Wednesday Briefs: Broken Path, Nameless Tail Chapter Two

 

Something sharp poked his chest, and he jolted awake. His breath caught, what little he could with the weight on his chest and the daggers at his throat. Nothing prepared him for this, and he should have known better.

“I swear I locked that door.” Parallax was Colby’s cat. Or the family’s cat. Or a cat that lived in the woods that bordered their side of town, and he somehow had free reign on their house and demanded food the moment the horizon began to light and the stars began to fade before he scampered off to wherever he hid all day.

He took the cats were night creatures thing seriously. Beckett had never seen him awake during the day, and he could be downright lethal if whoever was his chosen food preparer of the day didn’t get right on with it.

Hence the chest and throat assault. The prick of claws wake up and baleful stare were just the start. In less than a minute, the blue black fur on his body would start to fluff, and he’d make a noise that would vibrate the bones in his victim’s skull until they had to get out of bed to shut him up and make it go away.

Plus whoever was around would assault Parallax’s chosen victim with whatever was within arm’s reach to make them do it, just in case he decided to pick someone else instead. Not that Beckett had ever seen that happen. Any time he stayed over, Parallax always picked him as his chosen breakfast slave.

“You know, I was up late reading,” he informed the cat. His eyes felt like they had twenty-pound sandbags on them. “And there was a cat in the book. Lazy thing, spent twenty-three hours a day sleeping.”

Parallax spent a lot of the time sleeping, but not that much. The clock hadn’t even made it to six yet. Beckett groaned. He needed coffee for this. He snapped the button on the pod with his cup already loaded. Colby must have set it up. Such a good best friend. Then again, Beckett was up at the butt crack of dawn feeding Colby’s cat.

Maybe he was the best best friend.

 

The next night, Beckett sank into his own bed with a sigh of relief. He was alone in the house, his parents going away on a weekend trip, and he didn’t have to be anywhere for the next two days. No sneaking out of the house to avoid hard looks, spending his days sweating it out waiting for Colby to finish practice or hoping he’d get a call or text on a job he was damn sure wasn’t going to materialize.

Opportunities didn’t just fall out of nowhere.

The air-conditioning was going full-blast, for once the late June day weather holding through the evening hours. Beckett pulled the sheet up over his bare chest, blocking the chill air. Some days he wished he was even a little hairy. Okay, more than some days. The guys had laughed their asses off because somehow Parallax had ringed both his nipples when he sunk his claws into Beckett’s chest that morning, leaving them red and sore.

“Ass cat,” Beckett muttered again. They were still tingly under the covers, just the slightest bit tender.

He rolled onto his side and smushed his pillow up under his neck. “Sleep.” He wanted it. Needed it. Craved it. Something about the nighttime made it hard to sleep, and he was always tired. All Beckett wanted to do was curl up into a ball and take a nap when the sun was highest—and wasn’t that a problem during fourth period Chemistry or U.S. History, or Trig.

Teachers had this thing about staying awake.

But he couldn’t. He’d prop his chin up on his first, eyes trained on the notes or the page, and then be a goner. All the last semester, Beckett had gotten be the same dream, or a version of it. Now I was exhausted.

No way was a dream keeping Beckett up tonight. He’d taken a little pharmaceutical assistance before hitting the hay.

 

He woke because something was stabbing him in the back. “Ow, did a fucking spring break?” He tried digging underneath him, but Beckett couldn’t find the spring.

His hand closed on something warm, kobby, and firm. Yanking it out, he stared at the brain. One end was chewed, devoid of leaves and branches, even the bark gone, like it had never existed. Just smooth wood with a slightly slippery texture.

“What the hell?” Beckett muttered. He reached over to the side of the bed, dropped the wood, and rolled over. He wasn’t sure if the sun was up, but there was no way he was greeting that evil ball of heat and light two days in a row.

He sighed, relaxing, then jerked when something poked him in the ribs on his left side. “No way,” he grumbled. Sure enough, it was another stick. Shoving back the covers, Beckett jumped out of the bed.

Instead of a soft mattress, it was a slightly concave platform, the edges woven together to form a nest. Sticks stuck out here and there, similar to the ones that’d been poking him. No bark, no blemishes, just smooth wood. But he could have sworn he’d laid down on a soft mattress.

Then Beckett looked up, jumping to find his best friend’s cat, his ass parked right on Beckett’s pillow, waiting for him. “Good evening, Beckett.”

“No fucking way. What are you doing here?” Was this a prank? He looked around, trying to find Colby. He’d be there somewhere, snickering.

Wait. The cat just talked. To him. By name.

Beckett pinched his leg. Nothing. Whew. This had to be a dream.

“You are dreaming, Beckett, but I’m not really a dream,” Parallax said.

“Oh sure.” Because that made perfect sense. He nodded along anyway, because everyone knew that was how you made a nightmare go away. 

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Julie Lynn Hayes

Wednesday Briefs: Broken Path, Starless Tail Chapter One

 

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Beckett rolled a blade of grass between his fingers. The bottom of the stem was full and round, and the blade fluttered when he spun it again. Grasping the two pieces, he pulled slowly, trying to get the whole blade off the stem before it broke.

“Damn.” It tore, so he tossed the grass down on the field and pursed his lips, looking for another one. A foot kicked his hip, rolling from his belly to his side.

“What are you doing?”

“Dying of boredom.” Beckett squinted up at the dark shape, the sun burning his eyes so they watered. He rolled all the way over away from Colby and back onto his belly. The grass here was in the shade of several full birch trees and cool against his stomach where his T-shirt rode up. “How was practice?”

Colby slumped to the ground beside him, sighing in relief once he got into the shade. “Hot.” He lifted Beckett’s bottle of water, the ice tinkling against the metal sides, and guzzled at least half the water inside.

“Hey! Don’t drink it all.”

“I need it.” Colby gasped a little for air, out of breath from taking such a long drink. “I’m parched.”

“Parched.” Beckett huffed at his fancy word. “Can’t you just say you’re fucking thirsty?”

“I could, if I wanted to use language only fit for teenage hooligans or my teammates.” Colby lifted the hem of his jersey and wiped off his forehead.

“So I’m a hooligan?” Beckett for damn sure wasn’t on the football team. No way would he be caught dead in those pants or taking part in a team sport.

“You said it, not me.” Colby smirked, lounging back on his elbows. “I thought you had a job this summer before you head off to college.”

“So did I.” His dad insisted, so Beckett had complied, but then the bookstore closed. Now all the summer jobs in their small town were taken, and he had fuck all to do. His dad couldn’t complain; Beckett had put in applications everywhere, but no one else was hiring until some teenager pulled some irresponsible bullshit and got fired.

So he had time on his hands. He definitely wasn’t going to spend it at home, and without the bookstore to hang out in, the high school campus was as good a place as any. “Shouldn’t you go shower or something?”

“Nah, Coach doesn’t open up the locker rooms for summer workouts, just drags up the hose for the water pipe and points us at the woods on the north side of the field if anyone has to go.”

Beckett snorted. “Piss, you mean?”

“You know what I meant.”

“So I gotta sit here and smell you?”

“Aww, you big baby. We could go to my house. My parents are working.” Colby was a junior, well senior now that the school was out, and even had a car. With his light brown hair, dark brown eyes, easy grin and the way he always tried to speak properly, adults loved him and the girls were always trying to date him. No one knew how they’d become friends, at least until they talked to them together or realized Colby and Beckett always carried around the same books.

They were a lot alike, despite seeming like opposites. Sure, Colby was popular and Beckett had a reputation because he didn’t take crap from anyone and more than one teacher had written him up for swearing. His attitude didn’t stop him from getting scholarships and grants to pay for college and into a dorm because what came out of his mouth wasn’t what came out on paper, and he had an exceptional imagination his Lit teacher always said.

“Why?” Going to Colby’s house made Beckett uncomfortable. There was something….

“Because I see your bookmark on the last page of The Path of Shards, and I finished mine last night. Well, this morning at almost two which is why Coach was shouting at me for dragging ass. I got the next two books in the series from Amazon.”

Beckett rolled up to sitting. He plucked a blade of glass. “Really?”

“Yep. Used a gift card my aunt sent me so it didn’t even cost a dime.”

“You could have used it for something else.” He squinted at the blade, pulling gently.

“Other than books?” Now it was Colby’s turn to snort. “We all know that’s all I buy from Amazon with gift cards. Come on, the sweat’s starting to dry on my back and it itches. I want to shower and start reading, and I can’t do that if you’re not reading too.” He pushed off the ground in a single shove, and where he found the energy after working out in the low eighties even before noon, Beckett didn’t know. He sighed.

“Fine.” Beckett grabbed his water bottle and his book and gracelessly rolled onto his knees and then pushed up with his knuckles to get to his feet. “But I’m making quesadillas for lunch.”

“Since Mom said only you’re allowed to cook lunches? Duh.” Colby jabbed him in the ribs. “She got those tomato wraps and the good cheese too. Let’s go!”

 

Colby showered while Beckett cooked two full-sized quesadillas and then sliced them up with the pizza wheel. If they used napkins and only held the books with their free hands, they could eat and check out the second book in the series. Usually he had a no eating and reading rule, because he didn’t want to damage his books, but the colorful covers of The Eyes of the Abyss were too tempting.

Plus the cliffhanger from the last book was brutal. Who did that? It was a good thing he had  a rule never to read a series with less than three completed books. Otherwise, he never knew what crazy things an author might leave the characters facing while their readers were stuck holding their breaths. 

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Wednesday Briefs: Ancalagon Ch. 124

 

“Oh look, there’s some of those plants. The ones with the sindranth.” I crouched, wanting to study the tiny organisms that had ultimately been responsible for so much change in my life.

I was yanked backward off my feet, pulled against Garjah’s thick chest.

“Ow! Stars!”

Bouncer growled, jumping down out of a tree he’d been prowling through, his head swinging back and forth.

“It was him,” I said, jabbing a finger over my shoulder and into the meaty muscle I was captured by. Bouncer growled but Garjah huffed at him so he stalked off. “That stuff is dangerous,” Garjah said.

“I wasn’t about to touch it again.” This time I recognized the odd pattern of holes and the dark movement. “Plus I have much better equipment, remember?” I’d given up my human exosuit, sort of necessary since I had denser body tissue and a whole extra set of limbs.

Their technology was better for many things. Not everything they did was better, though.

“Still. It is my job to keep you safe.”

I turned in Garjah’s arms. Well, I squirmed until he let me turn in his arms. I wrapped two arms around his neck and looked up. “Your job is to keep everyone else safe. Species liaison for security.”

“Seedrah will do well in my old role. I will stay with you, and I will keep you safe while we patrol.”

Patrol also meant I’d have a lot of chances to make new discoveries. Not once had we been separated since he came to get me from the building where the Kardoval had been really hidden. I think he finally got that we were stronger, and safer, together than apart. “I think the people were quite upset that you didn’t want to either take on the role of leadership or stay there as the head of security.”

“I oversaw the process the Aqnars suggested. It was a novel concept.” That was an understatement.

“Allowing those with qualifications to be nominated by people and then holding a vote? It is one that has its roots in antiquity. Many civilizations have used a similar governing process, including humans.” I shrugged. It would take time for his culture to overcome their dependence on their memories, and the rigid cast into roles, to be comfortable with it. “It works, sometimes. And limiting the terms and conditions, and having different levels like the security forces be under a different leadership helps prevent their total control.”

“That is true.”

No one would ever hold supreme power over Garjah’s people again. There had been even more demonstrations, speeches, and rallies held when the news was released about what the Kardoval had done. Most against the Kardoval, but… not all. Some had been led against me and many were outcries against Bouncer, despite the fact he’d only been protecting me.

Cerops didn’t belong among them, they said.

In the end, I would never have been safe to live on the planet safely. We’d have been hounded every time we went into the public. Despite how much they all revered Garjah, Bouncer scared people and I refused to live without him. Besides, while I enjoyed exploring his planet, Ardra still called my name.

The agreement in place to share the planet meant I could explore it and send my reports back to the Galactic Institute. Garjah was still doing his duty to his people. He was patrolling their edges.

And Bouncer was ecstatic. He’d changed since we brought him home. He’d always been close to me, to both of us, but this was different.

Sometimes I thought he’d challenge Garjah if he didn’t love him so much. Then they’d spend time wrestling around on the ground and end up in a pile of limbs panting with identical grins.

“Are you sure this is the life you want?” I asked Garjah.

“It is. I have you, Bouncer, my friends, and even yours.”

Ases stayed behind to do his duty as the ambassador, but he commed us frequently.Timok came with us. I wasn’t sure if I was happy about that or not. In the end, all I really needed or wanted was Garjah and Bouncer in my life.

“Is this the life you want?” He stroked his hands down my back, his hands tangling with the extra pair I never expected to have.

“Always.”

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Julie Lynn Hayes 

Wednesday Briefs Ancalagon Ch. 123

 

Had this been a set up? The officer had brought me into a trap and delivered me to the Kardoval? I slumped to the floor, my body no longer my own to control but my mind whirred uncontrollably through the many different options of what went wrong.

How was this possible? Had I been duped or had Garjah?

It had to have been me. He was too smart, too well trained to have fallen for such a simple trap that he’d believe he had captured the Kardoval if he hadn’t. Had Timok even been with him, or had all that simply been a name drop to distract me from the story so I wouldn’t question it as much.

Damn it. I strained to move, to do something, anything to save myself. I couldn’t even blink away the tears that were pooling in my eyes and starting to drip down my cheeks, much to my fury.

Another burst of fire, and the officer who had brought me up landed in my line of sight, but his eyes were empty. He’d either been duped alongside me, or he’d been in on their plan but no further use to them.

The Kardoval were clearly not trying to remain the benevolent rulers in the eyes of their people anymore.

“Grab him and let’s go before Garjah finds us.”

 

Someone grabbed me and hoisted me over their shoulders. I hated the feeling of someone else’s hands on me, and they smelled rancid, sweat and something else bitter making me gag helplessly. My arms dangled, and my head throbbed. The lift dinged.

The roar filled the space. My ears rang, but I knew that sound. Screams and cursing broke out, and I noticed helplessly that there had to be at least five people here. Bouncer’s snarls were somehow louder than their shouts or the thuds of bodies hitting the floor.

Including mine, as I hit the ground in a heap. Sharp pain spiked through one arm, and my head slammed into the floor and bounced. Tears blurred what I could see, and a groan escaped me but I couldn’t make any other sound. Pain throbbed between my arm and head, and someone was shooting, and all I wanted to do was yell at Bouncer to run away.

He yelped, and I strained against whatever they’d put in me to immobilize me. I really, really hated this, and I wanted nothing more than to be able to move, to help Bouncer, to fight back. Focusing all my energy, I was only able to turn my head, scraping it across rough carpet.

Relief flooded me. Bouncer wasn’t laying on the floor dying from a wound from the shots I heard. He was standing over Mereval, one of her arms in his mouth and his claws dug into her upper shoulders. She was screaming, and he was pulling her over, ducking behind her body when someone tried to aim at him.

Then the lift opened again, and more people flooded the room. Cold fear that it was someone coming to help the Kardoval and finish killing us struck me first, but then I recognized one of the officers and one of the rebels.

The last person out of the lift was Garjah, and he went insane when he saw me on the floor. Lifting his weapon, he took out the two males threatening me and Bouncer with lethal efficiency and then he was on his knees next to me.

“Essell, are you okay?”

I couldn’t answer him, and that only made him more frantic.

“Essell!”

Tears flooded my eyes, and I blinked rapidly. Blinking. I stared into Garjah’s eyes, and blinked twice, as hard as I could.

“Essell, can you understand me?” I blinked again, hard. Garjah yanked me against his chest, both our breaths heaving as he realized I was not dying, and I realized I wasn’t about to be taken prisoner somewhere and tortured or something worse.

Bouncer came and pushed his head between us, his muzzle wet with fluids I didn’t want to think about. Then again, he saved me. If I could have, I would have hugged him tight. Garjah did it for me. “You saved him, didn’t you? Wonderful beast that you are, yes.” Garjah stroked him and scratched right behind his ear, and Bouncer closed his eyes and rumbled, leaning hard against us.

The room was chaos around us, but Garjah let his men handle it. Stuck in my body and unable to do anything else, I was glad he wasn’t letting me go. There was nowhere else I wanted to be until the drugs wore off.

 

“Well, that’s that.” Timok came out of the lift to where we were sitting down on the bottom floor.

I was still cradled against Garjah, feeling and movement slowly coming back to my body. “What?” I slurred.

“Bouncer killed the Kardoval,” he said bluntly. “Every last one of them is either dead from having their throats bit out or are dying from the poison of his claws.”

“That’s painful, isn’t it?” I said. That’s what Garjah had said, and why everyone was so afraid of him.

“It is.” Timok looked grimly satisfied. “They have confessed all their crimes, on record, before their end so we will have that when your outworlders come, though.”

I tilted my head, and it went too far, hitting Garjah on the chest. He grunted. “Why would they do that?” he asked.

“Because I wouldn’t give them any pain relief unless they did.” Timok was ruthless, even more than I even knew.

But it worked. 

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Julie Lynn Hayes