Page 7 of Gyft

I guess maybe I’ll be able to find the mountains once I leave the trees. Or... maybe the location on the viewing screen was already a plotted-out map. It showed the town as being two miles from the door of the shuttle, so maybe that’s the way.

I nod. It’s what I would do if I was a shuttle engineer. I’d design the map to flip directions according to which way the shuttle lands. I make a note to myself to also make sure the shuttles always land near shopping malls.

Lifting my gown like an ethereal fairy princess, I head through massive wooden trunks, deeper into the forest.

Even though this planet is shady from the huge trees as tall as skyscrapers, there’s a lot of blue-based colors. The leaves are more bluishthan they are green. The ground is slightly blue like some sort of rich, glittery metal was deposited into the dirt.

Quick movement flickers in the corner of my eye. A dark olive-colored thing, as tall as me, hops by on one single leg. When it turns to look at me, I shudder at the face. It has eight eyes and the black, hairy face of a spider.

A snap sounds, making me jump. The creature extends two giant arms out and cracks open a giant tree branch—or root, I guess they are, since they grow from the ground into the shape of a cage at the base of the trees. When he breaks the wood open, fluorescent blue gel oozes out. The creature leans down, fangs extended, and a hissing escapes its throat as it sucks up the sap from the branch. The tree itself shudders, and giant leaves fall from the sky. Is it in pain? I don’t want to stick around for this creature to decide it’s still hungry. Picking up my skirts lest they grow dirty, I spin around and run, losing myself between the never-ending trees.

After a time, I begin to wander, looking up occasionally to see a glimpse of the sky. But there’s nothing visible. Not with the thick trees that extend like skyscrapers. With an ear-splitting screech, a vile black, oily creature shaped like a bird with arms and legs sails across the sky under the canopy of leaves, arms extended like batwings. It has a snout which sniffs the air and then his yellow eyes zero in on me. It’s the ugliest creature I’ve ever seen.

Before it gets dinner ideas, I run toward the tree trunk-like cages. Just before I squeeze through the tree’s thick roots, a mist rains down on me. My limbs freeze in a paralysis—the thing is peeing on me. Spraying me. I panic, my breath coming in short, shallow pants but I’m unable to move. Wiggling my core, I insert myself into the exposed tree roots like they’re a protective cage. The creature circles the tree once, looking to see if I’ll come out, and then flits away, disappearing before I can see how high he goes because my neck freezes in place.

Chapter Four

GYFT:

THE SHUTTLE IS wide open, no bride in sight.

How the hell did she wake from stasis? The gas should have kept her sleeping for at least four rotations. What is this monster’s metabolism like if a gentle sleeping gas doesn’t keep her under? Suddenly, my decision to relax during the wet season in the comfort of my home seems like a bad idea. If I’d have set up here, I would have been present when the shuttle landed during the rain and I could have waited until it ended before coming to investigate, and possibly finding my bride conscious during her trip. She was probably terrified, especially entering orbit. The gravitational pull, which feels like you’re being sucked through the planet, isn’t easy.

In any case, whether I wish to be married to her or not, I must find her.

I narrow my eyes on the obvious marks my poor, clueless, backwoods bride left. A sweeping of dirt and dust created by the monstrosity of a gown that dragged behind her, leaving a trail like that of a giant snail. A roadmap for predators. I study the winding path as it circles upon itself and leads into the trees, but then my heartbeat quickens. It’s not the city of H’liyio she’s headed for—the last location on the map—it’s the deadlands. Poor befuddled female has no sense of direction, or else she can’t read a map because there’s a clear image of where she landed on her viewing screen. The city is the nearest point.

Stealthily, I follow her tracks, curious as to what she’s doing. It’s not long before I find the noisy creature.

It was the first option I pondered—she has no sense of direction. Because my bride wanders in giant circles without noticing. Maybe I didn’t need to panic about her entering the deadlands after all.

“Aaargh,” she bellows, looking up at the sky that can barely be seen from the canopy of the trees. “I’m tired and hungry and thirsty! And I can’t get out of this miserable forest. Some monster froze me with his skunk spray, and now I’m afraid to leave the safety of all the tree root cages! That’s what saved me when I froze in place. And why do the trees have above-ground roots anyway? Do they pick up and walk? So stupid.”

She stomps her foot.

Hiding behind the trunk of an enormoussicqurius, I give a soft, musical whistle and hear her skirts rustle as she whirls around.

“Who’s there?” she calls out.

I step out from behind the tree. “It is I, Earth-bride.” Despite my warm welcome, I can’t help but shudder at the sight of her.

“Oh!” Her eyes grow wide amidst all the black bruising around her lids that stretches up to the fur thatches over her eyes. Her cheekbones are sharp and bony, deep shadows slashed in the hollows beneath them giving the illusion that the tops shine with white. Her lips are bow-shaped ribbons of death. Literally, they’re black with gangrene, about to fall off. I shake off my disgust, hoping she doesn’t see the wriggle. She looks like a ghoul starving for blood.

Will I really have to lie with such a strange creature? Her father didn’t have the dark eye bruising and I didn’t notice them in her pictures but I was rather entranced with the color of the curtain that drapes her head. All humans grow the sheath instead of spiky freelig—hers is fiery like gemstones, unheard of to have such a color. It’s the only lovely thing about this pathetic creature.

“I know you cannot understand me. I am your husband, Gyft T’shil of the Third District, High Commander of the Kashian fleet. Please, may I help you?”

Her eyes are wide and a small hand flutters up to her chest as if she tries to contain the beating of her heart. “Gyft?”

Ahh, she recognizes my name, then.

I nod, hoping the movement means the same thing to her. “Gyft. I am Gyft.” Then, in case the nod isn’t universal, I try to smile. It’s alright to do so since we’re married.

She balks at the sight.

“Fangs? You have fangs.” Strange thing crosses herself, fingers to her forehead, her chest, and then each shoulder. “Take me to Gyft then, creature. He obviously sent a protector for me. Or are you kidnapping me?” She narrows her eyes.

“I don’t know what you’re saying, bride. If you had stayed in the shuttle, the computer would have translated enough that I could make you understand we’ll undergo a cramming of each other’s languages. It’s not an easy procedure and now you’ll be a little confused if you go through it without understanding what’s happening.”

---