Page 58 of Xefe
I concentrated and made sure I was ready for the performance of my life. So I called out to her. Not inherlanguage. I spoke the screechy Aavvee tongue instead. I knew where my bread was buttered. “Oh yeah? If I’m so weak, how did I push your ugly ass off the beam?” I stretched my vocal cords to the limit, screeching at full volume, and slowly my throat adjusted to accommodate the bat-shit ugly language. “What does that make you, if you’ve been beaten by a little ole earther like me? Feather-headed. Weak-boned. Pathetic. Loser!” The Aavvee language had a surprising amount of curse words, granted, most of them seemed bird-related. So, just to drive my point home, I repeated the insults in Greenie’s language.
The crowd went silent. One beat. Two… Enough to make me feel like I’d made a colossal mistake.
Meanwhile, Greenie lost her shit in response. Spitting and stomping her weird legs. She bent, readying to pounce on top of me.
Let’s go, puta!
I balled my fists, ready to fight for my life to stay on my platform. I may not make it to the finish line, but neither would she. The details swept through me.Brace for contact. Go low as soon as she jumps. Sweep out my leg. Punch her in the tit. Knock her off balance.
Right before she leapt, a strange sound swept through the crowd, a clicking accompanied by an eerie moan that made both of us pause. The sound grew and grew, swelling into a bone-chilling moan. It was hard to decipher the meaning, but it evoked… blood-thirsty pleasure.Need.They seemed to be in a frenzy… was it because they’d understood me insult Greenie? I hoped so.
“Hermosa!”
I whipped my head around, searching the crowd for the voice. No one called me Hermosa except my sister. Hope flared until I saw Querida waving madly from the finish line. My heart broke a little, and a wave of grief engulfed me.
“Look!” Querida reached into the pocket of her sack dress. She pulled out broken pieces of rock—the same that had littered the practice ring we’d all practiced in—and threw them into the air.
Why the hell?
The pebbles, some as small as marbles, some as large as door handles, spread in the air like stars in the night sky. A few dropped and then hovered in front of me.
Space rocks! Clever Querida had brought a few with her. Pieces of space floaters, but… would they hold my weight?
Greenie landed beside me on the platform, a few feet separating us. “Earther scum. I will murder you! I will rip off your limbs one by one and tear off your fingers with my own teeth. I will stab you in the womb to ensure you never procreate and bring earther filth to any part of this world. I willdestroyyou.”
Carajo.She even wanted to kill my future babies? If I had a heart, it might have hurt my feelings. “Rude!Did your ugly mama teach you to talk like that with her ugly mouth?” I delivered the line and spun around.No time to overthink.I leaped and tried to access the Oro in my system, but I was too distracted by pure, unadulterated fear.
The Aavvee exploded in screams.Hopefully, in support?
I flew, catching a fist-sized rock in my hand. The air whooshed out of my chest as I dropped several feet, but… it held. A few smaller rocks were in reach, and I swung through like a monkey bar professional. After a handful of death drops, I made it within feet of the finish line.
So close.
A shadow whizzed by me on my left, and I came face to face with a seething alien. Greenie had decided to make use of Querida’s space rocks and paced next to me, navigating her own path to the finish line, all while trying to murder me. She could have just jumped, but I’d gotten under her skin.
Greenie kicked at me as I dangled a little below the finish line. My problem was, I’d run out of rocks. On top of that, the green team crew waited at the finish line. When one of them swiped at me, sweet, kind Nheenya growled and jumped on her back. Nieve joined her, but Querida reached out, dragging me by the sack dress and pulling me atop the platform.
Unfortunately, Greenie made it across at the same time. Querida and I were instantly surrounded by a wall of seethingmuscle. We would have to fight our way out, and it wouldn’t be pretty. For us. I’m sure those uglyputaaliens would be just fine.
“Yes,yes. Yes-yes!” Lights blazed across the stands, blasts of every color in the rainbow. The Aavvee cheered, and the supreme loomed on a stage across from us. Luckily, the green team froze when a sparkling spotlight surrounded us. “Stop,stop. No more fights. Hands-handsoff. We-wehave our winners. I am pleased. We-wehave winners.”
I held my breath, terrified I hadn’t made it in time. What if he favored his champions and let them advance? This win would be the only thing keeping us away from manual labor. And if the zombie-miners were any indication of what it was like down there, we’d be doomed.
Not a sound. Not a breath. Total silence enveloped the arena while we awaited the supreme’s decision.
“We-wehave a tie. Five teams advance. Yes-yes? To see who will be the true champion during our Great Race!” The supreme spread his stubby arms wide, and the crowd exploded with chitters and squawks.
“No! I won! I—” Greenie snarled, but one of her teammates hooked her around the neck and backed away.
Nieve and Nheenya crept over to us, and we all clasped hands in a state of shock as we watched the clucking supreme and his horny harem. Dick-tongues were flying everywhere. I sent a prayer up in thanks that I wasn’t close enough to smell them.
Without thought, my eyes searched the stage and found its target. Sunny stood in the shadows, in his typical pose, arms crossed. Again, he wouldn’t meet my eyes, and it was killing me.
Loxo stood next to him and a smile split his face, but only for a second. I didn’t know who he thought he was fooling. The whole planet must know he had emotions at this point.
“Such-sucha surprise. A momentous day-day. We have the Verders champions… we have the Exama aliens…and we havethe earthers. Join-joinus here in asyadstime to see our final champion.” The supreme caught my eye. He followed my gaze to Xefe and clacked his beak.
Dread settled in my chest, making my pounding heart beat even faster. I would have to be a lot smarter about my reactions to Sunny. This feather-headed leader might be smarter than I thought.
