Dealing With Consequences

Chapter 10

It swallowed them whole. They were inside of a Valty's stomach. Amara tried to push away from T'ranthiom in a panic. He just shoved her harder. She wiggled and struggled against him. Finally, she stomped on his toe praying he would release her. Instead it just made him angry.

"Be still, human," he yelled and pinned his legs around her to stop the kicking. He smirked at that spirit coming back to life.

"We are dead," Amara whimpered against him. "All that, just to get eaten by a Valty." He laughed causing Amara to bounce off his chest.

"Calm yourself," he ordered. Amara struggled against him more in a desperate need to survive.

"Amara," he stated, bending his head down to hers. His eyes twinkled with amusement and the softness of his voice caused Amara to still.

Why her name from his lips caused such a stir in her confused her.  She looked up at him and he started again.

"We are fine, Amara," he said calmly. "Valty, as you call them, are bred to be the fastest transport in our kingdom. They have two stomach sacks and are trained to reject objects and the Naih race." Amara couldn't take her eyes from his.

"Transport," Amara questioned. He nodded in reply. "But they eat the dead. I've seen it."

"They find certain Naih who have rare DNA and bring them back to the labs. It is hard to get animal DNA since we left Shelter. When we run low, we simply extract from our kind. Dead or alive."

"What about me," she whispered. He smirked again.

"Best to hold on tight," he lied. Since she was already in the sack, there was no danger of being digested. He would never tell her that. This human was growing on him. Sadly, he noticed so was her stomach. It pressed into him with such force. He hadn't realized she was this far along when he first met her. He groaned at the child's future.

Amara shifted beneath him causing him to snap out of his trance. He wrapped around her tighter and she looked up at him again. From her look, she was calming after the initial shock.  Something else was behind that gaze though, a spark of something T'ranthiom couldn't recognize.

"What happens when we reach the Steeple," Amara asked. T'ranthiom tensed around her. He knew her fate was death. He didn't want to think of that now. He wanted to enjoy this time.

He couldn't protect her from the Naih race now that she was here. He couldn't protect anyone. He had tried and failed with .... Her. The only hope he had was that her father could send in a craft to the coordinates he had sent them. Hopefully the message got through. He wasn't too familiar with the human's technology. If that didn't work, he could still save her but at a great cost. She would never forgive him for what would have to be done.

"Tristan, how do we get out of the Valty when we get there," she shoved him this time bringing his attention back. He hated how she called him that. That human name was pathetic.

"He empties his sack," he replied coldly. She looked at him and he smirked before modeling the dry heave. Amara looked away. She was going to be thrown up by a giant snake. She shook it off as he chuckled.

"You can use Spirit," she stated barely audible. She looked up at him in curiosity.

"Yes, human," he said before looking away again. He was becoming uncomfortable being this close to her. It was stirring up desires he knew he could not quench. He couldn't get himself to let go of her either.

"It's different than any I've seen," she probed. He wasn't going to give this information up easily. She was going to push it out. She pictured herself being forced out of the snake again and groaned.