Page 9 of Serpents of the Night

Growls of release and their little human’s sweet cries continued to fill their nest, and they rutted her again and again until they at last sank into an exhausted state entwined around each other in the middle of the floor. They had never made it to their nesting room, but Kehtal did not have the energy to care as he brushed his cheek against the soft flesh of his mate, the warmth of his brother’s heavy tails satisfyingly weighing down his own.

Chapter 7

Flying over the desert in the arms of her mates was a pleasure Lori seldom enjoyed since her males still fretted over the dangers—most especially those that came from other males. That tension seemed to grow even greater with the arrival of the wet season that brought Seshanamitesh more readily from the caverns. But this was no pleasure trip away from the dome, though the warm night air had a pleasantly cool breeze. The large wingspan of the hashara that dominated the sky just ahead of them was a constant reminder that this flight had only one destination—she was returning once more to the Aglatha caverns, something she had sworn never to do again.

She didn’t tell her mates, but going back scared the hell out of her. Although she was certain that they scented her fear, she knew that they would forbid her from going if they knew how badly it terrified her. Vi knew and had attempted to talk her out of it when she met up with them as they were preparing to leave. In the end, her friend had not been convinced that she was making the right choice and had watched them leave with a pensive expression on her face.

That was Vi accepting her decision gracefully despite how hotly the woman had argued against her decision. That her mates remained silent had been more than enough to tell Lori just how much they agreed with her friend’s opinion on the matter. And, in the end, Vi still hadn’t been convinced, but Lori couldn’t blame her. She wasn’t really all that convinced that she was making the right decision either as she felt like she was preparing to descend into her own private little nightmare.

Despite having her goggles fastened securely to her face, allowing her to see clearly enough in the dark, submerging in the caverns and having to rely on them almost entirely anywhere galthie flowers weren’t grown made her feel vulnerable. The knowledge that just about anything she wasn’t looking directly at could sneak up on her spooked the hell out of her—and the knowledge that she was returning to the encompassing darkness and dangerous, inescapable alien pit of the Aglatha made her skin crawl, but she kept those worries to herself. There was no use in complicating an already difficult situation. She sure as hell wasn’t letting Slengral go down there without her, knowing that her presence would solidify her claim even further in the minds of the Seshanamitesh where they might otherwise be tempted to ignore it.

The press of Daskh’s velkat against the side of her arm she curled around him was reassuring at least. All three of her mates were armed with the spears with their long, curved blades, and they had been quite clear prior to leaving Raza colony that she would not be going anywhere without one of them close by. That they were also concerned about returning to the caverns wasn’t all that comforting, but the fact that they had a firm plan more than made up for it.

Daskh bent his head, his warm breath fanning her head as he brushed his jaw against her hair. “It will not be much longer,” he murmured. “But look below, hithana.”

Lori swallowed but did as he instructed. Although the ground was further down than she liked, causing her to sink her fingers into his scales, a tiny gasp of wonder escaped her as she peered at the desert below. Jahlana blooms were scattered over the surface of the sand in far more plentiful numbers than she had ever seen before. During much of the year they would mostly be found in small patches near underground water sources, but the entire desert was now alive with them, their pale-yellow bioluminescence dancing beneath the moonlight over Seshana.

“It’s so beautiful,” she whispered.

Daskh hummed appreciatively, the musical sound skating over her nerves enticingly. “The wet season is a favorite time of many Seshanamitesh hunters—though mostly because of the cooler temperatures that make hunting easier. Plentiful game is good, but I would spend much of my time above the surface just to enjoy jahlana blooms.”

Lori smiled and rubbed her cheek affectionately against her big mate’s chest. Somehow it just seemed fitting that Daskh—a male half the colony seemed especially leery of—was the gentlest on the inside and would enjoy something so simple as a desert blooming with jahlana. Resting her cheek on the scales of his chest, she watched the glowing flowers below shimmer in waves as they glided over them. She had no interest in looking toward the cavern that she knew was looming up ahead. She knew that they were getting close when the flowers began to thin and stones broke through the sand far more frequently. She closed her eyes as Daskh began to glide at an angle steadily dropping them through the air... and then they dropped. Lori’s stomach and heart felt as if they were attempting to leap out of her body as they plummeted toward the uppermost entrance of the cave. She clung to him as they plunged into darkness. She felt it tangibly as the breeze cut off and a cool, quiet darkness enclosed entirely around her. Her eyes fluttered open to an abyss of eternal night. Ill-defined walls flowed on all sides, barely visible from their position with her goggles. There was no moonlight and no jahlana blooms... nothing soft or beautiful at all in the main cavern. There was just darkness and the faint green glow of her night-vision mining goggles.

She didn’t know how long they dropped. It felt like they were caught in a slip stream outside of time, flowing without interruptions or barriers. It was only the presence of her mates surrounding her, as Slengral and Kehtal took position at her sides, that gave her any sense of space as their bioluminescent raised gavo and markings gave the impression of flowing light through the vast impenetrable darkness around them, which only seemed to get heavier and more oppressive the deeper they dropped.

Lori shivered in Daskh’s arms as the cool air began to seep through her clothes. She had never been anywhere near so deep before. The colony mines only operated in certain parts of the upper cavern systems, and she was certain that Slengral’s cave had been much closer to the surface.

Slengral’s glowing red eyes turned a worried glance toward her as she buried her face against Daskh’s chest, seeking his warmth. She managed a small smile for him, knowing that he would see it with his luminous vision. She didn’t want him to start worrying even more before they so much as arrived. His gavo flattened slightly with his deepening concern—apparently unconvinced—but he didn’t put a halt to their descent, which she knew, given how quickly the other males yielded to him, he could easily do. Instead, they continued their silent descent, broken only occasionally by echoing shrieks of Seshanamitesh in the darkness.

She wondered if this is what heroes, heroines, and various deities felt in ancient myths when forced to descend into the underworld. She could easily imagine that they were plummeting into hell. It was only after what felt like an eternity of darkness that she became aware of a subtle glow rising from below. Turning slightly in Daskh’s grasp once more, she gasped as luminous waterfalls filled the whole front and sides of the massive cavern that sank deep and disappeared into the rock wall waiting below. The waterfalls themselves didn’t appear to be glowing but rather the lichen-covered rocks behind them. The water itself darkened after a certain point and disappeared down what appeared to be a sheer cliff into even greater depths that she most certainly didn’t want to explore.

Above the waterfalls, a high wall rose, glowing with a beautiful silvery sheen like the outer boundary of a fairy palace. Dark stone structures rose up behind the wall in graceful spires, columns, and flowing arcs, and were illuminated by a silvery light rising up from within the shinara itself. Her eyes widened with fascination as she watched it get closer, and eventually, she could pick out several guards stationed along the wall, their wings flaring, and heads craned back as they watched their approach.

They didn’t look very welcoming. Especially not with the imposing metal monuments that appeared to stand like sentinels along the perimeter of the wall. She shrank into her mate, suddenly very apprehensive.

“The great nest of the shinara,” Daskh rumbled in her ear.

“Doesn’t look very friendly.”

“It’s not,” Slengral rasped as he glided in close. His eyes narrowed on the shinara below. He glanced over at her, his expression tightening. “When we arrive, stay close. The hashara will attempt to separate you to send you away with females. Do not allow this. Normally it is a great honor, but I do not trust them. Do not allow them to remove you from our protection,” he hissed.

Though their downward drop distorted and snatched at his words, she understood enough to nod shakily in agreement. She was most definitely not going anywhere with potentially hostile Seshanamitesh if they were anything like the hashara.

A guard gestured sharply at their approach, and she felt Daskh’s head tip and heard the subtle snap of his gavo in acknowledgement. They swooped low to a large, rounded clearing just outside the wall’s tall gates and Lori swallowed nervously as Daskh carefully lowered her to the ground. It did not escape her notice that the hashara and her mate sailed directly over the wall, but there were clearly extra protocols that they had to go through first. Slengral’s expression tightened further and hardened as Kehtal glanced over at her and grimaced as he tucked Hashal more securely, hiding him beneath his wings. Drawing closer to her side, he tipped his head toward the gate.

“Only females of the shinara and their mates are allowed over the walls,” he explained quietly. “These are the gathering grounds where hunters are to gather with their offerings and where females inspect us in turn. They disrespect you by not affording you the same courtesy they would another visiting female,” he added, a resentful note to his voice.

That explained something of Slengral’s pinched look.

“It’s fine,” she whispered back. “Let’s not make waves so we can get in and out as quickly as possible.”

Slengral made a sound of disgust, but Kehtal and Daskh hummed quietly in agreement. It seemed that her alien prince was determined to be obstinate now that they were back on his home turf. She sighed inwardly, hoping that he didn’t provoke their hosts too much. Though she understood his frustration and anger, as acting representatives of the colony, they couldn’t afford to bring Raza into direct conflict with the shinara.

“What happens now?” she asked as she peered at the tall gates.

She didn’t have long to wait for an answer. Within a few minutes of their arrival, the gates parted, and three imposing females emerged. They appeared almost identical in their soft blue coloring, matching eyes in hues of amber, and complete lack of softness in their regard. The central female inclined her head at a slight angle—to the right, which meant respectful acknowledgment, Lori recalled. She hoped she remembered all of Slengral’s rushed etiquette lessons that he had attempted to cram in between their midday slumber and their departure. She didn’t have a tail or gavo crests, but the latter expressions for the crest and ear movements she had decided to imitate with her hands at the top of her head or beside her ears, respectively. She felt silly doing it, but it got Slengral’s seal of approval, so she was committed to it now.

“Welcome, human queen Lori of Raza colony. I am first commander Jathella, and these are my sisters in command, captains Kitanara and Buosoa. We have arrived to escort you into Aglatha shinara.”

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