Sneak Peak - Anthology of the Guardians - Huntercats - 1 of 4

Alright, the next piece coming out is going to be the next installment of the Anthology of the Guardian series.  It will be entitled Huntercats and is split into 4 parts:  Preacher, Turtron, Vruta and Canes.  This story is quite unique amongst all of my stories, and it took one hell of a lot of building up a society and figuring out how it all came together.  I hope to do this for some of the other alien species that are present in my Anthology Series.  This piece is also unique in that all 4 parts are co-authored by a friend of mine, Mr. Trevor Patrick. We go back aways, and normally he didn't like the kind of science fiction I wrote, but this story intrigued him a lot (this would be the first time of many to say the least).  This was the first piece of mine he read as Trevor has done extensive research into large cats and well, I based a lot of the Pruchock society on cat behavior and I gave it to him for his opinion, and then he surprised me by returning edits and significant additions to it, and wrote Turtron and Vruta as a response.  It would be a few years later that I wrote the one called Canes and well it is coming together here.  So here is the first of 4 sneak peaks on Huntercats.  This is from Preacher.   This scene is part of the scene where Preacher meets the High Priestess of the Huntercats:  Vruta.

Preacher decided it was time to gamble. “No need to call it in, I did that,” he said in the Pruchock’s language, making it her turn to be surprised. Until now, translation had always been done by insertion of a chip in his ear, but now the game was changed. By reaching out to all the crew aboard the ship while showering, Preacher had managed to learn the Pruchock language, but speaking it was a different challenge. Chalk one up for Doc, he thought.

“Where did you learn my language?” she asked Preacher.

“I’m a quick learner,” he said truthfully. “I’ve been listening to it for the past how many days, whether here or on the planet. Am I to assume that those are our supper?” he asked, changing the subject and pointing to the dead animals.

“Yes,” the female said, now lapsing comfortably into her own tongue with Preacher. She deftly gutted the animals, leaving the carcasses for Preacher, while keeping some of the internal organs for herself. “I hope this is fine. I believe you do not eat these?” she said, pointing to the organs. Preacher nodded and reached for the carcasses, throwing one into the fire. The Pruchock instantly jumped up and reached into the fire with a stick, retrieving the kill.

“What is this?" she demanded, referring to the smoking carcass. "To burn good meat is wrong!" Preacher, taken aback by this, was not sure how to answer.

“Where I come from, we cook our meat. For one thing, it tastes a hell of a lot better to us, and kills many of the harmful microbes. Our bodies require food that has some processing attached to it. We lost our ability to eat wild food like you do a very long time ago.” Preacher could see she was considering his words carefully. “Look, let’s start off right. My name, err what I am called by these days, is Preacher. What is yours?”

“I am Vruta," she replied, pointing to herself. Preacher did a quick translation and found it meant slayer of something he could not translate into any language. Preacher stared back down at the carcasses, considering what he would do about dinner.

“What is your real name?”

Preacher was taken aback, not sure how to respond. “My real name is Jace Joran. I had to change it recently to Preacher.” He looked at the carcass and made a decision. “Tell you what, I’ll eat this raw, if you will eat some of it cooked, just to help us understand each other maybe.” Preacher could not help himself; the anthropologist part of him had been awakened again, eager to study the Pruchocks, while he had a chance. With Doc preparing to make the second group of Guardians now, he knew that this may be the only opportunity to study an alien culture and come to understand it, before it was destroyed. And perhaps put a bullet into these warriors and remove them from the war.

Vruta, unsure of herself, wrinkled her nose and threw the carcass back into the fire. Preacher, keeping his end of the bargain, picked up one of the animals and bit into the exposed flesh where Vruta had opened it up. To his surprise, it was not revolting, but rather it was a sweet meat that was very pleasant. “This is really good, no wonder you eat it this way,” he said to Vruta, hoping to make some head way with her.

“I am glad you like it,” she responded. They sat in silence for fifteen minutes, Vruta, fishing out the carcass and tasting it. Vruta made a sound of disgust, and said, "How can you eat burned meat? It tastes like carbon and ash." She wrinkled her nose and Preacher began to laugh. He never thought he would see a Pruchock wrinkle its nose. She playfully tossed it at him and he took a bite. His face must have been just as funny as Vruta began to snort, which must have been laughter.

“You know, you’re right, it's much better off uncooked. This is a piece of shit,” said Preacher, throwing the carcass aside, finding it almost tasteless. Vruta stopped laughing and glared at him.

“We do not waste here, you must eat it. To waste is to ignore our sacred laws,” Vruta informed Preacher.

Preacher made a note to try to learn more about the sacred laws as he picked up the meat and began to eat it. I better not piss them off too much, not until I can guarantee a way to get out of here, he thought, and a way around that dampening field. Both of them ate in silence for the rest of the meal, Preacher more interested in eating to get his energy up, or to at least keep that appearance. Besides, he did find the raw meat quite good to eat. When they were both done, Vruta started up the conversation again.

“We do not normally talk during eating,” began Vruta.

“That’s ok, I was too hungry to talk anyway,” replied Preacher. “Do you mind if I ask you a few questions?”

“After you answer some of mine,” said Vruta. In an instant, she leapt and knocked Preacher over onto the ground and pinned him there. “When did you humans ally with the ones you call Oools? Your body is full of their parts.” The husky whisper of Vruta’s voice returned, and as she stood over Preacher, he could feel the raw power emanating from her.  Combined with the erotic pheromones that were starting to come off of her in waves, Preacher was in a euphoric state. Yet at the moment she radiated far more danger than eroticism.

“I know nothing of that,” said Preacher, using his powers to push Vruta off of him. He was damned if he was going to let her get away with this. Vruta landed on the other side of the fire, but got up instantly and faced Preacher.

“You lie to me,” concluded Vruta, who attacked yet again. She charged Preacher, who side stepped, but without knowing how, he was tripped to the ground. Vruta recovered and pounced onto Preacher, holding her claws to his throat. “Tell me the truth, or I will kill you now.”

Preacher had wondered where the parts for their transformation came from, and perhaps it was part of the strategy to win the war: use the aliens’ own technology against them and then let then think they were betrayed from within.

“Look I’ve no idea what the hell you’re talking about,” he said. "The knowledge about the technology that created us is something that none of us were privy to." Vruta looked somewhat confused at that, but Preacher tried to simplify things, "Those of us who were changed were simply told what to do. We only followed our orders. Those who changed us told us almost nothing useful about what was done to our bodies, apart from what sort of abilities we could expect. And they told us absolutely nothing about where the technology came from. That’s the truth, take it or leave it.” Preacher started at Vruta, eye to eye, before continuing. “We were deliberately told very little for the very reason I am faced with right now. If we knew little or nothing about the technologies, we couldn’t tell anyone about them if we were captured, now could we?” Vruta glared at Preacher, her eyes glowing, her friendly and erotic interactions with him earlier had now almost totally been replaced with angry malevolence.

"I still think you lie," she finally said, but it sounded as if she didn't really believe her own words. Preacher was a little exasperated at all of this, and what he said next turned out to be a mistake.

“I could hurt you real bad right now, but I’d rather not…" Preacher never got to finish his sentence, as Vruta's response to the first part of it was as quick as lightning. Preacher's new powers gave him the ability to anticipate, and stop any attack a human could try against him; indeed, Preacher had the ability to totally take over another person's mind if he had to, turning them into little more than a puppet if he chose. But nothing in his training could’ve prepared him for the sheer swiftness of Vruta's response to him, coming like a lightning bolt out of a blue sky. Preacher was about to learn a very hard lesson, and his mistake at misjudging Vruta's own abilities was something he was unlikely to ever repeat.

Vruta's eyes blazed at him as soon as Preacher said the words hurt you, and she was instantly on him. Preacher had no time to detect any untoward thought from her, nor did he see her tense up for her leap. Preacher was incredibly fast in his own response, nevertheless, Vruta was just a little faster. Her claws dug into his naked belly, blood spurting around her claws. Preacher yelped in surprise, and pain, and tried to throw Vruta off, but she dug her claws in further, and because of their shape, the harder Preacher tried to shove her off, the deeper her claws dug in, bringing him searing pain.

"Do NOT ever threaten me, hairless human!" Vruta hissed and spat at Preacher. Preacher grunted in pain, and tried to use his powers to push Vruta off. However, her claws dug in still deeper, and she prepared to plunge her sabers into his throat. Still too stunned to properly use the full extent of his powers, Preacher did what his instincts directed him to do. He threw his body forward, knocking Vruta onto her back, and landing on top of her. She used her back claws to rake agonizing, bloody furrows into Preacher's calves and thighs, coming perilously close to his genitals. Preacher acted without thinking, and he placed his hands around Vruta's neck, starting to choke the life out of her.