Page 8 of The Alien Who Saved Christmas
From “Joy to the Other Worlds”
A Christmas Carol for Non-Earthlings by Sadie Malone
Xane had found a woman. He’d never even imagined such a thing.
When he’d woken up that morning, he’d thought today would be his last. He’d expected to be purchased for the blue salt mines, because they were the last stop for slaves who would not bend, and he would not bend. He’d expected to fight his captivity, as he always did. Only he’d known his resistance would be useless, as it always was. He’d expected to die, this time, and then fade into forgotteness.
Instead, he was alive. Owned by a small girl and standing in front of a partially concealed Class H-77 Cruiser. The Rtaharion were not a creative people, so this was completely beyond his craziest, middle-of-the-night fantasy.
Perhaps it was a delusion. Xane had been forcibly injected withcastrextract to keep him calm for the auction and it had clouded his head. This could all be an illusion, brought on by the drug.
He tried to focus on survival and not the beckoning scent of the woman beside him. “This is a Lythion ship.” Xane told thefemale with a suspicious scowl. Whatever kind of creature she was, she wasnotLythion. “Where are the Lythions?”
The woman huddled deeper in her very fashionable, very expensive Lythion robes.
Xane had never seen one of her kind before. And he’d seen just about everything. The woman’s face was smooth and soft, with no scales or fur. She had large gray eyes and deep pink lips that looked like they’d been stained withhonebberries. He couldn’t see most of her body, under her enveloping clothes, but it was probably equally strange. She was lacking horns and an adequate number of arms. It should have made her less attractive.
…But, for some reason, his eyes kept traveling back to her.
It had to be her intoxicating fragrance. He had never in his life smelled anything as good as the female. Warm spices andyaseehoney and feminine heat. It was a miracle that no other men had caught scent of her at the auction, or she would’ve been grabbed up and sold on the spot. It seemed certain that she couldn’t defend herself.
The woman’s size did not speak to skill at war. Her open manner did not speak to skill at espionage. Her free-wheeling spending at the auction did not speak to skill at finance. In short, Xane had no idea how such a being could possibly survive in the universe, let alone in a sewer like Corono. Was that more evidence that he was hallucinating this entire experience?
“I’m guessing Lithiums are the See-Through Alien Kidnappers?” She ventured.
“Lythionsare the biggest slavers in the galaxy.” She was baffled by very obvious things. “This ship should be crewed by them and filled with their captives.”
“Right. Well, there were three Lyth-eee-ins and a bunch of other beings on that ship with me. They took all the other aliens away and came back without them. That was weeks ago. Now, I’m here by myself.”
Xane grunted. The Lythions had no doubt sold the more average captives at the slave market and held her back for some fancier auction. Women were rare. Exotic women were rarer still. An exotic woman with large gray eyes and berry-colored lips, who smelled like honey and sex, was a one-in-a-million find. She would bring an exorbitant price on any number of worlds. The Lythions wouldn’t waste her on the squalid hordes of Corono. They would save her for some wealthy man seeking a spectacularly impressive mate.
Unless she was lying.
“You claim to be here alone?” He challenged.
“I don’t ‘claim’ it. Iamhere alone. Nobody has any clue where I am. Including me! Back home, I’m losing my apartment, flunking my classes, and missing out on all the seasonal coffee drinks.”
She wasdefinitelylying. Even through the drugs, he knew that. No female would be stupid enough to casually admit she was without protection. Not to a Rtaharion, who could overpower her, even while chained and hazy from drugs.
Xane’s eyes scanned around, looking for signs of a Lythion ambush. Lythions were a small but powerful species, capable of unimaginable cruelty and crafty tricks. It was the only reason the woman’s disguise had worked at the auctiontoday. No one wanted to get close to a Lythion, so they gave her a wide berth. Had she planned that? He lived his life assuming that everyone else was plotting his death, and he was rarely disappointed.
Rtaharions’ enhanced healing abilities meant the whip-lashes were already fading from his flesh. His body could not dispel the drugs in his bloodstream so easily. The sunlight glinted off the purple sand, causing a piercing ache in his skull.
Dammit.
He squinted against the glare, trying to concentrate. Ignoring the sickening swirl of his vision and the pounding of his brain, he kept his expression resolute. He would never reveal his agony to her. Rtaharions did not disclose their pain to their enemies.
“You look terrible, Xane. Do you want to sit down?”
“No.” He flashed her a glower. “Where are the Lythions?” He demanded again.
The woman winced and reluctantly pointed towards a purple boulder. “Over there.” At the wide base, there were three rock-covered mounds that could only be graves.
Xane’s eyebrows soared.
“It wasn’t my fault.” She insisted. “I had no idea they’d melt.”
He blinked, trying to process what he was seeing. This tiny creature had killed three Lythions? By herself?
