Pradorian Mate (12 page)

Farther away, among the tall trees, a majestic creature that reminded her of a deer stood stock-still. It seemed to watch Sara with just as much curiosity as Sara watched it. It had long, golden horns on its small, elongated head. Its body was tall and colored an amazing combination of yellow and red, and its long legs looked like they ended with metallic-looking clawed feet.

Sara’s quiet observation was interrupted when the ground beneath her began to sink. It took her a few seconds before realizing that a large root beneath her was slowly working its way underground. Tiptoeing off it, she moved to more stable ground. Seconds later, some sort of humming insect landed on the side of her face. Alarmed, Sara shouted and tried to brush it off  before a long, sticky appendage from one of the plants shot out and caught the insect, drawing the offending creature into its depths.

It was hard to shake off the experience, and Sara soon found herself staying much closer to Archail. Although this planet had its share of dangers, she was astounded by the flora and fauna of the forest. She almost forgot why she was making this journey, but Archail’s voice brought her back to reality again.

“
We are here.” A hint of excitement tinged his voice. It became distant again, though, when he turned to her. “Do keep up, Sara.”

When she first laid eyes on their destination, Sara thought it looked hard, cold, and empty. A chill ran down her spine as she looked up at the black rocky mountain.

It was a hard, smooth rock formation, and its flanks were definitely not suitable for climbing. No vegetation of any kind grew on its barren surfaces, not even fungi or lichens. She followed Archail around its base to their left. As they moved away from the forest, Sara noticed an opening—the mouth of a cave maybe—just a few feet ahead of them. It was clearly not a natural cave because it seemed to be decorated with carvings. As Sara got closer, she noticed the writing or images were not carved into the rock as she’d first thought. Rather, the details jutted out.

Archail moved with quick, steady steps toward the entrance, pausing only occasionally to ensure that Sara followed him. He beckoned her closer to him as they entered.

As Sara followed, the air around her seemed to change. There was a moist, chilling sensation surrounding her, as if water condensed and collected on the walls, only to slowly drip down to the floor. Sara laid a hand on the dark surface to steady herself, but to her surprise, the wall was dry and even warm to the touch. Continuing on, they took a turn and saw sunlight at the end of the tunnel, presumably the exit from this dark place.

When Sara’s eyes finally adjusted to the blinding white light from the opening, she stepped forward and stared, dumfounded. Outside the tunnel entrance, a square expanse, carved from white rock that seemed to glow, lay before her. Small, colorful stone tiles had been periodically placed within it, breaking the uniformity of the white color. A fountain rose from the center of the enormous stone square. The water ran phosphorous blue from the stone contraption featuring marble-like sculptures of sea creatures. If she had to compare them to something on Earth, Sara would think them similar to dolphins, although their fins were shaped differently, and their beaks were curled.

As she gazed around, Sara realized the mountain was actually some kind of circular rock formation that completely enclosed this hidden location. All manner of buildings were built into the mountain walls, and tall, sculpted columns rose on either side of every entrance. The glorious colors on them reminded Sara of the plants she had observed in the forest just hours ago.

Next to the colorful buildings, gigantic, thick pylons rose as tall as the mountain walls that surrounded them and supported wide, round-looking platforms. She had no idea what they were used for, but they were definitely impressive. Her curiosity got the better of her. “What are those for?” She pointed at the tall pylons.

Archail looked where she was pointing and lifted his broad shoulders in a dismissive manner. “That is where we dock our spaceships.”

Sara looked at him, her eyes wide with astonishment. “You have spaceships?”

Archail smiled wryly. “Oh, of course, I forgot. We monsters should not be this advanced, living in caves and such.”

An annoyed sigh escaped her lips. “Could you please stop using that word every chance you get?”

Archail’s smile broadened at her sincere vexation. “Why? Have you altered your opinion about us?”

Sara looked up at him. “No.”

A small chuckle escaped Archail. Without saying another word, he grabbed Sara by the arm and led her from the cave onto the square expanse. He led her straight ahead between picturesque buildings toward a rich valley of impressive flora. Sara considered how the grasses and numerous richly-colored flowers seemed to thrive. She tried to take in as much as she could before being led away in another direction.

A stone path lay ahead of them. As she followed the path, each tile she stepped on lit up brightly. Sara looked searchingly around, hoping she might see other Pradorians on the way, but the whole area seemed deserted.

Archail came to an abrupt halt. “We are home. Welcome to my palladium.”

Sara looked ahead of him and saw an impressively tall building, similar to the others she had passed but larger, much larger. It almost reminded her of a palace in size. Fifteen long steps led to its entrance, which was already open. There seemed to be no door of any kind when they passed between the tall painted columns that stood like sentinels on either side of the entrance. She followed him into some kind of great hall only to see that no furniture adorned the room. Hidden lighting in the walls dimly illuminated the empty hall. Several paintings hung on the walls. Some depicted flowers of many different colors, and others featured strange, exotic animals that seemed almost lifelike as they peered at her from the canvas. One of them even looked like the deer-like creature she had seen in the forest earlier.

Sara didn’t get a chance to take a closer look, because Archail prompted her to follow him through another door. He then led her down a long corridor that was paved with black stone floor tiles. The sculpted white walls in the hall were decorated with elaborate three dimensional carvings of scenes from Pradorian history. They passed a few side doors as they traveled down the hall, but Sara was denied the opportunity to peek through any of them as they headed straight for the end of the corridor. Archail stopped in front of two large white doors. After opening one of them, he stepped aside so Sara could walk through.

Sara hesitated. A pang of fear rose within her, sensing that once she entered this room there would be no turning back. Seeing no alternative, she reluctantly entered.

The first thing she saw was a king-sized bed spread invitingly in the middle of the large room. She paused for a minute, unsure if she wanted to move farther inside, but Archail gently pushed her forward as he followed her, closing the heavy door behind him.

Sara looked down as she took a few more steps into the room and was pleasantly surprised. The floor was made from thick glass, and clear green-blue water ran smoothly under the entire room. On the right wall hung a painting of a beautiful young female who stared back at her through still eyes. She seemed exotic and alien-looking, with her head leaning forward and her eyes lowered, half-closed. Her nose and glowing red lips looked very humanlike, but the resemblance ended from the neck down. She had four hands that stretched out from her sides and three large breasts on her chest that seemed to beckon invitingly to the observer. When Sara saw the alien’s lower limbs were opened playfully, hiding nothing from the viewer, Sara had to look away, uncomfortable with the impression this female alien created.

Sara felt the blush creep up her cheeks as she turned her back to the painting and continued to examine the rest of the room. A soft, gentle evening breeze blew through the room, drawing her attention to two wide-open glass doors that led onto a large balcony.

Archail moved behind her lightly. “You can take a bath if you like. It’s just in the next room through that door.” He pointed to indicate the way and then moved indifferently toward the balcony.

Sara hesitated for a mere second before deciding a bath might actually help her feel a little better and heading toward the door. When she entered the room, she wasn’t disappointed. Richly-built cabinets filled with toiletries were spread symmetrically around the room. Built into the floor was a huge bath that had already been filled, steam rising from the warm water.

A small table stood at the other side of the room with soft-looking, folded towels laying on it. The thought of taking off her dirty clothes, which she’d worn for days now, excited her, but she winced with displeasure when she realized she would have to wear them again. On moving farther into the room, she noticed another door on her left and opened it. The room seemed to be some kind of wardrobe. It held a number of long leather covers, like the one Archail wore, only in different colors and lengths.

What caught her attention next was a thin, almost translucent, material. It had been sewn to create colorful dresses that hung opposite Archail’s simple collection. She thought about maybe borrowing one, but seeing how thin they looked, she decided against it. The towels would definitely cover more of her than any of the flimsy outfits.

She closed the bathroom door, but to her annoyance, she saw there was no lock, at least that she could see. She considered pulling the table over to block it, but then she realized that nothing could keep the big Pradorian out if he chose to enter. With that thought in mind, she quickly undressed. Once she was rid of her filthy clothes, she climbed into the deep bathtub, sinking into its warm, welcoming water with a sense of relief. After getting herself comfortable, she closed her eyes and tried to relax.

The tension from her long walk seeped from her body. The soft embrace of the water made her sigh with pleasure, and her thoughts ran back over everything that had happened these past few days. There were so many things she still didn’t know about these people and so many unanswered questions about her peculiar captor. He was an odd mixture of strength, thoughtfulness, and, as far as she could tell, cruelty. Although his soft laughter just a minute ago made her realize he had a sense of humor, too. A small smile slowly formed on her lips as the troubled lines on her face smoothed out. Feeling herself relax, she leaned her head comfortingly on the back edge of the bathtub.

Archail quietly entered the room. Sara only opened her eyes enough to watch him. He stood beside the tub for a long moment, studying her, seemingly indecisive.

Finally, he threw away his cover cloth and climbed into the warm water.

The soft ripples in the water’s surface caused Sara to open her eyes all the way. She looked up to find Archail’s deep, yellow eyes staring down at her from above. She took a sudden gasp of air and instinctively withdrew from him, trying to cover herself as best she could with her hands and arms.

Archail’s voice held a hint of sarcasm. “You were taking too long, and I wanted to bathe too, so I decided not to wait.” A wry smile formed.  “Anyway, there is plenty of room for both of us, don’t you think?”

“
No.” Seeing him brought her annoyance to a head again.

“
Well,” he said, with a playful gleam in his eyes, “If you’ve finished with your bath, you could go.”

Sara thought of leaving the warm, inviting water and standing naked in front of him until she could get a towel. “Fine, turn around, and I’ll go.”

“Oh, the lady is so bashful,” he said, with an amused expression on his face. He moved closer, blocking her path with his muscled body. “You don’t need to feel embarrassed. You have nothing I have not seen before.”

Sara’s body tensed painfully as he approached her, and she tried to move away from him. “Archail, turn around and let me leave. Now.”

Archail seemed amused by her order and challenged it by moving closer still. Leaning majestically above her, one of his lengthy fingers forced her chin up until she looked at him. “I am not holding you, little one. You are free to go.”

His eyes grew darker, almost gold, as he looked down at her. Her breathing stopped for a millisecond, and her heart pounded in her chest, making the blood rise in her cheeks. Her lips parted, releasing a gasp of air, as she licked them nervously, hoping beyond hope that he would back off.

Archail moved closer until he could reach her. He held her tightly by her naked shoulders and drew her into his body, pressing her against him so she could feel the impact she had on him. He watched her carefully for a moment that seemed like an eternity, giving her a chance to refuse him, but she said nothing. He lowered his mouth to hers, drowning any protests with his kiss.

Sara’s breath was taken away as his mouth met hers in a demanding, almost feverish, way. He was persistently intense as he probed her mouth with his tongue, and the pressure of his rising manhood on her soft belly made her realize that even though she had somehow anticipated his kiss, this situation could quickly get beyond her control. After all, he had warned her that day by the lake to be careful of how far she wanted things to go. And then again in the cave, he had not claimed her body with his own, but he had given her pleasure she would never forget. It had been the first time she had ever been fulfilled that way. Was she ready to let him take her? A daunting fear crept into her stomach, making her resist losing herself in the pleasurable sensations he aroused within her.