AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I still cannot believe you’ve turned down the chance at a woman,” Fallon said, watching him.
“I’ve turned down a bride picked from the dredges of the universe. Not even Zabrian!”
“What do you know of them?” I asked, unable to hold the question back.
I’d voted yes. The plans were in motion. I would now receive a human, whatever the great dusty blazes that was. The more prepared I could be, the better.
“I know they’re small,” Zohro scoffed. “Weak. Prone to injury and illness.”
That… did not sound good.
“Oh,” said Fallon, concern creeping into his voice. “Well. She does not need to be strong. I am strong. And if she gets injured or ill, I will take care of her.”
That sounded like a lot of work when we already had a lot of work to do.
“Take care of her how? You just admitted you don’t know the first thing about human biology!” Zohro countered. “No. What is likely to happen in the case of her inevitable illness or injury is that your bride will die and then you’ll have a charge of neglect or even a new charge of murder upon your head, added to your other convictions.”
Fallon’s eyes went bright white. He made to leap off his saddle down to Zohro, but I snapped my tail out against his chest and grunted, jerking my chin towards Warden Tenn’s yet-open door. Warden Tenn was responsible for our cooperation and good behaviour out here. He didn’t tolerate fights. At least, not when they happened directly on his own dusty doorstep. The last thing any of us needed was a stunner blast to the guts.
“Have you ever seen a human?” I asked Zohro, letting my tail slide away from Fallon. “Or is this just what you’ve heard?”
Zohro mounted his shuldu and took his sweet, cursed time to answer. When he finally did, it was with a flat and hissy, “No. I have not seen one.”
“Ha!” Fallon shouted, so loudly it made his shuldu snuffle and toss his head in alarm. “You wouldn’t know a human’s head from her tail if you encountered one!”
“At least I’m aware of the fact that humans do not have tails!” Zohro retorted.
“No tail?” Fallon looked disconcerted by this.
I said nothing, ruminating on the idea of working out on a ranch with no tail. Tails were very useful things. Maybe she’ll have a third arm to compensate…
“You three are idiots,” Zohro said with a narrowed white glance as he took up his shuldu’s reins in his pink hands.
“Only two of us voted yes besides the warden,” Fallon snapped. “Who’s the idiot now?”
“You, Silar, and Oaken,” Zohro clarified. “Warden Tenn just contacted him on his data tab. He was even more nonsensically enthusiastic about a bride than you are, Fallon. Said he’d find a way to tunnel through the mountain snow if he had to, in order to get here in time to meet her.”
I inhaled sharply. “Oaken wants a bride?”
“Did I not just say that?”
“Did Warden Tenn tell him she would be human?”
Zohro gave me a suspicious look and flicked his tail nonchalantly.
“Yes.”
“What is it?” Fallon asked in my following silence.
“Oaken is the only one with a data tab screen capable of visuals,” I reminded Fallon. It took the other male a moment to catch my meaning, but when he did his mouth stretched in a wide, fang-toothed grin.
“He would have been able to look human females up before he agreed to take a bride,” Fallon said, still grinning while Zohro scowled. “And he said he’d hurry back here for one? That can only be a good thing! He must have really liked what he saw.” His voice went soft with dreamy wonder. “I wonder what it is he saw…”
As for me, I cared little if she were ugly or pretty, tall or short, bald or hairy. I was still stuck on the fact she’d have no tail. Hard to do all that needed to be done out here with no tail…
“Did Oaken happen to mention how many arms humans have?” I frowned at Zohro while Fallon gazed moonily at the sunset-streaked horizon.
The dark-haired pink male gave me an odd look.
