Raven Tide

🚩CONTENT WARNING:

Ok, I don’t want to drop any spoilers but things are about to get very intense and disturbing. But stick with me, we’ll get through it together.

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“Pauk’de ui’stbi!” A large male yautja Elder spat a fat rancid loogie in my face.

His markings were incoherent and unfamiliar and the spot on his forehead that should bear his clan’s mark was long since scalped and scarred over.

He was Bad Blood. As well as the six other disheveled males lurking around the station and the cargo hold.

They were yautja without honor who relished in bloodlust.

“Where do you want her, Gar’mol?” One of the subordinates shouted from behind me.

I was stripped down to nothing and chained standing up to a large pipe with my hands clamped in metal behind my back. Chyani was in another room gagged and tied up.

There were no female yautja among their numbers. The station was empty except for a dozen headless bodies strung up down the hall.

Silosa Outpos’ crew and scientists were all dead!

“Lay her out over there,” Gar’mol, the Bad Blood Elder, salivated in front of my face. He was greying from head to toe with crusted blue-tipped long quills and buggy yellow eyes.

I hated listening to Chyani’s terrified whimpers but our survival depended on me maintaining my composure.

I had explained many aspects of the Nexus to her but I had neglected to warn her about the hazards of Bad Bloods.

“A fine catch,” Gar’mol scratched my scalp. “Newly Blooded with those Jahaa blasphemers and a mongrel at that!”

I didn’t flinch at the dribble of my own blood.

It was known that many zealots despised the inclusion of planet Menthla into the Nexus and loathed the idea of other species joining the Eternal Bloodline. To the backward orthodox, my existence was considered an insult. Even to those who were long since banished.

“It’s good you’re finally awake, Raven Tide,” Gar’mol cackled. “Any longer and we would’ve started entertaining ourselves without you.”

The vile Elder popped out his wrist blades and poked one of my long white ears.

Growling was pointless.

“She’s slathered in this pup’s musk,” a lanky green Bad Blood strutted out with Chyani over his shoulder and slammed her back first onto a low dusty crate.

Chyani yelped through the leather strap tied in her mouth and turned her head at me.

Her hand was bound to her side and her ankles were knotted in wrinkled wire.

I will kill them all, Chyani!

She stared at me with her soft brown eyes clear and wide. Chyani was familiar with handling herself around bullies.

Gar’mol pierced his wrist blade up into the center of my ear. I pinched my tusks shut and stared him down.

“Don’t worry,” Gar’mol licked his fangs. “I’ll leave enough for you to hear everything.”

I breathed and summoned my training.

Bad Bloods are unprincipled opportunists, if I’m patient and clever I can wield it into their undoing.

Gar’mol pierced another hole further up my earlobe while one of his lackeys sifted through my gear and armor.

“Here,” A brown yautja with a mangled lower mandible tossed a length of cord to the green yautja leering over Chyani.

The green yautja caught it then centered Chyani on the narrow crate and proceeded to untie her legs.

“Turn her the other way,” Gar’mol barked. Pointing for them to rotate the crate so that Chyani was laying sideways in front of me.

My hands behind me barely had enough space to wiggle and there were several rows of heavy chains wrapped high around my chest.

“In the old days,” Gar’mol settled in on a stool to my left. “Those pasty rabbits would be barely worthy to be our slaves and a hybrid like you wouldn’t have been allowed to breathe. Let alone have the opportunity to grovel and lick my boots.”

My feet were positioned just as poorly, chained akimbo and tight enough to partially constrict my blood supply.

“Ass up?” The green yautja called out to his disgraced alpha with his greasy hand on Chyani’s partially formed shoulder.

“No,” Gar’mol grinned at me. “That hole you’ll mind to keep clean. I’ll tend to it later once the rest of you have filled her up.”

Chyani’s face was locked down tight of all expression but her heart was racing loud enough for everyone in the room to hear its thumping.

Please forgive me, Chyani.

I should have been more cautious in our approach to the outpost.

“Don’t worry, young blood,” Gar’mol sprayed spittle in my face. “We’ll leave you unharmed... mostly.”

The Elder wiped my blood from his wrist blades and snapped them back into their sheath.

“I’m curious to see how Oru, your hound’s-anus of a Supreme Elder, responds when we broadcast a holo link of your withered carcass after a few months of captivity and starvation.”

“Found them!” A beefy gold and copper yautja jaunted into the room carrying a large plastic bin. He wore a freshly prepared female yautja skull proudly on his hip.

The container was filled to the brim with a motley of high-end cruiser parts and hinted at their motivation for usurping the station.

So that’s what brought them here...

Without honor and the Nexus, Bad Bloods possessed no infrastructure for maintaining their ships or armaments. They were outcasts hunted ruthlessly by Enforcers and had no choice but to resort to scavenging like cockroaches.

“We’ll be stocked up well into the next cycle!” The gold and copper yautja strolled around the cargo hold organizing supplies with the blithe cadence of yautja blind to the human woman being strapped down to a flat metal crate against her will.

“You are correct to blame yourself, young blood,” Gar’mol wouldn’t shut up. “We never would have approached this sector if your sinful clan hadn’t triggered an endless war.”

I kept my mouth shut.

“The Enforcer’s numbers run thin these cycles,” Gar’mol guffawed. “And Paya’s guidance leads us to easy pickings.”

The green yautja continued spreading and tethering Chyani’s legs to the crate and then unbound her one arm to stretch it over her head.

“I’ve never encountered one this color,” the green yautja tied Chyani’s wrist to hold it firmly straight up. “The last group of humans I killed were so pale I thought they were all albinos.”

It was good that Chyani followed my example and relinquished no words for them to manipulate. This pack was unworthy of her and did not deserve to hear her voice.

“The inclusion of Menthla will be the Nexus’ downfall,” Gar’mol scooted closer and took hold of my chin. “You won’t be alive to see it, but rest assured the righteous will rule once more and all will bow under true yautja glory!”

Fuck you! And fuck Paya!

It’s morons like you who give the Graven fertile ground to root in and manipulate the masses. Blind faith is what allows the Graven to inject their corruption into the rituals of others' religions. People always assume that because something is ancient it must be worthy of worship but sometimes it’s just a bunch of decrepit assholes who don’t want to kick the bucket!

“She’s the color of roasted hickory nuts in autumn,” The lanky green yautja knelt over Chyani then tugged down her sleeveless shirt. “Even her nipples are dark like wet tree bark. Alpha, can I see what she looks like on the inside?”

“Patience, Hobra, my boy,” Gar’mol chided his offspring. “Wait for your brothers to return.”

This pack of degenerates may have been scumbags but I couldn’t disregard that they overthrew a station full of seasoned females. Members of Clan Asepa even! Such a feat shouldn’t be possible.

And here I was, naked, chained, and at the mercy of their Elder. For Chyani’s sake, I needed to find a way to break free and tear them apart.

“Those Asepa bitches had little to offer in the way of fun,” Gar’mol mused to himself while pointing in the direction of the defiled female yautja bodies. “But your pet will prove to be the perfect dessert to conclude our momentous victory.”

Gar’mol made himself comfortable on his metal stool.

“I know the concept is beyond the grasp of your pea-sized godless brain,” Gar’mol raised his arms wide and waved them around. “But all of this is destiny in motion. Paya blesses our hunt and lights the path toward supple and juicy prey.”

A pungent sweet scent wafted from the Elder as he pushed his chest brace over to reveal a chunk of metal embedded into his pectoral. It was embellished with a red lightning bolt and runes commonly associated with the warrior goddess, Paya.

But some of the runes were unusual. There were extra symbols and a pattern on the edges I didn’t recognize.

It was a Graven relic!

“She even brought you to us!” Gar’mol released a long hearty chortle.

I had to control my breathing.

That old bastard knew I was startled. It was imperative that I kept my composure.

Shit! Chyani’s already in danger... but if that thing is here...

My mind raced through a myriad of doomsday scenarios.

It can’t be a coincidence that Gar’mol’s pack chose this station to ravage!

“I’ve never banged a human,” the gold and bronze yautja dusted his hands off after he finished arranging his bins of equipment. “Can I go first?”

“Have at it,” a blue yautja followed by two more Bad Bloods entered the room. “But I call dibs on her mouth. Bet it’s going to be extra nice without any fangs or tusks causing trouble.”

Gar’mol hovered beside me, thrumming in approval.

I questioned if it was possible to dislocate my shoulder to gain more room to wriggle.

Gar’mol’s too close. He’ll gut me before I have a chance to do anything worthwhile.

“There will be plenty of space for all of you,” Gar’mol assured them. “If she survived this mongrel pup she should last hours with us.”

The other Bad Bloods gathered and began unlatching their armor. They were all littered with scares and wore no brands of honor.

The blue one stood facing me on the opposite side of Chyani, standing over her, naked and coaxing his gnarly lavender cock from its sheath. He pinched his claws into Chyani’s shirt, yanked it up the center, and ripped it slowly.

Chyani kept her eyes on me, restraining a wall of unwanted tears from leaking out.

The green one tossed the last of his armor aside and then ran his filthy hand up along the white fabric still covering her outer thigh.

“Is it true they don’t have quills?” The jubilant gold and copper male released a single wrist blade.

“Yes,” Gar’mol turned his body and gaze toward the vulgar exhibition. “But some have hair in delicate places. Strip off the pants and see what this one is hiding.”

I wanted to leap forward and skin these pigs alive.

On the one hand, it was good that their attention was misdirected but it was futile because it came at the price of Chyani.

The gold and copper yautja sliced into the white fabric, splitting a thin line up the inside of Chyani’s right leg and all the way down the other.

Her eyes were wide and on the brink of spilling.

I twisted my wrists and tested the limits of my makeshift handcuffs. They were a flat band of metal folded around each forearm.

The other Bad Bloods approached, all sporting nasty erections, clicking and thrumming in lecherous anticipation.

Chyani’s pants came off and all that remained was a flimsy pair of semi-transparent black underwear.

“This one’s smooth,” Hobra, the lanky green one smiled. Then he tore off the last of Chyani’s modesty and flung it at my face.

“She reeks of the freak,” the blue one moved above Chyani’s head and leaned to drag his tongue along her left arm.

Chyani bit her lips and shut her eyes, desperate not to look directly at the rainbow of grimy hard-ons standing tall all around her.

“No, no,” Gar’mol got off his stool and knelt next to Chyani. “You’ll keep your eyes open or else I start snipping off digits from your boyfriend.”

My wrists and ankles were bleeding and I hoped it would be enough to act as a lubricant.

“And don’t you dare try to bite us!” The blue one grabbed Chyani’s hair and made her face him.

“Submit or watch your pathetic mutt suffer,” Gar’mol supplemented then he tugged out the leather gag in her mouth.

Silence. Keep your organs quiet... break free but don’t let them hear you.

I didn’t know what was more agonizing, holding my wits together or the sight of Chyani’s terror.

The green one scratched her ribs and lapped up the red droplets.

“None of your scent will be left on her when we’re done,” the blue one clicked at me as he bent over Chyani’s head and twisted her long brown hair around his fist.

They were all touching her, except for Gar’mol. The Elder was crouched nearby, keeping watch on Chyani’s eyes.

Blood oozed from my chest where the chains cut into my skin. I had to stop them!

See the solution Raven Tide! Don’t let them break you. Look around. See what they’re ignoring. Everything is a weapon!

The blue one slapped her cheek and forced her head to face up at him.

Their rotten musk filled the room and clogged up my airways.

“She soo soft,” the gold and copper Bad Blood hunkered below her, pushing her legs apart and digging his dirty claws into her flesh.

Tears tumbled down Chyani’s cheeks and a surge filled my throat followed by a howl soo powerful it strained all four of my razkur vocal cord chambers.

In an instant, my skin was hot and the space around me plunged into the color of Chyani’s blood.

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TRANSLATIONS:

Pauk’de ui’stbi = fucking abomination