Chapter 2 #3
Not scared of spiders, I still felt a little freaked out brushing my hand through the tendrils of roots sticking out of the muddy wall.
I touched something warm and soft, and a pair of eyes blinked open, shimmering silver.
A small sleara. I recognized those almond-shaped eyes immediately, as there were several of the cute little miniature dragons at Haven.
My heart twisted in my chest because this one was very tiny, and clearly caught in the roots.
I worked quickly to free her, all one-handed because I could not risk losing my balance while standing on just the foot lock on the rope.
Once I had her by the neck, I dragged her toward me, then tucked her into my already stuffed coat.
She clung with sharp claws to my chest and the damp wood I’d scavenged.
Good enough. With one last push of effort, I hauled myself up the rope the rest of the way.
My rescuer, a Water Weaver naga for sure, kept his distance, his tail coiling out of my way.
He did not offer me a hand to assist me over the edge, not even a coil of his tail.
I opened my mouth to say something about that, but then discovered he’d never secured his end of the rope to anything at all.
He’d been holding the freaking end in his hands—and with it, my life. He was utterly mad!
“Are you crazy?” I exclaimed. “What if you dropped me? I could have plunged to my freaking death! Why didn’t you just tie the rope to a tree?
” I glanced around, then discovered that most of the trees around us all leaned awkwardly one way or another, and many more had completely toppled.
At least I now had one clear answer: the gully had led toward the hills and the mountain far in the distance.
My rescuer just blinked at me with big, emerald eyes, and he said absolutely nothing.
The rope was pulled up, coiled in careful rolls, and secured to the side of the backpack he was carrying.
“Are you hurt, female? You were not expected to survive. Joxra was very concerned for your well-being. I suggest you hurry back to the sky wreck.” He flung a hand along the gully, back the way I’d come.
Wow, he couldn’t wait to be rid of me, could he?
At least that answered one thing: he did know of humans and Haven; he even knew Joxra had survived the earthquake.
I was very relieved, but as much as I wanted to comply and hurry back, I was simply too cold and tired to attempt such a hike in the dark.
There was no shortage of wood up here, though, including twigs and branches that might actually be dry enough for a good fire.
“Is Joxra okay?” I asked. “Anyone else hurt? That was a really bad earthquake.” Unsure how to get this across, I flapped my hand back toward where I assumed the crashed ship must be.
“Joxra, Corin, Zsekhet?” I tried, hoping the names of the members of Haven I knew were supposed to be at the ship rang a bell.
Something did move across his expression, but he was very hard to read.
My rescuer was an emerald green, but in the dark his hair seemed black.
His eyes glowed like a cat’s when they caught the meager light, a bright emerald green that was extremely pretty.
The rest of him was all dark shapes—far too many thick, muscled coils—and pointy bits sticking out that had to be weapons.
If I thought I’d have more of an advantage up here compared to down in the gully, I was mistaken. This guy looked deadly.
“They are all fine. Only Joxra was injured. I was asked to find you.” He answered as if he were chewing on lemons as he said it, like the whole thing was distasteful.
Well then, I guessed he didn’t like humans all that much, but at least he’d agreed to rescue me if I was alive, which probably meant he wasn’t going to kill me in my sleep.
Or, you know, while we were awake either, because he definitely didn’t need the advantage of me sleeping to overpower me.
I eyed the terrain downhill, then appraised the state of my body.
No, I was definitely at my limits; I wasn’t going anywhere tonight.
I’d move away from the edge of this gully for safety, then focus on making a fire to get warm.
Hugging my arms around my waist for warmth, I became aware of the burden I’d tucked into the front of my thick fur coat.
Part of it was just twigs and wood I thought I might need to make a fire, and part of it was the tiny sleara.
She had not made a sound, hadn’t even moved, and now I wondered if she was even alive.
I lifted the edge of my collar and peered inside, and a pair of very silver eyes blinked up at me.
She looked terrified, so I lowered the fur back over her and decided to leave her for now.
With the sleara secure, I turned and faced the woods.
“I’m going to go that way to set up camp for the night,” I said, and then I walked off. Was he going to follow me? Doubtful.