Enduring (Valos of Sonhadra Book 8) Read online

  He pushed a wrought-iron-like stand over the fire pit and placed a flat round slab of polished stone on top.

  “I’ll roast a couple for us too. We stopped bothering long ago, as it’s less trouble to eat it uncooked. But there were times when we cooked meat and made many different dishes with it.”

  When the stone got sufficiently hot, he put my strips of meat on it along with two much larger chunks. The sizzling sounds of grilling meat quickly filled the space, along with the peculiar smell of it. I noticed with satisfaction that the smell became a little more bearable as the meat cooked.

  “Will you tell us about yourself?” asked Rock.

  I thought back to all the words I’d picked up from them so far, there still was nothing I could add to the ‘I from’ I’d used with Vlunn earlier.

  “I can’t tell.”

  “Can’t or won’t?”

  “Can’t.”

  Then the thought to use the same reversed tactic came to me again.

  “You tell.” I pointed at Rock with my utensil and elaborated the best I could. “You talk, I learn.”

  “You want to know more about us? Fine.” Rock placed his elbows on his knees and leaned forward. “Vlunn and I are the last Stone Valos on Sonhadra.” He stared into the fire. “There is no one else.”

  “Are you brothers?” I remembered Vlunn using this word and the distorted meaning of it.

  “Yes. We were all brothers. All Stone Valos were formed from the rocks of this mountain by our Creator.”

  “Ilena.” A dreamy note rang in Vlunn’s voice, as if simply the sound of her name brought him pleasure.

  “There is no one else?” I prompted Rock to continue.

  “No.” He shook his head. “Everyone is dead.”

  “Why?” I whispered. I still had no idea what city they referred to. All I could see outside was the forest, the valley, and the mountains. A city, however, implied a certain number of people, or valos, inhabiting it. The fact that there was no one left pointed to a tragedy. The somberness in their voices did too.

  “The plan of our Creator was to build a new race of Stone Valos,” Vlunn added. “She wanted us to be loyal, unyielding, and enduring like the rock of the mountain from which she made us. She needed a reliable army of soldiers and servants.”

  “Why?” I repeated.

  “To fight her wars with the other Creators on Sonhadra and to serve her in whatever way she chose. At least that’s what we believe, but she never disclosed all of her plans to us. She created the males first and promised to give us the females next. She said we were meant to form a bond for life with the fated mates she’d give us, an unbreakable bond between a male and a female, sealed in blood. To last for as long as either one of us should live, strong like the mountain itself.”

  “That never happened.” Bitterness marred Rock’s voice. He put the cooked strips of meat back on my plate and handed it to me. “Ilena died a thousand years ago.”

  “How?”

  Vlunn mentioned the same thing earlier, even though to me being a creator of life sounded powerful enough to be immortal.

  Rock sighed heavily. “We found her body in the city square. We don’t know how she died.”

  “You found her? A thousand years ago? How long do you live?” The valos looked to be young men, even as aliens.

  “We were made to age as slowly as the mountain, which would have meant a very long life,” Vlunn explained.

  “If Ilena’s plan had been brought to completion,” added Rock.

  “No one knew what happened to her,” Vlunn continued. “Some say she had fallen in love with another Creator and died from a broken heart when he didn’t return her feelings. Others speculated that she was poisoned by the Creators, who wanted to avoid fighting more wars with her.

  “What happened to the rest of the Stone Valos?”

  “Without the mates to activate our heartstones, we started dying. Our lives and the life of the city were supposed to be maintained by the combined energy of our heartstones.”

  “Heartstones?” I asked. That’s what Rock had called the crystal in his chest.

  The abilities required to create life from stone was beyond my comprehension. I wondered how advanced Ilena’s race must have been. As sophisticated as human technology had become, faced with something like this it still felt as primitive as stone age in comparison.

  “In order to create us, Ilena used the heartstones to fill the mountain rock with life,” Rock pressed his fist to his chest, in the same place where he had the crystal in his stone form.

  “You want to take it out?”

  “No, Zoya.” He gave me a sad smile. “I was hoping you would be the one who could take it out.”

  “A true mate would be able to remove the heartstone effortlessly,” explained Vlunn. “Rock and I . . . Well, you are the first woman we’ve seen in a thousand years. You look so much like Ilena. It was hope fueled by desperation . . .” His voice trailed off.

  “It was worth a try,” Rock added somberly. “Without the blood of the true mate, the life seeps out over time. We die and turn back into the rock that we were created from, to return back to the mountain.”

  “You are alive,” I pointed out, unnerved by the sadness saturating his voice.

  “For now.” His eyes flickered to Vlunn for a second.

  “You’ve lived for a thousand years without Ilena.” As a human, I knew that my own death was inevitable. What mattered was the amount of time left until death’s arrival. “How long could you still live?”

  “Exactly.” Vlunn straightened in his seat. “It has taken a long time for life to seep out of us. Qlraensuekx and I have lasted about a decade longer than the last two Stone Valos who’ve joined the mountain. No one knows for sure, but we may still have plenty of time before we have to follow them.”

  He took the two larger pieces of meat from the fire and handed one to Rock.

  Silent, I stared into the dancing flames. No one could tell for sure how much any of us had left. If they lived for another hundred years—not impossible compared to the time they had already spent in this world—they would easily outlast me. If the valos had considerably less to live. If the Concord indeed burned to ashes with no survivors . . . The possibility of being the only person left on the entire planet made an icy chill of fear creep along my spine.

  “There are no other valos on Sonhadra?” I whispered without taking my eyes off the fire.

  “Not many left now.” Vlunn leaned back. “There were several types of valos created at the beginning, depending on the abilities of each Creator and the element they used. Around the time of Ilena’s death, all Creators left Sonhadra, abandoning all valo cities and depriving many inhabitants of life. We fought with the other valos for Ilena. Whoever still remains out there are likely our enemies, not friends.”

  I wondered who they considered me to be. Maybe, it was as good time as any to find out.

  “I’m not from Sonhadra. I was not created by Ilena. You know I am not your mate.” I put it all out there. “Can I stay here?” An anxiety rose in me with my question. What if they didn’t want me here? Where would I go?

  They both turned to me, catching my eyes in the crossfire of theirs.

  “You don’t have to ask—” Vlunn started.

  “You’re not leaving.” Rock’s voice boomed through the tunnel, cutting Vlunn off.

  “I’m from another planet,” I said quietly, as if confessing a sin.

  “How did you come to Sonhadra, Zoya?”

  “I came in a large . . .” I pointed at the ceiling and made a sweeping gesture with my arm. Hoping it looked anything remotely like a spaceship trajectory.

  “You came in a sky vessel?” Rock interpreted my gestures with surprising accuracy. “Like Ilena. She traveled in sky vessels. Other Creators did too.” He added, providing the explanation to his quick understanding.

  “Do you want to go back home?” Vlunn raised his hand to stop Rock, who made a move to in
terrupt, and waited for my answer.

  “My vessel . . . um . . . broke. Do you have others I could use to travel?”

  “No, the Creators took them all. You know, I think I saw your vessel breaking into pieces high up there. I was outside the tunnel, and it looked like pieces of fire flew all across the sky.”

  The Concord must have broke apart in the air before hitting the ground.

  “Smoke was coming from deep in the forest the day I found you.” Rock added.

  If the ship fell apart, those must have been just parts of it burning at the place I’d thought to be the spaceship’s crash site.

  “Well. Without a vessel I can’t go home.”

  Earth was where I belonged. It was home. Except that now, even if I could go back, I had no idea what to expect upon my return. Incarceration with a strong possibility of more experimentation. Death, most likely.

  “I’ll have to stay on Sonhadra.”

  “Then you’ll stay with us.”

  I met Rock’s eyes straight on.

  “I’m not your mate.”

  “Stay anyway.”

  “As a friend?”

  “You don’t have to be our mate to share our cave, Zoya. Is there somewhere else you’d rather be?” Vlunn asked.

  Was there?

  “No.”

  “Well then. Are you still hungry? Would you like more?” Vlunn’s cheerful voice signaled the end of this discussion.

  “No.” I smiled as relief flooded my veins with warmth. Just like that, I got two friends and a place to stay. I shook my head at the second helping of meat though.

  When cooked, the meat definitely smelled better, but it still tasted awful. I imagined it was an acquired taste, and valos might like it, the way some humans enjoyed mutton stew or blue cheese. For me, the taste of this alien meat was simply revolting.

  While we talked, the fire had started to die out again, and the air in the cave turned chilly for my still recovering body. My muscles ached with the added strain of sitting in awkward positions to cover my private parts.

  I needed to ask for a blanket, a fur, something to finally cover myself.

  “Can I? I want to have . . . I need . . . ” I didn’t know their word for please and hated to be forced to frame my request as a demand. Even then, I still lacked the appropriate vocabulary.

  “I am cold.”

  “How are you cold?” Puzzlement creased Vlunn’s face as he placed his hand on my thigh. “You feel warm.”

  “But I am cold.”

  “Do you feel changes in temperature?” Curiosity was mixed in with Rock’s concern.

  “Don’t you?”

  “No,” Vlunn shook his head. “Our bodies heat up in the sun and cool off in the shade, but we’re not bothered by it either way.”

  I wondered about how else their biology differed from mine. All animals on Earth were affected by temperature changes, but then again this was not Earth and valos were not born. They were created from stone that also heated in the sun and cooled in the shade.

  “My body temperature needs to stay relatively the same. It can’t get too hot or too cold.”

  “You’re shivering less than you used to,” Rock observed, a thoughtful wrinkle formed between his brow ridges. “Is it bad? Does it mean you’re running out of energy?”

  “No. It’s good.” I smiled. “It means I am less cold. You and the fire have made me warmer.”

  “I’ll keep the fire going through the night then,” Vlunn promised quickly.

  Rock appeared to contemplate something for a minute.

  “Do you need to wrap yourself to insulate the warmth?”

  Finally!

  “Yes. Wrap, I need to wrap.” I smiled widely, ecstatic that I made myself understood once again. I could’ve kissed both of them right now.

  “I’ll skin the ixilip tonight. Vlunn can work the hide tomorrow and make a cover for you.” Rock tossed the last bite of meat in his mouth and got up to leave through the back of the tunnel.

  Thank you, I called towards his back in my mind, wishing I knew these words in their language.

  “Ixilip is the animal that Qlraensuekx killed today,” Vlunn explained. “Their fur is very warm. I hope you’ll like it.”

  He cleaned up after dinner and stoked the fire then shook out the scruffy hides they used for bedding.

  Two wide slabs of granite, positioned along the opposite sides of the tunnel, served as beds. Since there were only two of them for the three of us, I assumed one bed had been shared, at least since my arrival. I couldn’t remember having either of the men in my bed during my recovery, but then I hardly had any clear memories prior to this morning anyway. Now I wondered what the sleeping arrangements would be.

  Some time later, Rock returned with the hide soaked in clear, mild-smelling liquid. Together with Vlunn they stretched it on a wooden frame and set it closer to the fire to dry.

  “You’ll have a cover for tomorrow night, Zoya,” Vlunn promised. “Tonight we’ll sleep with you to keep you warm.”

  That took care of the sleeping arrangements.

  It was definitely way out of the ordinary for me to share a bed with two naked men. And at first, I wrapped my arms around me tightly and curled into a ball. However, all my inhibitions quickly faded into the background as they cuddled me on each side, the heat from their bodies warming me against the chill.

  For the longest time, I just lay there with my eyes closed, wondering if I’d sleep at all. Despite not doing much through the day, exhaustion weighed heavily on my body. I freed my mind from all thoughts and simply savored the closeness of others.

  Vlunn was in front of me. I tucked my hands under his arm and my cold-like-ice feet between his knees. With the added warmth of Rock’s chest at my back, I felt comfy and safe, cocooned between them. For the first time in years, I was at peace.

  Chapter 9

  The freezing cold woke me. Rock was no longer in bed with us, and Vlunn’s body was as cold as the stone wall at my back. I scooted away from him, shivering violently.

  He moved in his sleep and reached for me, his hands also icy. Over his shoulder, I saw that he’d kept his word—the fire was still burning bright. I touched the back of his arm. Turned to the fire, it was nice and toasty.

  These guys really were like hearthstones. They seemed to absorb the heat whenever they could and then slowly released it into the air around them. Unfortunately, without a heat source, their bodies didn’t remain warm for too long, and I lost my personal space heater sometime during the night.

  I contemplated for a second if I should attempt to turn Vlunn over, with the warm side to me, but then realized that my priority should be finding a bathroom first.

  “Zoya?” I heard Vlunn’s sleepy voice. “Is anything wrong?”

  “No, nothing is wrong. Where is Krraeen. . . sooa. . . sewksks?”

  “What?” He sat up in bed.

  I exhaled in exasperation and admitted, “I cannot say his name right.”

  I could pronounce perfectly hundreds of thousands of words from many different Earth languages. I was pretty good at imitating a variety of animal sounds. But I could not, for the life of me, get Rock’s real name right. The order of rolling and clicking sounds in it proved extremely difficult for me to repeat.

  “The rock man. Rock. He made his body into a rock,” I explained the best I could with the limited vocabulary I had.

  Thankfully, Vlunn had grown to understand me well enough.

  “Qlraensuekx? He leaves very early on the days he goes hunting. Rock?” He gave me a boyish grin. “That suits him, and not only when he’s in his fighting form either, actually.”

  “It was his fighting form?”

  “All Stone Valos take this form when we feel threatened or need to fight. Turned to stone, we’re nearly invincible.”

  “You can too?”

  “I can, but I haven’t done it for a while.”

  “Why not?”

  “There is no need. I don
’t go hunting,” he replied quickly. “It’s still early, but since you’re up, would you like some breakfast?”

  Breakfast would be nice. I felt ravenously hungry. It was as if my body was in a hurry to catch up on all the food it had been denied for so long, but I really needed to use a bathroom or whatever they had here for it.

  “Um. First, I need to go . . .”

  Where? It didn’t look like there was any bathroom in this tunnel. They mentioned a cold cave, and I vaguely remembered being bathed in a warm pool somewhere. But a bathroom?

  “Outside. I’ll need to go outside first.”

  “Outside?” Vlunn sounded surprised. “The sun is not up yet. Sit by the fire, I’ll roast you some more meat.”

  I moved closer to the flames, just to stop my teeth from chattering, but the bathroom visit was quickly becoming urgent, especially, after Vlunn had pressed a cup of water in my hands. The sight of it made me want to pee even more.

  “I need to go,” I said resolutely and got to my feet. The muscles in my legs shook, and my head swam in a sudden bout of dizziness, but I hoped that if I used the wall of the tunnel to guide and support myself, I could make it outside and back just fine.

  “I’ll carry you,” Vlunn announced and lifted me in his arms before I could protest.

  “Why did you want to come out here?” he asked when he gently sat me down outside the entrance of the tunnel.

  “Well,” I sighed. There was no way around it. “I need to . . .” I gestured away from my body with both hands. “The water. I drink water, now I have to . . .” I repeated the gesture, hoping it could be understood as get rid of, or eject.

  “Oh, sure, go ahead,” he seemed to have understood rather quickly.

  “You have to go away. You can’t look.”

  “Why? It’s still early enough for nocturnal animals to be hunting up the mountain. I’ll have to keep an eye on you to make sure you’re safe.”

  “No.” I was surprised by the firmness of my own voice. It wasn’t like me to argue, but I had to draw a line here. “You’re not keeping an eye on me while I’m doing it.”

  “Why not? You’ve done it before.”

  “What?” A hot flush of embarrassment flooded my face from the neck to the hairline. “What are you talking about?”