Chapter 38
Tuvo
Mostly nude – except for a cloth tied around his waist to hide his cock – Tuvo ran along the lower branches of the canopy. The rings carved into the trees weren’t particularly easy to spot from this height, but the clear path cut through by the person who carved them was.
Behind him, the humans of Brilhar were disappearing into the trees.
Hiding. Doing their best to camouflage and lay in wait.
For a species that had only a single color per person, they were surprisingly good at blending with their surroundings.
Not as adept as him, of course, but they disappeared into the underbrush with ease.
They stayed back, letting him go first. Not just because he could blend in, but because he could walk the trees in a way they could not. He was going to find where the Three Rings were and start the attack. The others would follow after.
Their goal was to prevent them from ever getting to the village. Or let them close to the females and younglings.
His female and their potential pup.
The thought nearly made him trip. He had to come to a stop, breath caught in his throat. How could that thought be so wonderful and terrible at the same time?
He shook his head, forcing it away. This was not the time. He couldn’t allow his worry for her to interfere with his mission.
And right now, it was more important that he protect her from this threat.
He started jogging and jumping again. Following the trail of broken vegetation below.
His target was easy to find. They weren’t at all trying to be quiet.
The Three Rings were traveling in a group. Cutting their way through the underbrush with huge, thick blades. All of them had guns. They were staring forward with harsh determination. He counted ten… fifteen… eighteen males.
Tuvo stopped on a high branch, near the trunk of a tree, hiding in the shadows as he watched them continue their slow march.
They weren’t even trying to hide. They were following the path marked out on their calling card with the full confidence of a group that knew no one was going to stop them.
The sheer audacity of it told him just how long they must have been doing this with no powerful authority trying to stop them.
It was infuriating. Burrowing under his skin. They had no fear. No concern at all. They were ready to slaughter a village of innocent people that had no way of defending themselves. And they knew there would be no consequences.
Tuvo’s anger only grew as they moved around his tree, splitting like water flowing around a stone, not even looking up. A mistake a domini would never make, because his species knew to keep watch for threats from above.
He waited. Patient. Quiet. The excitement of the coming fight rising in his gut.
They moved past his tree, and he scaled down. Moving quickly. Silently. He dropped the last few lengths to the ground. He didn’t even have to worry about trying to be silent. Not with how loud they were being.
Brazen. Accustomed to being untouchable. Sloppy.
The first male fell without a sound.
He was bringing up the rear, chewing and spitting something foul every so often. He looked bored. Like he only came along because he had to. He wasn’t even paying attention. The idea of mass death was so boring, he completely checked out.
Tuvo came up behind him, covered his mouth with one hand and slashed his claws across his throat with the other. Hot blood soaked his palm as he blocked the powerful, pulsatile bleeding from gushing forward and hitting anyone else. The male struggled, but not for long.
And the others, loud and unconcerned, kept going forward. No one even looked back when Tuvo tossed the male’s body into the underbrush and crept forward again.
The second and third males fell exactly the same way.
One of them looked uncertain, like he may not want to be here, but he didn’t stop moving forward and his grip on his gun was secure.
The other one stumbled on a rock and fell back by a step.
Just a step, but it was enough to separate him from the pack and into Tuvo’s grasp.
After that, there were no more stragglers. And without an easy target, he changed his strategy.
The fourth male wasn’t a straggler, but he was near the edge. Chatting with one of the others, laughing and making obscene gestures. He looked entirely too happy to be here.
Tuvo came around, crouched in the brush, and waited. When he came by, Tuvo struck. He slashed his claws across his heels, cutting the tendon there. He cried out, but before he could fall, Tuvo grabbed his ankle and yanked him into the underbrush as he screamed in horror.
His throat was cut and Tuvo disappeared back into the shadows. The male’s blood hadn’t even stopped flowing before the others rushed onto the scene. He was choking on the red fluid, trying and failing to speak, as he slowly got weaker and weaker.
It was so fast, no one had time to react. They just stared at him, stupefied.
Tuvo used their moment of shock to go around and grab another guy near the edge. He yanked him into the underbrush, gutted him, then disappeared before the hail of gunfire shredded the area as the males all cried out in fear.
He only took out one more male before someone called out to circle up, backs to the center, aiming their guns outward. All of them frantically sweeping their gaze across the underbrush, searching for some sign of him.
Tuvo had climbed up and now crouched in the trees overhead. He looked down at the remaining males as they continued to panic but still didn’t look up.
He waited. Patient. They would have to move at some point, and unless they could somehow cross this uneven terrain in a perfect defensive circle, they would need to make themselves vulnerable once again.
They called out to each other in a panic. He only understood a few of the Portuguese words. Just enough to recognize that they were trying to figure out what had attacked them and what they were going to do about it.
One of the males, the one that had ordered them into the defensive circle in the first place, barked out orders.
It took him a moment, but he eventually managed to get the others to calm down.
He forced them into a line, every other male looking off in a different direction.
The male at the end faced backwards, weapon at the ready.
They walked like that, trying to keep going while maintaining their defensive posture.
Tuvo climbed down again. He hid in the underbrush until they crossed his path.
He leapt out this time. Tackling the lagging male into the brush, knocking his gun free and ripping his claws up through his guts.
He continued running forward, leaving him there, once again escaping before the barrage of gunfire could cut through.
They only succeeded in putting the male out of his misery.
That was when the second volley of gunshots began.
Tuvo, already halfway up another tree, climbed around and looked over in time to see the men from the village charging forward. They must have heard the shooting and decided to close the last of the distance themselves.
Tuvo smirked, proud when he saw them moving in formation. Strong. Steady. They weren’t a polished, well trained fighting force yet, but they had learned, and they looked impressive.
He came down out of the tree again and crept around to the back of the fighting, trying to avoid getting shot at again.
It was over in moments.
The Three Rings were overrun by more than twenty villagers carrying their own guns. Tuvo stepped out of the underbrush, looking around at the carnage as the villagers stared in disbelief, as if they couldn’t believe what they had just done.
The shock only lasted a short time. Someone let out a whoop of excitement and he was immediately joined by the others as they hollered and roared their victory. Tuvo smiled, adding his voice to the cacophony, amplifying and encouraging them.
Someone said something about the females before running off and Tuvo imagined him going to get them out of the tree.
He walked over towards Inacio and asked simply, “Hurt?”
Inacio grunted, holding up three fingers. “Not bad.”
Three minor injuries. That wasn’t bad at all. Though, considering how unprepared and careless this group had been, maybe that wasn’t a surprise.
He turned and looked over the bodies with a snarl of disgust. One that Inacio mimicked, spitting on the corpse of one in particular. The leader that had actually managed to keep them in order – for however short a time that lasted.
Tuvo pointed at him, grunting a wordless question.
“Afonso,” he said, lip curling. “Son of…” He pointed up.
Ah. Afonso was his name, and he was the son of someone highly ranked in the Three Rings. And apparently, he was not liked as Inacio wasn’t the only one to spit on him.
While they figured out what to do, Tuvo looked around, checking on everyone. Just to be sure they were all there and that he hadn’t somehow miscommunicated with Inacio. Aside from the male that just ran to get the females, the only one missing was Keith.
Tuvo was not shocked or disappointed that the tiny male had fled in cowardice, even after he had promised to stay and fight. Ignoring that, he focused back on the task at hand.
After some discussion, it was decided that the bodies would be dragged back to the village and burned.
An action that Tuvo quite heartily agreed with.
Though, it took until he was helping pick them up and dump them on a wooden stretcher that he remembered that, to humans, burning a body and scattering their ashes wasn’t seen as an insult.
These people were actually going to give these males some kind of honorable send off. He rather felt it was a waste, but they were determined.
When he gave Inacio a curious look, he saluted him in the domini way, fist over heart, and said, “Not them. Better.”
Tuvo chuckled, thinking it odd, but didn’t hesitate to help them drag the bodies back. They were left on the edge of the village until a pyre could be made. Tuvo was glad to see the last of them as he stepped out of the tree line.
“Tuvo!”
There was Hattie. Running towards him, relief in her face.
Tuvo opened his arms, catching and lifting her up as she threw herself at him.
Her sweet, warm kisses rained down on his face as she babbled at him in English and Domtri and Standard – exclaiming again and again how happy she was that he was okay and that she had been so worried when she heard the gunshots.
“I’m here, vi kyrya,” he promised, holding her tight. “I’ll always be here.”