Episode Fifty-Two The Promise

N adira

We're traipsing through the forest. I must admit, it was much more fun to fly on Thallose's back, but the four of us need to stick together.

I feel a pang of regret that my sexual explorations with the starflyer were interrupted last night. It felt so good to come to a truce. Rather than feeling repelled by him, I was ready to make our relationship as intimate as what I have with Dhar and Azael.

Instead, the four of us bedded down around the fire, and all I got was his downy wing surrounding me as we fell asleep. Well, that's not completely true. His cock was hard as carved wood against the back of my thighs. After the disaster of our first night together, it felt good to know he's attracted to me.

We're getting closer to what the elf called the Works. I can smell it. Every muscle in my body is tight. This is partly because I'm afraid we might get caught, but mostly it's that I'm angry. Furious.

"Pollution," I say. The word comes out with as much vehemence as a curse word.

Didn't we learn anything? When we built the towers to live high in the sky so we could have breathable air, did we not make any plan to mend our ways?

Evidently not. We simply escaped and kept our factories Down Below so they could keep belching out pollutants to befoul the air and water on Earth. I shake my head, disgusted.

Even the sky is darker over the Works. Those in charge obviously believe they're invincible. They've taken no measures to keep their whereabouts a secret.

"There are few guards," Eldar explains. "Big Al, the male I lived with, called the humans apex predators. Called all of us from Down Below monsters, mutants, or animals. If they're all like him, they'll never see our army coming. They're too egotistical to believe we could communicate, band together, or plan an organized attack."

He lifts his chin, lips compressed in anger. I have a feeling whatever happened to him when he was a slave wasn't as easy as he lets on.

We skirt the factories, making our way toward the gray stone hills jutting up behind them. Eldar has the three of us wait in the relative safety of the forest while he scouts ahead, telling us he doesn't remember exactly where the entrance is.

If Zoron wasn't with us, I'd be terrified. In fact, right this minute, I'd probably be asking Thallose to fly us away, fearing a trap. But the centaur is calm, simply swishing his black tail and stomping a back leg every once in a while to hint at his impatience.

I'm dying to know how these two met and what keeps them together, but now isn't the time for that discussion. Besides, the way they look at each other is all I need to understand what keeps them together. They love each other. That's obvious.

A few weeks ago, this would have shocked me to my core. It was punishable by death Up Above. Besides, I wouldn't have understood how it was possible for two creatures of such different temperaments and physiology to love each other. Now I have three mates of my own, I understand.

Eldar's movements are so stealthy, he drops out of the trees and onto Zoron's back before we know he's returned. The centaur lets out a harsh bark of surprise, then his booming laugh. He seems such a happy soul.

The elf leads us to the jutting stone hills, then through rocky terrain, and finally into the cool, dark cave itself. I'm terrified of being in these cramped, narrow, pitch-black passageways. When Thallose tugs me close with his arm, then surrounds me with his downy wing, I breathe a deep sigh of relief. Catching the fresh scent of his feathers calms me.

The elf's eyes must be better than mine, because he leads without faltering. When a shard of light sneaks through the gloom, I assume we must be close to the entrance.

"Eldar? Can you stop a moment?" I ask.

I pull us into a huddle, for a moment imagining what our little group would look like to an outsider. Zoron, the thickly built half-man-half-horse. Thallose, the starflyer, who is tall and hooved with his snowy wings. Then the elf, more humanoid than the others, but still not-quite-human with his snow-white hair, pointed ears, and perfect features.

After allowing myself a moment of pride at how we don't belong together, yet how well we get along, I say, "We need to make a pact."

I already had their attention, but now they're looking at me expectantly. Zoron's hind leg gives a strident clop against the rocky floor. I'm learning it's his tell that he's irritated or worried.

"I imagine you all might have family in there. In fact, I'm guessing the three of you are hoping you do. And if not family, you're probably going to be looking for a member of your species. I'd be surprised if you don't see someone you'd like to rescue right this minute."

I spear each one with a steely gaze, then continue. "You need to promise you won't try to help them. Not now. Not today. Wouldn't you all agree it's too risky? That it would ruin our chance of what we really want, which is to free them all? Free them all and steal everything we need to charge the Tower?"

I stop and wait for a response. Not one of the three will look at me, which tells me everything I need to know. I was right about them. Each of them had been hoping to find someone familiar, and every one of the sneaky bastards had been nursing a plan to spring them from the Works.

"I need your pledge. Each of you. Promise to walk away no matter what we find. Even if we see your sister, Thallose. Even if this very moment she's being beaten by one of those asshole guards. We must wait and come back with an army. It will ultimately be for the good."

Silence. It's quiet in this darkened area, barely larger than the narrow corridors we traversed to get here.

Thallose's jaw is so tight I can see a muscle leaping even in the dim light. The other two won't look at me.

"What about you, human? What if you see a naked human female being beaten or… raped?" Eldar asks, that pointed chin of his thrust at me in defiance.

There's something about the specificity of his question that chills me to my marrow. At some time in the past, he's seen the exact thing he described. He painted that picture for me for two reasons. One was to push back, even though he knows I'm right. Now is not the time to make our move. There are only four of us and we're ill-equipped for a raiding party.

The other reason was to prepare me for what I might see. A pang of alarm slices through me. I hadn't thought it through, but he's right. I'm as likely to see one of my own kind being mistreated as any other species. Human women are not exempt from harsh treatment by human men. I'm living proof of that.

"Point taken, elf," I say, straightening my spine as I finger the laser in the holster at my thigh. "I vow it. I will look, assess, do recon, and then leave no matter what I see."

"Aye, me too," says Thallose, though I know it will tear his heart out if he sees his sister and then has to leave her here for one extra second.

After Eldar and Zoron agree, we forge ahead until we're standing at the slim, almost-hidden opening of the cave.