20. Yva

20

YVA

T here is an ache in my head, a buzzing that will not stop, and every breath is sharp. I struggle to wake up and open my eyes. When I do, all I see are the gray walls of the human buildings.

But I am not in my room.

“Be still,” Edilk says. “You are hurt and held together with stitches.” He touches my arm. Do not mention the stabbing.

It takes me a couple of heartbeats to piece together my memories, even with the help of his words. I was sure I was dead. I never expected to wake up in the colony.

“Harper?”

“Has been to see you. I will fetch her if you want to see her.”

“Is everyone else…” Did the humans kill anyone?

“A human guard died in the stampede. We killed ten beasts and the golden creature hunting them. Hrad is making you a necklace from one of the claws.” Edilk lifts his hand and measures the claw between his thumb and first finger. “Do you remember much?”

I nod. I’m sure there are gaps, but I remember enough. Including being stabbed by the human man. I am assuming he is the one who is dead.

“You lost a lot of blood. It was Vari and another human who worked to save you once the animals had passed. The rest of us made sure the golden hunter didn’t attack, which is why we ended up killing it. The colony sent a recovery vehicle when we called for assistance, so we were able to return to the colony quickly. The doctors stitched you up…but they couldn’t do anything about the blood loss, so you will be weak for a while.” He looks away and I know that there is more.

I checked my body, starting with my toes and moving them just enough to reassure myself that they are all there, and that they still work. Slowly, I work my way up my body. My other arm aches, and my fingers are stiff.

“You are covered in scratches and bruises, so need to rest and heal.” Edilk keeps talking.

The check of my body stops at my kam. There is a pulsing and pain on one side of my head. “What happened to my kam?”

Edilk winces. “One is cracked. We aren’t sure how it will be affected.” Can you hear me? He asks, his hand on my arm the same way he talks to Sabine.

I nod. Yes. You told me not to mention the stabbing.

His brother has a malformed kam, and can only communicate via touch, much like the humans. Edilk pulls his hand away. And while I sense the charge, he is making to communicate with me, I cannot understand it.

I grimace.

“Do not force it. The doctor said the bone and cartilage should heal.”

“Will it heal enough for me to use?”

“We aren’t sure. They cannot take scans of kams in use because it will damage their equipment…I already offered to let them examine mine. And without understanding how they work, they cannot offer a solution on how to fix.”

I close my eyes. It would be the same in any tribe. The stitching of a wound, the rest and recovery and the waiting to see how everything heals. “Without kam, I cannot hunt or fight.”

“You do not need to do either, brother.”

If I am no longer the champion, then who am I?

“I cannot have a mate I cannot provide for.”

“In this tribe, doing the job assigned to you is providing. And in any tribe, a wounded warrior is not required to hunt. Though I wish you were out of bed and able to help with the butchering and preparing of the leather.”

I force a laugh. He is correct. There are always ways to be useful without hunting, but I am not ready to consider them. I do not want to be one of those warriors who is too injured or too old to join the hunt and show off my skills in the hope of getting a mate.

“Does Harper know about my kam?”

He hesitates and I can guess the answer before he speaks.

“Yes…do not throw away this chance because your pride demands a sacrifice.”

For a heartbeat, I wish I had died, but in the next I’m glad to be alive. I have survived for this long, because I have taken opportunities and chances that others would have laughed at. Banished warriors banding together for survival? Who had ever heard of such a thing? No one. Because most banished warriors are only concerned with stealing food or a woman, so they may return home.

We wanted more than that.

We stole a ship.

We wanted to live, not survive.

So that is what I will do. I will find a way to live even if I cannot make a charge.