Page 2 of Mates for the Raskarrans #1-6

CHAPTER TWO

Gregar

I wake with a start, jolted from the pleasant dreamspace and her. My linasha.

All my life I have known that the blessing of a linasha would never be bestowed upon me. Not after sickness ravaged my people, killing many of us, but females most of all. I have grown up never knowing a female face, fated to be alone.

Until now.

The dreamspace fades fast. I scramble for details of her, trying to fix them in my headspace.

Her luscious curves, pale skin so unlike mine.

Dark hair framing her perfect face. The way her arms were bound above her head, body stretched out, ready for me to taste all over. A delicious offering from Lina herself.

My cock grows hard and aching, my whole body thrumming with need like I’ve never experienced.

We left the dreamspace too soon, interrupted before I could taste the flavour of her skin, before I could give her the kind of pleasure that will make her wild.

A snarl starts in my throat at the thought.

I want to lie back down in my hammock, let my headspace drift…

And yet, the heaviness that overcame me moments before, the bone weariness that made me seek respite, is gone. I am awake and alert. And aroused. Painfully aroused. My headspace goes back to that lithe feminine form, the impatient tone of her voice, the breathy way she told me she was mine.

All yours.

My linasha, my mate.

She is here, somewhere. Mine to claim.

I must find her.

I do not climb down the ladder fixed to the tree trunk, instead just sit up and swing my legs over the side of the hammock, leaning forwards until it tips me out.

I drop to the forest floor below with a thump, bending my knees as I land to absorb the force.

Before I even straighten myself, I am planning my next steps.

An expedition. When I sleep next, I can find out from my linasha where she is.

Then I will take my best hunters and warriors to meet with her tribe.

Not a show of force, but a declaration of our ability to provide for her as we should.

How strong my warriors who will protect her, how able my hunters who will feed her.

She is not raskarran - her pale skin and curved form say as much - but whatever her tribe’s customs, her chief will not deny the mating bond we share.

It is a sacred thing. Undeniable. But I will ease their concerns, prove my worth.

I head away from my hammock back towards the village, brimming with excitement to tell my tribe-brothers the good news. I am not expecting Anghar to be waiting for me at the end of the path, brimming with his own news.

“You saw it then?” Anghar says.

My first instinct is to growl at his referring to my mate as ‘it’, but I scold myself for being like an over eager youngling.

Anghar does not know my dreams and does not know my news.

He is my tribe-brother, and as close to a blood-brother as I will ever have.

He would not speak so about something as important as my linasha.

“Saw what?” I ask.

Anghar frowns. “You bring other news then. You look about to burst with something.”

I am, but it must wait. I would not be a good chief for my tribe if I let my own joy override everything else. I would not want Anghar’s news to be lost in the celebration that will surely follow mine.

“I have something to share with the tribe, yes,” I say. “But you do your telling first.”

His next words put a stop to all thoughts of celebration.

“Something has just fallen out of the sky,” he says.

I run with Anghar to the nearest outpost - a tall envida tree. We scale to its top quickly, hauling ourselves on to the platform that rests amongst its branches and peek out above the canopy. Anghar gestures to a dark slice through the sky, tracing its path down, down to where it meets the forest.

“A large fire must be burning to cause such a smoke trail,” I say, not ashamed to let a note of fear ride my voice. Fires are a danger to the forest. Though we are in the rainy season, the trees can still catch and burn untamed if the right - or wrong - circumstances arise.

Anghar shakes his head, his mouth a thin line. “It was the falling object that caused the trail,” he says. “Though it may well burn where it landed. It burned as it fell.”

I try to imagine it. An object big enough to leave such a mark on the horizon.

“What was it?” I ask.

Anghar just shakes his head again. “If I had to guess, I would say an egg. It was the shape of one. But only a monstrous bird would make an egg that size, and no wings darken our skies.”

“If such a bird existed, we would have seen one before now.” I stare at the horizon, wondering what the best course of action is. “An expedition, you think?”

He considers. “A small one. Three warriors, two hunters, and Shemza.”

“A healer?”

Anghar shrugs a shoulder. “Who knows what we might find.”

Prepare for every outcome. That is Anghar’s way. It is why he is a good second, and my most trusted counsel.

I nod. “Fetch Maldek, Rardek and Vantos. Have them and Shemza prepare supplies. We leave as soon as we can.”

Anghar nods, but doesn’t immediately rush to descend to the forest floor.

“You had news, too, brother?” he says.

I think of my linasha, waiting in the dreamspace for me. Now is not the time to speak of her. It can wait until we know whether this egg falling from the sky is a threat to the tribe or not.

“Later,” I say.

It is strange, I think, as we run back to the village, that something as momentous as my linasha has already taken second place to another event. Two such unusual events occurring on top of each other… It cannot be coincidence.

And I wonder - the egg that fell from the sky.

Was my linasha born of it? It seems so improbable that a mate could fall out of the sky.

But if she did not arrive this way, then why have I not known of her before now?

I have been of mating age for several seasons now.

There are wandering tribes, yes, those that do not have permanent residence like ours.

Hunters that move through the territories to where the game is rich.

But every tribe I have ever encountered has always been raskarran like mine.

I have never seen such strangeness as my linasha before.

If her people were here on this world all along, would I not have known of them?

There would be talk and stories, at least.

I search my heartspace and my headspace, listening for Lina’s guidance. Everything in me wants to wait for nightfall, to sleep and speak with my linasha once more. To find her. But as chief of the tribe, I know investigating the egg is the right thing to do.

Maybe those things are not as separate as they seem. My heartspace and headspace both feel this is true. If I find the egg, then perhaps I will find my linasha, too.

Most of the tribe saw the same thing Anghar did, and those that did not have heard speak of it from the others already, so there are no questions when Anghar starts ordering supplies gathered.

I speak to the warriors I am leaving behind, warning them to be alert to other tribes.

There is a chance that others have seen what we have but think not to find out what the object is, but to use the distraction of other tribes to their advantage.

Sarkry’s tribe has been skirting ever closer to our territory, and those hardened fighters would slaughter my tribesmen just to prove they could.

“Is it wise for both you and Anghar to leave the village now?” Harton, Anghar’s father, says.

I have seen other chiefs grow angry on being questioned, but they are not wise males. Harton has age and experience and wisdom with it. I always take his counsel.

“It is not,” I say. “Any change to our environment brings trouble with it. I am concerned about Sarkry and his warriors. I am concerned that the big rains are coming and we need to be supplied.”

“But…” Harton says, folding his arms as he gazes at me, eyes full of thought.

“But,” I say, and try to find the words to explain it. “Things are moving here that are beyond our understanding. I can feel it. No,” I correct myself. “I know it. My feeling is that Anghar needs to be with me on this expedition. I will not ignore my heartspace in this.”

Harton nods. “Then I will keep all well here until your return.”

We grip arms, then I head to the group that will be my expedition party.

Vantos looks stern, as usual, but Maldek and Rardek grin.

Those two never manage to take a thing seriously.

Shemza is beside them, the youngest of our tribe.

It is easy to think of him as a youngling, still, but he is as full grown as the rest of us.

They are all well supplied, hunter packs on their shoulders, water skins and weapons at their belts.

Their expressions shift as I approach, even Vantos managing to look curious.

“You know our task?” I say.

They nod.

“We leave immediately,” I say. “I want to reach the egg first. I feel in my heartspace that this is important. But I know others will probably feel the same. So we move fast and rest little.”

Vantos and Shemza look solemn and serious. Maldek and Rardek wear their usual matching grins. Anghar arrives at my side, and we are ready.

“You know the routes better than I,” I say to Anghar, grinning. “Do we take the floor or the trees?”