Chapter 7

The ice caves were large—about as large as the great hall at the castle of the Ak-hal. The ceiling loomed several hundred feet above me, stalactites of ice hanging down from it. I stood, looking about me and shivering in my delicate garments. I reached up and pulled the heavy crown off my head. I let it fall to the cave floor with a clatter. I looked down at it apathetically as one of the rosettes broke off, and it rolled across the cold stone. I slid the ring off my finger, letting it, too, drop to the ground. It bounced a little, settling on the floor with a small clatter.

I knelt beside a shallow pool of water on the ground, filling my hands with water, and using it to clean the thick layer of cosmetics off my face. I scrubbed, cleaning until my skin was freezing, but clear. I reached up, pulling the pins from my hair until it hung down free over my shoulders. I unclasped the necklace and each of the earrings, setting them on the cave floor.

The Kamani sat on the ground, watching me. He wore a plain tawny-colored garment made of some sort of soft, warm, hand-woven cloth. His face was open, curious. I walked over to him, kneeling on the cold cave floor in front of him. He smiled at me mysteriously and eyed me, cocking his head to the side.

“You speak English?” I asked, daring to hope.

“Yes,” he answered. I was shocked.

“How?”

“Maybe you aren’t the first American woman I’ve met,” he replied.

“Where?”

“She escaped the Ak-hal many years ago. She lives with my people.” I nodded in relief—someone else had gotten free.

“Can I talk to her?”

“Of course.”

“How long does it take to get to your people?”

“It’s a day or so from here.” The Ak-hal, when they had spoken of that same distance, had made it seem less—but they were dragons. They could fly. The Kamani and their graceful, loping run would take more time.

“Can we go now?”

“Can I rest, little one?” he asked calmly. I nodded.

“Don’t call me that.” He reached out, taking my hand in his. He was warm. He placed his other hand over it.

“You’re so small,” he said gently. He took my other hand, and rubbed both of his over my own, generating heat. “Anyway, you haven’t told me what to call you.”

“My name?” He smiled and nodded. He seemed so… content. It was odd after spending time with the cold, lordly demeanor of the Ak-hal. “Shay.”

“Khofti.”

“Thank you for saving me, Khofti.”

“Sure.”

“Why did you?”

“You asked me to.” Then I remembered.

“You heard my thoughts.”

“It was as though you were yelling to me.”

“How? Can the others of your kind?”

“No. Just me.”

“Why?”

“You don’t know?” He was so enigmatic. I shook my head. He nodded. “You will see.” I sighed, frustrated. He smiled. “Humans. You don’t like to wait.”

“I only have so much time.”

“No. You are now immortal.” Oh, right. That.

“How do I fix that?” He looked at me strangely.

“Well, you could injure yourself, but that is… not advisable.” I realized that he was talking about suicide, but didn’t know the word. “Or, you couldn’t complete the ritual.” Easy enough.

“Are you immortal?”

“Yes. The Kamani were gifted their immortality from the gods. The Ak-hal stole it.”

“Explain,” I demanded.

“The Kamani have one rule: Do whatsoever does no harm.”

“That’s very open to interpretation.”

“It is. But it accounts for free will. Your people call it humanness.”

“So, the gods gave the Kamani immortality for this?”

“The firstborn of the Kamani were kind. They cared for the animals and each other. Because of this, the Kamani were gifted immortality. The Ak-hal, when they came from their dead planet, saw all that the Kamani had and wanted it for their own. They sacrificed many Kamani to the gods, making the elixir from their blood and then wearing the Kamani as their skin.”

“That’s awful. When did they begin taking human women?”

“Many years ago,” he replied vaguely. “They tried females from other planets, but they didn’t suit the Ak-hal’s sensibilities.”

“They killed them.”

“On a massive pyre. We could see its dark cloud for miles.” He said it grimly. It was a relief to talk to a being not psychopathic in nature. I shivered. “You are cold. Let me get you something warm to wear.” I looked down at my dress. I realized with a lurch that it was lined in Kamani pelt. The tear that I had created went from my hip to halfway down my thigh, baring the Spanx-like undergarments. He returned to me, bearing thick, folded furs and a jumpsuit similar to his own.

“I thought you didn’t hurt anything.”

“We ask permission before taking the skins of the animal,” he explained. “We always ask permission, and then make sure that its spirit reaches the Otherworld safely.” I tried reaching behind me to unfasten the buttons on the back of my dress. They were tiny, and covered with silk. Clara had used a hook to do them up.

“Um, can you—” I turned, and he unfastened my buttons. My pulse raced at the thought of him undressing me. When the buttons were undone, he stepped away from me. I slid my arms out of the dress. In only the restrictive underwear of the Ak-hal, I turned to Khofti. He looked to the side, smiling a little.

“Are you going to watch, or are you going to help?” He looked up, eyes wide in surprise.

“You can’t do it alone?”

“I needed help just to get into this,” I explained. He nodded, coming to my aid. Usually, the undergarments could be tugged off, but these were special—for Moranen to undress me slowly before claiming me as his own. I was pleased with the fact that it was Khofti doing it instead. He unlaced the top part slowly, his fingers fumbling with it awkwardly. I let it slide down off my arms. I covered my breasts with my arms and turned to him. I flushed red as I looked him in the eyes. I could feel his desire, rolling off him. His look was wanton, hungry. I lowered my arms, letting him look at my breasts. I loved how he looked at me.

Reaching for the bottom part of the underwear, I tugged it down off my hips, letting the whole contraption fall to the cave floor. I looked back up at him. The smile had gone from his face. I could see his penis was hard, pressing against the cloth of the plain outfit that he wore. He reached out, the tips of his fingers brushing my nipple. It puckered at the electricity of his touch.

We heard a scuffling sound at the entrance to the cave. I gasped, grabbing the soft garment that he had brought to me. It was soft and thick. I spun, holding it in front of my nakedness. An enormous bear entered the cave. With that horrible snapping of bone and sinew, it shifted into a man, large and naked. He had gray, closely cropped hair, and a smiling face. He laughed, a deep rumbling in his ample belly. He said something in the Kamani’s tongue.

“What did he say?” I asked, suspicious.

“He said that I couldn’t keep my hands off the sweet stuff,” he replied.

The man grabbed a garment that had been left on the floor and shrugged it on. He walked over to us. He smiled at me kindly.

“Are you the only one left?” I asked, worried that the Ak-hal had killed the Kamani delegation.

“Oh, far from it,” he replied in English. “We just had to hide your trail.” He looked at Khofti. “We weren’t planning on being so daring as to take the crown princess of the Ak-hal.”

“Did you rescue any of the others?” I asked hopefully.

“No,” he said. “We roused the anger of the Ak-hal a bit more than we intended. They immediately sent a woman after you. She sounded the alarm immediately.” My heart sank as I realized that Clara must have gone after me. He went on. “Since no others responded to us, we had to leave. The one that shifted set fire to the castle.” Likely Rakharo. “I don’t know if anyone but the Ak-hal survived that. We didn’t stay around to find out. We escaped. Covered your tracks. Then we split up to confuse them. I was sent here to tell you that the chief wants you to leave immediately for Kamani land. The Ak-hal are hot on our trail.” He laughed at his own pun. I wrapped the soft, grey fur garments around me immediately. I found that they were similar to that of an Eskimo’s parka and pants. Khofti handed me a pair of soft, shiny leather boots. I pulled them on.

“Ready?”

“Ready.” He and the other Kamani male removed their garments, shifting immediately into bear form. They were enormous—their shoulders came to higher than my own height. Khofti crouched down so that I could climb onto his back. I wrapped my arms around his neck.

Comfortable? He asked me, his voice a low rumble in my mind.

Not very.

It will be a long run.

We’d best be off, then.

They left the cave, immediately breaking into a lumbering run. We were headed in the direction opposite the Ak-hal’s castle. I looked behind us. In the distance, I could see the tiny pale form of a dragon. Two others joined it, shooting up into the sky, and they flew in our direction, hovering in circles over the ground, searching for us.

We can outrun them. Khofti sounded confident.

Have you done it before?

How do you think I am not an Ak-hal garment yet?

Was that supposed to be funny?

A little.

We sped off into the night. I kept looking behind us, but the dragon’s forms were still far away on the horizon. At times, I slept, somehow maintaining my grip around Khofti’s neck. My furs kept me warm, although the exposed skin of my face felt like it had a layer of ice forming over it. Small ice crystals attached to my eyelashes, and my nose was bright red. My hands, buried as they were in Khofti’s fur, were kept warm from his body heat.

The sky turned gray, and morning crept across the sky. My stomach rumbled with hunger. My arms and legs ached from hanging on, and my back grew sore from being hunched low over Khofti’s great shoulders. I groaned, and I heard a rumbling noise echoing through Khofti’s ribcage, as though he were laughing.

When will we stop? I was quickly growing accustomed to speaking to him with my mind. It seemed natural.

When we arrive. Hungry?

Very.

We will be there soon.

Not soon enough.

So many complaints, little one.

No pet names!

As you wish. It felt good to complain, and for my complaints to be acknowledged with warmth and understanding. It had been a long two weeks with the Ak-hal.

It wasn’t much longer after that when what appeared to be an outcropping of rock appeared on the horizon. As we grew closer, I found that it was a wall, built of stones set one on top of the other. Two great white bears guarded the entrance. Khofti and the other Kamani, whose name was Toki, paused, and they all seemed to converse with each other. We were allowed to pass, and we entered a courtyard, filled with white bears, as well as Kamani in their mahogany-toned humanoid form. They all seemed busy doing some sort of task. A few cubs tussled to one side. They were silent; everyone was focused, a little tense.

What are they doing?

Preparing for the siege.

Siege?

The Ak-hal will come.

A rock wall loomed where the courtyard ended, with an arched entrance to it. Khofti walked inside. I squinted, my eyes adjusting to the dimmed lighting.

You can get down, now. We are safe here.

I jumped down off his back, landing a bit roughly on my feet. I stretched, trying to get the blood back into my limbs. I looked around me. It was another ice cave, but this one was enormous, with many walkways built into the sides. Kamani walked along them, busy going to and fro in preparation.

“Come with me,” Khofti said, holding his hand out to me. I was so in awe of my surroundings that I took his hand, unquestioningly following him wherever he led. We walked across the expanse of the cavern, winding through a massive crowd of Kamani. They were all so similar, and yet, so different. He led me to one of the walkways, leading me up an incline, and around. I noticed many doorways. It reminded me a little of an anthill.

“Where do they lead?” I asked.

“That’s where the Kamani live,” he replied. “When we need to, we can all fit in here. We could block off the entrance, and stay here for many years. The Ak-hal cannot burn stone.” He brought me to one of the doorways. I didn’t know how this one was different from the others. Inside, a fire burned low, a hole was carved into the ceiling to let the smoke out. Beside the fire, a woman sat. A human woman. She looked up. Seeing me, she smiled widely.

“Hello,” she said. She was older—her hair was white, and her face was lined. She was still very beautiful, though. She had doe eyes—a striking blue color. Her hair was neatly coiffed, although she was dressed in the Kamani jumpsuit. She sat cross-legged, her posture straight and graceful. My mother would have said that she had “aged gracefully.”

“Hi,” I replied, not sure what to say back. She looked to Khofti.

“Are there any others?”

“No,” he replied sadly. She nodded grimly and sighed before turning her gaze to me. Her smile was kind.

“I’m sure that you have many questions for me,” she stated warmly. I nodded. “What is your name?”

“Shay.”

“Pleased to meet you. I am Maggie.” She stood, taking some things down off some shelves that had been carved out of the stone. She fixed something, placing it on a rock in the fire. It smelled good—my stomach ached as I realized that she was cooking. “When the Ak-hal took me, it was 1918.” She turned to me and squinted. “What year did they take you?”

“2020,” I replied. She nodded.

“I’m older than I ever thought I’d be,” she mused.

“How did you escape?” I was dying to know, since it seemed that the Kamani had never before attempted a rescue—or else the Ak-hal would never have let them enter during the mating ritual. She smiled, pride evident on her face.

“I kept my eyes open, and acted the moment I saw my chance. One night, my Ak-hal mate made a mistake.” She looked at me, leaning forward. “When I went out into the courtyard, it was empty. No one was around; they were at the presentation ceremony. I ran. And I kept running. I was half dead from exhaustion and the cold when the Kamani found me wandering out in the snow.”

“She was the first to alert us that the Ak-hal were kidnapping women,” Khofti explained. “We immediately began preparations to stop them.”

“Last night, they were supposed to get as many of you as they could,” Maggie looked at Khofti questioningly, her brow cocked.

“Shay was to mate the crown prince,” Khofti said. “Taking her caused them to burn their castle.” Maggie closed her eyes for a moment, a pained look crossing her face. She paused a moment before turning to me. “I didn’t know that mithrim could burn. I thought that was the point. So, I assume that you have met Sarita.”

“I have.”

“She’s a snake.”

“I agree.” She nodded. I had passed some sort of test there. She placed the food that she had made into a wooden bowl and handed it to me.

“Thank you,” I said.

“You’re welcome.” Lacking any tableware, I ate with my fingers. It was some sort of spiced vegetable mixture. It was delicious.

“How long have you been free?” I asked her.

“On this planet, fifteen years. In Earth years, it would be ninety. We are far from the sun here.”

“So we can age?”

“I can age.”

“How?”

“My Ak-hal mate died.”

“How?” I repeated, squinting. She smiled, although it didn’t reach her eyes.

“I killed him. When I escaped.” She gave me a moment to let that sink in. “I don’t have a Kamani mate, so I didn’t retain the immortality.”

“So…” I pointed at Khofti. “He thinks I’m meant to be his mate.” She nodded.

“If you accept him, you will be immortal. If you don’t, and your Ak-hal is killed, you will begin to age. Slowly, but regardless, you will age and then die.” She smiled at me sadly.

“I have a choice?” Khofti knelt down beside me, gently taking my chin between two fingers.

“You always have a choice, little one.” That’s when it really hit me—I was free. I had escaped the Ak-hal. I might never go back to Earth, although, what reason would there be to return? Everyone that I had known was dead. But, if I threw my support behind the Kamani, I would never go back to the Ak-hal. If I died with the Kamani, I died a free woman. I nodded. I looked into his beautiful golden eyes and touched his cheek with a finger.

“I’ll think about it.” I smiled brazenly at him. He laughed. It was a bright, bubbling sound. It made me feel light inside.

“They certainly didn’t break your spirit, little one.

“I must go. I will return.” He walked out of Maggie’s dwelling. Maggie returned to the work that had been in her lap—some sort of weaving. She seemed at peace. She glanced up at me with a smile.

“You might do well to bed that one,” she said bluntly. I frowned.

“Why?”

“The Ak-hal won’t want you back if you are mated to a Kamani.” She looked at me pointedly. “You know why they took you, don’t you?”

“Because I’m beautiful,” I said, my voice dripping with sarcasm. She laughed.

“Because you’re a virgin.” It was, what I had thought, my secret. That I had gone through college (albeit a commuter college) and several boyfriends without turning in my v-card had been my little thing. That, you know, I’d take care of when I met someone who wouldn’t be a jerk to me afterward. And I always dated jerks.

“I had a feeling,” I said thoughtfully. “But then, I’d thought, you know, that how would they know? I mean, they haven’t been following me my entire life, have they?”

“How does a predator know what is prey?” She shrugged. “That is one of the few things that I don’t know of the Ak-hal. I do know that they want virgins. The ones of the batch that they find aren’t, they use for their sacrifice. They probably checked while you were in stasis.” Things began to click into place. “They are hunting you down as we speak because they want to get to you before Khofti can claim you as his own.”

“This planet is so… barbaric.” I frowned. Maggie looked at me, questioningly. “I mean, on Earth, we had made so much progress. I had a job, and I owned my own home. I didn’t need a man to complete me.”

“There’s been no reason for them to progress,” she said. “The Ak-hal are so male dominated since all their women were killed. The Kamani are a little more equal, though. You’ll see. They respect their women.”

Khofti returned a few hours later. I had begun to help Maggie with her weaving. It was calming work—we made cloth for the jumpsuits. It involved a lot of tugging. My fingers had been clumsy at first, but they learned the method by rote.

“Preparations have gone well,” Khofti commented as he walked in. Evidently, “hello” wasn’t a part of Kamani culture. They seemed to just begin speaking without a greeting. It wasn’t blunt—it just felt like a continuation from where they’d left off. “The chief and the others have returned. They are all safe.”

“Good,” Maggie said firmly. “We can’t afford to lose anyone. I just wish that you had been able to rescue more women.”

“Me too,” I agreed wholeheartedly. I hadn’t really gotten to speak with many of them due to my schedule as the future crown princess, but I ached for them. They might all be dead by now.

“Come with me?” Khofti asked me. I looked to Maggie, and she waved me off.

“It’s time for an old woman to rest,” she grumbled good naturedly.

I went with him. He took me by the hand, holding mine with both of his. He looked at me sideways as we walked.

“Where are you taking me?” I asked.

“To my dwelling. Regardless of what you decide, we are to pretend that we are mated,” he explained. “So the Ak-hal will no longer want you.” I nodded. He let me know that we were still on the table. But he wouldn’t forcing me to do anything. It was up to me to decide, but he was all in, evidently.

We entered his dwelling on the topmost tier of the cavern. Inside, the ceiling was a large dome of pure blue rock. The late evening light shone through it, lighting the room with a bright blue glow.

“What is it?” I asked, transfixed.

“That is what the Ak-hal are after. It’s part of a gem,” he looked up at it. “It covers these caves.”

In the center of the room, there was a large bed, filled with blankets. I sat down on it. It sank down deliciously. I lay back on it, feeling all the aches in my limbs. I realized that I had been awake for more than a day. He sat down beside me, leaving enough space between us.

“Do you have any books?” I asked him. They were the one thing that I missed in all the universe. The Ak-hal didn’t seem to have them. He looked at me, frowning.

“I don’t know that word.”

“Stories?”

“Ah. I know many. Which would you hear?”

“I want to hear about you.”

“What about me?”

“What has your life been like?”

“Nothing really to speak of.” He thought for a moment, studying me with his steady gaze. “I grew up here, living among the Kamani. We are a peaceful sort of people. When the Ak-hal came, we had our first real struggle.” I frowned. How old was he? He didn’t look to be more than twenty-five, at best.

“You were alive when the Ak-hal came?”

“I wasn’t more than a cub,” he replied. “When they first arrived, they seemed friendly. Cold. Their smiles didn’t reach their eyes, so we didn’t entirely trust them. It was when they killed Fana, and their king wore her skin without permission that we knew. Surely, they were out to take us.

“We avoided them. We figured that we could live in peace. But they sought us out, killing many for their skins. It wasn’t until Maggie escaped from them that we found out about the abductions. Back then, they took other kinds of women, as well. Then came the burning. That was before your group arrived.” The more that he said, the more brutal the Ak-hal seemed, and I had firsthand experience with them.

“Are you going to fight them?” I asked, fully ready to join in that battle, despite my lack of dragon or bear strength.

“They will come here first.”

“Because of me.” He nodded.

“They won’t get in though.” He seemed confident of that fact. He reached over and touched my face. “You are safe here, little one.” My heart raced, but not in the bad way. I leaned in and kissed him. His hand caressed my face as he kissed me back. Our kiss deepened, and I let myself be swept away within the moment with him. Unlike all the others before him, I wanted more from Khofti—not because it would save me, but genuinely.

Hesitantly, nervously, I reached for his strange, soft garment, pulling it from his shoulders as I kissed him. I guided him gently back onto the bed, opening my eyes to find his golden orbs studying me, curiously. I pulled away, and I ran my hands over his smooth, taut skin. He felt warm. He grabbed me by the wrists.

“Are you sure, little one?” he said softly. “Your eyes still glow from the Ak-hal. And when Kamani mate, it’s forever.” I cocked my head to the side. He spoke to me indirectly and directly at the same time—forever was a long time.

“If you’re going to save me, save me now,” I replied. He nodded. “I want you. I don’t think that will change.”

“Humans are so…” He squinted as he searched for the right word. His English was good, but his education was patchy.

“Fickle.” I finished for him. “And Barbearians are so steady.” He frowned.

“Barbearians?”

“It’s what I am going to call your people,” I explained. “You have no technology, no books, and you are bears. Get it? Bar-bear-ians?” He laughed and shook his head.

“You have a strange sense of humor, little one.”

Suddenly, the Sky Jewel above us grew dark. We both looked up just in time for it to shatter. We both shielded our eyes, shrapnel from the jewel cutting our skin. The large, crystalline head of a dragon looked at us. My heart sank—the dragon was a caramel color, with brown-red eyes. Without a doubt, I knew that it was Moranen, coming to claim me for his own.

He roared in anger, reaching in with a large, taloned claw and picking me up. I reached out for Khofti, who was in the middle of a shift. He was taking too long. I found myself out in the bright late-afternoon sunshine, squinting. Clutched in Moranen’s enormous claw, I held on tightly. The wind blew my hair back as Moranen burst into a run, his great wings making a large, rushing noise as he took off. Many of the Ak-hal were grouped about the Kamani’s compound. As Moranen left with me in tow, they moved forward, unleashing fire and ruin on my Barbearians.