Epilogue 2
Iave
We’d been at Ahoshaga for almost a week, enjoying each other.
Rebuilding the caves with the others, and getting to know everyone.
Like the hunter Mox from Copper Tooth who had found us with his human mate Charlie.
I also enjoyed sparring with the human male, Reid.
He was a good fighter, shockingly strong and fast.
Kalani had surprised me with her inventiveness in bed, and she’d loved going on hunts with me to bring back food for our motley group. Still, I knew she was sad about Naomi. I felt it too. We hadn’t really known her, but it was the two of us that had been responsible for her survival.
Every day I tested my skills at carving again, hoping to cheer her up with little, personal gifts.
A carved Rakworm, a little Ayala, I even attempted to carve a miniature sky-ship for her but while the gifts made her smile and laugh, that never lasted long.
Her thoughts always returning to Naomi and how sad it made her that she’d perished.
I was outside, trying to figure out how to ask Zathar’s advice on the matter when I caught a flash of something red below us on the mountain.
“Bitter Storm!” I yelled immediately, my hands already grabbing for my ax.
Scanning around me, I located Kalani not far away, standing with the human females while they worked on cutting clothing from spare skins.
Kalani was just keeping them company, claiming she was a disaster with needle and thread.
At my warning, she was instantly rushing to my side, the ancient rifle in her hands.
She never let it get far from her side, and I’d heard her mumble about envious looks from Reid more than once.
She said it was almost out of ‘juice’ and she wasn’t going to let him waste any of her remaining shots.
The other hunters closed ranks in front of our more vulnerable members. Mox, Zathar, and Corin lined up with their own weapons at the ready. We were all scanning the trees for another flash of red, but it was the human male that located it first. “There, coming around those rocks.”
A Naga male with deep red scales came around them, long deep auburn hair crowning his skull in a high tail. I instantly knew who he was from his size alone which nearly rivaled my own, and the many scars that dotted his body. “The Warlord,” Kalani murmured, and then she shouted, “Hold your fire.”
She dashed from my side before I could stop her, and I raced after her, intending to grab her and yank her back to safety. Then a scent hit me, and my eyes darted to the bundle in the Bitter Storm Warlord’s arms.
“Hi,” Naomi said with a wave of her hand.
THE END