Timo-Ran leaned in close. “You travel with a slaver?” he whispered in my ear. “Are you slaves? I could kill him now.”
“No,” I said. “His name is Skrew, and as far as I know, he was never a slaver.”
“No, never never,” Skrew said.
Timo-Ran sneered at the vrak. “The Ish-Nul will have a difficult time accepting him into the village,” he warned. “Your words will convince them, but they may never trust… Skrew. We were attacked soon after you left.”
“By who?” I asked, feeling my anger boil.
“We were felling trees in the forest when a party of vrak raiders stole several of our people and took them away. Thank the Dark Ones that we found some of them soon after. The evildoers suffered greatly for their sins.”
“I’m glad you were able to get your people back,” I said.
“But not all of them. Two died on the journey back. They fought something in the forest. They killed it, but their injuries were too severe. The priestess is still gone, or she might have been able to save them.”
I hadn’t known the Ish-Nul had a priestess. In ancient Earth cultures, the priestess had always held a position of power. I was interested in learning more about her, but there was time for that later.
“In the meantime,” I said, eager to seek out Enra, “I can vouch for Skrew. He’s been a loyal companion. If he wanted me dead, he’s had plenty of opportunities to try. But he’s never harmed me or any of my companions. I could leave him in the woods if I need to, but I’d rather bring him with us. He has earned my respect and my trust.”
I meant what I’d said to Timo-Ran; Skrew had earned my trust, even if I still wanted to strangle him sometimes.
Timo-Ran stared at the vrak for another long moment before turning back to me. He laid a hand on my left shoulder and offered me a small smile. “If you vouch for him, then I’ll personally guarantee his safety. But I can’t personally guarantee yours, brother.”
“What do you mean?”
Timo-Ran’s smile broadened, and his eyes twinkled. “Enra refuses to be with any other man. It’s unusual for our women not to venture to the other villages and make sons, but she swore never to sleep with another. This made me sad because I wanted little cousins. But you’ve returned. She’ll be overflowing with joy. The kind of feminine joy that could make a man’s balls shrivel like a sundried fruit. Because of…” He paused and nudged me in the ribs before his voice dropped to a whisper. “Because of the fucking, you see?”
He burst into laughter, and I couldn’t help feeling a little creeped out by a man who saw no issue with joking about another man having sex with his cousin.
Apparently, Timo-Ran hadn’t whispered quietly enough, because I heard Skrew gagging behind me. Yaltu, Beatrix, and Reaver trailed closely behind us but didn’t say anything.
“Tell me of your women.” Timo-Ran appeared curious, but not lustful.
“Reaver arrived on this planet like I did,” I explained. “She’s from my team back on Mars. I trained her to be a warrior, and she’s one of the best I’ve ever seen.”
“And the muscular one?” he asked.
“That’s Beatrix. I don’t know everything about her, but I fought against her in the arena. She’s also among the best I’ve ever seen.” I considered saying she was the second best, but I didn’t want to create any kind of competition between the two women since they seemed to be getting along so well.
“She’s a gladiator?” Timo-Ran’s eyebrows climbed up his forehead.
“Yeah, but now she’s with me. I trust her.”
Timo-Ran nodded thoughtfully and stroked his beard. “Then, so do I.”
Skrew lagged behind, picking things off of bushes and shoving them in his mouth to see if they were food. He chewed the things for a moment and almost always spit them out with sounds of disgust.
“I’m curious about the scaled one,” Timo-Ran said.
“We’re curious about you as well.” Yaltu obviously didn’t like being spoken about when she was within earshot.
“I’m a warrior of the Ish-Nul,” Timo-Ran explained. “My people live here in the mountains. It’s a difficult life, but one we enjoy. We kill animals, especially fish, and eat well. We farm when we can and hunt when we can’t. We also make the best mead on the planet. We travel far to find the sweet nectar for our drink, but when it’s done, it tastes like sunshine.”
Reaver stared straight ahead and sighed deeply. She probably hadn’t had a good drink since we’d left on our ill-fated mission to destroy the population of a Xeno-controlled planet.
Mead was sounding good to me, too.
“The last time I saw Jacob,” Timo-Ran continued, “he’d just slain a dragon that was attacking our village. You should have seen him. He ripped the monster apart with his bare hands and an ax. It was a glorious sight. In fact, that’s where Jacob got his sword. He pulled it from the very belly of the monster.”
I looked at Yaltu. She’d heard every word and looked a little sad, so I gently laid my arm over her shoulder.
“I’m sorry you had to hear that,” I said.
“It’s all right,” she assured me as she placed a soft hand over my own. “Pedaloth was not herself. She was being controlled. It was best that she was relieved of her sufferings. And it was good that you saved these people.”
Timo-Ran met my eyes, saw what I was doing, put one and one together, and quickly changed the subject. He talked about his favorite food, his favorite flowers, and his favorite time of the year, until we crested the last hill and torches, single-storey wooden homes, and small garden plots came into view.
The Ish-Nul village was how I’d remembered it. Low buildings with sloped roofs made entirely of wood had been thrown up wherever flat, rock-free land could be found. To the east and north,
