Free Alien Slave by Tracy St.John

sniffing around our little fighter. It was only
by accident that we found out she was here.”
    “ She doesn’t like us. What’s
more, it would be prohibitively expensive to buy her
contract.”
    Gelan’s growly voice strove for
gentleness. “We have the funds. It’s a thought, but let’s see what
tonight brings us.”

    Wynhod was secretly thrilled Gelan
seemed agreeable about perhaps purchasing Dani from the brothel.
But with Krijero looking unhappy, he kept his pleasure to
himself.
    He felt sorry for his Imdiko, clumsy
not only physically but socially as well. It had taken over ten
years of working with the psychologist to appreciate the man’s
strong points, and even then it had been Gelan who recognized how
perfect Krijero was for their clan. It took another three to prove
themselves to the reluctant Imdiko, but it had been worth
it.
    Wynhod tried to find the right words to
calm Krijero’s fears, to let him know potential rejection from Dani
wouldn’t be the end of the universe. Before he could, a thrum of
vibration traveled from the soles of his heavily booted feet to the
top of his head. He froze, and so did the other two.
    As one they resumed stomping, all
slowly drawing their blades. A sheclir was coming fast to judge
from the now shuddering ground. At Gelan’s nod, all three spread
out in a triangle. The earth quaked, and a low roar announced the
sheclir’s arrival within seconds. Wynhod trained his gaze on the
ground in the space between the clan, but also made sure he could
keep an eye on Krijero. He wouldn’t allow the Imdiko’s clumsiness
to get him killed. No trophy was worth that.
    The ground bucked and cracked, and
suddenly the sheclir burst through the earth’s crust in an
explosion of dirt and foliage. Its eyeless head blotted out the
thick canopy of flora overhead. The maw of the monster stretched
wide, capable of consuming all three Kalquorians in one bite. A
ring of daggered teeth in its thinner throat gnashed in preparation
of its meal. One claw, built more for tunneling than grasping,
scrabbled at the edge of the hole it had created. Its soft,
gray-green body was still buried out of sight.
    As luck would have it, the sheclir
scented Krijero first. Whipping its great head towards him with
blinding speed, it homed in on the Imdiko with deadly accuracy.
Wynhod yelled and launched himself at the creature.
    As he landed on top of the thing’s
head, it slammed into the ground where Krijero had stood.
Fortunately, the Imdiko had been smart enough to run towards the
sheclir, not away. The beast was used to prey trying to escape, not
assault it. It had adjusted its attack to cover the ground it
thought Krijero would flee towards. Instead of a mouthful of
Kalquorian, the sheclir got a throatful of his knife. It shrieked
loud enough to make Wynhod’s ears pop.
    It took an hour for the clan to kill
it. Sweating and cursing, the three were continuously bucked off
the furious creature. Wynhod and his clanmates would spring back
upon it, avoiding the hungry mouth by mere inches. They slashed at
the meter-thick layer of fat that made up the sheclir’s skin to get
at the vulnerable parts beneath. They were soon covered in
greenish-yellow fluid that made hanging onto the monster even
harder. Unused to being the prey and stupid beyond belief, the
sheclir never tried to retreat into its tunnel. It battled them
with mindless rage, its instincts as an unconquerable apex predator
leading to its destruction.

    At last it succumbed, mostly due to
Gelan’s concentrated attacks on one spot midway down its throat.
The massive head thudded to the ground, and a wheeze announced its
final breath. The three men bellowed victory, their cries as animal
as the sheclir’s had been. Gelan slapped a locator on the top of
the thing’s head with a flourish. Dantovonian recovery crews would
descend on the carcass, rendering the massive fat stores into
needed fuel and butchering the meat to feed Ler’s inhabitants