Genetic Snare by Laura Baumbach

Author:Laura Baumbach [Baumbach, Laura]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: gay romance, sci-fi
Publisher: MLR Press
Published: 2017-07-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

The challenge was to simply be the first to reach the top of a cliff by a gorge where the next part of the challenge awaited. Once there, spiritual demons would be confronted and their power cast off to prevent them from impacting the coming bond. It was all witchcraft and sorcery to Aidan. He had no demons he was willing to part with.

It sounded simple. Make it through a cave, up a cliff, and then over a gorge to reach the platform at the top where a new challenge would be presented. He needed to find the right cave that led to the right cliff that gave him a gorge with plateau. The instructions were straight forward if sparse on detail. Stamina and speed were familiar allies, but now, while this strange fever dogged him, it was more problematic.

Problems were the theme of the evening. Aidan had been unprepared for the transporter beam that had whisked him from the dry, hot planet’s surface to drop him at a far-off place. Eyes tightly closed, he’d endured the process in darkness. He knew he had traveled far because he could no longer smell his hunter or sense his warm and domineering bulk nearby. A pit of emptiness filled his gut. He felt alone for the first time in a long while. Alone save for four opponents licking at his boots.

At the tap of Zeban’s ceremonial bong, the challenge began.

The surface of this new wilderness was different than the ritual arena. The ground under his boots was steeper, the sand rockier, and the night sky clearer, more heavily dotted with stars. Stars were a seafaring man’s best friends. He had studied Oracan constellations before coming. It was good to have friends waiting.

“Where be ya, me pretty?” Talking to himself was a lifetime habit he saw no reason to break. “Give this lonesome pirate an anchor for his journey.” He searched for a pinpoint of stability to guide his progress. He crowed out loud when one overly bright light revealed itself in the forest of glittering lights. “There be you. Call you, Men’lon, father of all dragons.” He chuckled at his own joke, then sobered and hoped the ailing older Oracan was well. He was a frightful beastie. But a frightful beastie in the family could be useful. He mentally marked his location against the stars and ignored everyone else around him.

Aidan took the high ground leaving his heftier challengers behind. The Oracan’s had the upper hand of being conditioned to the dry air and terrain, but he had been shipwrecked and marooned before this. High ground at night was of limited use, but a gorge was created by running water and that could be smelt and heard, and high ground would help find those clues.

The slight breeze was pleasantly warm. It carried with it the scampering of many legs creatures and the call of more than one night predator. Aidan kept a hand on his blade hilt and his ear to the occasional skittering of loose dirt running parallel to his left.

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