30
Between flashes of memory or the scene of the explosion, Aegon slipped in and out of consciousness. He saw the bobbing ship, mostly gone, burning on the top of the water. Then black.
He felt the cool rush of the water rocking him at its surface. His head began to submerge, which jolted his body into a paddle for air. He clawed at the water until his head broke back out into the air, gulped in a breath, then black.
An image of a crimson haired woman flashed, holding a flame in her palm, smiling seductively. Her lips mouthed the words, "Drahkness Kahn." Black.
He heard the commotion of a crowd above him, the waves lightly rocking him both awake and unconscious. He looked up, past a blinding glare, to see the concerned face of Nahknani, reaching down to him. He reached his arm. His back stung in the salt water and his arm burned from exhaustion. Black.
Another image flashed. The shadow of a tall broad-shouldered man stood against the setting sun over a cliff. Below him were the reaching hands of thousands. Aegon floated over the edge to get a better look, the shadow remaining nothing more than a black silhouette as he approached. The hands were reaching from a congested crowd, arms crawling over each other to reach the highest point, drenched in something. The setting sun cast an eerie dark over the scene, but he made out the color. Crimson red. Blood red. The shadow stood over them laughing.
His eyes opened for only the briefest of moments to cough out sea water on the deck of the stolen ship. The bright sun cut like daggers, as he squinted to see into the face of the person holding him. Nahknani spoke to him, the sound of her voice soft, clouded, and drowned out by a high-pitched ringing he couldn't seem to shake. The words sounded like he was still under water, muffled and hard to distinguish. He looked at her through the blinding light of the sun. "Are you okay?" he asked, though he wasn't sure how loud his voice projected or if he annunciated. She looked at him, and through the glare behind her, he could see a smile on her shadowed face. Black.
He faded in and out for a few hours aboard the stolen ship, as the Brindled Men recovered from the explosion. Eventually, through the flashes of events happening and visions in his unconscious mind, he woke, still in Nahknani's arms, his partner and savior asleep, sitting up against a barrel in the middle of the deck, foot traffic bustling all around them.
He stretched the lids of his eyes, as if to prevent them from closing again. He gently picked up her arm, which was draped around and over his chest, and pushed himself up and off the wooden floor beneath him. He reached his knee, then reached his feet, and scanned the scene.
The ship had taken damage, but nothing crippling. If they expected to sail the seas, they'd be humbled by their first storm, but if they were only meaning to reach the rest of their clan, they would easily manage.
His head felt light. A dizzying flutter sank from his pounding head, ringing ears, and weak body. He reached for a nearby rail to steady himself as he felt his body began to fold. He regained his balance, and control of his legs, but the pain from the blast still shrouded his body. A cool breeze from the sea softly wisped past him, refreshing him for the slightest moment. His body was still damp and salty from the sea, and the breeze tingled on the beads of ocean that still clung to his bare skin. The rescue party must have removed the melted leather outfit he had stolen, leaving only his underclothes and boots. He looked down at himself. He looked ridiculous. He shook his head dismissing the thoughts as irrelevant and looked around the busy deck for a familiar face.
In the moments after he rose, unfamiliar faces acknowledged him and spoke. He assumed it was in their language, though the words were still muffled and drowned out by the ringing. He smiled at them, wanting to seem composed despite the disorientation and confusion he was still stuck in. One man even grabbed him for an aggressive embrace, squeezing him with both arms lifting him in the air. The grip and jolt shook his head with a pounding pain, but he managed to keep smiling, return to the ground, and continue to look for someone he knew.
Pride filled him as he scanned the deck. His crew was manning the ship, bustling from place to place, sailing as if they'd been doing it their whole lives. He didn't see any of the women, or Ootrahk. He saw one of Ootrahk's warriors, one of the Valyrian speakers, near the rudder directing those around him as if he assumed command. He saw the other Valyrian speaker in the crow's nest, yelling down information to his partner as he surveyed the blue horizon. As proud as he was to see his crew, he grew nervous. He had just remembered the last thing he saw before losing consciousness. Dying Brindled people.
He grew anxious as his mind became clearer and his need for answers became more dire. Nahknani was holding him when he woke. She was safe, or as safe as any of them were. But what of the girls? Ootrahk? What in the seven fucking hells happened?
Still holding a nearby rail to maintain his balance, he saw Nahknani stirring awake, reaching for the body she held, looking for the man she had saved. Her expression began confused as she started to awaken, then flashed panic as she realized he was gone.
"I'm right here," he said, his voice muffled in his ears. She turned, sighed, and stood to berate him. Her face wrinkled in an exaggerated anger, more fear than rage, and she reprimanded him like a concerned mother, warning him not to be so brash and brazen. He couldn't make out every word she said, he thought she broke up the Valyrian with phrases from her tongue, lashing at him quickly and gutturally in between bits he could understand, though still could not hear clearly. She continued. The sass on her face, the curve of her eyebrow, the deliberate gestures with her hand, all spoke to the heart wrenching concern she had been burdened with since he went airborne. It was touching to see her fury.
"Nani, my ears are ringing, slow down. Tell me." He grabbed each of her shoulders, holding her gently, as he looked into her eyes and asked, "What happened? What the fuck happened?"
Her eyes were a lighter blue, glistening and slick, maybe from tears. The pink flecks in her pupils were tempered with an even lighter hue of amber, and the depth of her eyes felt deeper, her soul closer, as he lost himself in their beauty. He could feel her sorrow, or near sorrow as she must've thought him dead. He thought in that moment she might have died too, as he flew through the air, the shattered hull of the ship launching into their boat. His crew.
"You fucking flew is what happened. We were all watching you slash through the slavers until you reached the last one, killed him, and returned to the flames. We lost sight of you for a moment until the whole ship screamed and pieces began to fly in every direction. Fire burst from seemingly nowhere, breaking apart the ship and sending the pieces everywhere." She reached out a paw and gently touched his face. Her mouth opened, as if to say something. It closed without a word, though he felt he could tell what she had meant to say.
"You didn't lose me. Not yet anyway." He smiled at her, trying to break the tension, as the two stared into each other a world apart from the noise and movement of the busy deck. "Besides, who says I'm yours to lose?" She dropped her hand and changed her face. She pouted at first, enjoying his jest less than he did, then laughed again in her head as that familiar smile stretched across her face.
"That's right. You don't like women."
I do though. He thought, still holding her shoulders softly and looking into her eyes. I do like women. Pink women especially, but none have I met that make me feel as you do. Though the thought of being intimate with you scares me, almost disgusts me, I can feel a connection with you I cannot describe and have never felt before. Through all this shared trauma, I've come to know you. Trust you. Want you near. When I woke, I smiled to see your face again. When you woke, my whereabouts were your first concern. What is this we're doing, Nani? Where do we go from here?
"I do," he said. "Just some more than others." His eyes lingered, then he tried to move past the moment and back into the recent past that had escaped him. "What of the ship? Are there any injured? Any dead? Do we need to make repairs?"
She rolled her eyes and shrugged his hands off of her. She replied, "The ship is fine. We do not know ships, so I do not know what needs to be done, but it floats and moves, so I think that is good. When their ship shattered, shards of wood pierced into some of those who were watching from the rails. Most were saved. Some perished. Of the those you knew, none other than Sheree lost their lives, but a total of six were slain. The fire that spread was quickly put out and we immediately turned the boat to pull you from the water."
"What of the slavers?"
"Those alive in the water, NeeNee dispatched with our archers. Some could have survived after the shatter, but most likely not. Then we turned for you."
"Are there more boats? Anyone chasing us?"
"No. The other slavers were well beyond sight when the boat shattered. We haven't seen anyone following us, but we are close to the shore. Someone could be following us on foot."
Aegon looked to the shore. From this vantage point it looked vastly different, though he thought he recognized a ridge from one of his days in the forest. The white jagged cliffs clung to the green hills like growths of broken ice. Mists rose from the surface of the water, shrouding the shore and its cliffs with a smoke like haze. The crowded forests above the cliffs shined green and gray in the bright light of the sun, flecked with the vibrant colors of the forest by day. They were headed west, toward where he initially landed, and it seemed as if their navigators had a destination in mind. The navigator steered the rudder intently, smoothly, as if the practice so far had made him a master. They caught the wind in their sails fully, and were now moving quickly over the low waves.
"Where are we going?" he asked, turning back to gaze at her, as if longingly.
"Stop looking at me like that," she said as a smile, one of her more sincere, stretched back across her face. "We are headed to a cove to land. We will go ashore and find my father and fortify a position against JaHarle's forces, should he choose to find us."
"Where were the slavers going? What does east of here lead to?" Aegon pondered aloud hoping she'd know something.
She looked to the east and said, "I don't know where they were going, but east are the lands occupied by the other clans. Some at least. Our lands are bordered by the river, which reaches the delta at Zamattar, the abandoned city they docked next to. East of there are lands in which the eastern clans wander into with no one to patrol the border. Further still are more jungles and land I know little of. I know Wyvern Point is out there. It's said that a Ghiscari penal colony or slave outpost is or was there, but none of my people have ever seen it with their own eyes. Those that have traveled have journeyed south, following the river to Yeen. None stray too far east or west of the river. Once we would travel to the Basilisk Isles, but that is another clan's history, not ours. All talks of the east or the west now are stories and not much more."
Though it made sense to regroup with Ootrihk, the slavers maneuver seemed puzzling. Where were they going and why would they not send their full force to stop the rescue? It seemed as if the plan was to ignite whatever fire magic was aboard the ship and blow both into shards of fire and wind, but why sacrifice forty men and two ships when they could have just overwhelmed them with their full numbers? What could have been more important for the rest of their forces?
"The slavers headed east for something important or they wouldn't have wasted the men, ships, and slaves by burning them up. They could have crushed us with, what was it, three ships, couldn't they?"
"It was four that left," she replied.
"Four ships! Right. So, they set bait, the warriors we rescued, and meant to kill us all. That white fool sounded the horn for the rigged boat to crash us into oblivion. Where else could they be going?"
"They are here for slaves, yes?" She asked. "So, if they give up slaves, they must be here for more slaves."
Though Ghiscari were known for the slave trade, and Xlatan especially, it was not the only trade they were heavily involved in. Sothoryos, according to some accounts, was a worthwhile risk for those who managed to survive it. Though little iron ore existed for steel production, vast riches could be found and mined in the jungle. Gems, rare spices, fruits, and exotic animals from Sothoryos could be found in most major markets in the general region, and if someone were able to safely procure these riches and trade them, unimaginable wealth was here for the taking. Though slavers at heart, these men were just greedy, and anyway they could get riches, they'd exploit.
"Or something even more valuable. We should have most of these people return to the shore and try to find your father, but someone must follow the slavers and find out what they are doing," he said.
"What more can you do? Are you going to sprout wings and breathe fire down upon their ships? Are you to summon a sea dragon to pull their ships down to the depths? What could you seek to learn other than your certain death if we were to follow them? Haven't you almost died enough?" The disgust in her tone masked the exhaustion as she seemingly pleaded for the fight to end. Its only just begun.
"More of your people live east, yes?"
"More Brindled people you mean. Yes. But we know not of these clans. Less of us care," she replied with less disdain than her words implied.
"Are they not of your kind? Surely if the slavers mean to enslave them, we should warn them just the same, no?"
"If four ships are going there, how are we to stop them?"
The back and forth questions were becoming tiresome. He needed food and rest, he thought to himself as the pain in his head returned with a stronger ringing. He clutched his forehead, as if he meant to pull the feeling out of it. He stumbled for a moment and caught himself again on the rail.
She reached out to him and suggested, "After last night, this morning, the day before that, you need rest. You need to sleep. Let's find a place." He couldn't disagree, though he was still curious as to where the slavers were going and why. She took his hand and lead him below deck. Some of the Brindle people were still bustling about, moving crates from below deck to above, but mostly, the belly of the galley was empty to them. She led him to a cot and ushered him into it. He obliged, crawling into it as she went to find cloth to cover him. He laid back into it, trying to find comfort in the straw mattress. He had become so used to sleeping on the ground, it felt queer laying in a bed, but it was a welcome relief. The slight ringing in his head started to calm as he rested his head back and closed his eyes.
Nahknani sat over him, rubbing his now bald head. "The flames have burned your hair," she said, as she lightly slid her fingertips around his stubbled scalp.
"I suppose they have." He replied, melting into the bed as she tingled his head. "It's a shame. I rather enjoyed my long locks."
She smiled saying, "They were fine, for a pink man. But this suits you. The rest of you is mostly bare, why not your head?"
His body exposed, he rubbed his chest and replied, "I have enough hair on my body for most."
"Not compared to me," she said.
"Well, you're bare in the important places. At least in the places I've seen." He would have grinned at her to imply his playfulness, but he was curled on the cot, his eyes closed, enjoying his head rub.
"I heard you've seen the twins." Her voice seemed sterner, as if she was bothered.
"If they told it true, they would have said I never looked."
"They told it. I hoped I knew what was true and what wasn't. They said they tried to take you, and you were going to take them, but the mission got in the way." He turned to look at her sensing her jealousy and need for reassurance.
"They most certainly wanted me to take them. But I did not and would not."
"This person you are promised to, she must be lovely to have turned down two at once. The twins are among the prettier of our people. Sexy, is the word I think. Were you not interested at all?"
He looked into her eyes feeling the intent behind her questioning. He didn't know if it was right to say how he felt, though he felt that lying would be just as dishonorable. In his mind, the reason he didn't fuck the twins was more because of his loyalty to her than his disinterest in her kind sexually, though both were clear cut reasons why he wouldn't and didn't.
If he looked inside himself, something about Nahknani moved him. True enough, his body responded to her in ways he didn't always agree with, but it was more than that now. Though disinterested, he had always acknowledged her beauty. Her feminine form, bright smile, and breathtaking eyes were enough to elicit base attraction, but inside he felt more than that. They had formed a bond during their time together and her character and compassion had become just as desirable as her features. He knew her feelings too, as her eyes said everything every time she looked at him.
But he couldn't do it. He couldn't do it. Though nothing near the connection he had with Nahknani, the way the Red Woman made him feel, made him think, was altogether different. He wanted to trace his hands around a pink woman's frame. He wanted to glide his fingertips around stiff nipples on hairless skin and slide them down a rib cage of bare smooth pink flesh. He wanted to hold a hand, not a paw. He wanted to grasp a handful of hair, not fur. He wanted to drag his tongue down a body that wouldn't feel like a horsehide and taste an opening with fine curls around it, not tufts of pelt.
Lem would do it. But Aegon viewed relations much differently than his horny friend ever did. Lem thought more in the context of conquest. Aegon felt it more a connection. "The parts fit," Lem would say when they discussed this very topic, "that's the connection I'm looking for."
Nahknani was still waiting for reassurance or some kind of reciprocation of her obvious feelings for him. He could see it in her eyes. "I was not interested at all because of you. I apologize, I lied to you. There is no promised woman. I lied to not offend you in the forest, but to be honest, the real reason I turned you down is that I'm not that easy." He smiled to lessen the blow, though she seemed less upset than he thought she might be.
"I knew there was no promised woman, though I did think you might like men. You're very pretty. Almost too pretty. But I did hear you say you were not interested in the twins because of me." She leaned a little closer and batted her eyelashes, "Do continue."
Aegon guffawed in a quick burst of shock so hard his head began to ring again. "I would not have dishonored your feelings for me by laying with girls of your kind. At least before I lay with you," he smirked to keep the moment from becoming to intimate.
"Aegon Velaryon," she said, in a low sultry whisper, "if you ever laid with me, and then later laid with another woman, even two at once," she paused as she often did then continued in a softer, lower whisper in Aegon's ear, "I'll fucking kill you." She sat back up, closed her eyes, cocked her head, and smiled whimsically. "Have a nice rest. When you wake, I'll be on the deck." She stopped rubbing his head, which was the worst part of her coy display, and walked away, swaying her hips as she left. Aegon checked her ass out naturally for the first time since they'd met. It was very pleasing to watch as it bounced away. She looked back, catching him mid-gawk, and smiled a sincere smile.
Aegon rolled into the wall corner of the cot and closed his eyes. His manhood slightly pulsing, though not full from their last interaction. Maybe Lem has rubbed off on me.
