Page 25 of The Naga Scavenger’s Precious Mate

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Farah

My heart was in my throat when I watched Zeidon fight the evil snake terminator robot. At any point, I expected those razor-sharp knives to explode from all over the machine’s long body and tail, cutting into him again just like last time. Zeidon had the upper hand when he caught it by surprise; he slammed his black stone knives into the machine’s neck area with a ferocious growl.

I had to hold back Srazz as the small animal raised his spiky rump and snarled; he was ready to join the fight. “No, stay here,” I warned him, though I felt his desire keenly myself. If I had a weapon right now, I would have tried to stab that stupid machine myself. Buzz fluttered anxiously with his wings on my shoulder but at least my little buddy had learned the hard way that he was no match for that thing.

“Release me,” the machine demanded, its snarling sounds resolving itself into words I could understand. I was not touching Zeidon right now, but it still worked, I could still hear what the machine said as it started making demands. Whatever my guy had done, it had frozen the machine in place. “I am Vrash, your leader! You must obey me!”

Zeidon raised his hands and the hilts of his broken knives clattered to the ground, punctuating the robot’s petulant words. He was not as scary when he couldn’t fight back. With a snarl, he grabbed the robot’s head in his fists and yanked. The metal groaned and screeched, the robot screeched too, and then things started separating.

It was all over so quickly that I blinked and stared for a few long seconds in surprise. The machine’s body started collapsing, crashing to the floor with a thundering noise, and the head remained in Zeidon’s hands and glared malevolently at me. “I will banish you,” he said, and its voice gained a hitch that made it extra creepy when coming from a head without a body. A static that made me think it was starting to malfunction, worse than it had already.

Zeidon did not respond to its words, but his ears were still blessedly plugged to protect them from that screeching attack. It did not affect me the same as it did him, giving me nothing more than a vague feeling of discomfort but I’d seen how devastating it was to Zeidon’s sense of balance. Our ploy had worked, and I was left with this deeply unsettled feeling. This was too easy, after losing to the machine twice in devastating fashion, how could it have been so simple this time?

I dropped my hands from around Sraz’s chest and uncurled from my position in the corner. I’d served as the distraction, pulling the robot’s eyes in my direction so that Zeidon could make his move, but that too seemed too easy now. “What did you want from us?” I asked the machine, though I held no hope that it could actually understand what I said.

It snarled, its half-machine, half-Naga face pulling grotesquely. I raised my eyes from that gold and red stare to look at Zeidon and noticed that he was frowning, a hint of uncertainty in his eyes that mirrored how I felt. He dropped the robotic head and it thumped to the stone floor and rolled into a corner. With a loop of his long tail, he shoved against the collapsed body. That was definitely not moving, though the head had not shut off.

When he risked pulling the stuffing from his ears we both hurriedly glanced at the head to see if it would try its screech again. It remained silent and motionless but I was not fooled, its gaze was focused on both of us, biding its time. For what, I did not know. I hoped it did not have more tricks to play on us or more scary weapons it could deploy.

“What did it say?” he asked, glaring at the head as he slithered over our downed foe to reach me. I was relieved when he pulled me into his arms and I could put my ear to his chest and hear the steady beat of his heart. Maybe it really was this simple, we’d caught it off guard, and we just needed to find an exit now.

I rolled a shoulder, “Just idle threats and its name. Vrash? Does that mean anything to you?” Zeidon’s spiky brows went up, they were stiffer than my own brows but he still managed to raise them in surprise this time. So that did ring a bell. I gazed back at the head and took in the features on the whole half of its face. That was just so creepy and unnatural-looking, that uncanny valley-type stuff.

“Yes, Vrash,” Zeidon said, he pushed me behind him and lowered himself to look at the head of the robot. “So you’re the one who created Ahoshaga. I’ve seen your apparition, your welcome message.” I did not know what he meant, but I was sure he’d explain it to me later. His words evoked a reaction from the machine, its eyes glowing brighter, its mouth opening.

I fully expected the screech now, Zeidon did too because he raised his hands in reflex toward his head. All that came out was a crackling laughter, “Yes! My masterwork. Put me back together and I will reward you with places at my side as we rebuild this world. As we create perfection and beauty from the ashes of our civilization.”

It continued talking, but Zeidon lost interest and rose. “Let’s get out of here, Precious,” he said. I couldn’t agree more, the sooner we put these tunnels and the creepy lab behind us, the better. The robot head kept prattling on and on about how he was going to rebuild Serant in his image, how he was going to create the perfect Naga with our help. As we climbed over his downed body his voice raised and the urgency in his tone increased. Then Zeidon shut the door on him and we were left with the noise of bubbling vats and pipes but nothing more.

Chapter 18

Farah

The lab looked just as creepy and huge as I remembered it. Bright crystals lit the place from their spots in the tall ceiling, but the vats with liquids added their own glow. I wasn’t nearly as freaked out about being here now that the robot was defeated and Zeidon was at my side, so I stared with more curiosity than fear this time.

It looked a little strange and bizarre and I wondered what all those different liquids were for. Were they experiments? Fuel? Some kind of power source? That seemed likely because this place did have power; electricity lit those crystals and the machines. The medical examination tables were scattered between workbenches with all kinds of electronics scattered on them, but the vats were most prevalent.

“Do you think that robot was in here long? This place looks like it’s been abandoned for ages…” Zeidon rolled a shoulder in answer. His hand was locked around mine as he guided me through the lab back to that tunnel exit—the one we’d managed to open. Yeah, he didn’t know either, but my question made me wonder even more about this planet and what had happened to Zeidon’s people.

This lab was proof that they had risen to technology levels that rivaled Earth’s at some point. Their healing machines were amazing, better than what the UAR had, even. That robot was really advanced too, and what it had done to me was some kind of meddling with my genes on a level I couldn’t even begin to comprehend.

The ravings of that Vrash made me think a catastrophe had befallen the Naga people, and he was one of those prepper nutcases combined with grandiose delusions. Except, he was a robot and it just seemed strange that a robot would get unhinged that way.

Zeidon proved he did have an answer to that mystery. “Vrash is an apparition from the past,” he said, “I saw an image of him welcoming people into Ahoshaga. The caves above us that are made to be homes,” he pointed ahead of us to the tunnel we were looking for. “It is where the humans and their Naga mates live now.”

He smiled with satisfaction, “That robot would not like it if he knew they are outcasts from their own Clans.” Cast out of their clans? I supposed that description fit me too; my government had tossed me in the trash when they falsely convicted me for a crime I had not committed. I was cast out too.

“I can’t believe there are others like me, I can’t wait to meet them!” I said just as we rounded the last row of vats and reached the tunnel. I froze in place, staring at the wall in shock, while Zeidon hissed in fury. The doorway was blocked by a huge metal panel that had been welded against the metal door frame.

“Ah, fudge. We’re not going to get out this way, are we?” I said, my mind easing from tension I hadn’t realized I was holding. This was the other shoe, it had dropped, and I was kind of relieved it was just a blocked passage and not something far more heinous. My fingers brushed over the scales that dotted the back of my hand like shimmering bits of opal. We’d already been through so much.

My Naga companion remained silent as he glared at the blocked exit. Then he shook himself and curled his body around the nearby medical table so he could claim the trident still sticking from the wrecked machine. “No, but do not worry. We will get out.” Yeah, I had faith in that too, I just hoped it was soon.

I spotted the carbon steel knife I’d used on the robot and the doorway lying in a corner and went over to pick it up. Holding it out handle first to Zeidon, I said, “That one probably won’t break if you need to stab another robot.” He smirked, his fist tightening around the gleaming handle of his trident, and then he started unstrapping the empty leather knife sheath from around his forearm.

“You keep it, my trident will work,” he said, and he lowered himself before me on his coils, kind of like he was kneeling at my feet. With deft fingers, he tightened the clasps of his arm sheath around my thigh and slid the carbon blade home with a practiced move. “If we get separated…” he started to say but he didn’t finish that sentence and abruptly rose on his tail. He had me in his arms and his mouth crashing down on mine the next moment.