Serpent of the Abyss by S.J. Sanders
Chapter 21
Slengral swooped low, his body twisting through the air as his wings folded slightly, dropping him deeper into the shaft. This was not how he had planned to spend their waking period. Other than a quick venture above to hunt, he had intended to spend his time enjoying his female’s company, not scouting the lower levels, searching for his mate’s head covering. It was only because his mate had started to worm her way beneath his scales that he even considered passing the waking period in such a tiresome manner.
But he wanted her happy. If it took as little as her head covering and an enjoyment of the sun to begin to accomplish that, then he would see to it as he vowed. It was the least he could do since she objected to the ways males saw to the happiness of their females among his kind. Her reaction to his song had been surprisingly strong, but a male’s song was one of the few gifts he had to give to a mate. It frustrated that she rejected it and had in fact been offended by it and his touch.
Or had she just been offended by his touch?
Lifting his hand in front of him, he inspected his claws. They were dark, healthy and well-formed as they should be, with little streaks of silver glossing over them. His claws were one of his few vanities. He did not see anything objectionable about them. They were different than her blunt, thin claws—which were a bit unsightly and useless but no less lovable in his eyes—but he was not disturbed by their differences. Why would she be? Their songs had resonated in a way that few mated pairs accomplished. It was a destined mating as far as he was concerned—a gift from the great, sleeping Shangla whose mighty coils shaped their world. Surely, her dreams had brought Lori to him as much as they shaped all of existence on Seshana.
Curling his fingers, he thrust his hand back down at his side and focused on the rock walls around him. He would prove to his mate that their differences did not matter, that they belonged with each other, and he would start with this task and any other that would result in bringing her comfort.
He hated that the human occupiers were better equipped to care for her than he was. In truth, what they possessed was far greater than anything any Seshanamitesh enjoyed. Their colony, from what she had described to him, allowed her kind to dwell above the ground, safely away from the worse destruction caused by Shangla’s restless coils, and without harm from the suns shining down on their world.
Growling, frustrated that none of the nearby ledges held what he sought, Slengral shot down angrily, in haste nearly colliding with the smaller male rising up from the darkness below. He only just barely had time to correct his course upon seeing the shimmer of the other male’s body and gavo, but so much that their tails didn’t briefly slap, sending both spinning through the air.
Drawing his wings out wide, Slengral glided back around, hissing in annoyance. Kehtal, met his dominance with an apologetic cough that effectively drained Slengral’s instinctive aggression away.
“Kehtal,” he greeted. “What brings you among the lower tunnels?”
The two thick gavo crests on Kehtal’s brow twitched.
“I have been looking for you everywhere, and now you finally emerge! Where have you been?”
“Attending to my own business,” Slengral growled back, displeased with the prying question. “You still have not answered me as to your presence so near my nest.”
Kehtal sighed. “We are excavating the shinara tunnels now. We have been able to successfully get through with meat, but the way is very difficult. And the females demand that it be cleared to their satisfaction,” he added wryly. “The males got through well enough to meet their expectations for the breeding, but they demand satisfaction. Which reminds me…”
Slengral grunted, cutting the male off as he adjusted his wings to keep him aloft in place.
“If they desire to satisfy their whims, then they should see to it themselves,” he commented, drawing a raspy chuckle from the other male.
“They would not be too pleased to hear that opinion,” Kehtal replied, his mouth widening in a sharp-toothed grin that did not quite meet his eyes. His expression turned grim. “About the shinara, I was told to deliver you a message that your absence has been noted. You did not attend the selection, nor did you share your hunt.”
A snort of disgust conveyed Slengral’s feelings on that appropriately. “I am no longer obligated,” he snarled.
Kehtal’s brow plates lifted. “Do you have no wish to breed again? If you slight them even once, their memories are long. No unmated male would risk such.” He hesitated. “Vekatha asked for you.”
Slengral narrowed his eyes at the male he had long considered his ally, perhaps even close enough to be considered a friendship bond like the females made. Yes, this was his friend. As was Daskh. He could trust him. And Kehtal was, as he just pointed out, available if he was seeing to the whims of the females. He would make a suitable guard for his Lori while Slengral was required to be away from the nest if he were compensated with meat.
Shifting his bulk closer through the air, he glanced around to make certain that no other males lingered close enough to overhear and dropped his voice.
“I have no interest in Vekatha and will never be hers. I have a mate,” he confided quietly.
The other male’s orange eyes widened, and he shot up slightly when his wings flicked a little too wildly in his excitement. With a curse, Kehtal dropped back down and gripped Slengral’s arm in a manner many males would consider aggressive. Giving the hand a measured look, Slengral sighed and submitted toward the smaller male’s enthusiasm.
“Truthfully?” Kehtral regarded him with awe. “How did you do it? I have only heard of one female in the tunnels, and the male who caught her was only able to hold onto her for a span or two until she escaped him after getting what she wanted.”
Slengral was not surprised. There were females who made a game of letting themselves be captured for the thrill and then escaping once their breeding cycle was concluded, or if they were not satisfied with the male’s attempt and wished to seek out another. It took a strong and cunning male to successfully carry out the right of capture.
“I stole her from another male who had her,” he answered truthfully.
“And she did not escape?”
“She did not,” he affirmed. “I was able to invoke the right of mate capture. She has been with me in my nest for the last several cycles.”
The other male let out a rattling hum of approval. “Your female respected the right of capture and remains without you present already? I have known of no other Seshanamitesh female who has so honored her mate. You are fortunate.”
Peering cautiously at his friend, Slengral shared his secret. “She is not Seshanamitesh.”
Kehtal’s wings jerked, and he came close to falling out of the air if not for Slengral reaching out to grab and steady him. Wings flapping as he worked to restabilize himself, Kehtal stared at him in shock.
“What?” he hissed.
Slengral shot the male an irritated look. “She is human, one of the beings who came from the sky.”
“You mated a violator? And how?” The male jerked his head sharply to clear it and groaned. “Now your cautioning makes sense. You had your female even then and knew something we did not.”
Snapping his crests in agreement, Slengral leaned in to whisper, his hand tightening on his friend’s arm.
“The moment I had her cornered in my tunnel, I knew. All she had to do was speak and I knew, even though I did not at first know her words. The moment I spoke in return, she magically was able to speak back—rough though it was at first—and that confirmed that their species was not what we thought. And the moment I drew in her scent, I knew what she could be to me and wanted her,” he growled.
“The shinara will never stand for it,” Kehtal whispered back. “They are interlopers, violators and intruders, uninvited and unwelcome. The females will want her dead as an example for the rest of her species.”
“She is mine!” Slengral argued, his voice dropping into a rattling snarl that made the other male recoil. “The shinara has no power over the right of capture, and no authority over the males outside of their territory.”
Kehtal sighed, twisting his arm until Slengral released it. He looked at Slengral with sympathy.
“If you do this, you will never be welcome in the shinara again. They may even oust you from Aglatha’s mouth. What would you do then?”
“Then I will take my mate and find an unsettled cave system to rebuild my nest,” Slengral snapped.
His friend gaped at him, his gavo losing their rigidity and quaking in horror. “You would truly leave?”
Slengral hissed, his eyes straying down toward the depths below once more. The head covering could not have fallen much further. There were several large ledges in this part of the shaft.
“To keep my mate, I would,” he stated.
Adjusting his wings, he dropped once more. He assumed that would be the end of the discussion, but he had miscalculated Kehtral’s persistence and curiosity. As he descended, he was aware of the presence following close at his side. Knowing that he would not be allowed any peace, he let out a frustrated snarl. Glancing over, he met the other male’s eyes.
“The only things that keep me nesting near the Aglatha shinara is convenience of trade with the females and the traditional ways of our people.”
“The caves would be different with you gone,” Kehtal commented unhappily. “There is no knowing what unpleasant male might take over your nest as his own, and all the tunnels in the main shaft will be disrupted.”
Slengral stole a look at his friend and hummed to himself.
“You would be welcome to make your nest near ours,” he invited cautiously, “should you wish to. You and Daskh both.”
Kehtal’s head snapped around in surprise, making Slengral’s tail twitch uncomfortably through the air behind him.
“You would trust us near your female in such isolated conditions?” Kehtal whispered in awe.
Snapping his teeth in annoyance, he glared at his friend.
“Why would I not? You have never cheated me or stole from me. Nor have you invaded my nest or attempted to harm me. You are my… friends,” he admitted. “There are no others I would trust as much as you.”
Kehtal’s mouth widened in a grin. “You honor me… and Daskh, though he is not here to say so himself.”
His body whipped through the air with an impressive agility in full demonstration of the emotions overwhelming him, a bark of happiness escaping him. His wings snapping wide, he slowed and sailed over to Slengral’s side once more, his wings tipping leisurely as they descended at a careful pace. He gripped Slengral’s forearm with a firm squeeze.
“I will stand with you in the face of the shinara’s displeasure and do all I can to assist you,” he vowed. “Anything that you need, I will do what I can to provide it.”
Eyeing the other male, Slengral rumbled in approval. “I am pleased to hear this. You can assist me now, in fact, if you are willing.”
“Of course!” Kehtal agreed readily.
Slengral tipped his jaw toward the darkness below them.
“I am attempting to see to the necessities for keeping a human mate.” He explained. “First, I am required to find my female’s head covering. She lost it when she fell through the shaft. Second, I need to find someone willing to guard her when I need to leave the nest to hunt.”
Kehtal’s eyes widened. “You wish for another male to enter your nest?”
Slengral gritted his teeth. There was no idea he hated more. “No, but my mate becomes easily frightened when she is alone, and she says that it is damaging to her species to go long periods isolated. I do not wish my mate to suffer any damage. I will compensate you with a share of my hunt,” he offered, aware that his friend was still gaping at him.
When the male continued to stare, he growled deep in his chest, voicing his displeasure. “I know that this is much to ask…”
“No, it is fine,” Kehtal corrected. “I would be honored to be so trusted. I do have my own tasks that I have to see to every so often, but perhaps Daskh and I can take rotations. I am certain that he would be amenable to such an arrangement. Although he is a formidable protector, he is not always successful as a hunter due to his size. He would appreciate the barter to guard your nest.”
Slengral hummed thoughtfully. It was not a bad idea.
“Very well. Let me find my mate’s head covering so she does not fear the darkness away from the galthie.”
Kehtal made a sharp sound between his teeth. “It is that bad? She fears the dark?”
“No,” Slengral snapped defensively. He did not like the implication that his mate was so weak. “She is not afraid of the dark, but her eyes are weaker than ours and she cannot see even a fraction of what ours can. She needs the light… and the suns,” he added, though the thought of the latter still made his scales itch unpleasantly.
Kehtal hummed in return, the soft little more than a soft vibration. “And this head covering allows her to see well?”
“Yes. The aliens that come down into our caves wear them so they can see while they mine our tunnels.”
“Clever,” his friend murmured. “They compensate for their weaknesses to allow them to work below the earth. And they need the suns?”
“Yes,” he confirmed.
“I am curious to meet your human. The only things I have seen of the aliens are the terrible remains dragged through by hunters or watching them working from a distance. I would have sworn from the way they worked in formation for such long periods that they were beasts of labor like the akanth that serve the shinara. I have so many questions.”
“Just do not make my mate flee to escape them,” Slengral grumbled.
Kehtal laughed and they descended together the rest of the way in silence until the faint glow from the overturned head covering drew them to their prize. With a victorious grin, Slengral seized it in one hand and shot back up toward his nest, Kehtal following just behind until they parted ways at the entrance of his tunnel.
It was only temporary. Kehtal would return soon with Daskh, leaving Slengral with just enough time to tell his mate. He was certain that his mate would be pleased with his gifts to her. Now she would see and no longer be alone; she would be happy and never wish to leave him.