"I will skin you alive!" Shale's war axe split the air next to my head.

I kicked off a nearby tree trunk and let gravity carry me down and away from the giant red Forged warrior. The rain made the jungle slick and cooled everything between us. Like all Zhaguai, Shale was born with a row of heat sensing pits running along his lower lip.

Undoubtedly, my body heat was burning bright in the darkness.

I leapt on the first large vine I touched and bounded further away. This was my initiation to become an Adjutant to a High Council member. Shale was hunting me and it was my task to survive till sunrise.

Oru performed this same ritual when she ascended to the supreme leader of Sahei. However, it was Shale who challenged her for the honor after her previous Adjutant died on a distant battlefield. High Council members often have their Adjutants chosen for them and this was our only opportunity to reject the pairing.

The rules were simple. I must not be subdued or killed before dawn, weapons were limited to one melee armament of our choosing, no phantom blinds, and most importantly, I was not allowed to win.

Shale hurled a sharpened long branch like a javelin at my chest as he charged in my direction.

Shit, he's fast. I had to keep moving.

The makeshift pole sank deep into one of the many oversized carnivorous sundews plant clusters scattered throughout the jungle floor and seconds later another javelin sailed after.

This wasn't the showdown I craved, but it had my heart pumping and Shale was operating at full fury.

"How fares your mate?" Shale shouted from the darkness, hot on my trail and gaining speed.

"Elated!" I called back, zig-zagging through the snarled jungle to keep him from pinpointing my location. "She completes her training on Hitce. I expect her return any day and then she undergoes her Dread Rite."

It pained me to separate from Mourning Crow's company, but our parting had been amiable in the extreme.

She was in unprecedented high spirits throughout the days leading up to her journey and the prospect of escorting her Abura, Shadow's Reach, to his new home had her singing nonstop, even while we mated. Which we did a great deal of!

Mourning Crow rode me on and off whenever I got too near or when she claimed to have a craving for my 'tight, slappable ass', as she often called it.

The satisfied ache still lingered between my thighs and it was a real struggle voiding my thoughts of the morning of her departure when she surprised me in bed with her mouth and throat.

A third javelin crashed into my path, impaling a thick tree trunk along with a small nest hidden amongst the bark and leaves. Warm yoke dripped from the smashed ball of twigs and my mind raced to Mourning Crow facing her own crucible against the many beasts housed on the untouched Jahaa protected wilderness planet of Hitce while carrying our child.

No. I shook my quills and veered my course. It wasn't a male's place to control a female. Especially while she was pregnant.

I used the jutting make-shift javelin as footing and lept up the massive tree. At least the wet leaves would mask some of my heat.

"Hitce," Shale clicked in the distance. "Groon trained me there in my final days. The inhabitants are diverse. It will serve her well."

I crawled around the tree, putting the trunk between my body and Shale's voice.

That's right... This was a fight I knew how to win. I trained and researched everything there was to know about Shale.

His bearer was Peleon of Clan Celcho on Prime. She was a member of the Council of Ancients. His sire was Baaso of Clan Jahaa. It was a Joust pairing, but the two were long-standing friends. Shale was raised and trained by both parents and alternated worlds with each incoming cycle. The Forged, long before he earned the official rank, was naturally skilled and took to battle as quickly as a newborn colt masters walking.

There were rumors of a sibling but the other pup must have been sickly as it died without any official commendations. Even before his first Dread Rite, Shale had a knack for proving worthy.

The nearby foliage rustled as I busied my dagger slicing through the vines and branches around me.

What else?

He's three-hundred-and-ninety cycles with over fifty offspring, but he only kept tabs on a select few possessing the most notable standing. However, that may have more to do with his rank of Oru's Adjutant and his obligation to be present when honor was being rewarded. Otherwise, he operated solo, and over seventy percent of his Dreads were extended and stationed on cold terrain planets.

With one arm tucked full of freshly harvested supplies, I moved from the tree and hurried off toward lower ground.

Cold... perhaps I missed something?

That day at the lagoon... I like the rocks for sunning in solitude, but most of our kind prefer swimming in warm water. It's odd that a Zhaguai raised in the tropical coasts of Oja Crux and the steamy jungles of Sahei to avoid the heat...

Or maybe he's seeking something different?

I smeared the sap I collected in a fold of bark across random trees and wide vertical laying vines, then ignited the patches with sparks produced by my rip-claw dagger striking a specially designed section of my left gauntlet.

The falling rain would inevitably douse the flames, but the decoys would buy me time.

"Tricks will only carry you so far," Shale growled off to my right.

His silhouette loomed in the greying distant, tipping wide parasol leaves cupping water over my flares and removing my distractions one by one.

Good. That's just enough space.

I finished up the last of my flares and then made my way deeper into the bog to complete my final preparations inside a forest of giant black-capped mushrooms.

An Adjutant's role was more than support. We were required to challenge everything. Like Shale to Oru, I would carry out orders and enforce commands, but it was my responsibility to act as a counterbalance and ensure my Primary functioned on a stable foundation. The Forged liking or disliking me was irrelevant. Tonight, I would prove my loyalty to Shale and that a secure footing on solid ground could only be achieved with me at his side.

The lowland marsh slowed my legs, but not my hands. Things were nearly in place when Shale burst through the mushroom cap canopy above, showering my head in spores and shredded fungal membrane.

His axe sliced through the fog, but my helmet kept my eyes free of debris. There was a series of large twisting vines snaking through the bog and I hopped to one second before Shale landed behind me.

I had hoped for more time, but this would have to do.

The Forged warrior's axe thrashed at my face, but I was prepared to match his speed. Shale always possessed size and strength well above mine, however, his precise deflections and parries suggest that he'd taken the time to study my tactics and timing.

Well, that's new... usually, no one bothers.

Visibility was low but Shale's body heat flared in shades of white and orange as he came at me in a flurry of metal and long razor-sharp claws at a pace that had my biceps burning. This was the close combat I had always imagined. Most Zhaguai males his size favored power over technique, but Shale utilized both. His Dreads were methodical, long, and intimate, though his method of selecting dueling partners was a bit more narrow compared to my process. My only edge in this rite of passage was that there was a time limit.

The tip of Shale's axe blade opened a thin, hot gash across my right pectoral. It was a trivial cut, but the contact made him growl and strike faster.

Yes, focus on me!

We continued balancing along the mossy vine, locked in a death dance above the muck as I lured Shale further down the winding slope.

"How do you plan to address our brothers and sisters opposed to uniting with a race containing synthetic razkurs indistinguishable from naturals?" I parried Shale's axe with my rip-claw dagger and pushed him back.

"You will not distract me!" Shale grumbled as he lunged at me.

"So you have nothing," I smirked and triggered a small vine whip trap that sprang up and slashed up Shale's calf.

"RAAAHH!" Shale snarled in pain and missed his chance to grab me before I hopped off our vine onto a smaller one nearby.

"And what of those in Jahaa who do not believe razkurs can be trusted with a gifted U'la'ke Liege?" I snapped at him.

"These matters will not concern you," Shale lunged to face me. "Dead tricksters have no value in Jahaa."

I jumped hard and wobbled the vine that held us upright and dunked our feet into the mud. "Neither do incompetent leaders."

"You will not goad me into reckless responses!" Shale crouched forward and tackled me down, but his momentum carried both of our bodies farther than intended. We had to dig our claws into the vine to keep from sliding off.

"Your games have no power over me!" Shale growled.

"I never play when it comes to Jahaa," I grunted, then rolled the Forged warrior off into the mud.

He tried to drag me with him, but I kicked him loose and somersaulted out of range. Then I vaulted up another vine.

Almost time!

Before arriving at the swamp, Shale and I were sequestered in separate rooms and then dropped off abruptly with no information about this planet prior to being pitted against one another. However, a single fight came to mind the instant I saw the rain and mud. Mourning Crow's final battle with the sniper Red Spider. I lacked a chain sickle and a crumbling stone wall, but I knew how to procure a tether line and set an equivalent stage.

Shale lurching out of the mud as I sprinted into a clearing under the tallest mushrooms.

These should be big enough...

Suddenly, Shale's brilliant form swooped down at me from the darkness. He had a chokehold on me and tried to lift me and steal my footing. I bumped an emergency stud on my gauntlet and popped the quick release for a back-facing spike and jabbed it hard into Shale's ribs. He winced and curled forward, but he didn't relinquish his grip.

Push harder!

I managed to get my feet hooked on an up-arching vine and threw my full weight into his chest. Shale stood his ground easily... exactly like I wanted him to.

Then I went limp and crumpled my knees, letting Shale's extra weight tumble on me. I slashed a nearby hidden tether with my dagger and heard the consecutive snaps culminate behind me.

A series of taut vine whips slapped up Shale's sides and across his back, forcing him to yowl and let me go. I spun around and unlatched the Forged warrior's helmet, then tossed it away into the cold murky water.

Shale hissed and then snatched one of the last incoming whips mid-air and attempted to hook it around my neck, but I had him.

I crammed a chunk of sticky sundew flowers into his eyes, fully aware of the flora's toxicity level.

Shale bellowed and ripped the vegetation from his face while I got busy wrapping myself in a crude ghillie cape I constructed from large parasol leaves and hid in cold mud.

The Forged warrior was still floundering while I snuck up into the mushroom stalks and tossed one of my gauntlets as far as I could, and then I set up a roost clinging upside-down above my target's head.

Shale heard the thud of my gauntlet bumping off a mushroom stalk and stood for a moment, listening to the darkness while his blurry vision slowly returned into focus.

"How are you at reading razkur ears?" I whispered.

Shale's head jerked toward the speaker built into my discarded gauntlet.

"I understand you're limiting your lessons to basic labeled slideshow," I kept every muscle still. "The razkurs will flay you alive... and then feed your bones to their younglings."

Shale's long quills twinged in every direction. He knew he was being watched and baited into a trap.

"You can't rely on the auto translator to feed you Oto-Winde," I added.

Shale spotted the black gauntlet but didn't dare pick it up. "It's the common tongue, it will suffice," he grunted

"Is that why Oru listens to you?" I clicked wickedly. "Because your insight is satisfactory."

Shale growled and scoured the gloomy mushroom forest. "What else is there? Our ears are flat and tucked under our quills."

"Oru demands that you be flawless and the razkurs will interpret your negligence as weakness."

Shale straightened up, still tense, but I had his attention.

"I made a mistake once, with my mate. I lost a fang and nearly my head in a sliver a second, all for a single word spoken too brazen."

Shale hissed in contemplation.

"Lose the translator," I commanded. "Take lessons from Mourning Crow. You'll hate it but would we tolerate anything less if it was Menthla approaching Jahaa?"

A low rumble vibrated from Shale's silhouette.

Still laying in wait upside down, I raised my chest an inch and pressed my chest plate into the wound left from Shale's axe. A plump droplet formed, and I coaxed it to dribble down the stalk.

Shale's head froze when he turned. The droplet did its job and lit up my trail like a lonely loadstar lighting up the night sky.

Shale charged in and I pounced, slicing another hidden vine tether I rigged earlier, triggering a cascade of chaos.

The tight cord shot across the mushroom tops, bisecting multiple caps and dropping them consecutively all around Shale. A crescent wall of black mud splashed into the air, encircling my target.

Shale roared as I landed, spun to face him, and then leaped through the manufactured black tidal wave.

In Thorngate, Mourning Crow dropped a dilapidated brick wall and dove through the bloody wake before disemboweling Red Spider and ripping off his head.

Here, I was forbidden from intentional lethal action, but my strike was equally true.

I tackled Shale, mashed another clump of sundew into his eyes, and sent him flying into the stinking mud. The Forged howled and scrambled to regain his footing. To my surprise, there was an unexpected broken root pierced into Shale's lower side.

He stood up and ripped the long, fist-thick stake out with a nasty bellow. Then he sank as he struggled against the mud.

Between the darkness, my ghillie cape still tied to my neck and ankles, being covered head to toe in cold mud, I was certain my form was difficult to decipher.

"It's good she kept you standing up," I prowled the edges of the bog.

Shale froze. His eyes weren't focused on me, but he knew exactly where I was.

"It's the position I find least painful," I kept my dagger in hand while watching for any hint of suspicious motion. "Anyone else would have panicked, but your record indicated that you would keep calm."

Shale stood motionless, chest-deep in the bog, sinking slowly every few seconds.

"Does it always hurt?" He tracked my movements.

"Yes," I chittered. "But in the most magnificent way."

"You could have warned me," he grumbled.

"And risk you pulling away early before finishing properly?"

"No," Shale lowered his head. "That would not do."

I walked along a vine twisting a few feet from his arms.

"Why did she provoke me more than necessary?" Shale made a step toward my destination, only to sink even deeper.

"That I cannot answer," I shrugged and shook my head. "My mate often acts on impulse, but never without purpose."

Shale thrummed and inched closer to the vine. The mud had reached his chin. "What do you propose for the android situation?"

"Don't call them androids," I returned my rip-claw dagger into its secret holder on my gauntlet. "On Menthla, they are life-bringers. If our mating season cycle abruptly ended and the only cure was a synthetic augment, would you despise it and those who benefitted from its inclusion?"

Shale pushed closer in silence.

"As for the U'la'ke Liege gift," I put my hand out to my Primary. "The source is fear. We know how to kill that."

Shale took my hand and let me pull him up.

"You've got an answer for everything," the Forged sneered.

"I don't subject what I value most to dangle on chance."

Shale stood up and scraped off hunks of mud stuck to his face. "You sound like a snake wriggling around my neck."

I couldn't help but grin. "What better vantage point to ensure your head stays firmly attached?"

Shale laughed, then grabbed my right arm and jabbed the pointed tip of his axe through my open palm. I growled and flinched, but he did not advance. Instead, he thrummed and narrowed his gaze, then guided my eyes down at the gaping hole gored into his side.

I relaxed my arm and slid my palm off the metal just as warmth and the soft purple light of the rising sun seeped in from a ridge to our right.

"Never forget," Shale returned his axe to his back. "Whatever glory or disgrace I claim in the coming days will spill over onto you. From this day forward, we are Vu'ax D'kiaxi."

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TRANSLATION:

U'la'ke/Abura= alien cat species that are mortal enemies of the Zhaguai. Have stinger tails with paralytic venom. Known as "The Felija" to humans. They live in large Prides. The Lieges are the biggest, are both sexes, have large manes, and thirteen tails. AlSO: a sacred predatory species that shares a symbiotic relationship with the Razkurs.

Vu'ax D'kiaxi = One Blood

Author's Note:

Thank you for reading. If you're enjoying please remember to click the ⚡⭐star⭐⚡to vote and help others discover this book. Wattpad counts votes for each chapter. And as always, comments are most appreciated.