Dzar-Ghan (Alien Barbarians of Vandruk #3)

32. Chapter 32

I wished Jenna hadn’t said what she did, but I was also incredibly proud of her for doing so. She always seemed to know the right words, straightforward and without any false pretense. Any fool could see that her words came straight from her heart.

Grohn-Vhyn was one of the most powerful khadahrs on Vandruk. A few years older than me, he lost his mother, sister, and aunt in the cave-in, but he was one of the lucky few who hadn’t lost his wife. His wife had just given birth to their first daughter, which was the reason his family stayed home that year.

I suspected escorting pilgrims each year was his way of giving thanks to the gods that, for the most part, he had been spared our people’s greatest tragedy. But even though he was spared that disaster, one still found him three years later when his mate perished while giving birth to his son. Their son survived, but I doubted it was enough consolation for Grohn-Vhyn’s loss.

“A noble undertaking.” He looked around. “I don’t see any priests or acolytes. Shouldn’t our High Priest Bzun-Lhan be here for such an important event?”

“Unfortunately, Bzun-Lhan is occupied with… other matters at the moment,” I hedged. Occupied with trying to figure out how to get what he is hiding out of the Temple without Nyhr-Shun stopping him —whom I had ordered to lay siege to the Temple—I thought but didn’t voice my suspicions.

Grohn-Vhyn’s deep green eyes penetrated me down to my soul. The khadahr had been around long enough to know when someone was evading his questions.

“The priests have no idea what you are doing here,” he stated dryly.

“None,” I confirmed.

He looked thoughtful. “I hope you know what you’re doing.”

“So do I.”

The group he had escorted broke apart. Males were seeking the stones bearing the names of their loved ones, sinking to their knees, touching the rockslide. All three of us, Jenna, Grohn-Vhyn, and I watched for a few moments. If only we would succeed in setting the gallies’ souls free, that would ease a lot of these males’ heartbreak.

Surprised, I noticed a few gallies among the group as well, which explained why they needed a khadahr’s escort. Not even the largest, most notorious group of outlaws would dare attack a khadahr’s caravan despite the lure of gallies within.

“When and how do you hope to get in?”

“Jenna’s plan is to use the Pit of Daggahr’s essence to open a hole in the top of the cave’s ceiling,” I explained.

Grohn-Vhyn stroked his beard. “A curious idea.”

He assessed Jenna anew, raising my protective instincts, and I put more pressure on the hand already holding her waist as if Grohn-Vhyn would dare rip her from me.

“We were planning on doing it tomorrow morning to take advantage of the light,” Jenna added. “But we can wait until you leave if you so wish.”

Grohn-Vhyn took a moment to think it over. His eyes traveled back to the group he had escorted. “Nek, this will be a miracle for them. We would be honored to witness this moment in our history.” After a short moment, he put a hand on my shoulder. “Are you prepared to see Mynarra?”

His unexpected question didn’t hit me like it would have before Jenna, who stood beside us, looking questioningly at me.

“Mynarra and I were supposed to mate the day of the tragedy,” I filled her in, dry-mouthed. It had never crossed my mind that Jenna might want to know about Mynarra, but our language barrier had stopped me at first, and later… later, I realized who my true mate was: Jenna.

Her eyes filled with compassion for me and something else, hurt? Nek, I was overthinking. Why would she be hurt by the fact that I had loved someone before her? I was certain that she had too. Another thing we hadn’t talked about. She hadn’t been a virgin when we first mated. I hadn’t minded it, but now I wondered how far in the past her experiences were and a jolt of jealousy tore through my chest. An utterly unknown emotion for me.

Mynarra had been the promised mate to the male sons in my family, any one of us who would have triumphed in the khadahr trials. I had never minded her joking and talking to my brothers. I had been too focused on winning to feel jealousy. Or had I been? Even now, I didn’t like how close Grohn-Vhyn stood to Jenna, something I had never minded with Mynarra. Imagining Jenna in Mynarra’s place ten years ago, a slow-churning anger heated my stomach. Nek, I would have never allowed any of my brothers near her. Just one more sign of how different my love for Mynarra had been. In all honesty, had I lost the trials, it would have bothered me more losing the title of khadahr than seeing Mynarra wed to one of my brothers. Admitting this to myself now, realizing that our young love had only been that, combined with all the other new emotions, confused me. So much so that I needed to turn the subject to something else. “Bzun-Lhan might not be pleased,” I warned.

“I have long ago tired of that pompous priest who dares to tell us who we can and cannot mate.” Grohn-Vhyn surprised me.

“Are you looking for a new mate?” I asked. It wouldn’t be too surprising since his mate died years ago, but from personal experience, I knew how hard it was letting go.

He shook his head. “Eventually, not yet. Khen-Mor was born with a shorter leg. I will need more heirs,” he explained. Khen-Mor was the son whose birth had caused his mother’s death. Something was off with Grohn-Vhyn. We had known each other for a long time, had spoken on numerous occasions, and we were both khadahrs, but normally, each generation of khadahrs tended to stick to their group of quinquennial anointed. He wasn’t exactly baring his soul to me, but as far as a conversation between us went, it was damn close.

“I’ve seen it happen, though. My towns are shrinking because my males cannot find gallies to mate, and Bzun-Lhan seems to be going out of his way not to find mates for my subjects.”

His anger was evident in his tone and posture. Mirroring mine after I found out about my citizens being denied mates as well.

“Your demesne is large enough that there shouldn’t be too close blood relations even with the few remaining gallies,” I pointed out.

“Sa. It is. And so is Khadahr Szur-Than’s; alas, he has encountered the same problems, whereas half of Khadahr Tzun-Dhan’s demesne is mated.”

Grohn-Vhyn seemed to have done the same research as me. Could I dare hope, having found another ally in him? By Vorag! I looked up at the sky, sending a silent prayer of thanks to our main god.

“Tzun-Dhan gave over a quarter of his demesne to the Temple and received a mate,” I said carefully.

Grohn-Vhyn’s features darkened. “Bzun-Lhan made a similar suggestion to me.”

“A quarter of your demesne?” I asked, flabbergasted. That was a lot to ask, even for such a greedy little flyck—rat-like creature—like our esteemed High Priest.

“Not quite”—Grohn-Vhyn shook his head—“but close.” His head swiveled toward Jenna. “Tell me about the humans. I heard rumors Khadahr Tzar-Than went through the red fog and demanded human gallies as retribution.”

“Sa, he and Khadahr Dzur-Khan are both mated to human gallies, just like me,” I confirmed.

“What about heirs?”

I shrugged. “That we have to yet find out.”

“So it’s either to give up part of our demesnes to the Temple to buy a vision of our future mate and hope to receive one or gambling on a future with human gallies, the very same species that cost us everything?” Grohn-Vhyn summarized, but he didn’t look as angered as before.

“Wait, so the church… temple dictates to you who can and cannot marry? Plus, they… give out the women?” Jenna interrupted.

I had forgotten that she wasn’t privy to all our customs yet. “Sa. All gallies are overseen by the Temple. If a gallis is born, their father is responsible for reporting to an acolyte within a week. The Temple prefers if the gallies are given to them to raise and oversee, but they don’t forcefully take the youngling away from their parents.”

“Yet.” Grohn-Vhyn threw in with vigor.

“What happened?” Once again, my Jenna proved herself perceptive.

Grohn-Vhyn took a deep breath and looked heavenward to where a hint of Koronae could be glimpsed. “One of Bzun-Lhan’s priests came to my palace a few moons ago, informing me that he had a vision of my Yvenetta’s mating to Fen-Khor.”

Fen-Khor was one of the Temple’s Guards. He was one of the Commander’s closest advisors, an influential male, but also in his late forties.

“Yvenetta should be mated to a khadahr, but not before another seven to ten years,” I argued. It wasn’t uncommon for young daughters to be promised at an early age, but being mated early was entirely different. Besides, a khadahr’s daughter was rarer than the sighting of a velviph. She should be given the highest honor possible. A mating with a khadahr’s daughter in our time and situation was the cementing of a most powerful pact.

“Apparently, Bzun-Lhan is the one who dictates now who and when my daughter mates. You have heard of the swelling of his army?” The last part, he spoke more quietly.

“I have heard rumors, sa,” I confirmed. This information made my mission all the more important. “Did he threaten you?”

“In not so many words.”

Jenna, who had kept quiet during our exchange, made a curious movement with her hands. One straight up, the other flat on top. “Time-out, hold on. Human here needing to catch up.”

She didn’t give us time to respond. “So let me get this straight. When you have a daughter, she is either given to the Temple, or her family raises her, and the only way you or her can mate is if you get a priest to designate someone as a mate?

“How is that even legal?” she added, exasperated, using an English word at the end that neither Grohn-Vhyn nor I understood. She shook her head. “Never mind, why do you guys put up with that?”

“The High Priest is ordained by Vorag himself. Only priests can communicate with the gods. It is the only way to know who we should be mated with,” Grohn-Vhyn explained part of our belief system.

“Before the tragedy, males and gallies would choose one another. The males had to compete in trials to be found worthy of having a mate. Gallies were allowed to decline any warrior who chose her. But after the tragedy, the gods told the High Priest that from now on, they would ordain who was a match for one another and who wasn’t,” I added more details.

“That’s bullshit,” Jenna spat.

Amused, Grohn-Vhyn and I raised our eyebrows. I liked that expression.

“I mean, I get it that with fewer women, you guys need to be careful not to interbreed and all that. But the Temple has no right—”

Grohn-Vhyn interrupted her, “The Temple is our highest authority. An authority that comes straight from the gods.”

Jenna huffed slightly at his words but remained silent. Mumbling something about church and overstepping . But she respected our culture enough to stay quiet once again, probably mulling our words and customs over.

“What are you going to do?” I asked Grohn-Vhyn.

“I’m not going to mate my only daughter to one of Bzun-Lhan’s Temple Guardians. I don’t care if he will be commander one day. If Yvenetta is content, I want to mate her to whoever enters the next khadahr trials on Lhun-Ghan’s side of the family.”

That made sense. The Lhun-Ghar clan was a direct neighbor of Grohn-Vhyn’s. This step would strengthen his borders and alliance with the other clan.

“Bzun-Lhan’s army must be mighty indeed if he thinks he can threaten you and a possible alliance with Lhun-Ghar,” I theorized.

“It’s not just his army. If I do not comply with his wishes, he will set the other khadahrs against me during the next gathering.”

“He will be busy during that gathering because he’s already set to bring their full wrath on Khadahr Tzar-Than for going against his will through the portal and mating a human gallis.” I filled him in.

“Did Tzar-Than return to Farruk?”

“As far as I know, sa.”

“I will seek him out once I take the pilgrims back to their homes. For now, though, I’m very curious to see if your plan succeeds. It would go a long way in ending some of the suffering of our people.”