Chapter 35
Hunched low in the undergrowth, Telok counted the passing moments by the beating of his hearts.
Wind swept through the trees, making boughs groan and leaves hiss. The gloom beneath the canopy deepened as dark clouds continued coalescing in the sky. Foreboding energy buzzed in the air, which bore the scent of coming rain.
Much more prominent was the stench of blood, death, and a musk unique to kurghests.
He stared ahead through the foliage. Despite the plants limiting his field of view, he could see the kurghests’ den, a silently screaming mouth on the side of a fallen tree, filled with impenetrable shadow.
And between Telok and that den, kurghests lazed in what must’ve been the last column of sunshine in all the Tangle. Though he could see only a few of the beasts, he knew many, many more lay out of sight; the impending storm would’ve driven most jungle creatures to their dens for shelter.
Despite the risks posed by the weather, this was the best opportunity to cull the pack.
Telok’s fists tightened around his spears—one he’d crafted in his upper right hand, the one Lacey had made him in the lower. He braced his lower left hand on the ground, resting the rim of the heavy wooden shield strapped to his upper left arm atop it for support.
For as long as he could recall, Telok had not feared his own death. He knew he could not escape it. So he’d gladly risked himself to protect those he cared about. Even now, death did not frighten him. But for the first time, he feared for his life.
If he died, who would protect Lacey? Who would watch over her beneath sunny skies, beneath clouds and rain, beneath moons and stars?
Who would teach her and learn from her? Who would hold her through the dark of night, or when she was sad, or when it just felt right?
Who would not merely tell her she was beautiful, but show her?
Fucking no one.
There could be no one else. Would be no one else. Lacey was his, and there would be no other male for her. If death came for him today, he would send it scampering back to the dank, dark den it had crawled out of, because he would not leave Lacey alone.
His chest constricted, but his hearts burned with fury and determination.
At this very moment, his mate was crouched in the vegetation somewhere behind him, waiting.
She’d joined Cole, Sophia, Koss, Wen’Xal Tas, and five male winddancers who’d volunteered to face this danger for the sake of their Nedrayas, forming what Sophia called the Rear Guard.
Cole had jokingly suggested they call themselves the Hindquarters instead, prompting Lacey to counter with the Spider Butt Shields.
Telok had chittered at the time, but he found no humor in it anymore. His mate was too far away from him, and much, much too close to the kurghests. He curled his fingers, sinking his claws into the ground, and twisted to glance back.
He’d barely glimpsed a hint of red hair amidst the undergrowth when stone clacked against stone three times in quick succession somewhere up in the trees. Telok stilled, and heat crackled under his hide.
Gai’Tahk Var and Kin’Jahl Jehk had led their group of winddancers into position, overlooking the kurghest den from the branches above.
The wait had ended.
As Telok faced forward, the wind picked up, making the brush around him sway. Storm clouds swallowed the last patch of clear sky, obscuring the sun, and the first heavy, erratic drops of rain pattered on the leaves.
Telok firmly tapped the heads of his spears together twice, pausing for half a heartbeat between the sounds, and surged upright, raising the spear in his upper right hand over his shoulder.
To either side of him, the vegetation shook as his companions also emerged from hiding. Garahk, Okkor, and Elharat to his right, Droztar, Ayali, Ess, and Zesh to his left, each carrying a shield and two spears like Telok.
Kurghest heads snapped up in front of the group, their large ears perked. The beasts blanketed the ground, seemingly as numerous as fallen leaves on the jungle floor.
Telok hurled his spear. The rest of his group threw their own, and makeshift spears—little more than long, sharpened sticks—fell from on high.
Kurghests yelped, whined, grunted and growled as the spears struck them. Some beasts fell, some tumbled, and many more scrambled to their feet.
Telok passed his remaining spear into his upper hand and angled his shield toward the beasts.
Let Lacey be all right.
He charged into the confused, panicked beasts. His companions advanced alongside him, driving their spears into their quarry. Kurghests scattered as winddancers threw weighted nets and more spears from the trees.
A deep, powerful growl sounded from within the den, vibrating the fallen tree, the ground, even the air itself. Several more adult females kurghests emerged from within as something large stirred in the darkness behind them.
That quickly, the kurghests went from surprised to aggressive.
Though many had been injured, far too few had been incapacitated, and their swiftness and strength seemed little diminished.
The beasts rushed about in a frenzy, coordinating their attacks to try to isolate and encircle the hunters.
Telok and his companions found themselves on the defensive before they’d pushed even a few strides toward the den.
The rain came in earnest, falling fast, hard, and heavy.
Telok heard the beasts that had already managed to get behind him. He heard Lacey and the others fighting, heard the shouts and battle cries of his companions all around, but all he could do was keep himself in frantic motion.
His spear struck like lightning, his hearts boomed like thunder.
He stomped and kicked at the beasts, and his shield dealt as many blows as it blocked, but always there was another kurghest to find the gap in his defense.
Claws raked him, fangs nipped his hide, and the beasts’ relentless assault forced Telok and the thornskulls apart.
A kurghest leapt at him. He slammed his shield into its chest and caught its throat with his lower right hand. The kurghest’s claws bit into his chest and shoulder as he buried his own claws deep in the beast’s neck and squeezed.
Beyond the beast, he saw a kurghest clamp its jaws on Ayali’s foreleg. She fell heavily onto her leg joint. Several kurghests swarmed her immediately. Growling, she grabbed and clawed at them, but she could not get them all off.
With roars, Zesh and Ess rushed to her aid, their hands little more than blurs as they clawed, stabbed, and bashed the beasts.
Telok tightened his fist further. The kurghest’s throat crunched in his grip, and hot blood oozed around his claws. As he heaved the beast away, its hooked claws tore his hide further. He barely felt the wounds; his hide thrummed, and fire spiraled through his veins.
“Cole!” Lacey and Sophia shouted in unison.
Telok glanced over his shoulder to see two winddancers aiding Koss, who had one kurghest latched onto his hindquarters and another biting his arm.
Beyond them, a bloodied Tas was struggling up off the ground.
Cole lay on his belly nearby. A kurghest’s claws were caught in the back of his leg, and his skin was red with blood.
The two female humans were stabbing the thrashing kurghest from both sides, its snapping jaws and flailing tail coming alarmingly close to their delicate flesh.
Must go to her.
Must protect my mate.
Telok began to turn only to be halted by a bellowing roar from the den. The sound quaked through the jungle, reverberated into his bones, flooding them with cold, and made his head feel like it would split open. Telok swung his gaze forward.
A hulking, moss green giant charged out of the den with impossible speed and power.
Fangs sank deep into Telok’s lower foreleg. He snarled and snapped his gaze down as the female kurghest biting him planted its feet and yanked backward, attempting to drag him off balance.
At the edge of his vision, he saw the prime kurghest crash into Okkor and Elharat, who’d been fighting side by side. Both thornskulls were flung aside as though they weighed nothing.
Telok jabbed his spear down into the kurghest’s head in rapid, successive blows, feeling the impact jolt up his arm each time the blackrock tip struck the beast’s thick skull.
The kurghest whipped its head from side to side, lodging its fangs deeper.
Growls, shouts, and grunts filled the air, battling the sounds of wind and rain.
All around, lithe figures dropped from the trees—Var, Jehk, and the other winddancers coming to join the battle on the ground.
Bone cracked as Telok’s spear finally penetrated. The kurghest biting him slipped in the mud, its legs giving out, jaws slackening. He leaned down and pried it off his leg with his lower hands. Even as he shoved it away, he returned his gaze to the prime kurghest.
Nearly as tall as Ayali at the shoulder, the beast was a mass of muscle, scars, and wicked spines.
Several of the winddancers’ crude spears jutted from its back and shoulders.
If any had gone deep enough to cause real harm, the prime showed no sign of it.
The beast was partly turned away from Telok, standing over a thornskull whose yellow hide was smeared with mud and blood, savaging him with teeth and talons.
“Elharat!” Okkor cried from the ground as he wrestled the female kurghest that had leapt atop him, barely keeping its snapping jaws away from his throat.
Not far away, Garahk and Droztar were ringed by beasts, fighting viciously as they were attacked from all sides. Elharat was cut off from aid.
Without wasting another moment in thought, Telok reversed his grip on his spear, raised it, and threw it as hard as he could.