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“Not as far as I know, but they are slavers. I would not put much past them.” There would have had to be medical scans, but those were not invasive and didn’t involve experiments. Or they shouldn’t have. I felt the corner of my eye twitch.
“Hmm.” She aimed at another target, this one a towering swordleaf tree. “Well, that would explain all the stories of anal probes.”
“Stories of what?” My eyes almost popped out of my head. They stayed wide as she explained the reference. I just blinked at her until she finally chuckled and shook her head.
“I’ve got no idea if those are true or just some suppressed memory of a colonoscopy. It’s mostly guys that come back with those stories.”
The corner of my eye twitched again. “From what I’ve learned, your world’s medical practices seem a little strange as well.”
“Tell me about it. If there’s an alternative to some of those procedures, I’d kill to hear about them.” She resettled her aim, then looked up at me. “Do any of these plants have edible fruit?”
“Hmm.” I looked around, then pointed at a lantern bush growing parasitically on the side of the swordleaf. “Those small, glowing fruits are quite tasty when you peel them.”
“Good enough.” She fired, dropping one of its fruit-laden branches, then went to fetch it. “Sorry, but if I have any more meat without working on something else, I’m going to have a really rough time eventually.” She grabbed one fruit and peeled it, revealing the taut, shining surface underneath. She took an experimental bite. “Tastes like a giant grape. This won’t make me glow in the dark, will it?”
“No, the luminous properties break down in the stomach. The seeds won’t, however, so you should remove them.” I reached for one, and she pressed it into my hand.
We looked at each other, electricity moving between us. My heart quickened when her gaze met mine. The current between us was undeniable. Then she pulled away slowly.
I smiled to myself. She was feeling it too. I could see it in her eyes. But I still had to wait until she was fully comfortable with me before I did anything about it.
“So how good are the slavers as fighters compared to you?” she asked.
I made a sour face, remembering my teeth meeting in one man’s shoulder. His flesh had been unwashed and his blood had stunk of stimulants and pleasure drugs. “They have some skill, but they are relying on numbers for a reason.”
“I see.” She took another bite, letting out a sigh of relief. “I needed this. The meat bars are good, but I’ve been craving something sweet since we got here.”
“Even I like such things, though we do not gain so much benefit from them.” I finished peeling my fruit and took a bite. It was pleasant and quenched my thirst but otherwise just woke a craving for more meat. I turned to my pack and pulled out another ration.
“Guess I should have figured that when humans finally met aliens, we wouldn’t eat exactly the same things.” She chuckled, but then her face slowly fell. “I would kill for some chocolate right now, but I don’t even know if you could eat it.”
“Chocolate?” I tilted my head slightly.
“It’s a sweet, brown food made from cocoa beans. It usually comes in solid bars but can also be powdered or melted.”
“Beans?” I said. “I do not understand the appeal.”
“Guess it figures that a meat eater wouldn’t have much of a sweet tooth.” She sighed and holstered her blaster, then pulled out the other one, probably more to test it than herself. “It’s ironic.”
“What is?” I watched her. It seemed like another portion of her circumstances was sinking in—the things back home that she missed and might not see again.
I hadn’t told her yet that home for her was very far away indeed now. I didn’t know how she would take it when she learned the slavers were the only ones that had the transportation ships to take her and the other Earthlings back home. That she was stuck here, dealing with life on this planet. The slavers would never take them back to Earth, and even if they promised to do so, that would be a lie. There was way too much profit in abducting and selling humans to Gladiators and other alien beings.
No, I couldn’t bring myself to tell her.
Not until our current problems were resolved and as many of her fellow Earthlings as possible were safe.
CHAPTER14
NAXER
My dream was dark, muddled, and bloody. They had been this way ever since I entered the wilderness on what I had thought to be my last journey.
Instinctively, I knew these dreams were not just another symptom of my Wulfaen fighting my control, not with the oppression almost completely lifted. The beasts I fought in my dreams were not mine. Wrong pelts, wrong tactics, and the whole time I was deeply uneasy, for this was no sparring match or fight for dominance. This was a battle to the death.
My eyes snapped open; then I blinked and realized there was nothing between me and the fire anymore. The small, curvy shape was gone, and my bedroll was empty.
I pushed myself up and looked around. “Amara?”
