Page 4 of Betrothed to the Yeti

“Wait, we are poor on purpose? Starving in the hopes the middle class falls to the bottom?” My questions echo across the barren landscape. “When you fail to predict a snowstorm that buries the crops too deeply to be retrieved and smothers them, do you ignore the warnings on purpose?”

“I’ve let food spoil in the vain hope that hunger for nourishment will overwhelm the hunger for Mr. Rinzen’s offerings,” she murmurs.

“And you didn’t see anything wrong with that? I bet the starving families would keep their mouths shut if you snuck some food to them!” I yank my elbow from her gnarled fingers and stomp up the stairs.

I hate Alpha.

I don’t look back at the Seer to avoid listening to her excuses. The depravity of our settlement churns my empty stomach. I’m resigned to my fate—Yeti food or Temple Devadasi—anything to escape the horrid people of Alpha. Was a broken, selfish society the desired outcome of the first settlers or the reason Earthlings never retrieved us when communication between the worlds fell apart? If I had a spaceship, I’d leave the citizens of Alpha behind too. I’d hightail it back to paradise without a second thought.

No spaceship will save Nima, my father, or me. Even surrounded by a village, I’ve always had to fend for myself. Might as well try my luck with a Yeti.

“Do you have any messages for me to take back to Alpha?” The Seer calls to me when I reach the top of the steps.

Do I ask Dronma to save Nima first? Perhaps a message from her forgotten sister will remind her that her older sister could be in danger. I can bribe Pabu with every skill I possess to stay alive. A smug smile curves my lips. No matter how the Seer hoped to starve us with freak snowstorms, I always had my cheese. How many times did artisans like me thwart her efforts? How many times did I feed my family while my sisters lay idle and flirted with suitors?

“Tell them to forget they ever knew me,” I call out with my back to her. I yank the door open, because why would a Yeti lock it? Who would enter a Yeti’s lair using the door handles? The pull position keeps the feral beasts out while the legends of his savagery keep the humans away…except the companion he requested.

Please don’t let his request be to learn how humans taste.

I can save him the trouble of cooking me with my life story. We are a distasteful species.

Chapter 3

Pabu

Who the hell is this? She blows into my home like a snowstorm, throwing fabric left and right as she makes her way to the heating hearth. The female human brings a long-necked herbivore, which she releases into my space. I’m not prepared for my private space to be invaded. They better not scat all over my rooms. The female makes a gesture at the altar I built at the nameless Seer’s request. What does the raising of her middle finger mean? Is this her gesture of piety, like the Seer’s wild arm swinging?

I asked the Seer to bring one of the tamed pack animals they call ‘wildebeests.’ Is the small herbivore in my home the replacement or do I dare to keep the human female too? No, a human is too much trouble to defend and maintain. Wildebeests have long necks to eat the lichen buried in the snow and long horns to defend themselves. The beasts are self-sufficient friends. Such a companion could carry me home when a hunt gets out of hand…like the last hunt.

Droplets of blood decorate the floor of my first level living space, but I don’t clean them. What’s the point when I’m still leaking? My gut twisted at attacking the group of three cats the humans call ‘tigers’ at once. The cats had never banded together before and were advancing on the mines to prey on the working humans. I refuse to let the savage beasts of this planet eat my only entertainment!

From my spot in the shadows, I have the perfect view of the female and her blasted ‘goat’, as the humans call them. They ignore the two cushioned chairs I placed in the warmth in favor of the hard, unforgiving floor. Without her furry layers, she’s as small and delicate as the portraits I received from her ancestors. I’m torn between studying her and retreating upstairs to gaze upon the portraits. Her limbs are longer than the ancestor humans—adaptation to the difference in gravity between Earth and Enceladus. The little human’s neck is longer too.

My feet suction to the floor as her delicate fingers comb the fur of the goat. The pair cuddle in front of the glowing crystals, watching the decomposition of the radiation, and the binding of the atoms. Will she sit there for the millennium it will take for the fusion to run out of fuel?

What is she doing? I can’t see because the goat is in the way! Oh, how I have longed to be this close to a human again! Has it been a hundred years? Two hundred? To have one of their voices address me and to ask them about all the strange things they do in the villages. Will she teach me the dances of Gamma or the juggling songs of Delta?

My arm is numb from how I wedged myself in the entryway of my kitchen. When my doors burst open, I thought I only needed a hiding place to gain the element of surprise. My focus was on which Yeti from my former tribe visited and why. Certainly, none of the tigers, wild dogs, or herbivores could figure out how to turn a handle. After watching the courageous invader settle as if she owns the place, my body cramps with the need to move. If I can shift my shoulder…

“Who’s there?” The female snaps as she rotates her body to scan my home. Her fingers continue their rhythmic strokes, so the trusting goat doesn’t stir. Unarmed and alone, she glares into the shadows. “Come out and show yourself! No need to stalk your prey. Your dinner was paid for and delivered by Alpha’s finest.”

The deep roots of her courage resonate in her strong, clear voice. She thinks she’s food and yet, she stares down the shadows. I would eat the goat, the fabric, or the glowing crystals before I would eat a human. Not only are their tiny bones a pain to remove, but alive they have proved to be an endless source of amusement.

The crystal’s beams dance as they reflect off her dark hair. The strands fan over her shoulders as her head swivels to guess my location. I’m struck by the power in her stare when her gaze finds me. Large eyes with a golden hoop inside like a hidden treasure nestled in a white blanket dominate her face. Her nose and chin point with accusation. So alien to the round-featured, fuzzy creatures native to this planet. Her lips pull into a snarl to bare her ridiculously tiny teeth. Her goat has a more imposing set of fangs. The human’s glare is softened by the pink flesh framing it. How soft are her furless cheeks? As tender as they look?

“Pabu,” I call from my spot. With a deep inhale, I step one leg from behind the door. My kinked shoulder screams as I roll it and blood rushes down my arm. The pins and needles cease their stabbing when I flex my claw in front of my nose. “I am Pabu, and this is my home. You have—”

Her scream is not only loud enough to wake every wolf and tiger living within miles, but maybe the dead ones, too.

Jaya

Why am I screaming for help? The people with the power to rescue me are the ones who sealed my fate.

Ku Huang wakes to run in circles at my scream. Each lap grows wider. Her next pass will put her within the Yeti’s grasp. I lunge toward the Yeti but flatten my belly against the floor in submission. Luck is on my side as my fingers catch on Ku Huang’s lead. With a harsh yank, she is safe at my side. I roll to sitting with her billowing body hugged to my chest.

My breathing slows and can’t fuel my screams anymore.

Despite the tempting meal of a heavily pregnant goat running under his nose, the Yeti remains in the shadows.Calm down Jaya and think. Darting out the front door would require me to pass his hiding place, but I’m fast. Do I run into the frigid air where the cold and the feral beasts will compete for the chance to kill me? Yeah right. I’ll place my life in the hands of the beast on two legs, who can talk.

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