Total pages in book: 48
Estimated words: 44088 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 220(@200wpm)___ 176(@250wpm)___ 147(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 44088 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 220(@200wpm)___ 176(@250wpm)___ 147(@300wpm)
“It’s the most beautiful thing I have ever seen,” she breathes. “And the most dangerous. Are those…”
She points out into the bone fields, where a track of large, predatory paws is imprinted in the fine, calcium-rich ground.
“Do those belong to a predator?”
My human is quick to recognize danger.
“These lands are home to large cats. The cats are very large and very dangerous. Fortunately, they are also few and far between.”
“An environment can only handle so many apex predators,” she says, almost more to herself than me. Then she catches my eye, and as always when she is on the verge of saying something, she falls silent. This human does not want to be known.
“Yes. We will do our very best to avoid them. They hunt at night, so we will sleep during the day and move at night. It will be cold. We will not have a fire, nor will we be able to eat until the sun has risen. The smell of food will attract them.”
“How long will it take to cross the bone field?”
“Three days going at my speed. You will keep up as best you can, and when you can no longer follow, I will carry you. It is best if I have my arms free, however.”
“I’ll keep up,” she promises.
It is a promise she will not be able to keep, but humans like to make such promises to signal their willingness to try. I do not respond.
“We will retreat to a safe distance and make one last camp among the boulders,” I tell her. “And we will eat well. We will need our energy.”
I do not tell her about the curse or the significance of this place to my people. She does not need to know these things. All she needs to know are the details of the physical danger.
When we have fed, I decide to hunt. Leaving Tarni on her own feels dangerous and wrong. She is so small, barely a mouthful for one of these giant cats. I cannot leave her without any protection.
“I will leave you my spear to protect you,” I say. “The sharp end goes into the attacker, if one should arrive.”
She nods, her eyes wide. She is afraid. She does not like to be away from me. She craves closeness. She takes comfort in my presence. I know these things and they make me both happy and furious.
“I am going to see what I can get for our dinner.”
Her light fingers wrap around the shaft of the staff, barely able to grip it properly. The odds of her being able to use it effectively are close to none.
I go and hunt, but I am tormented. We are getting ever closer to the location of Colony Alpha and the climax of this connection. When she sees the wreckage, she will know that her people have been routed and destroyed. She will feel pain, deep emotional anguish. I will have revenge of a kind, but at what cost? And to what end?
Distracted by my thoughts of lust and revenge, each chasing the other and doing battle for the territory of my heart, I fail to notice that I am being tracked home.
The cat moves completely silently, large paws moving across the bone lands. I should feel its primal predatory gaze, but I feel nothing beside the inside of my head.
The beast flies at me. I see the shadow coming over me. I know in an instant that these are my final moments. The bones of my human and me will lie at the border of this bone field along with the many belonging to other unwary travelers.
SSCHWOOP!
A spear is thrust at the very last second, finding the throat of the creature with the accuracy of a seasoned hunter. It impales itself with the force of its own powerful leap. The same energy designed to kill me was his undoing. A gush of blood explodes from the spear wound, coating me from head to toe. It would be a great honor, if not for the fact that I have not claimed the creature’s life. That honor belongs to a greater warrior than I.
I turn and see the human behind me, holding the spear in both hands. She did not bear the weight of the creature, because she had the sense to let the end of the spear slam against the bone ground. The weight of the creature was its own undoing.
For a brief, brilliant moment, I see the human as she has tried so hard to stop me from seeing her. I see her strong. I see her powerful. I see her ruthless and unafraid. I see an entirely different person.
She drops her gaze, lowers her head, and rounds her shoulders as soon as I make eye contact with her, hiding all those things.