Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 77764 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 389(@200wpm)___ 311(@250wpm)___ 259(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77764 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 389(@200wpm)___ 311(@250wpm)___ 259(@300wpm)
My heart thuds anxiously as I head away from the fire, towards the distant figures. Skarr moves into place a few steps behind me, as if I might need reinforcements. But I know everyone on this planet. I know everyone at Icehome village and I know everyone at Croatoan. There’s no need for protection. If someone’s heading to our camp carrying a person on their back, it’s most likely an injury.
For a moment, I worry that it’s my I’rec, and that sukob has struck. That we’re unlucky after all.
But I’rec doesn’t think that, I remind myself. He considers himself extra lucky to have me, and so I push the thought aside. I won’t let luck dictate my future, I decide. Fuck that, and fuck superstition anyhow.
My heart skips a jagged beat when the person gets closer and I see light blue skin and furred arms…but the stance is different. And when I see the long braid, I exhale in relief. It’s O’jek, which means he’s carrying Daisy. “It’s a friend,” I tell Skarr. “The one we were waiting on. He must be carrying his mate.”
“Is his mate tired or injured?”
“I have no idea,” I reply, and jog out to meet them. Knowing poor Daisy, it could be either.
O’jek looks absolutely wrecked as I race out to meet them. His eyes have dark circles under them and his steps slow as I approach. His gaze immediately goes to Skarr, and his eyes flash warning. He sets Daisy on her feet and then steps in front of her, baring his teeth, and his camouflage ripples.
“He’s a friend,” I call out quickly. It feels strange to realize Daisy and O’jek have no idea of all the newcomers we’ve just found. “He was dropped here, too.”
Daisy peeks out from behind O’jek’s back and looks at me. “Is Niri still here? Did she leave me a message?”
“More or less,” I admit. “And she left a whole lot of people here for us to take care of. Did you guys see Ashtar? Or maybe R’jaal and Tia?” I eye Daisy. “And are you both okay?”
O’jek runs a hand down his face. “We have a problem.”
“A problem?” I echo, worried. I’m mentally going through the issues that could have happened while they were gone. They look healthy but tired. Perhaps Daisy fell and miscarried? Or they were attacked by more metlaks and their wounds are hidden underneath their furs? “Tell me what hurts.”
Daisy shakes her head, moving forward—or trying to. O’jek puts an arm out and keeps her behind him. She casts me a worried look, barely sparing a glance at Skarr, who eyes her with fascination. “I deciphered the writing on the wall at the Ancestors’ Cave. The message that Penny found.”
A prickle of worry shivers up my spine. “Oh?”
“It says that the natives in the caves aren’t friendly. That the arboretum—that must be the fruit cave—has been closed off because of attacks. Two women were stolen away and taken to a distant island, and the others were heading into the mountains to avoid them.”
“Avoid…them?”
“The natives,” Daisy says again. “The ancestors. The ones that were here when the sakh landed. According to that message, they didn’t die out a long time ago. They were still around when the sakh landed here, and they claimed the fruit cave as theirs.”
And R’jaal and Tia are missing.
Oh, shit.
Epilogue I
R’JAAL
My head feels as if it was cracked open.
My memories are fuzzy, but I don’t recall what caused my head to hurt. Just that I was talking to T’ia by the strange pond in the fruit cave, trying to get to know her. Trying to grasp if I felt anything for her, considering we were the last two without resonance. Surely I would feel…something?
I do not remember feeling anything, though. And when I wake up and look around, I do not remember how I got here, behind the bars of a cage. The cages I have made were to catch fish and comprised of reeds. I get to my feet, cradling my aching head in my hand, and push at the bars. They are like stone, except…shiny. Odd. I slide an arm through the bars, seeing if I can wriggle my way out, and when I cannot, a sense of foreboding grips me.
I have been trapped like an animal.
I….have no idea where I am. On the other side of the bars is what looks like a cave, with an exit outward, but I do not know where it leads. Someone brought me here and put me in this dark place, trapping me here. Why? And where is T’ia? Where are A’tar and the others?”
“I’ve tried. You can’t get out,” says an unfamiliar voice, in an equally unfamiliar language. The voice is female, the language one of the strange, fluid human tongues.
The voice does something to me.