Chapter 110: 109 The Beast Appears

Titanyana did not much like running long distances, especially without the assistance of Split. She firmly believed that this disposition was held by the rest of her compatriots as well, though Titanyana had a few more reasons to dislike this sort of endurance activity. Her short legs, one of the contributing factors to her low height, made it so that she had to take many more steps than most others. Wall, a lumbering giant though he may be, only needed to take half as many paces to go an equivalent distance.

She held no such disdain for short sprints though. Even without split she could make decent time, and the periods between dashes were long enough to make a near complete recovery. She had found that she was better at them than Donovan. In fact, everybody had at least one activity they were better than Donovan at, and one they absolutely despised.

Wall, obviously, despised the wall sits. However, he performed far better than Donovan in the strength exercises, even though Donovan weighed him down more to compensate. Sanna, rather unsurprisingly, was the total opposite. He didn't blow through the wall sits with ease, but he could tolerate them for as long as needed. However he could not tolerate dumbbells for any amount of time.

Len, much to Donovan and Titanyana's surprise, had some incredible grip strength, on the level of Donovan himself. This, when combined with his lighter weight, meant he could last longer during pull-ups and wall hangs. The trade-off was that he was terrible at push-ups.

Despite Len's inquiries as to why, Donovan could not come up with a reason, leaving him to struggle without an understanding of why.

In spite of them all having strengths and weaknesses, Donovan was always, always, in much better shape than the rest of them at the end of their sessions, and Titanyana felt she was the only one of them who really understood why. It was something she had really only gathered during their training sessions.

Donovan was just insanely endurant, plain and simple.

This went beyond the ability to take hits into the realm of physical activity. He could run for longer than any of them, and threatened Titanyana's top spot during sprints with how fast he could recover. He could last longer than Wall at his maximum lift, even if he couldn't lift as much, and could actually muster the energy to speak during wall sits where Sanna had to keep himself composed. His grip was incredible in comparison to the standard, and he could outlast them all during the other activities while making them much harder than what he forced on the others.

"Donny! Someone's here to see you~!"

Titanyana understood the risks associated with stopping her sprint before the ending line, primarily the possibility of being scolded by Donovan, but from her position at the front she could afford to drop her pace a bit.

Donovan had no such limitations, and had already begun to stop.

"Mercedes?"

He could only get that much out between his deep breaths, turning to face the exit Diana's voice had come from. Titanyana did not understand the meaning of the word, and correctly took it to be a name. Expecting to have to show some form of respect for this newcomer on account of Donovan being familiar with them, Titanyana began to make herself somewhat presentable, readjusting her shirt and making sure there wasn't a large amount of dirt on her person.

The more important part was that she didn't let this newcomer know that she had done that; the instant she saw Diana's trademark golden hair her hands were back to a more natural and relaxed position. Wall, Sanna, and Len, on the other hand, were still gasping their way to the finish line, completely clueless as to what was going on.

"She's here! Call her over, please." Diana walked out onto the small patio, arm swaying lazily above her head. "My arm is getting numb."

Titanyana was extremely confused at this. If Diana's arm was numb, why was she still holding it up above her head? Could she not just put it down? Was there something about Mercedes that meant she had to keep her hand above her head? Did it hold some form of culture significance?

Titanyana decided not to think about it, simply accepting it as something Diana was doing for the moment.

What followed Diana was undoubtedly this Mercedes character, though all Titanyana could see over patio fence was her ears. They popped up over the edge into her sight, black with a little brown, they must have belonged to a child on account of their own short stature.

This, as far as Titanyana could recall, would be the first time she had actually personally interacted with another species that had the ears atop their head. She had seen a few of them around, even fought one or two when she was displaying her skills for recruitment, but never had she taken the time to really look at them.

They were different than the ears of her kindred, unsurprising but still somewhat jarring to look at. They seemed longer in comparison, with denser fur and less rigidity. One of these ears seemed to have a tendency to flop around as she walked, completely unlike the ears of the Nekh, but she could see how their lack of structure could be explained. The fur, for one, would make it more difficult to maintain an upright position. 

"Come here baby doll!"

Titanyana watched the ears whip around to face Donovan, thinking the way they moved around to be quite odd. More than just the way they flattened down toward the back of her head a bit, Titanyana didn't understand why Mercedes didn't just swivel her head. It seemed that her head was forward, and she needed to turn her neck to face him.

Titanyana very quickly began to feel that there was something off about this newcomer, and it was making her nervous. Why would Donovan and Diana treat a child like this? If Mercedes was a child like she thought, when did they first meet? Rize was understandable given their connections, but they seemed to be treating this child as if it were their own. Did they adopt? No, they wouldn't have the time for that. 

Titanyana's confusion only grew upon seeing the person that followed the two of them outside. Beautiful chestnut hair and striking purple eyes, however she lacked the same type of ears on the top of her head. This person could not possibly be the mother, perhaps a maidservant or other form of caretaker for the child?

The scratching of something on the ground interrupted Titanyana's train of thought. Those didn't sound like the footsteps of a child, and the ears were moving too fast for that age range as well. The way they bobbed too felt reminiscent of something she had seen before, but she couldn't place a finger on it.

This unease only grew as Mercedes 'spoke', a shrill cry that hurt her ears. It was only once 'Mercedes' rounded the corner did her unease change to panic.

You are reading story Dead Star Dockyards at novel35.com

That was no child, that was a beast! Four legs, black and brown fur, and incredibly sharp teeth, Titanyana immediately recognized this Mercedes creature as a hunter. The beasts of her home planet had similar attributes. The pattern and color of its fur would make it difficult to discern in the forests and at night, while it could latch on to its prey with those teeth and not let go. If that was indeed the case, then Diana's raised arm would make sense, she was keeping it away from harm while leading the beast so that Donovan could take care of it.

Not even taking a second to think about the potential consequences of her actions, Titanyana leapt forward on a path to intercept this Mercedes before it attacked, Donovan could not adequately defend himself after all. She lacked a sword, but she could at the very least keep it at bay with kicks. She could buy time for one the others to get a weapon and take care of it.

It was in the middle of her third pace that Titanyana felt a sudden rush of pure terror. She wasn't scared of the Mercedes, this fear was far more primal. Titanyana's instincts were telling her that she was being focused on by something that could kill her so easily it wouldn't even register as effort. Fully prepared to die in order to save Donovan, her people's last hope at salvation, she pressed on. Hopefully the Arboreal Maiden would take care of informing them of her people's plight.

On her fourth pace, she felt this presence make it's move. Her arms were the first to go, losing feeling instantaneously, followed by her abdomen and hips. Her legs only lost their power once she was already tumbling to the floor. Titanyana did not even make it halfway to the intercept point by the time she was rolling in the dirt, unconscious.

- - - - -

"Was that really necessary, uh, Chestnut?" Mercedes was calm now, content to receive belly rubs at the crouching Donovan's feet. He was crouched at Titanyana's side, inspecting her to make sure she wasn't bleeding anywhere.

"She was charging at Mercedes with the intent to kill." Chestnut, the Arboreal Maiden, justified her actions as a means to protect Mercedes.

"Why though?"

"I would imagine she assumed her to be a threat, Donovan, need I remind you that the concept of a 'pet' is not common here?"

Donovan sighed, preparing to pick up Titanyana and bring her inside. "Was she really that threatening though? I mean look at her." He gestured down to the pup, whose tongue was rolled out onto the dirt.

Chestnut had to agree with Donovan, she really didn't look like she could hurt a Skwiven like this. "At the moment, I believe she had reason to believe that. Mercedes did charge at you."

"Fine. That isn't important right now." Donovan gently slipped his arms under Titanyana, carefully lifting her from the ground. There was always the possibility of internal injuries, and he had no intention of making them worse. "You three, we are done for the day. Rest up and get yourself ready for the tournament tomorrow. You remember the deal, yes?"

"""Yes sir!""" The three of them saluted in unison before breaking away to go and bathe.

Donovan waited for them to disappear into the doorway before he continued the conversation. "I wonder if the servants have a place prepared for her yet."

"I can't imagine they would still be dawdling about at this point, especially not with Diana's assistance."

"Maybe. Would you mind holding open the doors for me? Diana said we'd be talking in the study, didn't she?" Donovan got a move on, Mercedes obediently by his heel. This was a relationship Chestnut very much envied, as Mercedes had demonstrated an unwillingness to cooperate on this level. Some things just weren't meant to be, it would appear.

"That is where we agreed upon, yes. We should be able to maintain a degree of privacy there."

"A degree of privacy?" Donovan raised an eyebrow in the Arboreal Maiden's direction. Usually you wanted to go all out when dealing with state secrets.

"I expect that we will be speaking primarily in English, so I don't believe we will have issues with eavesdropping. We may switch to using split once the little one, Titanyana, wakes so that we may discuss her situation, however we should not have an issue even then. It isn't exactly the sort of thing that others would be able to interfere with after all."

"What . . . what situation? Is this something that you discussed with Diana?" Donovan was mightily confused. Unless it was something he had already resolved, he did not know of any 'situation' that Titanyana was in.

Chestnut did not immediately respond, instead taking the time to look at the sleeping face of the woman in Donovan's arms. "Oh my sweet little child . . . Donovan, it would appear that you are going to have to make a very big decision today, and I am bound by duty not to inform you of what that is."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Unless Diana has elected to leave you completely ignorant, which I do not believe for a second is something she would do, then Titanyana has failed to approach you with, what should I call it, a grave conundrum? I believe you possess the resources and knowledge to solve it of course, however it may prove incredibly taxing."

"What!? What conundrum!?" Donovan was starting to panic a bit. Depending on the severity of this problem they were going to have to completely scrap their current timetables and start from scratch.

"I cannot tell you more, Donovan, not until she speaks of it herself."