Chapter 5 - Aloryk

"Protector Aloryk, we must go now!"

One of the mimyckah must have smashed my head with a rock or something. That is a Trixikka voice.

I turn and as I do, I'm assaulted by a stench so strong, I am suddenly more clear-headed than I have ever been in my life. When my focus settles, I see him. "Tryk?"

He rushes to me, looking concerned. The mimyckah give him a wide berth. "Aye. Come, we must leave this wretched place."

I shake my head, gasping for breath as I almost double over in a wave of pain. "What is that scent?!" I ask, only half grateful for the distraction from the fire in my wings.

"It is frightberry," he answers, coming to my side with a worried look to his face as he surveys my sorry state. "The beasts mistrust the scent, but they will grow bolder the longer we-"

His words die out as his eyes catch on the lit up pod behind me. " A female ," he lets slip under his breath as he straightens and stares at her - stares at my Polly.

Groaning, I straighten too. " My female."

"Aloryk?" Polly enquires from inside her pod. "Aloryk, are you alright?"

Tryk's tail flicks as he scans the cave wall, obviously now seeing the shapes of the other pods, all caked in blood and filth. He goes to the nearest two and wipes the grime from their shells, activating the glow of life from within. He looks at me, then to the mimyckah - those that remain have backed away, but they observe us curiously. I can only guess that the terrible smell of frightberry has confused them, and they are not yet sure of what exactly the Shadow Wing is . "We do not have the time to take them with us," he says.

"I am not leaving my female. Not here, not anywhere."

Tryk looks to Polly, his jaw tensing as he assesses the situation, glancing quickly at the remaining mimyckah, too. "Can you get her free of that thing?"

I do not answer him. Instead, I leap up to Polly's pod and start touching the not-skin-lights on it. Some react to my frantic pressing with noises, or the light changes color. I had done this when I'd tried to appease the one-eyed mimyckah. I hadn't actually intended to wake my Polly, but wake she had, and I pray to the Goddesses that one of these lights will release my female.

"Aloryk?" Polly asks, her hands pressed to the clear shell of her pod.

I press my hand over hers, feeling nothing but the odd coolness of the thing. I know my Polly would feel nothing like this. She is all warm softness, and bountiful curves, not cold and hard. "I am getting you out of here," I tell her before going back to pushing the lights in all manner of sequences. Something makes a slightly different sound and suddenly the waters inside Polly's pod drain so quickly, it makes her yelp. I do not know where the waters have gone, but there is my female in there now - my female wearing sodden coverings and shivering as though she has been caught in the depth of a cold night during a rainstorm.

"Hurry, Protector," Tryk barks while he eyes the mimyckah as they begin to grow in boldness, inching closer only to back away when he jerks in their direction. "They will soon decide that they do not care that I stink of frightberry and attack anyway." I glance back at him just as he throws me a look over his shoulder, his eyes catching on the other pods behind me and the slumbering females inside. "Should we wake the others?"

"We cannot," I say, shaking my head as I curl my fingers around the lid of Polly's pod, trying to pry the Goddess-damned thing open with brute force. "Polly took a long time to wake - it is time we do not have," I say, grimacing as I tug and pull with all my strength. "And besides - fuck! - I can't get this fucking thing to release my female !" I slam my fist down on the flashing lights in anger, surprised when that seems to make the lid of the pod softly pop open. Polly pushes the thing and then promptly falls atop me which is both the best and the worst thing to happen to me.

The worst, because being thrown onto your back when your wings are obviously broken, bruised and bloody is making the pain reach heights no Trixikka should ever reach.

And best, because Polly is in my arms. I can touch her. She is touching me. And she is so fucking soft and luscious, I go a little lightheaded from the sensation of having her atop me.

Of course, that may be due to the pain, too.

Either way, I'm not sure if I am grinning or grimacing right now.

"Oh my God!" she exclaims, scrambling back to get off me.

"Here," Tryk offers his hand to my Polly to help her rise from the ground, and Goddess-help-me, I want to snap every bone in his stupid hand. But I manage to get a hold of myself before I start threatening the Shadow Wing who has come to help us.

Sucking in a groan of blinding pain, I rise to my feet, only to see Tryk cradling my female's face in his hands. "What the fuck?" I begin to growl, but he quickly moves to me, holding my face now.

And then the smell hits me all over again.

"Ew! What is that?!" Polly asks.

Tryk's hand dips into the pouch slung at his waist, pulling out the small, horrible frightberries before he crushes them in his fist and slathers the remnants onto my shoulders. I wince and suck in a breath over my teeth at the contact. I have many injuries and this is not helping.

"If we're all going to get out of here, you two need to stink as much as I do," he grunts, throwing a look over at the mimyckah who are edging ever closer, their heads tilted as they stare and smile, saliva dripping like slimy vines down to the ground as they watch us, fascinated.

As if she had forgotten their very existence until now, Polly makes a squeaking noise of surprise when she follows Tryk's line of sight and promptly leaps behind me. Instinctively, I try to puff up and splay my wings to shield her further, but the left will not rise and the right only does so very painfully, and at such an odd, uncomfortable angle, even Tryk looks pained at witnessing my attempt.

"Here," he grunts, pulling out more berries and handing them to me. "Put more on your female. We need to go."

Turning, I crush the fruits and look down at a very wide-eyed looking Polly.

"This is such a weird dream," she tells me. "And you are So. Freaking. Tall ."

She does this really adorable little half-laugh, half-hiccup, and I wonder if she hit her head when she fell from the pod because this is not the time for laughter. Does she truly think this is all a dream?

"I think you're like the hottest guy I've ever seen," she tells me as I smear the pungent berries up and down her arms.

"I am at a regular temperature, Polly. Are you-" I pause to put the clean back of my hand to her forehead. "Are you feeling well?"

She bats me away like my concern is an annoyance to her, only for her attention to snag on something; the wall with the other lost females in their pods that we cannot take with us. She fixes on one and looks stunned like frizikki fawn caught in a trap. I am about to explain that we will come back for them all but am interrupted when the Shadow Wing presses extra blades into our hands. " We need to go , and we need to go now ."