Chapter Two

Severine’s mind was spinning as she tapped her heels into the Meldor’s side to urge it to move faster toward the compound. She was stunned at how extreme the reaction to the animal had been by nearly everyone who was on the battlefield. When she decided to bring the animal up out of the tunnels for what was like the first time in many, many years, she would have thought that it would have been the animal itself that would have had the most severe reaction to being on the surface of the planet again rather than making its way through the deep darkness of the tunnels. This was an animal that was intelligent and thoughtful, making its captivity underground even more painful for her to think about. She knew that it understood what was happening to it and had the capacity in its mind and heart to long for the light that it remembered from when it was young and the feeling of companionship, even if it came from a different species. She knew that the animal would be miserable always being surrounded by darkness and that it would want light, but also knew that it would cause it pain if it did have it. This created an existence of emptiness and tension, torn between the existence that it knew that it could have had, and the one that was forced on it.

The Meldor, however, had reacted far better to being out of the tunnels than she would have expected. It had hesitated as she guided it toward an exit that had a gentler incline, allowing it to walk up out of the ground, but she had spoken to it softly and gently, encouraging it to go along with them. Finally it seemed to have given its trust over to her and allowed her to guide it up out of the ground and into the diminishing light of the day. It was when they approached the battlefield that she witnessed the intense reaction, but from a source that surprised her. The hybrids had been visibly afraid when they had seen the animal. Many had backed away from the fight and run from the animal, putting themselves in severe risk of being captured by the Valdicians and being put through reprogramming. Their training had taught them never to leave a fight until they had gone through all of their planned maneuvers for that attack. She could already tell by the way that the hybrids had run from the battle that they weren’t finished with their maneuvers, but were simply retreating.

It would have made sense to her for the army of Denynso, Eteri, Irisa, humans, and Mikana to be startled when they saw the animal. It was something that none of them would have encountered before and they wouldn’t have known what to expect from it. This was a creature that only existed on Penthos now, though it had once thrived on another planet, and because it had been cast beneath the ground so long before it was unlikely that any of the species, even those that had been on Penthos before, had even heard of this being. To see something this large and visibly fierce would be unnerving for even the fiercest of the warriors. The reaction of the hybrids, though, was far more severe.

This didn’t make sense to her. She had been through the training of the hybrid army on Penthos. She knew the hybrids were aware of the existence of the Meldor. Even those who had not been made privy to the sections of the tunnels that were now abandoned knew that the animal was beneath the quarry. They were told that this powerful animal was a weapon. They understood the danger that it posed to their enemies. But they shouldn’t have feared it for themselves. It shouldn’t have been so incredibly horrifying to them that they would leave their posts in the battle without regard for the goals that had been set out for them, set by the rhythm of the drums.

Suddenly it occurred to her. That was her training. That was what she had gone through in the time that she had spent on Penthos before Ryan transferred her back to Earth and prepared her to fight there. That had been long enough ago that things may not be the same. Things might have changed. The only explanation for the way that the hybrids reacted to seeing the Meldor come toward the battlefield was that their training was different now that it had been when she was on Penthos. Instead of them thinking of this animal as a weapon that could be used to prevent the enemy from coming down into the tunnels and the bunkers that they contained, they thought of it as a threat. Rather than a source of protection, it was now a danger to them, something hanging over their heads to remind them every moment that they did not belong to themselves, but to Ryan and the bend of his whims. The change didn’t seem to make sense. Severine couldn’t understand why Ryan would shift the focus of that creature and the extensive, deep training that dug inside each of the people brought to Penthos and wired them to do just as Ryan wanted.

The baby on Severine’s chest whimpered and she lifted one hand away from the Meldor’s fur to pat his back gently, soothing him.

“We’ll be there soon,” she whispered to him. “We’ll be there soon and we won’t have to travel anymore tonight. You can have something to eat and sleep without being strapped to me.” She took a breath and latched onto the thick dark fur again, leaning down to kiss the top of the baby’s head. “I’m sorry that this is the way that your first few days have been. You deserve more to the start of your life than this.”

There was a groan from behind her and Severine looked back over her shoulder to see one of the wounded men trying to lift his head from where it had been resting on the Meldor’s powerful side.

“Rest,” she said. “If you move too much you might fall. We’ll be to the compound soon. They’ll be able to take care of you there.”

Tapping her heels slightly again, she hoped to push the Meldor a little faster, though its huge size told her that it was likely this animal wasn’t able to move at a much higher speed that it already was. She wanted to get to the compound as quickly as she could so that these men could get to the healers. Ahead of her she saw the dark outline of the wall surrounding the compound. She had never been allowed beyond the barrier that kept this section of the planet set aside for Ryan when he was on the planet with them and the Valdicians that did his bidding when he wasn’t. She only knew that it was within the protection of that wall that he lived and planned their training. The massive gate was standing open and she headed toward it, stopping the Meldor just in front of it. The warriors who had run along with them appeared around them a few moments later and started to help the wounded off of the Meldor’s back. She watched as they carried the men into the compound and when they were gone, she encouraged the animal forward again, finally entering the compound.

Ahead of her she saw what looked like a human woman. She was staring at the Meldor with fear in her eyes.

“You don’t have to be afraid,” Severine told her softly, hoping to calm her enough that she wouldn’t incite the instincts within the animal that Severine knew were still there but hoped would not emerge again.

The woman looked up at her.

“Is this thing safe?” she called back.

Severine patted the animal’s flank and it stopped walking again. She reached behind her back and released the fabric that held the baby close to her chest. Untying it carefully, she loosened the baby until he rested into her arm, then leaned down and carefully handed the baby to Rilex. Once the baby was safe, she swung her legs over to the side and carefully climbed down until she could jump to the sand in front of the woman.

“This is a Meldor,” she told her. “I can assure you that it is perfectly safe.”

“And who are you?” the human woman asked.

There was a hint of protective aggressiveness in her voice, but Severine wasn’t intimidated. If this woman was already inside the compound it meant that she was one of the round that had been on Penthos while the rest were on Earth. She had a close connection with these people and would want to do what she could to ensure that threats were kept away from them.

“My name is Severine,” Severine said. “This is my mate, Rilex.” She gestured toward Rilex, now cradling the baby to his chest and murmuring against his soft skin. “I have the trust of those who were on Earth. You can trust me. And you can trust the Meldor. It is just an animal. All it needs is to be taken care of, just like the men. Food, water, and rest. That’s all.”

The human woman looked at the animal again and its head turned toward her. Severine could see the shift in the woman’s eyes as she looked at the Meldor, and she knew that this woman could see the vulnerability in it. She turned back to Severine and nodded.

“Alright,” the woman said, gesturing to the cluster of buildings on the other side of the compound. “We aren’t using those buildings. They might have some things left in them, but they should be mostly empty. There is one that has double doors nearly the size of one wall, like it might have once been a barn or a stable. If it fits inside, it will be safe there. Bring it there and I’ll bring some water.”

“Thank you,” Severine said.

She rested her hand on the front of the Meldor’s neck and guided it toward the buildings that the woman had pointed out to her. She quickly found the one that she had described and pushed aside the double doors to reveal a massive open room. She didn’t know what it might have once housed, though she didn’t think that it was the barn or stable that the human woman had guessed. Ryan and the Valdicians would have no need for domesticated animals that they would need to house in this size of a building. It had to have some purpose at one time, but Severine didn’t know what that purpose could be.

The human woman entered the building a few moments later carrying what looked like a bundled blanket under one arm and a large bucket in her hands. She rested the bucket on the floor several feet in front of the Meldor and Severine saw that it contained the water that the woman had said she would get for the animal. The woman stepped back and crouched down to put the blanket on the floor in front of her. Spreading it out, she revealed a pile of food that she had wrapped inside. Taking part of it, she held it out to Severine.

“Thank you,” Severine said, taking the food from the woman’s hand.

The woman nodded and tugged the corner of the blanket to draw the rest of the food up close to the bucket so that the Meldor could eat it.

“I didn’t know what it would eat,” she admitted.

The Meldor walked toward the bucket and dipped its head inside, drinking nearly the entire amount of water before lifting its head again and turning toward the food.

“It seems that it likes it,” Severine said, her heart warming at the sight of the animal eating the food that the woman had brought for it. “I appreciate your help…” she hesitated and the woman looked toward her.

“Elise,” she said. “My name is Elise.”

“Hello, Elise,” Severine said.

She could see the nervousness in Elise’s eyes when she looked at her and Severine knew that she could recognize that she was a hybrid. She didn’t know what to say to her to calm her fears and she knew that this was something that she was going to encounter well into the future, but this was not the time for her to confront it. At this moment all she wanted to do was pretend that the reaction wasn’t happening and move forward.

“Do you know Azra?” Elise asked.

Severine shook her head.

“I do,” she replied, remembering the warrior from the brief time in the basement. “How do you know him?”

Elise sighed and gazed out of the one of the double doors that was still standing open.

“He’s my mate,” she explained. “I haven’t seen him since my shuttle brought him to Earth with Pyra and the rest. I’ve been so worried about him.”

“I haven’t known him for long,” Severine said, “but what I have known of him, he is strong and well. He should be here very soon.”