Page 11 of Entangled by the Alien Mercenary (Monster Mercenary Mates #4)
Tasseloris
When I woke up, a splitting headache took all my attention. I breathed through that pain until it began to ebb and fade into the background. That wasn’t much of an improvement; other injuries clamored for attention. My chest and back were a shredded mess, my thigh throbbed and ached, while my left leg below it had gone disconcertingly numb. The pain was so bad that it was all I could think about with each slow, deep breath I pulled into my lungs.
And then another thought filled my brain, leaping suddenly to the forefront: Elyssa. My female had been captured, and they had tagged her with a tracker. Adrenaline roared through my body then, pushing away all aches and pains as if they were nothing. I jerked upright, senses wide open, ready to fight.
Darkness had fallen, and the jungle had gone quiet as rain fell in sheets from the heavens. I was protected from the downpour beneath a Kanfira tree, its shape like a giant umbrella with thick leaf coverage. This was a good spot to camp, and I wondered immediately whether it was luck or wisdom that had made them pick it. The Takchaw were repelled by the Kanfira’s extensive root system, so they posed no risk. Likewise, the thick canopy of leaves kept away the Kovar that roamed the skies in search of tasty prey.
I could see shapes around a campfire to my left—at least six. They were roasting tasty ground birds on spits, and my stomach rumbled with hunger in response. I pushed that feeling away, just as I was doing with the pain in my battered body. Where was Elyssa? I did not see her near the fire, nor could I smell her presence. Had they taken her elsewhere? Panic unfurled in the pit of my stomach. Had they killed her?
I couldn’t think like that if I wanted to survive; I had to act as though she needed me whether she lived or not. Despair could not get a foothold—that would definitely spell the end for us both. That meant I had to free myself from the tight magnetic shackles they’d locked around my ankles and wrists and cut the chain they had hooked to a spike driven deep into the ground nearby, which kept me tethered to the spot. My wounds had been bandaged in a very rudimentary fashion, preventing me from bleeding out but not offering any additional healing. They wanted me weak and wounded so they could handle me, but they had made the mistake of leaving me connected to the planet, the rich dirt, and the plants of my native world.
Three guards sat near me at the base of the tree in the cold, away from the fire, and resenting it. The Rummicaron among them was the only one not bothered by the cold, misty, and very soggy jungle night. Viridara Three was entering monsoon season, the worst time to be camping out here—a practice that was already heavily discouraged because of how dangerous both the flora and fauna were in the wilds. The threesome was watching me with weary eyes, their hands on their guns.
I allowed a pained groan to surface as I lowered myself back to the ground in an ungainly flop. Pretending to pass out from the pain of my injuries was not hard, and they bought it when I did not move again. I heard the ruffling of cards as they resumed their Keflo game, with muted voices exchanging banter as quietly as possibly so their boss wouldn’t notice their lack of vigilance.
I had collapsed onto my side, my arms in front of me where they couldn’t see. Squinting at the magnetic cuffs, I tried to figure out how to undo them. That was training I’d been given aboard the Varakartoom, the Sineater a relentless taskmaster for such things. He’d taught me with lock picks, stray pins, or scrap metal that could be forged into an appropriately shaped tool. None of those items were at hand, but I was very motivated; I had another option.
Fear for Elyssa and the pain in my body made it harder than ever to push my focus in the right direction—to unfurl the powers in my mind and search for the right way to access them. There was another added obstacle this time: my body was depleted. Growing a vine or a sail took nutrients; it took from my body to grow them, and my body had very little to give. I had to try anyway—failure was not an option. Elyssa needed me, and I needed to bring this mission to a successful end. There was no way I would let my brothers find me cuffed and bleeding; I’d never hear the end of it.
Closing my eyes, I pushed every distraction away. Find the source, make it bloom. I had to dig so deep and far for the bud that lay dormant in my mind—a small green bulb of endless possibilities. This was just the image I’d been taught to picture when I had been training to control my plantist powers; it held no actual meaning. Somehow, it seemed to me that the little bulb was tiny and browned when I finally had it clear in my mind’s eye. Damaged, injured. It was a reflection of how wounded I was.
“Come on,” I urged in my head. “Grow, unfurl.” The bulb seemed to shiver and shake, but it did not want to grow for me. No vines with thin but strong tips to tackle the magnetic cuffs, not so much as an itch along my shoulder blades. And then my concentration was shot when something curled over my ankle, slithering along my leg and higher. Eyes opening wide, I tilted my head to see, certain it was a Takchaw feeler or something far worse than a carnivorous plant.
“Pprrt?” Nelly said, whisper-soft. Her huge green eyes seemed to take up all of her tiny face. She was at my feet, hiding her tiny body behind my boots, but I did not know if she had done that on purpose or by accident. I did know that if my guards saw her, she could be in terrible danger. It was sheer luck that she’d wandered off just before that big fight earlier.
“Go away,” I whispered. “It’s dangerous. Hide, sweet one. You can’t help me.” I didn’t know if that was what she wanted to do anyway. She certainly looked worried and rattled as she began gliding silently along the ground. Not away—of course not—but higher up my body. There was a little furrow between her large eyes, as if she were frowning, and her flowers had all snapped shut into tight, bristling buds. If I had to pick an emotion, I’d say she was as angry as she was worried.
At my thigh, she paused, the pink tendrils and vines at her waist twitching restlessly. She was hunched down, definitely using my body to shield herself from prying eyes. The Entling was being smart; maybe her tiny, cute appearance had made me think she was younger than she was. Her leafy fingers touched the edge of the bandage, lifting the blood-soaked patch to peer beneath it. Then she procured a thick, juicy Virad berry and began pressing it into the gaping wound.
It hurt like a bitch, and I bit down hard on my lip to hold back the shout that wanted to emerge from the shock. My mind spun wildly when I realized what Nelly had done. I tried to recall—had she seen me do that? Was she mimicking what I’d done? Yeah, on Elyssa’s wrists. Clever girl. What else did she have up her sleeve? I had underestimated her, but an Entling was an expert at hiding. Maybe I could ask her to find Elyssa…
The Virad berry juice was a good call. The cut on my thigh was dangerously deep, but the berry would ensure the wound would close entirely over the next few hours. If I had another shot of Dravion’s replenishing stimulants, I might even be right as rain again by then. It would have to be the next step, and while Nelly came and went several times with a new berry to apply, I surreptitiously tried to search for my backpack. Had it been left behind at the site of the battle, or was it here somewhere?
Once Nelly was satisfied that she’d coated the entire foot-long cut on my leg, she moved on to crush berries into the open cuts and burns along my chest. It continued to hurt—the Virad berries had no pain-numbing properties—but I was not about to ask Nelly to spend precious time locating some Haysher leaves for me to munch on. Already, I felt some of my strength returning, and when the enterprising little Entling came back again, I halted her by whispering her name: “Nelly. I need you to find my backpack. Can you do that? Don’t let anyone see you. Find my backpack and find Elyssa. Do you remember her?”
Nelly’s flowers fluttered along the crown of her head, briefly hinting at the pink inside before she snapped them shut again. A smile spread across her face, and a leafy hand went up to stroke her cheek from nose to pointed ear. Yes! Elyssa—she was indicating the Caratan chain that had intrigued her so much. “That’s right. Elyssa. Find her, find my backpack, come tell me where they are.” I did not ponder how the little Entling could possibly explain those things to me. Maps, locations, orienting myself in the wild—all those things were natural. They were especially simple when I was in touch with all the plants and trees native to my world, a plant-sense that no other species would ever understand the Viridara had.
She flicked her tendrils at me, the pink tips snapping against my cheek. I wasn’t quite sure if she was annoyed or just saying goodbye, but there seemed to be some extra flounce in her motions when she scuttled back into the bushes—hopefully to do as I had asked. Now I was alone, but I was stronger already and not nearly so worried. It was up to me to do the rest, and I was going to make a vine grow and uncurl so I could pick these damn cuffs.
Shutting my eyes, I pushed out everything around me. There was only the pattering of the rain as it hit the canopy of the Kanfira tree. There was only the cool, welcoming earth beneath my weary body. And then, there was only Elyssa, beautiful and smiling in my mind’s eye. Her pink mouth plush and inviting; her blue eyes bright, sparkling sapphires. I was doing this for her, I would master this power. I would control it. For her.
***
Elyssa
Sitting on a fallen tree log, my toes felt like ice inside my custom-made boots. Everything had gone to shit, ridden the ferry down into Vamor’s underworld. Vamor, you were officially not my favorite ancient god anymore. I couldn’t see Tasseloris, and I’d realized that Nelly was missing too—she’d been missing since before the fight. I hoped that was a good thing.
It was very hard not to feel sorry for myself right then, but Tass was injured, and if we did not escape, he’d be forced to fight as a gladiator. That was worse. I had to find a way to help him. If that meant trading the information they were after for his safety, I would. I totally would. I bit my lip as I pondered how to play that. Could I still convince them to let both of us go? Or would that be a reach? Somehow, I did not think De’tor was going to agree to such a bargain. And why would he? He held all the cards.
My hair had gone all fuzzy from the constant damp, curling against my temples and tangling with my Caratan chain. I felt like a wet, bedraggled mess and would kill for a hot shower right now. I doubted such a shower was going to be in my future, so I pushed it from my mind and forced my racing thoughts to slow down. A plan—that’s what I needed. A good one. And I needed to figure out where the tracker was that my asshole of a brother had probably gotten implanted in my body somewhere. I was a deep sleeper; all he’d needed to do was sneak into my bedroom and inject it.
De’tor and Tahirel were at the campfire, huddled together as they discussed plans. The remainder of Jalima’s men sat by the fire to stay warm or were stationed around the perimeter of the camp to keep guard. Nobody was watching me right now, but they had tied me up with some vines they’d scrounged from the forest. They didn’t think I could escape, not with my protector down and out. I was determined to prove them wrong and somehow be of help to Tass.
Wiggling my fingers, I began by finding out how tight my bindings were this time. My wrists were still bandaged and healing from Tahirel’s last round with a rope, and they burned and ached with remembered pain. It hadn’t been the Elrohirian male that had been in charge of searching my person and tying me up this time. I must have looked so sorry and fearful, that the Asrai male who had done the job had taken pity on me. He hadn’t done a thorough search, hadn’t taken the opportunity to cop a feel, and my binds were not biting into my flesh. When I wiggled, there was movement, though not much.
Casting my eyes about, I discovered a sharper piece of wood sticking up from the log I was on, a little further down. It might work to fray the vine against if I managed to scoot toward it without anyone noticing. Each time one of the guards circled near me, I was certain they’d notice that I was inching down the log, but they never said anything. Then, I was rubbing my wrists against the sharper stick—though still disappointingly blunt—and it felt like I was finally doing something.
I froze each time someone glanced my way. I was close enough to the fire to see them all, but I couldn’t see Tass, whom they’d tied up on the other side of the giant tree. What if he was bleeding out? That cut on his thigh had looked especially bad. Despite being on the lookout for any sign of motion, I still nearly jumped out of my skin in shock when Nelly suddenly popped up on the log next to me. The tiny plant girl flared her flowery crown at me, then snapped it shut, each flower forming a tight green bud with a pointed end. Her green eyes blinked open and shut, her tiny mouth split wide in a grin. Then she motioned with her hand along her cheek, following the spot where my Caratan chain hung.
“Hi, Nelly,” I whispered to her, certain the gesture was meant to indicate me—as if she were saying my name in sign language. Twisting my head, I looked left and right to make sure no one was watching; it would be very bad if they saw her. “Have you seen Tass? Is he okay?” I had no clue if she could understand anything I said. I spoke Elrohirian, after all, while Tass spoke his own language. She seemed to understand my mercenary, but it was doubtful she’d have a translator. It was already mind-boggling that she existed in the first place—I’d never heard of a species this tiny and this closely resembling a plant.
Nelly lifted two of the largest vines of her pinkish, skirt-like section, swirling them in the air behind her. I was pretty sure she meant to indicate the pair of vines Tass had sprouting from his impressively wide shoulders. It made no sense, given the situation, but the tiny girl mimicking the big mercenary made me smile. She had pulled a fierce expression and puffed up her tiny green chest to do so, and it was freaking adorable.
Then the little flower girl got down to business. She hopped onto the log beside me and pressed silky-soft, leafy fingers against my hands. No, not my hands—against the vine wrapped around my wrist. To my surprise, it began to thin and break almost immediately, falling apart beneath her nimble fingers. In seconds, my hands were freed. “Thank you!” I cooed quietly at her. “Good job!” She beamed a wide smile at me, and then, quick as can be, clambered up my arm to perch on my shoulder.
Her weight was very slight. She felt as light as a feather, and I worried that a simple breeze would knock her right off. Her vines curled around my neck, but they, too, were so soft I barely felt them. The one she raised to point was visible from the corner of my eye; she jabbed it toward a bushy, dark spot closer to the campfire. Did she want me to go there? It wasn’t where Tass was—I knew that—so why did she want me to go there? Her vine slipped from pointing to sliding along my cheek, touching the medallions on my chain.
Fine. It was the closest hiding spot, and I needed to get out of sight now that I was free. It wouldn’t be long before another guard came by and realized I’d slipped my bonds. The ground was not as muddy beneath the giant, thick canopy of the tree where De’tor and his men had made their camp. It helped obscure my tracks, and I did my best to step on the harder, knobby bits that seemed to be tree roots. Near the bush, I dropped to my knees and crawled inside. The downpour of rain masked any noise I made, and I was certain that was the only reason I remained undiscovered.
As soon as I was inside the bush, which had soft, feathery leaves that tangled in my hair, Nelly leaped from my shoulder. She moved gracefully through a denser part of the branches and then shifted some leaves with one of her hands. Immediately, I saw why she’d sent me this way: Tass’s huge backpack with supplies. It lay on its side right at the edge of the bush, taken but forgotten, it seemed, as Jalima’s men ate and chatted at the campfire.
They were suited for the outdoors no more than I was and were loudly complaining about the cold, the wetness, and the hard ground they were going to be forced to sleep on. But I would have checked Tass’s things for anything useful if I were in their position. The fact that they hadn’t bothered showed a little of their arrogance. It didn’t cross their minds that Tass would know more about this place and how to prepare for it.
“It’s too big for me to carry,” I told Nelly when the little plant girl gestured with her free hand, a little impatiently nodding her head at the same time. “And they’d notice it. It’s in plain view.” As I said that, I did realize that the top flap lay angled my way. If I lay down on my belly, I could slip my hand beneath the tight branches and under that flap. Maybe I’d be able to pull Tass’s medkit from the backpack; I’d seen him put it at the top when we left the cave that morning. The medkit wouldn’t be too big to carry, and Tass needed it. I did not want to add the darker thought, “If he was still alive,” but it bubbled to the front of my mind anyway.
Scooting closer, I did exactly what I had pictured. It was a tight fit to get through the shrubs’ firm and unyielding branches. The ground was also cold and unpleasantly rough and lumpy, as if I wasn’t on packed dirt but concrete. A branch got caught in my hair but narrowly avoided jabbing into my scalp, and then my fingers were brushing along the fabric of the pack. Scooting a little closer, I got my hand beneath the flap and instantly felt the waterproof satchel that held the medical supplies. It was smooth and hard to grasp, but I found a tab and pulled with all my might.
“Yes,” I whispered in victory. “I’ve got it!” And then my world got turned upside down. Hands grabbed hold of my ankles and yanked, and I went bumping and scraping out of the bush, hair ripping from my head where it had gotten stuck. I screamed in fright, kicking and twisting, but it was no use. The pair of males that had hold of my legs were far bigger and stronger, and they pulled until I was out, then tossed me at the feet of De’tor without care for my well-being.
Clutching the med kit to my chest, I rolled until I came to a stop against the toes of the Kertinal male’s big, shiny, black boots. I didn’t want to raise my head to look at him, but I knew I had no choice. Tass would face this head-on, and I was determined to follow his lead—to act in ways that would let me be proud of who I was and what I’d done. It was about time I learned to stand up for myself and right the wrongs my brother had inflicted on the world. It could start here: by being brave and being smart.
Rising, I made sure to keep the med kit with its dark cover pressed against the equally dark ground, deflecting his attention to my face by rubbing at my Caratan chain and pouting. There was nothing I could say that would explain what I was doing in that bush, other than that I had botched an escape attempt. When my eyes clashed with De’tor’s purple orbs, I could see that he did not expect an explanation. He looked annoyed, as if I was interrupting him on important business. That was an expression Elpherian had worn often and well, and I was very used to it.
Since nobody seemed to want to manhandle me right now, I rose unsteadily to my feet. I left the med kit on the ground and began to make a show of dusting off my clothing and stomping my boots. “If you want Jalima’s all-important data, you should stop treating me like this,” I said as petulantly as I could. I flapped a hand and began to bemoan the damage done to my outfit as loudly as I could. There was some truth to it—I hated how my pretty jumpsuit had gotten all messed up—but mostly, I exaggerated how upset I was about it. Let them think I was a vapid idiot; that’s all my brother had ever seen in me. I’d gotten over that, and their opinion mattered even less.
When De’tor loudly cut me off and started barking orders, I knew his attention had wavered. He wasn’t looking at me but at Tahirel. I gave the med kit a hard kick and saw it slide right back underneath the edge of the bush. A pair of pink tendrils slid around it and yanked it even deeper. Good—that meant Nelly had it. Maybe she’d get it to Tass.
Tahirel was smiling broadly when he stepped around De’tor and took hold of my arm. The creep licked his lips and let his eyes dip along my body with avarice, leering shamelessly. I had only heard De’tor order the male to take control of me, to tie me back up, but it was clear Tahirel had much worse in mind. He yanked me after his boss, around the bush, and toward the blazing campfire. Its warmth scalded my front when he made me trip toward it; my ankle twisted, and I almost landed face-first in the fire.
Then I was spun around and pushed down on a tree stump with rough hands. “Let’s get you tied back up, little escape artist,” Tahirel drawled, and his hand pinched tighter around my upper arm. “Try that again, and I’ll make you pay,” he added. His other hand dropped to my thigh, sliding higher, and in reflex, I jerked my leg and kicked him in the knee. He growled; others laughed, but De’tor curtly ordered him to stop playing. I drew in a relieved breath when Tahirel simply tied new vines around my bandaged wrists. That hurt, but at least he was not letting his hands wander now. “We’ll play later,” he warned. I jerked my knee up as if I was going to kick him again and hissed a curse, but that just made him chuckle.
They weren’t going to leave me alone this time, and Tahirel sat down next to me, eyes peeled on my face. I held my breath, waiting to see what he’d do, but all he did was watch with a mean smile. The fact that his features were like my own—pale skin, blue eyes, and blond hair—didn’t help. I felt like every Elrohirian I knew was evil, that they couldn’t be trusted, and yet my species had a reputation for being fair and just. Just my ass; all I’d seen were criminals.
Eventually, his attention did waver, and he looked back at his comrades at the fire, drawn into conversation. At least I was no longer cold now, but that hardly seemed like a victory when I couldn’t feel the tips of my fingers from the tight bindings. Nor had I succeeded in helping Tass, and I’d almost gotten Nelly discovered. As if thinking of her summoned her, I caught a pair of emerald eyes shimmering from a knoll of thick grass. It was quite a distance from the bush, on the other side of the fire.
Timing it perfectly, she raised herself from between the grass just as no one was looking. Then she lifted the med kit just enough for me to see the black edge of the case. She had it! “Go!” I mouthed. “Take it to Tass!” I was pretty sure that was a useless endeavor; she could no more understand my language than read my lips. Jerking my chin in Tass’s direction was the next best thing.
“What’s wrong with you?” Tahirel demanded immediately. I hid a wince and rubbed my chin against my shoulder with a defiant glare. His mouth pinched, but he said nothing else, presumably buying that I’d simply had an itch. When I glanced back at the clump of grass, there was no sign of Nelly or the med kit.