"Well what are they waiting for? We've been here for several minutes and they haven't done anything but surround us, staying out of sight," Melan asked as she looked around for any sign of them, with no luck.
"I don't know. We've never been in a situation like this with such great numbers," replied Ellenah.
"From their numbers and the position we're both in, I feel like a sitting duck," said Kris, getting strange looks from all women in earshot.
"A what?" asked Ellenah.
"Nothing, never mind. Forget I even said that," replied Kris. "Just keep your focus on the situation."
"I simply can't believe it," said Arnold. "There's supposedly a good couple hundred of the beast according to you. Yet somehow they all managed to hide in the brush around us and I can't see a single one even now that I know they're there."
"Amazing nothing, I find it disturbing," replied Kaitlyn.
A moment later the greenery around them shook as the hundreds of vorlixx came walking into view, surrounding the army with no visible spot weaker than the other. The vorlixx knew exactly what they were doing. They had arranged themselves in a way that evened out the big and small, the weak and strong so that no spot around them was any easier to break through than the rest. It was the perfectly arranged barrier.
"I don't suppose they'll let us surrender?" asked Alex as the army of woman looked all around them at the vorlixx who were all larger than they were. The women here were tall, but compared to the vorlixx, they all looked small to them, the sight only made the mood grimmer for the team.
Directly ahead of them was a vorlixx larger than the rest with a copper stripe running down its back. It took some steps forward, behind it, to everyone's surprise, was Valerie. She was alive and not even tied up. She didn't even have the slightest sign of bruising. She appeared to be in perfect health. Though her appearance was completely of no consequence to anyone at the moment for they were all shocked to see her standing with the vorlixx as though she were its royal advisor.
"Melan, you must order your woman to put down their arms," Valerie called out to her. "If you do not soon, they may take it as an invitation to fight," she said, walking forward as well, but only as far as the head vorlixx.
"What?" exclaimed Ellenah. "And leave ourselves defenseless?"
"They don't mean you any harm, but if they think you're going to hurt them, or threaten them in anyway, they will retaliate. Also, they're a lot more intelligent than you realize, they just don't speak the same language as you and I."
"Amazing, the fact that we encountered humans on another planet is one thing, but to actually meet another race, an intelligent one is almost too much," Arnold said to Kaitlyn as he had mixed feelings about the whole situation.
"Could you wait till another time?" asked Kaitlyn. "This isn't exactly the time or place to be enjoying our surroundings," she told him as she gave him a slight nudge in the ribs.
"Sorry. Really nervous."
"Please, I implore you to listen to me," persisted Valerie.
"How do we know what you say is true?" asked Ellenah skeptically. "You yourself just said they could not speak."
"The do not speak, but can understand," answered Valerie. "I'm standing here among them unharmed, aren't I?" she asked. "I've managed to set up a basic form of communication."
"I suppose. But what if they continue to attack the towns folk?" asked Ellenah.
Valerie turned to the lead vorlixx. After thinking for a moment made some hand gestures, then knelt down, drew in the dirt and pointed to the crowd of woman. The vorlixx watched as she did it several time. After the fourth time it nodded and replied in a similar way.
"They will leave you alone, provided you do not venture into their land, which I believe they designated as the place where my suit currently lies," Valerie told Melan. "So I guess you now have a land mark."
Melan turned to look at Ellenah then to Valerie, holding her gaze for a long moment as she tried to read her. After a long tense moment she shook her head with a stern expression. Melan then faced her troops and called out. "Lay down your arms," she commanded.
The woman immediately began dropping their arms and placing them on the ground, with confused expressions. Kris reluctantly put down his sword and kicked it forward out of his reach. At the sight of them disarming themselves, the lead Vorlixx turned to his own men and growled a command. The vorlixx circling them took a few steps back. The team all let out a sigh now that they had just been given some breathing room. Things were starting to look up.
"We're making progress." Valerie told them.
"Can we be permitted to return to our homes?" asked Melan.
"I'll see what I can do. Though I don't see why they'd prevent it," Valerie answered and gestured to the group, then to the vorlixx huts adding some walking motions, followed lastly by pointing in the direction of town. The vorlixx after determining what she was telling it, gave her its reply.
"If I understood that correctly. The chief recommends you stay here for the night," Valerie said conveying the message. "For it is already nearly dark and unlike them, it will take you a great deal of time to return to your homes." Valerie told Melan after the chief Vorlixx repeated its lengthy reply several times to be sure that it was well understood.
"Are you sure that would be a wise decision?" asked Ellenah. "Or even what it said?"
"Ma'am. If there is one thing I've learned in my short time here, these creatures will not harm us if they choose not to. It would be a good first step to showing that you are willing to make peace with them," Valerie answered sternly while trying to keep her tone level. The others were surprised at the authoritative tone the shy girl had taken. To them, it seemed so out of character.
"The choice is yours ma'am, but I highly recommend against it," Ellenah said turning to Melan. "If it were my choice however I'd say we not trust them."
"They are tired of the conflict that has raged between the two of you in the past. The chief merely wishes that your people leave them alone, in return they will do the same," Valerie said sharing what she had learnt, hoping to ease the tension still between them. "Take the offer please and show them you are willing to make peace."
Melan thought it over a bit. "I have always looked for an answer that did not involve violence," she answered. "And I believe you are right. This would be a big step in building an understanding."
"I can't guarantee you'll have anywhere comfortable to sleep, but you won't have to travel back home in the dark, arriving there in the early morning," Valerie told her.
"I'm not concerned with where we have to sleep, it's who we're sleeping with," replied Ellenah. "There's nothing you can say, that will convince me that they will not help themselves to some of us. You forget what those beast did to my leg." She said, hatred in her voice that caused the vorlixx to hunch and snarl at her.
"Please, try to trust me when I say this. They will only attack when provoked. You may notice how Anthieyah and me managed to survive being captured by them. Why didn't they just eat us?"
"What if they had captured you for the fact that they've been trying to get you to understand them," suggested Kris. "Maybe they've been wanting to call a truce themselves?"
"Exactly. What if I'm only here because they're trying to find a way to show you that they just want you to stay back and let them be?" Valerie told Melan and Ellenah. "You never realized they were just living their lives, yet you continued to try and kill them when they were merely trying to find food."
"I think you give them too much credit. They're mindless beast," Ellenah scoffed glancing around at the vorlixx.
"And yet, they have you surrounded in the most perfect way. Every one of them is clearly been chosen for their spot based upon their size and strength." Valerie replied a slight smug smile spreading across her face. Kris was certain that she was on the vorlixx's side. "They are able to strategize and organize themselves better than we can. So even if you still wish to fight, you'll suffer many deaths before any of you are able to get out of their wall. I hope that will not have to be the case though."
"Valerie, tell the chief we'll be sticking around till morning and we won't cause any trouble," Melan said, looking over to Ellenah with a glare as she said the last bit. Though she said nothing, the lead warrior knew that Melan was referring to her.
Valerie turned to the chief vorlixx and tried to convey Melan's message.
After a couple attempts the vorlixx nodded and slowly walked up to Melan. Once its head was only a foot away from her it bowed it a bit.
"I'm not entirely sure, but I think you should do the same," Valerie whispered to Melan. "To be polite."
Melan took a deep breath and went down onto one knee and bowed her head.
The vorlixx straightened up, raised its head to the air and let out a high pitched roar. The other vorlixx followed suit and did the same. The clearing was crammed with the deafening screeching. The woman gathered, flinching at the unexpected and terrifying sound.
"Okay, I have no idea what that means," Valerie said almost laughing as the vorlixx lowered their heads and began to disperse. "But I'm sure it's good. You are safe to stay here the night."
The group began to settle down, as the vorlixx seemed to go about their business. Most of them looked around uncomfortably. The thought of spending the night here was not an idea most agreed with. It wasn't helped by the fact a few vorlixx continued to move around them. What exactly they were doing was unsure, but the team could guess it was something like making sure that they all stayed where they were and didn't cause trouble. When Kris, Valerie and the others in their team looked around. They were concerned. The women's looks were obvious and if they felt to pressured they could crack and trouble could break out. Ties were still loose with the vorlixx. It would not take much for a fight to get started. Not just a friendly fistfight between a couple of them either.
"Valerie, I'm wondering. But just how is it you managed to communicate with them so quickly in a way that they could understand?" asked Kris after a short while trying to take his mind off the situation as they awkwardly sat down at the edge of the group closest to the wandering vorlixx. "You've only been missing since yesterday."
"Well, I've learned sign language as a second language years ago because I have a deaf cousin who I saw a lot in my earlier years," Valerie answered. "So I tried using that on the vorlixx and it seemed to have worked partially. They also seem to understand some words I say if I've managed to associate a certain word with something that they can identify with, or in their case sound with an object. Though they may understand some of what we say, I don't believe that they can reply with words such as ours. They aren't designed to speak and thus physically incapable of speaking English. Of course the biggest thing was imagery. If they can identify what you draw, they know what you're referring too."
"Unbelievable, simply unbelievable," replied Kris. "You're amazing."
Valerie beamed with pleasure at the praise; even blushing a little as she sat next to him, putting her arm around his, though Kris was still in the suit, making it feel a little awkward. The situation made her feel really clever to have come up with a method of communications with another race and in such a short time. The others never would have thought of that. She thought. Right now, with her success, Kris in her arm and the beautiful world around them, Valerie felt as if everything was perfect and wished it would not change. Everything was right and it was made perfect because Anthieyah was not there.
"So tell me, what happened while I was away?" she asked, brushing her hair back and looking up to Kris with her eyes gleaming in the twilight.