18. Chapter 18

I had been watching Willis closely, and still, the damn humans managed to surprise us: them and their cursed weapons. I had heard about the humans using them when they first emerged from the portal, but by all accounts, they had disintegrated minutes after they stepped foot on Vandruk. They must have upped their technology. It was the only explanation.

Not that it mattered. Four humans jumped me when I was distracted. I managed to call out for Amber to run, but took some licks the males would have otherwise not gotten in.

I could have thrown the four off, but Willis had pointed his weapon at Shan-Tal. A loud bang echoed, and Shan-Tal hit the ground like a felled tree. Until I knew for sure what those weapons were, it seemed wiser to allow the humans to tie us to a tree, especially since I was sure that Amber had gotten away .

I didn't count on her coming back to save us, but it would be interesting to see how loyal she was and to whom. Whatever feud she and Willis were engaged in, I was sure would bring her back. Whenever that happened, I would use it as a distraction to get free and get my revenge on Willis.

"How is Shan-Tal?" I whispered to Dhor-Van, while the humans were busy talking to and over each other.

"He's still breathing but unconscious," Dhor-Van informed me.

Blood still gushed from a wound by his shoulder that seemed to have come out of nowhere but was somehow related to the weapon Willis carried. He and the males he had left after I had killed three of them. I scrutinized the rest of his males. All of them wore the same kind of weapons on their thighs. None of them were holding them up, though.

I had seen four take off into the wilderness, presumably looking for Amber. I hoped she was as smart and trained as she had seemed to be. I wasn't sure how I would handle Willis having her in his possession. Not well, I supposed, judging by the knot of anger in my stomach and the churning of my blood at the thought of him or any of his males hurting her. I was already far too enraptured with her.

The material the humans had tied us with was strange, hard, and felt like nothing we used. The humans had forced my arms behind me around a tree, turning my shoulders awkwardly and painfully before they zipped something around my wrists on the other side. I felt it, but I couldn't find a knot .

No matter how much I strained to break through them, there was no give. Warm blood already trickled down my skin, making it slick. The way my shoulders were angled made it impossible to apply all my strength to try to break free from the shackles, leaving me sweating and cursing.

"Can you see what we are bound with?" I asked Dhor-Van.

"I've never seen anything like it, Khadahr. It's thin but strong, and it bites into the skin like wet leather."

I grunted my agreement, watching the human guards fall over the meat my warriors had brought back earlier and cooked. They were taunting the gallies with it, and I gathered that they were asking for sexual favors from them if they wanted to eat. Bastards , I raged. That's no way to treat a gallis . Never mind that Tzar-Than had banished them, that they had done despicable things, they were still gallies.

The lone cry of a male caught all our attention.

Willis cursed loudly, yelling at his men. He motioned for them to take off into the woods, where they were most likely trying to find Amber.

Another cry rang out; it sounded pained. Amber was trying to terrorize Willis, and from the looks of it, it seemed to be working. Willis wiped sweat off his brow and kept on ranting, pointing his weapon but finding no target.

Wherever you are, Amber, I hope you know what you're doing .

A third cry rang out. Impossible to tell if it was from the same man, but it seemed to be coming from the same direction .

"Don't move," a familiar voice hissed behind me right when I felt something sawing at my binding. "Keep still," she cautioned.

A man walked up to Willis. He opened his mouth to say something, but in the next moment, a hole appeared in his head, blood gushed, and he hit the ground. Willis cursed in surprise and stepped back, pointing his weapon left and right and yelling unintelligibly. Next to me, Amber raised one of the human's weapons in her hand.