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It was best to watch for now to see if she could fend for herself and if I needed to interfere at all.
As the barda cooked, she was mumbling to herself.A language with unfamiliar syllables, I ran a few of the words silently around in my mouth.They were strange, but I could learn them if she would let me.It would take only a few minutes—I could connect with her mind and learn to communicate with her.The indecision held me back.She had been on the planet only a short time and would still be frightened.
I found I couldn’t leave her alone and had to keep watching.As long as I was close, I knew she would be safe because I could fend off any further threats to her and stop her if she went to eat or drink something dangerous.My gaze was glued to her movements, her delicate limbs, how soft her skin looked, and her dark hair that trailed down her back.
Running my hands through my braids, I almost smiled.I could braid her hair like mine, and then maybe she would lay with me and let me join with her mind.
She needed time, and I was content to watch her for now.
Chapter Five
TORI
It knocks it out of you, this whole being-abducted-by-aliens thing.Eating the alien beaver had been more of an effort than I had anticipated.I had no means of skinning it and hoped the fire would burn away more of the fur, but it was tough and wiry with long roots that dug into the creature’s skin farther than any follicles I had ever seen.By that point, it had become a personal challenge, and I wouldn’t give up until I had eaten my fill.I was starting to feel a twinge of guilt for killing the creature, and it would seem worse if I didn’t make use of the meat.
Pulling the fur from the thing as it cooked was tedious since I had no knives and couldn’t see any stones I could sharpen.I simply had to wait until the fur charred, which smelled about as good as you would expect, and yank it off in burned tufts, using what was left of my fingernails to dig the deep cuticles from the meat like tiny bones.Admittedly, once the fur was off and the meat was cooked, the taste wasn’t so bad, even if the texture was like eating an old boot.
Once I had eaten my fill and left the remainder of the carcass on the fire to burn down, exhaustion took over.It was difficult to relax since every background sound was a reminder I wasn’t home, and there were likely many dangers here I hadn’t seen the likes of.But as I sat by the fire, the warmth from the embers washing over me, my eyelids began to droop.Glancing up, the strangely orange sun was nearing the horizon.I must have been walking for longer than I thought and wished I had landed near the other girls or at least been able to see where their pods went.But once through the line of the clouds, I had lost sight of them as my pod spun away.
While it would seem foolish to wander a strange planet in search of them, I didn’t see what difference it made anyway.Staying here and surviving would be purely existing, and that wasn’t any kind of life I wanted to maintain in the long term.Even if I wandered until I starved, at least I tried to find them and regain some sense of normality.If I were to find them, we could work together, build a shelter together, and maybe see if there were any aliens on this planet who could help us get back to Earth.
Being alone never bothered me back home, but now, it was a burden that weighed heavily in my chest.
Realizing I couldn’t stay awake much longer, I stood and looked around for somewhere to sleep.Kicking some soil over the remnants of the fire, I moved back to the nearest tree with those large roots and searched around the base until I found a nook barely big enough to get into.I figured if there was no room to move, at least nothing could sneak up behind me.
Tucking myself into a small ball, I maneuvered under the large root, shuffling down until my eyes were almost level with the ground, tucked away in what I hoped was a safe space.
God, I hoped it didn’t rain tonight.
***
The winds overnight had been something I’d never experienced before—almost tornado strength but without the whirlwind, only a constant single-direction gust of cold wind that chilled me to my bones and beyond.I tucked further into myself and eventually got to sleep, probably more from sheer exhaustion than any level of warmth and comfort.
When I woke, I found my robe had been tucked around the parts of me exposed outside the roots.This sent me flying from partially groggy into full-blown alarm in a matter of seconds.I kicked off the robe and scrambled from underneath the roots, looking around wildly for any sign of life.
Nothing.
“Who’s there?”I called, and when there was no answer, I picked up my robe and waved it by my side, soil and leaves falling from it.“I know someone is there.You gave me my robe back.”
There was movement, and when I shifted my gaze to the spot I swore I had seen something, there was nothing apart from the unanswering forest.I took a step forward, tilting my head before stopping again.“Is someone there?Can you help me?”
When I took another step, there was an audible crack as a branch broke, possibly underneath a foot.I swooped down and scooped up another fallen branch, holding it like a bat again, my robe forgotten at my feet.I’d managed to kill one thing by blindly swinging a stick, so I might as well keep to what works.
Until it doesn’t.
Because whatever this was, it was a hell of a lot bigger than the beaver thing.
There were eyes, bright green and blazing between two trees.It blinked at me, and I stared back, trying to figure out how I could decide if this creature was friend or foe without simply waiting to see if it tried to kill me.
My jaw dropped as the creature stepped out into the light, and I took a step backward.It was around seven feet tall and huge, likefucking huge.Its skin was the same deep green as the forest floor with vines that twisted around its body, some of which had tiny pale pink flowers growing out of them.Lifting my eyes to meet the creature’s gaze, it looked almost human.Like itcouldbe human if its skin was different and it wasn’t so ridiculously big.Long, thick, deep purple hair was braided, trailing over its shoulders and down its back, some of which were twisted into some of the vines that appeared to be part of its body.
Did I mention it was carrying a massive fucking spear?
I took another step backward, and the alien watched me.It pointed at my robe on the ground.“Ackta.”Its voice was a rumble but had a soft tone to it.In some ways, it was so humanlike it threw me.I took another sweep of its body—same number of limbs as me, four fingers and a thumb curled around the spear, andit…fuck.Scratch that…hehad a massive fucking erection as he watched me.
Not good.
When I stepped backward again, he pointed again to the robe.“Ackta.”
