Chapter 30: Blindsided.
Through her scope Sela eleth watched as her brother and Shena Black Crest engaged the bugs, she'd heard about how fearsome these things were from both her parents but to actually look at them, she was horrified by how efficient they were with both their attacks and their design, they were pretty horrific to look at but it was like they were custom made to kill everything in their path.
Ryan twisted out of the way of an incoming tail swipe which slammed into the ground next to him kicking up a spray of dirt and grass as it hit hard, turning on the spot he began spinning his staff like a propeller to block another swipe from a second bug to his right, he was able to bounce the bug's claws away from him with enough force to spin it away from him, as he did time seemed to slow again and he saw an opening, moving quickly he stopped spinning his staff and moved under the bug's left arm evading it's whipping tail as he did and drove his staff head into its side, the creature screeched and fell forwards onto its face dead.
Quickly he pulled his staff out of the corpse but the acidic blood was already working on it as he could hear the fizzing of the cheap metal dissolving, so before it became useless he turned and engaged the bug that had tried to spear him with its tail, he just had time to move as it tried to spear him with its jagged barbed tail again, this time it passed so close to his head that he felt the rush off air from the slip stream of it passing by his head, bringing the spear up and using the good side he was able to slice through the bug's tail taking the sharp tip clean off with the spear's sharp blades. The bug screeched loudly and flicked its tail in his direction which sent a spray of acidic blood in his direction, some of which made contact with his chest armor which instantly started fizzing as the blood burned holes through it.
Ryan tore the plates from his chest and threw the fizzing metal to one side as he squared off against the wounded creature, one side of his staff was now completely ruined as the blades had dissolved, it had also destroyed park of the shaft shortening the weapon by a fair amount, so he turned it over now and by a safe part held it like a club over his shoulder, he began to circle the creature as it watched him looking for an opening, soon it must have seen one as with no warning it charged right at him and he was only just able to block the incoming rapid swipes with his damaged staff, as he did his Matriarch's words rung in his head, 'Remain calm, feel the movements, flow with them and when the opportunity presents itself strike' he tried to calm his mind but having a screeching eight foot tall screeching ball of black fury right in his face didn't really help, but as he did time once again slowed down and he was able to observe the creatures muscles flexing signaling an incoming swipe, this made it fairly easy to evade them as he already knew when they were coming and to where, so now his frantic deflections became a much more graceful dance like series of moves and he preemptively deflected the blows causing the creature to off balance more and more with each hit till it eventually lost its balance and spun out, seizing his chance Ryan slammed the broken staff straight into the bug's exposed back with all his might causing it to pop right out of its chest.
Feeling a rush of triumph Ryan watched the bug fall dead at his feet, he turned just in time to see Shena repeatedly driving her wrist blades into the heart of another bug to his right and his grin widened, having killed these bugs meant that they now had the right to call themselves full blooded hunters as well as to wear the mark now. Suddenly a bug leapt at him with its claws teeth and tail bared to fully impale him from his blind side screeching loudly as it did, he brought his arms up to defend himself with his wrist blades only for its head to be blown apart in midair, with a quick gesture of thanks to his unseen sister he got his mind back in the battle, they were going to have to survive this to call themselves anything.
Shena leapt backwards off the chest off the stricken Xeno and with a graceful backwards somersault she quickly glanced over to Ryan to see if he was watching, he was and his body language said that he was impressed with her little display which her made feel happy, then a bug leapt at Ryan from his blind side, she went to shout a warning but as it took to the air it's head exploded and there was a distant boom which indicated that at least his sister was paying attention, with a gesture of thanks to her Shena turned and squared off against the next Xeno which was circling her while hissing menacingly, out of no-where another leapt at her side knocking her to the ground with a heavy thud, before it was able to drop a killing blow with its tail to the center of her chest she rolled and jammed her nearly ruined wrist blades upwards into its chest, the Xeno screeched and thrashed but it was the tail that was the problem as with a lucky thrash it managed to score a hit to her shoulder taking a fair sized chunk out of her skin, she quickly pushed the dying Xeno over onto its side just in time to see the one that she'd originally been squared up to opening its jaws to hit her with its inner mouth, but before the hit came a massive hole appeared through the top of its head.
The telltale boom of Sela's rifle echoed through the canopy and Shena glanced down from the creature's face to its body, the massive projectile that that thing fired had punched a hole straight through the creature's head and reentered its body through its abdomen taking most of its entrails out it's back, "By the goddess!" Shena exclaimed at her close call as she scrambled free and stood up stunned, quickly she checked herself over but apart from the shoulder wound which had effectively crippled her left arm she was untouched, that shot had effectively been a miracle hit.
Sela scanned the battle field through her scope after checking that Shena was still moving, she appeared to be injured but otherwise alive which slowed her rapidly beating heart, her brother was engaged with one of the last remaining bugs to her far left, other than that there were two left, one was heading for the wounded Shena, Sela took a deep breath and eased it out taking the trigger pressure, the massive rifle boomed and jumped, "One left" she said as the creature's head exploded and it slid to a halt at Shena's feet.
Ryan finished the Xeno he was engaged with by dummying it left and when it took the bait he swung around to its right and got behind it stabbing it in the back with his wrist blades, then he turned and saw Shena recollecting herself, she appeared to be injured but she was still on her feet which was good, the last bug was in the middle of the clearing and it seemed to have clicked onto the fact that it was facing down three assailants, it knew that its position was hopeless so rather than engage them it turned and fled towards the forest on the far side, it ran in a zig zag pattern to avoid Sela's shots which followed it, two of which slammed into the ground at its feet kicking up huge divots of grass and mud, the third time was indeed a charm as he'd heard his father say on occasion as the large round slammed through the creature's back causing it's chest to explode outwards.
As the last Xeno fell Sela stood up with her rifle, she gave a massive roar of victory which echoed through the forest canopy sending flying creatures skywards in every direction, it was instantly returned by two returning roars from below her.
Sela rapidly rejoined her brother who was tending to Shena's wounds, she noted that he had a few of his own but they were no-where near as serious as her shoulder, she smiled at him through her mask, he may not be able to cook for shit but he knew how to tend to battle injuries and with the aid of her first aid kit he made short work of sealing it and stapling it shut which caused Shena to roar in pain as he did it, as he dealt with that she slung her rifle over her back and made her way over one of the Xeno corpses, leaning down she managed to snap off one of its fingers with this in hand she walked back to her brother and Shena.
"So how gets the mark first?" she said grinning under her mask, both Ryan and Shena looked at each other and then nodded at each other,
"You" they both said in unison, this surprised Sela and she looked taken aback,
"You were the first of us to fell one of the lithesome creatures so it's only right that you are the first of us to receive the mark" Ryan explained, at his shoulder Shena was nodding away in agreement, then he stepped forwards and removed his sister's mask and took the finger from her, "So are you ready to become a full blooded huntress sister?" he asked, she smiled at him drawing her mandibles up,
"I was born ready" she said with a grin, he grinned back at her then he stepped forwards and using a small amount of the Xeno's acidic blood on the creature's clawed finger he drew the well-remembered symbol on her forehead next to her clan mark which now marked her as a full blooded huntress of the clan Mason, her skin smoked and hissed as the acid permanently branded her and he saw his sister wince at the pain, but it was a pain she gladly bore for the honor of wearing this mark.
After a few minutes they had all inscribed the mark on each other each taking the pain of the acid burns gladly, after that they decided to take some trophies from the fallen bugs as further proof of their deeds here today, unbeknown to them they had a silent observer hidden in the forest canopy who was currently impressed by their victory, he hadn't believed that the three young unblooded hunters had stood a chance against a pack of kiande amedha but not only had they survived but they had prospered, he watched as they observed the time honored tradition of taking the mark of a full blooded hunter from their peers, as he saw his target take the mark his muscles tightened, it had been a long hunt tracking the bad bloods to this planet as they were naturally sneaky and underhanded making his hunt far harder than it should have been, but the harder the hunt the more he relished the challenge, but finally his target was in sight, but rather than strike now he decided to watch and to wait.
Later on back at the cave Sela was preparing dinner while Ryan and Shena were checking their weapons over, both of their melee weapons had suffered massive damage due to the Xeno blood, Ryan had totally lost his spear and Shena had lost her wrist blades, Ryan sighed heavily as he looked at Shena's destroyed wrist blades, "What I wouldn't give for a set of my father's handmade dark metal blades" he said,
"Your father makes weapons?" Shena asked curiously,
"Our father makes incredible weapons, last year for Christmas he made our Matriarch a massive two handed ooman sword called a claymore, it's huge easily taller than any of us and it's even got a name" Sela said without turning from her pot,
"Wow that sounds awesome!" Shena said with wide eyes, Ryan nodded,
"Our Matriarch promptly used Soul Splitter to cut the head of a Venorax boar with a single swing" Ryan said proudly as he remembered going hunting for the first time with his Matriarch as she took the massive sword out for its trial run,
"Soul Splitter?" Shena asked,
"That's the sword's name, our father names every weapon he creates, says it gives them character" Sela said as she added spices to the pot,
"My Matriarch has a spear she calls Blood Letter it's absolutely massive and real mean looking with huge razor sharp dual blades and it doesn't even collapse for easy carrying, but whatever she hits with it dies" Shena said remembering the massive spear, Ryan nodded knowingly, suddenly there was a howl from outside and all three looked at the doorway and then at each other, "I'll go take a look" Ryan said getting to his feet, Shena did the same,
"I'll come too" she said, Ryan was about to stop her but he saw his sister vigorously shaking her head behind her to stop him, so he let her get up and the pair of them made their way out of the front of the cave.
Outside the cave the pair scanned the forestry through their visors, it was a pack of Calibri wolves that were causing all the noise, but up here they were harmless to them so the pair relaxed, removing his mask Ryan turned to look at Shena, "You fought very well today I was impressed" he said sounding a little shy as he said it, Shena cocked her head at him before taking her mask off,
"Not well enough to prevent this" she said indicating her wounded shoulder,
"That just means it was a victory hard earned as well as fight well fought" Ryan said smiling, Shena smiled at him, it seemed that he really did understand his Yaujta side, the point of her shoulder had been a quick test to see what he would say and how he'd react, as she looked at him now she felt her heart step it up a few gears and start to pound in her chest, then out of no-where he reached out his hand to her and hesitantly she took it half expecting the second they touched for him to jump into her head again, but then he'd already seen into her heart and he'd seen her deepest darkest secrets, so this was it, accept his silent proposal or reject him out of fear.
Shena decided she wasn't going to live in fear or self-loathing anymore, this beautiful half breed male had shown her that the path of life was indeed broader and twistier than she'd ever imagined, his skin was warm and soft and slowly he pulled her towards him, her heart beat faster and faster as she got closer and closer to him, "There's something I've wanted to do since I've met you, so with your permission" Ryan said in a soft voice, she nodded her consent, "Follow my lead" he said quietly, then he stepped forwards so their bodies pressed together and he slowly opened his mandibles, Shena nervously did the same and she instantly found out exactly what those fleshy things that cover his teeth were for as Ryan entwined his mandibles with hers and pressed the fleshy things to her inner mouth.
Shena felt like her heart was about to explode, never in her life had she imagined that something so intimate and pleasurable existed, instinctively she opened her inner mouth as she felt Ryan's flesh inner mouth make contact and to her utter surprise and delight she felt his tongue slip out of his mouth and into hers, they stood there embracing each other their tongues dancing and exploring each other's mouth as they experienced their first kiss.
As they broke for air their both closed their mandibles and looked into the others eyes, "Wow" Shena breathed breaking the silence between them, Ryan smiled and his eyes seemed to sparkle,
"I figured since you already knew how I felt about you it was just up to me to prove it" he said,
"What did we just do?" she asked kinda breathlessly,
"Oomans call it kissing" he said, suddenly Shena's mandibles opened and reached towards him,
"I want more" she said and Ryan happily obliged her.
After a little while the two new found lovers were sat on the edge of the cliff, Shena was wrapped up in Ryan's arms and she had hers wrapped around his torso and was enjoying the feel of his soft warm skin, "You know I was a little worried that you were going to go all Dream Warrior and go into my head again" she said softly,
"Nah I value my life I know how females get touchy about privacy" Ryan said, Shena looked up at him sharply and saw him smiling and she realized he was teasing her, she gave him a playful swat across the head and his smile grew,
"In seriousness I'm sorry that it happened the first time didn't mean too…." He began but she held up a hand to stop him,
"I know you didn't, it was a shock at first but I'm glad that you did" she said, Ryan looked fully shocked at this,
"You are?" he asked sounding surprised, she nodded her head,
"Yeah, because it forced me to accept my feelings and to not hide from them as you already knew them as well as I did" she said, he nodded slowly,
"So how about now?" he asked,
"What do you mean?" she asked,
"How do you feel now? You know about me being a half breed and a Dream Warrior?" he asked, she smiled and took his hand, then she placed it to the side of her head,
"Rather than tell you why don't you see for yourself?" she said, this surprised Ryan but he decided to take her up on her offer and he focused on her, this time the connection was instantaneous and her thought and feelings flooded into his mind and a huge smile broke out on his face as he met her eyes, he could feel the intense love for him that was building inside her, then he broke the connection between them and he placed his forehead against hers,
"I feel the same about you" he said before the kissed again.
After they broke from their kiss they sat there canoodling for a few minutes before Shena placed her head on his shoulder, "You know I never did ask, how did those kiande amedha appear to your aura vision?" she asked, Ryan glanced at her,
"Odd question" he said, she shrugged lightly under his grip,
"I just wondered if they are truly as evil as they look" she asked,
"Not really, they were neither, their aura's are different from ours, neither white nor black, it's more of a fire red if I'm honest" he said,
"Red huh? I wonder what that mean?" she asked, he shrugged,
"Dunno, I'm kinda new to this whole Dream Warrior thing remember, my father would be able to tell us what the colors mean, all I know is white is good and black is evil" he said, then suddenly he stiffened and looked into the canopy,
"Speaking of white aura's there's one in the trees over there" he said pointing, then his whole body shuddered from an impact and right in front of her face Shena saw a large black dart appear in Ryan's chest and he went limp in her arms.
"Ryan!" Shena exclaimed as she saw her male go limp in her arms and she quickly pulled the dart out of his chest, but it was too late the knock out toxin on it had done its job and dropped him, then before she could react she felt a sharp impact on her right thigh and she felt a cold numbness spreading outwards from the impact site, she turned and saw the dart sticking out of her right leg and quickly pulled it out, she tried to get to her feet but her legs wouldn't respond, this was swiftly followed by her arms and she slumped to the ground next to the unconscious body of her male, she tried to reach out for him but her body refused to respond.
From his hide in the trees the silent observer watched the two youngsters sharing their love for one another in a very strange fashion, they seemed to be wrestling with their mandibles, "Kid's these days" he huffed silently to himself, then as he listened to their conversation afterwards he got a shock, not only was the boy not fully Yaujta but an abomination but he was also a revered Dream Warrior, this left him with an enormous problem, his honor demanded that he destroy the abomination as it couldn't be allowed to exist and to now kill the young female as well for cavorting with an abomination such as him, but if this male was truly a Dream Warrior he couldn't knowingly kill him, then as he watched trying to decide what to do the male spotted him in the trees even though he was cloaked which only served to prove that he was indeed a Dream Warrior as only one with the power of the second sight would be able to see through his cloak so easily, so now with his mind made up he fired a knock out dart into the boy's chest followed by a stun dart into the leg of his target.
As he climbed up to the edge of the cliff he stood over the unconscious male half breed and now he was this close to him he could truly see that he was a half breed, his skin was different, his Dreadlocks were different and his face was more ooman than Yaujta, the young female was trying to move and was obviously trying to reach for the male out of some misguided attempt to shield him, decloaking he looked down at his target and instantly saw her eyes widen as she saw him, "A-A-A-Arbiter?" she stammered, holding his hand up to silence her he knelt down and looked at her,
"Shena Black Crest of the honored Shadow Claw clan as an Arbiter of the Shadow Claw Clan I find you guilty of conduct unbecoming of a blooded Yaujta huntress by cavorting with this half breed, the normal sentence for this heinous crime is death, but due to your status within the clan and this male's status as a Dream Warrior I will not execute you, rather I will leave you to your fate on this planet, you will live out the rest of your days here and will die here, you are hereby exiled from the Shadow Claw Clan and stripped of your status, should our path's cross again I will kill you" the Arbiter said in a rough voice,
"E-E-E-Exiled!?" Shena stammered in disbelief, then she watched helplessly as the Arbiter turned and picked up the unconscious Ryan,
"No! wait where are you taking him!?" she exclaimed,
"To face his trial" the Arbiter said before he reapplied his cloak and jumped into the forest,
"NOOOOOOOOOO DON'T TAKE THE MALE I LOVE, RYANNNNNNNNN!" Shena screamed after the already vanished figure.