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She tugs against my shoulder. "Ax, you've fucked me o
ver sixty-five times in the last week alone. I'm pregnant. It's time to weigh our options. Do you have any friends to call?"
I chuckle. Everyone who knows me probably wants me dead so they can get the bounty money. "Friends? It's sweet to assume I've ever had any friends."
"I'm making a point," she says.
I knock open the door with the heel of my boot and wander toward my work desk. I start to pick up some loose cables. Anything to keep my mind occupied because her idea is really pissing me off.
"Go ahead. What's your point?" I finally ask.
Anna huffs loudly, and it reminds me of when I first brought her here. "She's all we got,” she says.
"She's one of them," I say.
"Yes, but she is reasonable. I've known her since childhood. She can be a bitch, but she wouldn't do anything to get me killed," she says.
"Right. She will just try to kill me instead," I say.
She bends over the mattress on the floor, wags her ass like it’s a carrot to a hare. “Please?”
Normally, the teasing works. I'm not in the mood.
"Let me show you something," I tell her.
I motion for her to get up and follow me into the kitchen. I step around the counter and reach above to where a small vent is attached on the wall. Quickly, I unscrew the cover and toss it aside. I reach in and pull out a small black box.
She steps back as I blow the dust off. "What is it?" she asks.
Carefully, I open the top, revealing a few loose artifacts and some photographs. I first pick up a gold dagger and unsheathe it.
Holding it, the light reflects. I tell her, "This is the sharpest blade on the planet made from the finest steal this world offers."
I flip it into the air and catch it, remembering the days when my older brother used to challenge me to duels. The bastard always won, and I'd end up with a bloody appendage.
I hold back a tear as I remember my family. My tribe. All of what used to be. Crying does nothing to bring back the dead.
"It's beautiful," she says. "May I hold it?"
I pause. With this blade, she could easily kill me and call her friend to pick her up. I should trust her, but it's hard to relinquish control.
Reluctantly, I hand it to her. She does not turn on me. "This was my tribal blade, given to me when I turned six," I say.
Growing up, Earth had replaced our leaders. Soon after, they divided our land, created fictional borders, while claiming the most fertile regions as their own. Armed struggle was everywhere you looked, but the area I grew up in was poor, and we had nothing to fight with. Nothing except our hearts.
We had everything to lose and nothing to gain, but we fought anyway.
Our elders resisted Earth Federation’s treaties. We hid in our jungle homes and trained for the day of our reckoning.
Her eyes widen. "Six years old?"
"We had a great enemy to protect ourselves against," I say.
Meaning, her ancestors. Humans. To us, they were devils. I killed many devils with that blade.
"Oh."
Carefully, I take the blade back. I sheath it and point to the circular insignia on the butt of the blade. It is in the shape of a Harka, a reptilian with wings. "I am from Elysa. The jungles that you patrol. Before my tribe's eradication, this was our badge of armor. The military has something like this, yes?"
