Page 9 of The Naga Princess’s Soldier Mate (Serpents of Serant #7)
Sazzie
“I wish I’d known about you, Sazzie,” Avrish said. The elegant and oddly hornless Naga female sat elegantly curled on a stack of soft pillows inside the main tent at the heart of the Training Grounds. Avrish taught the youngest pupils when they first arrived here, covering all the basic subjects like reading and writing. She was beautiful, with black scales dotted with pretty green and gold freckles along her shoulders and back. A bright green streak also livened up her black hair and matched the vibrant hue of her eyes.
This Naga female was the most exotic creature I’d ever seen, besides the humans, of course. I did not even know what Clan she had come from originally, and she had not explained. There were more Naga in the camp with colors from Clans I did not know. Come to think of it, I did not know what Clan the Shaman Artek came from once, either. His white scales were just as exotic as Avrish’s black scales. But Avrish seemed even stranger because of her missing chin horn and the way she was so sweet and gentle with the younglings who came to her for classes.
The excitement from yesterday had died down, at least on the surface, and normalcy had returned for their young students here beneath the main tent. We were sitting at the back of the class, curled up on pillows, while, at tables at the center of the tent, students were bent over their work, scribbling with ink and quills or working on glowing relics with clever fingers. It was a sight that still awed me every time I saw it, ever since I first arrived here two weeks ago.
“It wouldn’t have changed anything,” I said to Avrish with a shrug of my shoulder. Avrish was completely free of any scars, her scales smooth and shiny all along her front. I couldn’t recall when I’d last seen an adult female without any scars from challenges and duels—unless it was right after a molting, but that was also when scars were most likely to form, as our scales were still soft.
“Of course it would have,” Avrish told me. “If a Shaman had recognized your differences, they would have brought you here. Raised you differently—better.” I touched the small, delicate horn that grew from my chin. It was much smaller than the horns of my peers and often a point of mockery. I recalled that time when Artek was a young apprentice, visiting with his mentor. I remembered a loud verbal disagreement the former Water Weaver male had with my mother. Afterward, I’d been punished by my mother, though I couldn’t recall what I’d done wrong.
I shook my head. Just as my mother had been unwilling to allow Corin to continue training as a Shaman, she would have been unwilling to let me go. “My mother would not have released me. I think Artek’s mentor”—I was sorry to say I did not recall his name—“tried. But it was in vain.” Regardless, I had made it here, to adulthood. It was fine.
Avrish gave me a sad but understanding smile, her hand reaching out to curl around my fingers. She moved slowly, yet still, my first reflex was to bat her hand away. I knew she did not wish to harm me, but the survival instincts were hard to restrain. The way she just gently squeezed my hand made me feel odd inside my chest—warm, cherished. Similar to when Reid held me in his arms, but very different at the same time.
“Erish told me he ran your genes,” Avrish explained, and at my confused look, she began to clarify. “Genes tell your body what you are like, how you are built. They’re a blueprint—a plan. Your genes are a little like mine—not quite as pronounced, but similar.” She touched her hornless chin, which marked her as exotically different. “Somehow, your genes more closely resemble those of Naga females from the past—the way our ancestors were. We call that a throwback. That’s why you’re not like the others. You don’t like fighting; you don’t feel territorial or aggressive the way they do. And it’s not because there’s something wrong with you, Sazzie. It’s because there’s something very right.”
I didn’t know I needed to hear those words until she said them, but I did. And when my eyes welled with tears, Avrish did not condemn me for it; instead, she squeezed my hand again in support. She explained much more about the past, particularly what Naga females had been like before the calamities ravaged our planet. It resonated with me, made me feel whole, and suddenly made me feel less like a failure and more like the female Reid saw—the one who made his eyes go all shiny with admiration and desire.
Why had I been avoiding this talk? It seemed silly now. When Avrish and I had to say our goodbyes, it felt like parting ways with a sister—or, better yet, one of my brothers whom I actually loved. Or maybe Avrish was now filling a spot in my heart that had once been filled by my father.
I was still feeling melancholic and sad when Reid, weighed down by several bags of supplies, escorted me to the edge of the clearing. We were staying behind, and, as Chen had firmly suggested to me, we’d head toward Haven. That was Reid’s home, and though I feared I might not be welcome, I didn’t have any other options. I had not told Reid yet that I thought Zathar might turn me away because he feared I was too violent. I already knew what he’d say to that, anyway.
“This is going to be a sight to see,” Reid said as he slung his arm around my shoulders and casually tugged me against his body. I’d never been held like that before—hugged from behind, his chin resting against the crown of my head, his solid bulk curved against my back. He’d pulled on more clothing: a shirt with long sleeves and a pair of ‘boots’ to protect his feet. Despite that, I could still feel every ridge and curve of his muscles against my spine, feel the strength of him.
Another change was his face. Gone was the odd growth of hair on his chin and upper lip. He’d shaved all of it off while I’d been with Avrish. He had even cut his hair shorter. It looked… neater, less wild. It made his face look sharper, and once I got used to his bare chin, I had to conclude I liked it. There was no sign of the barely-clinging-to-life male I’d first laid eyes on when Corin and Min-Ji brought him here. This was the male who had haunted my dreams after I’d seen a glimpse of him four months ago at Thunder Rock village.
I had only seen him very briefly, but I hadn’t forgotten a single thing about him. He was dressed now just like he’d been then, and the haircut was the same, too. I recalled it that well because I’d never seen a male with hair that short before, and it had baffled me. It had baffled my peers, too; they’d muttered about it for days, just like they had discussed his black arm markings, those strange sigils.
I was trying to distract myself with what he looked like now, and what it felt like to be in his arms so casually. It was a little daunting to think about what lay ahead of me, what my future would look like. So I didn’t. But that got thrown in my face when the last of the Shamans climbed inside their skyships, and the humming of the ancient machines became too loud to ignore.
After morning class and my talk with Avrish, they had struck down the center tent, where most classes and the communal cooking and eating took place. Other tents and canopies had been taken down that morning with shocking efficiency. Now, all that the Shamans had to do was take their skyships up into the air and fly away.
“Won’t the Thunder Rock females and those Bitter Storm warriors see them when they fly away?” I asked when the worry suddenly sprang to mind. If they found out the truth about how the Shamans moved their camps, how closely they lived like our ancestors had… It would cause complete chaos back at the village. Then, word would spread. It could mean the breakdown of trust between the Shamans and the Clans.
Reid’s arms tightened around my middle, just enough of a squeeze to tell me I had his full attention and that he wanted me close. “They are going to fly as low as they can in the opposite direction, from what I understand. They must fly low regardless, or they will risk getting struck down by the EM field higher in the atmosphere.” My eyes started to glaze over from those difficult phrases, and I felt like an idiot for not understanding.
“A Shaman went to distract the delegation from Thunder Rock, but there is nothing they can do about Bitter Storm,” Reid said,and he pointed with a hand toward where a smoke plume rose over the woods. My stomach clenched painfully in my belly. Was that where the Bitter Storm warriors had made camp? It was unlikely that, if they saw the skyships, they’d tell anyone, as they were hostile to every Clan. Was that going to be enough to protect the secret?
Then the first skyship rose in the air, one of the small ones with a sleek shape of black metal. Metal, not the sharp black obsidian of which all hunters made their weapons, but metal like the blade that hung from Reid’s belt, and that he wore around his neck, the strange squares he called dogtags. It was a heavy material, and I could not wrap my head around the idea that it could float in the air like it weighed nothing.
Then, a second rose, followed by the medical skyship Reid and I had spent so much time on. That one was huge compared to the other two, and, when it shot away over the treeline at dazzling speeds, all I could do was gasp and stare. Every other skyship followed the first one in a mad aerial dance I did not think was possible: ships rising into the air rapidly, some shooting off in a straight line, some skimming the tops of the trees. Others took a neat little spin, or looped with joy around the clearing before they followed the rest.
The humming of the relics was not as loud as I expected it to be; it never rose higher than a fireant’s buzzing. It filled the clearing, but as soon as they shot away over the woods, the sound disappeared. In less than a minute, the clearing was empty, leaving behind a dozen flattened, brown areas in the moss. Some of those areas were big, but most were no bigger than a home at Thunder Rock. The moss would reclaim those spots in a few weeks, and no sign would remain that the Training Grounds had ever been here.
The empty clearing mirrored the empty feeling inside me. I felt abandoned, with nowhere to go that would feel safe. Then Reid lowered his head and brushed his mouth over my shoulder in one of those ‘kiss’ things he liked to do. “Let’s go; no sense in lingering. Chen drew me a map. It should take us a few weeks to get back to Haven.” I wasn’t alone. Reid was with me, and he had been adamant that he’d never leave my side.
“I will follow you,” I told him. He was technically the one who was a stranger to this planet, but he was so confident and strong. When I remembered how safe he made me feel, it was intoxicating. After talking with Avrish, it also felt far less like I was flawed for wanting that—for needing it. It felt easy to slide my hand into Reid’s and follow him into the woods with nothing but supplies strapped to our backs.
“I don’t know that we’ll be able to avoid Khawla’s notice,” I said to him in a low tone that would not carry. The Master Scout was unpredictable; he might not give us away, but he might warn his mate, Kusha, where I was to give her the advantage. Bitter Storm’s plume of smoke was easy to circle around, though, and we knew exactly where the Thunder Rock females had made their camp.
“Khawla is the leader of those blue guys?” Reid asked, and the glint in his eyes told me he knew exactly how disrespectful it was to speak of Thunder Rock that way. I wanted to bristle, but then I recalled that I’d left my Clan; I’d become an outcast by choice when I had refused to fight for the throne. I lowered my shoulders and simply nodded before carefully summing up what I knew of the male.
“He is mated to one of the biggest contenders for the throne, Kusha. They have two young children together, I believe. Khawla is our Master Scout, uncannily good at hiding and at finding things.” I tapped a claw to my chin as I contemplated what else I knew about the male. He was older than my brother by a handful of years, so they had not been in the same training groups. I vaguely recalled that there had been a bit of a stink about his mating with Kusha because nobody had seen the mating marks. “Khawla is pretty calm and steady, a stickler for the rules, if I recall,” I finished finally. “I don’t know if he’ll try to help his mate or let us go…”
Reid hummed in the back of his throat in response, his eyes scanning the woods around us with laser focus. He’d been doing that the entire time we’d been traveling, as if he expected trouble. We’d gone in a big, circular motion away from the Sacred Training Grounds by now, easily bypassing both the Thunder Rock and Bitter Storm camps. I had a feeling it wasn’t going to be as easy as that, though. Even though the sound of the skyships had not been as loud as I thought it would be, it had been loud enough to draw attention.
I had only just finished those gloomy thoughts when the sound of a twig snapping echoed beneath the trees. It had gotten steadily more hilly as we moved, so the sound had to come from close by. My scales shivered along my spine, and fear made my stomach grow hard in my belly. Was it Bitter Storm? One of the females from Thunder Rock? The only one it definitely wouldn’t be was Khawla; he’d never do something as stupid as snap a twig while stalking someone.
Reid spun toward the sound, his hand around mine twisting to pull me behind his wide shoulders. “Show yourself,” he said firmly. “I don’t like that sneaky stuff. It makes me think you’re an enemy, and I don’t treat those kindly.” He had his hand on the knife at his belt, his feet braced apart, and his eyes never left a single point between two trees and a large shrub. He knew exactly where our stalker was hiding.
There was a furious, angry hiss that could mean anything and be from anyone, but it was Astrexa who rose from the bushes with an angry expression on her face. Her dark blue scales caught a violet beam of sunlight and glittered beautifully, sharply reminding me that my much paler azure tone had never been good enough for my mother, even though her own scales had barely been any darker than mine.
“Tell your mongrel to back off and face me, you weakling,” Astrexa demanded as she dared to come out of the underbrush completely and approach us. I should have known that she was going to be our biggest issue; Astrexa had way too much to prove to give up. She, more than any of the others, would need the legitimacy that defeating me would give her claim. Without it, I could easily imagine she’d have to go through all the contenders—and then some—in challenge after challenge. It would be too much for any female, even a fierce brawler like her.
“Don’t call him mongrel,” I said to her, though I kept a tight grip on Reid’s hand, unwilling to get separated from him. “His name is Reid, and he’s a good, strong male.” That was the one thing I was certain of: any female should be proud to call him hers. That they couldn’t see that was their failure, not his, and I wouldn’t stand for any insults. I felt heat curl through my chest, and it was pushing out my fear of a confrontation. I’d fought Astrexa many times in the past—I had lost to her many times and won plenty too. I realized that if it came to protecting Reid and his honor, I’d gladly clash with this female again. I knew all her tricks.
Astrexa had locked eyes with me, a mean glint in her eyes that shot a shiver down my spine. Okay, thinking I’d defend Reid’s honor was one thing, but honor was meaningless when it came to life and death. That look told me that if I ended up fighting her, it would be kill or be killed. The thought of having to strike a fatal blow turned my stomach. Despite fighting for my spot in the hierarchy ever since my sixth molting, I had never killed anyone—until my mother tried to kill Corin’s innocent and harmless human mate. I never wanted to do it again; it still gave me nightmares, even though I knew I’d make the same choice if I had a chance to redo that moment.
My stare-down with this tormentor from the past had made me oblivious to everything around me. I did not realize it until Reid suddenly disturbed the moment. He shifted between us with an angry, “Back off!” Astrexa was much closer than I had thought; she had drifted closer with stealthy movements. It was one of those tricks fighters used at the start of a confrontation, and I was shocked to discover that I hadn’t caught it. I should have. How could I be rusty already? My last fight for power had been a few weeks ago, right before I’d traveled to the Shaman Training Grounds with the Queen.
“Stay out of this,” Astrexa told him. I had never thought she was stupid or reckless, but she jabbed the tip of her tail at him as if she thought she could knock him out of her way. Hadn’t she gotten smacked into a tree by him the last time they met? Had she not seen how easily he’d defeated Evarah? Reid might not be as tall as a Naga male in fight mode, and he lacked protective scales, but he was not to be underestimated. I knew that now, so it was no surprise to me when he grabbed her tail in his fist and yanked on it.
She swept across the mossy, leaf-strewn ground with a startled scream. I thought Reid might actually pick her up and throw her, but he yanked her sideways and sent her rolling across the moss. “I told you, back off!” he said with an impressive growl. He’d let go of his knife, bracing his free hand on his hip as he towered over the now-prone female with a glare. “Stay away from my girl,” he added.
As my mother’s once-favorite female scrambled back upright, brushing leaves and sticks from her long, dark-blue hair, I found myself smiling. “He says to stay away from me unless you want to taste the dirt a second time.” That made Astrexa hiss, but she did not call me a coward this time for staying behind my male. She did not call me anything, though she was clearly furious and embarrassed, and she did not try to approach a second time.
“Well, this is sure interesting, isn’t it, my mate?” a new voice drawled. Reid twisted his head slowly toward this newcomer, as if he’d known all along they were there. I nearly jumped out of my scales at the sound of Kusha’s voice. She was beneath the trees, right at the spot where I’d first spotted Astrexa, so she’d come from the same direction. Her mate, Khawla, was at her side, his big arms crossed over his chest and his head lowered, a frown marring his brow.
“It is,” he agreed with her. They looked united, but at the same time, I could see something in their relationship that I had never realized was off. When Reid stood next to me, he couldn’t keep his hands to himself; even now, he stood close and held my hand. Kusha and Khawla were next to each other but very much apart. When the statuesque female moved closer to him, Khawla backed away, like he did not want to touch her.
“Step away, human male. This is Naga business and does not concern you,” Kusha said haughtily and she waved her hand at Reid. Then her dark blue eyes settled on me. “Translate my words for your male, Sazzie. He must control himself and let us handle this like adults. You know this. Fight me, and I promise you I’ll make it quick. One fight, and it will all be over.” Maybe she did not mean to sound so ominous, but it sounded like she intended to kill me, just like Astrexa held only murderous intent in her glare.
“My male understands just fine,” I told her. “And I am not fighting anyone. I am leaving. Defeat her,” I said, pointing at Astrexa and noticing how that made the female freeze in surprise. “Nobody else here will stand in your way.” I knew Kusha understood what I was saying; she was a clever, cunning female. Where Astrexa was blunt and mean, this one always pulled strings with the bigger picture in mind. Honestly, she was the perfect Queen, probably better for the Clan.
I had forgotten why Khawla and Kusha were a match; Kusha was just as much a stickler for the rules as her mate was. She curled her lip in distaste, displaying her fangs to me. She would have said something scathing and angry, something about how much of a disgrace I’d become. I knew it, and I was almost relieved by the next interruption.
Bitter Storm warriors streamed out of the woods, and both Reid and Khawla spun to face them. The Thunder Rock Scout, with his spear lowered and aimed at the nearest threat, Reid, with his knife out. Everyone—including Astrexa—forgot about the throne, focusing only on this new danger. There were six of them, all big and brawny, all male. I saw no sign of their scrawny leader, Aser, but I was certain he was nearby, waiting on the sidelines like a true coward.
I hissed, my claws curling and my scales shivering. Weren’t there twelve warriors? Where were the rest? Nobody said anything. There was a pause before the fight, and then an explosion of motion. Khawla and Reid burst forward at the same time, as if they had fought together before. I did not know what to do; it wasn’t customary for a Naga female to fight alongside her male. We only fought each other—not males, not enemies. We did not even hunt.
Reid was moving uncannily fast, slashing with his knife and disarming enemies with grace. Khawla was also proving to be much more than a simple scout, wielding his spear with deadly precision. But it was two against six, and then the other six showed up from the opposite direction. They could not possibly win. I came to that conclusion at the same time Kusha did, I was certain. The two of us shared a wide-eyed look and then both of us turned to attack. Astrexa was slower on the uptake, but she was left little choice when one of the Bitter Storm males tried to manhandle her.
Flinging myself beneath the guard of the nearest warrior, I clawed deep furrows across his red-and-orange-freckled chest. My claws dug deep, pulling blood to the surface, and he screamed in rage. I had to move fast to avoid a blow from his spear, nearly getting caught beneath the spear of another male. I was out of my depth; I had never fought an armed opponent before, especially one with far superior training to mine. The truth was, I had no training except what I’d learned fighting my sisters. All of it was instinct.
“Not her!” a male shouted. “We need her! Damn it!” Aser. I locked eyes with him from beneath the raised arm of the warrior I’d clawed. He snarled but changed tactics, turning his spear to strike me with the blunt shaft. I blocked the first blow with my wrist but wasn’t fast enough to protect myself from the next one. Reid was just suddenly there , his arm between the spear shaft and my head. His skin gleamed impossibly silver and violet.
He’d left himself exposed to protect me, and a scream ripped from my throat when I saw another spear jab him in his side. Red blood spurted, the scent of copper filling the air. When the spear withdrew, his wound knitted itself back together before my eyes, leaving only a bloodstained gash in his shirt. But it cost him. I knew what it did to him now, when he fought and healed this fast. How long before he collapsed? Before he ran out of the fuel that powered his body and those weird nanobots beneath his skin?
I heard Khawla roar as Reid knocked out the male who had stabbed him with a rapid-fire blow to the throat. My eyes shifted and caught sight of Kusha pinned beneath two big Bitter Storm warriors, her tail restrained by one of theirs. She’d suffered a blow to the chest, and I did not think she was getting up again—maybe not ever.
After that, everything went too fast. I was still scrambling to get back upright and make sense of the battlefield when the tide turned. More warriors streamed from the woods. This wasn’t six males or a dozen—there were at least another twenty males, and they piled onto an enraged Khawla before giving Reid the same treatment. I no longer saw Astrexa anywhere, and then I had no more time to look, either. All I could do was dodge hands and claw at exposed tails and arms. If they restrained me, it was all over.
I took a big, venom-filled bite out of one biceps, then managed to slap a male so hard across his head with my tail that he collapsed. But then, a blow struck me against my temple, and darkness claimed me—a horrible, rapid descent into unconsciousness I could not stop. My last thoughts were of Reid: did he make it? Did he escape? Had they killed him or captured him?