Serpent of the Abyss by S.J. Sanders
Chapter 25
He had to be mad. That was the only reasoning that Daskh could come up with for his inexplicable behavior. Over the last few waking cycles, he could still not come up with a better excuse. The fact that he had not stopped calling Slengral’s female hithana just emphasized the point and made it dig deep into his scales.
The source of the wonderful smell had been an alien female, one he was now sworn to protect for his friend. Slengral and Lori needed his help, but neither of them realized what they set loose in their nest. Nor could he feel sorry for it. A grim satisfaction rose that he had access to that which he wanted the most, and it was fueled by the desperate need to protect and please her.
When Kehtal told him, he had not believed it. Not until he had arrived at the nest and drew in a deep breath of her tantalizing scent and met her pale, dull eyes. Her strangeness was exotic to him, appealing to that part of him that was always classified as strange among his own kind for his enormous size. She had been frightened of him… at first, anyway. And then throughout the first waking cycle, that fear had shifted into something companionable with her teasing words as all trace scent of her fear drained away.
Now there was no fear, not of him. She was still afraid of the cave, and it broke his heart, so he encouraged her to play and to speak to distract her. He wanted her words. He could not get enough of them.
If he were honest with himself—and he typically was—he could not get enough of her. He was pleased that he was the one caring for her in Slengral’s absence and wanted more of it.
More of this.
Curling his wings around the small female, he nuzzled his nose along the fur that grew from her head, drawing in her scent. A giggle escaped her, and her hand slapped out over his mouth and nose, blocking his investigation. The blow was so light that it made him smile and nuzzle her again just to provoke her into striking.
A strange snorting sound erupted from her as she slammed her hand a bit harder against his face with a laugh. “Stop it! That tickles!”
Drawing back, he grinned down at her, pleased that he was able to cheer her up over being left behind again and bring back her smile. She did not have the hard, elegant ridges and planes of a female of his kind, but the soft fullness of her face, especially the way her cheeks widened in a wide, brilliant smile that his species lacked the ability to imitate, was enchanting.
“Daskh, what are you doing?” Kehtal quietly interrupted.
Stiffening, Daskh had to remind himself to loosen his grip on the female so that he would not harm her as he cast a sharp look over at his friend.
“She requires comforting in this place. She gets frightened,” he said, his voice hard so as to be clear that he did not welcome any opinions on the matter.
Kehtal stared back at him without flinching, his gavo flaring at what he saw as inappropriate between Daskh and Lori. For all of his humor and wit, Kehtal watched him suspiciously at all times, prepared to defend Lori and Slengral’s mating that had not truly even happened yet. While there was a slight scent of her male on her, Lori’s perfume was wholly her own, unmingled with that of an intimate connection with a male.
Daskh was not really doing anything wrong, nor did he have any intention of betraying Slengral’s friendship. He could not really explain exactly what he wanted, but the one thing he did know was that he coveted the time that he had with her, however he could get it.
Lori laughed and shoved at him. It was not anywhere near hard enough to be able to break his grip, but the signal was clear, and his expression softened into a smile as he gently set her back on her feet.
“Don’t be an ass,” she chided affectionately. “I wasn’t scared. Nor did I need comforting, strictly speaking. I was pissed off to be left here yet again while those two flew off, and you decided to take it upon yourself to distract me.”
He lifted his wings, nonchalant. “Soothe, distract… it is all very similar.”
“Oh, it is not, you enormous beast,” she shot back around her laughter.
Kehtal’s eyes darted back and forth between then, his muscles and the tip of his tail stiff as if uncertain whether or not he should interfere and put a stop to their play. Daskh wanted to sigh. It was clear that his friend was on the verge of expiring from anxiety. He shifted his bulk so that the remaining length of his tail was not on the other bench as well, and gestured to it.
“Join us,” he invited.
The male hesitated, uncertainty on his face.
“Sit down, kapan,” he tried again, with a cranky snap of his jaw.
That won a smile as Kehtal sank onto the other bench. “What are we doing?” he asked, his eyes scanning over the table where Lori had separated out bright rocks into two different color groups.
Lori’s expression brightened. “It was something I was working on to play with Slengral, but we can give it a test run. One second. Let me get the board I made.”
Kehtal looked over again at Daskh. He did not know any more than Kehtal did about what Lori had created since he had spent the previous cycle enjoying her cheerfulness as she worked on her activity rather than pepper her with questions over it.
“If it is something you made for Slengral, perhaps it should wait,” Kehtal suggested in a low voice, making his unwillingness to enjoy anything done for Lori’s mate abundantly clear.
Daskh narrowed his eyes in annoyance at the male.
“Don’t be ridiculous. It’s a game even children can play. I can teach you and enjoy playing this with you just as easily as with him.” Her lips pursed as she set a small slab of stone in the middle of the table. “It’s only a two-player game, but we can take turns,” she assured. “Just a little something to have fun passing time,” she teased, glancing over at Kehtal, whose tail twisted as if he were uncertain of whether to enjoy it or leave.
Daskh slapped him with his tail, making the decision for him. Kehtal relaxed, his eyes watching with increasingly avid interest when Lori began to line up the small stones, each still separated into their own color grouping.
The stone “board,” as she called it, was curiously marked with falka, a soft white marking mineral that Seshanamitesh employed mostly for plotting out areas to carve out within their nests, or to leave messages for each other—those who knew how to read and write. Since males were exiled to the upper tunnels, far from the shinara, not every mother considered it important. There were exceptions like Daskh’s mother, but it seemed that every new generation of young males sent out from the shinara that there were fewer who knew how.
Daskh had once considered teaching them, but interacting with other males was not the way of hunters. Offering them support would have weakened them in the eyes of the other males. They would have been bullied and chased out to the deep caves. Daskh did not have the heart to do anything that would jeopardize their ability to survive, so he turned the young males away from his nest just as he did the adult males who thought to challenge him for his nest.
This, however, was new. He had not seen falka utilized in such a way. The marked out blank and filled-in boxes running across the slab had his full attention.
She glanced up them in amusement as she set the last stone down. “Funny enough, the rocks here provide just the right colors for game pieces to play checkers.”
“Checkers,” Kehtal murmured.
Daskh grinned and leaned in, eager to learn. He would play with the little female in any way that she liked. This was far more innocent than any games that would have sprung to mind, but for keeping his honor and friendship intact, this was by far the best one.
Lori, amid much laughing, spent two rounds teaching them each how to play. The rules were not complicated to remember, but it was amusing just how easily they could run afoul of rules. It was definitely a game of strategy rather than might. It did not matter who was at the table. All that mattered was the quickness of the mind.
Daskh liked that. Males were taught young to hunt and fight. Daskh wondered if young females in the shinara played strategy games such as this. As much as he enjoyed it, he was amused even more by the cunning look on Kehtal’s face when he took his turn bent over the board.
Round after round, trading turns as the winner was challenged by the next person waiting. There was a spirit of competition to it that especially appealed to both of them, but he was delighted to find that Lori was just as vicious in her strategy. She made a triumphant sound from her belly when after much back and forth she beat Kehtal, who in turn stared at the board in shock, unable to believe he had lost.
Daskh laughed and took his turn, also losing spectacularly, but he did not mind so much. He enjoyed just watching her. He was also sure that she cheated, but he had not determined how yet, and that was even more interesting.
Despite how enamored with the game that they were, they all looked up from the game when Slengral entered. Daskh felt a pit of disappointment forming in his belly at the sight of the male, certain that he would send them all on their way as he had done before.
To his surprise, Slengral looked tiredly over the game and grunted as he scooped his mate up into his arms. Daskh felt the loss immediately, missing the heat of her body pressed up against his. He sighed and began to shift off the bench.
“Stay,” Slengral murmured, nuzzling his cheek affectionately against his mate’s head. “Show me how this is played. I watched a little, but now I would like to learn.”
“You want to play… together?” Kehtal questioned hesitantly.
Daskh did not blame him for the disbelief. He was also having a difficult time seeing this as the same male who drove them both from his nest the moment he returned.
Annoyance flashed across the male’s face and then disappeared.
“I said as much. We will play.” He met his mate’s glare and sighed. “Please. I would enjoy playing this game with you, my friends.”
“That’s better,” Lori praised, her arms banding around Slengral in a way that Daskh envied.
As they played well into the sleeping cycle, the nest coming alive with shared words and laughter, Daskh wondered how he would go back to his old life once everything was finally settled. He hated to even think of it.