2016 Top Ten Gay Romance

Captive by T.A. Creech-4

Justin stood up from his cot and stretched with a sigh. Yet another morning doing the same thing. Wake up, breakfast, wander down to the stream for a bath, putter around his hut, and maybe receive a visitor. Then it would be lunch, after which he sometimes got out for a walk and that was a grateful addition to his routine. Dinner was always before the second sun set and then yet more puttering. It was driving him a little crazy. Sajah still came to see and talk to him every day, which was pleasant, and for longer periods of time.

He was also allowed out of his little hovel more often. Granted, it was only when Anuht or Sajah was with him, but he was not going to complain. Mostly it was still to bathe, though they started taking the longer routes so that Justin could see more of the surrounding area, but sometimes he was able to walk the outer boundary of the village. The warriors on patrol would greet them often; eyes averted, but would still joyfully chatter with Justin and whoever was with him.

It was an improvement. Maybe not much of one, but Justin was definitely not going to complain about this either. Baby steps.

Communication was becoming easier too. When he had first arrived, the language that the aliens used didn’t make any sense. Damn few hard vowels and no long consonants made talking a frustrating puzzle. It wasn’t until Justin figured out that, while Sajah’s mouth looked human enough, it wasn’t really configured the same way. They muddled along though, and finally he got that the hard consonants were more clicks of teeth and rumbling growls stood in place of long sounds. Meanings became even more evident once Justin noticed how expressive body language was for Sajah’s species. The tail helped.

Soon it wasn’t difficult to figure out that the beings had a lot of similar words in common with humans. There were a few words in their simple conversations Justin didn’t recognize from the standard Terran, but gesturing or actually producing the item, if it was an object, added new words to his already very wide vocabulary of alien languages. And the same was true for Sajah. Even though the creature didn’t have the experience with other cultures that Justin had, Sajah soaked up Terran Polyglot quickly, but had trouble with pronunciation. That was expected.

It turned out to be a lot of fun. Sajah’s barking laugh and sparkling silver eyes every time Justin butchered a word had Justin chuckling, just as Sajah did when Justin attempted the local language. It took time, but eventually they were able to share stories of family and home. Justin also learned about Sajah’s wicked sense of humor. He couldn’t find it in himself to deny that Sajah was becoming a treasured fixture in this foreign place.

As if Justin’s thoughts had summoned him, Sajah’s low tenor floated through the open doorway, getting a report from the guard no doubt. Sauntering over to lean against the entrance, Justin let himself soak up the odd cadence of Sajah’s voice, trying to piece together the entire exchange just to see if he could.

Justin edged closer to the open entry and strained to really hear what he thought Sajah and Anuht were talking about. Anuht’s voice was too soft of a bass to carry well, but his host’s was not.

“Jahstahn sahe?” The question was apparent in Sajah’s tone, as was the concern. His guard’s answer wasn’t discernible.

Sajah gave one of his happy barking laughs at whatever Anuht said, the noise flowing through Justin’s soul with a pleasant tingle. He really did love listening to that voice. “Rrih,” and that meant the same as ‘my,’ as far as he could tell. The rest of it was a shade too fast for him to catch all of it, except his name. One of the other words pinged his memory and for a second, Justin couldn’t put his finger on it.

After a few moments, Justin cursed his curiosity and trembled with fear, blood going cold.

He didn’t know enough of the words to guess at what Sajah said in its entirety, but one of them suspiciously sounded like ‘sacrifice.’ Justin had been from one end of the known galaxy to the other, had encountered thousands of cultures. If Sajah’s people were shamanistic, and sacrifice sure as f**k pointed Justin in that direction, it could range from the simple planet worshipping kind to the cannibal types. Which one were these people? And just what kind of sacrifice was Sajah talking about?

Anuht’s deeper voice drew his attention back to the aliens outside, but nothing they were saying made any sense after that; almost like they were speaking a completely different language that Sajah wasn’t teaching him.

He didn’t see Sajah leave, but after a few minutes Justin noticed the absence of conversation. Sajah had, no doubt, continued on his morning patrol of the village perimeter. The fact that Sajah refused to be exempted from the same duties as the others under his command was a source of pride.

This once, Justin was glad that Sajah hadn’t taken the time to say hello. He had more than enough to think about, worry over. Just once, he had been hoping that his paranoia was wrong.

Justin collapsed a chair at his little table and slumped in dejection. No matter which way he twisted all possible meanings of what Sajah told Anuht, it didn’t sound like a good thing.

With a sigh, Justin buried his face in his hands. What to do?

The damage to the Nitti was extensive and he knew that. In fact, chances were good that it was beyond repair. The hull had been punctured or torn somewhere, the air tanks needed to be recharged, and Justin had to get the main computer up and running. Hell, the engine was probably shot to s**t. He just didn’t know. When he hit dirt side, the priority at the time was to set up a base camp, same thing he always did back when he served, then do an assessment of the sideways situation he found himself in. Looking back, he should have looked the ship over first.

Maybe next time he would, if he ever got off this primitive paradise.

Expecting rescue was ridiculous. When he checked the star maps before the crash, this little backwater world wasn’t there, despite the system being smack in the middle of frequently travelled areas of the galaxy. No one, not even his old unit, would be looking for him in a system that didn’t exist on paper, if anyone noticed he was gone at all. And that was not likely. Justin had no lover, family, or friends that would miss him.

No help was going to come from the natives either. The language barrier was hard enough to overcome, and Justin doubted they would go against the leader of their warriors to help him. So far, his continued existence was due to the natives’ good graces, but now it seemed that has changed. Fighting was off the table too. He could not realistically expect to go up against so many and come out the victor. Sure, he might take some of the warriors out before he died, but that was not how he wanted to go out.

Escape was the only choice.