“I’ll guide you,” Timo-Ran said. “We’ll leave in the morning. But tonight, we celebrate.”
With that, the drums started again, and the somber atmosphere was swallowed up in joyful singing and dancing. Yaltu joined Reaver and Beatrix in their dance, while Enra and I slipped away to let our naked bodies get reacquainted.
Chapter Three
When I woke up the next morning, I got dressed as quietly as possible, grabbed Ebon, and closed the door behind me. It was still dark, the sun was no more than a hint of light on the horizon. The air was crisp and clean. I took a deep breath before looking around.
There were people out already. I guessed the others would be up later, once they’d had a little time to recover from what must have been horrific hangovers. One was an elderly woman I hadn’t seen much of the day before. She was pulling weeds from a garden plot next to her tiny home. Then there were two young men with scraggly beards engaged in deep conversation.
I wandered to the hill overlooking the town. When I neared the top, I heard a low, thrumming hum—this wasn’t some machine, it came from the throat of some large creature. I slowed to nearly a crawl and drew Ebon.
I found Yaltu on the very tip of the hill. She was standing stock-still, holding both of her arms straight out to her sides, palms toward the sky. She was facing my direction, but her eyes were closed, and she looked like she was concentrating very hard.
Was she praying? Maybe to the sun, the morning, or something in nature? But the fog was thick, so the sun was little more than a distant, hazy glow as it feebly attempted to burn its way through the atmosphere.
As I watched Yaltu, the sound she was making grew louder. When it did, the flaps on the sides of her neck, which I’d almost forgotten were there, began to vibrate as well. It made me wonder how different our biology was, but I was glad that other parts were more than compatible.
When she emerged from her meditation, I didn’t want the first thing she saw to be my blade. I double-checked for threats before sheathing Ebon, settling in to watch the beautiful woman, and waiting.
A few moments later, I heard the flapping of wings. I knew she could speak with dragons, or the dragon-like things the planet had to offer, but what I heard seemed to be moving too rapidly to be something that big. Soon, a dark-red bird no larger than my fist landed in one of her hands. She continued to hum, and another bird flew out of the fog and settled on her other hand.
I felt a little like I was peeping, but I couldn’t help but stare in fascination as she brought both of her hands close and began whispering to the birds. They seemed to respond to her, as if they were having a conversation, by making small squeaking and chirping noises. She stretched her arms out in front of her, and both birds erupted into the air.
I got up and approached her, unsure if I had just seen something very private. Curiosity got the best of me.
“What was that all about?” I asked.
“I’m curious what has become of my friends at Brazud,” she said, the smile fading from her lips. “I’m also curious what has happened to my home. If anyone recognized me, they may have gone there to seek revenge for what we did.”
I opened my mouth to offer her an apology, but she stopped me with an upraised hand.
“You have nothing to apologize for, Jacob,” she said, a hint of sadness quieting her voice. “I only wish to know. I sent those two tiddits to find out for me. They are clever and should not draw any attention. When they return, I’ll know. It’s the not knowing that’s causing me to worry, you understand, right?”
“I do. I hope the news they return with will be happy.”
“So do I.” She took my offered arm and walked down the hill with me.
I decided to wait one more day before leaving for the powerplant. In thanks for everything the Ish-Nul had done for me, I wanted to teach them how to create defenses for their village. I had no regrets about the trouble we’d caused, but if the Ish-Nul weren’t properly defended, they would be easy pickings for other slavers.
The most basic defense they could construct would be a wall, but as they didn’t have a quarry, I decided a wall of sharpened logs would suffice.
The longhouse could hold the entire population of the town. It was also tall enough for shelves to be added to the inside for supplies such as food, water, and arrows.
Should the town be attacked, a lookout would sound a horn. Everyone would drop whatever he or she was doing and head straight toward the longhouse. When the last person made it within the walls, three men would move the final piece of the defensive wall into place, lash it to the others, and head inside. From there, they could open the many small windows and rain arrows down upon their enemies.
I didn’t tell them that if they were attacked by heavy weapons like plasma cannons, they wouldn’t stand a chance regardless. There was no need to ruin what little hope they had, and these fortifications would at least provide them with some defense against other enemies.
The next day, as Reaver, Yaltu, Beatrix, Skrew, and I made our final preparations to follow Timo-Ran to the powerplant, one of the tiddits returned and began flying around Yaltu’s head, chirping hysterically.
Beatrix and Reaver looked to me, and when I didn’t react defensively, they waited to see what happened next. When Skrew approached the fluttering tiddit with a hungry look in his eye, Reaver grabbed one of his arms and shook her head scornfully.
“Skrew no eat?” He frowned and backed
