12 12. Gladius

Before anyone could process what was said and do anything Tsworeyn on his mount was already on his way, cutting the distance between him and Liam in the blink of an eye.

The Na'vi wanted to kill the human who in his mind mutilated and kidnapped members of his clan, he was going to free the poor traumatized teenager from this monster.

'Fuck!', Liam internally swore in frustration a part of his mind telling him 'I told you.', grabbing the handle of his war scythe he moved away from the cart, as the madman apparently gave no attention to the wounded inside which only furthered the human frustration.

The muscular six-legged horse, with on top a nearly three meters tall blue man wielding a spear that might as well be a jousting spear to a human, was intimidating but Liam was deathly calm, confident even but a part of him was still nervous. 

He was faster, stronger, smarter, and had better weapons than the Na'vi charging at him, this compensated for his non-existent experience in an actual fight against an admittedly experienced cavalier while he was on foot, or in any death fight with a fellow sapient being at all for that matter.

Liam didn't have the time to think of an elaborate and peaceful way to solve this problem and the Na'vi would neither understand nor have listened to him if they could communicate. 

His gray eyes followed the sharpened stone serving as a spearhead aimed right at his armored chest.

With this force and momentum, it would skewer him or at the very minimum break a bit more than some of his ribs, his bronze chest plate wasn't magical. Both of those were unacceptable outcomes.

But he didn't move, shocking and horrifying nearly everyone but the Olo'eyktan who, even if beyond enraged at his hunter and his inability to stop anything, thought this comparatively small sky person had balls of steel in the Na'vi equivalent or was plain insane, likely both. 

Even he wouldn't stay rooted on the ground with such confidence, borderline arrogance if he were in this situation. Though a great part of him was also appealed by the potential death of the man, his voice was loud as he yelled out but his orders went unheard and it was too late to stop what was going to happen.

While the young hunter sneered victoriously at the Demon 'petrified' in 'fear' at his 'might' too clouded by anger to perceive anything more. 

Liam without wavering swung his war scythe to the side, a simple movement with a clear lack of mastery but with strength beyond what a creature his size behind it should naturally have.

The two forces collided, and the blunt side of the curved blade slammed against the pole of the Na'vi weapon, nearly crushing the young hunter's hand missing the thumb by a few centimeters.

Liam felt the shock transfer from the pole of his weapon to his hand and then his arms, forcing his position to move ever so slightly but he held easily. It was a wee bit painful.

The next instant the primitive weapon of the Na'vi broke in half. The butt of the spear whipped against Tsworeyn's back with a loud crack causing the Tsaheylu with his mount to be forcefully and violently severed.

This resulted in the young hunter falling from his mount who immediately neighed and escaped, while for Liam the spearhead aimed for his heart saw nearly all its momentum cut short and it was harmlessly flung into the distance.

Before the Na'vi brain registered anything with the shock caused by his mental link brutally severed. Liam aimed his left wrist at the future position of the falling young hunter's shoulder.

And with a flex of his pinky finger, a barely audible click was heard and the string of the wrist crossbow propelled a small wooden bolt.

The next instant the Na'vi slammed on the ground and painfully gurgled out incoherently, <Dem-AaURg! Uhhref...>

Tsworeyn's head was spinning, a stinging sensation on his left shoulder as he, unable to catch his breath lay in shock on his chest.

Then all of the pain wracking his body slowly and unnaturally started to fade away into nothingness just as his entire left side was getting numb until he couldn't move or feel anything on that side. And it was spreading.

Panic was rising but he couldn't scream for help or run he was physically unable to, and as such, it created a vicious cycle. The Na'vi's green eyes frantically looked everywhere for a way out until they locked onto the gray one of the Demon.

'Terrified as you should.', the man thought, his gaze filled with a quality it never had before. It was cold and simmering with anger, this was a new experience. One experience he didn't like but one he was sure was only going to be the first of so many more.

The eyes of the downed Na'vi when he met Liam own were not of hate or some self-righteous bravado but of terror as he realized that he was at the Demon's mercy. Fear of death, fear of Liam.

This time it didn't bother the man, in fact, a part of him strongly wanted to kill the Na'vi right here, right there, and right now but he won't, he can't. To his great displeasure, a thought that would have horrified him if the situation was different.

Doing so will lead to catastrophic consequences for everyone, taking out any possible degree of control of the situation. The current situation was already bad enough as it is.

"Lucky you, your clan mates are here. If we have the pleasure to meet again I will kill you.", Liam whispered with an almost animalistic growl to the Na'vi whose eyes turned to pinprick out of instinctual terror only a prey would have when faced with its natural predator.

The implant glowed brighter but was unnoticed as it was hidden by layers of tissues and armor.

Then he took the small wood crossbow bolt out, it was still in one piece, and cleaned the wound with a piece of tissue and saline solution in his satchel. Again no need for any of these blue people to know about his inventory.

Standing up Liam turned around, smiling at the teens, then his face became unreadable as he observed the two other riders, searching for any sign of aggression. 

The two faces showed several degrees of shock, and shame at what just happened but neither drew their weapons, which was a very good sign but ultimately it was their failure to not handle their people adequately, not once but twice.

And it will happen again. It was inevitable, likely not from them, but problems like that were but a taste of what was to come. 

Of course, most Na'vi will be hostile toward him, he was human. With the horrors a good portion of what his species down on this moon had done to the native, but he didn't come here because he wanted.

He didn't do anything to warrant such plain aggression and attack on his life.

It was unfair but it was life, crying wasn't going to solve anything, however, having to take the brunt of consequences from others' actions was getting annoying incredibly fast.

And speaking of humans, he was conflicted on how he should act when he was found by them or he found them. But it was a question for later.

If it were someone else, that poor soul who only wanted to help would have been killed by a xenophobic maniac with a hate boner for humans. Both species indeed shared many similarities.

Let's say that he didn't have the best impression of the Na'vi, the one who failed to kill him in particular.

Teenagers and children could and should be forgiven as long as the mistakes were in the realm of the reasonable but for adults… It was a different and much more complicated story. That's how Liam saw it.

Finally, he walked away ignoring the voices behind him, he was not in the state of mind to stay one second more with any of them. 

But it wasn't bad, he decided to see the glass half filled, he showed himself as someone willing to help but also as someone that was far from defenseless, will not hesitate to fight back, and his capable of showing mercy and restraint. 

It wasn't the peaceful ending he had hoped for but it could have ended oh so much worse.

Three days later.

'Still no other blue cat people in sight today… That's good I guess. I can work in peace.' Liam thought, audibly cracking his neck from left to right before sighing, he was working on the head of a pickaxe. 

He was using the steel from one of the claws mixed with a bit of iron, and an even smaller amount of copper. A loss of a claw maybe, but it wasn't adapted to be used as the head of a pickaxe.

He was hammering with force and precision while the steel was red hot against a bronze anvil until the shape he desired was attained. 

Forging was relaxing, just like cooking, and seeing your work take shape before your very eyes was even more satisfying, and gratifying even. Each clank of metal against metal as he worked like a human forge hammer given form was like music letting him think of something outside of his situations and the future.

Finishing after cooling the metal in a big container of water he verified that there wasn't any crack or problem all over the pickaxe's head doing various tests at the same time.

Nodding to himself in satisfaction he put the handle, a good hit with the palm of his hand to put the head and the handle together. 

Spinning the pickaxe like it was but a pen someone would flick around to test if it stayed in place for a short time… And also because it was kinda fun. And a bit dangerous but that was a minor detail in the grand scheme of things.

After he cleaned and stored everything in its designated place. A minimum of order was necessary, humans were chaotic creatures that thrived in order and he was no exception to this rule.

Taking a cold shower that washed away the grime from the last few days he put on only a clean pair of plain plant fiber woven pants and walked to the egg, freezing momentarily as he heard a soft crack. A large grin immediately found its way onto his face.

He pushed the protective cover of ropes and hides aside, and his grin grew wider like an excited child about to open his Christmas present as cracks were appearing on one side of the egg. 

'Yes! I did it! Ah… Calm down, Liam… It isn't born just yet…', he mentally cheered before calming down, but trepidation and excitement were still in his heart. The intense but pleasant glow of his implant also betrayed his current state of mind.

Whistling softly, Liam didn't have to wait long for the chick inside to excitedly call back to him. The encouragement of its 'Father' spurred it to put more effort into escaping its calcium prison. 

This exchange continued for at least half an hour until an orange beak followed by a small navy blue roundish head with orange stripes. Four round eyes observed their blurry but slowly clearing surroundings for the first time, desperately searching for its 'Father'.

"Hey behind you li'l buddy.", a gentle but deep voice called from behind, this instantly calmed down the hatchling who happily chirped, but it was still confused as to where its 'Father' was. 

The voice was familiar, reassuring, and comforting, it recognized it. Looking for the source it forced its small neck out, next was the end of its two prehensible neural queues that were attached at the start of said neck. 

With one final push, it broke free covered in whatever was supposed to be in an alien egg.

It clumsily tried to walk, turning around it was met with Liam whose smile only widened, immediately abandoning walking it crawled enthusiastically toward the human using its arms, which were at moment entirely clawless.

Liam with rapt attention observed the newborn murder bird clumsily approach him, and when he saw it was starting to get exhausted he entered the hole in the tree. Hole that was several meters above the ground.

Putting his back against the dry sapwood, he delicately picked up the newborn, it was the size of a turkey but it was so weak, so fragile. And it was starting to shiver, it needed heat.

Placing it in his lap he took a piece of plant-woven tissue and started cleaning the hatchling who stopped shivering thanks to the warmth of his body.

It stared up at him with unblinking curious eyes, a gaze entirely different from its true parent. 

It was how a puppy will look at his owner, but more intense. It was hard to describe, the main aspect behind it was love, trust, and attachment.

"Hmm… I need to think of a name for you… how about Gladius? Do you like it?", Liam asked looking down at the alien bird who didn't understand anything but chirped happily anyway.

"Gladius it is then. Not very original but heh.", the human said, and got another chirp for an answer, this one with evident fatigue. It used a lot of energy to hatch after all.

He didn't know what sex the bird was, was it male female, hermaphrodite, or something else? He didn't particularly care for either of them at the moment. Not like Gladius would get offended if he misgendered it.

It huddled even closer to Liam, the small vestigial wings folded on its back, then one of its neural queues as if it had a mind of its own snaked toward Liam's left wrist who was looking at the scene with great curiosity unsure of what he should do.

Pink tendrils waving in the air covered in short pure white follicles emerged as the skin protecting them unfurled in a similar way to a flower blooming, and then they touched the cold metal of his implant.

*

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