Page 20 of On A Rift's Edge
“I forgot to ask, how was your date?” Lyall did his best to keep his rabid jealousy under control, as well as his intense interest in the answer.
“It was nice.” Kat didn’t sound terribly enthusiastic, but maybe Lyall was hanging his hopes onto those few words. “He talked about money a lot and exploiting Riftworld resources.”
“How’s he planning to get his hands on anything in the Riftworld?” Lyall was starting to hate this guy even more than he already did. “Humans have trashed their planet enough. They better not mess with the little territory we have left.”
He regretted the words as soon as he said them, but Kat beamed.
“Exactly.” There was a hint of righteous anger in his tone, a side of Kat Lyall hadn’t recognized before. Damn, he was so fucking adorable when he got riled up. Lyall wanted to grab and kiss him. “The whole concept is offensive. Humans have no right to take the resources of a different universe from its indigenous population.”
“I’d like to see that loan shark try to take anything from the Mt. Hood hellmouth.” Lyall forgot himself, and the words came out with an added snarl. “For that matter, none of the higher clans would stand for it.”
They walked up to the immobile lion dog statues seated on blocks on either side of the gate, the larger female guardian on the left and the male on the right.
“Konichiwa.” Kat greeted the two guardians in Japanese and bowed to them. They had come up on the komainu fast, and Lyall was prepared to hang around for a while until the slow-moving pair responded.
But the female komainu swung her head around with a grinding noise in what was startling speed for her species. “Greetings, Katsuo Nakamura. I see you have brought us interesting guests.”
Lyall squirmed. The damn lion dogs didn’t miss much, and they had known Remi was Kaveh’s match long before anyone else. They had kept that to themselves then, and he could only hope they would keep their rocky mouths shut now.
“Yes, I have.” Kat gestured to Lyall. “I believe you’ve met Lyall before, well, as a pet dog, but you probably knew that.”
“It’s good to see you’re willing to work with our Kaveh, even though he is a drakone.” The female lion spoke in a modified but understandable version of Lyall’s native language. “It is a fraught time. Enemies become friends, and friends become enemies.”
Lyall didn’t know what the fuck she meant by that last part, but unlike Remi, he knew that asking a komainu for clarification was pointless. He gave them both a deep bow and said nothing.
“And you know Chucky, of course.” Kat gave the scaly little repoequus a fond pat on the neck before gesturing to the towering pile of trash and the creature underneath it. “I don’t know its name, but this is a trash scorpion from the base who ended up in downtown Tucson.”
The male lion dog made a series of clicking and squeaking noises that didn’t make much sense to Lyall until the trash scorpion responded in kind.
Kat’s eyes widened, and he whispered in Lyall’s ear. “They can communicate with it?”
Lyall nodded, the soft heat of Kat’s breath against his skin going straight to his cock and making him incapable of speech.
“Disturbing.” The female Guardian said the words in a low rumble. “Thank you, Katsuo, for helping our friend here escape captivity.”
The trash scorpion let out another set of sounds, some of which were pitched too high for human ears to hear.
“He and his clan owe you a debt for the rescue and the many gifts.” The male lion paused in his translation as the trash scorpion spoke again, then continued. “Such courtesy is unexpected from a human. In return, he and his clan wish to repay you.”
“Oh, that’s not necessary,” Kat said, but Lyall put a hand on his arm to stop him.
“Most Riftworld clans are prickly when it comes to debts and gifts.” Lyall snatched his hand back. Damn, he had to control the overwhelming urge he had to touch Kat. “I’d recommend you accept it.”
Kat eyed the pile of junk on top of the trash scorpion and whispered, “Hopefully it won’t be the thong.”
Lyall had to suppress a laugh, and Kat gave a fake cough to cover his own amusement.
The vet assistant nodded in the male lion’s direction. “That’s very generous of him, and I’d be honored to accept.”
Both lion dogs gave approving nods.
The female komainu spoke to the trash scorpion again, but this time she didn’t translate the crab-like creature’s answer. Instead, both guardians fell silent.
Lyall didn’t like that. He felt confident he had given Kat good advice on how to handle this Riftworld interaction, but the trash scorpion’s answer had the lion dogs concerned. He could smell it.
With a loud grinding noise, the female guardian climbed down to the ground. Once there, her body transformed into brick-like components which assembled themselves back into a humanoid shape approximating that of a woman. She came closer to Kat, and Lyall stepped in front of him.
He didn’t want to go head-to-head with the guardians, but he wouldn’t let anything bad happen to Kat.
