Page 65 of Alien's Eternal Mate

What am I doing? This isn’t my fight. I’ve only been in this village for a little over a year. I should run. I should return to the ruins and try to find a way home.

But if I do that, then what happens to Arael?

Masari warriors fell in beside me. Boisterous, loud, and enthusiastic, they made no bones about their predictions for the battle. I would win, period, end of story. They had zero doubt in their minds.

I wished I shared their confidence. The facts remained the facts, however. I was not a trained warrior. The little bit of weapons practice I’d had with Pageus didn’t come close to the decades of experience Jark brought to the table.

I’d never been in a fight since my primary school days. Even when the Alliance raided the Blue Dawn facility, I had not put up any sort of struggle. I was a man of thought, not a man of action.

And yet, there I was, about to face an opponent I could not hope to defeat, all in the name of people I didn’t even know a year prior.

Run, Carter. Run! Don’t listen to their chants, don’t look at their hopeful faces, so sure that I’m going to win. Run! You’re not a warrior, and you're certainly not a chief. You’re a scientist, you should act like one.

I stepped onto the crest of the hill, and stared out at the enemy encampment. The floating island they’d chosen had nearly drawn abreast of Starlost village. The glowing lights of their silver tubes twinkled like a field of sinister stars.

I began this whole journey looking out on the stars. Now it seems I have come full circle.

The enemy encampment chanted, slamming the hafts of their spears on the ground for emphasis and syncopation. A figure emerged among the rest, standing much taller than the others.

Ignio handed me the Masari equivalent of a spyglass. I put the orb up to my eye and felt the familiar tingle as I fed it Masari life energy.

There was no focusing the orb. One moment, I couldn't see anything at all, and the next the chief of the enemy tribe appeared in stark, detailed relief.

“He’s…short.”

Indeed, most of Jark’s height came from the ornate, carved mask he wore. His armor had a look to it of being designed to make him look larger, as well.

Still, even though he wasn’t all that tall, Jark’s stockiness was evident. I had no doubt he would possess supreme athleticism despite his short stature.

“He is no match for you,” Lo said, slapping me on the arm. “This will be over swiftly.”

I had to wonder if he was right, but for the wrong reasons. I gripped my spear and spoke out of the corner of my mouth.

“Pageus, what is expected of me? Where will this duel take place?”

“As the challenger, it is up to Jark to make the first move. When he takes to the sky, you must wait until he is within a spear’s throw to engage him.”

“What happens if I go early?”

Pageus’ eyes went wide.

“It is simply not done.”

“Yes, but what if it was?”

“I do not know, but I do know that Jark’s men would ill respect the Chieftain who broke the rules.”

I had been afraid he would say something like that. The Masari sense of honor seldom helped anything. All it ever seemed to do was hinder my efforts.

“Be ready, I think Jark is about to take to the skies.”

I gripped the spear haft so tightly my knuckles changed hue. How strange I found it, looking at a hand covered in scales and thinking of it as my own.

If I saw peach hued flesh instead of scales, would I find it strange, now? Am I a human dreaming he is Masari, or a Masari who once dreamed he was a man?

“Gro! Gro, go now!”

Pageus’ voice broke me out of my reverie. I looked up to see Jark’s black winged form in the air, marring the red-sun sky.

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