Crius shot me a smug grin.
Ugh, the bastard.
I crossed my arms over my chest and waited for the gates to open. The only option was to suck it up. I could deal with Crius’s presence as long as he actually taught me something. My bid for a bit of freedom just became a whole hell of a lot less fun.
After leaving the gates, we entered a dense area of forest which covered a large section of the continent where the Drixonians made their home. Occasionally we saw remnants of their war with the Uldani.
Charred stone walls of what once had been Uldani dwellings were hidden among the dense foliage. In fact, the Night Kings barracks where most of the males now lived had once been some sort of Uldani resort along the coast.
I stepped as lightly and quietly behind Gar and Crius as I could. They didn’t talk much, but when Crius would point out some tracks, I’d stoop down to peer under his arm. I couldn’t see that great, so I’d wait until he moved on before I would study it closer.
For a being with such a large mass, Gar was stealthy. Twigs didn’t even crack beneath his big boots.
How did he do that?
He carried a weapon in one giant fist which resembled a crossbow. While the Drixonians owned solar guns, they didn’t use them to hunt since they burned too much flesh and fur. Gross, but fact. Seeing as antella meat made up a large part of the warrior’s diet, they didn’t want to waste anything. From the tongue to the tail, every bit of the animal was used for something.
We came across some salibri tracks. I hadn’t seen a live one yet, even though I slept under one of their furs every night, but Val had seen one. She said it looked a lot like a saber-toothed tiger.
While Gar walked ahead, I watched very closely as Crius pointed out the tracks in the dirt and marks on the nearby tree trunk. “They mark their territory with their fangs.”
The indentations were wet. I went to touch it when Gar’s deep voice cut through the air. I immediately stilled, only to find he was about ten feet away, glaring. “Salibri saliva won’t kill you, but it’ll burn.”
“Ew.” I took a step back. “Good to know. Thanks Gar.”
He gave me a sharp nod, then shot Crius an indecipherable look. Was he wondering why Crius hadn’t informed me of this? Because I sure was.
“Don’t touch it,” he said to me with a shrug.
I narrowed my eyes at him. “Yeah, thanks to Gar I know that now.”
He only gave me a lazy blink like he couldn’t have cared less.
I so didn’t like this guy.
We continued walking, and I learned how to spot nests where hunners lived. I also got an unwelcome lesson on pivar droppings, so I could avoid a herd of those meat-eating hippo-like bastards.
Finally, we found some antella tracks, and as much as I hated seeing these animals killed—they were kind of cute—the Drixonians only killed what they needed for meat, and only mature adults. Babies and fertile females were left alone.
Crius, finally realizing he had a purpose on this excursion, showed me the difference between antella rub marks from their antlers and the more aggressive marking of the salibri fangs.
Up head, Gar held up a hand, silencing Crius. I crouched but couldn’t see a damned thing. I assumed up ahead was an antella, but all I could make out was a blur of blue foliage.
Gar lifted his crossbow, notched an arrow, and shot.
I only heard a solid thunk and then a thud as the animal fell.
I silently mourned the loss of the animal while also thanking it for the food it would provide us. The warriors had more mouths to feed now, with the addition of us humans, especially because three of those humans were growing babies.
Gar motioned for us to stay where we were and then turned to retrieve the animal. I stood up slowly and returned my attention to the antella rubbings seeing as I had no intention of engaging in small talk with Crius.
He, however, had other ideas. “I want to show you something interesting. There’s an abandoned welf’s nest ahead.”
I liked Luna, the welf Reba had adopted when she’d found her as a pet next to her dead parent, so I got over my dislike of Crius. “Sure, I’d like that. Should we yell to Gar?”
He shook his head. “We’ll only be a moment. I saw it recently, so I know right where it is.”
“Okay,” I tried to squint in Gar’s direction, but I couldn’t see him, so I followed Crius as we took a detour to check out the welf’s nest. Luna wasn’t even full grown yet, but she seemed like a direwolf out of Game of Thrones. Best of all, she was ridiculously loyal to Reba and had seemed to adopt the rest of us human women into her circle.
“Right up there,” Crius pointed and nudged me ahead of him. “See it?”
I didn’t, of course, but I refused to show weakness around Crius of all people. “Yeah, I think so,” I answered vaguely.
We walked further, and while I had no way to track time here—my Apple Watch having long died—our trek seemed far. My inner alarm blared. I knew I was supposed to trust all Drixonians as their creed was She is All, but I judged everyone individually. I stopped and let out an annoyed sigh.
“Crius, are you sure we shouldn’t have told Gar where we were going?”
No answer.
I turned to find myself alone. Completely and utterly alone. “Crius?” I called. Maybe he stopped to take a whiz. But he should have told me. And why didn’t I hear him walk away? I could have sworn he was right behind me.
My heart started pounding as the hair on the back of my neck stood on end. Immediately my mind raced with the all the things in this forest which could kill me in bloody, painful ways.
“Gar?” I cried out as footsteps crashed toward me.
I exhaled in relief. Good, one of the blue bastards had found me. I was going to give Crius a swift kick in the balls for this…
Except the creatures coming toward me were not Drixonians. They were Kulks, the armored soldiers who did the Uldani’s bidding. Three of them stood in front of me, peering at me with their yellow eyes through the slits in the helmets. Fear slammed into me like a punch.
I opened my mouth and got a split-second of a scream out before they lunged. One clocked me in the jaw, and blood filled my mouth before another clapped his hand over my lips. He effectively cut off any more of my verbal protests with a forearm to my throat. I kicked and flailed, but these guys were seven-foot-tall behemoths. One grabbed my hands and slapped a set of manacles on them. I went into a crocodile roll. No way would they take me to the Uldani who wanted to use me in their fucked-up breeder program. No way in hell.
I tried to bite, but the gloves the Kulks wore prevented my teeth from doing any damage. I lashed out with my feet, the only weapons I had left. One slammed right into the chest plate of one of the Kulks. A sickening crack followed, and for a moment, I thought I hurt him until pain streaked up my leg like wildfire. I screamed behind his hand holding my mouth as I stared down at my ankle which now hung at an odd angle. Tears streamed from the corners of my eyes as despair swamped me. No, no, no. I couldn’t be away from my girls.
Dizzy with pain, I tried one more effort at bucking the hands off me, but it was no use. They were moving me now, carrying me away from the only safety I had felt on this planet. I cried for Gar, who lost his sister and would now lose me, for the girls who’d have to mourn me. I cried for myself, because fuck, my ankle hurt, and I didn’t want to be used for my womb by some cracked-out aliens.