Epilogue

EPILOGUE

C asey

"We're not lost," I say.

"Of course not," Cadence replies. "Only idiots would wander into an alien forest and not know where they are, and we are not idiots, therefore, we must know where we are."

"The logic logics," I concur.

It's been a few days since we left the camp after Wrath told us specifically not to, but Cadence and I aren't lost. We can't be lost by definition, because we know where we are. We just don't know where anything else is. There are a lot of trees, which makes things difficult. We're used to the interior of a ship, which is a much more logically laid out place. Or space stations which also boast a certain order to things. Essentially, we are used to things that have been made by someone. Nature, by definition, has been made by no one, and frankly, it shows.

"Wrath's not going to be happy with Allie," Cadence smirks. "If he was mad when he found out we left, imagine how mad he'll be when we're gone… forever?"

"I know. She's really going to get it. Did we walk past this tree before?"

"They all look somewhat the same."

"They do. We should mark them. That way we would know if we had seen them before."

"Good idea," Cadence says. "Don't worry, we have energy weapons and knives. We're going to be fine."

The problem, which I am sure has already occurred to both of us, is that you cannot eat energy weapons and knives, and we are both getting pretty hungry.

We've been walking for days. First we hunted. Then we realized we don't know how to hunt. If it is sort of hoping that an animal leaps into the path of our weapon fire, that's what we did.

Once we gave up hunting, we followed a stream. Then we thought we saw something that looked almost mechanical because it was rusty red, but when we got to it, it was just a flower patch.

I make a little notch in the bark of the largest tree next to us, and then we keep going.

"Water would be nice," I add. "I am quite thirsty too, you know?"

"Yes," Cadence says. "Water is nice."

W e walk for what feels like an eternity, making marks on trees intermittently. The good thing is, if it is a good thing at all, we're not passing the same trees twice. This means we're not walking in circles. The bad thing is, we don't know where we are going.

"The ship crashed on the volcano," I remind Cadence. "So we should just be heading for higher ground."

"I agree," she says. "Where is higher ground?"

"I don't know."

The problem is it's a very dense forest and not much in the way of any directional markers whatsoever. Not even a sign. Nature likes to make things difficult. We have thought about climbing a tree, of course, because we're not stupid, but the trees are either very willowy and would not support our weight or are giant behemoths with smooth bark and limbs that start dozens of feet above the ground. They're not suitable for climbing, is what I'm saying.

"Shhh!" Cadence suddenly shushes me. I don't really get why, until I stop to hear rustling getting closer and closer.

"Thank god," I murmur. "Something might be coming to kill us."

"That would save us the trouble of having to keep staying alive," Cadence says, immediately getting my joke.

Two saurians come through the undergrowth, by which time the two of us have settled in at the foot of the tree, waiting for whatever is going to arrive to arrive. They are very tall, very handsome, and very golden. They gleam in the light filtering through the trees like a couple of sexy saurian Adonises. Cadence and I look at one another, and I know we are thinking the same thing: they're hot.

The saurians look at us, somewhat surprised.

"Hello," I say.

"Hello," Cadence also says.

They stare at us, their green eyes appraising us. I get the impression they were looking for something, but maybe not us, exactly.

"Do you guys come here often?" I ask the question with a nervous smirk.

"Do you have anything to eat?" Cadence asks a better question.

Our stomachs mutually growl in the silent aftermath of that question.

"Leave them alone, Atari," one says to the other. "We're not looking for random human females."

"We're not going to leave them alone, Sega. They need our help."

I'm learning their names, and that one of them is worse than the other, but it's possible that neither one of them are any good.

Sega rolls his eyes. "What are we, a charity service for lost human females? They are humans, aren't they? Unfortunate scaleless things."

"I think they're cute."

"If you think they're cute, then why don't you try fucking one."

"Whoa!" Cadence cuts in there. "That's not happening."

They ignore us, in the way males who don't realize that both of the women they're talking about violating are fully armed. We might be lost, but we haven't discharged either of our weapons. That means we have more than enough juice to turn these two into saurian colanders.

"You can't just fuck random forest humans," Atari says, glancing at us. "I am sorry, ladies. I know this is very disturbing."

"Stop talking to them like they're people," Sega sighs. "Just pick which one you want. I'll take the short one."

He's talking about me.

Just like that, he starts walking toward me, as if he plans to just fuck me right here against the tree. I reach for my weapon…

BANG!

Sega, a saurian I just met, but already decided I did not like, crumples in front of me, very dead. But I did not shoot him. I haven't even touched my weapon. It remains holstered, and very much fully charged.

"Oh no," Cadence says dryly, taking in the sight of the now obsolete Sega.

"Oh dear," I agree. "Anyway…"

A tall, dark scaled saurian with magnetic golden eyes and the most incredible wings steps into the clearing, a remnant of smoke emerging from his anachronistic weapon. He fired a physical projectile, which must have felt very unpleasant as it entered Sega's body.

"You just killed my sworn brother!" Atari exclaims. "Who are you?"

"My name is Zin, and these two are under the protection of Wrath."

"Where did this guy come from?" Cadence whispers the question to me.

"I don't know. We're so far from Grave City. He didn't walk here. We have to be many days travel from there."

Zin says nothing, explaining nothing. He has an incredibly dangerous demeanor. I think he liked shooting the other saurian. I am starting to realize these two, Atari and Sega, must be from local tribes. Their clothing is leather and furs and has the look of having been fashioned at home. They don't carry any kind of weapons at all besides bows, arrows, and swords, which are all so laughably outdated as to be useless.

Zin, on the other hand, knows who Wrath is.

"I do not know Wrath," Atari says. "But these two are in our territory."

Zin turns his golden gaze on Atari and takes a step forward. "This isn't your territory anymore," he says, his voice cold. "Everything from the mountain to the horizon is under new management."

Atari frowns, but he does not argue.

"He was going to defile one of these humans against her will. The punishment for that is death," Zin continues. "If you consider that acceptable, feel free to die with him."

Am I starting to warm toward Zin? It's hard not to appreciate a protector, even if his aesthetic is dark as hell.

"Time for us all to go," he announces. "You too, wild one. You could be useful."

He waggles the gun at Atari, who takes being kidnapped with surprising grace.

"You know where the ship is?"

"Yes," Zin says simply. "We are a few hours walk at this point. Let's go. I want to make it before nightfall."

Cadence and I are happy to return to what passes for civilization. Zin organizes us ahead of him. He's going to walk behind us so he can shoot us if we make any funny moves, I guess. Classic.

Cadence and Atari go up ahead. I hang back a little, because I am curious, and the arrival of this saurian poses too many questions for me not to ask.

"How did you get here? You may as well tell me, I'm going to find out."

Zin sighs, as if my question is an inconvenience.

"Did you fly here? Your wings look big, but not big enough to have flown all the way from Grave City in a matter of days. I estimate that we covered roughly a thousand miles in that short flight before we crashed. For you to have done that with your wings in four, say five days, means you'd have to fly continuously at eight miles per hour. Hm. Maybe it is doable. It might even be easily doable. Is that what you did? How fast can you fly?"

"Enough with the questions, human."

"Casey," I say. "My name is Casey."

"Enough with the questions, Casey. I am taking you back to Wrath. I have to assume this is a failed escape attempt. You will suffer for it, I can assure you."

"I already feel like I'm dying, if that helps."

He casts his golden eyes down at me. "You are given to dramatics."

"I'm given to mathematics," I reply. "But yes, also dramatics, I suppose. You're very tall. What's your wingspan?"

He shoots another glance at me. "Do you have one of those mechanical chips that interferes with human sanity and the perception of fear?"

"Me? No. I'm just easily distracted by my thoughts. So, how did you get here?"

"I was on the ship. I followed the human who followed Wrath up in secret. Unlike them, I ejected in a survival pod before the crash, and have been walking toward the wreckage for days."

"Then how did you know Wrath survived?"

Zin looks at me. "Wrath is not the sort to die."

I snort. "Actually, he'd be very much the sort to die. Even a saurian body can't take the damage of impacting a mountain at several hundred miles per hour. It was Cadence and I who saved everyone. We've been implementing crash tech into the vessel for months now. So you can thank us."

Zin looks down his nose, his eyes narrowing slightly. "You are a technician."

"We both are."

I indicate Cadence, and notice that she and Atari are holding hands ahead of us. That was quick. She's gone and snagged the cute, nice wild saurian for herself. I'd say I'm surprised, but I'm not. Cadence always made friends easily. It's her bubbly personality and ability to place rivets at equal spacings by eye alone. On this occasion, it's probably the former rather than the latter.

"You could be useful," he says.

"I'm incredibly useful," I respond proudly. "I helped save a whole lot of lives, including my own. Yours, too, really. I'm the reason the escape pods work. They used to be filled with plunder and booty and the seals were fusing with the interior, but I got them all emptied out and remade the seals, which means you didn't explode when you needed to escape. So you're welcome."

Z in

This human is mouthy, smart, and short. None of these qualities should endear her to me. Somehow, in concert, they are not absolutely entirely off-putting. Most are afraid of me, human and saurian alike. But I can see that she has described herself accurately. She has no time to be afraid of me, because she is too busy being curious about me.

"Can I touch your wings?"

"No," I snap at her. "You are under guard, human. Act like it."

"What am I supposed to do under guard?"

"You have clearly failed in the attempt to escape," I remind her. "You will be punished for that."

"Wrath can't, because he can only touch Allie, or she'll be mad."

"I can touch whoever I like," I tell her. "And I will touch you painfully."

I wait for some acknowledgement that she is in danger. But she barely blinks. She smiles up at me, completely unconcerned.

"I'm a pirate," she says. "I'm a pirate and an engineer."

"And?"

"That means I'm too brave, too smart, and too damn sexy to worry about the likes of you."

I didn't know so much arrogance could be contained in such a small, soft, human package. I will enjoy whipping it out of her. I will enjoy breaking her down into something softer and more useful. I will enjoy finally having a human of my own, not just a hole to fuck, but a tool to use.

I smile at her bravado, my tongue lapping at the lower ridges of my teeth. I will enjoy this. Every moment of it.

Finally, the human begins to understand. Her instincts start to tell her what her mind has refused to. I see the change in her, a chemical thing that dilates her pupils and makes the fine hair on the back of her neck rise.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" She asks the question, now visibly swallowing something like fear.

As luck would have it, the forest is getting darker as clouds cover the sun. Bad weather has been threatening to roll in for hours now. Deep booms echo over the forest as it catches up with us, thick droplets pelting through the canopy of leaves as if it is barely there.

My wings extend out and over her as rain starts to fall, casting her trembling form in perfect shadow.

"My captive creature," I purr. "You are only beginning to understand what I am, and you have not begun to experience what I will do to you. Your captains have been tamed, your companions have been mated, but you - you will be broken."

"That's okay," she says, her voice shaking. "I know how to put broken things back together."

Lightening flashes above us, casting my big dark form against the sky in an imposing silhouette. She cowers beneath my wings, sheltering from the storm underneath a barrier she already fears.

"Good. There is no limit to the number of ways I will break you. You will suffer, Casey."

I use her name for the first time while making that threat, and I hear her whimper as she hears it in my vicious voice. This is much better. This is something much closer to respect.

"Why?" She whimpers the question.

"Because," I growl. "I can. You, and your friends. Everyone you knew on that ship, all have been brought to heel. None of you will ever leave this world. You will live as mates if you are fortunate, and slaves if you are not. So you can be as flippant, and fresh as you like. You've lost your freedom, and you, specifically, belong to me."

"Fuck off," she whimpers, more out of force of habit than anything. She's saying what she thinks she should say, because that's what she would have said when she was a pirate. But she's not one anymore. She's just another captive human on an alien world. And she'll be used as they all are, for our pleasure, and for our purposes. If she's lucky, she'll learn to love it. And if not? She'll learn to love it anyway.