Chapter 2 #3
From there, he went to the long bridge leading to the temple that sat upon the rocky hill overlooking Kaldarak.
Though the statues of the Eight perched atop the structure were mere stone, erected long ago by thornskull shapers, he felt their eightfold eyes upon him as he stalked across the bridge.
The humans were fond of bathing in the pools within the temple, which were fed with hot water by underground springs.
She wasn’t there either, and the thornskulls bathing and relaxing in the tiered pools said they hadn’t seen her.
Worry clawed at Telok’s hearts as he exited the temple and climbed the path to the spot where the humans had made a small monument for Ella, the tribemate who hadn’t made it to Kaldarak. Many of them visited the memorial from time to time to show respect.
Lacey wasn’t there either.
Snarling, Telok looked out over Kaldarak again. Where else could she have gone? What else could she have been doing?
What if something happened to her?
His eyes dipped to the carved wooden monument, and strangling tendrils coiled around his hearts and squeezed. All he saw was a reminder of death, a reminder of how quickly life could be ended, of how delicate humans were.
How many such monuments would he see placed here? How many of his tribemates would he lose before his own end? How many more scars could his hearts bear?
Stuffing those troubling questions down as deep as he could, Telok hurried away from the spot. His focus needed to be on finding Lacey. Such dark, heavy thoughts were of no use to him now.
He returned to Kaldarak and expanded his search. More than once, he swore he picked up a hint of her scent, but he could never tell if it had been from the air, from the smell still lingering on his hide, or from his own imagination. That didn’t stop his hearts from quickening each time.
Telok asked the thornskulls he encountered if they’d spied the fire-haired human. None had. Not until he came across a young male with a red-orange hide who thought he’d seen her heading toward the stairs that linked Kaldarak to the jungle floor far below.
Fists clenched, Telok rushed in that direction. Questions stabbed at him like the countless thorns in a tangle of knifevines. Why would she have gone this way?
Surely, she would not have…
“Have you seen Lacey? The human with fire hair?” he asked the guards posted on the platform at the top of the stairs.
“She went below earlier,” one of the guards replied.
“Fuck,” Telok grated in English.
However safe Kaldarak seemed, it was surrounded by jungle. And the jungle didn’t stop being dangerous just because it was near a city.
He bounded down the steps, which wound around the massive trunk to which they were attached. The two thornskull warriors at the bottom, Okkor and Elharat, stared at him as he approached, undoubtedly surprised by the clamor of his hasty descent.
“Lacey?” Telok demanded.
Okkor pointed toward the hill. “That way.”
“You let her go alone?”
Elharat chittered. “She gave strong words, and—”
With a snarl that tore straight out of his chest, Telok strode past the thornskulls in the direction they’d indicated.
Damn her eyes, what was wrong with that female? Had she forgotten every lesson she’d learned since awakening in the Pit? Had she forgotten all the times she and her tribemates had been a thread’s breadth away from death? She knew better than to go into the Tangle alone. She fucking knew better.
And he knew better than to be out here without his spear and bag.
Broodmother, show me mercy, but this human has my mind tangled.
If Lacey had been harmed because she’d placed herself in danger… Gods, he hoped she hadn’t been harmed.
Though thin, her scent was present, and he followed it along a winding trail often used by the thornskulls. Clearer still were the tracks left on the ground by her boots, which had tooth-like protrusions on their undersides that were meant to prevent their wearers from slipping.
He paused only once, when a glimmer of red on a branch jutting into the path caught his eye. He moved to it and plucked a few strands of long, red hair from the knobby fork where the twig split in two, twirling them between his fingers.
Telok released a harsh, heavy breath. Not only had Lacey ventured away from Kaldarak alone, without a word to anyone, but she’d made no effort to conceal her trail.
She rarely cared for what Telok had to say, but even if he had to tie her up to hold her attention, she was going to listen to his every word when he found her. Every. Damned. Word.
The waterfall’s roar grew louder as he neared it, and the surrounding greenery thinned. Mist lighted upon his hide, tiny droplets clinging to the fine hairs on his legs. The trail opened on the pool at the base of the waterfall, which was backed by the steep, rocky, overgrown hillside.
This spot was popular amongst the thornskulls both for bathing and swimming, as the water was deeper than in the temple’s pools. Many vrix whose work took them out of Kaldarak stopped here to wash away the grime of their day’s toil before returning to their dens.
But today, no one was here.
Telok moved along the water’s edge. The bank was chaotic, lapped by the gentle waves created by the falling water, the mix of mud and stones both preserving and obscuring Lacey’s tracks. Her trail led onto the rockier ground and ended.
He forced his mandibles apart and raked his gaze over the area. Even the noise of the falls couldn’t overpower the thumping of his hearts, which sped with each passing moment.
This was wrong. All wrong. The sun was high, the sky clear, the air pleasantly warm, and Kaldarak was in good spirits. How could one of his tribemates be missing on a day as beautiful as this? How could Lacey be missing?
A roar welled within his chest. It lodged there, building heat and pressure, making his lungs and throat burn. It was unbearable, and it would surely tear him asunder.
Then he heard it—a small sound, one which should never have pierced the waterfall’s ceaseless noise. A human sound.
An agonized sob.
His hearts halted, and he held his breath, not daring to move anything but his eyes as he strained to listen. The waterfall’s droning pressed in around him. He focused past it, and it faded, faded, faded…
Another cry reached him, soft but unmistakable. Not from a human, but from his human. From Lacey.
Telok’s hearts lurched into thunderous pounding as he hurried toward the sound.
He strode into the pool, barely noticing the warmth on his hide.
When the deepening water reached his chest, he kicked off the bottom and swam toward the falling water, slitting his eyes against the mist. As soon as his legs could again reach the bottom, he stood and plunged through the waterfall, which briefly blinded him, deafened him, and stopped the flow of air into his lungs.
Telok swept water and loose hair out of his face. His gaze immediately fell upon the small rocky ledge behind the falls, which had been hidden from the shoreline.
Lacey lay atop the ledge with her back toward him, curled up on her side with her arms clamped over her belly, her normally vibrant red hair dull, dark, and limp with wetness.
And her cries… There was no watery barrier to muffle them now.
They were loud in this small alcove, filling his ears and squeezing his hearts.
Despite the mist flooding his nostrils, he could smell Lacey.
But her fragrance didn’t cloud his mind with desire now, because it was tainted by the distinct tang of human blood.
That blood scent invaded Telok, scorched through him, heating his insides and sharpening his senses even as it quickened his hearts with dread.
Shaper, unmake me.
Lacey was hurt.