Survival

A week later, Tobias was gathering the males once more for battle. Aside from the fact he refused to have any of his females fight, my wounds were not healed properly yet, which meant I couldn’t risk going to fight in case I tore open the cuts and made my situation even worse. Flying was still a bit painful, so I carefully and slowly flew out to the small training island and searched amongst the crowd. Otto was easy to spot and I made my way to him.

“Marion, you can’t go today,” Sylus’ voice came from my right as he grabbed my arm.

“I’m just talking to Otto,” I replied, pulling away from him. “Don’t worry, I won’t go with you guys and fight.” I gave him the best reassuring smile possible and watched him walk away, heading to Tobias. I quickly looked away and focused on moving towards Otto. He was leaving Loukas’ side to come to me, a smile on his face.

“What are you doing here?” he asked gently. For once a male’s voice questioned me with surprise and joy instead of anger. Otto touched my hands, and I felt his warmth spread into my body. He was so kind, and made me so happy. Spending the last week with him had made me so much more content with my life.

“I just wanted to say goodbye and wish you luck. You didn’t come and find me,” I replied.

“I did search your ship, but I ran out of time,” Otto said before pulling me into a hug. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it,” I whispered, letting him go. Otto sighed, his eyes looking over my shoulder at something in the distance.

“Tobias has such an issue with me,” he grumbled in a low voice, his hands finding mine again. I took a quick glance behind me and saw Tobias glaring at us as Sylus spoke to him and sharpened a knife.

“Let’s go!” Tobias shouted, perhaps trying to break us up. Otto’s grip tightened and I faced him again.

“Well, good luck for your battle. Please return safe,” I said with a small smile. Surely they’d all be okay. They just had to be.

“I’ll do my best,” Otto nodded, embracing me one more time. He gave me a long kiss before running his hand along my hair and down the side of my face, staring into my eyes. “You’re beautiful, Marion.” I grinned widely, feeling a blush come onto my cheeks as Otto walked away with Loukas, heading towards the edge of the cliff to go to battle. I followed them, but only to head back to the spaceship. After everything, I was willingly staying out of a battle…

“Stay away from him,” Tobias’ voice ordered forcefully. I turned to my left and saw he was standing next to me, a knife extended in a threatening pose. “He’s bad news. I don’t want you near him.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“Just trust me on this one. Please,” Tobias said. He stared at me for a few more seconds before sliding his knife into its holster and walking away. Every time Tobias spoke to me about Otto, I felt so unnerved. It was so difficult to know who to trust. I couldn’t tell who was mistaken about the other leader, or why. I watched the males soar up higher into the sky, forming a dark band against the blue background. My gut felt uneasy. Instinct was once again telling me to fight. And I couldn’t ignore it. I grabbed a holster and knife and secured them to my waist. Next I grabbed a bow and a few arrows that had been abandoned by another warrior at the last second and then ran off the side of the island, heading along the males’ flight path. I just had to go.

As I neared the human’s spaceship, the weather became a lot colder and clouds had appeared. By the time I had landed in a suitable tree nearby, it was raining. The Kasiens had all moved to either the tops of trees or onto the ground, changing their strategy to suit the weather conditions. Rain could make it hard to fly, so Tobias would have ordered a ground attack. I did my best to stay hidden, knowing that I could easily distract Otto or Tobias from the fight. All I could hear was screams and shouts, but barely any were in Kasien, which was a good start. I leaned forward and spotted wings moving backwards at the treeline. They looked like Tobias’. I watched as he lunged forward, striking whatever was in front of him, presumably a human.

“Retreat! Fire last arrows and retreat!” Otto’s voice boomed. Others echoed his orders, and I watched as Kasiens took to the sky, quickly gaining altitude and moving away from the clearing. Tobias was getting backed into the trees again, making it even harder for him to fly away. I kept my eyes on him and saw dark brown wings racing towards him. Alongside the curly dark locks, it was no doubt Otto. I wouldn’t have to get involved after all. The leaders had each other’s backs. With a grin, I repositioned myself in the tree, preparing for take off. But then Otto halted. What was he doing? I saw the glint of a blade and watched Otto impatiently. Attack! Save Tobias! I pleaded silently, but Otto didn’t move. I saw more humans moving in at the treeline and Otto seemed to have noticed them too. He looked back at Tobias, then ran off. Otto leapt up a tree and disappeared in the leaves. Shortly afterwards, he was taking flight at the top. I couldn’t believe it. He had left Tobias behind! I gasped as Toby’s fate sank in. It couldn’t happen. I had to do something! I flung myself hurriedly down the tree I was sitting in and stopped halfway.

“Come on! Fight me!” Tobias shouted. His knife was extended in a fighting stance. He was fighting until the very end, never giving up or admitting defeat. What a warrior… I pulled an arrow from the quiver and strung it into my bow. The human was approaching Tobias slowly and I squinted, trying to focus in. With a deep calming breath, I let go of the arrow and it struck the human in his torso. He cried out and fell backwards.

“Tobias! Come on!” I shouted. I had just bought him some time. We had to use it efficiently, otherwise it wouldn’t be enough. Tobias turned, face full of shock, and ran to my tree. He easily climbed it and we met at the top. The rain poured down forcefully on us and I stretched out my wings. The water made them heavy, but I had to use them. It was our only way out. We slowly took flight, then moved as promptly as possible away from the humans. I could hear them calling to each other. We were silent, mainly trying to concentrate on flying in the difficult weather. If this had happened on our home planet, we’d normally sit in shelter and wait for it to pass. But in a life or death situation, you can do anything. I felt my chest wound aching, but I didn’t stop flying. I just couldn’t.

We were the last to arrive on the detour island. Tobias stayed quiet and went straight to Cassius, dragging him away and speaking in a hushed voice. I looked around the group and saw the usual: males chatting to each other and attending the wounded. And then I saw Otto. He was glaring at Tobias. That was a remarkable death stare. And his fist was clenching his dagger so tightly that I could see his white knuckles. Otto had left Tobias. He had left him for dead. There was enough time to save him; I had proved that. So Otto couldn’t have wanted it to happen. He didn’t want Tobias to be here anymore. I backed away from the group, feeling too shocked to approach Otto or Tobias. I hid behind a rock and waited for the males to leave. That was when I started to cry. What had I just seen?