Chapter Four
Bannack's words seemed to stun the others sitting at the table and he met their eyes carefully. He wanted what he had said to sink in and for them to really think about it. It had been something that he had been thinking about constantly since they first realized that the Klimnu were using the underground realm to infiltrate the compound. It seemed to him that if the Klimnu had had that capacity to create such an incredible, complex space, they would have had been able to put more into their attacks on the Denynso. It didn't make sense to him that a species that had spent generations so devoted to capturing Creia and taking down the entire clan, and who were known for their sparse, rough lifestyle would have put forth the effort to build something so strange, but so beautiful. It struck him as much more likely that the creatures had done what was in their nature and simply taken what they wanted rather than making it for themselves.
"How much do you know about the rest of the planet, Creia?"
The king looked older and more weathered in that moment than Bannack had ever seen him. He didn't know if it was from the strain and stress of the battle or the realization that the peaceful future that he had dreamed of for so long was not yet guaranteed for them.
"Nothing," the king admitted, "The Denynso have been here for the entire existence of our kind. Our home has always been here. The compound has expanded since then, but it has been as it is now for as long as I can remember, and likely well before that."
"So you don't know what other types of creatures might live on Uoria?" Pyra asked.
The tremendous warrior suddenly seemed shaken. He stared at Creia with an expression on his face that seemed at once dismayed, let down, and angry. Bannack could understand exactly what he was feeling. Creia was a powerful and mighty king, one that they followed with absolute loyalty and devotion. He had been on the throne for longer than any of them had been alive, and was, in fact, the father of many of the warriors. To think that he had lived on that compound for his entire life without ever knowing what lay beyond it was disappointing and disheartening.
"It is our tradition to fight only those who threaten us. We have battled with species that have come from other planets, we have fought the Klimnu, and we have struggled against ourselves at times. There has never been the need to venture far out of our compound or to interact with any of the others that may occupy Uoria."
Pyra straightened and Bannack could see the darkness and anger roll over his eyes.
"How have you allowed us to not know what's beyond our compound? The unknown is what made the Klimnu such a brutal force, and what almost allowed them to defeat us. The entire planet is unknown to us. What if there are other creatures who know that we are here and want to come after us?"
"There has never been a threat, Pyra," Creia said sternly, speaking to his son with the tone of both a father and a king.
"Every threat comes after a time when there has been no threat."
Pyra seemed to be fighting to control himself. The anger was building inside him with such force it was visible. Eden reached out a hand and rested it on her mate's arm, looking at him with eyes that pled for him to stay calm.
"Are you questioning my choices as king?" Creia asked, the tone of his voice like a warning.
"I am questioning your decision, as someone who has been the primary focus of the violence and strategic attacks of the Klimnu, to pretend that there couldn't be other threats existing outside the compound. You say that our people have battled creatures from other planets. Why have we been so quick to wage war against species that come from other places in the galaxy, when we don't know anything about the species that live right on our own planet?"
There were several long, tense seconds and the look on Creia's face went from anger to regret.
"I wanted to do as all of the leaders before me have done, and I wanted to do what I thought was right for my people and my family. Staying in and near the compound meant staying safe. If we stayed here, we didn't cause trouble with the others that inhabit the planet. To me, that seemed to reduce the chances that we would be in danger."
"But we are warriors. We are known around the galaxy for that."
"Just because we can go to war, Pyra, doesn't mean that we always have to. I didn't want to watch my children face any dangers that they didn't have to."
Pyra looked at Eden and then back at Creia.
"I am going to have a child of my own soon. I don't want that child born into a world that I don't understand. I have heard about the threat of the Klimnu my entire life. They have been looking for you for as long as I know. They're gone now, but how do I protect my child if I don't even know what I should be protecting him from?"
The mention of his grandchild, the first of the new generation, seemed to change something in Creia. He looked at Eden with painful softness in his eyes. She carried the hope of the future of their kind, and in that moment Bannack could see Creia shift. He couldn't let anything happen to that baby, and that meant finding out what threats could be lurking just outside the compound.
"Start with the mirror world," Creia said, his voice returning to his usual strong, steady tone, "Find out what you can about it. Find out if there are any species that live there, and then report back here. We will decide what to do about the rest of the planet from there."
Without another word, the warriors stood and started toward the door. Zuri, Samira, and Elianna followed closely behind, determined to return to where they had joined in the battle alongside their mates. Eden stayed behind, knowing that Pyra would never allow her to do something as dangerous as wander into an unknown area that had already claimed the life of one of their warriors when she was as far into her pregnancy as she was, and Leia stayed to be with her.
The warriors knew that they would not be able to get down the tunnel in the cave, so they would have to go down into the mirror realm in the same way that they did before the battle. They walked through the compound toward the forest in silence. Bannack could feel the tension among them and knew that they felt the same way that he did. None of them wanted to go back to the site of the battle so soon.
When they got to the forest, Bannack watched as Ero and Pyra pulled away the layers of moss that covered the holes leading down into the mirror realm beneath the compound. Moving slowly and carefully, they climbed down one by one. Bannack followed Pyra, grabbing onto one of the dangling vines as soon as he got deep enough. He wrapped the vine tightly around his wrist and forearm to secure him, and swung over so that he could grab onto the tree.
He concentrated on each of his movements, going slowly and carefully to keep himself from tumbling down toward the bright blue reflection of the sky that looked even more like water rippling across the ground of the massive cavern. Bannack looked up and watched the rest of the warriors make their way down the trees. The human women were last, coming down even more gradually than their warriors due to their smaller size. The warriors watched them intently, ready to catch them if they stumbled. Once they made it all the way down, they gripped onto their mates, holding them closely both to keep themselves steady on the branches that stretched out across the sky and to gain strength and comfort from their presence.
As Bannack looked around, he felt the fury and aggression that had eased slightly roar back into full intensity. His stomach clenched and he felt a strange pressure building throughout his pelvis and down his thighs. He struggled against the feeling, fighting to focus on what Pyra was saying even though his voice seemed to be coming through fog at him. Bannack tightened his grip around the vines, hoping that the pain of the thick plant cutting into his palm would turn his focus from the feelings building inside him. Around him the warriors were strategizing about how to safely and effectively explore the cavern, but all Bannack could think about was the intense, almost irresistible pull he felt toward the back corner.