Page 5 of Feral Tamed

I didn’t want to alarm Hina but we needed to move from this spot, I didn’t like those sounds. It seemed prudent to me to vacate this area, rather than hang out and meet these creatures. “Do you hear them, Snarl?” I asked, tilting my head to each cave opening to pinpoint which tunnel was going to be our best bet.

The Ferai beast rose from his resting spot on the cave floor to his feet, circling Hina and me as he checked out each tunnel. “Yes, at least three Scaly Ones. We should leave.” I nodded in the direction of the left-most tunnel, and he gave me a decisive nod. “That one seems best. Smells freshest.” Yes, that’s what it felt like to me too, the most likely shot for us to find our way back to the surface of this planet. When we did, I’m sure I could manage to hail Sunder or Kitan on the com. Or maybe they’d reach me, I knew with some confidence how to answer a call.

Gesturing at my female, I pointed in the direction of the tunnel I wanted us to go. She eyed the dark hole with obvious trepidation, “Are you sure that’s our best shot?” she asked me in her native language. My translator at least allowed me to understand what she was saying. When I gave her an emphatic nod, she squared her shoulders and got to her feet. With brisk moves she checked the fabric pouch attached to her belt, giving me a brief glimpse of a pile of metal wires and two flasks.

Stepping into the tunnel first, I was glad to note that she didn’t hesitate to follow. Snarl brushed past us and trotted into the darkness ahead, nose in the air as he scouted the way. Soon, even my sharp eyes didn’t pick him out any longer. Hina stumbled, her footsteps losing their sure stride the deeper into the tunnel we went, it reminded me of how poorly humans saw in the dark. When I looked at her over my shoulder, I noticed she had her hands out in front of her, her eyes blindly searching the dark. Pet’s eyes two glowing green spots on her shoulder, where the small Riho perched.

“Here,” I said, finding her hand and curling it around my belt, her slender fingers were cool to the touch as she eagerly hung on. Her footsteps became a little more sure as we resumed our walk. It wasn’t going very fast though, she was still shuffling, scared to trip. My skin prickled, shifting colors instinctively at the sound of activity behind us. Scales, sliding across rock, something big was following us.

I debated only for a split second the wisdom of what I was about to do, then I decided not to take any risks. I spun and dipped to pick her up in my arms, slinging her over my shoulder, and launching into a brisk trot. She let out a squealing sound in surprise but quieted almost immediately. “This better be for a good reason,” she warned me in a quiet hiss. Her cold palms slid across my back, searching for warmth and purchase as she hooked them into the weapon harness straps crisscrossing my body.

A chuckle escaped my throat, purring from my chest in a low rumble, “I will keep you safe. There is no better reason than that.”

Chapter 4

Hina

The indignity of being slung across a shoulder and carried like a sack of potatoes quickly faded. Fierce was warm and incredibly strong, his pace didn’t falter even though it seemed like he’d been jogging through these tunnels for hours. I was chilled on my back, especially any exposed bit of skin because the tunnels were cold. My front however, was toasty warm, this alien was pumping out heat like he was a furnace.

I would never have been able to keep up with him, not in this blasted dark, or at this pace. At first, when he’d just picked me up, I thought I heard something chasing us, but the sound was so faint that it was far more likely I’d imagined it. The small pet, which I’d decided to call Fluffy, had curled itself back in Fierce’s bag, sometimes I could just catch the glimmer of her bright emerald eyes as they shone in the dark.

My blather was starting to make itself known, my throat getting parched from thirst, and my stomach was feeling pretty sore from being carried like this. I wondered if I was going to be one giant bruise if he didn’t pause for a break soon. Just as the thought crossed my mind, his pace finally seemed to slow, and I caught a glimmer of light. Had he found an exit? Did all this endless running in the dark lead us out of this damn maze?

With a little more light, I started noticing how the tunnel walls had gone from completely black and gray to showing veins of pale pink. Like there were veins of rose quartz running through these walls. As soon as I noticed it, I realized that Fierce’s skin was mirroring those colors. With beautiful lines of pink shimmering their way across slate gray. Curving over his muscled calves, even his wide back was decorated now in shimmery lines.

Everything in my body rebelled, my stomach lurching, my head pounding, when I was suddenly lifted upright, and slid down Fierce’s warm muscled body until my toes touched the ground. Everything spun, a dizzy spell hitting me hard. Automatically, my fingers curled into his chest, grateful that his warm hands cradled my hips.

He murmured something, his long hair sliding over my shoulders as he dipped his head down to speak directly into my ear. I couldn’t understand a single thing he was saying, but the growly, husky cadence of his speech was very soothing. “Thank you, are we safe now?” I asked him. I turned a little to get a look at where we were, still inside the cave, still dark. But there were a few holes high up in the ceiling that shot shafts of light down to where we were.

We were on the shore of a small underground lake, the floor beneath my feet a pebbled beach. It seemed like a safe, sheltered spot, with a rock wall curving like a bowl on one side, offering us shelter from three directions, the last facing this beach and the lake. A very defensible spot I supposed. Too bad there were no signs of any food, just a layer of algae growing on the rocks that were getting sunlight.

“Safe,” Fierce repeated, his voice rasping as he tried out my word. I brightened immediately, “So you really can understand me! How is that even possible?” I demanded, leaning back to look into his face. His bright yellow eyes were fastened to my mouth, staring intensely, in response a shiver shot down my spine. I was suddenly extremely aware of our close proximity, of his warm hands on my hips, which were no longer necessary to keep me steady.

One hand finally let go, reaching up to slide his mane of hair back over one shoulder and expose a round ear much like mine but with a ribbed, bony-looking edge. He tapped a spot right behind it, tilting his head a little as he growled a word I couldn’t understand. His meaning was clear though, he had a translator, and it had my language in its database.

I was stunned by this knowledge, he had a com and a translator. Despite his rather savage appearance, he had to be of a space-faring species. Had the UAR meant to send us to his kind for some reason? Or was he stranded on this planet too? But if he understood me, at least we could play yes or no questions.

“Are you from this planet?” I asked, stepping away from the heat of his body so I could better ignore the temptation. My sweater had gotten lost in the fall, there had been no sign of it down in the cave where we landed. Clutching my arms around myself, I rubbed at them to get warmer. If it was going to get much colder when the sun went down… I was going to be in serious trouble. My eyes fell on Fierce, unless I cuddled up to him. Which was not a bad prospect at all.

My musings meant I almost missed his answer, but he shook his head no. So this was not his world, how much would he know about surviving here? “Have you been here long? Do you have a way off this planet? Are you alone?” My barrage of questions made him smirk, his sharp teeth showing. He nodded no, yes, and no again. Then he pointed at me, himself, Fluffy, and last at a shadow some distance away. The moment I looked, two red coals blinked to life, and I let out a startled yelp. Oh, I’d forgotten about the hound.

Okay, so he was as new to this place as me but he did think he could get us off this planet, that sounded very promising. Taught me not to judge a book by its cover, he looked savage, but he had access to a spaceship and more tech than I had currently. I was annoyed that he hadn’t understood the final question, though not at him, more at the language barrier. I wanted to know how many more of his kind were out there, would they be looking for us?

“What do we do now? Rest here? What about food?” I asked, rubbing more furiously at my arms. If I judged the angle of the light falling into the cave correctly, it was late in the day. I was dreading the coming drop in temperature.

Fierce eyed me for a moment, his head cocked at an angle, the bone ridge on his skull catching some of the fading light and glowing silver. Then he picked up Fluffy from his bag, ignoring her protesting mewls as he sat her on his shoulder. Next, he dug out an honest-to-God blanket from that bag, shook it out, and held it open towards me. I could kiss the guy, I was so grateful to warp myself inside the soft wool-like fabric. It was warmed from Fluffy’s little body and slightly sprinkled with hairs, but that hardly mattered.

Sighing with relief, I found a spot on a rock to sit down on, pulling free my flasks with water and holding them up. “We need to boil this water to make it safer for drinking, do you think it’s possible to make a fire?” Fire was always key to survival, which was why I’d searched the wreckage longer than I had wanted to, hoping to find a lighter of some kind. I hadn’t succeeded, but Fierce gave me a confident nod and urged the small cat/ferret my way with a soft nudge of his foot and a few murmured words, then he jogged off into the dark.

I knew this guy from Adam, but I still felt a twinge of fear slither through me when I could no longer see him. As if this alien was going to abandon me now, after he’d risked his damn life leaping off a cliff after me. The shadowy form of the hound moved closer, settling onto the pebbles that littered the ground. He sprawled casually on his side, his back toward me, but I felt instantly safer.

Fierce had left both of his pets with me, he was obviously coming back. Fluffy was sniffing along the ground, occasionally digging handily with her paws until she’d unearth some kind of bug that she’d then eagerly gobble up. I tried not to find that disgusting but it was a struggle, was it even safe for her to eat those? Those were alien bugs, what if they were bad for her?

I drew her attention by tssking and holding out my hand and she gave up her hunt for bugs to scuttle my way with a purr. She rubbed her small head into my palm, then much to my disgust tried to lick my fingers. When I pulled them back, she acted like that never happened and she crawled into my lap instead. I was grateful for her slight form, she was warm and soft, and made me feel much less alone.

It still felt like forever as I sat in the semi-dark, waiting for Fierce to come back. At some point, I decided I could be productive at least and dug out a fire pit, which I lined with smooth rocks that I found on the shore of the underwater stream. I dared to approach the water some more, trying to determine if there were any fish in it. Of course, I was far more scared of that dark slate of water than the tiny pet was, she darted to the edge and swatted at the water playfully with her paws. When she waded in a little further than I expected her to, there was a low growling sound from the huge hound. Like a parent chastising a kid, Fluffy hurried back out and ran to his huge head, rubbing against him and purring.

I couldn’t see any fish, the water remained mirror smooth the entire time, except when Fluffy disturbed it. I suppose the lack of light made this place rather inhospitable but that would make surviving down here harder if we didn’t find a way out. What if we never did? I couldn’t fathom never seeing sunlight or plants again. But these tunnels were so dark, and endless, what if we remained lost in this maze?