Dual Abduction (12 page)

Xarn pressed a button to reduce the platform into a small cube again, and placed it in his sack. It could come in handy again later. As expected, Louisa insisted on carrying something so they handed her the smallest pack with the lightest items. With Brax leading the way, followed by their human, then himself, they set off in the direction the analyzer predicted the leisure section of the ship might have landed. Somehow he doubted the discovery would happen quickly given the heavy jungle they needed to travel through. The foliage seemed determined to hinder their passage. The ground underfoot was treacherous with ruts while the thick brush required careful perusal before stepping in, with the unfortunate chance something hid within its depths. Their boots could handle a lot of abuse—and bites—Louisa however with her wading shoes and bare legs couldn’t. And while he would enjoy sucking her skin, he preferred it not occur because of a need to aspirate poison from her flesh.

Trudging through the tepid downpour didn’t bother him much, but after long galactic units of it, he could tell it taxed Louisa, although she didn’t complain. But as they continued on, walking in the rain, climbing and skirting obstacles, her body betrayed her, with her steps coming sluggishly, her teeth chattering while her breaths emerged in heavy wheezes.

He swept her into his arms.

“What are you doing?” she squeaked. “I can walk.”

“You are tired and unused to this type of atmosphere. This however is nothing to us. We used to train in much worse.”

“But, I’m heavy.”

Xarn snorted. “Not by my standards.”

“What if we come across something dangerous? How will you fight?”

“Are you calling Brax weak? I know, he is not as handsome and virile a specimen as I am, but he is capable in a fight.”

“Of course he’s a good fighter. But—”

Brax chuckled. “Stop teasing her. Fear not, sweet Louisa. I can hold off any attacks long enough for Xarn to put you down and draw his weapon.”

“I guess arguing won’t get me anywhere?” she replied with a sigh.

“No.”

Her body relaxed in his grasp, and her arms curled around his neck. She rested her head on his shoulder. The moment proved strangely intimate and Xarn enjoyed the trust she placed in him along with the lush feel of her body.
A mate should know when to depend on her male.
And he liked getting the chance to show her he owned the right traits to be that mate.

Quiet for several units, he thought her asleep until she suddenly said, “What are you guys? Because, I got the impression at first you were friends, but I’ve heard you use the term sword brother and brother in arms? Are you related?”

“No, but due to the close friendship of our mother’s, we were more or less raised as if we were. We learned to fight together and drew first blood at the same time. When you are that close to a male, the term sword brother is used.”

“I am the older brother though,” Brax announced.

“By mere cycles,” Xarn retorted.

“It is because my father’s seed was stronger,” boasted his friend with a grin.

“No, it is because mother loved me more and wished to keep me within her longer.” That wiped Brax’s smirk. “And a babe borne of two seeds takes more time to cultivate.

“Hold on a second,” she said, lifting her head and peering between them. “What do you mean two seeds? Was your mother artificially inseminated?”

Xarn couldn’t stop his horrified, “No! Who would forgo the pleasures of sex to let a machine impregnate them?”

“On earth, some women who need help have it done. It’s fairly routine.”

“Not on our world it isn’t. My mother bore me the traditional way by copulating with two warriors, her mates. It is a mark of the strength of my fathers that they both managed to impregnate her at the same time.”

“Your mother slept with two men? At once?”

“According to her, there was little sleep,” Xarn replied with a wink.

Her cheeks turned a bright red color that stood in stark contrast to her pale skin. “I am totally wigged out right now,” she exclaimed, using yet again another human expression that did not translate. Her hair seemed fine, why would she require a wig?

Before he could ask what she meant, the analyzers at both of their waists began to beep.

Holding his up, Brax stopped walking to aim his at the jungle.

“What is it? Did you find something?” she asked.

“I think we might have located a section of the ship. I’m reading a large metallic structure in this direction.”

Xarn set Louisa on her feet. He drew his sword and gun. “Stay behind me,” he ordered as they crept in the direction the analyzer indicated.

Brax went ahead, his movement silent through the thick brush as he sneaked up on the area. At his shout of, “All clear,” Xarn pushed through the thick foliage to see a swathe of destruction. They’d found a section of the ship, its rough landing creating a wide furrow in the ground with ripped up vegetation plowed along its sides.

Jogging to catch up to Brax, who disappeared in an opening in the side, Louisa panted as she ran past him to the broken spacecraft.

“Is it them? Are they okay?” she shouted.

Just as she reached the doorway in the side of the vessel, Brax reappeared. “It’s the leisure section we’ve been looking for, but the little females are gone.”

Louisa dropped to her knees and wailed. “No! They can’t be dead! They’re so young. So—”

“I meant gone as in not here,” Brax hastened to correct, extending a hand to help their human back up. “From what I perceived, they all survived the impact. There is no blood or bodies. They managed to get out of their harnesses and found the compartment with supplies. The sacks are gone as are most of the items. They took supplies and weapons with them it seems before they left.”

“Are you trying to tell me, they’re out there, alone in an alien jungle?” She seemed just as horrified by that prospect as when she thought them fatally wounded.

“With supplies,” Brax reiterated.

“And weapons,” Xarn added.

She smacked him in the arm and Xarn winced at her yelled, “You idiot! Don’t you dare try and placate me. My girls are out there, by themselves, scared and alone. They could get eaten. Or fall in a swamp, or something else that’s really horrible.”

Xarn snorted. “I doubt there is much that would dare eat those little demons. As for falling into anything, you don’t give them enough credit.”

He didn’t buckle before her glare, and her shoulders eventually slumped. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to yell. I’m just so frightened for them.”

“As any proper guardian should be. There is no shame in caring for them.”

“They can’t be that far ahead of us,” Brax interjected. “We will locate their trail and follow it. You will be reunited with them soon.”

But a quick reunion proved a difficult task. With the rain still pouring, the tracks the halflings might have left were more or less obliterated. He and Brax relied on all their hunting skills to stay on the right path, keeping a close eye for broken branches and crushed foliage. Their careful perusal made for slow going however, and even though they took turns carrying Louisa, eventually fatigue dragged at them all.

“We make camp here,” Xarn announced, dropping his bag in the next clearing they stepped into. Brax didn’t question his decision, despite knowing they could have kept going for many more galactic units, wearied or not. Unused to the atmosphere though, Louisa couldn’t.

“We should keep going,” she panted. “I’ll be fine. Just give me five minutes.”

“You are unused to the thicker air and moisture of this planet. There is no shame in resting. You will become a liability in the search if you collapse from exhaustion or illness.”

She pursed her lips in annoyance. “I’m not a wimp, and my girls need me.”

“They need you alive. We are making camp here,” Xarn replied.

“Fine.” She tossed her sack on the ground and sat on it, her scowl warring with the obvious relief in her body that they’d stopped.

Inclining his head, Xarn motioned Brax to the edge of the clearing, under the guise of collecting materials to build a shelter. Turning his back on her, in a low voice he said, “Louisa can’t go on. She needs to rest. But one of us needs to keep looking for her girls. The longer they are out here alone, the less likely we’ll find them alive.” Despite his earlier claim they were tough, the reality remained they lacked experience and the skills needed to survive on an alien planet.

“Agreed. She needs protection. But which of us should go? It would make sense to leave the one she likes best, which you stubbornly refuse to admit is me, but until she does and crushes your fantasies, how do we decide?”

“You wish she liked you more. Actually, I’ve been thinking about the whole dilemma revolving around her choice,” Xarn replied casting an eye on Louisa as she yanked on the tall fronds growing from the ground and placed them in pile. “I think it’s time we stopped fighting over who gets her.”

“I’m not giving her up,” Brax snarled.

“No one said you had to.”

“You are stepping aside?” Brax stopped pulling on a limb overhead to glance at him.

“Not a chance. I want her as much as you do, which is why I think it is time we do what we do best.”

“Cause trouble?”

“No.”

“Kill something?”

For the smart one, his sword brother could at times prove awfully dense. “No. You idiot. I’m talking about sharing her.”

“Oh. Fine by me.”

The easy, nonchalant reply took him by surprise. “Fine by you? That’s all you have to say?”

Brax shrugged. “I’d already come to the same conclusion. It is obvious she is attracted to both of us and that the fact we are forcing her to choose is what is creating her unwillingness to mate with either of us. Sharing seems to be the obvious solution. But who goes first?”

Not having thought that far ahead because he’d expected more argument, Xarn gaped at Brax. He recovered quickly. “My idea, so it should be me,” Xarn announced.

“I’m older, so the privilege should be mine.”

“You had the last turn, so by rights, its mine again.”

“She’s wearing my shirt.”

Xarn frowned. “What the frukx does that have to do with anything?”

A shrug lifted Brax’s shoulders. “Nothing, just thought I’d mention it.”

“Me.”

“No. Me.”

Standing toe to toe, gathering forgotten for the moment, they glared at each other.

“If we fight, she will know we are talking about her,” Brax said, faking a smile for Louisa who stood watching them with her lips pursed and her hands on her hips.

“Antimatter, supernova or black hole,” Xarn said. A childhood game of chance that had broken up more than one stalemate. Grinning at the solution, Brax nodded in agreement. They each held out a fist and bounced it three times.

“Ha. I win,” exclaimed Xarn, holding up his fingers in a ring, to Brax’s spread fingers. “Black hole swallows your super nova.”

“Frukx. I knew I should have gone antimatter to reverse your polarity.” Brax bundled the broken plantation into his arms. “I guess I’m going to go look for the halflings trail.”

Leaving Xarn alone with Louisa.
My luck is finally looking up.

Returning to the clearing, he and Brax dropped their load of materials.

“Took you long enough,” Louisa said. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say you were planning something.” Her stern eye saw right through them, so Xarn avoided it, dropping to his knees so he could rummage through his sack for his cord dispenser. He intended to use it to bind the limbs into a frame so he could create a shelter to divert the rain from their bodies.

“As a matter of fact, we were talking. While you set up the shelter with Xarn, I will continue to scout and look for clues as to your charge’s location,” Brax announced.

“Alone? Are you sure? I’m good to go,” she said.

“Stay here and rest. I’ll use the communicator if I find anything.” Brax lightened the load in one sack, leaving a pile on the ground. “But I’ll expect a warm dinner and bed when I get back.” He winked and grinned, replying with a waggle of his fingers to Xarn’s rude gesture done behind her back.

In a bold move, Brax twirled Louisa into his arms and plastered her lips with a kiss. When he released her, her eyes shone with desire, and while a smidgen of jealousy nipped him, Xarn consoled himself with the fact, he was the one staying behind with her. Brax slapped her buttocks in parting before strutting off quite pleased with himself. Xarn didn’t care. He was now alone with their human.
And I get to be first!

Louisa continued to stare after Brax long after the foliage of the jungle swallowed his shape. “Will he be alright all by himself?”

A snort escaped him. “I’ll pretend you didn’t ask that.” He lifted the frame he’d created and covered it in a waterproof tarp.

She whirled to gaze at him, a smile tugging her lips. “I didn’t mean it like that. It’s just there are obviously some big nasty creatures out there, not to mention those guys who shot us down. On earth, there’s an expression; safety in numbers.”

“You are worried about his wellbeing? You care for him?” he asked it nonchalantly even if he was anything but. As he waited for her answer, he used a longer pole to prop the frame at an angle, forcing the rainwater to run down and away from the shelter. The leaning wall covered a space large enough for the platform which he popped opened and floated into place.

“I care for both of you, even if you’re macho and annoying.”

“What is macho?”

She struck a pose and flexed her arms while raising a brow. “Look at me. I am so strong and sexy.”

He grinned. “You think us attractive?”

“Well duh. I’m not dead. But that doesn’t mean I’m going to choose one of you.”

“So have us both,” he replied casually as he piled the foliage she’d gathered on top of the platform for a cushion.

“What?”

He peeked at her from his spot on the ground where he spread the blankets over the makeshift bed. “It seems we both bring you enjoyment. And since the decision to choose is taxing you unduly, then perhaps, the best solution would be to not choose at all.”