Chapter 31
Szhe’ka
The destruction of my plumage is an unexpected loss. How is Ani to know how much time I have spent for the perfect plumage? I cannot let her know how much she has devastated me when she is so scared of her own body.
She could not have hurt me intentionally. I believe that much. She is trying her hardest to control her acid spit so she won’t hurt me again. That is the kind of person Ani is, or will be, once she continues her inward molt.
“So far, you have learned how to at least aim it. I would guess you cannot talk until you can control it,” Azoeul remarks casually, leaning against the remnants of the tree Ani hit several times. “That should be enough to keep you practicing.”
She makes a gesture with one of her fingers. A glance at the male lets me know he doesn’t know what it means either. Azoeul disappears in a flash, going out of earshot soon after.
She is mumbling and stomping the ground angrily, clearly filled with words to complain, but holding them in. She is managing rather well, especially compared to when we first met. If she were to start screaming again, we would have a lot more problems.
“Angry?” I ask her, even though it is obvious.
She stops stomping the ground and responds in a tired voice. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
“I know. And you just spoke without hurting me,” I point out.
Without responding, she sets off toward the stream.
She does not say anymore and moves into the water. She drinks from it, shaking her feathers as she does.
She is adapting well to her new features, better than I ever would. I cannot imagine losing all my feathers, my whole body completely replaced with smooth, hairless skin like hers. I cannot even imagine being a smaller size, navigating the world with fewer limbs.
She is gulping down water like she holds a pit in her stomach.
She catches me staring at her and beckons to me with a hand. I enter the water without a thought, the pain of my burnt plume all forgotten. Once I’m right in front of her, she pulls me forward by my upper limbs. I don’t resist, knowing now that the movement is to make me available for her touch.
I fold my much larger body down eagerly, heart pounding in anticipation. She traces her fingers over the burn, her eyes intently gazing at the place she hurt.
Then her hands roam farther. Over my eye ridges, across the sensitive skin of my drums, down the sides of my neck.
“Ani…”
Even the barest of her touch stokes an unbearable heat in me.
Her hands wander to my face and I shiver at her touch.
Every part of my body screams at me to pull her in close to me.
To position her so I can spiral into her, but I hold myself back, not knowing what kind of signal this touch may or may not be.
Instead, I move my lower limbs to embrace her lightly, and my upper to trace her features as she is tracing mine. Her breathing quickens, making it harder for me to contain my coil.
The sound of rapid steps interrupts us and I move myself out of Ani’s touch just as Azoeul bursts through the trees.
“We need to move. A new group is nearby,” he says in a rush. “We need to follow that trail before we get cut off from it.”
We work quickly, dispersing our traces on another trail to lead them away according to Azoeul’s instructions. The path is thinner with higher grass and looser soil. I tower above grass while Azoeul and Ani blend in well. We continue walking until we can no longer hear the sound of water.
“Keep moving. They are close,” he says after going out to scout.
I am quick on my feet, grabbing Ani up in my arms.
She taps my hands and points to the ground. I know she wants to run but Azoeul shuts that idea down almost immediately.
“I have a plan,” Azoeul tells us.
***
Ani doesn’t hesitate.
She steps out from the brush and into the clearing we carved from the undergrowth, feet crunching over the disturbed soil.
The pit sits ten paces behind her, thin lattice of branches disguising the drop.
She stands in front of it, shoulders loose, arms lifted slightly away from her sides in false surrender.
I am already in the trees.
Thirty feet above her, pressed along a thick branch, I steady my breathing and shift the weight of the projectiles in my grip. Sharpened wood, dense stones, a coiled length of thorned vine. Azoeul waits on the opposite flank, hidden in shadow.
They are not subtle. The hunters break through the tree line in a staggered line, heavy, wet bodies shoving aside branches. Six of them. Armed.
They see her immediately. A lone human female standing in the open.
Their pace slows. Weapons lowered slightly. Not mercy, but curiosity.
The largest pushes forward. Its head dips, teeth bared inches from her face. My claws bite into the bark beneath me. I hold position. If I move too soon, we lose the trap.
Ani waits.
She doesn’t flinch.
When it leans closer, breath washing over her, she bares her teeth right back.
“Go to hell.”
Venom sprays straight into its eyes.
The hunter bellows, rearing back blindly and steps exactly where we need it to.
The lattice collapses.
It drops with a roar into the pit, the sound ending in a wet, heavy impact as the spikes take it.
Ani is already moving, twisting away in a clean pivot as the ground gives way behind her.
I launch.
The first volley rains down before the others understand what happened. Stones crack against their bodies. Sharpened branches punch into exposed skin. One staggers. Another turns, searching for me.
Too slow.
I drop lower, hook an arm around Ani’s waist, and propel us upward into the canopy. She braces against me without panic, already aiming. She spits again mid-swing.
It’s a perfect shot. Another hunter screams, clawing at its eyes.
Azoeul blurs through them, small and lethal, blade flashing in quick, efficient arcs. He doesn’t linger. He disables and moves, leaving confusion in his wake.
I release Ani onto a branch and dive, claws first. I slam into the nearest hunter before it can recover, driving it sideways. We hit the ground hard. I tear through softer tissue beneath its jaw before it can bring its weapon around. It collapses.
Movement to my left. I pivot, rake, retreat. I am not as fast as Azoeul, but I do not need to be. Surprise is still ours.
Within moments, the clearing is chaos. Two down, one blinded, one fleeing, one gutted, one impaled below us.
Ani drops from the tree long enough to finish the blinded one with another precise venom strike before rolling way as I join her. Silence settles in pulses.
This group is broken, but I doubt they were alone.
I move beside her. “We go.”
She doesn’t argue.
I scoop her up and sprint, clearing the pit in a single leap. She whoops as the wind hits her face, wild laughter ripping out of her. As we run, she sprays venom behind us into tree trunks and undergrowth. Not at enemies, but in exhilaration.
I do not share her celebration. Others will find the bodies. They will not walk blindly into traps twice.
Azoeul zips ahead, then circles back, incredulous. “I cannot believe that worked!”
Ani laughs harder at that. Even I feel the edge of disbelief.
We put distance between ourselves and the clearing before finally slowing beneath dense cover. I set her down. She immediately drops flat on her back in the leaves, staring up through the canopy, chest heaving.
For someone meticulous about her appearance, it is an uncharacteristically careless sprawl.
“The main force will adjust,” I say. “We rest briefly. Then relocate.”
Azoeul nods. “I will scout for food.” He vanishes again.
Ani pushes herself upright suddenly, squeezes her eyes shut, and shakes her head. She turns to the side and spits a thick glob of venom into the dirt.
“Damn,” she mutters, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. “That was hard.”
Despite everything, I feel a flicker of pride.
She is learning quickly. “You are in control now. What changed?” I ask, curious.
“I do not know myself. It just… closed up. I can spit it on command now. See…”
She spits at a pile of grass and they melt instantly. She grins and leaps into my arms, going in for a kiss this time in a more thrilling spot next to my lips. I accept it gratefully, knowing it is not enough.
Azoeul returns, arms full of fruit and nuts, which he drops when Ani turns to him to start talking.
We both laugh as he dances away, expecting venom to be riding his steps. When he looks back to see she has control, he joins us with an odd, toneless laugh of his own.
Once we are done replenishing our energy, we prepare for another attack.
Azoeul sharpens the sticks for the stakes while I dig the hole. Ani gathers what we can use as projectiles, putting them in a pile where I can easily reach. We make quick work of our tasks and soon, it is time for Ani to bait again.
Azoeul dashes out to gather information on another group while Ani and I tail behind him. Holding Ani to my chest, I make several leaps, running over logs as Azoeul darts back our way.
“They found our first trap and have a tracker,” he reports. “There are too many and they are following Szhe’ka’s trail.”
I let out a long note of chagrin. I wasn’t made for the ground and I know I’m leaving a mess of broken grass and sticks behind me, not to mention talon marks.
“We need to run,” Ani urges.
“I haven’t properly scouted,” Azoeul protests.
“No time. We need to head toward the others,” she responds.
“I don’t think we are on the right path for that,” I point out.
“Are we going in the general direction?” Ani asks.
“We are.”
“Then that will have to be good enough. Let’s go,” Ani urges. “Put me down and I’ll run.”
I do as she tells me, then we set off, Azoeul darting ahead and then back to us repeatedly, all of my limbs aching from the awkward, sustained pace.
“Water ahead,” he tells us after an eternity of agony, slowing his pace to match ours.
Not long after, the trees part to reveal a large lake, well below us.
Under us are jagged rocks waiting to impale anyone who slips. We cannot possibly survive a drop like that. However, the descent is steep and even with careful steps, we cannot run to the bottom.
Azoeul picks up a log and throws it down. It shatters on impact against one of the jagged rocks, splitting into several pieces.
He turns to us. “We have to chance it.”
“Make a better plan,” she demands. “Szhe’ka’s might be handling trees just fine, but our bodies weren’t made for scrambling down cliffs.”
She is obstinate, but Azoeul does not give up.
“They will kill us, but you will wish you were dead,” he states plainly, staring her in the eyes.
He speaks only the truth but she holds her gaze against him. They stare at each other, an unspoken conversation flying between them over my own life. I am willing to take the chance, but when I start to speak Ani shushes me.
“They are almost here, and we don’t have time to set a trap,” he argues. “You know he won’t even try to get down there unless you go first and we are dead if we stay here arguing.”
That does it.
She grumbles, but starts making the slippery climb down.
I turn to him, grateful he is at my side, but questioning why he would be. He could climb down faster than any of us. I open my mouth to ask him why, but the hunters announce their presence with weapons blasting at us.
I jump out of the way to avoid the projectiles fired at us while Azoeul strikes back, throwing stones in a flurry of speed, darting behind trees each time they try to target him.
He does not approach the main force, defending so the projectiles do not reach either of us.
It is taking everything in me to just avoid the projectiles but I will not have to do that much longer.
“I’m down!” Ani screams up at us.