Alien Mask, page 10
“Alright, alright, I get it,” I said, still chuckling. I wouldn’t bother him about it again right now. It felt so good to have the usual cocky Lerokan back that I was willing to drop it, despite how curious I’d gotten. The dynamic between us was finally going back to normal, whatever normal for us even was.
The painful exchange that had happened between us could be forgotten, now.
And so could the hot pulse of arousal I’d felt from having him stroke my hair.
“So,” Lerokan said gruffly, seemingly wanting to change the subject. “You have all these tools and some knowledge. Are you a healer among your people?”
I shook my head.
“Nope. Just a grad student majoring in geography.”
“I think you’ve lost too much blood. None of those words could be put together to form any kind of sense.” The words were snarky, but there was genuine concern in them. Lerokan leaned forward over the blade in his lap, sight stars pinned to my face.
“No. I’m feeling a lot better, actually, thanks to you. I’ll explain.”
With my uninjured hand, I reached for the pack and drew it over. I remembered my fear about these maps falling into enemy hands. But Lerokan wasn’t my enemy. He apparently didn’t even have a Gahn or tribe to share this knowledge with.
I pulled out the folder in the pack, filled with the maps I’d made.
Lerokan remained leaning forward, watching me shuffle the papers with interest.
“These are maps. Renderings of the landscape. I’ve made a bunch of them of the Sea Sands, but those are back at the settlement. These are the ones I’ve made on my travels from the Sea Sands here.”
I laid the papers out, putting them together when necessary, completing the puzzle of the weeks of travelling I’d done with the others. Dark lines, jagged peaks, swaths of cracked ground, safe passages through quicksand. It was all there. Every step I’d taken.
My work had ended at the ablik fields, just before we’d entered the blue plains where we’d been attacked. Lerokan noticed this right away.
“I recognize this,” he said. “This is the black border of the Deep Sky Plains.”
“Yes. They’re ablik fields. Beyond them,” I pointed to the grey land Gahn Razek ruled, “are the Death Plains.”
“An apt name,” Lerokan said with a grunt.
“Oh?”
“Men who have attempted to explore beyond the black border have disappeared. Swallowed up by the ground.”
“Yes, there’s quicksand. You have to know the safe path through.” His words sparked a question. “You guys have your braxilk. You can fly. How come you never explored the Death Plains and beyond? You didn’t even know about the tribe living in the Death Plains.”
“A braxilk can only carry its rider so far before it must land and rest,” he countered. “No man wanted to land in the wrong place and be swallowed. Besides, the land always looked so empty and dead. Meanwhile, these mountains are rich with resources. There was no need to forge into those hostile lands.”
I nodded. That made sense. The Death Plains were a huge, sprawling, uniform spread of chalky grey land, brutal and barren. Beyond them were mountains just as deathly grey. The tribe that had lived in the Death Plains – Gahn Razek and Varrow’s tribe – was the smallest of the Sea Sands, so it didn’t surprise me they would have escaped a Deep Sky warrior’s notice, especially if said warrior got sucked into quicksand before he found them.
I turned my attention back down to the maps, trailing my finger through the Death Plains portion.
“The Death Plains men know the safe paths through. And I recorded them here, too.”
Lerokan’s sight stars scanned the paper, following the path my finger took.
“You created these?”
“Yes,” I confirmed.
“It looks like land as seen from Breena’s back. And yet, you did not fly.” He looked up from the paper. “How did you do it?”
“Well, that’s the geography thing I was talking about,” I said. “I’ve trained to do things like this. Geography is a field of study where I come from. Study of the landscape, inhabitants, natural phenomena, people’s movements. Human geography is of particular interest to me. The way the world and our movements within it shape our lives. My parents emigrated from their home in Delhi to London before I was born. I’ve always been amazed by their journey. By the journeys of people in general, to be honest. Tracking those paths over the world, making them into a visual medium... It’s why I focused so much of my studies on cartography – making maps. I wanted to... To map out my family’s journey, I suppose. And be able to do it for myself and my own journey, too.” I let out a shaky laugh. “Never thought that journey would take me to another bloody planet, but here we are.”
“So, you came with the group to make these maps of the new land you encountered.”
“Exactly,” I replied. “Like you, the Sea Sand and Bitter Sea men didn’t know there were other tribes out here until recently. So, we came to communicate with whoever we found.” I squeezed my hands into fists. “Obviously, that didn’t go as planned.”
I forced my hands to relax when my finger throbbed, and then collected up all the papers, stuffing them into my bag once more.
“You can look at those anytime you want,” I said. “Like, if I’m asleep or something, feel free.” He was probably pretty curious about the lands beyond the borders he’d always known. And Lerokan wasn’t an enemy who’d use that info against me. He was an army of one, and if he wanted to launch an attack on the Sea Sands, he’d be sorely outnumbered. I couldn’t see it happening. I didn’t see what he stood to gain by using the info for nefarious purposes. He’d also seemed genuinely interested, maybe even a little impressed, by the maps I’d made.
A little flicker of pride warmed my chest and made me lift my chin after the maps had been safely stowed away. See, I wanted to say, I’m clever. I have skills. I’m not some useless dolt who throws up and faints and hurts herself nonstop.
I didn’t say it out loud, of course. That just felt far too pathetic.
After that, Lerokan and I readied ourselves to sleep. Lerokan cut the empty mountain valok plants (valikir, he reminded me) into fibrous strips we could use to clean our teeth. After a quick bathroom trip to the little human toilet cave, I was ready to collapse once more. But I felt better than I had in some time. Better than I had since the battle. My hand wasn’t bleeding, and all my faintness and nausea had faded, replaced with weariness.
I finger-combed my hair, wincing at the tangles as I kicked off my boots.
Oh well. I’ll deal with it tomorrow. I’m too tired, now.
I’d need to have a quick Zaphrinax shower, which consisted of using talka gel as soap and shampoo. I had one stalk tucked into my pack. I’d have to ration it as I’d use it for both my body and cleaning my clothing.
I caught a whiff of myself as I tucked myself in for the night.
Oof. Yup. Definitely need to do that tomorrow.
But right now? Right now, it was time to just relax. We’d done everything we could do for now. I had Lerokan’s promise that we’d go back out to find my friends once the storm stopped, and I couldn’t do much before that happened. Even now, as drowsiness pulled my eyelids shut, the keening of wind was a constant dull roar above the mountain.
Breena shuffled closer and tossed her wing over me the way she had last night. I sighed, feeling safe and warm under the roof her feathery wing created.
I realized that we were in a slightly different configuration this time. Breena was lying lengthwise across from the entrance to the cave. I was tucked against her left side, nearer to the fire. Lerokan unrolled his bedding hides a few paces away, on Breena’s right side, sleeping once again nearer to the entrance.
In case any threats come for us.
My stomach swooped with a strange combination of awe and anxiety at the thought of Lerokan fighting off enemies in the cave to protect me. And suddenly, I couldn’t bear the idea of him being by himself so far away. Even if he wasn’t really that far away at all.
“You should come over here,” I called softly as I sat up and looked over Breena’s back. “Come sleep on Breena’s right side. You’ll still be close to the cave’s entrance in that spot.”
The firelight glanced off the bone curves of this skull mask before sinking into the eyeholes, making his eyes gleam.
“Hmm,” he said, rubbing his jaw as he looked over at us. “Well, it is abominably unfair that you have entirely claimed Breena’s feathery warmth for yourself. Plus, I suppose I’ll be able to keep a better eye on you from a closer vantage point.”
I nodded, grinning at him.
“Exactly!” I snuggled back down into the hides, listening as the soft pad of Lerokan’s footsteps, punctuated by the clacking of claws, came over.
He settled himself with a sigh, and I couldn’t help but raise up in a seated position once more to sneak a peek over at him.
He wasn’t lying down yet, but rather sitting up, his back against Breena’s side, facing the dark entrance of the cave. Despite Breena’s immense size, his shoulders were visible from my spot, as was the black gleam of his long hair and the top curve and horns of the skull mask. He settled further against Breena, wiggling his shoulders in a shockingly human-looking and frankly fucking adorable gesture.
I slammed myself back down to the hides, cursing the giddy flutter taking wing in my chest. It was an echo of the pang I’d felt in Lerokan’s arms earlier. When he’d lost some of the blustering bravado and had stroked his hand so slowly down –
Stop.
He is your friend and he is helping you for a few days, tops.
Then, it’s back to your group.
That’s what I wanted. What I’d hoped for. I was desperate to find them again and make sure they were alright.
And I wanted to return to the Sea Sand settlement.
Back to the desert.
Where I’d never see Lerokan again.
That’s what I want. That’s the plan and that’s what I want.
I said the words over and over again, a chant to lull me into sleep.
But with each iteration, each chorus of the chant...
It felt less and less true.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Priya
The prod of a full bladder woke me sometime later.
Ugh. Was there anything worse than having to drag your tired ass out of bed to get to the loo when you were all warm and cozy?
But this was not a situation that could be ignored until morning, whenever that was. Sitting up, I saw that Lerokan was still in his seated position, though he’d slid down a little.
Asleep.
I eased out of the protection of Breena’s wing and hurried to the designated human toilet cave.
On my way back, my gaze got stuck on Lerokan. My feet altered their course, moving closer to him entirely on their own.
He was seated, back against Breena, his long, muscled legs stretched out straight in front of him. His arms were crossed over his chest, and even in the relaxed, slouching position, the hard cut of the muscles in his lean form was evident. This bloke could make a killing as a fitness trainer on Earth... Although his exercise regime probably just consists of fighting battles and mouthing off. Burns lots of calories, I’d bet.
His chin had tipped upwards, the back of his head resting against Breena’s side. His mask was tilted down and covered most of his face. The pose reminded me of a human man napping with a baseball cap pulled low over his eyes to block the sun.
I wonder why he wears it...
The line about being too handsome had obviously been bollocks. Lerokan didn’t seem like the type to be humble or to try to hide any of his assets. The way he’d strutted around for so long with no loincloth was more than proof of that.
I crept over to him, my sock-clad feet silent on the stone. I carefully manoeuvred over one of his legs until I stood between his splayed thighs. I crouched, wobbling and stifling a curse as I almost toppled over and woke him. I caught my balance, though, and let out a slow, quiet sigh of relief, tucking my hands between my knees.
His breath was deep and even, his chest rising and falling in a hypnotic movement.
It’s not fair that an asshole this cocky actually is so handsome, I thought to myself, rather irritated. The mask distorted things somewhat, but I could still tell that he was fucking beautiful. Even sleeping with his head tipped all the way back like that, his mouth wasn’t hanging open. No drool, no snoring. Just the deep, controlled breathing, the bulging crossed arms, the thick column of a muscled neck leading up into a squared-off jaw.
First, my feet had brought me over here of their own accord, and now my own hand was betraying me, too. I left my injured hand down between my knees, but my other hand rose into the air, reaching for him. I brushed my fingertips over the curved brow of the skull so tentatively I wasn’t even sure I’d made contact.
But clearly, it was enough to wake Lerokan.
Should have bloody known, I moaned internally as one of his hands shot up, his long fingers closing around my wrist. Should have known his fucking alien spidey sense for Priya idiocy would have woken him up.
Lerokan tilted his head forward slowly, almost languorously, while I yanked futilely in his grip. He adjusted his mask and then fixed me with still, focused sight stars.
“What are you doing?” he asked, voice low.
“I’m sorry,” I stammered, feeling like a right git. My palms sweated and my wrist burned in his grip. “I didn’t mean to wake you up. I don’t even know why I came over here in the first place. And I wasn’t trying to take the mask off, just so you know! It’s obvious you don’t want to, you seemed to set a bit of a boundary about it, so I would never dream of-”
“Take a breath before you fall over again. My finger still hasn’t recovered from propping up your wobbly head,” Lerokan cut in.
I breathed out shakily and smiled. OK. He’s making dumb jokes. He’s not mad.
But he still hadn’t let go of my wrist.
And I still hadn’t answered his question.
His gaze narrowed in the darkened pools of the eye holes, sight stars swirling in glittering slits. Those eyes were way too intense, so I dropped my gaze. But then my eyes were focused on the curve of his lips. Really fucking nice lips.
This is so messed up. Why couldn’t I have just gone back to my bed like a normal person?!
“I’m not even sure what I was doing,” I said honestly. “I swear, it’s almost like my feet and hand moved all on their own. I guess I just...”
Lerokan cracked a dazzling smile, dimple puckering in his cheek.
“See, this is why I wear the mask. I am so attractive you are drawn to me even in sleep. I am sorry, Priya. I cannot help this force I exert. But I do my best to dampen it with this.” His free hand came up to tap a claw against the mask’s brow area.
“Oh, come off it,” I grumbled. Annoyingly, he was at least partially right. I hadn’t been able to stop looking at him. I had drifted over here as if drawn by some magnetic force. But he doesn’t need to know that. His head will get so big even Breena won’t be able to help him lift it.
“I think I came over here to try to figure you out a little,” I said. As the words spilled from my mouth, I knew they were true and that was at least part of the reason I’d come to him. I’d reached for the mask to try to understand its purpose, and by extension, something of him. “I’ve told you so much about myself, my friends, my home planet and other parts of this world. And all I’ve gotten from you is some nonsense about being so handsome you’d blot out the sun. I am sorry for waking you. I am. But we’re stuck together now, and you could give me something real to go on, you know.”
I’d told myself I wouldn’t push this, but suddenly, knowing so little about Lerokan made me feel vulnerable. Not because I worried about secrets that he might be keeping, or because I didn’t trust him. I already did trust him. Maybe too much.
No, it made me feel vulnerable because I’d slowly but surely opened myself up to him.
And he hadn’t done the same to me.
“Nevermind,” I muttered, trying to tug my wrist from his grasp once more. “I guess I’ll just add ‘Lerokan the enigma’ to your long list of titles.”
Lerokan still didn’t let go.
“You want to know why I wear it?” he asked sharply. “What it represents? Fine. I have been banished from my tribe. My Gahn placed it upon my head before my exile and there it is to remain.”
I was.... Not expecting that.
I remembered now that he’d talked about “following no Gahn” but I hadn’t thought too deeply about it at the time, thinking he was some kind of loner.
“What did you do?” I whispered. I knew the culture was different out here, but I hadn’t heard of anyone being banished from their tribe. It must have been really bad...
His mouth pulled into a mirthless smile.
“You look at me as if I’ve eaten the innards of the tribe’s children.”
He finally let go of my wrist, and I plopped onto my bum, seated between his thighs.
“Well, I am shocked and disappointed that you would think me to have such an unrefined palate as that,” Lerokan said, crossing his arms over his chest once more. Breena gave a sleepy chirrup behind him. I feel like Breena’s a good judge of character. She wouldn’t be loyal to a rider that did something truly horrible, right?
And in all the time I’d known Lerokan, even if it had only been a few days now, he’d come to be a reliable if arrogant buddy. My friend.
But dread prickled under my skin, making goose pimples brush over my bare arms despite the fire nearby. Because the reality was that, other than judgments I’d made based on our interactions, I knew almost nothing about my new friend.
“You actually know the cause of my banishment already,” Lerokan added cryptically.
I frowned, cocking my head. “I do?”
His tail jerked on the floor beside Breena’s backside.
