The Galactic Bride
Chapter 13: The Contest Begins

It was only moments after Aki's eyes got used his surroundings when someone came up behind him and shot something in his neck. He flinched, and realized it was Hatha again, this time recoiling from just firing an injection gun into him. He forgot about the contests for a moment and glared at her. But she didn't give any answers, the injection gun did that. On it, it read "Tracker". Of course. They'd need to keep track of everyone so they knew who kicked it and when. Aki rubbed his neck and joined everyone else standing in the circle around the table.

"The rules are simple." Someone called out to them. Aki couldn't see from where. It didn't really matter anyway. "After I call your name, go to the table with the bags, pick one, then leave. The contest will officially begin when everyone has a bag. As tradition the first arrivals usually go first, but this time we're breaking with tradition as the first arrivals were here 2 sub-cycles (2 months) early. Naughty-naughty. So the last to arrive will go first today."

The members from Aki's group looked at one another. This was either a good thing or a bad thing, depending on how you looked at it. A good thing because they'd have that bag and access to whatever weapons were in it first. A bad thing as they would most likely be the ones to start the game officially.

"Since we're breaking tradition, I thought it'd be nice to call the names by two." That same voice called. Still Aki didn't see them. He did noticed that all the referees had already made it inside the transports they arrived in and were all looking out the windows in safety. "First up: Kezri of House Grajin and General Anura of the Nimba Kingdom's Guard from House Lima."

There was a rumbling when that last name was read. Up until that point, only the people in the transport knew about the General. But it seemed the referees wanted everyone to understand that there was a combat veteran in the ranks. As Aki stepped forward to retrieve his bag, he wondered what he should do. Should he make for the largest hill, as planned, or do something else. As he reached his bag, he realized that the General had not reached hers.

Turning around he saw a group of contestants break rank and all pile on General Anura at once. The Contest hadn't even began and the rules were already being broken. There was a feeble reprimand from the referees voice, but there was no attempt to stop it. Slinging his own bag over his shoulder, he returned to the table of bags, picked a bag, unzipped it, swung, and tossed it into the fray of people. The shower of items was enough to daze the General's attackers enough that the woman broke free. Her nose was bleeding.

Taking another bag, he tossed it into the General's hands, unzipped the rest of the bags, then tipped the table over. Unspoken, as if they knew what they were going to do in the start, the two of them broke into a run towards the tree line.

They had been running for only a few moments, when a sudden thud slammed into his back. Whatever it was, his own bag saved him from it. Something was dragging behind him though. The General slowed her pace and pulled the item out and reeled in the rest of it. It looked like some sort of alien spear-gun.

"Thanks for the weapon you moron!" General called behind her shoulder then took off in her previous pace.

They didn't talk to each other after this. They were too busy running. After they had entered the vegetation, they were bouncing here and there, hopping over fallen trees and bushes, and climbing up the steadily increasing incline of the jungle bed. They were going for the mountain.

It wasn't long before all of Aki's body was screaming in rebellion from running up hill in dense jungle. He had to turn his mind off, and just focus on something. So the General's swinging ponytail became his focal point. Her body was covered in sweat and had already become grimy and dirty. He assumed the same look awaited for him when he next looked at himself.

They kept this pace up for what seemed like hours, but when they heard the rushing sound of water, his spirits lifted. They ran to the sound and noticed a decent sized pond, who's water was being fed by a waterfall. His mouth was so dry he wanted to jump in and drink right away, but training with Lani was still fresh in his head. He'd wait for the General's call.

She stopped, then bent over, hands on her knees, panting for breath. She was dead tired. Then again, so was he. But she looked as if only her will power was carrying her now. After a few moments, she shook it off, and stepped into the water and went to the water fall. She placed her face into it and slurped the water. After swishing it in her mouth a few moments she swallowed it.

"It's good." She spoke in a gasping voice. "Canteens."

At first he was unsure why she said that, then he realized she wanted him to look in the bag for canteens. So he did. On opening the two bags they had, Aki realized something. No one had the same items. It all seemed to be random stuff. But luckily for them they both had water carrying objects. He had the canteen, while the General had what looked to be a goat-skin water-bag, though Aki knew it wasn't really goat-skin. He tossed both of them to her, and she filled them up. After he placed them both back into his bag, he joined her by the waterfall to get a drink of water for himself.

When they had gotten their fill, the General stopped him from drinking too much. They still had to travel. He was not bitter towards her as he might have been usually. His body was just too tired for that.

"We'll climb this rock face, get on top, then follow the spring until we see a good place to camp." The General said.

While she said that and it seemed like a good plan, the General herself didn't look like she was up for a climb. "Let's think smarter…" Aki returned to the bags. "I saw a rope in your bag. I'll go up first then throw down the rope."

General Anura looked at him suspiciously for a moment. He could see if she was wondering if he was going to leave her. But she seemed to realize he wouldn't as he left the bags in her care when he gathered the rope and placed it around his shoulders. "Fine. But hurry up, we took too much time drinking that water."

She might be putting on a brave front, but she was still gasping for air. The combination of age, running uphill, and her bruised body from the initial attack were all starting to take it's toll. Aki ignored her pretense, and worked his way up the slippery rock face. It was hard work, but Lani had trained him well in the art of climbing. All those drills were paying off. When he reached the top, he felt exhausted himself, but set to the task of securing the rope and tossing the line to the General.

As a sign of trust she tied both bags up first and allowed him to bring it up. Then again, it was either she did that or carry the things on her own. Regardless they followed this plan, then once the bags were safely up top, he tossed the line back down and did all he could to help the General climb up to the top.

She was spent. He could see it in her eyes. But they had little choice. Hanging around a water source wasn't a good idea. They'd have to go through with the plan and follow the stream until she saw something defendable they could camp at. Which would mean more hard work.

As they started to leave, Aki spotted something. It was the body of a dead animal. If they were on Earth, he would have called it a mutated bear, but whatever it was, it was dead and rotting away. And idea was popping into his head.

The General must of saw him looking at it because she turned her nose at it and shook her head. "We can't eat that."

"No, I wasn't thinking that. What if we dragged this thing near the waterfall?"

The General blinked, her brain still deprived from oxygen to think clearly. But she got it. Dropping her bag she took a grin. "You want the pollute the spring below with decay. Anyone who drinks below might get sick. Good idea."

It was a good idea, until they were tested with the tasks of moving the thing. With their wary legs and arms, it was quite the challenge. but because it was so heavy the water current didn't send the body over the edge. Water just went over and threw the bear's body and flowed into the pond below. Once done, the two washed themselves off from the clean water, then continued on with their plan.

"How far are we going to go?" Aki asked her.

The General shrugged. She was beyond words at this moment. Too many questions whirled in his head now that they were relatively safe. But one question was directed toward himself. Why was he trusting her? The General was a horrible person, and yet they were cooperating together without even a discussion. Part of him wondered why he was willing to trust her, but the other part of him knew why. He knew her.

They walked in silence for a while until General Anura stopped. At first he thought she was going to take another break, but then he saw what she was looking at. Another rock face, this time it looked like the side of the mountain. The stream was flowing from that.

"Let's head east along this rock face and see what we got." The General suggested.

They did so, leaving the stream behind. The rock wall zigged and zagged, so it wasn't just a straight wall, jutting in and out. They made for some good cubby holes, but nothing substantial. When they each the end the a side, Aki noticed a sheer drop to the beach below. The wall on this end of the stream wouldn't aid them at all.

Or would it? As they were heading back, Aki noticed one of the bends they had passed before looked different on this side of it. Before it looked like just another cubby hole, but here it looked almost like a crescent shaped cove, only it was on land. And smack in the middle of that cove was a small cave. It probably was the same cave the bear had lived in.

"Hey. What about this?"

The General was looking at it also. "It's almost invisible from the stream side." She spoke the obvious. "And no one is going to be traveling along the cliff face." All this he already knew. "But if that animal had a mate…"

She took the spear gun, as it was already out, and ventured forward. Aki joined her. They went closer and realized that the cave wasn't that deep at all, and that they could even see the end of it. Nothing was inside except a bed of dead vegetation.

"This will do." General Anura threw off her bag and sat down near the cave entrance. She looked like she could fall asleep right then and there.

"Should I collect fire wood or something?" Aki wanted to sit down right beside her, but he knew they couldn't just stop until they had too.

"Yes. This is a tropical environment, so if you find something dry, place it in the cave." General Anura grunted and stood up again. "I'll refresh the bedding… maybe find a way to camouflage this area a bit more. Don't stray to far, and carry a weapon."

Aki did as he was told. Inside General Anura's bag was an ax while his carried a knife. Since he would be lugging wood with him, he took the shorter weapon. The General seemed not to notice. He sent in what seemed like forever traveling back and forth, filling his arms with firewood, returning, dropping it off, then going back out again. He stuck to the cliff side of the stream, not wanting to venture to far near the water, just in case people were traveling along that path. Each time he returned back to the cave, it decorated with a new looking bush, or fallen tree. The bedding in the cave was the first to be spruced up.

On his last trip, he almost walked passed it, as at a glance it looked just like more jungle. But he saw the General sitting in front of it, waiting for him.

"What do you think? Good enough?"

He was surprised she was asking his opinion. "If I didn't see you and if I wasn't looking for it, I wouldn't have seen it."

"Good." General Anura breathed in. "That's it for today."

She pulled herself to her feet and pushed one of her fake bushes aside to reveal the cave entrance. The stack of firewood was in the very back, and so went Aki's latest load as well. When he got in, she pulled the "door" shut and plopped down on the bed.

"We're not going to start a fire?"

"Not tonight. The first day and night of a contest is always the worst. At night hunting parties will go out seeking fire. Once they see it, they head towards it and attack the people there. Tomorrow everyone will be tired and we can use a fire and hunt. As for tonight, the safest bet is to just wait it out."

"Won't it get cold?"

"I don't know. But if it does, that's what I got you for. Lay down."

He laid down next to her, and now that he was allowing himself to, he felt exhausted. He looked at her, noting she barely was awake at this point. "Are you going to be okay?"

"I'm hurt." She told him truthfully. They were partners now and relied on each other. No more pride. "When they attacked me, they got me good in the ribs and the nose… my side. That's what hurts the most. But nothing's broken so I'll just muscle through it."

"I see." Aki looked down where she was holding her side.

"Why did you help me back there? That attack was a good chance to steal a few bags and go."

"I don't really know why I did." Aki honestly didn't know. "I guess I figured I already knew you, why not use that as an advantage."

"Well… thank you."

And that was about all he could get out of her. She rolled over, and faced her back to him, breaking her own trust-rule. That meant more than the thank you. She was opening herself up to him. First with the climb, then with exposing her back. She even listened to his suggestion with dragging the bear, even though she was exhausted. She wasn't treating him like a worthless trainee anymore. She was treating him as a true partner.

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