That small, green, baby vita'o lizard creature thing zipped through the grass and circled Geraln's feet as soon as the eight of us came back through the gate. She frolicked around on two gangly legs, lifted her tiny lizard face all the way up to his knees, and chirped.
Geraln smiled, crouched low to pick her up, and gently set her back on his shoulder. "Here you go, Chirpy."
She burrowed her claws into his leather bow strap and rubbed her head in his cheek.
"Chirpy?" Davod furrowed his brow and chuckled. Like me, like the rest of us, his shirt and trousers were soaked and his hair clung to his back—that was the second time it dumped a foot of rain that day. For two minutes. Was it even two minutes?
Geraln lifted a finger and gently rubbed the creature beneath her chin. "They haven't given her a name yet, so I'm calling her that for now."
Two native girls walked out from beneath the verandah of the administration building dressed in nothing but a silk belt with a flap hanging down front and back, leaving bare dark-green skin everywhere else. One of them wore silver flower buttons over her nipples while the other, whose breasts were completely bare, shifted her amber eyes among us and smirked before they went around the corner.
"I mean…" Gino couldn't pull his gaze from where they'd disappeared. "That's… more comfortable in this damned heat, surely."
Probably.
Jame, watching the same spot, slapped his shoulder and grinned. "That's exactly what I was thinking! I wasn't thinking anything else at all!"
I tried to work out in my mind if there would come a point between the rain and sweat when my shirt would actually be dry.
Probably not.
Faren emerged from the medical ward with his head down. Dark circles decorated his eyes, his hair was a frazzled mess, and his own shirt was soaked around the collar and all down his back despite being inside during the two-minute rain.
"How is he?" Davod asked. I didn't want the answer.
Faren took a deep breath and let it out slowly, glancing back through the row of stone archways behind him. "He's still alive. Barely. He's sleeping for now. I'm going to get some lunch."
Dune was still alive when Oasis went out for a bit.
Massi lifted his shirt and wrung it out. His muscular chest was littered with small scars, and that Orca tattoo ran from his neck down to cover one of his pecs. "What's the big deal?" He shrugged. "So he got stabbed, so what?"
"Do you know what sepsis is?"
"Why?" He grinned back at me. "Is she pretty?"
From between the mess hall and the medical ward, a native man approached us. As with the women, he wore nothing but a black silk flap down his front, revealing chiseled, powerful muscle like a carved stone statue of an ancient, dark-green god. His bright-yellow eyes found me, and he froze. His mouth fell open, and he glanced between me, Davod, and Geraln, before coming back to me. Finally he shook his head vigorously and resumed his approach.
"Davod of Gath." He looked directly at him.
Davod chuckled lightly. "Does everyone here already know our names?"
The native man gave off an easy smile. "ʃʊsi xeŋise… dowa ʒʌgosa peyumi"
Davod raised one corner of his lips and looked at me with his brow furrowed. I shrugged.
Faren answered him with his usual smooth vibe. "Shusi means please, and se is you. So he's asking you to do something. I think."
Geraln added, "se is the subject form of you, sa is the object form. dowa is want… uh… that's all I got."
Yeah, I was losing.
The native man gave a smile full of perfect white teeth and spoke Herali as though he'd been born to it. "Bro. Please come, Peyumi wants to speak with you."
"I knew all that," I said. "I was waiting to see if you two would figure it out."
Everyone ignored me, and while Davod went with him, a high-pitched hiss filled my ears.
Massi stood beside Geraln with his attention locked onto Chirpy. He held one hand up with a finger pointed at her.
"I wouldn't do that," the native spoke over his shoulder before they disappeared around the corner.
Her legs trembled, her claws dug deeper into his bow strap, and she leaned into the side of Geraln's head and away from Massi.
Geraln stepped away, but not before Massi poked her body.
She snapped her neck out after him and clamped her tiny jaws around the air while he jerked his finger away and giggled. Chirpy gave out a strange, gargled growl and hissed at him, baring a mouth full of needles.
Once again, Massi lifted his hand to point at her, and she hissed at him.
"She doesn't like that!" Geraln moved to where I stood.
"Aww, he's just playing," Borel gave us a dismissive wave and turned his attention back to Jame, who inspected the fletchings on the arrows he'd recovered from our tournament.
Massi followed Geraln; his attention was locked onto the creature with an obsessive grin. He circled around and tried to poke her again, but she snapped her neck out and caught his finger in her jaws.
"AAAAAAAAHHHHH!" Massi screamed.
He tried to pull his hand away, but Chirpy didn't let go. Blood trickled down his finger and over his wrist. He tried jerking away, but she'd latched on tight. With every jerk, more blood oozed down his arm. "FUCKING LET GO!"
But she didn't.
He waved his hand back and forth; the more he moved about, the worse it got. "LET GO!"
I put my hand on his back. "Hold still… hold still…"
Massi shoved me away and clenched his jaw. He twisted his hips and reached his left hand across for his knife.
A deafening shriek bellowed across the training ground.
Behind us, beside the administration building, a towering brown lizard with a black diamond pattern on her back squawked and whistled and strode up on her hind legs. Up on the wall, men turned their attention towards us, and two figures appeared on the balcony.
Immediately, Chirpy released him, hopped down from Geraln's shoulder, and scurried over to her mother.
"FUCK!" Massi screamed.
Geraln shook his head at the man and sneered. "Serves you right!"
Borel and Jame stood laughing at him, and I opened my medical kit. I took hold of his finger and washed away the blood. The skin was shredded, but it would heal, so I reached into the satchel for some gauze. "This looks a lot worse than it…"
"I'm going to kill that fucking thing!"
Right away, mum snaked her long neck around, fixed one eye on the man, and hissed hard.
Massi's chest heaved, and he bore into her with his dark-green eyes.
She hissed and hissed again, turned the rest of her body, and crouched down on all fours, snarling and digging her talons into the grass.
"I think she heard you," Jame froze.
"No shit!"
Everyone backed away. Someone tugged my shirt and dragged me a few feet from him.
Mum lifted one talon up and stretched out her claws, bared her jagged, serrated teeth, and snarled. She stepped at him, crouching low to the ground, coiling her neck, and hissed.
Massi reached his bloodied hand behind his right thigh where his knife awaited. No sooner than he could get his fingers around the handle, she pounced.
It happened so fast. With all four legs, she launched herself at him, snapping her neck out and clamping her teeth onto his throat. She knocked him clean onto his back and passed over him, moving her whole body away before he could swing his knife, and ran off.
Massi lay on the ground with a gaping mass of torn skin, broken sinew, and scraps of connective tissue for a throat. A geyser of blood sprayed out from the base of his neck and flooded the ground about his head. He opened his mouth and his chest heaved, only for more blood to spray out from the gaping hole where his trachea used to be.
"MASSI!" Borel and Jame ran up to him.
His chest spasmed several times in rapid succession, only for more blood to spray from the wound. His body turned to the side, but his head flopped about while blood pooled in the grass beneath him. His eyes and mouth gaped, and he reached trembling fingers up to the hole, covering them with blood as well, and his whole body tensed. His chest heaved, and another geyser of blood sprayed out in response.
Borel knelt beside him with his hands over his body, his fingers trembling hard, and looked up at me. "AREN'T YOU A MEDIC? DO SOMETHING!!!"
"The fuck," I said. "You want me to put ice on it?"
I couldn't move. I couldn't turn away. I couldn't blink, and I could scarcely breathe. Everyone around watched like statues. Little by little, the spasms abated. He moved his jaw up and down while his eyes stared blankly into the cloudy sky; the blood slowed to a trickle.
"No…" Borel whimpered and stroked his friend's face. "What the hell, man? Not like this!"
From the corner of my eye, Geraln slipped behind the medical ward. I followed him as he dipped behind another, smaller building made of mud with grass growing on the roof.
He breathed heavily and looked at nothing in particular. When I came up, he snapped his face towards me. "HE ASKED FOR IT!"
Behind me, someone grunted. Gino had doubled over, clasped his knees, and retched, leaving a pool of yellow sludge with bits of partially-digested food in the grass. His dark, curly hair shook with the rest of him.
I couldn't breathe. Geraln squeezed his eyes shut, and his hands trembled.
Gino was still doubled over, coughing and heaving out the last of whatever had been in his stomach. With a few deep breaths, he shuddered. "What the fuck just happened???"
Geraln pointed at him. "He fucking asked for it! He fucking asked for it! He FUCKING ASKED for it!"
"Yeah, man," I assured him. "Sure he did."
At that, Geraln closed his eyes once more and gritted his teeth. Tears flowed down his chubby cheeks.
Gino rested his hand on my shoulder. His eyes were wide, and his whole body heaved up and down with every breath. Then he scrunched his eyes and turned away, bared his teeth, and tried to shake it off. "Gods! What the fuck, man!"
My voice wavered. "Let's… let's just sit down a moment."
Geraln's chest lifted up and down and he shook, but he nodded, as did Gino. We tucked into the corner behind a wooden shed filled with food scraps and covered in fuzzy green mold. I looked around the corner for the others, but didn't see any of them.
I closed my eyes. Unable to get the image of Massi's gaping neck out of my mind, I opened them again and watched my fingers shake. She'd sliced right through the Orca tattoo on his neck. It all happened so fast.
Gino had pulled his knees up to his chest, buried his face in his hands, whimpered, then turned to the side and retched again. Geraln leaned back against the mud wall with his eyes glazed open and staring blankly into the distance, when we heard a familiar chirp.
The little green baby was back, standing next to Geraln on her gangly legs, looking up at him, and chirped.
Geraln looked at her and swallowed. Gino gazed at her with his eyes bulged, and his chin trembled. She gazed up at Geraln and chirped.
He wiped the sweat from his brow and took in a deep breath while looking down at her. "What now?"
She chirped.
Geraln stared at her. He blinked several times in rapid succession. She scampered around to his other side, looked up at him, and chirped again. Then, he reached down to pick her up, and set her back on his shoulder.
"You can't be serious!" I said.
Chirpy rubbed her head in his cheek.
Gino looked at me with his eyes wide. "Your friend is insane!"
Geraln tilted his head into her, closed his eyes, and answered. "It's not her fault."
"Like that matters!" I nearly shouted.
Geraln, still with his eyes closed, lifted his hand to rub gently along her body. "She's bonded to me. I don't know why, but she is. If I took that away from her now, after what just happened, I think that would damage her."
Gino was incredulous. "It's an animal."
"In case you haven't noticed," Geraln continued, "they're intelligent, emotional creatures with strong instincts for social connection. Chirpy needs to know that I still accept her."
Gino shook his head. "How can you trust them? She… the other one… you saw what she did!"
"I agree," I said. "How are we supposed to manage when that shit just happens randomly?"
"It wasn't random," Geraln stroked along Chirpy's neck. "Generally speaking, threatening a baby whose mother is a four-hundred pound apex predator is not a good idea."
My mouth gaped. Gino and I looked at one another in disbelief.
"Point is…" Geraln shook his head and took in a deep breath, blowing it out slowly.
Gino pursed his lips and glared at the creature.
Geraln continued. "These people… the Na'uhui… they grew up here. Look at them; they act like nothing's amiss. The vita'o aren't fenced in; they can go wherever they want, and no one here is afraid of them. Why should we be?"
"Because we just watched a guy get his throat ripped out?" Gino furrowed his brow. "That sort of thing makes me afraid."
I shook my head; I had my own liver to worry about. "I don't know, man. I just don't know."
"Come on," Geraln stood.
"Where are you going?" I said.
"Away from here. I'd like to avoid those other Kyoni if I can." He shot a glare at Gino.
"Borel, Massi, and Jame grew up together; I only met them the day I was conscripted."
With that, Gino and I followed Geraln towards the old city while that baby swished her tail left and right across his back. Two girls sat beside a wash basin, both nearly naked like the rest of them. One was Tobori with alabaster skin and dark-green eyes, and the other was a native. They watched Chirpy as we passed.
"Awww!"
"sewa'aaaa! So cute!"
The baby chirped at them. Geraln blushed briefly and kept walking.
Gino nudged my side. "Yeah. Cute. What happened back there, that was real cute."
Across from the library was an old native woman beside a cart loaded up with big, bright-green coconuts. She was a stout old woman wearing an embroidered cotton loincloth, leaving her wrinkled, sagging breasts out, and she first addressed the creature on his shoulder. "puwe! neθuʃifi'ixo! ʒɪ 'aʒe mamavisa ŋuve?"
While the baby chirped, the old woman looked to the side and waved with an effervescent smile less a few teeth.
Gino and I followed her gaze. Not ten yards away, mum had tucked herself halfway behind one of the mud huts. We gaped at one another. Neither of us moved. A native woman carried a wicker basket across her path with a friendly nod to the beast.
"zhipi pozu… uh…" Geraln's voice wavered.
"ʒɪ-pɪ ko-ka-ŋo po-zʊ." The old woman nodded back to him warmly. "zaduθʊpi… Haff kren."
He took two metallic-red quarters from his purse and handed them to her. "Zaduthupi? That's half a kren?"
The old woman selected a prime coconut for him, then chopped it open. "zadu is two piece, θʊ is number thing. zaduθʊpi, one-haff. Hiyigo!"
"ŋʌvɪdesa," he bowed his head.
The chopped end had a light-brown circle about an inch wide with a layer of white coconut meat on the inside surrounding a pool of fresh juice. Geraln tilted it up for a drink, and then held it up for Chirpy. The creature brought her nose close to it, stretched out her tongue, then dove her whole head into the thing only to lift up after several seconds and allow coconut water to drip down her neck. She smacked her jaws, chirped, then dove in for more.
All I could see was a man with two-quarters of his neck missing, covered in blood, and probing the gaping wound with his fingers. When I left, his jaw opened and closed repeatedly.
Geraln laughed while the baby lizard enjoyed a coconut.
Behind us, an eye with a black, vertical slit watched us.
Geraln wiped his chin and led us across the street to the library. The baby on his shoulder chirped, and he stroked her back.
Inside, an older Goloagi woman, naked as everyone else with a number branded into each arm, sat at the water organ plinking a melody that echoed off the stone walls and filled the space with music. Light flooded the central area from high windows and open archways all along the walls, and the whole place smelled of ancient books.
On the left was an expansive polished-stone desk staffed by several women; some stacked books, others spoke to guests. Geraln approached without a thought to Gino and me, and spoke to a middle-aged native woman who didn't look as busy as the others. "shʊsi, uh… 'azhe nuve, uh… uh… uh…"
She smiled back at him and spoke Herali with an elegant accent. "What are you looking for?"
"Oh!" he blushed. "Children's books?"
"Through there, past the academic textbooks at the end of the hall."
My eyes lingered on a stack of papers with a printed chart mapping the Imperial script to the tall, scratch-like letters I'd seen throughout the city. Apparently they used ð for a voiced th like this or that, and θ for voiceless like thick or thin.
"Take one," she said. "They are free."
"We can just take one?" Gino picked one up.
"Nuvidesa," I said. "Nu… nʌ-vɪ-dessa. Sorry."
She smiled back. "vʌ koðowa."
Gino and I caught up to Geraln as he stood motionless in the middle of a hall with rows of books on both sides. He held a book with a deep-blue worn leather cover, and both he and Chirpy seemed entranced. He glanced up at me with half his mouth curled in a grin. "You remember this one?"
Principles of Vapor Mechanics.
That made me smile. "I remember we couldn't find it!"
He shook his head with a light chuckle and stroked the side of the baby lizard's neck. "Sorry, I'm distracted."
We followed him further down the hall to where the shelves were lower, books grew brightly colored, and the letters bigger and bolder. There, he perused the titles and picked one out, holding it up for his little friend. "You'll like this one!"
She chirped.
Geraln opened the cover and leafed through the pages. "Here we go! The First Bloodfalcon. Long, long ago, after Elk was defeated, the world was ruined. Everything was burned and destroyed, all the adults were gone, and only children remained. They couldn't find food, and they were cold and scared. Falcon looked down from the heavens and said, 'I'm going to send my own flesh and blood to teach them'…"
Chirpy jumped down from his shoulder, ricocheted off the book, and raced back down the hall we'd come from.
She'd shredded the page with her tiny claws. Geraln snapped the book closed and looked around. All three of us checked for witnesses, plopped it back on the shelf, and rushed after Chirpy, trying to act innocent.
We found her on the shelf with the Vapor Mechanics book from earlier. She tapped the blue leather, tilted her tiny head up to Geraln, and chirped.
"You want to read that one?" He furrowed his brow. "You'll be bored with it; that one's not for babies."
She grasped the book in her jaws and tugged at it, then looked up at him and chirped.
"Can I talk to you, man?" Gino pulled me aside.
Two aisles over, the shelves made a corner surrounded by more textbooks. Down one hallway, a short Goloagi girl with a number branded on her arms had a cart with several books stacked high. She perused the shelves, split two books apart, slid one from her cart between them, and moved further down.
Gino leaned in to whisper. "He can't keep that thing!"
I whispered back. "What am I supposed to say?"
"He's your friend! He's going to get you killed. Maybe you don't care about that, but he's going to get me killed, and that's something I care about. You've got to talk some sense into him!"
A woman of some mixed ethnicity elbowed between us. She checked us both, so I grabbed the nearest book off the shelf and opened it. Looking down, I murmured low. "I've known Geraln my whole life. Sense does not get talked into him."
Gino closed his eyes and shook his head. Then he looked up at me and smirked. "You going to read that?"
The book in my hand was not Herali. It was written in those native letters and had drawings of plants and things with words pointing to different parts of the image. "I find the author's use of metaphor quite metaphorical."
He shook his head and laughed. With a deep breath he said, "look. You've got to say something to your friend. I don't know what, but you've got to say something."
Gino was right.
We found Geraln in the open foyer at the front of the library beneath the massive, wrought-iron chandelier with a hundred candles that weren't yet lit. Chirpy stood on top of a table beside the open book looking up at Geraln, who stood talking to a native girl with a very… nice…
She was average height, and wore a white silk loincloth with a circle pattern embroidered in black and gold thread that didn't even come down mid-thigh. Her hips were…. she wore nothing else, and she'd pinned her white hair on one side with a gold, spider-web of a pin.
She crouched low and held one hand up with a finger pointed at Chirpy.
Chirpy hissed and scooted closer to Geraln.
He covered the baby with his hand; the girl stood up straight and put her doe eyes on my friend.
"Oh, hey!" Geraln turned to us. "Guys, this is Saewi. She's um… she's local."
"I'm Gino," my friend nodded.
Her face was strikingly beautiful. I was particularly drawn to her lips, large and flat against her face.
"I'm lost," I introduced myself. "My friends and I, we're so new. We only just arrived here, we don't know the language, and we don't know where anything is. I wish we had someone to…"
"So you're gʊd for stud and recreyashan. D'you have any yoos beyond this?"
I froze. My eyes popped, and my brow furrowed. Gino elbowed me in my side with a slight giggle while Saewi returned her attention to Geraln. "You're sayeeng. Gath is where?"
Geraln was tense. He brushed his fingers through his hair and pulled all the way back. "It's uh… it's in Osenia. So before the conquest Falcon country was just Falcon country. The Empire split us into two counties, Osenia and Ozaria."
Little by little, Chirpy crept close and tapped Saewi's hand with the end of her snout.
Saewi opened her eyes wide and leaned over with a big smile. A pendant like a silver claw with a teardrop ruby dangled beneath her breasts. "ɣʊdʊ ɣʊdʊ ɣʊdʊ ŋeθuʃise! Awwww!"
And she once again lifted her finger.
Chirpy held still, watching. Saewi reached in to poke the baby, but she jumped back to dodge, giving out a long string of excited clicks. Then she snapped her neck in and tagged Saewi's hand. Saewi waved her finger around. Chirpy watched, prepared to jump back, when Saewi reached around with her left hand and tagged Chirpy from behind. The baby chirped, then hopped excitedly from one foot to the other and let out another string of clicks.