Chapter 10

TEN

Lorna

The tension in the chains holding up my arms snapped. A shriek sounded in the distance, followed by the flapping of wings. Chains rattled, and Whitten barked out a warning. The light shone on so all I could see was white. The snap of wings sounded close by my head followed by the scrabble of talons on rock. A pained screech came next, along with a sizzle and the distinct smell of burnt skin.

And voices were all around me. Below me. My translator implant hadn't picked up the language yet, so it was just a mishmash of syllables.

"Don't touch her!" Whitten roared. But it didn't matter. Hands were on me. Or maybe they were paws. I felt the brush of fur, and then my body was moving. There was a moment of weightlessness, and then my body slammed down onto something hard that rattled my teeth. I flailed as my body began to slide on the hard surface down, down, down, and I was gaining speed as I slid. That light was still on, blinding me, and somewhere above me I could hear another thud, followed by a crack, and Whitten's unmistakable roar of anger.

But what I didn't feel was my body being torn apart by the Ev—there were no claws digging into me, no teeth tearing into my guts or tentacles ripping off my limbs.

And as my stomach seemed to slide up into my throat from the force of my slide, I had another moment of weightlessness before I dropped onto something soft that cushioned my fall. A moment later, a furry body landed next to mine.

A few more thuds later came with murmured voices, and I blinked as the blinding light winked out. At first, all I saw was darkness, and I rolled my body into Whitten's, who accepted my weight with a grunt.

I blinked. Blinked again. My eyes adjusted slowly to a cavern lined with glowing flowers in a kaleidoscope of colors. Blooms were everywhere in all different shapes and sizes—some had thin petals in a cluster like zinnias while others were like massive tulips. The flowers lit the whole cavern, and as my gaze took in the mud brick floor, I also began to see the bodies of small creatures take shape all around me.

They were all over—some standing in a crowd huddled toward the back of the cavern gawking at us, while some stood closer. They were bipedal, with round bodies covered in a gray and black striped fur. Their faces were very flat, like Persian cats, and had long whiskers that twitched and trembled. Round eyes sat very high on top of their heads, and above that were round little ears like a teddy bear. They all stood about three to four-feet high, although I could see some very young ones in the back crowed clinging to the legs of an adult.

The military-like contingent in front of us held spears and wore steampunk-like goggles that magnified their already big gray eyes. Most of them wore boots that ended at their thighs, like Puss in Boots, but other than that they wore no clothes.

Whitten and I were on some sort of inflatable pad—kind of like a bounce house, and I shifted off Whitten who had all but disappeared in the folds of the pad. "Um," I whispered to him. "We're alive, and unless I completely misunderstood who the Ev are, I don't think these guys are the Ev."

Whitten bared his claws and slashed at the pad. With a wheeze, the pad rapidly began to lose air. The crowed of furry creatures in the back began to gasp and some shrank back in fear. The spear-holding creatures braced. Slowly, the pad we were on deflated. I sat up, but Whitten only managed to roll onto his side before slumping back down on the ground. As Whitten and I were revealed, the scared gasps of the crowd quickly turned to loud, excited murmurs. Some of them shifted forward. And as my implant began to detect the language, one word became all too familiar. " Beast. Beast. Beast ."

Despite not knowing what kind of situation I was in, the fear of these creatures took a back seat to my concern for my mate. "Whitten!" I cried as I cradled his head in my lap where I knelt among the ruins of the inflatable pad. I didn't know where to touch him. His ears were mangled. His body was a mix of dirt, paint, and blood. His breathing rattled in his chest. "What can I do?" I pleaded with him. We'd survived but for how long? Would he be able to heal?

Whitten's hand flailed before he caught mine and squeezed it. His eyes rolled wildly as the creatures around us began to draw closer with tentative footsteps. "H-help me up. I'll defend us."

I was pretty sure he couldn't defend against a fly.

I felt the presence of something close. Too close. I glanced up with a glare and balled my fist near my face. "Don't come any closer!"

The closest creature froze before turning back to the rest of his speared companions. A few of them nodded at him, and he focused back on me. "Beasty heal." He blinked his big eyes. "No Fur heal."

No Fur. I guessed that was me. I glanced at the spear. "What's that for then if you want to heal us? What happened? Why are we here?"

The furred creature blinked again before rising to his full height of maybe four feet. He lifted his chin and slammed the butt of his spear on the ground as he thumped his small paw on his chest. "Loppies save. Loppies heal." His gaze met mine, and his little mouth stretched into something resembling a grin. "Loppies trick Inklas."

"Are you… Loppies?" I asked tentatively.

He thumped his paw on his chest again. "Loppies."

"Are they all—" I gestured to all the creatures surrounding us. "Loppies too?" I was trying to determine if Loppies was his name or the name of his people.

"Loppies all." He jerked his chin in a prideful gesture.

Whitten hadn't said a word but watched the Loppie in front of us carefully. "You wished to save us?"

"Loppies save. Loppies heal. Loppies trick Inklas." The creature repeated.

"Loppies save human." I pointed to myself.

The Loppie pointed to Whitten. "And Loppies save Beasty. Beasty once saved Loppies."

Whitten looked confused, and he struggled to sit up. He managed to get his body to more or less of an incline as he studied the Loppie in front of him. "I did?"

"Another Beasty." The creature said. "Loppies never forget."

"And Loppies heal?" I asked. "They will heal this Beasty?"

The Loppie turned his head and whistled a sharp sound between his teeth. The crowd watching parted, and a little procession of creatures marched forward holding a wheeled stretcher-like object between them. Getting Whitten up onto that stretcher turned out to be a job for one of me and about fifteen Loppies. Whitten protested the entire time, insisting on wanting to walk, but I told him that if he tried to walk, I wouldn't speak to him for at least a day. I didn't want to see him hurt himself further, and I didn't care about his pride right now. I wanted him to heal. So while he pouted, he let the Loppies and me push him on the wheeled cart.

I walked beside the cart near Whitten's head as we left the cavern and headed onto a street-like path. Other Loppies wheeled carts to and fro, and the street was lined with little mud brick houses. The blooming flowers were everywhere, lighting our path, some so bright that they almost felt like sunlight. They gave off a bit of heat, too. When I brushed my fingers along one, it reacted by shivering slightly and curling its petals. When I withdrew my hand, the petal returned to its outstretched form. I couldn't decide if the plant had liked my touch or not.

The air didn't feel like it had in the mountain. And based on our downward projectory from the cliff, I sensed we were at least ground-level, or maybe we were underground. Either way, the Loppies had built an entire village here, all connected by a series of streets. Buildings were constructed with bricks. There were little signs hanging on windows, and many appeared to be bartering with each other for goods.

We finally stopped in front of a small dwelling where the door opened immediately. A Loppie who walked with a cane and a slight hitch in his step waved us inside. Whitten's bulk barely fit through the door, but once we were inside, I realized this had to be a Loppy doctor. He beckoned me toward a chair that was about the size of those I kept in my preschool classroom. I perched on it, feeling a bit like a Dorothy in the land of the munchkins.

Whitten

I wracked my brain trying to remember if any of my brothers had mentioned the Loppies. They certainly had never mentioned a species by name, but Eleric might have told a story about some small furry creatures. The details were fuzzy.

I was still riding the adrenaline from my time with the Inklas. Those fleckers. I'd been chained when I'd woken up, and when I'd tried to break the chains, they'd shocked me. It hadn't been enough to stop me, and as I'd broken one chain, they'd drugged me again with that awful smoke. The beatings had started after that, and while the pain had been intense, all I'd thought about was Lorna. I had awful visions of them beating her. That the next time I'd see her she'd be battered and broken. When she'd appeared without bruises and covered in a swirly paint, I'd almost wept with relief. Although that had been short-lived, as their plan had been to sacrifice us to the Ev.

So I was still on edge. I couldn't make myself relax even though Lorna looked upbeat and positive. At full strength, I could probably take out this entire colony of Loppies easily all by myself if danger arose. But I wasn't at full strength. I couldn't even walk for fleck's sake. I was pretty sure something was broken in my hip. Something else in my shoulder. My head wouldn't stop throbbing. I'd never been hurt this badly, even when the Xaberian guards had mashed me to a pulp. But the Inklas had wanted me alive and conscious but subdued. They'd accomplished that.

The Loppie with a cane seemed to be in charge, but many Loppies tittered around me. Some gave Lorna a blanket, which seemed like several stitched together, which she wrapped around her naked body. I'd be eager to see that red paint washed off her. I wasn't sure I'd ever like the color red again.

The Loppie healer prodded at my sore shoulder, and I sucked in a breath on a wheeze. He leaped back quickly, nearly toppling over, before catching himself. "Beasty hurt bad. Beasty hurt bad," he muttered to himself as he fiddled with some instruments on a table. "But Loppies heal. Loppies heal." He turned toward me with a pot of strong-smelling salve. "Loppies heal," he repeated as he began to rub the salve onto my fur.

At first, I wasn't sure what he planned to accomplish other than making my fur oily and reeking of that salve that made my nose twitch. But then the salve seemed to soak into my fur and down into my skin. And where it touched, it heated. And with the heat came the easing of pain. My entire body had been in intense agony, wracked with waves and waves of never-ending pain. But now my body had relief for the first time in a long time. I'd been beaten by the Inklas over what had to be days in Earth years. And in moments here with the Loppies, I was free of pain.

My eyelids went to half-mast, and I let out a deep body rumbly groan that I felt in my toes. Lorna suddenly appeared at my side, face wrinkled in concern. "Are you okay?" She turned to the Loppie doc. "What did you do to him? Why's he in more pain?"

"Not more pain," I murmured. "Whatever the fleck that is, it helps."

She sniffed. "It smells like peppermint."

I didn't know what that was, and it didn't matter, because my body was like liquid on the table. The Loppie doctor ordered me to open my mouth, and I did. He held a dropper over me and let a few drops of a nasty liquid spill over my tongue. I didn't like the taste, and Lorna was still talking, questioning what they were giving me, and ranting about something called medical decisions, but I was floating. Floating away on a soft warm, cloud. I twisted my paw pads in the ends of Lorna's hair, and let myself go.