The Fractured World, page 13
“Lies.”
“Not lies. I wouldn’t lie about such a thing. You’ve done a wondrous job of being my escort, Miss Faris. Please, believe me.”
“She ain’t wrong,” I added. “You’ve done an amazing job of keeping her safe. You’re more hero than failure, as far as I’m concerned.”
“No,” Faris grunted, lunging up. A wince stopped her advance and she settled back into the pool.
“Easy there,” Trez said. “You drained your brim bladder dry. You’re in no state to be hopping and snapping. Trust me. I’m a doctor.”
“Really?” I said.
She pouted and put her hands on her hips. “I know what you’re thinking. Surprised someone like me can read, ain’t ya? Well fuck you too, big guy. There’s a whole lot of brains up in ‘ere.”
“It was more finding such a cute doctor.”
Her face turned red and her demeanor changed. Trez cupped her cheeks and grinned. “Now that I like. You’re alright with me, muscles.”
Since when was I anything more than a weed with too much raw strength?
“Hey,” a pouting Casella said.
My heart froze. I’d gotten too comfortable and flirted in front of her eyes. I knew I shouldn’t have—
“What about Miss Faris?”
Oh. False alarm.
“Right, right. See, the thing is, the reserves usually recharge. Usually. Problem is this isn’t the weather for it. They need plenty of warmth and a lot of sun and… look, I’m not gonna get all sciencey with you. The important part is she’s not in a good state. She’s good if she stays in here but going outside’s a no-go, not until she’s put some fuel in her tank.”
“Can we do that?” I said.
“Of course. I’m not shameless enough to flirt in front of an expecting corpse. There’s a medicine which does the trick. Puts a spark back in that tummy.”
“Where is it?” Casella said.
“That’s what I’d like to know.” Trez squatted and faced her uncooperative patient. “Where was the medicine?”
“You were the thief?” Faris said.
“I didn’t steal nothing!” Trez squawked as she jumped up. “The ship was wrecked. Everyone was gone or dead. I’d have been a fool not to take it. Nothing thieving about that!”
“Settle down,” I said, holding Trez’s shoulders.
She took deep breaths. “Sorry about that. Guess I, erm… got a wee bit cranky.”
When Trez was calmed, I looked Faris’s way. “Your turn. Where was it?”
“We weren’t given any,” Faris mumbled.
“You for reals?” Trez said. “Who’s sending out a herix crew without a full stock of the good stuff?”
The same guy who buys a woman for her power.
Faris held her tongue.
“There must be another way,” Casella said as her lip started to quiver.
“Course, there is,” Trez said. “Although, this makes things a lot trickier A quick shot would’ve been so much easier…”
“Tell us,” I said.
“Alright, alright. What you’ve gotta do is gather a whole lot of lava fruit.”
“Sounds hot.”
“Oh, it is. Sink your teeth in one of them and kiss your lips goodbye. Ain’t gonna find food much hotter. Thing is, it’s like a miracle cure for hypothermia. You can add an empty brim bladder to the list.”
“Miss Trez,” Casella said.
“Just Trez. Don’t make me sound like some granny.”
“Ah! Okay… Trez. Would it be possible to find some of this fruit?”
“Now ain’t that the tricky part,” Trez said. “Thing is, this is the perfect environment for them, as crazy as that sounds. Usually, I wouldn’t like your chances, but this planet’s totally whack. At this rate, I’d be surprised if there wasn’t any hanging around.”
“How would we find them?” I asked.
“They like growing in caves, a bit like this one but not this cold. Need one that’s like a sauna.”
“And where are we supposed to find that?”
“I don’t know,” she said. “I don’t have all the answers or anything. Back home you’d track some big death-breathing beasty back to camp. Real easy to follow they were. Feet completely melted the snow. Could see those prints a mile away.”
A forgotten memory pulsed to the front of my mind. “I think I’ve seen something like that.”
“You shitting me?”
“I’m serious. First day I landed. They were this big,” I said, gesturing as if my hips needed three airplane seats to themselves. “Snow was completely gone.”
“That sounds like one of them,” Trez said. “You might have cracked this, muscles.”
“Really and truly?” Casella cheered. “Hear that, Miss Faris? You’re going to be okay.”
Faris didn’t look wonderfully excited for somebody being offered a life-saving medicine.
“Hang on a minute,” Trez said. “I know this all sounds hunky-dory, but you might have missed the whole killer beast part. You can follow it, sure, but that doesn’t mean it’s gonna let you go fruit picking in peace.”
“Doesn’t matter,” I said. “Faris needs my help. I’ll do it.”
“Madness,” Faris grumbled. “Don’t risk yourself for me.”
“And wait for you to die? No chance,” I replied.
“Why not? I’m a failure. I’m a disgrace…”
Casella crushed her gigantic breasts into Faris’s face with a throttling hug. “I won’t allow you to say those horrible things anymore.”
Faris’s struggle was low key by her standards. She only shifted enough to prevent heavenly suffocation.
“Hear that?” I said. “None of us want you to die so stop feeling sorry for yourself. I’ll get you that medicine and then you can get back to being your regular old ass-kicking self.”
“You’re insane,” Faris mumbled. “I’m not even your mate.”
“What sort of jerk abandons a girl because she hasn’t slept with him? I don’t know how things work on your planet, but I don’t roll that way.” I stared at her subdued eyes. “We’re all in this together. I’m not abandoning you. End of.”
Faris’s lips flapped but no words arrived.
“Damn, that was a nice,” Trez said, leaning against me. “Just one little thing. Do you remember where those prints where?”
“Not completely,” I confessed.
“Boy, imagine acting so cocky when you’re this clueless.”
“Hey!”
Trez snorted. “Fine. You’ve tugged my tails. I’ll help you.”
“You’ve done plenty,” I said.
“Don’t worry about it. You saved me from splatting. Take this as payment. Besides, I’m not planning on putting myself in danger. I’m leaving all the fighty stuff to you. Agreed?”
“Alright,” I said, offering my hand.
She inspected it. “What’re you expecting from me?”
“It’s a handshake. You don’t do those?”
Trez showed off her impromptu jazz hands.
“That’s something very different,” I said. “It’s to signify a deal. How do you do it?”
“We do this.” She closed my palm and fist bumped me.
Seriously? Well I’ll be a monkey’s… erm, partner?
Her ears were close enough. And if you took away one of her tails…
“Can I help?” Casella asked.
“You can and you will,” I said. “Somebody needs to stay here and protect Faris.”
“Seriously?” Faris mumbled.
“Seriously. Don’t you trust your students?”
“Only the good ones…”
Casella smothered Faris’s head. “Don’t worry about a thing, Miss Faris. I’ll keep you safe. Please, believe it.”
Whether Faris did or not, she let Casella win this round.
I grinned. How the tables had turned. The protector had suddenly become the protected. And the delicate princess had risen from the ashes to become a warrior.
As for me? My job was simple. Pay Faris back for everything she’d done.
Chapter 15
“Hurry it up, slowpoke,” Trez said as she soared through the sky.
I rasped as my jogging slowed to a complete stop. My throat was on fire which was impressive in this climate.
Come on. How does she expect me to keep up with her?
Trez shot back my way. She wasn’t stifled by the same ankle-grabbing conditions that turned a brisk jog into a muscle-throbbing workout. Her pathway was the sky. More specifically, the space between the trees.
As soon as we got out of the cave, she darted up the nearest tree and took off swinging from branch to branch.
I know I compared her to a monkey, but this is ridiculous.
She slid down the trunk, stopping just shy of dipping her toes into the snow. “Wow, you’re slow. I thought you’d be quicker without the others. Didn’t know that was your best.”
“I’m not slow. You’re too fast,” I said. Besides, I couldn’t help noticing that I was the one lugging around our supplies. I got a full rucksack while she just had to contend with the clothes on her back.
“No such thing as too fast. The sooner you get shit done, the better.” She clicked her tongue. “Gotta say, I expected more from a zerrin’s mate. This all that power can do?”
“You trying to get under my skin?”
“Maybe just a little,” Trez giggled. She used her tails to mime that thin margin. “You know I love you really, but damn do you need to learn to climb.”
“I think we’re in different leagues.” Not that I’d call myself a good climber by human standards.
She shrugged. “Not my problem. You can stay down low. I’m returning to my zone.” Trez bolted up the tree and took off.
She could at least make it look less fun.
I did my best to keep pace with the runaway alien. It was impossible. We mere land dwellers couldn’t match the prowess of those who flew without wings. She came and went from my sight with scary ease, often cutting across my path with no warning besides the rustle of trembling leaves.
She’d been right to volunteer for this job. The distance she could cover compared to me was insane. It finally made sense how somebody so slender had managed to survive alone on this harsh planet.
As I’d seen before, from the deer who gravitate to the riverside, speed can be just as powerful as strength.
After half an hour of aimless trekking, Trez returned. “Big news,” she announced. There was a slight glow to her cheeks, but she was dealing with the exertion better than I was despite clearing a lot more ground. “I’ve found tracks.”
“Show me,” I said, chasing after her.
This time she held back so I could keep up with her swinging behind.
Once we reached our destination, she treated a tree like a stripper’s pole and twirled down to face me. “Here.”
The print was a monumental thing that erased all the snow which had been crushed underfoot.
“That’s the one,” I said. It was fresh. There wasn’t a drop sullying the inside and the snow had only relented that morning.
Trez grinned. “We follow these, and we’ll be drowning in lava… fruit. That last bit was probably important.”
Tracking wouldn’t be difficult. From the first, you could see the others. Whatever had left them had also done a number on the trees. Trunks were left shattered by whatever had bulldozed through. Apart from the silvery ones. They were still good, if not a little bent.
“We’ve still got a bit of light,” Trez said as she peered up at the sky. “Wanna see if we can find it before nightfall?”
“Let’s,” I said.
“Just make sure you’re ready to scrap at a moment’s notice. I’m not following you into certain probable danger to get myself killed. You better extend your ‘save all chicks’ policy to cute brainy zulk girls.”
“As long as that means you.”
“You see anyone else fitting that description?” Trez said before shooting back up to her personal highway and leaving me scrambling after her.
Even though the prints were a breeze to follow, I didn’t really use them to navigate. I left all that stuff to Trez.
From her advantageous viewpoint, she couldn’t go wrong. There was no losing such an obvious path.
I kept my eyes on the cute energetic waypoint. The way she zipped from branch to branch was delightful. Then there was the rest of the package.
Seriously, what did I do in my last life to deserve getting surrounded by so many beauties?
It’s almost like someone is trying to make things up to me.
I don’t need your pity. I own my mistakes.
While I enjoyed watching Trez fly, it wasn’t without its worries. Some of Trez’s landing points were on their last legs. They groaned under her weight and bled splinters from their exposed wounds.
“Watch where you’re going,” I yelled.
She paused mid-hang and stuck out her tongue. “Who are you? My mom.”
“Just a concerned citizen.”
Trez scoffed as she swung forward and back. “I’m not some soft little pampered princess. I survived here for two months on my lonesome. They don’t make them much tougher than me. Besides, who’s gonna get me up here?” She mocked my advice by getting more reckless. Navigation became a high-risk circus act.
She was talented, that was without a doubt. A triple somersault ended with her tail catching around a branch and flinging her into the next set of flips.
It walked the fine line between envy-worthy and heart-stopping.
Trez twirled with dangerous ease before landing on a naked branch. With her impact came a snap. The trunk folded in the middle, throwing her off balance and out of the sky.
My heart paused. I yelled Trez’s name and chased her into the undergrowth.
Where did she land? I hope she’s okay.
Her shrill cries called to me.
I followed them into a small clearing where the sight of her robbed me of my breath.
Trez was there and in one piece. That was the good news. The bad involved the gigantic monster lizard-wolf looming over her.
It was the same breed which had threatened us a week prior. Back then, Faris had done most of the work and I’d stumbled to her rescue with a lucky strike. This one was all on me.
“Hey!” I yelled at the beast as I drew my weapon of choice: the club.
What could be better for a guy who has boosted his strength stat to ridiculous levels?
The monster didn’t look pleased to see somebody willing to fight. But it wasn’t so concerned that it chose to run away.
That was fine by me. I charged right at the bastard.
It did the same and lunged for my throat. A single bite would be all it needed to end my life.
I swung my club and put my faith in the gift that Casella had given me.
My primitive weapon smashed through the dire creature’s snout, shattering bone and teeth with a single hit.
Blood sprayed across my face but that was the closest the monster came to an attack.
It more gurgled than cried. There was hardly a mouth left to make more complex sounds. One blow had been enough to rearrange the beast’s features.
My strength was insane.
The wolf was no longer a threat, but I didn’t let it live. In my mind, I flickered between putting it out of its misery and punishing it for trying to harm somebody under my protection. I didn’t need the justification. No sick feeling welled in my stomach. I hadn’t killed an innocent animal. I’d slayed a man-eating monster.
Its warm remains trickled down my features and coated the meat of my bludgeon. The rest soaked into the snow, turning what had once been a luxurious white into a hideous red.
I glanced at Trez. “You okay?”
She was still sitting with her back pinned to a tree. Her eyes were wide and her mouth the same. It took her longer than needed to answer and even that was just a hazy confirmation.
I sighed. If I could feel blood running down my face, it didn’t take a stretch to realize how I looked. “I didn’t mean to scare you…”
“Scare me?” Trez said. “No way! You were awesome!”
“Huh?”
Trez leapt back to her feet. “You totally blitzed it! When I dropped down, I thought I was a goner. Pretty much landed on its head, I did. Not gonna lie, I was pissing myself. And then you came steaming in like a drill through ice and blasted that motherfucker off the face of existence. Damn! I’ve never been so aroused.”
It was my turn to gawk at her. “You’re not scared?”
“Of what? The guy who just saved my ass?” Trez wandered past me and into the red-soaked battlefield. She stomped on the dead beast, soaking her bare toes in the squelch of foul-smelling blood. “This guy scared me. You… I like you.”
I smiled. “As long as you’re okay.”
“Nothing feels broken or sprained. Guess snow ain’t all crummy. My ass hurts a little though.” She leaned back and rubbed her rump. “Can’t say I’m gagging to get back in the trees either.”
I glanced up. “It’s getting dark.”
“How’s your night vision?”
“Crap. Yours?”
“Same-o. Looks like we’re kicking it in the sticks,” Trez said. “Now, turn around.”
I held my question and did what she asked.
Trez jumped onto my back. She wrapped her arms around my shoulders, crushed the rucksack between us, and scooted her legs around my hips.
“And you’re hitching a ride why?”
“Didn’t you see? I just had a terrible fall and a run-in with a fiend. I’m feeling awfully delicate right now.”
“What happened to feeling okay?” I said.
“My ankle started flaring or something. What are you even fussing about? I bet you can hardly feel me.”
She was either light as a feather or I’d invested too much into strength. The most I could feel was the tickle of her fur against my chin. There was also her sweet scent, but I kept that to myself.
“You win.”
“That’s what I like to hear. Now, away!” She knocked her legs against my ribs.
I rolled my eyes and escorted the poor little flower to somewhere safe and warm. There had to be a cave somewhere nearby.
