Chapter Two
The next day, Katharine of Earth demanded the Rite of Kaal-Nokt. First to Breccon, who delivered it with weary eyes to the guards, who delivered it to the High Maiden. Soon, she walked in the center of a phalanx through the world she’d not yet gotten to explore. Her instincts told her to stare straight ahead, to seem aloof and above it all. These were a warrior people. Like the soldiers she’d worked with in Italy and North Africa during the war, they probably wouldn’t appreciate or be swayed by a gape-jawed girl taking in the sights.
But she couldn’t help it. She was, to her knowledge, the first human to ever set foot off their planet, much less outside of their solar system. And if she’d been struck by the streets of Casablanca and Rome, she was blown to bits by the world wrapping itself around her now. Rune-Yon was like nothing she’d ever seen or dreamed of.
She was over the rainbow.
The violet sky and twin suns had been visible from her prison. They cast a bright haze over the alien world. Breccon and Katharine walked side by side on the impossibly white sands of the beach that bridged the space between the deep purple. She’d seen photographs of the redwood trees of California in the photos of some of her flight nurse friends, and they looked like saplings next to the skyscraper trees that made up the Rune-Yonian forest.
Eventually, the caravan turned into that forest. Katharine reached for Breccon’s hand, a physical impulse that she couldn’t control, only obey. The trees stretched above her, covering the sky and making her feel as small and as scared as she’d ever felt. Until now, she barreled forward with her plans to stay in this strange place with single-minded determination. These people needed her. Breccon needed her. And maybe she needed them too. But when he gave her shaking hand a tight, reassuring squeeze, Katharine wondered for the first time if maybe she had been too hasty. She knew nothing about this world but her desire to save it. Was that enough?
She braved a glance at Breccon, who’d been nothing but steely since they fell asleep the night before. He’d tried his best to talk her out of it, to throw his hands in the air and all but demand she back away from this idea of hers, but she’d been just as stubborn as him. As scared as she was, there was no going back now. Katharine was determined to win the love of these people. It was the only way she could save them.
And any doubt she had vanished when Breccon returned her glance and raised her hand to his lips for a brief, tender kiss.
“Halt.”
The phalanx obeyed the cried order, and Katharine looked between the shoulders of the soldiers in front of her. They’d arrived at the base of one of the trees, but not just any base or any tree. This tree—the tallest she’d yet seen—was intricately carved. Battle scenes and love affairs played themselves out in the bark. Tormented enemies lay dead and men and women locked themselves in tawdry, passionate embraces. There was not an inch of untold story or uncovered wood; Katharine wanted to stay and examine each and every one, but before she could, a panel opened, like two wide doors swinging wide, and they were ushered inside.
Breccon’s hand tightened around hers, and Katharine wondered if he was as nervous as she was. Was it a voluntary squeeze? Did he even realize he’d done it?
The tree was not a tree at all. Or, more precisely, it had clearly once been a simple tree, but over time had been hollowed out and decorated, transformed into something more grand and beautiful than all of the European churches and castles Katharine had ever seen put together. Along the walls of the circular room, chairs and benches, walkways and parapets had been carved. The great, hollowed-out tree was something of a reverent arena, a cathedral for the people of Breccon’s tribe. When they reached the center of the empty ground level, the phalanx around Katharine departed, leaving her and Breccon alone and staring up at the throne carved high into the northern side.
Katharine did not miss the gasp of the crowd when she was revealed, nor did she miss the rumblings and chatter that followed. She had to remind herself of the oddity of her being. She was a foreigner, a circus sideshow introduced to this world. A small voice in her head begged her to run away and hide from the attention. She tried to ignore that, choosing instead to take a step forward and throw her shoulders back.
With all the bravery she could muster, she met the eyes of Breccon’s mother. They hadn’t changed from their cold, silvered grimace. They still regarded her with condescending derision, like she was an annoying bug to be swatted away. But now, there was something else, too. Something sad. After a moment, she raised a single hand, and the entire hall fell silent. Katharine shuddered at the woman’s power.
“Who comes to the Chamber of Warriors?” She bellowed, rising to her feet so she could better look down her ridged nose at Katharine.
“I do,” she braved, “Katharine of Earth.”
“And what is your purpose here, Katharine of Earth?”
All eyes were on her. Everything rested in the balance of what she said next.
“I am here to invoke the Rite of Kaal-Nokt.”
An eruption of noise exploded around them. The words sent shock waves through the Chamber. Katharine even heard Breccon’s breath hitch, and he’d known all along that this was her intention.
“Do you understand the dangers of the Kaal-Nokt? Do you accept responsibility for your choice?”
No. Yes. Katharine didn’t understand the dangers of the Kaal-Nokt. No one told her what they were. But she would brave them. She had to. She hadn’t come this far just to return to Earth. How could she? How could she return to her tiny life on that tiny military base, taking orders from men with tiny minds? How could she leave behind these people who needed her, when even now she could see the sickness across the faces and bodies of the assembled tribespeople? But, above all, how could she leave Breccon? How could she taste love and leave it behind like it meant nothing to her?
“Yes, High Maiden.”
This time, she was the one to silence the room. The gravity of her words sunk the crowd’s jubilant curiosity, leaving them with nothing but to hold their breath and await Mayyalka’s words. The Rite of Kaal-Nokt was binding. Once it was spoken, it couldn’t be undone, not even by a High Maiden. The magic was already beginning to weave its way around Katharine; she felt it tickle the back of her neck and toy with the ends of her hair. Before she met Breccon, she didn’t believe in magic. But, before she met Breccon, she didn’t believe in extraterrestrials either. She thought both were stuff of pulp novels and comic books, but here she was, right in the middle of her own story, living with both. Mayyalka nodded once.
“Very well. Bring the amulets forward.”
Amulets? Katharine’s attention snapped to a priestess-looking woman who marched towards her and Breccon, an amulet hanging from each of her outstretched arms.
“Breccon—” Katharine choked, looking back at him with uncertainty straining her voice.
“You will both—” The High Maiden emphasized that word, a nail in the coffin of Katharine’s plans. She hadn’t realized... She thought she alone would have to bear the weight of these tasks. She didn’t know Breccon would have to endure them too. How could she? She thought Kaal-Nokt had worn them, not Kaal-Nokt and her Rune-Yon soldier. “—wear these until the five tasks are complete. Should you succeed, you will wear them until the day you are wed as a symbol of your acceptance in our House and our Tribe.”
Katharine didn’t want to ask what happened if they failed. As the amulet glowed and the priestess lowered the amulet around her neck, letting the pendant lie flat against her skin, she imagined increasingly horrific ways that it could punish her failure.
She faced Breccon. His face was an unreadable mask. In that moment, all she wanted to do was run into his arms and beg his forgiveness. He was now stuck with the consequences of her hasty decision. The danger she faced now faced him too. Katharine inspected the pendant lying flat on Breccon’s bare chest. An intricately chiseled rock held an illuminated, swirling blue stone. The blue electrified his skin and the Carving tattoos he’d won in battle. It would have been beautiful if Katharine could see it as anything more than a noose she’d accidentally roped around his neck.
The priestess retreated, and Breccon and Katharine once again turned to face his mother. They did not touch. Or speak. And Katharine thought she might break if someone so much as breathed on her too hard.
“The Kaal Nokt has begun. You will make the trip to the Temple of Kaal-Nokt on the Seventh Mountain, and there you will know if you have succeeded in your tasks. The amulets will guide you. May you prove yourself worthy, Katharine of Earth.”
With that, they were dismissed, and Katharine had never felt less worthy in her entire life.
* * *
“I’m sorry.”
They had been marching for almost an hour by the time Katharine finally felt brave enough to speak. At least, she thought it had been an hour. With the way the suns moved and her own mind fought a war against itself and her own shortsightedness, they could have been walking for twenty minutes or twenty hours. She couldn’t tell. Breccon didn’t respond, but instead continued to walk ahead of her. She cleared her throat. Maybe he hadn’t heard her.
“I’m sorry,” she repeated.
“I heard you,” was his only reply.
Her stomach sunk. He hated her now. She’d lost him. She’d ruined everything. Crackling leaves crunched beneath her feet, filling the air with a faint, insistent popping noise. It underscored the chaos in her heart.
“I didn’t know—”
“Of course you didn’t know. That doesn’t make it any better.”
She thought she understood his anger, that it was an easy, quantifiable case of self-preservation. She’d plunged him right in the middle of a death trap meant to test their love and that bothered him. All she wanted was to stay with him, and she’d done the only thing she could think of to make that happen. Mayyalka wasn’t going to just allow her to stay because she cried about losing Breccon or if Breccon told her that they were in love. She wasn’t that kind of leader. She was too frightened of the truth of her people’s illness and too afraid of outside invaders to recognize either as legitimate. Breccon’s mother, for all that Katharine knew about her, spent her entire life protecting her people. Even if her son loved the human woman, even if she could save the people, Mayyalka couldn’t take the risk. Which was why Katharine took a risk for them all. She just didn’t think Breccon would have to pay for it too.
“I wanted to prove myself to you.”
Breccon stormed ahead of her, growing increasingly frustrated with every word. He was usually a calm, level man. The events of the last day made Katharine question that perception of him.
“How? By putting yourself in deliberate danger?”
“I don’t mind putting myself in danger. I put you in danger and that’s—”
“Katharine!” He spun to face her, eyes blazing. “I’m a warrior. I live for danger. Danger is how glory happens. Danger is how we protect the things we love and the things we care about.” Breccon sighed. The anger rushed out from him only to be replaced with tender disappointment. “I would take a million Kaal-Nokt journeys and vows for you. But you chose to do this thinking you would be alone, defenseless in a world you can’t possibly understand. Am I supposed to be happy about that decision?”
With the uncertainty of what lay before them, Katharine couldn’t help but shiver. He’d go through a million of these for me, she thought, her heart swelling in spite of his frustration. Worse, she found herself incapable of hiding a delighted smile.
“What are you doing?” Breccon asked.
His incredulity only made it worse. What started as a private smile grew into full-on giggles.
“What is so amusing about all of this?”
She had to laugh. It was all so surreal. Her emotions had gone through such a ringer she could no longer do anything but weep or chuckle. She chose to revel in Breccon’s syrup-sweet declaration of love rather than the reality that they might be marching through the forest straight towards their deaths. Her hand flew over her mouth to muffle the sound, a gesture that only seemed to frustrate Breccon further.
“Are you laughing at me?”
“You like me,” she teasingly accused.
“What?”
Now that the dam was broken, Katharine was almost giddy. She loved this man, and he loved her. In the light of the forces fighting against them, that amounted to something great. They would defeat these tasks. They had to. Their love wouldn’t be denied. An invisible weight lifted off of her shoulders, not entirely, but enough that she breathed easier for the first time since being separated from Breccon her first day on the planet.
“You really like me,” she repeated, this time for emphasis before striding farther down the path. Their silent storming had gotten them farther into the forest than she anticipated, but there was no use waiting around for something to jump out of the trees and attack.
“Yes, that’s why I—”
Katharine only took five steps before she halted again. Breccon ran into her, his forceful jolt almost knocking her off of her feet. She craned her neck into the dense blanket of treetop high above her, narrowing her eyes.
“What is that?”
“What is what?” Breccon asked, following her eye line.
“That noise...” Loud as trumpets and delicate as wind chimes, a kind of birdsong now filled the air. It started off slow and quiet, but with every second they stood there, it grew in intensity until it was all they heard. It stirred Katharine at a base level, as if the musical vibrations themselves were moving her beating heart. “What is that?”
Without another word, Breccon started for the base of the nearest tree, hauling himself up on the first branch with a strength and grace that made Katharine want to undress for him right then and right there. She only just managed to restrain herself.
“Follow me.”
There was no way her arms would pull her up the Trishnikaar trees. She didn’t think he’d need reminding of her fragile, human state, but he seemed insistent.
“I can’t—”
Worry vanished when Breccon, still perched precariously on a particularly sturdy limb, reached down for her. It was a lifeline, an offer to help. He wouldn’t leave her behind. He wouldn’t let her struggle. It was small, silent actions like this that made Katharine feel his love from the inside. She knew she loved him, of course, but these moments ingrained that truth in her bones. She carried it with her. His love was a piece of her that grew and blossomed every day.
“Trust me.”
She couldn’t say no to that. She’d trusted him to carry her across the stars. Surely she trusted him enough to help her climb a tree. Besides, B-17s flew higher than the top of these trees, and she trusted her American flyboys far less than Breccon. There was nothing for it but to take his hand and follow him towards the sky.
* * *
Breccon recognized their song as soon as he heard them. During his travels away from Rune-Yon, he heard the tune in his sleep; they hummed in the back of his mind during his long nights chained up in that human cell. It was the song of his planet, his people. It was a distraction from their journey, he knew, but if they failed their task and they never saw each other again, he at least wanted to have the memory of sharing this with her.
When they finally broke through the crown of leaves and into the breathable sky, Breccon immediately scanned the treetops for the nest. The birds always nested up here, and they served as makeshift viewing boxes for the musical show. He spotted it nestled in the next tree, but Katharine gasped when she poked her head out, finally getting the grand, unobstructed view of the forests of Rune-Yon and the hovering flock of brightly colored birds.
“Mnuero birds!” she exclaimed with the delighted wonder of a child. Breccon paused.
“How did you know that?”
Surely no one told her about Mnuero birds during her time in quarantine.
“You told me about them once.” Then, with an air of embarrassment, she shrugged and mumbled, “You gave a very good description, that’s all.”
“Do you remember the song?” With a tug on her hand, he helped her into the nearby nest. Mneuro birds always nested in flocks, so it was more than big enough for the pair of them.
“Something about laughter and blood.” She chuckled, shaking her head. “All of your songs are about blood.”
They settled into the soft padding. Katharine rested her weight against Breccon as she stared out at the swirling flock. No one was sure quite why, but they often sang a harmonious song while dancing in intricate flight patterns. It was for this reason that the Tallel found them so fascinating and beautiful. They did not participate in the brutality of war or sacrifice; they were merely beautiful. The song they hooted became so famous that his people made it one of their own, adding their own words. With Katharine nestled into his chest, Breccon matched the rise and fall of her breathing before singing the tune in her ear.
He never thought he’d sing it for anyone. He fancied himself a man of the people, devoted forever to his duty. All that changed on his journey to Earth. All that changed when he saw Katharine’s kind face, when he felt her burning touch. On their journey from Earth, she’d sung him countless human love songs. Now, it was his turn. He wanted nothing more than to share one with her.
“We walk from the battle, sick from the kill.
I loved you in the field and I love you still.
Put your sword down, let your hair be free.
Come lie down beside and laugh with me.”
“Blood and laughter,” Katharine teased.
Breccon endeavored to explain its true meaning to her. It wasn’t about war. It was about peace with one’s love. It was a love song, or as close to one as the Tallel ever got.
“It’s about...” But he never got the chance to finish. With the suns setting beyond the horizon, darkness tinted everything. And Breccon saw, for the first time, that Katharine’s amulet had begun to react. “You’re glowing.”
Katharine turned to face him.
“You too.” She brushed the warmed stone with her fingers. “What do you think it means?”
She hadn’t even asked the question before Breccon was on his feet, his sword extended out at a million invisible enemies. The amulets meant a trial. And a trial meant danger. There was danger nearby. There had to be. He would defend her to the death.
“We have to—”
But there were no enemies. No invaders to slay. The skies remained a dazzling array of colors and the birds continued their warbling. There was nothing but Katharine’s small fingers on his shoulders, withdrawing his fear as if by magic. His heavy breathing slowed. His raised nuuja blade returned to his side. He remained stiff.
“Not everything is a war, Breccon. Sometimes...” Her fingers trailed along his exposed collarbone as she walked to stand in front of him. “You just have to listen to the song.”
It wasn’t possible that one of their trials would be so simple. Just sit and listen to some bird song? It made no sense. Theirs was meant to be a triumph of blood and battle, not softness and levity.
Katharine must have sensed his distress. An almost exasperated sigh caught her teeth as she reached up to press her lips to his. His body reacted. How could it not? Here, the most beautiful creature on at least two planets was kissing him. He clutched her hips, ready to impart his fierce passion in a white-knuckle grip. She pulled away and gave him as stern a stare as he had ever seen her give.
“No. Slow. Enjoy.”
It would take all the restraint he had, but Breccon wanted to obey her. Their amulets lit, the material encased inside the center stone swirling, almost in encouragement.
“Lie down, then,” he whispered.
Katharine did as she was told, but modestly kept her legs together, hiding herself from him. That wouldn’t do. Joining her on the soft nest floor, Breccon hovered above her, sliding one knee between her legs, spreading them just enough to make her shake.
“I’ll enjoy you,” he breathed in her ear, brushing aside a lock of hair resting on her shoulder. His cock hardened at her wide eyes. Oh, yes. He would enjoy her very much. What had been rushed and frantic yesterday would be smooth and careful today.
A kiss on her jaw. A kiss on her cheek. A line of kisses down to the opening of her Rune-Yonian robes, where her breasts swelled and waited for his attention. Below him, her hips tried to grind against him. He rewarded her, pressing his knee against her mound.
She moaned. It only got louder when he peeled away her robes to reveal her beauty to the world. She lay before him with no shame and no covering, ready and ripe for his ministrations. His cock throbbed now, but he wouldn’t attend to it. Katharine had to come first, in every sense of the word. He continued his trail of kisses. The neck. That spot on her collarbone that made her melt. Her chest. Then, he took her nipple into his mouth. Gently at first, he worshipped one until it was hard and she panted for attention on her other. Back and forth he went until she ground against him, begging for more.
He would reward her, of course. But she told him to enjoy. And he would enjoy. The kisses continued. Four on her stomach. Two on her thighs. He looked up at her over her mound as he readied his lips between her inner thighs. Gods, she was beautiful from this angle, all curves and sweat, all need and longing.
If he could bottle the guttural groan she emitted when he took her clit into his mouth, he could have sold it as a natural cure for male dysfunction. His balls tightened and his cock screamed for release. Just touch yourself and come, it urged him, pressuring him to abandon his goal, a pressure he couldn’t answer.
Her hardened, swollen clit was impossibly warm. It was her fingers threading through his hair, pressing him down harder upon her that made him almost burst without ever touching himself. He listened to her heated pants, taking her directions. Softer. Faster. More. More. More. More. Until she was rocking her hips against his face and rising higher and higher.
And as Katharine climaxed, her cries married with the song of the Mnuero birds. To Breccon, the sound finally completed the song.
When she came down from the high and her thighs relaxed around him, Breccon came up for air, unable to keep himself from licking the last of her from his lips. He’d been able to hold himself off, but now he’d take what was his. Something about Katharine brought out the beast in him. She was a statue of strength, a pillar of perfection, but the moment he touched her she shattered and made him feel more powerful than a lifetime full of battle victories.
Katharine released the tension in her satisfied body for only the briefest moment before Breccon’s touch snapped her back to life. With just the tip of his nose, he traced a line from her center straight up to her lips, reveling in the goose bumps he left behind on her warm skin. He cradled himself above her, his hard member straining to press behind her walls and enter her, to take her completely. The smell of her wetness still lingered, intoxicating him and driving him wild with the need to consume her. She opened her eyes; he saw the feeling was mutual. She wanted to be taken just as much as he wanted to take her. They needed no words. Just the tension of her fingernails digging into his arms was enough to pull him inside.
He entered her and the birdsong disappeared. There was nothing for him but the tightening walls of Katharine’s pussy. She welcomed his every thrust with wet warmth and small mews as the pressure between them increased. Breccon wondered how two people so different could be so perfectly formed to fit one another, how his hands seemed crafted to thumb her hard nipples or how his legs framed her hips like the stars framed the moon.
His thrusts grew shorter, unwilling to withdraw himself from her tight cunt for longer than necessary. Even a second was too long to be without her. Her gasps came with every puncture now, with every movement of his muscles and he raised himself up so he could see her face fully, but her eyes remained firmly closed, shutting her away behind long lashes.
Damn careful timing. Damn holding back. He wanted this woman to feel his love for her in the way he moved; he wanted his every breath to scream for her attention. Heart racing, he picked up his pace, no longer fighting the desperation in his motion or the heat clawing at the base of his stomach.
“See me, Katharine,” he breathed. Her eyes shot open, apparently shocked by the command. Her wide eyes caught him by surprise, sending the final shot of completion through him. In her eyes, he saw everything he wanted to be. Breccon could have sworn he saw a flicker of love there, a flicker of true love that he could not deny.
How could he resist filling her, screaming as the orgasm rattled him to the very core of his being?
Rocking his hips as the orgasm ended, Katharine’s small hand squeezed his arm once more. Breccon caught his breath. Recovering from making love to Katharine always took monumental effort. Half of him wanted to pin her down for round two while the other half wanted to fall asleep with his arms locked around her and regain his strength. For now, he settled for settling in at her side and pulling her in close.
“Did you enjoy me then?” Katharine asked as Breccon placed a firm kiss on top of her head. She’d done the same thing to him countless times and though it was a human gesture, Breccon couldn’t help but revel in its simplicity. A kiss on the forehead said, “I love you enough to kiss you, and I love you enough to not want anything else in return. Just the pleasure of knowing you’re here is enough for me.”
“Yes.” Breccon kissed her again. He needed her to know all of the love he couldn’t bear to speak out loud. She didn’t need to see his doubt about her intentions. They just needed to make it to the temple, even if the not knowing broke his heart. “Yes, I enjoyed you very much.”