Enthralled by Tiffany Roberts

Chapter 20

Everyone,including Ketahn and the other vrix, felt the aftermath of their battle with the yatins and xiskals the next morning. The meal they shared outside the ship was quiet but for the crackling of the fire and the occasional soft groans from those sitting around it—sometimes in pain, sometimes in appreciation of the freshly cooked meat.

The humans wore their bruises plainly. Thanks to Ivy, Ketahn had grown familiar with such wounds, and knew they were typically minor. Otherwise, he’d have been alarmed as he surveyed the humans and seen the starkly discolored patches of their flesh—especially those on his mate’s body.

The injuries on the vrix were, as expected, less noticeable, especially after Diego’s efforts. Whatever he’d used to treat the vrix’s cuts and scrapes had done its job well. All their wounds were healing clean and quick. Even Ahnset and Urkot, who’d taken more punishment than the others, seemed only mildly bothered by their healing injuries.

Waking up inside the crashed human ship surrounded by so many slumbering forms had been strange for Ketahn. He’d not shared a sleeping space with anyone apart from Ivy in a long while—not since the war against Kaldarak. Falling asleep had been difficult; though the humans had dimmed the lights, the room had maintained an unnatural glow, and he’d been more aware of the faint thrumming under the floor than ever.

His roving eyes had often fallen upon the unopened pods. The humans had found blankets to drape over those pods, making them remind Ketahn of death shrouds. He knew the other vrix—even Ahnset, Rekosh, and Urkot, who spent most of their time understone—were also uncomfortable.

But this was necessary. The sooner everyone grew accustomed to sleeping near one another, the better…and for now, the ship was the most secure place to den.

The relative silence around the fire was broken when Callie said she missed something called cawf-ee, prompting a conversation between the humans. Many of the others agreed with Callie. They quickly concluded that there should have been cawf-ee in the ship’s emergency supplies—apparently, it was just as important as medicine and food. Ivy laughed when Ketahn asked her about it and explained what this cawf-ee was and why humans drank it.

Based solely on the way these humans looked, he had to agree with them. They could all use some cawf-ee to get them moving.

Despite the humans’ weariness and injuries, Ketahn could not allow them more rest. Not yet. Only the sight of Ivy wincing as she stood up might have swayed him; it was hard to bring himself to push her now, after he’d done it so much since he’d woken her. It was hard knowing he would only bring her more suffering.

But sometimes suffering was necessary to win peace, to create security, and to earn those quiet, intimate moments.

Ketahn was met with a chorus of groans when he told everyone to gather their bags and weapons so they could climb out of the pit.

“We have many to do,” he told them. “There is not time to make tears.”

“He just told us to quit crying, didn’t he?” Will asked Ivy.

Ivy chuckled as she raised her arms over her head and stretched. “Yeah, basically.”

“So what’s the plan for today?” Lacey asked, rising to her feet.

“Lessons,” Ketahn replied, smiling.

Cole pulled on his pack. “Let’s hope these lessons don’t try and kill us today.”

“I think it’s an awwtoe matikeff if you die,” said Diego.

“Must be one of those pass or fail kind of klassiz,” added Ahmya. “You either get an a plus…”

“Or you never get another grayd again,” said Lacey, sweeping her red hair out of her face and tying it back with a leather string. She looked at Telok and pointed up. “Am I going with you again?”

Her meaning must have been clear enough; Telok’s mandibles twitched, and he waved her toward him with a low but pleased trill.

It took longer to get everyone to the top than it had the morning before, but there was less fear and uncertainty in the process today. Ketahn could only hope it meant there was trust growing between the vrix and the humans; they would need a lot of it to succeed in the coming trials.

Though he longed to keep Ivy in place on his hindquarters with her arms around his middle, Ketahn set her on her feet once they were at the top of the pit, told the group what he intended for the day, and led them into the Tangle. The humans’ pace was a bit slower than before, but they seemed more confident in navigating the jungle’s obstacles. As small as the improvement was, it was an improvement nonetheless. Though they were battered and weary, the humans were also more alert—perhaps too much so, as a few of them seemed to start at any sound.

They would find the right measure of wariness as they learned more about the jungle and its many signs and sounds.

The vrix continued teaching as they went, focusing on finding material to craft and repair weapons and foraging food that would keep fresh during their upcoming travels. Ketahn did not lead them nearly as far from the pit as he had during their previous trek, instead setting a path around it in gradually widening circles. Should anything happen again, he wanted a fast, direct route to their shelter.

Ella again rode on Ahnset. Though she’d been the only one to have escaped the yatins and xiskals without a single wound, she looked no better than she had the day before. While she was awake, her eyes were often bright and curious—but sometimes they were unsettlingly distant and empty. Many times, Ketahn had glanced at Ella to find her eyes closed and her cheek resting against Ahnset’s broad back.

The other humans checked on her occasionally, none more often than Diego. After midday, as the others sat with Telok and Urkot and learned to shape shafts for their spears, Diego approached Ivy and Ketahn and asked to speak with them alone.

The three walked a short distance away from the others and rounded a tree.

“Ella’s getting worse,” Diego said, casting his eyes in the direction of the others, whose voices drifted over in light, humorous conversation.

“I know,” Ivy said, frowning down at her upturned palms. “I don’t know what to do. Ahmya said she could barely wake her up this morning.”

Diego’s mouth fell into a frown, too, and he brushed his hand across the tiny, abrasive hairs that had grown on his cheeks and jaw, making a rasping sound. “It’s stasis sickness. That’s what the signs have pointed to from the beginning, but I didn’t want to believe it, and kept praying it wasn’t true. There’s no denying it now.”

“What can we do for her?”

“About all we can do is force her to rest. That’s the only thing that might help, but even that…” Diego sighed heavily, his shoulders sagging. “Her organs are failing.”

Ivy caught her bottom lip between her teeth and flicked her eyes, which were now glistening with tears, up to Diego. “So it’s just a matter of time?”

He nodded and pressed his lips together.

Ketahn released a low growl and reached back to grasp his hair, tugging on it hard enough to produce a flare of pain across his head. Though it had only been a few days, these humans were Ivy’s people—and because of that, they were his, too. He’d come to know them a little better in this short while. He’d caught glimpses of who they were. He’d seen their kindness, their compassion, their anger and bitterness. Their hope and determination.

These humans really weren’t so different from the vrix. They had so much more in common than he could ever have imagined.

And Ketahn did not want to lose any of them. He’d lost far too many of those who’d been following his lead during the war.

“All your technology,” Ketahn said, waving a hand. “Cannot that help?”

“She needs a hosspit uhl,” Diego replied, “or at least the kind of equipment they’d have in one. They had all that stuff on the ship, but we don’t have access to any of it now. All we’ve got is a bunch of fucking first aid kits that won’t do her any damned good.”

Frustration had seeped into Diego’s voice as he spoke, adding force to his words, and Ketahn understood that emotion on a primal level. He understood that sense of helplessness.

Ketahn gently placed a hand on Diego’s shoulder. “We will do as you say. When we go back, she will rest. She will rest until we go from your ship forever. Whatever you need for her, say. I will make it done.”

Diego clenched his jaw and nodded.

Ketahn tapped his foreleg against Diego’s leg before placing a hand on Ivy’s lower back and guiding her toward the others. “Come. There is much to do before sunfall.”

Though everyone was still at work on their spear shafts, Ketahn did not wait long before telling them to gather their things so they could travel. The group’s numbers would ward off some threats, but as the yatins had demonstrated, not all beasts could be frightened away. With so few weapons, the group was more vulnerable out here than ever. It would be wisest to finish their work in safety. The pit was the best place if they had to remain stationary for a prolonged time.

But that did not mean an end to the day’s lessons—or to Ketahn measuring the humans’ skills. Once everyone was packed and standing, he gestured to the humans. “Guide us back.”

They responded with blank stares, a few incredulous utterances, and one muttered what the fuck?

“Guide us,” Ketahn repeated.

When Rekosh asked what was happening, Ketahn explained. Both Rekosh and Telok chittered; Urkot thumped the ground and grunted.

“Is this the time to jest with them?” asked Ahnset. She stood with Ella on her hindquarters, her lower hands covering the human’s—which were pressed to the sides of Ahnset’s abdomen. The little female’s arms couldn’t even wrap fully around Ahnset’s middle.

Ketahn sketched a quick gesture of apology. “It is no jest, broodsister.”

“Just a test,” Telok said.

After a couple false starts—which the humans corrected themselves—they began their return journey. Ketahn and the other vrix offered no guidance, and neither did Ivy, despite some of the others asking her to do so. She seemed to understand Ketahn’s aim and exchanged knowing smiles with him whenever the group paused to discuss their intended path.

Ketahn couldn’t help chittering when she came to him during one of those stops and said, “You do realize I have no idea which way to go either, don’t you? I’d get us lost.”

“How could that be?” He lifted a hand, brushing his knuckles gently down her cheek. “So long as I am with you, my heartsthread, I can never be lost.”

Though her cheeks were already pinkened from walking, they darkened further. She smiled and turned her head to press her lips to his fingers. “I’m never lost with you either.”

The humans’ process was interesting to Ketahn. They spoke at length, suggesting various means by which they might determine the direction of the pit, offering a great many reasons for why each idea was right or wrong. A couple times, those discussions teetered on the edge of becoming arguments, especially as Cole seemed to think his opinion was correct simply because he spoke louder than the others.

Somehow, the group meandered in the right general direction. Somehow, their voices did not attract any curious, hungry beasts.

But it was Ahmya who impressed Ketahn most during the journey—and it was her who set them firmly in the correct direction.

“It’s this way,” Cole said, jabbing a thumb toward distant Takarahl.

Callie shook her head. “That can’t be right.”

“We just walked in circles all day. It has to be this way.”

“Yeah, but which way were we walking in circles?” asked Diego.

“It’s that way,” Ahmya said, lifting a tiny hand and pointing straight toward the pit. “At least…I think.”

“No way,” said Cole.

Callie looked doubtful.

Rekosh was staring at Ahmya intently, undoubtedly having no idea what she was saying but understanding what was happening all the same.

“Why that way, Ahmya?” Ketahn asked gently.

She dropped her hands to her stomach and looked down at them, brow furrowing. She shifted her weight on her feet, fidgeting the way a broodling who’d been caught doing something wrong might have. “Because…of the flowers.”

“What flowers?”

Ahmya glanced up at him and pointed toward a cluster of plants several segments away, where hundreds of tiny suncrest flowers were drooping in the late day shade, their petals in the slow process of closing. “I’ve seen those flowers all over as we’ve walked, today and yesterday. In the morning, they’re always directly in the sun. By midday, they’re in the shade, and they start to close. Every time I see them, they’re always facing the sunrise.

“And, well…I’ve paid attention to them today, and used them to keep track of how we were always turning. So I think it’s that way.” She again gestured toward the pit.

The humans all looked at Ketahn, some of them with expressions of disbelief, all seeking confirmation. He glanced from Ahmya to the suncrest flowers and let his gaze linger there as he made a slow, thoughtful buzz in his chest.

“What did she say?” Rekosh asked, his eyes still on Ahmya.

“She used the suncrest flowers to mark our direction as we traveled,” Ketahn replied in vrix, smiling.

The spark that had appeared in Rekosh’s eyes when he’d first seen Ahmya the day before intensified. “I knew there was much behind those shy eyes. She is quiet, but she is keen.”

Telok stepped up beside Ketahn and cocked his head. “These hyu-nins learn swiftly.”

“Um… Why are they staring at me?” Ahyma asked, looking at Ivy.

Ivy rolled her eyes in that disturbing human way and nudged Ketahn with her elbow. “Oh, just tell them already.”

Ketahn chittered, bumping a leg against Ivy’s backside. “You are right, Ahmya. About the flowers and our path.”

“Woo! Way to go, Ahmya,” Lacey said with a grin.

Ella smiled. “You’re on your way to becoming our nature guide. Guess working with flowers really paid off.”

Cole kicked at the ground, tearing up some of the vegetation beneath his boot as he muttered, “Fucking flowers.”

Diego grinned. “Guess we better start paying attention to those fucking flowers, huh, Cole?”

“Maybe we can keep some flowers on that bad-ass deck you’re going to build,” said Callie.

Despite himself, the corner of Cole’s mouth twitched up. “Maybe. I’ve thrown together a few pretty sweet planters in my time.”

Ketahn took the lead for the rest of the journey. There was still light in the sky by the time they were all safely at the bottom of the pit—not that any of it reached them there.

They lit the fire, set more meat to cooking, and continued working on the spears. With the help of the vrix, the humans selected pieces of blackrock from those Urkot had brought, honed them, and fastened them to the shafts with tight-wrapped silk threading.

Weary as everyone was, there was far more conversation during this meal than the one they’d shared in the morning—and more laughter and chittering.

At one point, as the darkness grew ever deeper and shrank the world into the range of the firelight, Diego said, “Wish we had more light.”

“We can set up a bunch of those solar lanterns,” Callie suggested.

Will grinned, extended an arm, and bumped Diego’s knee with his fist. “I have an idea. Don’t know if it’ll work, but…” He climbed to his feet and hurried toward the ship. “Stay there. You’ll know if it works or not in a few minutes.”

The others watched Will navigate the debris-strewn ground until he’d disappeared into the ship.

“Wonder what he’s doing,” said Lacey.

“Don’t know,” Diego said distractedly. Something had softened in his smile; he continued to stare in the direction Will had gone for a few heartbeats after the other human was out of sight.

The conversations resumed—until a sudden light glared across the pit.

Ketahn heard gasps, hisses, and at least one grunt as he slitted his eyes and raised a hand to shield them from the unexpected light. He turned toward its source—the crashed ship.

His vision adjusted slowly, revealing the bottom of the pit in a way he’d never seen it before. The light shining from the ship was the same sort of pure white that illuminated the chamber within, and out here it created long, deep, harshly contrasting shadows. Its luminescence was far greater than that of the fire; this was like having the cresting sun beaming directly upon them.

It also shed more light upon the outside of the ship. Many of the humans were staring at it now—at the dirt-caked metal and the moss, vines, and muck clinging to it. The human writing there was just visible from where they all sat.

“That’s still…it’s just crazy,” Diego said somberly. “A few days ago, I was looking up at that ship, and it was gleaming. Fucking gleaming, bright as the sun. I was so nervous and excited I thought I was going to puke right there.”

“I was excited too,” Ella said with a small smile. She sat with her back leaned against the side of Ahnset’s hindquarters. “I couldn’t wait to see a new world and discover new plants and animals.” She looked at Ketahn and his friends and then up to Ahnset. “But I think this is even more amazing.”

Ahnset glanced from Ella to Ketahn. “What did she say?”

Ketahn took a few moments to consider Ella’s words—and the meaning behind them. It was impossible not to look at her now and recall what Diego had said, that this little human was dying. “She is glad to have met us and seen the Tangle.”

Mandibles twitching, Ahnset looked down at Ella again. Ketahn and Ivy had not told anyone else what Diego had shared, but he knew the other vrix could smell it on Ella—the sickness Urkot thought had worked the xiskals into a frenzy.

Ahnset tipped one of her bent legs toward Ella, brushing it against the human’s arm. Ella’s smile grew, and she leaned her head on Ahnset’s leg, closing her eyes.

“I was biting my nails while I waited to get in, just staring at it,” Lacey said, looking down at her splayed fingers. “I haven’t done that in years, but the habit came right back because, at that moment, I knew nothing would ever be the same again.”

“I almost changed my mind,” Callie said. She had a small stone in one hand, rolling it between her fingers slowly, contemplatively. “I just had this…feeling that something bad was going to happen.”

Diego chuckled. “Proof of sykik powers?”

Callie laughed and shook her head, closing her fingers around the stone. “Nah. Just nerves. What the hell had I done before getting on that ship? I spent my whole life in school, learning in these safe, controlled environments, and then I went into training with the Ee nih shuhtiv. Getting on that ship meant actually doing something. Something no one else had ever done.”

“Which is terrifying,” said Ahmya, who sat with her knees up and her arms wrapped around them. “But…it’s exciting, too. Somnium means dream, and that’s what the ship was. The dream of the human race.”

“And now look at it.” Cole fed another stick into the fire. “Nothing more than fucking scrap metal.”

“No, it’s not,” said Ivy quietly. “It’s a toom. And a…a mehmor eeul. To all those people, to all the dreams we’ll never achieve, and to all the dreams we never knew we had.” She turned to look at Ketahn, gazing up into his eyes. “My dream.”

Ketahn placed his palm on her cheek, sliding the tips of his fingers into her golden hair and stroking her soft skin with the pad of his thumb. “My heartsthread.”

Cole cleared his throat. “Yeah, well, my dream sure as fuck wasn’t to crash here.”

“Really? That’s the whole reason I signed up, man,” said Diego. “Who doesn’t like getting attacked by giant pigeluh fentz and crazy shit like that? Makes life interesting.”

“It actually worked?” Will’s excited voice came from the broken ship, calling everyone’s attention to him. He’d emerged from the hole and was staring up at the brilliant light, a broad smile on his face as he walked back toward the group.

The humans cheered. Ketahn was fairly certain Diego started it, but the enthusiasm spread through the group quickly—even to Cole—and it seemed to Ketahn that it was about something more than the light.

Will was laughing when he sat beside Diego, eyes downcast and smile stretched even wider. “I didn’t do much, really. I’m just glad I have all these years of ai tee training under my belt. It’s all worth it to have turned on a single light.”

Diego raised an arm and gave Will a little shove with his elbow; the gesture seemed just as playful as any time Ivy had done something similar to Ketahn.

“I have no idea of what they are saying,” Rekosh said, “but find myself fascinated regardless.”

“Strange creatures,” rumbled Urkot, “but I like them.”

“There are things to admire about them.” Telok was watching Lacey, who, like the rest, was laughing and smiling.

Rekosh had settled his gaze on Ahmya. “They are very different from us. From each other, also. Yet there is undeniable beauty to them. Unexpected beauty.”

“There is,” Ketahn agreed, looking at his mate.

Even as the jungle above fell into total darkness, the vrix and humans at the bottom of the pit remained around the fire, talking, laughing and chittering, growing more comfortable with one another. Ivy and Ketahn bridged conversations between their kinds by translating. With the white light shining from the ship, everyone seemed to forget their weariness.

Soon enough, Urkot approached Callie. He gently indicated the stone in her hand, and, insisting that Ketahn and Ivy allow him to communicate with her on his own, coaxed her to move a little away from the fire. He sank down beside a patch of cleared ground and opened one of his hands, displaying a collection of little stones on his palm.

Urkot used a claw to draw a circle in the dirt. Backing away about a segment, he took one of the little stones—marked with a black streak of charcoal—between forefinger and thumb and tossed it into the circle. He then gestured to Callie.

She looked from him to the stone in her hand. Scooting back, she positioned herself beside Urkot, pressed her lips together, and tossed her stone into the circle.

Urkot’s second stone struck Callie’s, bumping it out of the circle with a little clack. She watched him as he made a mark on the ground before him. Then he divided the remaining stones on his palm, handing her the half that weren’t marked.

“Wait…are they playing marbulls?” asked Diego.

Ivy laughed. “Looks like it.”

Callie grinned and plucked a small, round pebble from her palm. “Oh, it’s on now.”

The two played back and forth with greater speed and intensity; Urkot remained largely quiet save for the occasional grunt or trill when Callie bumped one of his stones out of the circle, whereas Callie was rather vocal, teasing Urkot good naturedly and celebrating her plays.

In the end, they counted the stones each had remaining in the circle, tallying them with their marks for knocking each other’s stones out. Urkot chittered—he’d won by three.

Callie leaned forward, scooping up her stones. “All right, big gai, we’re going again. Come on.” Grinning, she gestured at Urkot’s marked stones.

He chittered and gathered his stones. Their second round went fast, the turns blazing by like blows exchanged between two warriors. The other humans and vrix continued watching, jesting with one another and the two competitors while both Urkot and Callie grew more and more intense.

Callie’s final toss knocked out two of Urkot’s stones, granting her the win by a single mark.

“Ha! Take that!” She jumped to her feet and danced with her arms in the air, declaring in a singsong voice, “I’m a winner! I’m a winner!”

Rekosh leaned toward Ketahn. “Is that some kind of mating dance?”

Ketahn could only look to Ivy for an answer, who burst out laughing.

“Does that mean…no?” Rekosh tilted his head.

Still snickering, Ivy brushed the moisture from her eyes and shook her head. She replied in vrix. “It is called a vik toree dance.”

Urkot watched Callie closely, his expression unreadable. The twitch in his mandibles might have meant anything—or nothing at all—but there was just a hint of heat in his gaze…

Suddenly aware that Urkot was staring, Callie stopped her dance. “What? You’re not being a sore loser, are you?”

“I think you’re celebrating a little too soon,” Lacey said. “You’re one and one. Need to have a tie breaker match.”

Callie growled and dropped back down, eyes on Urkot as she picked up her stones. “Fine.” Her grin returned. “Let’s go, big gai. One more round.”

Urkot’s chitter was deep and rolling. “This female is small but fierce.”

So is my Ivy.

Ketahn turned his eyes toward his mate, whose eyes were bright with laughter and lips were curled in a smile as she watched the game and cheered the players on. Ivy was happy amongst her kind. She was happy with humans and vrix together, bonding over the many things they had in common. Despite the hardships they were facing, despite the burden of all they’d done and yet needed to do, Ivy was thriving.

And Ketahn would do everything he could to ensure this group—his tribe—remained safe and whole. He would do everything to ensure his mate was happy.