Citrine (Deliverance #3)

51. Eli

51

Eli

I let out a relieved breath when we get to the other side mostly without incident. There were some weird sounds in the water, but as much as I tried to maneuver myself in Wroahk's grip to see, I wasn't able to.

I shrug it off once I see Ree and Thivoll rise onto the shore ahead of us, Thivoll's scaled black paws the last to rise above the shimmering distortion of the surface.

Wroahk pulls us up but doesn't take us onto the shore. His grip is still steely and if I wasn't trying to be a good host, I would already be yelling at him.

"What do you think?"

Ree slides off Thivoll's back and they both look around, then Ree turns back to me. "This seems perfect to me, Eli."

My heart does a little leap in excitement. "I'm so glad."

She grins back at me. "I'm not sure how many allies we can find among the prey, but there should be plenty of room. There are four more of us, not counting Amethyst to find. Then… Well, we've been talking about it a lot and we think we'll essentially have to go to war if we ever want to be truly safe."

I gulp, not liking the sound of that, but they would know better than I would. "I've been kept pretty isolated by Wroahk, so I'm not really sure what all is going on out there. It's a bit overwhelming to think about, actually, but I do agree that the best place to start is to make sure we have as many people safe here as possible."

Thivoll makes a humming sound, then shakes the water out of his fur. It's jarring to see someone you have categorized in your mind as a person do such a thing.

He helps reestablish his sapient status for my sluggish mind by speaking again. "I can hear and smell someone over there. I've been keeping track of them as we talked and crossed."

He points to a section of the lake far east of where we just crossed. "I'm quite certain it isn't a hunter."

Another thrill passes through me. This feels like Christmas. "Do you mind staying here and away from the shore while we go check it out?"

"Please do," Ree says, her voice letting me know she's just as excited as I am.

My throat hurts again. "Thivoll said there is someone over there." I point the same direction. "But it isn't an enemy. They could—"

I don't get to say more because he is moving us through the water at speed. I really need to figure out how use the echo voice without harming my gills at this speed. Because repeatedly pummeling him with my fists is doing nothing.

Just like I know it won't, but I still do it anyway.

Then we are moving so fast I can't easily use my fists or my gills and by the time he stops, I'm dazed. But when he releases me, which is a shock in and of itself, I kick my way to the surface.

I hear screaming as I break the top of the water. I take a moment to clear the water from my eyes and I see why. Wroahk flung a Many Teeth onto the shore and a giant purple man is running away from it. The scene doesn't make much sense at first because he is clearly large and powerful enough that even a snapping Many Teeth shouldn't be much of a threat.

When he jumps up onto a tree, still screaming, I get a hold of myself. "The purple man is part of our community."

I start moving toward the shore, yelling it several more times just in case it didn't penetrate Wroahk's thick skull the first time.

He pulls himself up out of the water at the same time I do. His face promises violence, but I know it isn't directed at me. It might be because of me, but never at me.

"Fine. But don't go near him until you have talked or I will throw another Many Teeth. Not everyone can be trusted, Eli."

I scoff. "You think no one can be trusted."

"It is safer that way."

"I won't live like that, Wroahk. It wouldn't be living, actually. It would be a slow death. You would be killing me."

I can tell I pushed him just that one step too far, but he already agreed to let the purple man have a chance, and so his rage finds an outlet in the Many Teeth currently trapped by one of his tentacles. He lifts it and violently slams it onto the ground.

I jump, then cringe when he does it again. I make myself turn away, ignoring the sounds of continued assaults on the creature.

The purple man is clinging to the tree, his row of three bright teal eyes wide and terrified. The muscles under his enormous arms are bulging with the effort to keep him up, though he didn't make it far. His shorter legs are scrambling to find purchase on the bark below him.

He's muttering incoherently, but it must be enough for my translator to work with because I feel the telltale shift and pain.

"Hello. My name is Eli."

His language feels mostly like grunting and so I'm not sure if I'm properly infusing it with a trustworthy, bright tone.

I will just have to try harder. "I am so very, very sorry Wroahk scared you. He has problems containing his anger sometimes. It's alright, though! He promised me to give you a chance to talk and won't attack you again as long as you are peaceful."

The man's three eyes shift behind me. The sounds have enough squelching mixed in that I know it must be pretty gruesome back there.

"I think it's probably best if you just focus on me. Yes, like that. Can you tell me your name?"

"R-R-Rannek."

He stutters out his name, still trying to climb the tree and clearly not designed to do so. His back feet are large and look heavily calloused, as does the one hand I can see gripping the bark in front of him. Each of his limbs end in three thick, flat digits without visible nails. The skin there is a lighter color purple but the rest of him is covered in a dark, shining coat of short purple fur.

Wroahk must have gotten it out of his system because the sounds stop. "It is so great to find you, Rannek."

He blinks several times, darts his eyes behind me and then back. "I'm sorry. What did you say your name was again?"

I let out a sigh of relief. "Eli. You can call me Eli. Did you get taken from your home planet, too?"

"Yes. And I have been running away or hiding ever since. This place is terrible. I have seen so much violence. Like nothing I knew ever existed."

He takes another look behind me and I cringe. We are not exactly looking like friendly poster children for peace and harmony right now.

"Yes, I know what you mean. Wroahk came from a place where all he knew was violence, but it wasn't like that for me. I'm still working on teaching him what it can be like to have friends."

I am so happy when that term translates and need to know if the most important one does. "He has agreed to help me build a safe community."

Bingo! I keep myself from doing a little jig. This scene is scary enough as it is, and I have no dancing skills to speak of.

"I know we probably don't look very trustworthy right now, but would you consider taking a swim across the lake and talking with some more of us?"

He looks behind me again and his fur shivers. I finally hazard a look myself. Wroahk has a chunk of the Many Teeth in his mouth, its blood flowing down his chest, and is giving Rannek a death glare with his shark eyes.

Would I say yes to going anywhere with that?

Dios . I did say yes. I am totally insane.

My throat stings and I am back to a yelling whale. "Wroahk. If you try to run away potential friends by looking like a serial killer I will not forgive you. I know what you are trying to do so just stop it."

He shifts his gaze to me and I raise my tentacles at him to let him know I mean business. "Get that out of here and clean yourself up. No sane female would ever touch a male who acted like you are acting right now."

"This is a common way for me to act, and you still touch me."

I turn back around, not acknowledging the fact he just questioned my sanity. I do that quite a lot myself, such as less than a minute ago, so I don't have a good retort.

There is a big splash I assume to be him lobbing the Many Teeth back into the water and then the smaller ones that lets me know he is going to wash himself off.

Rannek visibly relaxes a moment later. Best to not tell him that Wroahk would be up here in less than two seconds if he tries to hurt me.

It seems like we need a nice neutral topic. "What job did you do before you came here? I cleaned and helped people buy food. Uh, I helped them get food."

The word buy didn't translate. I really want to know more about a culture that doesn't have a word for purchasing.

He slowly slides down the couple feet he made it up the tree. The three digits on his limbs seem to work the same exact way. They are situated in a triangular shape and each one can bend in toward the oval shape between them. The only difference is the scale of his feet is larger than his hands.

"I am a builder of useful beauty. Mostly of clay, but also wood and stone."

There is no way this man is a threat. "I love that. I wish I had enough time to develop some artistic talent, but I always worked too hard."

The male is looking more and more relaxed, but he's still periodically darting his eyes to the water. "Everyone should have time for art. In my village, everyone worked hard, but there was time left for what we loved. That way, no one person was left to only do the unpleasant tasks."

I'm feeling smug now. Wroahk will hear about this one until he complains about my words rotting his brain.

I found a model community member on my first recruitment attempt.

"Would you help me build that sort of place?" I point back behind me toward where we left Ree and Thivoll. "No one violent can get past the Many Teeth creatures to get there. You would be safe."

"Even Wroahk?"

I feel bad quashing the hope I hear in his tone. "Actually, he is the reason the island is safe. I know he didn't make a very good first impression, but he won't hurt you once I tell him you are my friend."

Rannek looks back into the thick woods, and another shiver passes over him. "It might be a mistake to trust you, but I can't imagine staying out here. I have been injured many times as I ran, though I am healing faster than I should."

So he's been altered, too. Interesting. "We will keep you safe. I promise."

I turn back to the water and my throat shifts. "He is a friend, Wroahk. A very sweet soul I can't see ever hurting anyone."

He comes up from the water. Rannek takes a step back, but doesn't run away.

Wroahk doesn't look impressed. "He fled from a Many Teeth. He is not a worthwhile friend if he would retreat from such an easy fight."

I narrow my eyes at him. " Basta . You are being mean."

"I am stating the truth."

"You are stating a truth based on your old existence. Everyone plays a different role in a community. He is a sculptor, which means he can likely build."

Most of that didn't translate, but I don't bother rewording what I meant, since I don't think there are equivalent words. He will just have to witness what it means.

"I need you to take him back with us. Oh, and absolutely no more trying to kill people before I can say if they are part of a community or not. It was obvious you were searching for a way out of our agreement. Say it."

"I will wait to kill them until you assess them. But if they try to harm you, they die."

"Well, I like living, so yes, that sounds good. Take us back now?"

When he surges up out of the water and grabs both of us with his tentacles, I realize my error in not being clear in how I wanted us conveyed.

I can hear poor Rannek's muffled screaming the whole way back. Considering it takes a couple minutes, I'm impressed with his lung capacity. He still has air left in his lungs after Wroahk tosses him up on the shore of the cove because he lets out a shriek when he sees Thivoll and starts scrambling away backwards.

Luckily, Ree is quick to soothe him. "It's alright. He won't hurt you. He is just a giant teddy bear. Hello. My name is Ree. Your fur is beautiful. Such a similar color to mine. What is your name?"

The woman seems to have some sort of superpower when it comes to interacting with terrified people because the big purple male quickly settles for her.

"Rannek."

Thivoll joins in the conversation. "Please tell him I am sorry I frightened him."

Ree translates and then goes to sit beside Rannek. "Would it be rude if I touched you? Maybe a hug?"

Rannek shudders. "I would like that, thank you."

She puts an arm behind his back and pulls herself close to his side. She is tiny next to him. I tear up watching such a tender moment. I'm hoping it makes an impression on Wroahk, but he isn't even looking.

He is staring at me intently.

Thivoll breaks in again. "Ree would like me to go move Amethyst here right away, and get Kira and Drasuk to move some supplies. I would also feel better moving her chamber and not taking a chance that whoever stole Silver is looking for another human. Please tell your Wroahk that he might not be able to kill me, but I can kill anyone I want on this planet. If he harms my Ree, I will make sure his death is excruciatingly painful."

I clear my throat, but Ree beats me to a response, but it isn't directed at my already notoriously violent… boyfriend? That just doesn't sound right, but now's not the time to figure it out.

"We'll take care of it, Thivoll."

She turns to me. "Will you ask Wroahk to escort him? I doubt he will respond to me."

I nod. "Thivoll from our community needs passage to go get another woman. You'll need to look out for those green aliens you've been drowning, and also some gray and pink ones with three stubby legs."

He whips around to face me. "Those are the enemy."

"Yes, that's right. Ree and Thivoll have been killing them, it sounds like, but there are a lot more of them."

Wroahk turns to the big orange alien, his face suddenly looking far less violent, like he's seeing Thivoll for the first time.

"Tell me you will make sure he is safe and wait for him to return so you can get him back here safely, too."

"I will."

"You will what?"

He gives me his angry face. "I will make sure he is safe." I glare at him. "Safe both ways," he adds.

I give him a sunny smile. "I am going to stay here." The announcement does nothing to improve his mood. He starts to drag me deeper into the water. "No kind hands for three days." He keeps pulling me back, and I have just enough time to yell out a bigger threat. "Three years."

He lets me go and I come out of the water with as much dignity as I can muster before speaking to Thivoll. "He will make sure you are safe. Both ways."

He is making a chuffing sound as he moves into the water.

I turn to Ree. "Was he just laughing at us?"

She smiles. "Definitely."

"Huh. Well, okay, I earned it by ending up with such a care-chimba ."

We both crack up again.

A thread of anxiety breaks through the stress induced merriment. "I didn't tell him what Thivoll said."

She wipes away some tears. "Was there really a need? Isn't that what Wroahk would do if someone harmed you?"

Valid point. "I like how you think, Ree."

She smiles at me and then we both turn to help poor Rannek settle in.