Page 24 of Guardian’s Destiny (Space Guardian’s Mate #3)

SLOANE

It seemed like I had barely fallen asleep, dreaming of a sprawling Ohrur city and Ohrurs moving about, when Vraax gently shook me awake. "It's time."

After I had sat watching for a few hours last night, I had woken him when I finally felt ready to go to sleep. Like always, it took me a couple of hours to do so, but at least I didn't think it took as long as usual. Still, I felt tired when I stretched and opened my eyes.

Moddekdum was sitting on the same bench he had fallen asleep on while Paddekah opened a liquid pouch for him, on her knees.

Anger surged through me. "I don't care how you do it at home, but this shit stops now."

"Easy, Sloane," Vraax cautioned.

I turned on him, "Don't you easy me, buster. You'd probably love it if I did that for you."

He looked startled and I knew I was being unfair, but shit. No way was I watching this. My mother had always waited hand and foot on my father, not quite like these Ohrurs, but enough to grate on my nerves, and I would be damned, if I watched this again.

"Get up," I pulled Paddekah to her feet. She looked frightened and I felt bad for it, but I also knew that this situation wouldn't resolve by me pussy footing around Moddekdum and her. I took the liquid pouch from her hand and tossed it at Moddekdum. "You want to drink? You open it yourself."

With that, I stormed out of the… whatever this thing was, it reminded me of a high-tech, alien version of a subway train. I found myself a quiet corner, where I took care of my full bladder before the others came out.

Silently, we walked for a few miles, while I stopped here and there to admire the walls that had been meticulously carved and decorated a long time ago.

"I would never treat you like that," Vraax said at some point, and it took me a minute to realize that he was referring to my little outburst earlier.

"I know. I'm sorry." I apologized, biting my tongue to keep the words back that he would be dead before he had a chance to treat me like Moddekdum did Paddekah. But I also knew it was unfair. That I had been unfair. Vraax had given me no indication that he was a chauvinistic ass in disguise. Well, he still was a chauvinistic pig, all men were, deep down. But his chauvinism was easy to handle. He was nothing like Moddekdum—or my father.

"You don't need to apologize. The way he treats her… it's getting under my skin too."

Surprised, I looked at him. The stern set of his jaw left no doubt that he meant what he said. "Good."

"Good?" He chuckled. "You're?—"

He never told me what he was about to say because the sound of falling rock startled both of us, and we pulled our blasters in unison just as an Ohrur came crashing down a wall. Two more followed, cursing. Blasters raised, pointed at us.

"Stop!"

Our blasters pointed at them, too, as we stared at each other in a deadlock.

I wasn't sure why Vraax wasn't shooting at them, but I let him take the lead on this one, ready for anything. Something was different about these Ohrurs. They looked like the others, but… and then I realized I didn't get any of the bad vibes from them as I did from Moddekdum and had before from Possedion. They also looked stronger, fitter.

"You are a Darlam," a fourth Ohrur exclaimed as he came down the wall, climbing it with an agility that spoke of years of experience. "What are you doing here with them ?" He pointed at our hostages. "And who is she?"

"Too many questions, Ohrur. Who are you?" Vraax demanded.

The Ohrur, who seemed to be in charge of the others, indicated for them to lower their blasters, and hesitantly, Vraax and I followed suit. My arm was still tense, though; it would only take a fraction of a second to raise it and blast the Ohrur to hell.

"I'm Craygh, Commander of the Ohrur Forces." He introduced himself.

Vraax raised an eyebrow. "Since when do the Ohrurs have Forces ? That's what they use us Space Guardians for."

"The ones above do," Craygh responded, shutting Vraax up and any questions I might have asked.

"You've lived here all this time?" Moddekdum's voice was loud in the ensuing silence.

Craygh regarded him with a dismissive downtown curve of his mostly nonexistent lips. "And what are you doing here?"

"They're our hostages," Vraax filled him in. "I'm Vraax. This is Sloane, a human." He introduced me.

"I think we have lots to talk about. Follow me," Craygh ordered, and when none of us moved, he sighed, "Please, as my guests."

Vraax looked questioningly at me, and I shrugged my shoulders. Giving him a this might be interesting , look with my eyes.

"Lead the way," Vraax relented.

Leading the way , turned out that first we had to scale the wall he and his men had just descended, while his men assisted our hostages, and then turned into quite a hike through more tunnels, until we reached a place that looked like a valley.

Sun filtered in from holes in the high above ceiling, and walls had been removed to clear a large area filled with houses, where countless Ohrurs mingled.

Craygh led us to the largest house. Its two stories had a palatial air about them—high columns and plants lining a long road leading to the main entrance added to that impression. I noticed Moddekdum taking our surroundings in with an expression of disbelief and condescension, while Paddekah appeared astounded and a little scared.

"I can't believe you brought them here, Commander," a loud voice boomed, stronger than I would have expected from the Ohrurs. An Ohrur moved through the large hall we had entered, which was lined with armed men. He was taller than the others, with broader shoulders. Like Craygh, he looked different from the other Ohrurs, like Moddekdum and Possedion. These Ohrurs' muscles were more defined; their necks didn't look as if they would break under their oversized heads' weight. They still had green eyes, but their color looked more washed out. This was the same as their skin color, which might have resulted from living underground.

"Lord Hyugh," Craygh bowed. "I think talking with this Space Guardian might be beneficial for us."

He turned to Vraax, "This is Lord Hyugh of the House of Massalion."

Moddekdum hissed between his teeth.

"What about them?" Hyugh sneered at Moddekdum and Paddekah. His gaze eased some at the sight of her.

"They are our hostages," Vraax interjected.

"Hostages?" The plates on Hyugh's forehead rose to his hairline. He turned to Craygh. "You might be right; let's talk."

He turned on his heels, not giving us any time to object, and shrugging, Vraax placed his palm to the small of my back, directing me to follow Lord Hyugh. I was sure our Ohrur hostages would follow us as well and didn't look back.

Hyugh led us into a smaller room with a table and several chairs surrounding it. "Can I offer you some refreshments?" He asked.

I was afraid the food might be the same kind of mush Vraax had been serving me aboard his ship, but after only eating two energy bars for a couple of days and marching nearly nonstop, I was starving. Plus, I wasn't sure how much food and liquid pouches Vraax had brought, and I figured the more we could eat here, the better off we would be for the rest of our journey. However long that would take.

I took him up on his offer. "Refreshments would be great."

I still wasn't sure if letting Craygh bring us here was a good idea. We were more vulnerable and outnumbered; on the other hand, I figured if Craygh had any ill will toward us, he could have easily brought more soldiers when he intercepted us. Or, he would have simply shot us down while we fumbled through the tunnels. Still, all my senses were on high alert.

We took a seat around the oddly shaped table, which was zigzagged, with each spot for a chair, giving me a little closed-in feeling that didn't help my already tense nerves.

"You are a Space Guardian?" Hyugh asked Vraax for confirmation.

"I am." Vraax verified.

"You really did it then?" Hyugh glared at Moddekdum.

Moddekdum raised his hands. "I didn't do anything. Our ancestors did. I'm simply following their instructions."

"Which you could have broken any time you wanted to." Hyugh accused.

"Alright, time out," I put my left hand horizontally over my right. "Can we pretend for a moment that Vraax and I have no idea what you are talking about and give us a quick history lesson?"

Hyugh glared at Moddekdum. "Gladly. About twenty-thousand years ago, our species split into two parties; one wanted to leave Darlam to its own devises, as decency dictates, and the other wanted to exploit them. One party lost, the other won."

"I take it you are the losers, having lived underground for twenty-thousand years," I swallowed, unable to imagine living like this for generations—because it had to be generations, right? There was no way this guy was twenty-thousand years old, "while the winners," I turned to Moddekdum, "lived above the planet extorting the Darlams."

Hyugh nodded, and after a short moment, so did Moddekdum.

"You had no idea they lived here?" Vraax asked Moddekdum.

"Had we suspected, we would have terminated them like the darts they are." Moddekdum's voice was filled with disdain.

"And you have lived here for all that time?" Vraax asked Hyugh.

"It wasn't intentional, but yes. Our ancestors," he didn't notice me breathing a sigh of relief at the mention of ancestors, validating he wasn't twenty-thousand years old, "sought refuge in the subtheris system. This," he encompassed our surroundings used to be the central station filled with stores, we turned into housing."

"You've lived here all this time?" Moddekdum shook his head. He must have been wondering how it was possible that their enemies had managed to live right under their noses for millennia.

"This is our home now, the only one we've ever known. Our population grew from five thousand survivors into hundreds of thousands." Hyugh glared at Moddekdum. Pride welled off him in waves. I didn't know how long he had been the leader of this underground world and how much work his ancestors had done. Still, this was quite impressive.

"Were you ever going to come out?" Vraax wanted to know.

"We learned that the Ohrurs trained Darlams to be their Space Guardians, a foe that can't be underestimated," Hyugh explained. "We are prepared to fight for our lives, but to answer your question, no, we are still not ready to reclaim what is ours."

"Because of us, the Space Guardians?" Vraax checked.

"Yes."

"And yet, you brought us here, you're talking to us, even though Vraax is a Space Guardian," I interjected.

"One we can deal with." Hyugh sounded more confident than he looked as he tried to surreptitiously assess Vraax. "Let's say our curiosity was awakened when we watched you enter our sub system."

Servants entered, interrupting us as they carried dishes of food and pitchers filled with liquids.

"Please," Hyugh invited us, waving at the dishes the servants put in front of us. The girl carrying mine looked nervous and covertly checked me out, just like I checked her out. She didn't appear as timid as Paddekah.

Cautiously, I stared at the food in front of me. My eyes fell on what looked like a dinner roll, but was dark red. It lay next to something meaty in a sauce and what probably was vegetables in a mix of yellow and purple. I was handed a napkin, and inside was a fork that reminded me of utensils I had seen in a museum once, in Italy. The fork had only two teeth that spread out at the halfway point; before that, it appeared more like a spoon. One side had been sharpened to also serve as a knife, making me admire the usefulness of this one tool, replacing spoon and knife.

I watched the others dig in hungrily and took a deep breath before I dunked my tritensil into the meat. Carefully, I lifted a small part to my mouth, prepared for pretty much anything. I was surprised by the sweet taste and softness of the food. A little bit braver, I broke a piece of the roll and realized it was more like a dumpling than a roll and delicious as well. From that point on, I didn't care. I dug in with gusto. It had been a long time since I had had something that could be called regular food.