N'ashtar The Alien Prince Page 3

  “You are chilled?” Squire frowned, a strange expression on its oddly human face. “You are female, are you not?”

  I glanced down at my chest and then at Squire. “You didn’t know that?” I’d admit, I was hella suspicious. Why else had they kidnapped me if not because I had a vagina?

  “You are not a race I recognize,” Squire answered calmly, because it was apparently unflappable. Strange. “I did not wish to assume your females had the same mammary glands as ours.”

  ‘As ours’… “So that means…”

  “That I am male? Yes.” Squire merely cocked his head to the side. “You seem surprised.”

  I pondered that for a moment. “Not really,” I admitted. “Do you guys suffer from the same problems the N’Akron do?”

  “Problems?”

  It confused me that Squire seemed genuinely confused. Did they not suffer from a lack of females, then? Or was it something else? Did he really not have knowledge about what his people seemed to be doing?

  “The lack of females,” I explained, figuring that was some information he already knew, whether he was lying or not. “I assumed that’s why you were expecting them as tithe.”

  Squire’s uncomfortable expression told me more than he probably wished. I may have been human, but I wasn’t dumb, and he was definitely hiding something.

  I flicked another hair out of the cart nonchalantly, taking advantage of the momentary silence. “What do you know—”

  “I must go.” Squire turned and walked away without another word, leaving me sitting there on the cart, back to being bored as hell without any form of entertainment. Yet, I knew more things than I had five or so minutes ago. I knew the Caterri weren’t suffering the same lack of females—or if they were, there was a specific reason behind it. I knew that they weren’t all the terrible, unfeeling kind they seemed. Whether Squire was the exception or more common than I expected, he was still something to take into account.

  His inability to answer told me things, too. I was getting too close to something they wanted to keep hidden, something he didn’t trust himself to not tell me. For whatever reason, I was persuasive. He had mentioned being stationed at an outpost. Was that like a guardhouse? Were there any females there, or was his fascination with me simply because I was something he coveted but had never gotten?

  It was as frustrating as ever, having so many questions and not enough answers. I wished N’Ashtar was there, as annoying as he was, because he would at least know some of what I needed. Instead, I was the foreigner, the one on a planet that made no sense. Biting back a sigh, I flicked another strand of hair out of the cart, watching it drift away in the wind. For all they were covering our trail, I hoped these would leave some remnants of my scent for N’Ashtar to find. For anyone to find, really. Would N’Ashtar even be following me?

  I cringed at the thought. We’d done little but snipe at each other, and when he had tried to get fresh with me, I’d punched him. It had done more damage to me than him (his laughing still irked me, even the memory), but he’d pulled back and assured me he would only touch me when I begged him to. I’d given him the middle finger and stalked away.

  Maybe he’d decided I wasn’t worth following, wasn’t worth saving. I swallowed thickly at the thought, then forced it away. No matter what, I couldn’t dwell on that. I didn’t have time to worry about being rescued. No, I was strong, capable, and smart. I could save myself.

  3

  N’Ashtar

  Opening my eyes and seeing Dana not by my side was more displeasing than I had figured. I wanted to close my eyes and lose myself in my dream, in the thought of Dana curled against me, her belly round with our child. I wanted that to be my world, what I went to sleep next to and woke up with. I wanted her to be the last thing I saw every night and the first thing I saw when the suns rose. Now I just had to get her back.

  While I did not have R’Asha’s strong belief in fate, I still recognized that Dana was my mate. One of the hallmarks of a N’Akron male was their protectiveness of their female, and even though Dana was not yet mine officially, I knew I would do anything to keep her safe. Including giving up my claim to a tribe I was born into.

  The thought made a pang of hurt race through me. I had not expected my father to be pleased, but I hadn’t expected him to disown me, either. Yrrix and I had been his only young, and with Yrrix gone, I was the heir. Had his words simply been that, just words meant to hurt and threaten? Or would I come back to N’Akkar to learn I was no longer welcome? It would pain me greatly, that was true. I had been raised from birth to prepare to look after the tribe. It, along with taking care of Dana, was as close to a destiny as I could feel. Yet now it was looking like I could not have both.

  I packed my camp up quickly, because I was not certain how long I had been sleeping and didn’t know how far ahead the Caterri had gotten. Since they were still using their sense-burning air, my tongue felt burnt and I didn’t think I could sense her that way. Instead, I would be relying on my sense of intuition, and my knowledge of the Caterri after years of hunting them. The Caterri were smart, cruel though they were. No, they would not take the most obvious path back to Kohta, nor would they take the least obvious. They would add a few days to their travel at most, which gave me an opportunity to catch up with them if I was swift.

  And I would be. No matter how much it took out of me, I would find them and rescue my mate. For all the scent-burning air hid the smell of Dana, it also made an easy trail of its own, so I followed that, trying to breathe as little as possible. Like water, we did not need to breathe as frequently as the humans seemed to need to, so I hoped I did not inhale much, although there was no guarantee. There was no guarantee of anything.

  When I came to a parting of the road, I slid to a stop. Both smelled equally of the acrid smell, and even when I strained my senses, all I could taste was a hint of Dana that could have been either direction. Anger and desperation twined and rushed through me, my hope threatening to drain out of me. I could not give up, but even I could only do so much. Had the Caterri finally beaten me?

  Then I saw it.

  Moving forward, I picked up the thin, pale thread and looked at it. It was the same color as the fur on Dana’s head, the same texture. I knew this from a brief touch I had managed before she had slapped me, much to my surprise and amusement. When I lifted the strand of fur to my tongue, I could smell Dana underneath it. Pure Dana, not the scent altered by whatever was in the air. Relief threatened to knock me over.

  My mate was smart, that was for sure. The thread was a few hands-lengths down the right path, telling me that was the direction she’d been taken. Immediately, I headed down it at a quick run, knowing I wasn’t far behind the Caterri but not wanting to give them the opportunity to get further ahead. Except as I continued, it became clearer and clearer that I was moving away from Kohta, not going towards it. Even the least obvious of Kohta trails should have been going more in its direction. Was it possible the Caterri were lost? Or were they rogue Caterri?

  The thought burned me. The Caterri of Kohta were predictable in their cruelty. Those that existed outside Kohta were different, since they did not submit themselves to the emperor’s rule. They were lawless creatures, who stole and used what they pleased. Had that truly been who had attacked us? Or was it a squad out to scout like they had claimed? I had no answers, nothing that would give me a clue as to where my Dana was.

  I gritted my teeth and kept going forward, the feeling of rightness growing ever-larger as I moved. I was meant to be where I was, searching for my Dana and preparing a rebellion against the Caterri who ruled us. No, Father may not have approved, but it did not matter. He would not lead the tribe forever, and I had a say, as did the rest of our people. When I got Dana back, we would rain hell upon the Caterri for daring to kidnap my female. Since they would punish all of the N’Akron for one tribe’s misdoings, was it not fair to do the same in return?

  The decision settled uneasily in my middle. What woul
d Dana think? Would she approve? If she was to be my mate, my queen, she would also have a say in everything. I both marveled in amazement and winced at the same time, because Dana was quite opinionated and never afraid to share them. Yet, there was nothing I would have done to change her. She was who she was, and I liked how fierce she was.

  She reminded me a lot of my mother. Not that many of my people would have seen that. According to most of the N’Akron, my mother was meek and submissive, a female who had done her duty to the tribe. Yet I knew otherwise. Every time Father would teach me something about the tribe, about how we needed to respect the Caterri, Mother would interfere, either during the lesson or after. She would point out it had not always been so, and question why we dealt with it the way we did. It always made Father angry, but it never stopped my mother.

  When Father said ‘learn how to hunt to feed the tribe and fight to defend us’, Mother said ‘learn to be cunning to save our tribe and learn how to fight to win our freedom’. I would feed the tribe and look after all of our people, but I would fight to free them, too. We did not deserve to be ruled by them. They were people, just like we were. Mother’s mother had sworn that there had been no qualms with the Caterri during her youngling times, that there had been times we were not expected to tithe a female. A time where no, there weren’t many fertile, unmated females, but the ones our tribe did have produced multiple young.

  Father was going to be angry when I returned with Dana at my side. He might actually shun me. But Mother? Mother would have been proud. She would have approved of Dana, taken her under her wing and taught her everything she needed to know. Loss thrummed through me. Mother had died two cycles ago of an illness we had not been able to fight. She had gone in her sleep, a graceful death. I had always been her favorite and Yrrix had known it, yet another thing that created divide between the two of us.

  Angrily I shoved the thoughts away, continuing on until I caught sight of the fires around the Caterri camp. I stayed far enough away there was no way I could be detected, even though I ached to go closer to catch sight of my Dana. Even though I was to rescue her, I could do multiple things, no matter how much I did not want to. I knew where we were, having spent much of my adulthood trials in this area. There was another tribe, a small one, not far, and since I was there, it was best to reach out to them to invite them to our rebellion.

  Not that most tribes would take kindly to that. No, they would fight, because it was true the tithing with the Caterri kept a fragile sort of peace. Yet, that was all it was, really, because it was fragile. A small break would shatter the whole thing. Our fight with the Caterri over the Setti may have truly led to the breakdown of relationships between our people. Hard to fathom, but it was what it was.

  Instead of letting myself wallow and trying to sneak peeks of my mate, I headed towards the R’thui tribe. They were N’Akron a lot like us, those that relied on the cold desert for sustenance and shelter. We were closer to the mountains, however, and the R’thui often used holes in the stone to hide from enemies. I knew of their tribe but had never contacted them before, so I knew I would be met with suspicion and distrust.

  Worry threatened to overwhelm me, to seed in my mind and ruin my hopes before I even got started. Was my father right, and I was the crazy one? Was my plan to unite even a hands-worth of the tribes impossible? Or had I just not yet tried hard enough?

  It was that worry that distracted me enough that I did not see the scout until he was nearly on top of me, a sharp bone-knife held to my throat. “Who are you? Where do you come from?” the scout snarled. “Speak.”

  “I am N’Ashtar of N’Akkar,” I said, holding my hands up to show I was not concealing a weapon. “I have come to speak with your chief.”

  “How do I know you are who you say you are?” The scout eased up his grip slightly, but didn’t let go completely.

  That was a tricky question. I grimaced. “You may search me. Otherwise, I do not have a sign of my rank.”

  “Of course you do not,” the scout murmured.

  “If you do not trust me, I will stay here and you can bring your war chief here without revealing the location of your tribe.”

  The scout finally dropped the knife, although he was clearly hesitant for a few moments, waiting to see if I would attack. Instead, he circled in front of me so he could look me over. “I will go report to the tribe, and if we feel it is worthy, we will bring someone back.”

  I glanced at the moons overhead and tried not to sigh. “How long must I wait?”

  “A hand of movement of the largest moon,” the scout answered.

  I grimaced at the thought, my eyes flashing with hints of red. I didn’t want to think about leaving my Dana alone for so long. It was the middle of the night, true, but the Caterri had done stranger things. What if they decided to leave in case someone was following them? What if they decided they no longer needed a hostage? Not that the second was really an option. No, they needed females as badly as we did, did they not?

  “I will wait,” I finally said. I did not want to, but it was becoming clear I didn’t have a choice. I also didn’t want to show them how much I wanted this meeting, because that would have given them more power than was good to have on a bargaining table. “But only three fingers of the moon’s movement, no more.”

  The scout’s tongue flickered out like he was attempting to scent my honesty, but that was useless among my people. Maybe it was different for them. “Fine.” Without another word to me, he turned and headed directly opposite me. I had no expectation this was actually the direction of his tribe. Any good scout would go in multiple directions to confuse any watchers.

  I sank down to the ground, fiddling with some of the scarce grass and dirt. I had limited the time he could take to bring someone, but there was still no guarantee I was not waiting here for nothing. There was also the doubt that was starting to creep in around the edges. Had my father been right? Was I the crazy one? Should we have given in and just tithed to the Caterri like nothing was wrong?

  Uncertainty burned inside me. I did not know, and it was a decision that affected many. For a moment, the wish to see Dana or O’Rrin by my side burned through me. O’Rrin had been there to discuss many of my decisions, although we had not fully discussed the repercussions of this one. And Dana seemed to be a leader among her small tribe of people, so she might have something useful to tell me.

  That, and if I was to mate her, as the chief’s mate, she would be responsible for the tribe as I would. I did not want to surprise her with that if she did not want it, but something in me told me she would. My Dana liked the responsibility.

  I didn’t know how much time I lost sitting on the ground, staring at nothing, before I caught scent of the two N’Akron in the distance. Given it was dark, I could smell them before I could see them, so by the time they got close enough to me that I could tell who it was, I was already standing, a hand on my weapons belt.

  “Who stands there?” The scout from before was the one who spoke.

  “N’Ashtar of N’Akkar,” I answered patiently, because no, that had not changed. “And who do you bring with you?” The N’Akron by his side was two fingers taller than I was, with a more prominent brow ridge. It made him look extremely serious. It was a good sign, too. It meant this was likely who I had wanted to.

  “N’thim of the R’thui.” He lifted his eyes to hold my gaze.

  I didn’t show the relief that swam through me. I could tell from his name alone that he was who I needed. As the oldest son, the heir, he was given the honorary ‘N’ amendment to his name. Yrrix, who had been second son, did not get it. Nor had he become a warrior of renown and earned a V’ title like V’Annor. Among the N’Akron, names were sacred and told you much about a person.

  “I am here to speak with you about the Caterri,” I said simply. Then I explained everything to him, how the Caterri directly contributed to the problem of not enough women among N’Akron tribes, how their tithing was targeting what few hope
s we had to continue our people. How the Caterri were using the truce to keep us under their thumb instead of actually providing any benefit to our people.

  When I was done, the look N’thim was giving me wasn’t particularly hopeful. Instead, he looked skeptical. “I am not certain your thoughts warrant a destruction of the truce with the Caterri,” he said, crossing his arms across his chest.

  “We will never escape their rule unless we work together,” I argued. “Their actions have made it so that no individual tribe would have the strength to defeat them on their own.”

  “That does not mean we should attack them.” N’thim didn’t seem entirely convinced. “I must consider things. When I am finished, I shall send a runner to N’Akkar.”

  I winced at the thought of a runner making it to my father, who was very much not supportive. “Send them to me. I am continuing on a Caterri trail, and you can find me from the trail marks.”

  N’thim inclined his head in a polite, dismissive gesture taught to all of those of N rank when they were young. “Very well.” Then he was walking away, the scout at his side, leaving me standing there.

  I tasted the air, searching for the hint of Dana’s scent underneath everything that had been put in it. I needed that reassurance, that knowledge she was there, more than I needed anything else. Instead of worrying, I turned and headed back towards the camp I had established. Whether I was the crazy one or not, I had started the process, and all I could do was wait to see if they would help or hinder.

  I hated waiting.

  4

  Dana

  I still wasn’t sure why we’d stopped so early. The suns were still hanging in the sky, the last remnants of twilight casting light shadows across the eerily quiet terrain. It also felt like we had been moving slower than necessary, especially given the fact I was not walking. Yet it was not a captive’s place to question why, which I had learned quickly. Not that it saved me from everything.