Page 108 of Sky Song
His brow furrowed and his fine brows twitched. “I told you once I wasn’t from Enzomora, and I’m not. I was born on a dunk and ruined planet where a number of Rix males had come to live because they didn’t agree with the rules of Enzomora.”
“I had no clue Rix resided outside their native planet.”
“They do, as a matter of fact. There are several places where Rix people have settlements, all arranged through peace negotiations with the native people. But this place wasn’t like that. It had been settled by force by the dregs of the Rix society. Other aliens had joined later. It was a rough place.”
“Oh, Lyle…”
He took her by the shoulders. “For better or worse, it was my home, and though I’m not proud of it, I won’t deny it. I am who I am. There’s nothing I can do to change my past, my beautiful, and if I could, I wouldn't know where to begin.” He reached up and smoothed her hair, so tender. “Back to the forest story. There was a dominant group of Rix males who held the power on that planet. My father was one of them. My mother was one of his… wives. A captive one, for sure.”
“Captive?”
“The prettiest, most prized captive women were made wives.”
Cricket held her breath as the unbelievable tale unfolded. All she knew of the Rix nation was how close-knit they were, how great their defender force was, and how they abhorred any sort of discord in their ranks or a deviation from their strict laws. There was none of thatcaptivewivesstuff anywhere.
“The men in charge were all trigger happy and swift with retribution,” he continued. “Very few dared to oppose them, but every so often, there would be infighting, and someone would rise against the ruling circle. And sometimes people would plot to escape, as was the case of my mother who tried to ditch that planet with me.”
“They failed?”
“Spectacularly. The rebel party was discovered as they gathered at a designated place, preparing to board a hidden spaceship. They scattered, and my mother hid me in that spot at the edge of the forest. I don’t remember it, but I pieced together what happened when I was old enough to understand the stories told about that failed escape. That must be the reason I kept coming back to that one spot, over and over again.”
“What happened to your mother?” Cricket was afraid she knew the answer.
“She was killed along with the others.”
“By her pursuers? Surely not by your… father.”
Lyle closed his eyes briefly, popping that weird eyelid. “Not by him, though I’m sure he would’ve killed her had he caught her alive - betrayal was never forgiven. No, someone from her escape team killed her as a punishment before the rest of them got slaughtered by my father and his friends.”
“For what?”
“For giving them away.”
“Was it her fault?”
“It was my fault. I cried and gave away their position.”
“Oh, Lyle! But you were only a little boy.”
“She wasn’t supposed to have brought a child with her. The escape plan was very risky and designed for adults to avoid the very thing that ended up happening. I don’t know if my mother had changed her mind about me at the last minute, or she had always planned to smuggle me into that stolen freighter, but she tried to, and everybody died.”
Cricket smoothed her hands down the sides of his face, unafraid and no longer unsure about touching him, feeling the smooth softness of the down covering his skin.
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry for your mother’s death - she was young, wasn’t she?”
He smiled slightly. “I suppose she was. I don’t know.”
“What was her name?”
“I don’t know for sure.”
“Oh, Lyle.”
Cricket’s heart ached. Her inexplicable fear of the forest was largely forgotten. The rock was hard beneath her feet, boosting her courage. Lyle’s arms were bracketing her waist, safe, and his story was too immersive to care about anything else. He did it on purpose. He always steered her in the direction he wanted her to go, and it was disconcerting to understandyet impossible to change. She’d never been someone gullible, someone easily swayed, and distantly, she wondered what gave him so much power over her.
“I didn’t do too well in the forest,” he continued, reflective. “But I survived. They told me later that I was emaciated and sick, covered in scabs and wounds.”
“Then I thank all the gods for those kind women that took you in.”
