Refuge Denied - Chapter 1
_ Refuge Denied _
Jay Caiola
All races, characters, and locations herein are copyrighted © Jay Caiola 2010
I - Mikael
I woke up with the hangover from hell. Of course, I had been really, genuinely drunk he night before, so it wasn't that surprising, but it still sucked. I sat up from the bed I was in slowly, so as not to kill myself, and it was about that time my brain started working.
Bed? What the fuck? I know I made the train!
I think I know I made the train. Oh, hell, whose bed am I in, first of all, and where do they have aspirin. Or more alcohol. Or something that will make me feel better.
"So you are alive. Good, I was beginning to wonder."
I spun around, and almost fell over when my sense of balance kept turning. "I'm not too sure about that. Who are you?" My vision cleared, and I stared at the... woman? Well, being, anyway, that was standing in the doorway. "What are you?" See, what you have to understand is that my evident host was very obviously not human. Humanoid, sure, but with a wolfy tint to it. She had two legs, two arms, and a head, but the resemblance ended there, mostly because of the fact that she also happened to own a snowy white coat of fur, which covered all of her body that I could see, in addition to her tail, muzzle, and upstanding canine ears. If you were to include those ears, her height was about 5'9". She had green eyes, and around shoulder-length hair the same color as her fur that was ied back in a short ponytail at he back of her head. And I suppose you're going to ask me now how I knew that she was female? Well, you see, her torso was basically human, except for the fur. Think about it. She was wearing a shirt and pants made of a brownish leather that was tight-fitting without being restrictive, and she had a pretty slender build.
"Evidently you aren't from around here. I'm Kinath Riyothela, though most people call me Ki. I'm Lupian, not human, as you can see, and I live out here with my brother, although he's not here right now. Your turn.
"I'm Mikael Fair, and I'm human... and I'm also hung over, so if you had some kind of painkillers or alcohol or something, I'd really like some."
She nodded. "One moment." Kinath walked off into another room, and I sat down of the foot of the bed and put my head in my hands. Good God, where the fuck am I, and how am I supposed to get back home?
"Here, drink this." She handed me a fizzy, orange drink in a shotglass-sized cup.
I took a sniff, and got a vaguely citrusy smell, though it didn't smell like any Earth fruit. "What is it?"
"Hangover cure. Don't worry, it's safe for humans."
I shrugged and tossed it back. Nothing happened for a second, and then all of a sudden it felt like all of the headache and nausea left in the hangover hit me at once. I gagged and almost fell off the bed, and then before I could really start worrying that I was going to die, it was over.
"Remind me to never ask you for a hangover cure again."
The Lupian gave me a small smile. "I will. Are you hungry now?"
I thought about that for a moment. "Yes. Yes I am."
Her smile got a little wider. "Follow me."
I sat at a small table while Kinath cooked some surprisingly normal-looking eggs in a skilled on an electric stove. "So, where are we?"
"We are on the fourth planet out from the star called Tau Ceti, among other things. Geographically, we're in a mountain range about forty-one degrees north of the equator, and eighteen east of the meridian." She flipped one of the eggs over. "The planet doesn't really have a name, or at least not just one." Flip. "If you say Tau Ceti IV, generally people will accept that."
I nodded, and sat in silence for a bit. "You live with your brother?"
"Yes. His name is Neiral, but, like I said earlier, he isn't home right now. Out hunting, but he should be back within the next couple of days."
"Anyone else in the area?"
She scooped the eggs off of the griddle and put them on a plate before handing he plate to me. "No, just Neiral and I. Sometimes someone from the Clan comes by, which is why we have the guest room, but mostly it's just us."
"Don't get along well with the others?"
She sighed, and replied, "No, I don't. Neither does Neiral. It's why we're out here in the first place." A pause. "It isn't really by choice. My species as a whole is too socially oriented for more than a few to choose to live out away from everything. My brother and I aren't exactly welcome, although I can't discuss why right now. I don't have a reason to mistrust you, understand, but I've known you for less than half a local hour, and it's a personal matter."
I nodded, and went back to my eggs. She finished cooking her eggs in a couple of minutes and came over to sit on the other side of the table. "So, you're from Earth." It didn't sound like a question, but I nodded anyway. She sighed heavily. "Well, I suppose you can stay here for the time being, until we can find out how you got here and how you can get back. I assume you're fine with helping out around the house?" I nodded. "Then..." She started, but trailed off. "One moment." Kinath got up and looked out the window.
"What's up?"
"Ssssh." Suddenly, her eyes widened, and she dropped to the floor. "Mikael, down!"
I did so. "What the fuck-" The window blew inwards with a blue-green flash, and more shots showered us with cinders from the wall.
"Come on!" She crawled over to the door.
"Kinath, what the fuck is going on?"
"Not now, I'll tell you later. Now come on!" I crawled over, trying my best to sink into the floor. "Now, in a second, I'm going to open the door. I need you to run as fast as you can into the woods, and not stop until I say so. Okay? I'll be right behind you. Ready?" She yanked the door open and flattened herself back against the wall. "Go!"
HailMaryfullofgrace,Godiswiththee... I ran. I ran faster than I ever have in my life, before or since, and I ran until Ki caught up with me and got my attention. I guess she had been calling my name for a couple minutes before just running up and grabbing me by the shoulder.
"Mikael, you can stop now. We're far enough away that we can walk the rest of the way to where we're going."
I had no idea how long I had been running, but I was gasping for air. "Kinath," gasp, "what," gasp, "the fuck," gasp, "is going on."