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But the second I stood, the Zathki threw his hands up, palms out, and leaned away from me. “Apologies, warrior—”
“Jax,” I corrected.
Wesley twisted in his seat to look up at the boy. The Zathki blinked between us, biting his darker blue bottom lip in his nervousness.
“I have... never seen a Thorzi warrior before,” the Zathki whispered. “I am Pob. I—” His throat bobbed as he swallowed. “I am a hunter. A warrior too. And you... you know how to fight?”
My cheek pulled as I smirked at him. “Oh yes,” I agreed, “far better than any of your people. Would you like a demonstration?”
He could have taken it as a threat, which wasn’t exactly how I meant it, but I had not wanted him comfortable either. Instead, Pob perked up, his grin full and true.
“Yes, please! That would be wonderful. We have not had the chance to train in hand-to-hand combat here, and I—”
When he broke off, Wesley was looking at me, his eyebrow raised.
I stared between this brave human, and this strange Zathki who wanted to grapple with me. It was dangerous, to show our enemy our tactics. But I did not think one slight Zathki hunter would make the difference in a war that had ended, and Wesley’s smirk challenged me to embrace all the changes he presented.
“You have a warrior’s heart,” I said to them both. My gaze settled on Pob and I nodded. “I would be pleased to show you some of what I know.”
CHAPTER29
WES
It had taken Jax a lot of effort, and almost a week of living in the Zathki tunnels to start to get used to them, but Pob was a turning point for him.
Maybe it was the fact that he had a sparring partner, however inexperienced, and so he got to take out his warrior instincts on someone. Maybe it was the fact that Pob let him win over and over again, and kept popping up with a grin on his face and a ready demand for another go.
The guy was the Zathki version of Jax, with his eternal sunshine optimism and readiness to keep going no matter the circumstances.
I was watching them go at it for the third time in a row, and it was interesting to see Jax play teacher. He wasn’t just knocking the kid down again and again. Jax would show him a maneuver, and then demonstrate it, before showing an immense amount of trust and letting Pob use it on him. Then, well, they would spar and Jax would lay him out pretty much every time.
But two things were becoming clear from watching it. First, Pob was an enthusiastic student who wasn’t going to give up. Second, and more important to my own future, Jax was a patient and effective teacher. It seemed to me that he had to have taught hand-to-hand combat before, and at some point, I might try to talk him into teaching me.
They were entirely focused on each other, so neither took particular notice when Marex came in and sat next to me. For a long time, he watched. “Pob is happier than I have ever seen him,” he finally said, after watching another set of takedowns, and Jax showing the Zathki where he’d gone wrong, complete with another demonstration.
I glanced over at him. “Pob? Really? He seems like the happiest guy on the planet.”
“Precisely,” Marex agreed. “I would not say he does not fit with our people, but he is not a scientist. He has always admired the Thorzi, and it causes him no small amount of grief here.” He pursed his lips, clearly wanting to say something else, but stopped himself.
“Is he a friend of yours?”
“A cousin. He thinks... he thinks that our science has lost its way, and our people need to find a new path.” Marex wasn’t looking at the fight anymore, but something past it. I thought he was looking at someplace where just maybe, he agreed with Pob, a little.
“Is it a popular view among your people? Some sort of back to the land movement?”
He cocked his head to one side and considered for a long moment, then nodded. “Yes, in a way. Some of the families who were closest to the last war between ourselves and the Thorzi gained a great respect for them, and... perhaps lost their respect for ourselves as a people.”
That sounded similar to some things I’d seen in Earth cultures—not that I was any kind of anthropologist, to understand the phenomenon. Maybe some of the Zathki were simply tired of living in underground tunnels and ready for a change.
After pinning Pob beneath him, Jax rolled to his feet. He extended a hand to help the young Zathki up.
Naturally, that was when the alarms started blaring, the whooping sound almost deafening as it reverberated through the tight chambers of the underground Zathki city. I slapped my hands over my ears, wincing at the stabbing pain.
Everyone else was also wincing at the noise, but they seemed a little less incapacitated because of it. Jax went over to the door, turning the crank that held it shut and opening it, glancing out into the halls to see what the Zathki were doing.
Marex, sitting next to me, plugged one ear with his hand and pressed the Zathki communication earpiece in his ear with the other. “What’s happening?”
A second later his eyes went round, wild and frightened. I never would have imagined the placid scientist capable of such emotion, so if the alarm hadn’t been horrible enough, this would have driven home how bad the situation was... whatever the situation was.
