Chapter 24
Jasmine
The journey up the mountain had taken what felt like forever, but that stream had brought us back down so fast it seemed crazy.
In the distance, I could already see the crashed ship—a hulking black shape, the curve of a strange dome with an unnatural glitter, sitting in the alien landscape.
It was deceptively big, considering how far away it still was.
Another two hours at this pace, but I was starting to get winded. I needed a break soon.
“No sign of Sesethul,” Ekkire lamented with a growl.
“Where is that dragon? Back at Haven?” He planted his trident firmly in the ground and rose tall on his tail, scanning all around.
“I’m gonna risk it, send up the second kite.
We need to speed this up. I scent Thunder Rock, I scent campfire smoke.
They’re here.” I had not caught any of those scents myself, but I believed him in a heartbeat.
As he set up the second kite, I kept a close watch, uneasy now that I knew hostile naga might be in the vicinity.
I had two full quivers of arrows, a bow so beautiful it was a pleasure to use, and good reason to shoot to kill.
They weren’t getting a chance, not like the Sun Fan party had the other day.
Not after the things Msera had said. No way.
I twitched as a twig snapped, and both sleara lifted their heads from the hood of my tunic and sniffed at the air.
It was going to be cold, but for ease of movement, I undid the fur I’d tied around my middle.
It dropped with a whisper to the ground, and I ducked behind the thick trunk of a lopsided Hura tree for cover.
A spear whizzed by, narrowly missing the place I’d just been standing.
It embedded itself in the dirt by Ekkire’s tail, forcing him to duck for cover just as the kite soared skyward.
“How many?” I shouted, because I still couldn’t see a thing.
I tried to stop Dove and Hunter from flying off, because I feared they’d attack rather than hide.
Too fast, they were gone in a heartbeat and a flutter of wings.
“Fuck, no, come back!” Then I had to fall silent and hide, because the first warriors came from beneath the trees to my right.
I couldn’t see Ekkire now, or my sleara friends, and I didn’t like that one bit.
Grimly, I focused on my arrows, my bow, my breathing, and got ready to fire.
I’d have to keep moving, I realized. As soon as I fired the first shot, they’d know where I was and come after me. My only advantage was keeping the fight at a distance, using my bow, not my fists. Hand-to-hand, I was no match for a naga male, and I wasn’t trained for it either, unlike Kalani.
My first shot flew with a whistle, cutting through the air and hammering home into the shoulder of the nearest Thunder Rock male.
He screamed, spun, and I had my second arrow flying before he could lift his spear and throw it at me.
Then I ducked low and ran, flying down the side of the tree and ducking behind the trunk of the next one.
Ekkire threw himself into the fight a moment later, a roar accompanied by the glow of his golden sigils.
His trident glittered as it clashed with stone spears and blue scales.
He kept them busy, so I fired into the fray with precision, one shot after another.
I knew they were taking damage, I knew I was hitting them, and yet the fight didn’t seem to end.
I was terrified, and I couldn’t find the sleara, and Ekkire was getting pinned despite my best efforts.
It looked hopeless, and I was starting to feel like I might as well be sticking them with needles instead of arrows.
“Damn it,” I muttered, my heart pounding in my chest, my body tight with tension.
I’d fired so many arrows my fingers ached, and my quivers, both of them, were running low.
Was there no end to this tide of warriors?
A screech finally announced the presence of the sleara.
“Chirp kee kee,” they went, one over the other in a loud cacophony.
I twisted, searching for them, and saw that the raucous noise had also drawn the attention of the horde of Thunder Rock warriors.
Ekkire freed himself from the mass, tangled with a male I recognized: Msera, the leader.
They kept fighting, clawing at one another, coiling together, and stabbing with spear or trident.
Ignoring the chaos Dove and Hunter were bringing, too much of it to be just the two of them, I took a deep breath and aimed my bow.
I could not fight a dozen naga, but perhaps I could wound Msera and give Ekkire the upper hand.
They were distracted, I had a clear line of sight; now was my chance.
The shot flew straight and true. A howl echoed through the hills as I released it, sending chills down my spine.
That wasn’t a sleara, and it wasn’t the sound of a naga either.
“Slithrazer!” someone shouted, and then another howl went up, and another.
I held back my next arrow, fear of a new threat filling me.
Those were predators, and they could have been cut off from their hunting grounds thanks to the earthquake, if they were hungry enough…
I searched, but now I saw and heard no sleara, and couldn’t find Ekkire or Msera either.
The predators loped through the trees a moment later, three of them, drawn by the bloody wounds on many of the hunters.
I cast my gaze for a good perch, and though I’d not wanted to get pinned down in one location before, I now quickly scrambled to a safe height in one of the nearby trees.
Bark scraped my bare skin, the wind whipped needle-sharp cold against my legs, but I felt much safer out of reach of the snapping jaws of those purple-furred, hound-like beasts.
Hunter and Dove found me a moment later, and I’d never been so relieved.
Dove landed on my shoulder and huddled close with soft little chirps full of excitement.
Hunter circled once, then darted off again, and I hoped that meant he was going to find Ekkire.
“Did you do that, sweetie?” I whispered as I observed the hunters fighting the beasts.
“Did you entice those slithrazers to chase you here?” She murmured sweet, little nonsensical noises in answer, mercury eyes proud—but I could just be imagining that.
The beasts were a good distraction, but Ekkire was down there too, and without more help…
I feared these hunters would soon chase the hounds off and focus their attention back on me.
Grabbing my bow with renewed focus, I took my time to aim.
Firing arrows into combat was a very different sort of action, requiring a very different concentration compared to hunting.
I’d struck before, but now I knew I needed to make these shots even better. I had to kill or disable.
A shot to the eye downed one male, and my stomach revolted, horror filling me at what I’d done.
I’d aimed like that for Msera, but hadn’t seen the result, and killing in defense just felt horrible.
I never wanted to do that again. “Oh fuck,” I moaned when the slithrazers were wounded or spooked enough to bolt away.
The distraction over, the remaining hunters were gathering themselves, searching—just like I was—for Ekkire and their leader.
A boom rocked the valley. I screamed as I saw the explosion from my high vantage point.
My bow nearly slipped from my grasp as I reached to cover my ears.
Smoke flew into the air some hundred meters away, a great big plume that rose high in the sky.
Flames licked at the wet wood, and birds scattered in great flocks into the sky.
A flock of sleara soared with loud screeching right over my tree, then flew higher and vanished from sight.
Dove was not tempted to follow them, but huddled tightly against my shoulder, as shocked as I was.
That was the bomb. It had gone off… How? Rationally, I knew this was a good thing; it had blown up a safe distance from the crashed ship, unable to fulfill the purpose Msera had planned to use it for. All I could think, however, was: Ekkire! Where was he? Had he been caught in that blast?
Ears still ringing, I abandoned my perch and leaped from the tree. I raced toward the blast as fast as I could, booking it straight past the still-confused surviving Thunder Rock hunters. They did not stop me, did not even chase after me, as far as I could tell.
There was a trail of blood leading in the direction of the blast, and I hoped it wasn’t Ekkire’s.
Where had he gone? I saw tail marks in the dirt too, and I lengthened my stride to catch up.
“Ekkire!” I shouted, heedless of the danger it might draw to me.
“Ekkire! Where are you?” I didn’t see him, and when the tracks became a twisted tangle, I knew they’d been fighting here too.
A much bigger pool of blood at the edge of that circle of tracks made my heart clench in my chest. There was still no answer, and I was getting awfully close to the blast now.
Coming through the trees, I stepped over the lip of a crater a moment later, my breath catching in my chest as I saw the devastation.
The improvised leather wraps around my feet warmed against the ashes.
At the center of the chaos lay a wrecked object of twisted, bent metal, as well as the charred coils of a naga.
Torn partially apart, the torso was pinned in place by a long shaft.
Was it a spear or a trident? Terrified it was Ekkire, I started to approach. Was that body Msera—or my mate?