Calypso - S. G. Ricketts (reading an ebook TXT) 📗

get up. She had to keep going.

Her knee was a dead-weight, but she forced herself to keep moving. Each step was easier. Each step left her waiting to die. Thunder crashed again and she started. The world was lit briefly in white light, and she saw him running next to her, long legs keeping pace. He was watching her, his blue-gold eyes following her disjointed movements. She couldn’t look away. She didn’t want to look at him. Why had she ever thought to prove her courage? He gave a ghost of a smile. Then, she slipped on a fallen frond and hit her head. Everything vanished.

Chapter Three

A drum. At first, Kira thought the pounding rhythm was a drum. As the darkness slowly began to fade, she realized it was her heartbeat. Kira kept her eyes closed. It took a few moments for the pounding to lessen. Slowly her senses returned to her. Everything ached. her knee throbbed in time with her head. The kneecap felt massively larger than it should. She worked her way up her body, silently cataloguing her injuries. From the smell of the air, she was somehwere in the forest. There was no lingering scent of sulfur; instead, the air was light, almost peppery. She kept her breath steady, careful not to move.

Her right palm felt crusted, the center burned from the base of her fingers to the top of her wrist. The hand would be useless for a while, then, with a gash that long. Thunder rumbled abover and she stifled the urge to wince. Breathe in. Breathe out. The pain receded and she worked her way up from her wrist. The skin there felt tender, but the fire on her arm was more worrying. Kira tried again to remember what happened, but her mind drew a blank. How had she gotten so many needles in her? She easily recognized the familiar burning sensation, but it was the strongest she’d ever felt. It reached tendrils of heat up her arm, already coiling into her shoulder. Thunder cracked again and a stray breeze brushed her face. It smelled of rain and cinnamon. Kira swallowed. She had been captured. Everything was over. Lightning flashed again, blinding even against her closed eyelids and her breath caught in her throat. So her nightmare had been reality. She could feel her left arm throbbing uselessly beside her, the joint still out of place. Needles from running into the thorn tree. Torn knee from falling. She turned her head slightly and a gasp escaped. The pain shot up the back of her skull and she fought to steady her breathing again. With the other injuries, she had had a slight chance of escape. A concussion left her completely open.

Resigned, Kira focused instead on her prison. The sounds of rain were distant and hollow-sounding, so she was somewhere deep. Other than the rain, the room was silent. Slowly, she opened her eyes. She squinted, trying to see what little of her surroundings she could in the dark. Lightning flashed, searing her eyes. She closed them and waited for the world to stop spinning. In that brief moment, her worst fears had been confirmed. Walls towered above her on both sides, the sky just barely visible through branches above her.

“You’re awake.” The voice was deep, fluid-sounding. Her breath caught in her throat and she bit her lip. Survival demanded she run, but her body could hardly move. She opened her eyes slightly, searching the darkness for the origin of the voice. The words were very clearly English, a strange English that she’d heard before somewhere. The shadows were too deep. She couldn’t see her own hand, let alone someone else. The ceiling was briefly lit again; branches tangled overhead, disappearing into a thick blanket of green. Lightning filtered through, leaving little patches of white across her nose. White spots danced across her vision, obscuring any chance she had of seeing her capture or her escape. Kira sighed and stared upwards again. Little puffs of green drifted down every now and then. She watched one as it floated down to settle on her nose. “Don’t move.” A black shape moved across her face and gently picked the leaf off her nose.

She watched the fingers move up and away. Her head throbbed when she tried to follow it into the darkness and she grimaced. His voice had been close. She closed her eyes, willing the pain away. What was he waiting for?

A shape bobbed into view overhead, blue-gold eyes travelling from her head down her body. “I’m surprised. I didn’t think a human would be so durable.”

“Oh, shit!” Kira was up and against the wall of the tree before she could think. White fireworks of pain exploded across her vision and she blacked out.


* * * * *


The drums beat against the inside of her skull. Kira licked dry lips and slowly opened her eyes. She was still propped up against the wall. Her focus came back more quickly this time and she searched the darkness for the alien man. She could just make out a darker shadow in front of her. She flinched, then grabbed her head with a ragged gasp. “Oh my fucking god...” The shadow man backed up slowly. Kira watched him through watering eyes, relieved. Still, nothing fit. She propped her elbow on her good knee and held her head in her hand. He squatted a few yards away, the lightning illuminating him every few minutes. Kira swallowed and forced herself to show the same indifference. His eyes were narrowed and his dagger was out, but he made no more towards her. The poison was already fast at work. She tried to flex her injured hand. Nothing happened. Startled, she ventured a look down, fighting the dizziness. Black blood seeped slowly from the wound. Kira grimaced. Of course the hand was numb. The thorn and all its defenses had sliced it open. Carefully, she pulled the wounded hand into her lap. The man shifted and she returned her eyes to him. Her pulse raced, waiting. Every defense she had was gone, yet he didn’t move. His marks slowly began to brighten, the light catching in his eyes and bathing the ground around him in dim blue light. She took a steadying breath and met his gaze. “What do you want from me?”

He flipped the knife between his fingers. The sight of six fingers unnerved her further. He followed her gaze and stilled the knife. “What did you build?” She licked dry lips and said nothing. He watched her, his thumb rhythmically rubbing the hilt of the knife. He smiled slightly and flipped it. “What did you build?” he repeated. Lightning reflected off the barest hint of fang and chills broke out along Kira’s arms. The blood rushed to her face. He couldn’t break her that easily. He frowned and sat back on his heels, marks lightening to a powdery blue. Kira looked him over. She had never seen him before now, she realized. He wasn’t one of her usual tormentors. He sighed. “I know you can understand me.” She flinched as he leaned forward. His eyes watched her, the blue-gold irises catching the light. “Tell me: what did you build?”

Kira curled her lip. “And if I don’t tell you?”

“Stupid human.” The man stood and stared down at her. “It’s a simple question. I need the answer.”

She frowned and sucked in a breath. The poison had reached her chest. It was slowly getting harder to breathe. “Mine was a simple question, too. What if I don’t tell you?” She met his gaze, eyes steely with determination. Something was off about him. She could hardly think past the pressure in her head and chest, but something kept her quiet. “Why do you need an answer so badly?”

The man smiled briefly. “Amazing... Even in the face of death, you refuse to give in.” He shook his head and walked to the far side of the tree, his movements jerky and disjointed in the lightning flashes. “I wonder how long you’ll hold out...” He settled against the wall and flicked something behind him. A minty green light lit the cavern, its light illuminating the bulbous body of the tree. Thick walls bowed outward and Kira followed the green lace up. She closed her eyes for a moment, trying to compose herself. The green light twisted its way from the floor to the top branches, an intricate web of fungus. The sap tree was huge; there was no way she was getting out. Gritting her teeth, she looked at her capture. She swallowed, her mouth dry with pain. He frowned and leaned forward, fingers tseepled before him. “You have about twenty minutes of consciousness left. Can you afford to ignore my question?

Kira snorted and winced as the world shivered before her. “Ah....” She rested her head against the wall and waited for the pounding to slow. “I have no reason to answer you,” she hissed, wrapping her good arm around her chest. His eyebrows rose. “There is nothing good about you people. I know how this ends.” She gasped and curled forward against her knee. Fireworks exploded across her vision again, but the pain in her chest was worse. The man stayed silent, watching her agony. She raised her gaze and spat. “Either way, I die.”

He smiled coldly. “So you understand the situation. What did you build?” he repeated. His eyes bored into her. She wrinkled her nose, body crippled by the poison. She took shallow breaths, trying to keep conscious. “This will all be easier if you tell me,” he said.

Kira snorted, then gasped against the wall of pain. His calm diplomacy was irritating. She straightened slowly against the wall, fighting the scream welling up. His eyes narrowed at her expression. “Easier for you or for me?”

He grinned ferally, running his hand through his hair. “Oh, much easier for you.”

Warily, she watched him. The silence grew. Finally, Kira cleared her throat. “Time’s running out. I don’t plan on talking to you, so are you going to kill me like a man or let the poison do the job for you?” Her voice broke and she coughed. A vice tightened around her throat, invisible fingers cutting off the air slowly.

He snorted. “Kill you?”

She shifted and barely nodded. “Diplomacy isn’t one of you people’s strong suits.” She wrinkled her lip. “Or are you really a coward?”

He shook his head and stood. “How amusing.”

Kira’s sneer faded. “And how do you figure that exactly? Why are you toying with me?”

He shrugged. “No one is toying with anyone. If you answer my question, everything will be over.” His gaze shifted to her. “I won’t kill you.”

Kira laughed softly