Page 83 of I Married A Syllen

By the fifth day, while making my rounds in the forest, I couldn’t help rejoicing at the gradual return of the fauna who had wandered to other areas. The melia nuts and steadily healing soil lured them back. Granted, we were still early in the process, which meant only the surface layers of the ground were healthy again. Therefore, some creatures would take longer to return, but we were at least headed in the right direction.

Every creature played a role in maintaining the balance of our ecosystem. And right now, I couldn’t be happier at the return of the pollinators. Seeing a swarm of blue teeliss take flight—which Mirella called butterflies—had me instantly flowering. I inhaled deeply, reveling in the already richer fragrance of the now healthier plants and flowers.

“I think you just made a friend,” Mirella said with a tender smile when a ‘butterfly’ settled on one of my flowers, right above my wrist.

“So it seems,” I said with a grin.

Just as I was raising my forearm to get a better view of the beautiful little insect sipping the nectar, the trees rustled their leaves in a frenzy.

Danger!

I ran to the closest Sentinel tree. Before I even connected to it, I read the symbol etched on it which stated ‘trapped intruder’ on the smooth bark. An angry growl rose from my throat. I slapped my hand on the trunk, connected my veris to its vines, and projected my consciousness through the network of roots and plants of the forest until I reached the location where the intruder had been caught.

Except it wasn’t one intruder, but three.

From here, I could see the vines wrapped around invisible people. I realized then that some camouflage hid them from view, even in plain sight. After discovering what the off-worlders had done to our lands’ underground, every Thesh and Osheo spent the last few days increasing our defenses and setting up traps while our tribemates took care of healing the Kalrins and the land. We truly hadn’t expected those precautionary measures to be necessary anytime soon. That off-worlders would once more violate our no trespassing rules set my blood to boiling.

What new nefarious plan are they setting in motion?

As soon as I disconnected from the tree, I called Semius, who had been loitering a short distance away.

“What’s going on?” Mirella asked with a concerned expression.

“Off-worlders trespassed again. This time, they will pay,” I hissed.

“What do you mean?! Did they go back to the caves?” she asked, crestfallen.

“No. They’re in the forest a short distance from here. Come,” I said in a tone that brooked no argument.

Even as she complied and hurried after me towards the landing Nordjarimm, she checked her bracer with an air of confusion.

“I don’t see any message from the UPO,” Mirella said with a frown. “They would have warned us if they needed to return for any reason.”

“Whoever it is, they will answer for their trespass,” I said harshly.

As I helped her get on the mount, my mate eyed me warily. I could see her mind racing. By the way she chewed her bottom lip, she was debating whether to express the thoughts troubling her but feared how I might react. It wounded me that she hesitated to speak openly of things that might displease me. At the same time, I worried that her words might create a major rift between us.

Now more than ever, Mirella needed to take a stance as to who her people were. Going forward, there would likely be more clashes with the off-worlders. Who would she side with? Whose interests would take precedence for her?

I’d spent the past few days thinking how much I was ready to permanently bond with my soulmate. But this situation underlined why it made sense for humans to court each other for a long time before committing. Despite being the same species, their values and worldviews differed so much that they couldn’t rush into anything with anyone. Syllens were far simpler. We didn’t have a hive mind, and yet we were aligned on pretty much everything.

As we took flight, I sent out an ultrasonic call to Nym and Drannor. Their responses came swiftly. As expected, they were also aware of the situation as the Sentinel trees in their surroundings warned them. They were both on their way.

We landed a few minutes later to the sounds of the captives screaming. The voices all belonged to males. Although they remained invisible, multiple sparks under the vines indicated that their camouflage was getting damaged. The sparkling intensified until their invisibility shields collapsed.

Their coverings matched the random outfits humans wore, not an identical uniform like the UPO workers dressed in. Did that mean they were simply foolish off-worlders who ventured into a forbidden area, or were they here with a darker purpose?

“Help! Please free us!” begged a young male with dark hair cut close to his scalp.

“What are you doing on our lands?” I hissed. “Why are you trespassing when you knew you were not to come here?”

“We’re sorry!” he exclaimed in a piteous voice, echoed by his companions. “My brothers and I just wanted some medicinal plants for our sick mother. They grow in this forest and are not available in the city.”

Like me, Mirella snorted with disdain and disbelief.

“Your people may call Syllens primitive, but we’re not stupid,” I snarled. “At least, try to come up with a better story.”

“I swear, it’s true!” he exclaimed.