Page 4 of Her Alien Delegate (Necia Alien Warriors)
Chapter two
Broma
B lood dripped down my jaw where my very own adornment weaved through my ormete braid was used to tear into my scalp, hoping to cut off its source. That was my fault for thinking I could throw the duel without consequences.
He was my brother, in more than name, but blood from our mother ran through his veins as well.
He would not accept the commission of the tribes without my full effort in this duel to prove he was worthy of protecting our interests across the entire planet of AsunGor.
Mother had no daughters to give the commission to, and so the top candidates would fight.
As her blood, I had no right to refuse and must fight my way towards the honored role of leadership. But I did not want such responsibility.
It was unfortunate to have my first duel be against Brakaun.
Even more unfortunate that he did not wish to win by my disinterest alone.
He would threaten my ormete and a future with any delegate by cutting it from my scalp.
The only thing that kept me from killing him immediately was that he had tried to do it with a sharpened bone from my first groka hunt as a youngling, attached to the end of my ormete.
This meant he was warning me what he would do if I didn't take the duel seriously, but he knew he would not be able to follow through with the threat with such a dull instrument.
The last time I sharpened that bone was the day I added it to my braid.
It was dull from too many cycles passed.
"You would threaten to dishonor me?" I seethed.
"I do nothing that you weren't willing to do to me. Is it not dishonorable to throw a duel with such importance as Commissioner of AsunGor?"
My ormete wrapped around his hand, preventing him from continuing to put pressure on the bone pressed to my forehead.
The strain from disuse was a disadvantage, but a duel among unGor was never just about the strength of our ormete, but in how we handled struggle.
Many of my brothers have forgotten this, but not Brakaun. He was honorable and wanted a just win.
Slipping under the assault, I released my ormete when I was out of the way, allowing the bone to cut across my forehead before Brakaun's fist plunged forward through the air.
His palm dripped from the force he held the bone as it slid through his grip.
This was a sign that he too was merciful and just in his decisions, because he could have held firm and torn through my ormete's flesh by keeping the bone in his fist. The bone would have torn through, cutting my ormete in half from where it was pierced through towards the ends.
The damage wouldn't have ripped my ormete from the root, but it would have made that part of my braid unusable for many cycles as it healed.
It would mean I would not be able to duel again for this commission.
Two times he has shown our mother and the elders of his firm yet merciful leadership, while I have shown them first that I did not wish to rule and was willing to be humiliated to concede my power to a worthy warrior.
What kind of leader would that make me? I wondered as his own ormete swung out to wrap around my neck.
His first adornment was from a curved tooth of a nephek shark, as he was favored by our finest sea merchant, learning the art of battle while within our underground cenote.
He would win a duel between us if it came down to who could keep their breath longer, so yet again I was forced to dodge his attack, but I was already mid-motion of avoiding the last one.
I had to lift my arm to hook the tooth around my wrist, cutting into my flesh, before I could twist it and grip his ormete above and yanked. It was that or expose my neck to him.
"Too hasty," I chided him as I dug my claws into his ormete. "You underestimated my own mercy. For I have none."
I'd lose this duel for leadership, but I would be showing the clans that I would not be merciful should someone duel me in the future. It would deter other warriors from trying to make a name for themselves at the cost of my honor.
His roar echoed across the crowd as I ripped a chunk of his ormete strands off at his shoulders using the sharp tooth within his own braid.
It would take him some time to heal and grow that length back, but as long as there wasn't someone who challenged his leadership, he'd still become the next Commissioner of AsunGor.
"You waustenger!" The creature in the water that hid in the cracks to deceitfully lure prey close and then to eat them alive. They had the same appearance as the rock and were considered betrayers of the deep, with no allegiances to anyone but themselves.
I had made one my second trophy, carving an adornment from their stoney flesh after killing one with my bare claws. The sound it made still sent chills down my legs.
"Brothers should not duel unless it is to bring them closer and solve disputes, not cause them." I took my own ormete braid and settled it within the curve of the tooth I had removed from his own ormete, then allowed the sharpened weapon to slice it off.
The pain was so severe, I nearly dropped to my knees, seeing only the whites of my eyes. It was only by will alone that I stood, though unsteadily, to drop my ormete and his own on his lap before I heard my mother's word to end the duel echo in my ears, "Enough!"
"He's touched by a demon," a whisper reached my consciousness through the haze as I walked away.
"Fearless," another said with awe.
"Take a knee, you fool. He will be the next Commissioner of AsunGor," a deep male's voice, that I recognized as Pheyal snapped to someone next to him, but all I could see was the next step in front of the other as I left the Commissioner's Arena.
It would be broadcast to all the clans across the planet of what I had done.
"Aren't you going to duel him next?"
"I have no need to. I will follow Broma even if they choose his brother to lead, as will every clan that has seen an unGor willing to destroy himself to seek a future where no warrior would dare to reproach him unless what they fight for is worth losing their ormete.
It will bring peace between clans, and a story worth spreading throughout the galaxy that would strengthen our trade and protect our planet. "
A story worth spreading across the galaxy, I thought about what Pheyal spoke of, and then I felt my weight buckle my legs beneath me.
Large arms held me up and Pheyal spoke again, "It makes a better story if you keep your feet grounded until you get to your room.
I'll bring the poultice that clots the bleeding of your ormete.
" My body was hoisted in the air as he roared through the crowd for me like I'd already been crowned the next commissioner.
His roar was echoed through the crowd until all I heard were the calls of the unGor across the arena.
When I woke next, I was presented with the bones I had collected since my youth. Each one was a memory of growth, and in them was a new one that was never mine, the tooth of the nephek.
"This one is not mine," I told Pheyal.
"Brakaun has awoken. He said it was not his anymore. It should serve you as you lead AsunGor."
"Lead AsunGor?"
"It has been decided. Every clan commissioner has kneeled down. Your duel with your blood brother was to determine who the clan leaders would challenge for commission of the planet. No clan wishes to challenge you."
"It is because of you Pheyal," another male spoke up from behind him.
I turned my attention to see a warrior in medical robes and even his ormete were adorned with bones that were gifted to him from warriors whose lives he saved, not from the hunt. They were each carved with different signatures.
"This is my brood mate, Vaquel. He has been with me since his blood brother never returned from recovering their mother Delegate Quezet.
The whole commission went in search of her, never to return.
He was left in my mother's care and has been by my side since.
" It was obvious that Pheyal was changing the subject.
"Pheyal kneeled and showed the clans he would follow you, then every clan commissioner present and through vids accepted his choice as their own," Vaquel said, ignoring the way Pheyal growled in displeasure.
It was true that having Pheyal's acceptance was an honor, as he was the most likely to win a duel for succession.
I'd never met him before, but his reputation was known throughout AsunGor.
"I see," I acknowledged. "I'll have a word with Trema in reinstating your duel for commissioner of the estate."
"I do not seek it," he grumbled back.
My hand lifted to hold the ache in my skull at bay. No medpack was used to speed my recovery and this could only mean Pheyal believed I would wish to keep the scar as a mark of my victory.
"I've added a poultice to ease the pain, but if you want to have use of your ormete again, it's best to not disturb the stitching I've done with any medbots.
Better to suffer the process than have them be nothing more than decoration," it was Vaquel that spoke and held up a glass jar that he pulled from his robe sleeve.
"He has studied much from a scientist on Trillume. Given how freshly cut the injury, Vaquel believes that you and your brother will have full use of your ormete again," Pheyal said with pride.
"You mustn't strain them until they are fully healed," Vaquel warned. "No lifting, pulling, or anything that could damage the repaired area. You could permanently damage them."
I stared at the ornaments in front of me, yet there was a weight to my head that was more than the cut across my forehead and down my brow ridge.