Savage Seed by Ivy Sparks

20

Leslie

I was excitedto learn how to fight, but learning to fight with the kids was a bit much.

“Why can’t you teach me?” I asked, my hands on my hips as Kade and I watched the younger members of his tribe learn stances and how to throw a punch.

“I will, but first you must learn the basics.”

I watched as Ria corrected a child’s stance, and I marveled at how well she worked with kids. Children were scarce by the mine, but a few people kept their families safe back at the star port. It wasn’t often I saw or interacted with children, but Ria made it look easy. I glanced up at Kade and wondered if he was similarly good with kids.

He caught my stare and nodded, reaching out to pull me into the learning group. Once he had me placed between a cluster of other students, he rested his palms on my shoulders and gave me a curt nod. “You will learn here. Ria will inform me of your progress later.”

“You aren’t going to stay?” I asked, cringing at the unintentional pout in my voice.

Kade smiled softly and pressed a quick kiss to my forehead. “I’ll be back, Leslie. I promise. Stay. Learn.”

I watched him walk away. Other warriors joined him in stride, one on his left and one on his right. He looked so… regal. Powerful. Like a king among his people. I glanced down at my body and frowned. By comparison, I was weak and plain. Nowhere near what a king’s companion should look like.

Nowhere near a queen.

But I wasn’t meant to be his queen. This was only temporary, and I would be back at the star port in no time. Kade had said so himself; there were still other tribes he traded with, as well as traveling traders, so he still had hope that he’d find a radio for me. Then I could tell my father I was still alive, and to sit tight while we waited for the desert to be safe to cross.

I nestled that nugget of truth deep in my chest and held onto it. It seemed lately I needed a constant reminder of what was real and what wasn’t. My father, the mine, my people were real. All of this? I scanned the area, seeing people trading fish, laughing together, the youngest of children running through the tents playing a game of hide and seek… None of this was real. Couldn’t be real. I had other responsibilities to return to. A life that was grueling and difficult. Not this idyllic, quaint tribal life.

As much as this place had grown on me, I wasn’t supposed to be here.

I caught Kade’s backside in the distance and drew in a deep breath. He was only temporary. I needed to remember that too.

“Leslie? Did you hear my instructions?”

Blinking rapidly, I turned to find Ria watching me, a puzzled furrow to her brow. Had she asked me something?

“I’m sorry.” I inhaled deeply, trying to regain my focus. “What were you saying?” I glanced over my shoulder for one last look at Kade, but he was already gone. I felt a sudden surge of loneliness, and was reminded of how I’d been feeling right before the shuttle had crashed. Lonely, but of a different sort.

Now there actually was a man in my life… a man who made me ache for him when he’d only been out of my sight for a few seconds. Did I really want to go back? Back to that crushing, oppressive loneliness?

I almost felt relief when Ria interrupted my ruminations, sighing and stepping toward me. “Widen your stance.” She used her feet to spread my legs further apart. I felt awkward and stiff, which she quickly fixed with a couple of taps of her stick to the back of my knees. “Bend the knees. You must be agile and ready. You can’t lock your joints or get flat-footed. Otherwise the tiger will get you.”

I knew the tiger was on everyone’s mind since its visit last night. I also knew much of the tribe had been whispering about me, and how strange it was to them that I hadn’t fought back against the tiger.

Well, it was strange to me too.

Ria glared at me, her usual good humor gone. She was in full teacher mode, and I was her rookie student who couldn’t seem to focus. I took another deep breath and tried to psyche myself up. Despite my mixed feelings about just about everything, I knew learning to fight was probably a good idea.

“Okay,” I said to her, clenching my fists. “What’s next?”

Turning her attention to the class, Ria continued. “When fighting an opponent larger and stronger than you, you must use their weight and strength against them. There are many hand-to-hand techniques that will help you, some of which we’ll be working on today.”

I swallowed. The kids paired off, reminding me that they were pretty much all ahead of me. I was the new kid, worried if she’d ever be able to catch up to even the smallest child.

Ria’s eyes flickered to mine. “Dina will be your partner, Leslie.”

I nodded as Dina approached. Her height and build were similar to mine, although I couldn’t guess her age. How long did Xeki live, anyway?

“Focus,” Dina warned, her voice a deep growl. She paced back and forth in front of me, clearly all business in a way I wasn’t sure I was ready for.

“I won’t go easy on you just because the Omos favors you,” she added harshly.

Oh. Guess I know what’s up with her, then. Awesome.

I looked around at the other fighters and did my best to mimic their stances.

“You will take turns attacking and defending,” Ria’s voice rang out. “Those of you facing the sun will defend. If you face the ocean, you will attack. Begin.”

I hadn’t even been able to process Ria’s instructions before Dina lunged at me. I made a startled noise—mortified that it even came from my mouth—and attempted a weak block with my forearm. Her fist barreled into my arm, and she was not holding back.

Dina smirked at my reaction and came at me with her other fist, this one aimed low for my stomach. I stepped back and bumped into another pair of students behind me, immediately stopping to apologize to them.

Big mistake.

Dina’s fist connected with my stomach, and I felt all the breath in my lungs leave my body. I bent over, clutching my stomach and trying to suck in a breath, but Dina wasn’t about to give me a chance to recover. I didn’t see her next swing until it was too late.

Her knuckles collided with my cheek, and everything started spinning.

Sand flew as I hit the ground. I couldn’t hear the students commenting on my poor performance, but I could feel their eyes on me. Did they pity me and what they saw? Or were they just disgusted by it?

“Get up, Leslie,” I heard Ria call. Her voice was tight, almost like I was embarrassing her.

“Someone as weak as you doesn’t deserve the Omos,” Dina spat. “There are many within our tribe who would make the perfect mate. Why he has settled for you is beyond me.”

Mate? Who said anything about a mate? Was that what they thought I was? Was that what Kade thought I was?

I forced myself up, my palms digging into the harsh sands. I brushed the grains off my thighs, ignoring the pounding in my head and the pain in my cheek. I prayed it wouldn’t bruise; not for vanity’s sake, but so Kade wouldn’t see it and be as embarrassed by me as Ria was.

Or as embarrassed of myself as I was.

I felt a burning shame in my gut. This entire thing was shaping up to be a total disaster.

But somehow I could take a deep, calming breath and turn back to Dina. As much as I wanted to tell her that she was wrong and that I was worthy of Kade, I wasn’t sure if I really believed that.

I needed to prove it to myself, more than I needed to prove it to Dina. Or Ria. Or Kade, for that matter.

I raised my arms again, this time with purpose. Dina circled around me, and I shuffled in stride with her, my footing unsure in the sands. I’d been barefoot since I’d gotten here and had mostly gotten used to it. But trying to fight without the added traction of shoes… that I wasn’t used to.

Dina stepped quickly and entered my space. I dodged her first punch—which I quickly realized was nothing but a feint meant to distract—but then she swept her leg out and kicked me in the calf. I jumped away and Dina lunged, catching me off balance. I couldn’t avoid the impact as she hit me once in the ribs, then again in my stomach.

I wheezed, the pain intensifying and making my body burn. She’d hit me in the exact spot she’d hit me before, again knocking the wind out of me. In fact, everywhere she had hit me throbbed, and I clenched my jaw, determined to not let her see how much I was hurting.

“Time to switch,” Ria commanded, clapping once. “Change positions.” Ria’s attention left the group and fell onto me. “Attack, Leslie.”

Gladly.

I stepped forward, and Dina stepped sideways. Her eyes glimmered a striking blue, and I could tell it was taking everything in her not to attack me. I wondered if she did, would she be breaking the rules enough for Ria to intervene? Or would she leave me to learn my lesson the hard way?

Sidestepping toward Dina, I aimed a jab at her arm. She easily deflected my punch, pushing my arm away from her and sending me off balance again.

Oh,I thought. So that’s how they do it?

I took a mental note every time Dina deflected or dodged my attacks, hoping to absorb as much information as I could. The training was formal, but that didn’t mean it didn’t hurt. Especially with a partner like Dina, who clearly viewed me with enough contempt to want to hurt me. If I didn’t start looking at this as a real fight, odds were she wouldn’t stop hurting me.

Our sparring continued for barely another minute before Ria put a merciful stop to it. I hadn’t landed a single blow, and she gave me a smile that was more sympathetic than happy with my performance.

“We’ll continue tomorrow, moving on to weapon training,” she told the class. “If you want to perform well, I strongly suggest you find practice time before nightfall.”

The class dispersed quickly, with Dina glaring my way before she left. I chose not to pay her any attention. Instead, I just released the breath I had apparently been holding for about forever.

With the class going their separate ways, Ria and I were alone. “Come,” she said, putting her hand on my shoulder. “Let us bathe. The salt is good for wounds.”

I let Ria take my arm and guide me to the waterside. We were in full view of the village, but Kade’s words rang in my head: You must bathe with the others. Ria stripped quickly and turned to me, expecting me to do the same.

My muscles ached as the adrenaline from fighting with Dina faded, and I struggled to undo the ties holding my clothing up. But once I had succeeded, I shimmied the top and bottom down my body to the ground. They fell to the sands softly, but the sound echoed in my head. I refused to turn around, still not quite ready for the entire world to see me, and instead took Ria’s offered hand and allowed her to tug me into the ocean.

The water was warm from the sun, and I welcomed its soothing touch. We waded into it a little over waist-deep before we stopped. “Here,” Ria said, “let me bathe you.”

She noticed my surprise and laughed. “It’s normal to bathe one another, Leslie. No big deal.” She scooped the lavender water in her palms and trickled it across my shoulders. I was facing the horizon line so that no one in the village would see my bare chest. Ria shifted to stand behind me and began rubbing the ocean salt across my skin, rubbing even harder wherever Dina had made contact.

I hissed from the pain, and Ria made an amused “aww” sound. “Pain is necessary, Leslie. We teach our body that way. Harden it. You’ll get used to it.”

I wasn’t sure I wanted to get used to it. But I also wasn’t in the mood for another lecture. So instead I let her work, fighting to keep my groans to myself. Once she had rubbed my entire back and sides, she splashed me with water and placed her hands on my hips. “Now it’s your turn.”

Without warning, she swiveled me around until I faced the village. I froze and instinctively moved my arms over my breasts, something I was frankly getting tired of doing. Ria took my hands in hers and guided them away from my chest to the water. “Let them look,” she breathed, gently coaxing me to move my arms and cup water in my palms. “Let them desire you. It’s okay.”

“How is that okay?” I asked, forcing myself to look at Ria’s body. Her breasts were high, perky, and her skin smooth. A few scars I hadn’t seen before lined her ribs and arms, and as I dripped water across her shoulders, I tried not to stare at them. “Isn’t it wrong to look at someone else’s woman?”

Ria pursed her lips like she wasn’t sure how to explain it. “It’s different, Leslie. It’s a compliment. To both you and Kade. For you, it shows your worth. In part, at least. And for Kade, it shows he’s chosen wisely.”

I frowned and shook my head. “That makes no sense, Ria.”

She hummed to herself as I began rubbing her body with the salted sea. Her skin was soft but firm, firmer than mine. It reminded me of Kade’s body. Another reminder of how different I was from him, from everyone here.

“But isn’t it rude to stare at something that isn’t yours?” I continued.

Ria turned in the water and splashed my chest, laughing all the while. “Is it rude to want something, Leslie?” She dropped lower in the water and dipped her head underneath.

Once she resurfaced, I shook my head. “No, of course not. But—”

“Exactly,” she said. “We want what we want, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Our people are from the desert. Resh Xeki literally means ‘of the sand’ in your tongue. We have survived by being hard and strong and fierce. We have little use for subtlety. Subtlety doesn’t help you survive out here.”

“I understand that,” I started, still puzzling through things. “I think. But aren’t I just a possession to them? Kade’s possession?”

“In a sense,” Ria said.

“So I’m just an object, then? A sex object?”

Ria stopped short and quirked an eyebrow at me. “Is that what you think, Leslie? Is that how you think Kade views you?”

I sighed in frustration, lowering myself into the waters besides Ria. I mulled over her questions. Kade hadn’t treated me poorly, or forced himself on me. But we weren’t exactly in this relationship by choice, either.

“I don’t know,” I finally answered. “I don’t know what I am.”

Ria smiled then. “You are his,” she said, as though that solved everything. “The same way others desire you, they desire Kade. But Kade chose you over all the others. He hasn’t been with a woman in a long time. But despite being an outsider—a human—he chose to be with you.” She began scrubbing her arms, pausing to watch my face. “Doesn’t that give you pride?”

I lowered my body some more until the water’s surface stopped just below my nose. I turned my eyes from Ria to the shoreline, and sure enough, there were people looking at us. At me.

They were doing other things. It wasn’t like they’d formed a line and were just standing there, staring. It was just that as they went about their business, their eyes would often fall on me, and linger there.

How many of them wanted to be with Kade? How many of them had tried? How many wanted to be like him, and have his power?

As my eyes scanned the scene, my stomach dropped as I spotted Trag. He had stopped whatever he was doing just to watch us, his arms crossed tightly over his chest, that grotesque smile ever present on his gross face. I glared at him, and Ria turned her body to see what I was so angry at.

“Trag desires you,” she said, after spotting him on the shore. “It’s normal.”

Nothingabout the way he looked at me was normal. I blew water from my face and raised my head enough to speak. “Gross,” I choked out. “He’s downright creepy.”

Ria laughed. “He is forceful, yes.”

Maybe Ria didn’t understand the definition of creepy, or the translator didn’t word it properly.

“I don’t like him,” I stated more clearly.

“He is difficult to enjoy. But he’s a good warrior. Strong.”

I crinkled my nose. Any positive descriptor of Trag was too much. “Do you want to claim him, Ria?”

She grinned and splashed me with water, but otherwise made no response. I took that as a maybe. Well, the sooner she locked him down for herself, the better. That, or I was going to use my newly acquired fighting skills to kick his ass.

But I supposed he served one useful purpose: He gave me a reason to focus, a reason to keep my expectations of myself high. Whether or not I was here permanently, I was going to show this tribe that I could be a worthy fighter.

A worthy mate for Kade.