“I am N’Ashtar of N’Akron,” I said quickly. “I wish to speak with your chief.”
“Likely story.” The scout hissed dismissively, flicking his tongue out. “You do not smell like N’Akron. You smell like Caterri.”
At his words, I itched to grab handfuls of sand and scour my scales until there was no remnants of Caterri left on me, but it was time I did not have. “I am pursuing a small group of Caterri who kidnapped someone from my tribe.”
The scout’s eyes narrowed to those usual slits. “You are hunting Caterri?”
I nodded, choosing the simple answer.
“Why are you doing such?” The scout sounded suspicious now.
“Because they have taken someone important from me,” I answered. “And they should pay.”
“So you have nothing to do with the disturbance a few menlin back?” It was clear he still didn’t believe me.
“We did.” I debated what to say, because this was just going so well already, I didn’t want to overwhelm myself.
Sarcasm made me miss Dana, so I shoved it to the side.
“We interfered in a Caterri affair, when they were hurting Setti. When the Caterri would not give up, we killed them. By your words, I’m guessing word has gotten back to Kohta.” My tongue flicked, my only sign of worry. It was what I had been fearing.
“Why did you do that?”
Time to tell him everything. “Because we wish to end the rule of the Caterri over the N’Akron. We have tolerated them for far too long, and now I wish to unite the tribes so we can rebel against them.”
It was like I had said magic words, because the suspicion immediately dropped from the scout’s body language and he straightened up. “Very well. Where do you wish us to go?”
“What?” I asked dumbly.
“You said you are hunting Caterri,” the scout reminded me. “We wish to assist. Where are they?”
I thought about Dana, tied to the metal beast, and the Caterri in the camp. While I had wanted to do a complete attack, take all of them out, I no longer thought that was safest for my female. There was too much risk of her getting hurt, of a Caterri grabbing her and using her as bait or a hostage. I did not trust them.
“They’ve made it back to Kohta,” I lied, my heart hurting at deceiving one of my people. “I am tracking them to see their path.”
The scout’s scales dimmed, like he was disappointed to miss out on a good fight. Maybe he was. “Very well. When do you wish to meet about the Caterri?”
My mind ticked steadily over. “Send someone to N’Akkar in two menlin’s time. We’ll be holding a Council.”
The scout regarded me steadily, then nodded firmly. “Greetings, N’Ashtar of N’Akkar. My name is N’brith of K’lait.”
It took all of the training I had received from my father to not let my eyes widen or my scales pale in surprise. The N honorific was only given to those in the ruling family, and only the immediate heir. What was the heir to the K’lait doing out in the midst of the desert?
There was a smile on N’brith’s lips, like he was teasing me for not having expected that. I really hadn’t. “We will see you in two menlin.” With a quick salute of his spear, he was off, trotting steadily and kicking up small bits of dust and dirt in his wake as he left me with my thoughts.
They immediately returned to Dana, and I wondered how she was faring, her swearing aside. Was she getting enough water? Enough food? I wanted to see her again, wanted to talk to her, scent her, and if I needed to bring food or water for her, I would. All of this would have been for nothing if she was harmed in a way I could not fix.
By the time the sun dipped and the moons appeared, I was close enough I could watch as the Caterri set camp up. Although only one of the moons was full and hanging heavily in the sky, it was enough to see by. I could tell at least three of the Caterri had bandages of some sort on their limbs, something that filled me with satisfaction. That was my work, what I had done to protect Dana. I wanted her. I needed her.
I’d never felt so much for another person before, much less a delicate human who did not possess our scales. I was difficult to injure, to cut, but Dana’s soft skin had no such protection. Then, of course, I was thinking about what she had done the night before, pressing her mouth to mine in what was probably some sort of human custom. It hadn’t been unpleasant, no, and while an extruded cock was rarely pleasant in battle circumstances, the way she had pressed her hand to it had been pleasing enough that my mind had slipped.
Yet I couldn’t let myself get distracted by her promises, not when things were critical. I needed to make sure everything was in place to take out another sentry. It was a difficult balance, this ‘warfare’. I needed to take out some of the Caterri, but not so many that they started guarding Dana heavily and making her impossible to get to. I wanted to be able to see her, smell her. Touching her would have been nice, but I did not think that would be possible, not right now.
Sneaking closer to the camp, I watched them settle. There wasn’t as much chatting among the Caterri, and the only food or water I saw Dana receive was tossed to her from a distance. She shouted something in her human language that didn’t come across despite the metal on my ear, so I assumed it was more swear words. I also didn’t see any of the strange distance weapons the Caterri seemed to prefer this close to Kohta. Maybe they were
