CHAPTER 5

 

TAC’MOT

 

Brax inhales deeply and swings his head… looking confused.

I wait for the explosion.

It... doesn’t come.

Brax only shakes his head and scrubs a hand down his face.  While his attention is diverted, I flick a glance… and see the Gryfala is gone.

METARK!

I let out an involuntary noise of alarm before I snap straight—which causes Brax to eye me.

Right before he sneezes.

It’s a frightening sound, to those uninitiated to Rakhii-isms.

His kind has a complex nasal cavity that acts as a resonating chamber.  I don’t know how other Rakhii use their… face… but Brax makes mostly dangerous sounding noises with his.  All sorts of dangerous sounding noises and for all sorts of reasons.  Of course after this many solars together, Lem and I aren’t even fazed.  But as soon as Brax sneezes, he looks around suspiciously, like he can’t believe the scent his nose just caught…

I drop the wrench that I’d been using to threaten Lem.

It’s most likely that I wouldn’t have had to use it on him.  It loosens the bolts on his suit’s hood and he avoids this scenario at all costs.

Of course costs haven’t ever been as high as, say, purchasing half of a Gryfala, for example.

Loosening his suit’s bolts won’t hurt him: but the panic of breathing air that hasn’t been filtered through his system’s helmet would’ve kept him too busy to worry over the money I essentially stole from him.

When I see that Brax is waiting for an explanation for my odd outburst, I scramble to think fast.  “Bug bite,” I blurt.

Bug bite?

Out of the corner of my eye, I can see Lem roll his eyes, the overhead lights casting a reflection on his face shield.

I never have been any good at making up excuses on the bounce.

I see Lem peer behind me, and then check in the other direction.

When he slowly turns back to face me, he gives me a quelling look, one that threatens a serious beating later.  I just might need that wrench after all.

Fair enough.  Seven solars of our lives in toil just escaped.

And if Brax finds out I’ve stowed a passenger on his ship that could get his ship detained—Creator forbid—scratched—destroyed?

He won’t kill me.

Not until he carves out my heart and burns it to ashes in front of me.

I anxiously scratch at a spot on my chest.

Brax’s heavy brows lower over deeply set eyes that hold concern rather than gruffness.  Well, this explains it!  I must be dreaming.  Buying a princess, and Brax looks like he’s worried about me.

I laugh.

Brax’s ears cock, one flipping up, the other dropping slowly, as if it is hesitating, as if he is hesitating.  “Did the auction… Are your mites back?”

Lem edges backwards as if I was just diagnosed with a plague.

As soon as he said the word ‘auction,’ I got nervous.  But of course, he’s thinking I’d be struggling with memories.  I was.  I did.  Then someone came along and shook me up enough that memories aren’t what’s on my mind now.  And mites, really! I sigh.  “One time.  One time in seven solars!  They’re long gone.  That special shampoo has done the trick of keeping them away.”

He eyes my fingers, which are still nervously scratching.  I freeze them by sheer mental willpower.  “I’m fine,” I assure.  “Different sort of bug bite.  You know.  All sorts of critters flying around auctions.”

“Or not flying,” Lem enunciates.

Not looking entirely convinced, but willing to drop it, Brax dips his horns.

It is actually rather warming that he cares.  But caring and compassion are not emotions he’ll have for me if he finds out what’s going on.  Of course, he will find out, eventually, but I’ve no intention of dying today.  I’m hoping to hide the female until we can drop her off.  If everything goes well, he doesn’t have to know before it all happens—and maybe there’ll be a finder’s fee for returning her unharmed.  That will make him happy...er.  Happier.  It won’t be so bad for him to return to his homeland, surely, and her people will be incredibly grateful and of course they’ll want to show that.  It’ll be fine.  This really will all work out.

Lem’s words are already trying to haunt me though.

...If her people don’t simply shoot us out of the sky.

They aren’t known for taking kindly to any sort of threat or harm on their inhabitants.  It’s not as if it happens often—and a Gryfala being abducted and auctioned off?  That has never happened.  And to have so many... I’m honestly not sure how they’ll react to it.  I clear my throat.

“It’s a good thing the mites are gone.  Lem’s disinfection drills are still something I have nightmares about.”

Brax is still building a laugh in his nasal crest at the memories when he starts to pass by me—and grinds to a halt.

This is going to be unpleasant.

I brace.

Fortunately, he only inhales again, tilting his head—then his horns almost touch either side of the corridor as he tries to shake off what’s bothering him.  Uneasily, I watch his tail flick in agitation.

I know what has him bothered.  He thinks he’s going crazy because there’s no possible way he could be smelling a princess.  Frankly, one hundred percent of the time, he’d be absolutely correct.  There is absolutely no reason or chance that a Gryfala would stay on his ship.

Bearing that troubling thought in mind, I take off to find the Gryfala who doesn’t want to stay.