Chapter 20

Dakkan

There were logistics of course. How to leave was one of them. We had to negotiate to get a ship operational. Walking out, as I mentioned to Sabine early on, would get us nowhere. The distance from here to my Thrail was too great to pass on foot.

Lom had a control center hidden underground. Of course, she wouldn't tell us where it was, but she managed to restore the power cells to Sabine's shuttle and temporarily disable the power-draining feature of the sanctuary's force field. We retrieved my spear and Sabine's devices. Lom told us that she had a more direct way back to Sabine's shuttle.

It was harder to say goodbye to the little Ulfris children than I thought it would be. After only a few days, I had grown quite fond of them. They were very cute. Plus, they smelled good. Although I would be okay to not have quite so many flowers in my brakas and strung around my horns once we departed.

"I don't know. I think it's a good look on you." Sabine moved a draping flower garland off my forehead. "I can get the children of the Thrail to make some for you when we get back."

"Please, do not," I groaned. "The only time a warrior wears this many flowers is when he is lying on a burial slab before his spirit returns back to Skrah."

"Well then. We'll hold off on the flowers."

"I couldn't deny them, though." I looked fondly at the Ulfris children. "They are pure innocence and joy. What happened to their people is an abomination."

"It is time," said Lom, hovering over us. She no longer made my spikes rise.

Sabine scooped up little Belbi and nuzzled her nose to nose. The little female made a chiming noise and placed her palm against Sabine's cheek. When she took it away, a clear handprint glowed against Sabine's skin. "I will miss you," she murmured to the little one, with tears in her eyes. "Thank you again for healing me. It's a gift I will always treasure."

"I wish we could visit." I kept my eyes dry, but it was an effort. "But I don't see how that would work."

Lom gazed down. "It would not work, but you will not be forgotten here. Not by me, and not by these young ones."

Sabine tapped Belbi on the nose. "Stay out of those high branches."

The little female danced off with the others.

"Come with me," said Lom. "I will take you through the jungle to your shuttle. You will then take it to retrieve the older Mitran and you will be able to exit the sanctuary." Lom sighed. "And the answer to the question he will have is, yes. He may take the three grals he keeps as pets."

"That's what they're called?" Sabine asked. "They resemble dogs on my planet. That's what I was calling them."

"There are enough of them in this habitat that I can spare those three. They would have a hard time surviving without him anyway," said Lom. "He's cared for and fed them since their mother abandoned them."

"Poor things," said Sabine. "Lukan will be ecstatic."

Nice of someone to ask me what I thought of this. "We won't have more of them running around the bridges of my Thrail, will we?" I asked, alarmed by the prospect. Three were fine, sort of. More of them would be a problem.

"No." Lom shook her head. "They're all brothers."

"Thank Skrah," I muttered. "Lukan will be responsible for keeping them fed and for cleaning up after them. I won't have their droppings all over the walkways."

Sabine laughed. "He will take wonderful care of them, and won't allow your Thrail to be dirty."

Lom rested her large palms on the ground. "Climb on my shoulders. I'll be giving you a ride. We'll get to your vessel quickly."

Sabine and I exchanged looks, then we stepped onto Lom's palms.

"Hold on tight." The large Ulfris lifted us up, where we hooked our arms over her shoulders. We stood on her forearms and she began to run. And I didn't mean run like humans and Mitrans did. Lom ran faster than the wind.

I had to admit, it was a very strange experience riding on a giant alien's shoulder. But she was very strong and her strides were massive. I clutched her shoulder as her long, indigo hair streamed out behind her, and she pounded across the jungle. The trees whizzed by in a blur as she dodged the tallest ones and leaped over the shorter ones. I looked over to see Sabine wide-eyed and awestruck, but her eyes gleamed. She was enjoying every moment of it.

It took several hours, but then we stopped and Lom lowered us to the ground. The familiar clearing was the same as we'd left it. The fire pit sitting cold with blackened wood. The foliage I hacked down to make a safe clearing. We were where we'd started, at Sabine's shuttlecraft.

I glanced over towards the thicket. "I feel bad about killing your guardian."

"Don't," said Lom. "It was trying to kill the two of you. There is no room for remorse when it comes to survival." And that was an indicator of all of Lom's actions, even now. She was helping us only because it increased the likelihood that more juvenile Ulfris would reach maturity. Had there been no benefit to letting us go, she wouldn't have. I had to respect it. I wasn't sure my choices would be any different if the safety of my people was as precarious. Lom looked over to where I had dragged the carcass. "I will bring it back and see if it can be repaired."

"You shouldn't need guardians any longer," I said. "You will have no more visitors to the sanctuary."

"That will be wonderful, indeed." Although her hands were so much larger than mine, she reached out and I placed my palm against hers. "I am glad to have met you, Warlord Dakkan, and you, Dr. Sabine."

"I am glad we could come to an arrangement that worked for us both," I said. "I will always remember the Ulfris children. And while the Sigra people are not known to us in this quadrant, they will not be welcome here. I will see to it. Mitrans will not trade with them or anyone that would harm those young ones."

"Thank you, Dakkan." Lom bowed her head, and so did we in return. "Safe travels and blessings for a long, good life." She turned back in the direction of her precious babies and loped off through the jungle.

I turned to Sabine and shook my head. "Let's hope for considerably less excitement going forward with our lives together."

"Agreed," she said. "Now let's get this thing in the air and tell Lukan that we're taking him with us."

"Can hardly wait for that conversation," I said as I opened the door to the shuttle. "We're going to have a long talk before we land in my Thrail. He cannot tell a soul about where he was."

"I have a feeling he will be more than happy to leave this part of his life behind." Sabine walked inside and hit the control panel. "Oh, god yes. It works. I'm hitting the replicator."

It was a relief beyond words when the lights came on and the systems all started up. "Do you know how to fly this?" Sabine asked suddenly. "You don't have ships like this at your Thrail."

"Because we're so primitive?" I asked with a raised brow. "I know the general idea of it, but no. Not really."

Sabine groaned. "Great. We escape only to crash into a hillside."

"We're not going to crash." Hopefully.

She crossed her arms. "Okay, Warlord."

I changed the display setting to the common galactic tongue, which I had learned so I could speak with merchants and traders. Now that I could read the controls, I engaged the thrusters and sent the ship vertically into the air. Just enough to clear the trees. "And by the way, Sabine. I love you too."

She looked at me sharply. "When did I say I loved you?"

"When you were going delirious from the synthetic toxin in your brain."

"You can't go by that," she said. "People say all sorts of unhinged things when they're affected by a neurotoxin."

"Oh." I sent a grin her way. "Well, in that case, I love you, Sabine."

She blinked, looking over at me with a soft smile. "I love you, too, Dakkan."

"I'm glad we have that covered." I steered the craft toward Lukan's shelter. "Just so you know, I intend to make you happy the rest of the days we have together."

She bit her lip and smiled. "I'll hold you to it, Warlord. I'm yours, for the rest of our days."