It figured that she would be growing more interested in her alien companion, and he was growing less interested in talking to her, seeming to distance himself from her.
The stone path led down to a desert valley, and it was only there that the chilly air warmed enough so that it no longer nipped at her cheeks. It was still cooler than the usual Arizona desert during the day, but not to the point where she was shivering.
The desert, though, did not look like the one she had left behind when she entered the mines. Jotaha gave her little time to study the landscape, determined to lead her somewhere without a tourist stop. Instead of resisting his grip, she let him set the pace, which was steady but seemed to take into account her shorter legs and lower stamina.
The path disappeared as they entered the valley, which was more like a dried mud basin. Cracks crazed the ground as far as the eye could see as the sun blazed down on them from a sky so washed out it was nearly gray. Giant, roughly spherical stones littered the valley like barnacle encrusted cannonballs. Occasionally, they passed a cluster of these spheres, and Jotaha seemed to be using them as landmarks, since there were no recognizable paths that he could be following.
After what felt like hours of walking, and probably was, based on the sun’s movement across the leaden sky, they rounded another cluster of stone spheres and came upon one that had a door sized chunk cut off of one side of it, revealing a geode the size of a small cabin.
Just as she was realizing that all the massive round stones were probably impossibly giant geodes, a lizard man stepped out of the hole in the open one.
He was as tall and wide as Jotaha, and looked just as scary, especially with his head spines fully erect and his lips pulled back to reveal his sharp teeth. His green eyes had the same slit pupils as Jotaha’s, and they were narrowed in a glare, fixed directly on her. His hand tightened around the long spear he held as his snarl deepened. The setting sunlight sparked off gold and silver rings on his head spines, and revealed a slight iridescence to his green scales that Jotaha’s didn’t seem to have.
He wore lighter armor than Jotaha. His leathers were not lacquered or layered, but studded and supple. She spotted no less than three daggers strapped to his huge body.
He fired off rapid speech to Jotaha, who responded in the same rapid-fire manner. The only words she recognized where “draw-he” and “niche-ear” but whatever Jotaha’s answer was to the other lizardman’s question, it caused a noticeable reaction.
The stranger’s expression softened with a moment of what had to be shock, his head spines dipping, then it hardened again as he gestured to Sarah, snarling as he spoke in a low, angry growl to Jotaha.
Jotaha tugged her behind him, then released her arm. She saw his hand drop so that his fingers hovered just above the combat knife sheathed on his thigh. His shoulders squared and his head spines rose to stand fully erect. His tail whipped in short, sharp jerks as he faced off against the other lizardman, the end of it coming just short of slapping her calves as she stood uncertainly behind him.
She wasn’t completely clueless, despite her inability to understand their speech. Introductions were clearly not going well. The other lizardman did not like her, and was not happy about Jotaha bringing her around.
She had no idea what she’d done to offend. Maybe it was the tangled and filthy mat of hair on her head or her dirty face, but she highly doubted it was her disheveled appearance that bothered the scaled alien. He probably had no concept of how a civilized human was supposed to look.
This wasn’t Earth. She had to admit that now, even if the gigantic geode-strewn landscape had not been enough to convince her. Somehow, she hadn’t just met an alien living underground on Earth. She’d instead entered some kind of parallel dimension, which explained the strange seam in the ground that had completely disappeared and turned into an impassable wall after she crossed over it.
The low, growling tones of the two aliens—or was she the alien—increased in volume as their tension rose. Then Jotaha’s scales started to glow, and the other alien fell silent. After a long, unnerving moment of silence, the other alien slowly backed away from Jotaha, heading towards his geode house.
The tension between the two males—if they were even male—slowly dissipated as Jotaha turned to draw her back to his side. His spines remained erect and his body still glowed, but the other alien had flattened his spines and lowered his spear. His broad shoulders curved inward as if submitting to Jotaha as he tilted his head slightly, almost like he was exposing his neck. His tail hung motionless and pulled close to his body when he turned to the side and gestured for Jotaha to enter the geode.
Sarah really didn’t want to go into that crystal-laden place, despite how beautiful it looked. The last thing she wanted was to be trapped inside a tight space with an alien who still shot hostile glares her way when Jotaha passed him, tugging Sarah behind him, his strong grip circled around her wrist.
The inside of the geode was exactly what she would have expected, though the floor beneath her feet had been cleared of crystal clusters, leaving a highly shined crystalline floor behind. Actual wax candles brightened the cave-like interior, the light reflecting off the myriad of crystals surrounding them. They lent a soft herbal scent to the air as their flames flickered when she and Jotaha passed.
Pouches and bundles and stone or clay jars and glass containers packed shelves that had been cleverly built into the clusters of sparkling crystal. Short swords and a selection of spears, their shafts bound by leather grips stained black with blood, hung on the walls, integrated among the crystal clusters. The geode looked like it had been cleared with as much restraint as possible. In one corner of the geode cave, the clusters formed an alcove, where she spotted the edge of a wooden frame, topped by what might be a mattress, based on the furs and woven blankets that spilled over the edge. Large jugs that came to her mid-thigh sat on the ground near the storage shelves. The lid of one sat propped against it, instead of atop it, revealing what appeared to be clean water inside the jug.
The strange lizardman had followed them into the geode, and now stood at the door. He’d crossed his arms over his chest and his shoulders were squared again, as if he didn’t like to be in a submissive stance. He’d propped his spear against a cluster of the clear crystals at the entrance, so at least he wasn’t armed, but he still looked more than threatening as he said something to Jotaha.
To her surprise, Jotaha responded by dropping his pack off his shoulder, then he unhooked the clip that held his belt on. She shifted her attention from the stranger to Jotaha, and saw him lower the belt with all its pouches to the floor. He then began to work on the laces that held his greaves on.
Alarm filled her as Jotaha stripped off his lower armor under the watchful gaze of the stranger alien. She didn’t even want to know what was going on here—or about to go on. Was she to be witness to, or worse, participate in, an alien orgy?
Jotaha’s greaves came off, exposing the glowing orange tattoo that covered his pelvic area. His blue glow had faded when he’d started stripping, so the orange light seemed even brighter against his dark green scales.
Sarah had avoided looking closely at his tattoo out of a desire to not get caught staring at an alien’s private parts, but the stranger alien was not so deterred, apparently. He took several steps closer to Jotaha, making Sarah wonder if she should be stepping out to give them some privacy.