BREAKING RULES, Combining two worlds (Part 3)

EYSEAH

Surprised at the sight of so many women, Koba glanced around with a tight purse of the lips. It was not the existence of the women that surprised him, but rather the fact that they had been there all this time, just a few kilometres away, without his clan's knowledge.

Normally, he had no trouble making pleasant conversation with women, but with these women it was different, the distrust of the women towards him and his men was almost palpable.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Mohr'kad coming towards him. He turned his head a quarter turn to watch the Ikat. It was not lost on him that his friend must be in great pain, judging by the way he was walking, which was not surprising considering the number of injuries the man had all over his body. But for the first time, Mohr'kad did not try to hide his pain.

"How are you feeling?"

Mohr'kad broke into a grin. "Ah, I've felt better before, but I can't complain." He nodded his head back.

"Wende somehow managed to smuggle some painkillers out of our compound with her... You know anything about that?"

Koba raised his claws with a dismissive gesture. "Absolutely not! I didn't even know she was hiding in one of the snowmobiles! If I had known sooner, I would have had a man take her back, but your little lady knows exactly how to be quiet so as not to attract attention!"

As he spoke, his eyes had glanced over the women again, when suddenly...

"AYEK!" Koba's eyes widened in surprise as he saw two small figures hidden among the women.

Mohr'kad's eyes shot to the spot for a moment, realising that Koba and his men had no idea that there were two little girls among the women. Due to the ongoing firefight, it had slipped his mind to tell his comrade.

The two little girls and the women sitting around them were startled by the huge warrior's outburst and looked at him with big, frightened eyes as he walked towards them.

"I'm not going to hurt you..."

Raising his hands, Koba dropped to one knee in front of the three women and two little girls, looking from one child to the other in amazement. Up close, it was abundantly clear that the two little girls were of mixed blood. Like the women, they had a considerable tuft of hair on their heads. But their greenish, scaly skin was unmistakably Shri'Traccal, as were their vertically slit pupils.

"If you have the heart to touch my daughter, I will kill you!" With a fierce gesture, one of the women shoved the girl sitting next to her to the back of her and, like an animal, bared her teeth at him.

Koba's eyes slid over the woman's pale face and he opened his mouth to reassure her when a soft, sweet scent reached him through the smell of blood and smoke and he opened his eyes wide. ...Eyséah...

He quickly closed his mouth and clenched his teeth. No, not again! It had been bad enough to lose his first love, the second woman he had connected with had rejected him.... The loss of a third one was beyond his capacity to do!

He got to his feet so abruptly that the two little girls let out a shriek of horror. It had not been his intention! He had only been curious about the two little ones... Feeling burdened, he turned and walked away without looking back.

Koba was unaware that Mohr'kad had taken note of his actions and was now kneeling in his place.

"We are not monsters, ladies. I know you have been hunted and ... abused, but not all Shri'Traccal are like that... no matter what some of you have said... ..... Most Shri men have families, with human wives. These women have made their own choice. Those men out there..." he pointed with his thumb towards the entrance.

"... are the biggest Kanjiitée uami running around, and we are doing everything we can to finish them off. My comrade probably didn't expect small children to be here..."

"What ishh a kaniitee uaaami?" The little girl, who had been pushed behind her mother's back, looked at him with big, alert eyes.

Mohr'kad had to laugh inwardly at the girl's slight hiss.

"Uhh, ... well... you would call them, I guess, uhmm... mean men..." He hoped the women wouldn't blame him for teaching the little girl a swear word as soon as they would learn the true meaning of the words. But he could hardly tell the girl that he was talking about fucking bastards.

From the other side of the room, Wende watched the interaction between Mohr'kad and her clanmates daughter and smiled. These two little girls would grow up, knowing that not all of the Shri'Traccal were their enemy, that there were good men around. Then her smile faltered as Koba stomped pass her.

Her eyes slid back to the group where her own giant was kneeling, and she saw that the gaze of one of the women had followed the frustrated Shri-man.

Wende sighed. Her clanmates might tolerate these men at the moment, but entering into a relationship with them was a different matter altogether, and she wondered if that would change any time soon. On the other hand, both she and Marit were open to it, not that her friend had a relationship with a Shri'Traccal man, but Marit's interested look at Hakal had not escaped her. A smile curled around her lips at the memory of Marit's vicious remark to the silent man, which in retrospect proved to be mute.

"Why are you smiling?"

Mohr'kad had approached her like a tiger stalking its prey. It always amazed her how quietly the Shri'Traccal men could walk, despite their huge and coarse bodies.

"Oh, nothing special. I thought it wouldn't be so easy to get my clanmates and yours to trust each other... Or rather... Your clansmen will have no problem with it, but mine will probably have a lot more." Her eyes caught the icy gaze of her mother. Quickly, she turned hers away.

"My mother has sown so much hatred and mistrust among her women... that it will take some time before they open up to you."

To her surprise, Mohr'kad began to laugh quietly.

"I don't think that will be too difficult, eyséah.I suspect there are more women in your clan who think like you and Marit. In fact, most of those I have met and talked to had a very different view of us, but since we have been fighting side by side, something has changed in their view of us..."

He nodded his head in the direction of the small group he had been sitting with.

"The mother of one of these two little girls is an example of that..." Seeing their surprise, his smile widened.

"Koba, who had just rushed past, felt an 'attraction' to one of the women, something that was quite obvious. And as he strolled away, I saw the woman's eyes follow him curiously. If a woman isn't interested, she'll just ignore the man, but this woman didn't.So who knows..."

Mohr'kad took her face in his large claws and bent down. Both of his horns slid along her face and he gently pressed his mouth to hers.

With a sigh, he pulled away and stood upright. "But first we have to get you all out of here safely... I wonder what Reh'tec's plans are, I can't imagine that Koba is here just to bail us out..."