Cage (Dark World Book 1) (13 page)

Cyra didn’t want to tell him, but she had no choice. Those leaders unwilling to accept change were no longer leading with their heads but their fears. Tribe leaders could not fear change. If they did, there wasn’t a beast born who would frighten them into submission; they would be doomed by ignorance. There was no battling change. Those who couldn’t adapt would die. The thought was heartbreaking. Cyra brought life and hope, but to some she had brought death.

Cage summoned the tribe leaders in his area. They would be the ones willing to listen—he hoped. It took two weeks before all agreed to meet. Many were furious with Cage and distrustful of Cyra. Five mates had returned to the Mountain and no heir was produced. The tribe leaders were already angry and wouldn’t like what he had to say. Their female mates would be taken away and replaced, this was unheard of. Cage had ordered his warriors into his home. The walls were up, but all expected to be able to see if their leader needed any help. He could see Cyra’s anxious gaze as she allowed Zenon to pull her back to his chest and wrap a sold arm around her, as was acceptable for any warrior to do while comforting the tribe leader’s mate.

Cyra was fond of Zenon. She smiled at the warrior in a tentative way until Zenon squeezed her and Cage heard her squeal. She laughed and Cage and Zenon chuckled. Zenon was very good at relieving stress. It was time to engage the others. When Cage faced the tribe leaders and spoke of what was to come and what was expected, the uproar was immediate.

“I will not mate with a human,” came a bellow of anger.

“Then your tribe will suffer, Danger,” Cage said.

“Humans are willful. My mate was designed for my needs.” Another shout of outrage.

Cage wanted to roar his own frustration. A mate with the capabilities of fears was gifted to him, or so he thought, he realized how important the mission was. Cage was to be the leader of leaders. The idea would not sit well with alpha males.

“Danger, tribe leaders, your human mate will provide you with many sons. We will need more chosen ones to save our planet,” Cage argued.

“Why? Because a human has said this?” asked another.

“The Mountain of Creation has chosen my mate and I. Now it has chosen all of you,” Cage said. “I know this goes against our heritage, but we need to save our planet and our way of life. In order to do so, we need to change our way of thinking. We can no longer sit and wait for planets to come to us; we need to go to them. Cyra can help.”

“She’s human,” Danger said.

“My point exactly,” Cage said. “All this time I thought her images gave me an advantage over other tribe leaders, but I was wrong. It’s her skill and I believe why the Mountain has chosen her. She can build us a space ship for our needs. The Mountain has spoken. Something dark is coming to our world. Cyra said dark holes are opening more frequently on Earth and if Earth’s garbage can find its way here, so can many more undesirables. You know we have fought off aliens who would destroy us. It’s going to get worse.

“We need to find our human mates if we will be able to ride out what’s ahead. How long has it been since any of us have been gifted with a new warrior? I haven’t; Danger how long has it been for you?”

Danger looked thoughtful. “Many years. It’s strange you mentioned this. I was pondering the same thing the other day. Many of us have come of age and are due for a mate. Normally, more warriors are created to help protect the tribe leader and the chosen one. A few of the older tribe leaders in the farther sector who have sired a son haven’t received any warriors either.”

There was much discussion, arguing for both sides. Cage could see he had swayed some. Roar jumped to his feet.

“My mate is terrified. She is carrying my heir. After he is born, she insists she must return to the Mountain. She wants to go now, telling me she is being urged home. The Mountain has never taken an heir. I can’t allow my mate to damn my son to stasis for any length of time. This is the human female’s fault.”

“My mate has harmed no one,” Cage raged. “She is also being given a direction by the Mountain. If you think about it, she is being used by our Mountain to save our race while hers fights for existence on her planet. She has seen the destruction firsthand and it hurts her to her very core.”

“I didn’t think of it that way,” Danger said. “Are you positive I have a human female waiting for me out there with many strong heirs?”

“Cyra seems to think so,” Cage said as he struggled to control his anger. “Help us build the ship. It’s the only way we find out.”

“She builds the ship to take her home, nothing more,” Roar said, a low growl in his throat.

“Go to your mate,” Cage said. He stood before Roar. “Go and keep your mate safe, and I do honestly hope you can. You are selfish by risking her and your heir. She is a good female, too good for you.”

Cage could see the puffs of smoke spiraling from his nostrils with his anger. Cage battled to change. He sensed Cyra’s anger and the vision of a hideous flying monster built within his thoughts. Instead, he filed it away for future reference. Roar spun on his heels and left. Cage faced the other tribe leaders.

“We all have a great deal of work to do, including informing the other tribes. Some have young heirs, or will be having them soon. Soon enough, all tribe leaders will be anxious when their mates are called home—if they haven’t been already. Who knows what’s happening on the other side of the planet. Maybe another human female has been found. I know other Mountains are in existence all over the planet; I hope they have the foresight. Which means if they do, we need to protect my mate from being stolen and any other human female we find. Our tribes in this area come first. It’s time to build a space craft. It’s time to save our planet.”

* * * *

“What is this thing?”

Cage watched with interest as Cyra had a visual image in front of her and what she called a computer in her lap. A small device on her finger meticulously moved information from the computer up onto the image in the air. Words and symbols free-floated.

“It’s a new mouse.” She shifted her ass over so Cage could sit beside her. “See this thing on my finger? Long ago they were attached to a mouse or the mouse was built into the computer. You could cut and paste by dragging the mouse over the words and attach. By running my finger mouse over the images I want, they automatically are transferred. It also has a connection with my thoughts. Watch.”

Cage couldn’t make heads or tails over what she was looking at. The image changed to show him a clear picture of him. This was something Cage did understand. If he hadn’t been positive this was his mate, he was certain now. Cyra could create images like he did; only hers were images in front of him on the outside, his formed within his mind.

The image changed back to the strange patterns. With a wave of her finger Cyra added intricate designs and symbols.

“What is this?” he asked.

“Schematics. I’m creating the system we’ll need for flight by reverse engineering. It will be tricky working with what I have, but at the risk of boasting, I’m a genius with computers. I always wanted to create an entire space ship but never had the time. I could make a toaster talk. Oh wait, I already did.”

“Yes, but should you?”

Cyra chuckled. Cage knew she was remembering the astounded faces when she took a simple device and had it asking warriors if they were having a pleasant day. Something called an AIF was programmed into the odd machine. For a split second, the device had made Cage’s hair stand on end. He loved it immediately. The leaders were hooked; anything that made a leader pause with hesitance was a good thing. Fear prepared them for resistance to fear. All attention from leaders who had succeeded in impregnating their mates helped set up a working environment for Cyra—all but Roar. Cyra wanted a prototype, which she explained. A large hull was forming quickly.

When finished, the space-worthy vessel would take ten warriors and supplies to Earth. Cyra was on a mission. The Mountain of Creation was directing the ships coordinates. When the time came, the ship would fly to the area where ten potential mates would be. Get in, get out. Cyra said they would need to strike fast and leave. Earth had infuriated many different planets. Many aliens were out for blood and were tracking humans down. Evil was being unleashed everywhere on everyone.

Cyra said Earth may have contributed to the disaster, but it was another alien race who opened the dark holes looking for planets to plunder. It was by accident those aliens were the first to suffer Earth’s garbage dump. The aliens attacked other planets who in turn sought retribution. Cyra called it a last-man-standing situation. The Mountain had shown her the story, but it was up to each planet to save their inhabitants for a happy ending. It was going to be a long and bloody war.

Occasionally, Cyra was able to get images back from Earth. They made her cry which upset Cage; she wasn’t prone to tears. Some planets only wanted males, some females; many more wanted slaves and others simply craved revenge. Earth’s garbage dump-off had killed well within the millions. Cyra was able to call up images from those planets. Mass gravesites of females and offspring littered a planet void of happiness. Hate spilled from the leader as he condemned Earth for its act of war without provocation. He was a huge alien who had lost his family and determined every family on Earth would suffer the same fate.

From Cyra’s determination, Cage surmised they were running against time. Looking at her, Cage realized she had tuned him out. He rose and decided to go hunting with a few of his men. Lately they had many more mouths to feed. Zenon remained behind to keep a close eye on Cyra. She was well protected by his many warriors, but Zenon was to be with Cyra when Cage was away. Growing up, Cage’s father had a similar warrior who guarded Cage and his mother.

It didn’t take the warriors long to locate a massive bull creature. The animals the warriors hunted had no fear which evened the battle ground. The warriors had to work for their kill. The bull stood twelve feet at its withers. Its shaggy black hair hung thickly to the ground in sheets. Orange eyes flickered, indicating it was aware it was being stalked. Four horns on either side of its oblong face were two feet in length. Two more horns at triple the length were on either side of its forehead.

The beast rose up on its hind feet, four in all. At the knee, the bone split giving it four two-toed hooves. The same at the front danced in the air. Nearby, a female twice as small with her young calf moved off behind a bush. The warriors left her and the young one alone, neither sported the thick coveted black fur coat. The bull kept the female and calf warm in the colder months, draping its fur over the female’s shoulders and body while she huddled her young beneath her. There were times the warriors needed to secure the beast with care. The female and young weren’t visible in freezing months or storms. If the bull refused to fight or move, it indicated he was preserving his family beneath him. The meat of the calf was useless and poisonous until it reached maturity. The female was safe simply because she reproduced. If warriors killed a female, they could be killing thirty times her and the needed bulls’ meat and furs, as most offspring were male.

The warriors were armed with what appeared simple wood clubs; the clubs opened at the tips sporting razor-sharp arrows. The beast charged Cage and when it neared, Cage jumped from a large protruding rock to summersault across the beast’s back to land on his bare feet on the ground. He grinned and whacked the bull in the ass with the flat end of his club. The bull roared in fury. The angrier it became, the clumsier it was. The bull charged Kai who waved his arms baiting the beast to attack. Kai was a formidable hunter but Cage watched him closely, as he watched over all of his warriors. As the bull reached Kai, he grabbed a double fistful of hair and was pulled off his feet as the beast reared.

Kai flipped himself feet first around the bull’s shaggy throat, onto its back out of danger. The arrows from the hunters’ weapons released into the beast’s furry softer underbelly. While trying to come across as impressive, the beast was unaware it couldn’t fight warriors the way it battled other bulls. The belly was exposed at the groin area. The arrow ends were dipped in a fluid to produce a numbing agent. The potion would be cooked out over fires, rendering the substance harmless for consumption. The points were small but went deep so as not to damage the fur. One beast would make the covering for two warriors’ beds, top and bottom. As the beast collapsed, Kai simply dropped to the ground as the hindquarters buckled and the bull toppled over.

The beast stopped flailing. It would feel no pain. Cage took his huge hunting knife and slit the bull’s throat. He heard the bawl of the female and felt some twinge of remorse, but knew she wouldn’t be alone for long. Her woe begotten bellows would echo endlessly until answered, and a coveted female
would
be answered. By the time the warriors had the bull sectioned, the female’s bawling had drawn three other bulls into the area.

The bulls stayed away from the warriors who watched the bulls fight for their prize. The largest wasn’t always the strongest; the middle sized one was the craftiest and killed a bull that was too eager. When he chased the other bull away, he nudged at the female herding her from the warriors, her young one followed. A few feet away, he mounted her. The female accepted him and his protection. The new bull would keep both mother and baby as his own.

Cage saw a few other warriors gut the losing bull, the other they let live and Cage heard bellows of rage from a safe distance. Loaded with a feast, the warriors struck off for home. Cage was anxious to return to his mate. As he turned, he thought he spied a shining object in the sky. It was barely noticeable but while hunting, his senses were toned to perfection. Another warrior stood gazing at the same place in the sky.

“Did you see something?” Danger asked.

“I was certain,” Cage replied. “It’s gone now.”

“I think after our feast I will take my warriors home and seal us in for the night,” Danger said.