Page 31 of I Married A Lizardman

I packed the darts I’d been working on and, with Zoltar’s help, carried them and my tools back towards the plaza. My heart sank at the sight of Surtas, the Inosh Mountains Clan Leader.

“Surtas,” I said in greeting, “you are here early.”

“The others will join us in two days for departure,” he said.

He gestured with his chin at the field behind the Great Hall. That only made me even more nervous. Surtas wanting us away from prying ears hinted at how somber the situation was. To make matters worse, the location he chose for us to have that discussion gave us a perfect line of sight on Susan preparing to work the fields.

“The Conglomerate made me another offer,” Surtas said, going straight to the point. His coppery scales looked ashen with stress, having lost their shine of old when his people thrived and prospered. “It is still meager, but higher than their previous one.”

“You cannot accept!” I exclaimed.

“I may have no choice!” he hissed, his tail stiffening, while a sliver of red tinged his scales. “The next hunt and public market salesmustbe successful, or I will have no choice but to sell at least part of our lands.”

“Surtas—”

“I will only offer part of the plains,” he interrupted, shifting uncomfortably on his feet. “The Inosh Mountains trail and the surrounding forest will remain ours for hunting.”

“They will never consent to that,” Zoltar said, with barely veiled anger. “They will demand all or nothing.”

“All isnoton the table,” Surtas retorted. “It will be that portion of land and nothing else.”

“And what if they withdraw their offer unless you sell everything?” I asked in a soft voice.

Surtas stared at me for a moment, anger, betrayal, and despair all warring for dominance on his features. Instead of the angry outburst I had expected, his shoulders dropped, and the strong male, fearsome Hunter, and charismatic leader I’d known my whole life took on an utterly defeated expression.

“What would you have me do, Olix? My people will starve,” he said in a haunted voice. “All the herds have gone. There have been no sightings whatsoever, not even small game like hoppers.Nothing!Worse still, even Gatherers are coming home almost empty-handed. Something is happening that’s driving away the fauna and devouring the roots, leaves, and berries that used to supplement our meals.”

“It has to be the Conglomerate’s doing to force our hand,” Zoltar said through his teeth.

“I believe it, too,” I conceded, “but we have found no proof of foul play. Their people have not been seen anywhere near our forests in two years, and yet things have steadily worsened.”

“It must be their technology,” Zoltar argued.

“Of that, too, we have found no proof,” I said, discouraged. “You know how Luped is crazy for technology. She has used all the tracking and scanning programs we could afford and found nothing. If they are indeed doing something, it is beyond our comprehension. But if we sell, they win.”

“We never should have allowed off-worlders back onto our planet,” Surtas said bitterly. “Life was much simpler before them. Their technology is too strong, and we are too poor to upgrade what we have or to acquire what could make us competitive. If it comes to that, and I sell my lands, my people could merge with another clan. The new wealth from the sale could spare them from having to sell as well.”

That comment hurt my heart, but it was a partial solution.

“They say she grows food,” Surtas suddenly said.

Startled, I followed his gaze and saw him staring at my mate in the distance. The devices Susan had been assembling now seemed fully functional. My stomach dropped as she set the first one in an upright position, hovering a few centimeters aboveground. It vaguely reminded me of a giant funnel but with a bladed hook at the bottom.

“It is a disgrace that our Clan Mistress, our Spear’s mate, plays in the dirt,” Zoltar hissed.

“Careful,” I warned, taking a menacing step towards him. “Disrespect my mate, and you will face my wrath.”

He clenched his teeth but had the good sense of backing down. He turned his resentful gaze towards my female, then curiosity appeared to take over his displeasure. I looked back and found myself also staring in fascination. Still wearing her knee-length dress and simple closed shoes, Susan tapped a few instructions on the interface of the device. The hook underneath it straightened while retracting within itself. Seconds later, it stabbed into ground before curving again. The contraption began moving forward in a straight line, tilling the land. My mate didn’t follow it, turning instead towards the second device.

We watched for a short while longer. The tilling device stopped occasionally, some sort of mechanical arm extracting what resembled a sizable rock and placing it in the container on top of it, before resuming tilling. When it reached a certain distance, the claw retracted and the device moved a short distance to the side and stabbed the ground again, tilling a second row parallel to the first one.

“The Clan Mistress doesn’t seem to be doing much dirt digging,” Surtas said tauntingly to Zoltar. “Looks like a machine does the work.”

A very good point that made my heart soar. I had dreaded seeing my Susan toiling with a pickaxe and shovel in the field.

“We are Hunters,” Zoltar snapped back. “We do not work the soil.”

“If it could prevent your mate, offspring, and community from starving to death, would you dig dirt, or let them perish?” Surtas challenged him.

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