Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 97459 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 487(@200wpm)___ 390(@250wpm)___ 325(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 97459 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 487(@200wpm)___ 390(@250wpm)___ 325(@300wpm)
She holds her hand out to me. I take it and examine it, but I see no callus. “They are as smooth as a newborn kit.”
“I know. It’s so weird. I’ve always had calluses. Always. That wasn’t part of the dream. That was real. But when I look at my hands, there’s nothing.” She rubs the side of her middle finger. “I don’t know what to think.”
If she had a khui, I would say it had healed her callus. My khui never healed mine, but it is an easy explanation as to why a scar that was once in place is now missing. But she has no khui.
“There is an answer,” I tell her. “We will find it when we are free, I promise you. Until then, eat and keep up your strength.”
Twelve
R’JAAL
Waiting for Set’nef to return is agony.
R’slind shivers in the darkness, and even my warmth feels as if it is no longer helping. Her appetite is weak, and she is more interested in water than food. I stroke her soft mane as she sleeps, my heart full of shadows. Surely I have not found my mate to lose her so quickly. Do I not deserve a family and happiness like the others in my clan? I have despaired for so long, and now R’slind is here and she is everything I dreamed.
I will tear this cave apart with my hands if I must.
When she sleeps, I go over the cave again, as I have done many times before. I run my hands over every bit of wall, looking for breaks or cracks, of an entrance my eyes have missed due to the shadows. I test the strange metal of the bars in every spot, looking for weaknesses. I test the rock under the bars to see if I can dig out. I try everything, but R’slind needs my help and I am a trapped animal in here, ready to gnaw my own leg off if it means freedom.
I will not lose her. I will not.
As she sleeps, my desperation grows. I crouch near the bars, waiting for someone to return. My color is shifted to match the darkness, and I hold the spearhead in my hand. All I need is for one of the ancestors to come close enough for me to strike. I will get my R’slind free even if I must take the life of another.
R’slind is all that matters now.
My heart leaps in my throat as I hear the sound of footsteps. I crouch in readiness, waiting for the moment to attack. If it is the scarred one, Kin’far, I will kill him if he so much as looks at my mate—
A strange scent touches my nose, one I have only picked up faint notes of before. Mushrooms.
One of the ancestors is returning.
I brace myself with readiness. If they so much as threaten R’slind…
Set’nef appears from the shadows, a pack slung over his shoulder. He wears another one of the strange yellow-orange loincloths, and this time his feet are wrapped in the same material. He glances behind him, hurrying towards our cage.
“Bad news, my friend,” he murmurs. “The chief has made a decision, and it is not a good one.” He moves toward the cage, two of his four hands brushing over the strange locking mechanism. “He says that your people invaded our grounds. That you have built a garden in a cave that was not yours and you must be punished.”
Punished? I get to my feet, shaking my head. “The fruit cave was established by our ancestors—”
He does not understand my words, though. He glances behind him again, then taps at the strange metal square on the door. “The chief has decided that the female T’ia will be given to his son. No one will see T’ia but Rem’eb the Fist, and he will try to force resonance with her.”
I growl low in my throat. “That is wrong—”
He shakes his head. “It is wrong. No female should have resonance forced upon her. And I see you here with your mate, newly resonated, and it is clear you care for her. However strange your people are, you cannot be bad. So I must let you out, even though it puts my brother and his life in danger.” A look of agony crosses Set’nef’s face. “But I cannot sit by and let the chief’s orders stand.”
“Orders?” I pronounce the word as he did, using his language.
Set’nef nods. “Kin’far the Tainted will destroy you and play with your female until she, too, dies. There is no place for either of you in the Village of the Those Who Remain.”
“Village?” I echo, pointing down where he came from, into the shadows. “Is it that way?”
Set’nef’s expression becomes closed. “I have said too much. You can come with me, you and your female, or you can stay here and face Kin’far the Tainted. He carries that name because he is mad, though. He will not hesitate to kill you. The stories about him are many and terrible.” He shakes his head. “So if you wish to stay, speak now.”