background.

My hearts gape. My body clenches and a cold sets over my bones. I can’t believe what I’m hearing. “Him?” I say, my voice icy as my worry and concern flutters out onto the stormy breeze.

A resolve sets over me. A battle trance that I’ve only felt once, when the Egama warrior looked at her and tried to take her from me.

“She didn’t run away?”

“Nob,” Gorman sobs, voice twisting in pain and Moreth stands up hastily. He has several apprentices behind him and is shouting at us to leave Gorman be. That he needs more urgent care and access to the full healing facility. He refuses. Instead, he wails, “He stole her!”

The words stun me and I squeeze together, struggling to think through them and find reason. “Stolen? Someone came into my house, entered my chambers and stole my mate?” When no one answers, I turn to the small table beneath the window and smash my fist through its glass surface, reveling in the pain that shoots up my right arm. “WHO WAS IT!”

Tana’s voice whips my head around. She’s standing in the center of the space that’s cleared out around me. She’s showing me both of her palms. “Raingar…I um…that’s why I asked our friend, Rhorkanterannu to join us. He believes he may know the creature responsible.”

My gaze flashes up, finding Merquin’s furious face in the viewpane before settling on the silver gaze that occupies the central screen. Niahhorru pirate king, though I wouldn’t dare call him a king to his face. Not if I wanted to live to speak of it. Pirates look down on kings.

The silver-skinned male leans back in his seat, poised, looking every bit as unaffected by this situation as I am affected by it. “Rhorkanterannu, you know who stole my female?” I hiss, struggling to find and capture breath.

“Your finned friend was lucky to have survived. Without a witness, we wouldn’t have been able to identify the culprit and your hybrid would likely be lost among the stars by now.”

“Lucky!” I shout, shaking my fist at the screen, wishing he were here to annihilate as proxy for the one who stole Essmira, my miriga, my Xiveri ohring mate, directly out from under me. “I doubt Gorman feels the same.”

Gorman falls to the side, as if on cue, and is caught by Moreth who carries him out of view and leaves me looking at the plain stone wall and wishing I could will Essmira to appear among the faces gathered.

Rhorkanterannu adjusts something out of the screen and smiles. Then looks at me and smiles broader, “Centare. I suppose not. But what he feels does not change the truth. He is lucky. Because he has met Sky’s greatest assassin and survived.”

“Assassin?” I shout at the same time that Merquin and Reyna do.

Tana, beside me says something else, something blood curdling, “Sky?”

“Ontte,” he says, the Meero word for yeffa.

I shudder, bowels threatening to purge themselves as I imagine what’s in store for Essmira if she’s successfully taken to the Sky planet. It sits outside of any quadrants within the Niahhorru-controlled grey zone but in a territory even the Niahhorru do not touch. That’s why Rhorkanterannu is here now. It must be.

“The Sky are monsters,” Merquin whispers.

“Indeed.” That Rhorkanterannu agrees is a terrifying thing. “They steal species to create cybernetic soldiers, assassins, bounty hunters…you name it. And you have just had your female taken by their prized killer. I’ve managed to track your female’s name to a Sky list.”

His finger goes to his ear, likely activating the token — an advanced piece of Niahhorru technology enabling long-range communication, among other things — that all pirates wear. He nods to no one even as he speaks to me, “It looks like he’s held her contract for some time…Over eighty solars.”

“Her contract? HER CONTRACT! He’s sent to…to…to kill her?” I stammer and I’m grateful for Tana then who comes to grab my elbow and keep me upright when all I want in that moment is to collapse into a hole deep in the bowels of Lemora and die there.

“Centare,” he answers in Meero. “It’s a bounty. He’s set to deliver her.”

“But eighty solars? Eighty solars! That’s even before I encountered her in Quadrant One…”

Rhorkanterannu laughs and it’s a dark, delirious sound. Like drums pounding out of time with one another, or bells, but the kind played in nightmares rather than dreams. “You are assuming that the bounty had something to do with you, my Lemoran friend. Your hybrid was coveted long before she ever met you. At least, that’s how it would seem.”

“By who?”

“Can you get us a name, Rhorkanterannu?” Merquin says breathily. “If we know who holds the contract, we can intercept her upon delivery.”

Rhorkanterannu smiles. “Centare, you can’t. He’s too clever for that. But I can tell you who holds the contract. Tyto, of Igmora and Tyto? I know you all are familiar with him. But what you may be less familiar with is that Tyto is a wanted male in Quadrant Two. He killed Igmora in cold blood in front of a dozen witnesses. He hides here on Kor, though I suppose it isn’t hiding, is it? He’s just waiting now for his bounty to show up.”

I need to break something. Need to hurt something badly. The instinct to wage war makes my rough skin prickle. The male I gave fourteen tuns of kintarr to never had any intention of releasing her. The bastard could have saved me a lot of trouble by letting me know, then.

Then I could have done what I will inevitably do to him now that I’m already eighty solars too late. I’ll ram my horns straight through his chest and, while he chokes on his own blood, I’ll snap his cock off like a twig.

“But,” Rhorkanterannu sighs, “you’re in luck. I happen to know that this bounty hunter has a weakness. Only one. A target that’s been on his list for twelve rotations, but who’s managed to evade him all this time. It’s too big a prize for him to pass up. We can use her as bait and lure him in and then, when the moment is right, we’ll strike. I’ll connect her to this communication.”

Before I can ask any more questions, a voice fires into the chamber, loud and female and fully hostile. “Rhorkanterannu, don’t you even shroving think of asking me for another shroving favor…” Though she speaks in Meero, her voice is slurred. She sounds drunk. “I chased Herannathon halfway across the shroving Quadrants for you…”

“And yet, Ashmara, you came back empty handed.” He shakes his head, voice docile in a way I’ve never heard, like he shares some affection for this female. Or for everyone. What happened to the hardened warlord I knew? “How pitiful that you call yourself a reaver…”

“Next time I see you, I’m gonna shove a comet up your ass so big, you’ll shit space dust for rotations.”

Rhorkanterannu laughs. He ohring laughs while Essmira is missing, trapped in the hands of a mindless drone, a beast cobbled together by all the Skys’ most terrible parts. Their greatest assassin. Their prized bounty hunter. He did that to Gorman’s face. He cut out those Egamas’ tongues. What is he doing to her?

I breathe a little deeper knowing that this isn’t how a bounty hunter works. He needs her alive and in good condition to make his sale. Tyto has fourteen tuns of kintarr to barter with, at least. The Sky will want this to go through. They won’t risk this faceless killer hurting her.

“Glad to see all that muuim hasn’t totally dulled your wit.” Muuim. An addictive substance. Is the solution to all of our problems a female addict? I want to reach through the screen and tear the tines in Rhorkanterannu’s spine out with my horns, snapping each one off at the base individually, just to hear him scream.

Meanwhile, the faceless female called Ashmara quips, “What are you talking about? Where else do you think I get my charming personality?”

“ENOUGH! Can she help us with the bounty hunter or not?” I seethe.

“Bounty hunter?” She answers before her voice catches. When she exhales, her voice is shaky. “Don’t tell me. A certain Sky bounty hunter is wreaking havoc on one of your operations?” She laughs darkly. “Which one of y’all’s been blessed by Jerrock?”

Jerrock. That’s the name of the male who took my life.

That’s the name of the male who will die by my hand.

“Raingar of Lemora and I are joined in this. It would seem that, for once, our troubles are one in the same.”

“Who’d have thunk it? Filthy pirates working together with you sweet Lemoran cuties.” Cuties? Cuties! “Sigh. It gives me shroving goosebumps. Makes my heart hurt and all, but if that’s all you’ve got, Tintin and I have a preexisting engagement on Evernor with some gladiators…”

“We found Herannathon,” Rhorkanterannu barks, “and right now, I need to send him to you.”

“What the shrov are you talking about? You found Herannathon? You want to send him to me? What the shrov am I gonna do with a four armed idiot on my ship? Tintin and I don’t have enough space as it is.”

“Herannathon made contact after he lost track of the Egama ship. Looks like the Egama weren’t the only ones on it. One of your friends was on there, too.”

Ashmara is quiet. So quiet, I wonder if she’s still there. “Did Jerrock have the human female Herannathon is after?”

“Our sensors caught a human presence when the ship was still outside of our atmosphere, but when the ship docked, the only creatures that disembarked were two Egama. And now, the ship’s gone,” Bebette says, voice pitched as a whisper. Meanwhile, I’m outright shocked.

“It’s gone?”

“Yeffa. I’m so sorry, Raingar. I don’t know how the ship broke free of our shields. All I know is that three dead Rekkaru and the Egama are all that this assassin left behind.” She sniffles and my heart breaks. Those were beings of Lemora. They were ours and, like Essmira, like Gorman, this bastard stole them from us.

“Those are shields you sold us, Rhorkanterannu,” I seethe. “How did he get through them?”

Ashmara speaks first. “Shields are nothing to him. He’s trained to disable any and all of them, but he…did he…” She clears her throat. “What about the Egama that were with him on his ship? How did he leave them?”

I seethe, “With their tongues cut out.”

“He tortured them badly. I’m not sure for how long, or if they’ll ever recover. Neither mentally nor physically,” Merquin adds.

“Shrov,” Ashmara says, sounding painfully sincere. “He’s a killer. He’s been hunting me for rotations. I know what it’s like to go toe-to-toe with him. I…” She clears her throat and when she speaks again, the tenderness I thought I’d heard is all rotten off like the moldy skin of some fruit. Only saccharine, dead flesh remains. “Anywho. Sounds like a you problem, and not one that I can help you with…”

Rhorkanterannu’s voice cuts in strong and deep. “I need you to drop your shields, Ashmara.”

“Oh my stars, you almost got me there. I almost thought I heard you suggest that I drop my shields? Hah hahah hahhhh!” She laughs in this horrible, theatrical way that makes me cringe.

Even Rhorkanterannu’s stoic silver mask slips when he winces. “Ashmara!” He barks a bite that stings…

…but she doesn’t back down. “Centare! You listen to me, you ugly thug. You think I’ve managed to avoid the Killer of Sky by walking around with a target strung around my neck? That’s called a noose, in case you were wondering sweet little Rhorky bear, and that’s how Eshmiri reavers get strung up. Nuh uh, pirate. No shroving way.”

The pirate Rhorkanterannu bears down on the arms of his huge metallic seat with his upper two hands. The two lower hands remain out of the picture, even has he starts to lift out of his seat, like he wants nothing more than to come through the screen and throttle the female, whoever she may be.

Ashmara. An Eshmiri reaver. Which makes no sense because reavers are only male. A female Eshmiri reaver should be exceptional, but I don’t pay attention to these things and have never heard of her. There are billions of creatures in the known Quadrants and a billion more in the unknown ones.

And all I care about is one right now.

I blurt, “Drop your shields. Once we recover Essmira and gut this bounty hunter, we’ll go to the rendezvous point with Tyto. He has fourteen tuns of kintarr in his possession and I guarantee that’s what he’ll use to pay your hunter with. If you help us now, it’s yours.”

“Half is yours,” Rhorkanterannu amends, as if this were always part of the plan and not something I’ve suggested spur of the moment. The bloody pirate.

Ashmara makes a loud squawking sound. “You bloody pirate.”

“You good-for-nothing reaver. Do we have a deal? We don’t have time to waste. He could be to Tyto already and this deal only works if you drop your shields now.”

Another pause. This one tears through me like paper. In the background, I hear bottles clinking and then the sound of the female releasing a loud belch. “Ughh. Fine. If he guts me, don’t say I didn’t die a hero.”

Her audio cuts out, leaving me facing Rhorkanterannu once more. It feels like we’re alone as Merquin and Reyna and Tana all make plans to grab the battleship and pick each of us up from our keeps directly — an act that, in my life span, has never been done.

“Are you happy with this plan, clan chief?”

My shoulders tense by my ears. The ringing in my horns is silent. “Yeffa. So long as I get Essmira back.” I pause. “And so long as I get to kill someone.”

He smirks, “Good. Then bring weapons. A lot of them.”

“Why are you helping us, pirate?” I squeeze my fists tight, watching him…waiting for the deception to become clear because pirates are always deceiving.

He grins to show all of his pearlescent teeth. “Like you, I happen to have a soft spot for humans.” He slowly stands and starts to turn away from me and just before the holo screen cuts out, I see a shocking thing:

Trapped against his chest, sleeping like the dead, the pirate king Rhorkanterannu was holding a baby.

And that infant had brown skin that looked just as soft as Essmira’s, even though it had four arms.

That baby was half-Niahhorru.

And the other half? That was human.