Chapter 23 Commander Graft #2
“What are your intentions, naga?” he asks, checking me up and down, evaluating me sharply. He is older than the other soldiers, and dirtier too. His hair is unwashed and dusted in white. But I know keen eyes when I see them. “What happened to the girl? How did she get hurt?”
My eyes narrow as anger, and the abrupt urge to avenge my kin, takes over my thoughts.
The need to wipe each and every one soldier here out until what remains of my clan’s old territory is back to being unoccupied.
The least I could do for them is to make these humans pay, even if they are different than the original humans that came here.
Silence fills my ears as he waits for my answer. An answer I hesitate to give.
These are Julia’s people.
My lips part and my hands slowly unclench. “She and two others were the only survivorssss of a ship they were on,” I decide to answer him, choosing a less violent course of action. “The injuries she sustained have made it hard and painful for her to breathe. Can you save her?”
The old soldier is silent for a moment. “Our field medics will try. Where are the other survivors?”
“I left them in the forest when the young female worsened.”
“Are the others hurt as well?”
“No.”
Coiling my tail under me, I prepare to race back to them—to Julia. Now that Olivia is with those who can care for her, it is they who need me. I move to turn away when the soldier lowers his weapon slightly.
“If you shoot me,” I stop and warn him, “I will claim your life before the bullet hits me.”
The male stiffens. “Of course you will, naga,” he snaps but does not re-aim his weapon. “That’s why I don’t plan on shooting you. Yet. As you are clearly well aware of us and our presence here, I have to ask, do you intend to be our enemy?”
I shake my head, still half-turned away. “I am not your enemy, human. You are mine.”
The old male narrows his eyes and considers me once again.
“An enemy all the same. Except that does not answer my question. Do you intend to harm us or return for the girl? Or return with these others that are still out there? What is your intention here? It is not like your kind to just… save a human.”
I scowl at him then bite back the reply I want to say. I did not expect this amount of anger to fill me upon treating with him. “I have saved many humanssss,” I hiss, glancing briefly at the ships behind me.
But his question is the same as Zaku’s. Are we enemies? Still?
Can I make that decision?
I look beyond the older male—noting for the first time the nicer design of his uniform compared to the others—to the soldiers, and then to the smoke trails on the horizon above the barricade, and the ruins even further beyond them.
After Celeste’s departure, I remained here, ensuring the creature Collins could not escape—if he had not already been killed by Zhallaix. During that time, and prior, I searched endlessly for clues of my kin, but found nothing except empty nests that had not been touched in many moon cycles.
It took a very long time for me to accept the fact that they had been killed—that they were truly gone.
After the harsh realization, I made the choice to rebuild what was lost. To reclaim the old facility and make it Copperhead territory again. My territory. I would no longer be without a nest because I was going to make a new one. A more fortified one, using the tunnels beneath the ground.
I had plans… I was done searching… when more ships arrived.
Alone and without a clan to stand with me, I left.
By the time I came back, my territory and the facility had been completely reclaimed by humans.
And not wishing to get the others involved after the battle near Vagan’s, I gave up on rebuilding my nest. I was back to nothing…
But there was Julia. The female I went searching for—and found at the base of Zaku’s mountain.
After that, I stayed near Zaku’s territory for her and for the strange new clan I was becoming a part of.
A clan that includes humans. I did what I would do if I were still with my own kind—I helped.
I guarded and protected. If I became aware of something, I shared that information. I chose them over me. I chose her.
Where is she?
I level with the older male, ready to be done with this.
“I will not harm any human who does not seek to harm me or those under my protection.” My voice is edged with warning.
Because I intend to return. I must. Once more, at least, to make certain Julia is safely received.
“That includes the young female with you now.” I tip my chin to the barricade past him.
“This was once my land, and the land of my clan, the territory of the Copperheads. They are gone now because of humans. But that does not mean I will avenge them by attacking you,” I growl, snapping my tail against the ground. “I do not kill unless I have to.”
The old soldier straightens. “The military base was abandoned when we were ordered to reclaim it for our operations.” He rubs his chin with his finger. “We have no plans to leave. And if you seek to take it from us anyway, we will fight back.”
I hiss. “Do not threaten me, human.”
“Do not threaten me! You do not frighten me, naga. You are not the first we have encountered, nor will you probably be the last.”
“What is your name?” I ask him abruptly, unfazed by his taunts.
“Name? I’m Commander Graft and I am in charge here. Do you have a name, naga?”
“Krellix.” I slide away, uninterested in continuing a conversation with these humans until I know she is safe.
“I do intend to return, and very soon, Lieutenant Graft. I am owed for the lives of the girl and the humans I have safely led here. Whether our next meeting ends with blood will be your choice,” I warn, and without another thought to the weapons aimed at me, I finish turning away and slice across the field towards the forest.
“Wait!” he shouts.
I do not stop, not even when coming upon the mixed-breed naga. As fast as I can, I hurry back to where I last saw Julia, but I am forced to pause when I come upon Benjamin and Quinton stumbling through the brush.
Glancing between them, then into the trees and foliage behind, I do not see Julia. “Where is sssshe?”
Quinton gasps, clearly frightened by my abrupt arrival, then shakes his head. “I—we don’t know.”
“We called for her, we backtracked some, but we didn’t want to get lost and thought she might have headed for the encampment…
” Benjamin shifts his eyes past me, then back over his shoulder like he is still searching for her.
“We couldn’t find her.” He raises his hands and drops them before readjusting the pack on his back.
“Go!” I point behind me. “The humans at the camp are expecting you.” I start to move past them.
“Are you going to find her?” Benjamin asks behind me.
“Yessss,” I hiss, picking up speed again and racing into the trees.
If she has been gone all this time, I have already lost too much of it. Praying she has not been taken by another naga, I do not look back.
I should have never let her out of my sight…