Page 6 of Barbarian Daddies

“Yeah, but we’re just miles shy of a Sky Tribe border and those fuckers bring guns to their hunting parties. They’ve decimated the population in the past couple of years.”

“Ruby City is growing, then,” Alicia concludes. “They’ve got more mouths to feed.”

“What about Sapphire City?” Jewel asks me. “I know Kai and Maur are determined to retake it.”

I nod once. “They’re planning an operation. I’m likely to join them on a recon mission soon. We need to get eyes inside and confirm the research lab is still there and at least partially operational. We also need the support of some of the locals if we’re to seize the city. Selina won’t give it up easily.”

“Selina won’t give it up, period,” Jewel says. “She’s a mean bitch.”

Amber frowns slightly. “Have any of you ever seen her?”

“She keeps a tight circle and rarely travels outside the city walls,” I tell her. “We know mostly what we’re told by scouts and traveling merchants. Of course, it’s word of mouth, so not all the tales are to be believed.”

“We do know she is ruthless and likely the mastermind behind bringing humans here to repopulate,” Jewel replies.

I hear the front door open. The sound is soon followed by Dahlen coming in. The only surviving Hadana relative of Kai and Maur, Dahlen has just turned twenty-one and is doing his best to follow in the footsteps of his more seasoned cousins in matters of war and leadership. His hormones still dictate many of his reactions, which makes him rather impulsive and hot-headed, but both Maur and Kai have done a good job of keeping him out of trouble so far.

Which is why he’s been relegated to service duties in territory for the next couple of weeks or so.

Today, he’s brought over a plate of fresh fruits plucked from the territory’s eastern orchard. Plum and fig-like varieties, to be specific, sweet and tangy and adapted to high, dry heat environments, their skins are almost black. Along with these fruits, Dahlen has brought a few buns of black-wheat bread that’s just come out of the clay ovens.

“I figured you ladies might get hungry, so I brought you something to nibble on,” Dahlen says as he sets the plate on the coffee table between us. “I can bring you some cheese and wasp honey too, if you’d like.”

“Wasp honey. That concept never ceases to amaze me,” Alicia says, slightly amused. “On Earth, wasps don’t produce honey, they just bully the bees.”

“I believe evolution worked in a similar fashion on Sunna as well,” Dahlen replies. “But our endemic species of bees perished during the Great Heatwave of ten generations ago, so our scientists worked on altering the genetic material of wasps to get them to pollinate and produce honey instead.”

That’s news to everyone around the table, judging by the uniform speed with which our eyebrows have popped up. The four of us stare at Dahlen with sparkling curiosity.

“Hold on,” I say. “Your ancestors dabbled with genetic engineering basically.”

“Yes. Well, so the stories go. By the time I was born, wasp honey was already a regular thing, and then the plague came along, the civil war, and—”

“No, no, hold on. I need to know this,” I cut him off. “Where did this process actually take place? Does anyone remember? Is it written in any books?”

Alicia shrugs. “I haven’t come across any information pertaining to that in the scrolls and manuscripts the Tallas clan collected in their archives.”

“That’s because most of the materials they have came from Ruby City. Ruby City was and still is mostly focused on military and political sciences. It’s the de facto political residence of the Sky Tribe, after all,” Dahlen says.

While he does bear some of the features familiar to Kai and Maur’s Hadana bloodline, Dahlen is slightly taller and lankier, still growing his tail, which is barely three-feet-long at his age. It will be another five or six years before he is a fully developed adult, reminding me more of the human teenagers back home. He carries himself with the same confidence—or lack thereof.

“Most of the agricultural and medical developments came out of Sapphire City.”

“Which makes their research lab all the more important,” I gasp, looking at my friends. “If any of equipment survived, it means I might be able to splice a genome, move some proteins and enzymes around… hell, I might actually finish what I started here.”

“You mean a cure for the plague?” Dahlen asks me.

“Thank you, Dahlen, we’d love some cheese and honey,” I reply with a warm smile. “You’re too kind.”

He blinks a few times, understandably confused by the sudden change of topic. But he doesn’t insist, nor does he question me. I appreciate that, though I know it comes mostly from Kai and Maur’s instructions to grant me the same respect and authority as he would grant them.

Once he’s out of the room, Amber gives me a curious look. “Why’d you rush him out like that?”

“I don’t want to make promises I may not be able to keep, nor do I want to give these people false hope,” I remind her. “If I get excited, it’s one thing. I can get excited, and if the research lab doesn’t have the equipment I need, I’ll be the only one who’s disappointed.”

“They’ve been through enough already,” Alicia mumbles in agreement.

“I thought Dahlen had a higher rank in Hadana territory,” Jewel notices. “Why’s he playing the butler with us?” She pauses and grins again. “Kai and Maur don’t trust us? Not even now?”

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