The Alien’s Unwanted Bride (Alien Brides #4)

Chapter 5

FIVE

T he morning sun cast long shadows across the rugged terrain of the Shadowed Highlands region of Tharvis as Zora inched her way along a narrow ledge, her heart pounding with a mixture of exhilaration and trepidation. Carefully navigating the treacherous path, her mind wandered to Dravek.

His chiseled features and intense black eyes flashed in her memory, sending an unexpected flutter through her chest. Zora shook her head, trying to focus on the task at hand. But thoughts of Dravek persisted, a mixture of attraction and frustration.

“Sprig,” she said, addressing her robotic companion, “why do you think Prince Dravek is so... cold sometimes? One moment he seems interested in me, the next he’s as distant as a Tharvisian ice moon.”

Sprig’s processors whirred as he formulated a response. “Based on my analysis of Prince Dravek’s behavior patterns and his role as Military Commander, it is likely that he views emotional expression as a potential weakness. Tharvisian military culture often emphasizes stoicism and control.”

Zora sighed, carefully shifting her weight to maintain balance. “I get that, but it’s frustrating. There are times when I think I see something more in his eyes, a warmth beneath the icy exterior. But then it’s gone, replaced by that maddeningly composed mask.”

“Perhaps,” Sprig offered, “Prince Dravek’s upbringing and position have not provided him with experience in matters of romance. It may be beneficial for you to take the initiative in expressing your feelings, Zora Arison.”

A wry smile tugged at Zora’s lips. “Are you suggesting I teach an alien prince about love, Sprig? That’s quite the diplomatic mission.”

Before Sprig could respond, Zora’s attention was caught by a peculiar vine nestled within a crevice. Its luminescent blossoms shimmered with an otherworldly glow, pulsing gently in hues of emerald and sapphire.

“Sprig, are you seeing this?” Zora whispered, her voice filled with awe. The small robotic companion hovered nearby, its optical sensors focusing on the discovery.

As Zora leaned in to examine the plant more closely, her mind couldn’t help but draw a comparison between the vine’s mesmerizing glow and the intensity of Dravek’s eyes. She imagined those eyes softening, looking at her with the same warmth she sometimes glimpsed in unguarded moments.

Shaking off the distraction, Zora carefully extracted a sampling tool from her pack. As she began to collect a specimen, a low rumble reverberated through the cliff face. At first, she dismissed it as distant thunder, but when she felt the ledge beneath her feet tremble, her heart skipped a beat.

“Sprig, are you detecting any seismic activity?” she asked, trying to keep the concern out of her voice.

Before the robot could respond, the ground shifted violently. The ledge crumbled beneath her feet into the ravine below.

The world became a chaotic blur of dust and fragmented light. She tumbled through the air, her arms flailing as she tried to grasp at anything to slow her descent. Branches whipped past her, some breaking her fall, others leaving stinging welts across her exposed skin. The wind roared in her ears, drowning out her own screams.

She twisted and turned, her body spinning uncontrollably. Sharp rocks and jagged edges loomed dangerously close, each one a potential end to her fall. Her heart pounded in her chest, a frantic rhythm that matched the chaos around her. She felt the rough scrape of bark against her skin as she collided with a tree trunk, the impact jarring but slowing her momentum slightly.

Leaves and twigs filled her vision, a green and brown blur as she continued to plummet. She could feel the bruises forming, the sharp pain of cuts and scrapes. Just when she thought the fall would never end, she saw a dense canopy of vegetation rushing up to meet her. She braced herself, tucking her arms and legs in as tightly as she could.

Just when she thought the fall would never end, she crashed through a canopy of soft, spongy vegetation.

For several long moments, Zora lay still, her chest heaving as she struggled to catch her breath. As her vision cleared, she realized that the vegetation she’d landed on was emitting a soft, pulsating glow. The light revealed that she wasn’t on the floor of the ravine, but rather in some kind of underground cavern.

“Sprig?” Zora called out, her voice hoarse. “Sprig, are you there?” Zora realized that somewhere along the way down, she’d lost her backpack. Damn, now she would be limited in what she could analyze.

A faint whirring sound came from nearby, and Zora breathed a sigh of relief as her robotic companion bobbed up and down into view. Sprig’s casing was dented, and sparks occasionally flickered from one of his joints, but he appeared to be mostly functional.

“Status... état... 状態... critical malfunction detected,” Sprig announced, his voice a jumble of languages.

Despite the gravity of the situation, Zora couldn’t help but let out a small chuckle. “Well, at least your language centers are getting a workout,” she quipped.

Looking up, she saw the hole she’d fallen through into the cave. How would anyone find her inside a hidden cavity in the ground?

As she examined the cavern walls, she noticed intricate patterns etched into the rock – symbols and glyphs unlike anything she had seen in her studies of Tharvisian culture.

The drawing stretched in both directions. This was unlike anything she’d seen in the archives of the planet. Was this pre-civilization?

She pulled her digital voice recorder from her pocket. Fortunately, it didn’t look too beat up. Voicing her thoughts, she walked the rock wall giving her first impression of what her eyes took in.

“Symbols appear ancient, predating any known Tharvisian civilization. The etchings are precise, possibly ceremonial. Could be related to early indigenous beliefs or... something more alien.”

She trailed off, her fingers tracing one of the symbols. The smooth texture contrasted sharply with the rugged stone around it. It almost seemed freshly carved, as though the centuries hadn’t touched it. The faint glow from the surrounding vegetation cast strange shadows on the walls, adding an eerie atmosphere to the space.

Sprig hovered close, his circuits sputtering intermittently. “Analysis... analysis interrupted... unable to interpret,” he muttered.

Zora frowned. Sprig’s malfunction worried her, but there was something about the symbols that tugged at her curiosity like they were trying to communicate with her. Something in her mind began to blossom. A childhood memory that was stuck in a dark crevasse.

She tilted her head, squinting at one of the more prominent glyphs – it resembled a pair of intertwined serpents, their tails looping together in an eternal knot. The serpents’ eyes glowed faintly, and for a brief moment, Zora could have sworn they flickered, almost alive.

“Sprig,” Zora said softly, “can you attempt to scan these symbols?”

Sprig’s light flickered erratically, but he powered up his scanning mechanism, casting a blue beam across the carvings. His circuits buzzed louder than usual, the sound unsettling in the cavern’s stillness. After several moments, Sprig’s lights dimmed, and he drifted back, clearly overwhelmed.

“Unable... unable to decode... but energy signature... is strong. Recommendation: proceed with caution, Zora Arison.”

Zora bit her lip, her fingers still lingering near the serpent glyph. There was an undeniable pull, something magnetic about it, urging her to press deeper, to understand. Her heart raced with the thrill of discovery, but a gnawing sense of dread crept in alongside it.

As she stared at the glyph, another tremor shook the ground. It was softer than before, but enough to make her heart lurch. Dust trickled down from the cavern ceiling, and the strange glow in the plants flickered ominously, almost as if the cavern was reacting to the disturbance.

Zora backed away from the wall, wondering what would happen next. Would she die and never get to tell Dravek how she felt about him? If she made it out of this alive, she’d remedy that immediately.

She plopped down in the center of the room. “Come here, Sprig. Let’s see if we can fix you up.”