I gritted my teeth and kept going forward, the feeling of rightness growing ever-larger as I moved. I was meant to be where I was, searching for my Dana and preparing a rebellion against the Caterri who ruled us. No, Father may not have approved, but it did not matter. He would not lead the tribe forever, and I had a say, as did the rest of our people. When I got Dana back, we would rain hell upon the Caterri for daring to kidnap my female. Since they would punish all of the N’Akron for one tribe’s misdoings, was it not fair to do the same in return?
The decision settled uneasily in my middle. What would Dana think? Would she approve? If she was to be my mate, my queen, she would also have a say in everything. I both marveled in amazement and winced at the same time, because Dana was quite opinionated and never afraid to share them. Yet, there was nothing I would have done to change her. She was who she was, and I liked how fierce she was.
She reminded me a lot of my mother. Not that many of my people would have seen that. According to most of the N’Akron, my mother was meek and submissive, a female who had done her duty to the tribe. Yet I knew otherwise. Every time Father would teach me something about the tribe, about how we needed to respect the Caterri, Mother would interfere, either during the lesson or after. She would point out it had not always been so, and question why we dealt with it the way we did. It always made Father angry, but it never stopped my mother.
When Father said ‘learn how to hunt to feed the tribe and fight to defend us’, Mother said ‘learn to be cunning to save our tribe and learn how to fight to win our freedom’. I would feed the tribe and look after all of our people, but I would fight to free them, too. We did not deserve to be ruled by them. They were people, just like we were. Mother’s mother had sworn that there had been no qualms with the Caterri during her youngling times, that there had been times we were not expected to tithe a female. A time where no, there weren’t many fertile, unmated females, but the ones our tribe did have produced multiple young.
Father was going to be angry when I returned with Dana at my side. He might actually shun me. But Mother? Mother would have been proud. She would have approved of Dana, taken her under her wing and taught her everything she needed to know. Loss thrummed through me. Mother had died two cycles ago of an illness we had not been able to fight. She had gone in her sleep, a graceful death. I had always been her favorite and Yrrix had known it, yet another thing that created divide between the two of us.
Angrily I shoved the thoughts away, continuing on until I caught sight of the fires around the Caterri camp. I stayed far enough away there was no way I could be detected, even though I ached to go closer to catch sight of my Dana. Even though I was to rescue her, I could do multiple things, no matter how much I did not want to. I knew where we were, having spent much of my adulthood trials in this area. There was another tribe, a small one, not far, and since I was there, it was best to reach out to them to invite them to our rebellion.
Not that most tribes would take kindly to that. No, they would fight, because it was true the tithing with the Caterri kept a fragile sort of peace. Yet, that was all it was, really, because it was fragile. A small break would shatter the whole thing. Our fight with the Caterri over the Setti may have truly led to the breakdown of relationships between our people. Hard to fathom, but it was what it was.
Instead of letting myself wallow and trying to sneak peeks of my mate, I headed towards the R’thui tribe. They were N’Akron a lot like us, those that relied on the cold desert for sustenance and shelter. We were closer to the mountains, however, and the R’thui often used holes in the stone to hide from enemies. I knew of their tribe but had never contacted them before, so I knew I would be met with suspicion and distrust.
Worry threatened to overwhelm me, to seed in my mind and ruin my hopes before I even got started. Was my father right, and I was the crazy one? Was my plan to unite even a hands-worth of the tribes impossible? Or had I just not yet tried hard enough?
It was that worry that distracted me enough that I did not see the scout until he was nearly on top of me, a sharp bone-knife held to my throat. “Who are you? Where do you come from?” the scout snarled. “Speak.”
“I am N’Ashtar of N’Akkar,” I said, holding my hands up to show I was not concealing a weapon. “I have come to speak with your chief.”
“How do I know you are who you say you are?” The scout eased up his grip slightly, but didn’t let go completely.
That was a tricky question. I grimaced. “You may search me. Otherwise, I do not have a sign of my rank.”
“Of course you do not,” the scout murmured.
“If you do not trust me, I will stay here and you can bring your war chief here
