25. Chapter 25

My anguish at the realization that my group had left without me made me crumble to the ground. Hadn't anyone noticed that I wasn't there? Dawn? Hadn't she missed me? We were supposed to look for more samples like we did every day.

The other warriors when I didn't help them take the camp down?

Tzar-Than?

My head spun uncontrollably, objects appeared fuzzy, and my temple throbbed, making me wonder if I had sustained a concussion when Sandra hit me over the head. I was cold, in pain, thirsty, and hungry. Miserable beyond anything I had ever experienced before. Would I die out here after all?

No, I decided. No, I would not. I only needed to follow the group's tracks, which shouldn't be that hard. It was a large group, and they would leave plenty of tracks. Even an amateur like me would be able to see them.

My head mocked me at the word only , but I shut it down. If I wanted to survive, I needed to buck up.

Get up, you ninny, and start walking. You slept all night and close to a whole day. Time to do something. I pep talked myself but didn't rise. Whenever I lifted my head, everything around me spun, making me sick to my stomach.

Just for a minute , I told myself and curled up, closing my eyes.

When I woke next, I was even more dehydrated than the time before.

The sun was already high in the sky, and I was lying right in its rays, not having had the good sense to seek shelter by the trees or a large boulder.

I knew I was dying, if not from my injuries, then from dehydration. If I didn't get water soon, that would be it.

So, find water first , my mind suggested. Which was easy for it to say since it didn't seem to experience the pain my body was screaming with, having me cry out in anguish at every little movement I made.

In between cramps of pain, I realized I needed to relieve my bladder. With a sudden surge of panic, I touched my crotch to check if I had peed myself. I found it dry, though, and slowly, an image of me crawling around a few hours ago and relieving myself came back to me. Good, as long as I was peeing and sweating…

Now, get up .

I crawled to a boulder and used it to get to my feet. I looked around for a covered spot to pee, but then a dry chuckle moved through me, aggravating my pain. It didn't matter where I peed. I was alone. All alone.

After I finished doing what needed to be done, I focused on my next predicament. I was thirsty. Thirstier than I had ever been. We always camped by a source of water. Unfortunately, I hadn't paid close enough attention last night—the night before—as to where it was. I had utterly relied on the barbarians to fill their skins with water and provide me with it when I was thirsty. Well done, idiot , I chastised myself, absolutely perfect .

Well, I didn't exactly know they would try to kill me , I argued back. That thought, however, terrified me even more. They had tried to kill me. Not just one person but several. What had I done to deserve that much hate?

I didn't think I was a bad person. I might not be easy to get along with, but I wasn't bad. Not as in we're going to kill you bad.

It took me a moment to realize and comprehend that their hate had nothing to do with me per se. This was all about Sandra and Tzar-Than. Sandra, who wanted him, and me, who stood in her way.

Why she wanted him so bad that she was willing to kill someone was beyond me, but I was too miserable to explore that right then. Water , I reminded myself, I need water .

I knew it couldn't be too far, so I gathered what strength I had left and began circling the long-abandoned camp, hobbling from one boulder to use as leverage to a tree, and then another, and so on.

In between, I stopped to catch my breath and listen for any telltale sign of water. Taking in controlled shallow breaths and moving from one point to another was exhausting, and I was about to give up when all of it seemed fruitless.

A quick shadow, low to the ground, darting across it, caught my attention. It was too fast to really get a glimpse of. I shuddered at the thought that this might be one of those rat-like creatures I had seen before. Whatever it was definitely had a long tail.

Then there was a small chirping sound. It sounded plaintive, a cross between a mewl from a kitten and a chirp from a baby bird. It took an effort, but I smacked my dry lips together and tried to imitate it.

There it was again.

I first noticed long ears from behind a boulder. I held my breath and waited for what would follow. I didn't even have a weapon. Torn between watching the creature emerge and screaming and waving my arms to shoo it off, I kept staring.

Eyes came into view next. A pair of the largest eyes I had ever seen. They dominated a small, furry face with the cutest black upturned nose I had ever seen. Short, stub-like arms appeared as my gaze drew down. My heart melted. I had never seen anything this adorable before. Even my pain ceased as I took it all in: the deep violet, fuzzy fur, the lighter spots right around the eyes, and the head shape that made its face look like a heart .

The only thing bigger than its eyes were its ears. As if it couldn't get any cuter, I saw its tail when it fully emerged from around the boulder, its very long, fluffy tail that it held wrapped around its body as it stared at me now, standing on its hind legs. Not much bigger than a kitten.

"Oh my God, what are you?" I tried to control my voice, not to screech. I didn't want to chase it off.

It chirped and regarded me with such deep, soulful eyes, as if it was judging me. Tentatively, I held out my hand. "I don't have anything for you; I'm sorry," I crooned.

Warily, it lifted its little nose into the air and sniffed it. I kept sitting where I was, keeping my breaths even as it slowly inched forward to my outstretched hand. Did I say my heart melted earlier? That was nothing, until the little creature stretched out its little arm, and a padded finger slowly touched mine.

I held perfectly still, waiting for it to put its tiny hand on my finger. First one, then two, and then, without warning, the little thing rushed up my arm, all the way to my shoulder. I held a startled shriek back, honestly too astonished to move. Tiny wisps of whiskers tickled my cheek, my ear, where I could hear short little sniffing breaths.

Next, it climbed into my hair, making me giggle. "You are funny; aren't you?"

The very long, very furry tail of it caressed my neck as it climbed underneath my hair from one shoulder to the other, letting out another small chirp .

Just as quickly as it had come, it ran back down my other arm and vanished behind the boulder.

"Oh no, come back, little buddy," I called, desperate for its company. For just a few moments, I had forgotten all my misery.

A chirp called from some bushes and then the head appeared, huge eyes blinking at me. It vanished again, tail waving. Another chirp, another quick glance at me.

It looked as if it wanted me to… follow it?

I shrugged my shoulders, the movement sending waves of pain. But what did I have to lose?

"Hold on, little buddy; I'm coming."

It took me a lot longer than it should have to make my way over to the bushes and through them. My little companion jumped from boulder to boulder, chirping and cheering each of my steps on.

"You're not going to lure me to your monstrous people-eating mom and dad; are you, Fuzzles?"

Another chirp that could mean anything. With a sigh, I kept following until I heard the faint sound of trickling water.

"You're leading me to water? Oh, Fuzzles!" I exclaimed right as a small, fast-rushing creek came into view. My alien companion, whom I guessed I had named Fuzzles, perched in the middle of the creek on a boulder, looking very pleased with itself.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you," I said, bringing myself carefully down to my knees to scoop up some water. While pushing thoughts of bacteria, fungus, and algae from my mind, I began to drink the cool refreshment. I had been drinking this kind of water for days. I had no reason to believe this was any different from the others.

I cupped my hands and greedily drank more water. It was clean and fresh and went down my sore throat smoothly, easing the scratchiness.

I must have lain there for a while, or maybe I passed out again because when I opened my eyes, it was dark, and a tiny little weight lay across my chest, emanating soothing purring sounds.

"Hey, Fuzzles." I yawned, and Fuzzles climbed up my chest to take my chin into its little hands. "Hey." My eyes filled with tears at this small gesture of comfort.

I felt tired, extremely tired, but my body wasn't hurting quite as much anymore as it had earlier. The water had done me good. I rearranged Fuzzles and drank some more of the cool liquid. The nebula and stars shined brightly enough in the sky that I could make out several cuts and bruises on my arms and probably face. Without a mirror, it was impossible to see what my face looked like, but it burned. I figured some water wouldn't hurt and began washing up.

My stomach rumbled, but I still didn't know what was edible on Vandruk and what wasn't. I saw a few grass stems, which I knew had agrogar bulbs at the bottom, but I remembered Tzar-Than's warning that it had to be cooked first. I doubted my new little friend would know how to make a fire and probably wouldn't even appreciate it.

I sighed. "What do you eat, Fuzzles?"

He didn't answer, only stared at me through his soulful eyes .

With another sigh, I looked around. It was night. I might as well try to get some more sleep. I wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. The place by the creek looked to me as good as any—at least I wouldn't have to walk far when I got thirsty again.

I managed to pull some leaves and moss together to get somewhat comfortable on the ground. All the while, Fuzzles perched on the same boulder in the middle of the creek, watching me attentively, albeit a bit impatiently. "You're ready to go to sleep, too; aren't you?"

I was right. As soon as I lay down on my side, bemoaning the fact that it was getting quite cold and I didn't have a blanket, Fuzzles climbed up on me. I had curled up on my side, and he snuggled into the crook of my shoulder where I rested my head on my arm.

Gently, I petted the little critter. He was unbelievably soft, and it seemed like he was more fur than anything else. A small purr rang out from him again, and I gathered he liked the petting. He nuzzled into my shoulder and strangely, heat seemed to emanate from him, chasing off the cold around me.

"You're a little miracle, you know that?" I mumbled before I closed my eyes. "Will you warn me if a xythrax or some other scary thing appears?" I asked the question, but I didn't want to think about any of the other dangers that might be lurking out there. I tried to soothe myself that there was nothing I could do about it, that my life was in God's hands or Vorag's as the Vandruks called their god. I sent a prayer to the nebula, hoping it really was what Tzar-Than believed and prayed my mom was there with the Vandruks' souls.

I woke with every little noise, all night long, only to fall into a deep sleep when the sun began to rise.

A loud noise startled me awake. Fuzzles chirped, and I righted myself too quickly, making my body hurt and my head dizzy. Blinking against the sun, I barely made out a group of Vandruks staring at me as if I were an apparition. They were talking to each other animatedly, pointing at me.

For only a moment, I thought Tzar-Than had found me, but it wasn't him. This male was similarly built, with the same reddish-brown hair and skin color, but his eyes were an impossible, electrifying blue. Panic surged through me. Friend or foe? Fight or flight? I wouldn't stand a chance against one Vandruk, let alone three, so that excluded fight. I didn't have much flight in me either.

Fuzzles chirped and moved to the top of my head, his tail curled around my neck.

Had the Vandruk been animated before, they were in downright shock now, staring from me to Fuzzles as if we were a xythrax.

The three warriors took me in nearly as warily as I, them. One of them, the leader, I supposed, because on his naked chest he wore the same kind of necklace as Tzar-Than, and because his body displayed the same kind of curious markings, stepped forward.

A string of Vandruk was thrown at me from a deep voice. Too fast for me to make anything out with my limited knowledge.

I pressed one hand against the ground, trying to get up, without looking like a klutz, hurting myself, or unseating Fuzzles, who was still perched on top of me like a king on a throne. When I made it into a standing position—watched by six pairs of eyes—I raised a hand in the universal gesture of Hello, and I mean no harm, don't hurt me .

The tall Vandruk stepped in front of me, scowling. His hand lifted to touch me, and I slapped it away, moving my head back and shaking it. The movement made me dizzy and feel as if a bunch of marbles rattled loosely inside. For a split second, I wondered if that was where the expression of loose marbles came from, but bile entering my mouth discouraged any giggle that might have escaped me. With a herculean effort, I swallowed it back down, determined not to show him any weakness.

He turned to his warriors and said something else I didn't understand, but a deep chuckle came from one of them that deepened his scowl.

Since his body wore the same strange markings as Tzar-Than and I hadn't seen any of other Vandruk warriors with them, I took a chance. Hoping I wasn't wrong and to make some kind of connection, I cleared my throat and said, "Khadahr?" pointing at him .

Startled, he looked at me and spewed another slew of words at me. I shook my head. "I don't speak your language," I said in English, which seemed to take him by surprise, and he moved back a step. Fuzzles chirped again. I couldn't see him, but it felt as if he was performing some sort of dance on top of my head while his tail tightened a notch around my throat, enough to make me uncomfortable.

"Hey." I tried to pry the little monster off my head. He seemed to get the message and, thankfully, moved out of my hair and onto my shoulder.

The Vandruks watched the spectacle with expressions close to awe on their faces—except the big guy, who still frowned.

"Khadahr Tzar-Than," I said, hoping the khadahrs knew each other's names and that this particular one wasn't Tzar-Than's archnemesis or something like that. That would be just my luck. I wished Tzar-Than and I had more time to get to know one another. That he would have told me more about Vandruk, their customs, and politics, but as hard as it was to believe it, it had only been a few days since I arrived on Vandruk and even less since we began… talking.

"Tzar-Than?" the Vandruk asked, tilting his head.

I nodded, pointing in the direction which I thought they had gone. "Tzar-Than."

Words flew back and forth between him and his warriors, too fast to catch even one that I knew, but from their body language, I gathered that they at least didn't seem angry or even agitated. More animated. But this khadahr could have used some help in the facial expression department because his scowl never wavered.

Finally, the flurry came to an end, and he looked back at me. Slapping his chest with his hand, he said, "Khadahr Dzur-Khan."

"Dzur-Khan," I repeated.

"Khadahr Dzur-Khan," he reiterated, deepening his frown. I got his point—this guy liked his formalities. If he thought I would curtsy, he had another thing coming.

Still, I bobbed my head. "Khadahr Dzur-Khan." I tipped my chest, "Gwyn."

That seemed to make him happy, or happier. The scowl never left his face, but he repeated my name, "Ghwynn." Close enough .

One of his warriors came toward me, and my heart about dropped into my stomach. He was huge, but when he pulled his waterskin out, I realized he only wanted to refill them.

I limped out of the way and Dzur-Khan let out another flurry of Vandruk.

"I have no idea what you're saying," I told him, making my face questioning, raising my hands.

"Bagwa," he said, pointing at my face.

"Does bagwa mean hurt?" I asked. "Hurt? Pain? Yes, bagwa." I flinched as I moved too quickly.

He scrutinized me. His eyes moved from me to Fuzzles. "Velviph."

He put his hands out and gave me a questioning look as if asking for permission to touch me. I watched his hand come closer, but it wasn't going toward me, but Fuzzles .

A roar penetrated the air, one I had heard once before, right before the xythrax was killed. " Tzar-Than!"