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“What?!” I cried. “Why do I have to? Just let him tire himself out and he’ll give up.”
“He already looks tired,” Nasrin countered.
I glanced from her face upwards again, just in time to see the boulder wobble on Gahn Errok’s back. A collection of gasps and cries ran through the group of women. My hand flew to my mouth, my eyes widening as I fully expected the boulder to roll off his back and seriously injure him.
But it didn’t. With what appeared to be a ferocious channelling of willpower, he steadied the boulder on his back.
“OK. He’ll definitely stop now,” I said breathlessly, heart hammering at the near miss we’d just witnessed.
But nope.
He did another squat.
“What are you doing?!” The words left my mouth before I even had time to consider them. My body moved of its own accord, pushing through the group until I was at the front. I planted my hands on my hips and craned my neck, staring up at Gahn Errok.
At the sound of my voice, his eyes flew open. Even from this distance, I could feel the probing white pricks of them on my skin.
He stared down at me, holding my gaze fiercely, almost mulishly, as he did yet another squat, this one even slower and lower than the previous ones.
Show off.
“I am training,” he snarled down.
“For what?” I called back up, exasperated. This guy may have been the most obnoxious alien, perhaps the most obnoxious man, I’d ever met. But I didn’t want to see him crushed like a pancake under that boulder. I eyed it uneasily as he answered.
“Training for-” His words faltered, turning into a grunt of exertion as he did yet another squat. “Training foryou.”
“I never asked you to do that,” I cried, shaking my head at him. “But I am asking you to stop before somebody gets hurt.”That somebody being you.
Gahn Errok straightened out of his squat, and for once, he didn’t immediately descend into another one. Instead, with great effort, he worked the boulder off of his back and held it in front of him. Then, in a quick, jerky movement, he swung it up and over his head. He stood, arms straight up above his head, holding the boulder up the way an Olympic weightlifter would hold a barbell. His broad chest heaved, every muscle straining under his purple hide as he fought to maintain his position.
“Oh my God, just put it down already!” I called.
“I cannot,” he forced out between clenched fangs.
“And why exactly not?” I countered.
“You must... Must see,” he panted, tendons bulging in his thick neck.
“See what?!”
“Me.”
Fiona was right. This was some kind of show he was putting on. Trying to prove something to me.
“Well, all I see is an idiot who’s about to smash his own skull trying to prove... What? That you’re strong? Obviously, you’re strong. That’s not up for debate!” I cried.
His arms trembled violently enough that I could see the tremors from here.
“Just put that down and come down here and we can talk,” I said, grasping at anything that would get him to stop. I was getting more and more concerned that he actually was going to seriously hurt himself up there.
Apparently, saying we could talk was a secret fucking password to make him act like a normal person. He immediately tossed the boulder heavily down.
Something else moved up there with him – some kind of animal. My mouth fell open in shock as he mounted it and took off right into the air.
I’d heard about the flying alien creatures the Deep Sky warriors rode from Chapman and the others. But their descriptions didn’t live up to the reality before me. Or rather, above me.
The creature was massive, with an elegant, feathered wingspan that gleamed in shades of dove grey, cobalt blue, lavender, and violet. Its many long legs tucked under its body as it flew, its majestic head angling downward on a long, heron-like neck. Gahn Errok commanded the creature with ease, with subtle adjustments to his positioning. He had no need for reins or anything like that – every movement and hitch of his body commanded his mount seamlessly.
