That’s the irony, isn’t it? Hatred can trump even fear.
Hadone and Forn give me a blank look. I can tell what they’re thinking: Where to next? Do we have more strays to pick up, or can we finally get out of this hellhole before the Scorp start hunting again?
I’m thinking the exact same thing. I don’t know Scorp behavior well enough to predict when they’ll start their next cycle of predatory stalking, but I don’t want to wait around long enough to find out.
What I do know is this: That nowhere in Barl is safe any more. We need to get out of the city – right now.
10
Darok
The human female named Tammy feels right. She smells right. Her scent tantalizes my nostrils.
Yet, I still don’t allow myself to trust her. We did not earn our mate. We didn’t bring a worthy sacrifice to our Orb-God, and yet the portal leading us to her opened up regardless.
Thus, she may have come from the darkness. She could be a creature from the void itself, masquerading as a beautiful woman to tempt and trick us. I will not allow myself to fall for this ruse – to allow myself to feel the surge of desire at the shape of her gorgeous body. Hadone and Forn might have fallen fully for this woman, and I don’t begrudge them that. I even understand why. It isn’t just the beauty in Tammy’s body, those soft, feminine curves or her plump, ripe lips.
No, it’s her spirit. She could have escaped the city with us, and instead she chose to remain to save two more children. She has a heart as lustrous as her body – and a bravery worthy of a warrior. Tammy will indeed be the finest mother of my children I could have wished for – once we mate, cementing the Bond, she will live thousands of years to bear us many, many sons.
But for now, we must pay the price for her love of these little human children.
The Scorp will be back soon, and every second we delay decreases the odds that we’ll make it out of this huge, towering village alive.
“We must go,” I order, and the small human boy looks at me with anger. I have done nothing to him, but he hates me. He could be a problem. I’d never hurt such a small being, but I will not underestimate him. He runs as quick as a hyena, and while physically he could do very little to harm me, I know how dangerous it is to underestimate small things. Take that fat, old human who nearly killed Forn, for example. If the small child could somehow find a weapon similar to the old man’s, he too could end our lives.
I glance over to the leader of our triad. Forn doesn’t want to show his pain, but I know his wounds are bad. Despite my suspicion of the woman, it is true that Tammy healed the gaping wound in his chest.
When he’d fallen to his knees, I’d feared for a moment that Forn had been killed. I was horrified to think of my blood-brother dying in such an inglorious way – to be put to death by a fat, old human, using the weapons of a coward. The shame would be eternal.
Yet, thanks to Tammy, he lives. Even now, Forn limps towards me, his green blood coagulating from the wound on his leg. He’s lost too much blood already from the wound on his chest wound, and now I fear he’ll be a liability in combat – just like this woman, and her four unrelated children.
To care so much for those not bound by blood, nor the warrior bond? Surely, she is a generous specimen – not a creature from the void.
I shake my head. The elders of our tribe have told me tales of void creatures. They masquerade as something – anything – else, creating for themselves the form of the most alluring creatures possible.
I snarl impatiently. Tammy has returned with the two missing children. Now the time for thoughts and planning is over. I cannot hear the scuttling of Scorp warriors, but I know they’ll be awakening soon.
Looking over at them, I see that Hadone and Forn are grim. They, too, know that it was one thing to survive a wave of the deadly creatures when we were holed up inside one of those human settlements – with only a small doorway acting as a choke point. Now, we’ll have to navigate through this maze of confusing, twisted streets; risking attack from any direction.
I motion with my head to Tammy. She understands us a little too well, despite not speaking our language. When I was telepathing my thoughts to my blood brothers, it almost felt as if she could read my mind.
Can void creatures read our minds?
The small one who runs quickly has found himself a sharp shard of wood. It isn’t much, but jabbed into my Achilles heel while a Scorp attacks, it could prove deadly. I step towards him to take the makeshift weapon from him, but Forn gives me a warning look.
“Take that from him, and we will never earn his trust,” he telepaths to me, and I grit my teeth. He’s right, dammit – as he usually is. Forn is a born leader. I can fend for myself in a battle, but commanding others and planning ambushes was never my strong suite.
Impatient, the building grows claustrophobic around me. I lead the way towards the exit, opening the door and letting the moonlight flood inside.
Not that its much of a flood. Even the stars are weak on this planet, polluted by the artificial lights of this huge settlement; which sits like a scar on the land.
Back home, our homes are intertwined with nature, not dominating it.
These ugly streets are empty. Too empty. In a city built like this, the humans must teem like ants. There’s no way that even this infestation
