He’s no lizard! Bobbi thought, frowning as she tried to make him out. He looks almost…Kindred. At least from the size of him. But what is a Kindred doing with these guys?
There were no answers on his face, which had strong, regular features with a straight nose and large, bronze eyes that almost seemed to glow in the dim hut. He had black hair—at least Bobbi thought he did. It was slicked back from his high forehead as close to his skull as possible. On the side of his neck, she saw a black tattoo—or was it a tattoo? It seemed to be shifting slowly, forming shapes that flowed into one another. A tattoo that moved?
On his arms were more tattoos, but these had colors. They flowed down to cover his massive biceps and strong forearms in multiple shades, ending right at the wrists. These seemed to be pictures of some kind and they, too, appeared to be moving. What were they doing? And how in the world had they been done? How—
Her thoughts were cut off when the head lizard guy spoke up. He was slightly larger than the others—except for the Kindred, who towered over them all—and had bands of yellow scales around his slitted eyes. These gave him a mean, calculating look—at least Bobbi thought so—and his voice was loud and booming in the small hut.
“Listen up, we’re here for eggs,” he snarled, glaring at the assembled Orniths. “We were told by our good friend, Yerm, here, that you lot have the freshest and the best eggs around!”
He clapped the male Ornith on the back, nearly knocking the much smaller being over.
“Yerm, you should not have brought them here,” Jemeena said, glaring at the miserable male. “You traded with us not three solar weeks ago and took all the eggs we had. You know we don’t have a big enough store of eggs built up for trading again so soon!”
“Forgive me, wise one.” Yerm ducked his head in apology. “They…they cornered me at the spaceport and your tribe was the first one that came to my beak.”
“Better to bind your beak closed than speak our name and bring danger to us,” the elder Ornith scolded.
“All right, old lady, you can stop with the fucking complaining. We only need a dozen,” the head lizard snapped, his long, forked tongue flickering from his lipless mouth as he spoke.
“The egg pit is there.” Yerm pointed with a trembling finger to the far side of the hut.
“You heard him,” the head lizard barked at the others. “Go get the fucking things and let’s get out of here! Too fucking hot on this damn planet—I’m roasting!”
Several of the lizard males trooped over to the pit and began pulling the straw which concealed the eggs out of the way. They counted as they lifted the eggs out, passing them along in a chain to some others who had remained outside and were presumably storing the large white eggs in some kind of packing crate for transport back to their home planet.
“What will you pay us for our eggs?” Jemeena demanded, as the lizard men emptied the storage pit. “We worked hard to lay them—we should be compensated.”
“I’ll pay you by not blasting your little bird brain out of your fucking skull,” the head lizard snarled, his forked tongue lashing. “Shut your beak, you old bitch!”
For the first time, the Kindred-looking male with the bronze eyes spoke up.
“That isn’t right, Zerlix. You told the trader we’d pay.” He had a deep, quiet voice and his tone was mild enough, but his eyes seemed to flash in the dimness, Bobbi thought.
“Fuck you, Dragon,” the lizard named Zerlix swore. “It’s not like these fucking Orniths are another Clan. Why should I pay a bunch of weaklings who can’t do a damn thing to me if I don’t?”
“Because you promised to. The word of a Crimson Blades clansman is his bond!” the Kindred guy growled. He pushed forward, through the lizard men, who made way for him, to stand beside the other male. Bobbi saw that he was taller than Zerlix by almost a head.
He must be at least seven feet or taller, she thought, looking up at him. He towered over everyone else in the room and the lizard named Zerlix had to look up at him to answer.
“Fuck that,” he snarled. “Promises were made to be broken.”
“You think our Sire would like it if he knew that you broke your word?” the Kindred named Dragon asked, frowning down at the lizard man. “Where is your honor?”
“He’s not your Sire, Little Brother,” Zerlix snapped and Bobbi thought she saw a flash of pure hatred in his slitted eyes, as he looked up at the other male. “What are you gonna do—run back home to Saurous and tell on me?”