10. Nevarn

Chapter 10

Nevarn

A fter coaxing Molly out from beneath the bushes, we started walking again, continuing at a quick, cautious pace until the sun started prodding the horizon, determined to find a way through to the darkness on the other side.

We'd be foolish to travel at night with someone watching. And they were. I couldn't see or hear them, but I could feel them following.

I wanted to leave the trail, to travel in areas where it would be difficult for our stalker to keep pace, but I wasn't sure such a place existed. Our best bet was to reach my old clan where we could find protection and support, plus a building where we could lock the door behind us. Then, we could rest without worrying about someone attacking us.

The thought that I couldn't protect my mate kept roaring through me, making me want to gnash my tusks and growl. We were on our own until we reached my old clan, and even once there, we would not be safe. Not until I'd exposed Weela's murderer and made them pay not only for taking her life, but for trying to kill me.

Assuming this was her murderer trailing us. It must be. No one else would bother tracking me like this. If they'd wanted my pouch and weapons, they would've stolen them, then run as far from me as they could. Wounded me to slow me down, perhaps, but getting that close to me meant they had to risk that I'd defend myself and injure them instead.

No, they were after me and now my mate. Stealing my food and weapons was only a part of killing me. Without supplies or a way to defend myself, my odds of surviving were small.

We'd retrieved two of Kerry's precious arrows, and I'd help her make more if I could coax the gods into providing the best wood.

My spear had been broken by the hungry abadeer, but it could be replaced. As for the one the gods had sent, I'd thrown it at the culendars, and it also broke. I was sad to leave it behind, but it wasn't worth carrying.

"We'll make camp," I said.

Stopping beside a wide place in the river, I found a good tree to settle beneath, where I could watch the trail and see a short distance in both directions. If whoever hunted us wanted to attack, we'd see them before they reached us. I liked that the tree stood alone, too, because that meant the Zuldruxian couldn't jump to the branches above us from another tree and attack us from there.

I gently lifted Molly off my shoulder and placed her on the ground. I'd already seen her value on the trail. She'd hissed before the Zuldruxian chased the culendar pack our way. She'd let us know if anything came close.

She peered around and started to purr, reinforcing my belief that we were safe here—for now.

While she drank at the river and started grabbing insects from the shrubs and eating them, I caught fish for dinner. Kerry dug roots she'd discovered were edible, joining me in our camp spot beneath the wide canopy of the tree to prepare our meal.

In no time, I'd dug a shallow pit in the ground and encircled it with good-sized rocks. I was taking a chance with a fire because it could be seen for quite a distance, but if my suspicion was right and the person still trailed us, building a fire wouldn't make a difference to them. It would, however, keep some predators away.

"Good idea," Kerry said. "I can collect wood—"

I held up one finger, and she paused, her breathing coming to a halt.

"Nothing's coming near," I said softly. "But we must take care with everything we do. Tonight, we'll build a big fire and sleep in the tree. Tomorrow night, we'll rest in relative safety at the Dastalon Clan. And we'll start investigating after that. The quicker we discover who killed her, the quicker we'll be safe." If there was a place I could leave her where I was sure the Zuldruxian couldn't get to her, I'd do so, but she was safer with me than anywhere else. Safer than being on her own.

Closing my eyes, I hummed to the Celedar gods, hoping they'd respond now when they hadn't earlier. These gods weren't aligned with Helena, but in the past, I'd sometimes been able to get those in my clan's area to respond. Most remained dormant, however, and no longer heard our call.

At Kerry's gasp, I opened my eyes, smiling as wood dragged itself from the area around us, stacking itself nearby while other branches skittered up over the rock surround, settling in a loose pile inside the circle. Even Molly paused to watch, rising onto her haunches and clutching her small front paws to her throat.

Since the Veerenad had stolen my pack and fire stick, I'd have to start the fire the old way. After collecting some fluff from a plant growing along the bank of the river, I hunkered down beside the pit and started rubbing down a slender stick to generate sparks.

"Want to use my lighter?" Kerry said, holding out a narrow tube in a bright pink color unlike anything found in nature.

What was a lighter?

"I'd like to ask how you got sticks and logs to move into our campsite on their own," she said, "but I'm going to hold off on that." She sounded breathy, but we hadn't been running. "Watch out, little one." Lifting Molly, Kerry placed her off to the side. She leaned close to the wood stack and used the device to make a scratchy sound. Flames licked across the tip.

Worried she'd be burned, I smacked it from her hand. It landed on the ground, its flame extinguishing right away.

Molly hopped over to sniff it before snorting and scampering around to the other side of the firepit.

"Oh, um . . ." Kerry retrieved the pink thing, holding it up between us. "This is a lighter. When I engage it," she swung it out to her side, away from me, and with a flick of her thumb, generated the scratchy sound and a flame again, "it makes fire."

"Amazing," I said, staring at the flames flickering in the light breeze.

"Not as amazing as logs that move on their own."

"I asked the trees to give us wood, and they did."

The fluffy clusters of hair above her eyes lifted. "Just like that?"

"You're not of the Celedar Clan yet, but once we're home, I'll teach you how to speak to the wood gods. Helena is our clan god, but she occasionally speaks with the others. Some hear, some do not. Many went dormant after the clans abandoned them."

"This . . ." She shook her head. "I'm letting all of this go for now. Anyway." She flicked her finger across her device again, and it hissed. "Lighter. Fire. You built it and I'll ignite it." Bending forward, she used the device, the flames flicking around the fluff I'd collected and across the dry wood. Our fire soon crackled merrily in the pit.

"I'll slice the tubers. Do you need help cleaning the fish?" she asked, sitting and tugging her pack closer. She pulled out a pan and her small, slick-blade . . . No, twitch -blade, before looking up at me. "Cat got your tongue?"

"I don't understand half of what you say to me."

"Welcome to my world. You appear stunned. Look at it as if I have my own gods who provide for me like yours does for you."

"Do you?"

"Not really. Like I said, we have religion on Earth, and many believe in one god or another, but as far as tangible things go, miracles are a rarity. Most of us have learned that if we want to get things done, we need to do it ourselves."

"Your gods no longer listen?"

"I don't know, and it hardly matters any longer."

She was right. She would live here now, and our gods would take care of her just as they did us.

If only I could get the ones in this area to help me protect my mate. I'd call out to them later and explain what I needed. If any still listened, surely, they'd help.

I cleaned the fish and returned to find her tubers simmering inside the pan she'd placed over the flames. After calling for the right sort of sticks, I speared the fish and set them to the side to wait for a decent pile of coals to form for cooking. Settling with the enormous tree trunk to my back, I asked the trees to give me a few branches suitable for carving a new spear. When they arrived, I selected the best and started removing the bark.

Kerry continued to stare at me with wide eyes. "If I didn't see it happen, I'd never believe it."

"Would you like the trees to send you appropriate branches for new arrows?"

"Sure."

I grinned as the trees responded to my hum.

"This . . . Can you talk to the trees and ask them to protect us tonight?" She stroked Molly's fur. The creature had climbed into her lap and was dozing in the warmth of the flames.

"I can ask, but there's no guarantee they'll do anything if someone approaches. Sometimes, they do as we ask. Other times, they ignore us."

"Sounds like most gods, ignoring us, that is." Tipping her head back, she peered up. "You said we'll sleep on a branch again?"

"It's safest."

"Alright," she said with a sigh.

As the sun went down, I built the fire higher, calling for more wood to hold us until it was time to sleep. The light played across Kerry's face, and intense longing suddenly gripped me deep inside my chest. She was pretty in an unusual way, and I liked that her features and coloring were different from mine.

Each of my inhalations felt heavy, weighed down by the words I couldn't say. I yearned for her touch, her affection, her love—seemingly within my reach, yet so far away. The silence between us screamed louder than the roar of the river behind us and the crackle of the fire. I swallowed hard, trying to disguise the lump of pain in my throat. The agony of wanting what I may never have gnawed at my insides, leaving me hollow and aching.

What would it take to convince her to welcome me as her mate? I'd do almost anything to make it happen.

She gently settled Molly on the ground close to the fire and stood. "Is it safe for me to wash in the river?"

"It's getting dark." I stood as well. "I'll stand guard." I'd never leave her alone with a possible predator nearby.

After staring at me for a long moment, she nodded. "I appreciate it." Taking some items from her pack, she walked over to the bank of the river.

I could actually remain near the fire and still protect her but that didn't feel like enough. I wanted to stand beside her and growl at anything that might think of coming near.

She lowered her things to the ground and straightened, rubbing her lower back while staring across the water. Mist scooted across the surface, caught by the wind, and swirled into a dance.

"It's pretty here," she said. "That was the thing I noticed right away, along with the crisp clean air, water that was so clear I could see all the way to the bottom, and the way everything tastes so much fresher than where I come from. I suspect we've slowly leached most of the nutrients from our soil, where your world feels brand new and untouched."

"I'd like to say we've done all we can to preserve the beauty of Zuldrux, but I suspect we've done nothing. This is the work of the gods who joined us long ago."

"I'm going to take off my clothing and swim a bit. I've made do with quick washes, but I need a complete bath."

"Wait," I jerked out the last word before she could say or do anything else. "I admire you very much."

"You do?" Her fingers clutched the hem of her shirt as she frowned at me over her shoulder.

"You're right. You survived on your own for many days. The odds are good you'll continue to live even if you remain on your own. If that's your choice, I'll do all I can to support you."

"I appreciate that, Nevarn, but it's not really true. If you hadn't been with me today, I'd be dead. Molly too, though she was wise enough to scamper into the bushes. If culendars don't get me, the big purple beast that ate them will. It's just a matter of time."

"Not truly. You would've climbed a tree today."

"Maybe. I'm not giving up on myself. You're right that I'll do my best to survive, and I have some skills, but how long before something unexpected grabs me?"

Never, if I had my say.

"You're brave," I said. "You faced down the culendar and you won."

"The purple beast bit off the culendar's head before I could do much damage."

"You had one arrow left. You wouldn't have missed that final shot."

She paused. "That's just it. I might've. And if I was alone, the other two would've killed me before I could let loose even my first arrow."

"Not while you hunkered on a branch high in a tree. I know what you're saying, what you're feeling. When we left my clan, the same thoughts crossed our minds. How would we survive when we didn't have homes to hide inside and only the weapons we carried?"

"But you did, because you had each other."

"Yes, that's it exactly." I took a chance speaking, but the words came from my heart. "You are not alone either. That's what I wanted to say. You have me, and I'll stand with you."