Page 3 of Treasured By the Alien Rogue

He started swimming this way.

Blue skin . . . An alien?

Was he going to kill or rescue me?

Chapter 2

Xax

Iwas hunting along the shore of the lake some distance from where my small Ulistar Clan made their home when something long and glassy blasted across the sky from my right. It smacked into the water and skimmed across the surface before coming to a halt. While it bobbed, I frowned, wondering what in all the fates it might be. Even more important, was it worth risking the jevecks lurking in the muddy bottom of the lake to retrieve it?

Long, serpent monsters who thrived in the mud at the bottom of the lake, the jevecks would reach the object before me, and if they felt me moving across the surface of the water, some would attack me instead.

I wanted to go home, not fight off a pack of jevecks.

But the object . . .

I fingered the crystal I wore on a strand of leather around my neck. A year ago, while walking along this very shore after sunset, a huge, glowing rock fell from the sky. It broke as it hit the lake’s surface, and I’d initially dismissed it as nothing worth bothering with. Thoughts of it kept me awake that night, making me return here in the morning. I risked the jevecks and dove into the water to investigate, finding broken, scattered bits of the rock coating the mud. I gathered a handful of the clear crystals and took them to shore.

At first, I thought they were nothing but pretty objects I could share with my clan. But since the jevecks didn’t attack me while I gathered them and swam back to shore, I jokingly decided the crystals brought good luck. I strung one on a leather strand and wore it around my neck.

I took the rest of the fragments back to my clan, and we placed them near our fire, gazing in awe as they gleamed in the light of our two moons much like the crystal structures some Zuldruxians chose to live inside. Not us. Who’d wish to live within the carcass of a dead god when a plant god would happily grow a living home for us instead? Our plant homes suited us fine, as did the vegetation we used in our everyday life. Plants were far superior to crystal or wood.

When I visited the Veerenad city to make trades for my clan, one of the lizard merchants noted the crystal and asked me to remove it for him to examine. I’d only been vaguely listening to the conversation around me and thought nothing of the fact that I understood what everyone was saying.

But when I removed the crystal, I understood nothing other than the merchant’s words. Yet when I hung the crystal back around my neck, I understood everything once more.

As long as both parties wore the crystals, we could communicate. I traded all the crystals I’d brought with me to the Veerenads that day.

Gifts from the god, Digaray, my adopted mother and clan elder pronounced, when I told her what happened. All of us wore the crystals after that.

The tube continued to float in the water, though a section of it slid off the top and plunged beneath the surface.

Should I swim out to the pod to see if it held anything of value or start home? It would take me more than a day to reach my clan.

Once we’d determined what the crystal fragments could do, the stones fetched an amazing price at the Veerenad market. I’d since retrieved more and took them with me to trade whenever I visited the lizard city.

The floating object could contain something worth selling. With so few younglings born to my clan with each passing year, our numbers were dwindling. Wealth might encourage other Zuldruxians to move to our clan, perhaps some of the clan members living in crystal or wooden structures or even some of the Dastalon Clan who traveled through the sky on the backs of winged beasts.

Since the water remained smooth, with no jeveck surface swirls in sight, I decided to investigate. I stripped off my loincloth and tossed it onto the sandy shore. My low hum called to the vines, and they slithered from the forest behind me, pausing near my feet to look up to me for direction. A slightly different sound told them to join me. I slipped into the water and urged them to gently float me out to the cylinder. Swimming created splashes. Splashes drew jeveck attention, and they’d attack.

Reaching the floating object, I hummed again, asking the vines to watch for jevecks and alert me. While some sunk down into the water, others encircled me and the object.

I tilted the tube my way.

To my amazement, a female with hair of an odd red color and very pale skin slid out of the pod and into my arms. She took one look at me and released an ear-piercing shriek. She flailed, rocking the cylinder and splashing the water.

It began to churn beneath my feet.

At my hum, the vines dove down to intercept the jevecks, but I’d only brought a few vines with me, not enough to fight off more than one or two of the snake-like beasts. I needed to reach the shore and leave the water as soon as possible.

Clutching the flailing female to my chest, I swam toward the rocky bank ahead, leaving the vines to delay the jevecks. Some slipped past the vines, and one whipped its tail against my legs, the only warning these beasts gave before they attacked.

I swam faster, my legs kicking, my free arm scooping water to take me closer to the shore. My lungs were on fire. The woman continued to shriek and hit me, but I held tight, determined not to let the jevecks take her.

“Let me go.” The female punched me in the neck hard enough to steal my breath. Gagging, I struggled to reach the shore while she kicked my belly and smacked my head.

I should release her. Leave her for the jevecks. If they were focused on her, they wouldn’t come after me.

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