Out of the Ashes (Maji 1)

“This is your doing, you intolerable fool!” she hissed at him.

Mikoh laughed, and the sound was almost human, only it had a lot more gruffness to it. I stopped screaming because I ran out of breath, but also because I wanted to see the exchange between the two Maji who eyed each other with such obvious distaste.

“Must you blame everything on me, Surkah?” Mikoh asked, still grinning. “Surely, the little alien is terrified of your face, not mine.”

“Leave!” Surkah shouted and threw a sharp object at him, but he ducked, easily avoiding it.

I momentarily wondered where she got the sharp object from. I also wondered if there were more so I could avail of one and use it to defend myself if I needed to.

“I’ll do so happily!” Mikoh snapped back at Surkah. “If the little alien attacks you, do not cry for my help like you did when the tiny Earth rodent entered your quarters yesterday!”

“I didn’t cry for you,” Surkah mocked. “I cried for anyone, and it wasn’t tiny, it was the size of my foot! It could have killed me.”

Mikoh laughed, ducking again when Surkah threw something else at him, then left the room quicker than he’d entered. I shook my head, feeling like my eyes and ears were betraying me. I wondered if I imagined things, or did I really witness two Maji argue with one another? It seemed like an awfully human thing for them to do, but that was impossible. Other species weren’t like humans. They were just … different.

I blinked and looked at the female who was now watching me with more interest than before. She made no attempt to talk or move closer to me, and I felt better because of it.

“Please,” I whispered when I was sure she wasn’t going to move. “Don’t kill me.”

Surkah frowned, her thick white eyebrows furrowing. “I wish you no harm, tiny one.”

Tiny one?

“Why am I here then?” I asked, trying to keep my composure.

My heart was beating so fast it felt like it would burst. It was then that I noticed the beeping I had heard earlier was louder now and faster. It began to hurt my head.

“You were injured.” Surkah shrugged as she pressed the machine next to her, silencing the beeping. “I mended your injury, and now I’m tending to you because you’re still unwell. You’re in my charge, and it is my duty to care for you.”

“I was injured?” I questioned.

Surkah nodded slowly. “Badly. You lost a lot of blood, and I feared your bones would not set and mend correctly when you were brought to me. I healed them as best as I could then I tended to your minor wounds, bathed you briefly, and dressed you in a wrap made for humans … though, I think it is too small for you.”

I was relived she had been the one to bathe me, but I didn’t linger on that thought long because confusion gripped me, so I closed my eyes and thought. Hard. What was Surkah talking about? She said I was injured, but how? How was I injured, and how on Almighty’s Earth did I end up in a Maji’s charge?

Think, Nova.

I remembered scouting the WBO, and I remembered being attacked by watchmen. I… I killed one of them and fled from the other, only I didn’t get far. I opened my eyes when my memories resurfaced. The watchman who would kill me was instead killed by the huge Maji with violet eyes and sharp teeth. I fainted, and they brought me to Surkah for treatment, but why?

Why would they want to help a human?

I looked down at my arm and stared at my virtually unmarred skin. I vividly remembered my radius sticking out of my flesh and a deep, jagged slice in my skin surrounding it that pooled with blood. I touched my skin carefully and pressed gently. There was no pain. There was no anything. Not even a mark.

“How?” I asked, my voice raspy. “It was dislocated, and the bone cut through—”

“I healed it,” Surkah cut in. “That is what I do. I am one of the healers aboard that is assigned to humans.”

Healer?

“So … you’re like a doctor?”

“I do not understand.” Surkah frowned, her forehead creasing. “The word ‘doctor’ does not translate into Maji language.”

“Um, a doctor is a person who cares for the injured and sick.”

Surkah considered this. “That is what I am, but we use the term healer.”

“Well … I … Thank you for … healing me.”

I didn’t understand how she did it, but I was grateful nonetheless.

Surkah smiled, and I was pleased to see she didn’t have fangs like Mikoh. Her teeth were sharper than mine, but they weren’t scary or something I’d stop and stare at. I silently thanked Almighty for that.

“It is an honour to tend to you, tiny one,” she said, and she sounded very … excited. “You are the first human I have healed, and I am very happy there were no complications. While you were resting, I scanned you with my lissa because I feared your biology would differ greatly from Maji and that our medicines, or my ability, would have no effect on you, but to my delight, I discovered we’re one hundred percent compatible. I cannot believe the results; it is truly a gift from Thanas that we came here. My shipmaster and my people will celebrate greatly with the news.”

What in the fresh hell is she talking about?

I had a whole bunch of similar questions floating around in my mind, and I didn’t know which one to ask first. Instead of voicing them, I kept flicking my eyes from Surkah to the section of the wall that opened before. I heard a noise outside, and I tensed. I was so scared Mikoh would re-enter the room.

I really need to get free and get a weapon.

“Why are you fearful?” Surkah asked, gaining my attention. “I scent it on you.”

Excuse me?

“What did you just say?” I asked, baffled. “You smell my fear?”

“Yes,” she replied, sniffing the air. “Fear has a sickly sweet scent, and you reek of it.”

These aliens can smell fear?

“Well …” I swallowed. “It’s just … I was kidnapped.”

“By who?” Surkah growled. “I will break their bones in places they won’t mend correctly.”

The animalistic noises she made silenced me.

“Speak, tiny one,” she pressed. “Who kidnapped you?”

I blinked. “Your people did.”

Surkah gasped and placed her hand over her chest as if I’d physically wounded her.

“We did not abduct you,” she stressed. “My people saved you.”

I looked down at the straps that bound me to the bed and then back up at Surkah. She winced.

“Those bindings are for your protection as well as mine. We weren’t sure how you would react when you awoke. The shipmaster ordered the restraints.”

The shipmaster?

“Okay,” I said, trying to understand her point of view.

“Surely, I would not have healed you if we meant you harm?”

I bit my lip. “Well, other species had kidnapped men, woman, and children from trading posts before and sold them into slavery on other planets, and they didn’t harm them as to not … devalue them. I guess I’m just worried about something like that happening.”

And about you eating my flesh.

I had heard all sorts of horror stories over the years about the aliens, and the worst one was that some aliens enjoyed eating human flesh while blood still flowed through their veins. The thought terrified me.

I really needed a fucking weapon.

Surkah’s eyes blazed with anger. “No one will kidnap or harm a human whilst Maji take hu—I mean rebuild Earth.”

Her slip of tongue didn’t go unnoticed by me, and it only made me even more wary of her. She was lying to me, but I didn’t know why. To avoid drawing attention to the fact that I knew she was lying, I played dumb.

“Rebuild the Earth?” I repeated, tilting my head to the side. “I’m sorry, but what do you mea—”

“Surkah!” Mikoh’s voice shouted from outside the room, gaining both our attention. A second later, the wall opened, and Mikoh stood in the d

oorway but didn’t enter the room. “The shipmaster requests an update on your scan of the human. He disapproves of you unlinking your comm from the system, and so do I. I told you I need to be able to contact you at all times when I am not in talking distance. Our comms provide that, so why must you disconnect?”

“Because I don’t like having males inside my head twenty-nine hours of the day!”

Twenty-nine hours of the day? Comms? What on Earth are they talking about?

“We aren’t just any males, though,” Mikoh said, his eyes focused solely on Surkah. “Just give me the update, and I’ll pass it onto the shipmaster since you won’t reconnect. He is giving me a sore head.”

Surkah did something that surprised me then; she squealed.

“It is a positive result, Mikoh.”

Mikoh’s jaw dropped open. “Truly?”

“Truly,” Surkah gushed. “Humans will be our salvation.”

“That’s earned a huge what from me,” I cut in, feeling great unease about the conversation happening before me.

Mikoh locked eyes on me, and I tensed when he leisurely ran his eyes over my form. I didn’t like how he looked at me; it reminded me of a wolf and how they would stare at their prey before they gobbled them up.