Page 17 of Claimed By Brothers

She rolls her eyes, her breathing ragged as she tries to keep up with us. Since we’re taller, stronger, and faster, we have a much easier time with the stone steps, while Cynthia is beginning to struggle. It’s quite the climb, and given her human condition, she is faltering along the way. She will probably adjust as time goes on, but neither my brother nor I have the heart to tell Cynthia just yet that she will never see Earth again.

“What are we doing up here, anyway?”

“We need your help,” Izzo says. “Our Fire Tribe doesn’t have enough medicine men to handle the plague flare-ups across our towns, and Amber mentioned you’re a doctor on your planet. Since you seem to be immune to the disease, we were hoping you could take a look at someone for us. Perhaps your knowledge from another world may yield some new information, something our experts may have missed.”

Cynthia gives me a worried frown. “Umok said I was immune. I’m not sure you should take him at his word…”

“I understand your concern but think about it. Would he have bothered to take you and your friends if he wasn’t certain?” I ask.

Her shoulders droop in defeat, and we reach the plateau’s jagged lip. Just beyond, the Hadana clan’s town unravels with its red stone houses and black wood shingles, orange window frames and doors. The Fire Tribe has adhered to a similar aesthetic across the board if only to make it easier for our travelers to quickly identify a safe haven when they see one. The Sky Tribe has all the ships—including the ones designed for local flights. I hope we don’t have to deal with any of those anytime soon.

Our situation on Sunna is uncertain. The Sky Tribe has weapons, technical knowledge, and resources. They took the cities and drove us out into the wild. The Fire Tribe’s creed revolves around the natural order of things. It focuses on our connection to Sunna’s inner flames, but that comes with a disadvantage since the enemy commands the skies. There is so much we’ve yet to share with Amber and her friends. I don’t want them to feel afraid or overwhelmed. They’re already dealing with enough, lost in this realm, unaccustomed to our way of life. I hope they will all come around for their sake as well as our own.

“I don’t think I’ll ever get used to how big and menacing you all are,” Cynthia says as we approach the town’s gates.

The Hadana guards stand tall, about half a head above us. Their bloodline has given them this advantage, though they are slightly slimmer than those of us from the Mal clan. Our dynasties have been around for generations. I nod at the guards and bow politely upon reaching them.

“Good morrow, brothers,” I say. “Izzo and I bring a guest.”

“Kai and Maur are expecting us,” Izzo adds with a wry smile.

Cynthia stays quiet between us while the guards inspect her with curiosity glimmering in their red eyes.

“What is that?” one of the guards asks.

“She is not of this realm,” I reply. “Your leaders were informed of her presence last night.”

The guards nod slowly and step aside, opening the town gates for us. As expected, the Hadana people gradually emerge from their homes and come closer, curious about this new creature walking with us deeper into their territory. By the time we reach little Lorra’s house, a throng of Hadana tribespeople follow behind us, murmuring and whispering all sorts of questions and concerns, much like our folks did the night before. The gossiping and the bewilderment will die down eventually.

Kai and Maur come out of Lorra’s house with wide eyes and broad shoulders, both of them dressed in the fiery orange skirts of their tradition—layers wrapped around their waist and held up with rows of silver links. The Hadana twins are just a few years younger than us, but we all grew up here together.

“You can trust them,” I tell Cynthia. “We’ve known each other since we were children. We’re sworn to loyalty and brotherhood as members of the Fire Tribe. And you will always be safe among us.”

“Your message was short,” Kai says, half-smiling as he takes the first step toward us. “You said the human women were different from us, but you didn’t mention how beautiful they were.”

“Strange, but beautiful,” Maur adds, equally enthralled by Cynthia.

The Hadana twins are like two drops of water, identical in almost every way except the style of their long, black braids. Kai prefers his rolled up tightly on the top of his head, his two horns coming around to hold them like a crown of sorts, while Maur wears his loosely down his back. His left horn is visibly chipped. He lost a piece of it during a bloody skirmish with the Sky Tribe less than a year ago.

Cynthia, by contrast, appears nimble and soft, delicate and curvy. Unlike the Sunnaite women, her breasts are larger and fuller. Her hips are wider, and her thighs are thick enough to have Maur staring at her, utterly fascinated. She inches closer to me instinctively since Izzo and I are the closest thing she has to protectors and friends on Sunna.

I give her a gentle shoulder squeeze. “Worry not, I promise,” I whisper.

“This is Cynthia,” Izzo says. “She is a medicine woman of Earth. We were hoping you might let her take a look at Lorra. Given that the infection was caught early on, maybe Cynthia can help.”

Kai frowns, stealing a glance at his brother. “Isn’t it dangerous? The plague kills our girls and our women with impunity.”

“Umok tested the human women. They are immune to it,” I say, drawing gasps from those around us. “She can get close enough to observe the child. We are desperate, aren’t we? Perhaps a mind from outside Sunna might yield better results. It is worth a try.”

Maur and Kai look at Cynthia in absolute silence for the better part of a minute. The suns rise above us, lazily shining their light down over the red lands, the heat seeping into my skin and firing up my very heart. We breathe the fire. We live in the fire. We charge our souls from the suns’ twin fire. They give us strength and energy. Life.

“Is it just me, or are they bonding?” Izzo mutters, unable to take his eyes off the Hadana twins.

I can’t hide my amusement, either. “I think so.”

“Don’t be stupid,” Cynthia snaps, but she shudders under their gaze as she crosses her arms and takes a step forward to address them. “Are you gonna take me to see the kid or not?”

“I could never refuse you,” Kai replies with a cool grin while Maur shoos everybody else away with a single wave of his arm.

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