43. Thivoll

43

Thivoll

I settle us on the branch of a tree to wait. Not long after, a slime comes into view, though just barely.

They aren't coming this way and we can only make out intermittent glimpses of gray flesh through the underbrush.

Ree pokes me to get my attention and then points at the hunter. I shake my head. She points at her gun. I shake my head harder.

She holds her arms wide and looks up. I don't know what the gesture means. Well, except that she probably doesn't enjoy being told no, but she can't do anything about it and I am feeling like a genius for trapping her up here.

I realize what that means with a jolt.

I look close for signs of listlessness, but she is just staring intently over toward the genali. A quick glance lets me know they've paused to look around. Thankfully, not in our direction.

She must not feel trapped. I let out a long breath, then quickly suck it back in when something springs from a bush near the genali with an undulating cry.

I only glimpse long black mane and dark gray skin before they both disappear.

The sounds of a quick, but brutal struggle follow. The slime's scream is easy to recognize after so many times of hearing it and purr rumbles in my chest in response.

One less hunter. One less threat.

From the sawing sounds, I assume the prey is cutting through the slime's pack.

Low muttering in a foreign language follows it.

A small gasp from Ree is the only warning I get before she speaks to it. There's not nearly enough time to shift around and throw a hand over her mouth, unfortunately.

I don't know what she yells to him, her voice sounding like an odd mix of breathy whistles across the roof of her mouth and intermittent deep clicks.

Like most languages, it has its own beauty.

Here it could prove to be a deadly call and so I cage her against the trunk of the tree and tuck in all of my more vulnerable parts.

She grunts and tries to push me away, but I don't move.

I avoid speaking with her so she won't be tempted to switch between languages, but a low growl lets her know anything that needs to be said.

She snaps her teeth at me, but stops trying to wriggle out.

The forest is completely silent.

Ree waits a few more moments and then calls out again, this time speaking for much longer.

While she does, I consider how short-sighted it was for me to never get my own translation nanites. Aside from there being no reason to, of course, since I never joined the Thorisian Sentinels.

It doesn't surprise me when we eventually hear a muted response, though from a different location. I adjust my body to compensate for the different angle.

My Ree could probably talk anyone into anything. I move a hand to pat her hip, hopefully communicating some of my pride.

They speak back and forth for several long minutes, then she talks with me again.

"His name is Kuret. He agreed we could come closer, but not too close. And if we try anything he said he'll kill us."

"Let's just leave. Or you can speak to him from here."

"I need to see him and interact for a while, Thivoll. I can't just tell him about the other women without at least checking if he will be civil with us."

"He just said he'd kill us."

"Wouldn't you say the same thing?"

I growl at her and her Thela-cursed point. "Alright, but you stay behind me. Will you do that?"

Her lips twitch to the side.

It's nothing like her smile , so I don't know what it means.

Who knew lips could move so many directions and communicate so many things? It would be far more interesting if we were settled at a resort with a giant nest and all the time we wanted to figure out what every twitch meant.

Right now it just heightens my anxiety wondering if it means she is about to do something inadvisable.

"I'll stay behind you."

Some of the tension eases.

"At least until it seems safe."

And comes right back.

I'm growling as we descend and make our way closer, but I do as I'm asked. The male . . . Kuret, rather, has some fear mixed in with his caustic anger. That alone makes me feel better.

Whatever she told him it was more than verbal teddy bearing .

I glance back to ensure the bulk of my body blocks her and pad closer to where he is crouched behind the trunk of a tree, just the crown of his head and one eye peeking out. It's bright green and currently narrowed to a small slit.

Long black braids of coarse mane dangle down from a broad skull and I can make out one vaguely humanlike ear, but with three sharp points rising in an arc along the top and back of it.

I decide we are close enough and sit back on my haunches so I most effectively create a barrier between them. Only the underbrush serves as cover for me, but I'd rather him think I don't need it than huddle behind a trunk like he's doing.

To complete the look, I put a bored expression on my face and start running a hand through my mane.

Worst case, he's from a culture where personal grooming is an insult, but I'll take the risk. It has the added benefit of making me seem unarmed.

If I don't know about his species, I bet his doesn't know about mine.

Ree keeps talking as I keep grooming. After removing the many tens of tangles, I'm glad I thought of it.

I hope the dark violet I know my muzzle is showing right now as I think of how unkempt I have been for my little human doesn't destroy the entire show.

She's as effective as usual and I still have plenty of tangles left when he steps out from behind the tree.

I tense up when I see a genali rifle in his hand, but he props it up against the tree and keeps talking. His face bears a passing resemblance to a human male, except with broader features, much bigger eyes with a horizontal pupil, and ears that come to three points that jut out from his head between black braids.

His braids are thick and elaborate with rough beads, bones, feathers, and even small wooden carvings mixed into them. His skin is dark gray with a bright green, glowing pattern across his face and down his arms.

It pulses like it's a type of fluid pumping across the surface of his flesh.

It may continue under his clothes, which are made from the skin of some alien creature and stitched together with sinew. It's thicker in some areas, like armor was built into its design and is scored and pitted in enough places that I know he's seen a lot of violence.

From the patina, only some of it since being abducted.

He's muscular, with a broad chest and narrow hips. The more I look at him, the more I can see the overlap in human physiology.

Two arms. Two legs, though they are much longer than a human, adding to his greater height. His hands work similarly, but he only has three wide fingers instead of four.

Almost human, at least in shape.

Judging by the dark green liquid oozing from a wound to his lower abdomen there are some very significant differences in internal makeup.

He lets out a sharp hissing bark that makes me dart my eyes back to his face. Multiple bright white teeth are showing now, all of them sharp.

I move forward at the sight of such a threat but Ree yanks on the mane at the back of my neck. I grunt, then pay closer attention to his body language.

I guess more than one species is confused about what showing teeth means. He's smiling .

Although I suppose I am getting used to seeing her smile and I'm starting to associate it with happy times.

I realize my mind had been wandering when she speaks my language. "He's injured. I'd like to go over and help him."

I shake my mane in self-reproach for not staying focused.

"No. He can do it himself. I assume he took the medical kit from the genali."

"That's harsh, Thivoll. I need to solidify his trust so I can ask him the giant favor of searching for and protecting a woman. The least we can do is stitch the man. This time we have plenty of supplies and the guilt from not treating Szhe'ka still haunts me."

If he only knew what it was like to have a human pulling him around by his tail, he would run the opposite direction. With whatever sound his species makes that is the opposite of that war cry he made earlier.

Then I concede he doesn't have a tail. And also that I enjoy having my tail pulled. I huff out a breath.

"Only if he agrees to have me within tail range. But of course, don't tell him what my tail does," I add hastily.

She trills, pats me, and then goes back to speaking to the male. She comes out from around me and stands at my side. I feel better when she shows some caution by not immediately walking over to him.

My fur stands on end at the way he looks at her.

His eyes are widened, and they rove over her body in a way that suggests appreciation and interest.

"Tell him if he keeps looking at you like that I'll rip his head off."