Page 80 of The Hunter

“Yours keep many larkhets?” asked Garahk, who walked alongside Tas.

“We do,” the winddancer replied. “They are clever and keen of eye. Though even they struggle to spot kurghests in the undergrowth, they aid our hunts and warn of other dangers we may not see.”

“Perhaps mine should keep larkhets also.”

“What my mate has not said is that if you do not tend to a larkhet’s every desire, it will allow you no peace,” Shir said, making both Garahk and her mate chitter.

“No different than broodlings,” Tas replied.

“Our broodlings have never made such sounds. Swiftclaw’s cries can pierce to bone.”

Tas chittered again and gently bumped a foreleg into Shir’s. “But they are part of our Nedrayas, and we would be less without them.”

Several larkhets made chirruping calls in the boughs overhead.

“They do not appreciate your chatter,” said Ohn.

With an amused trill, Tas pointed forward. “We have arrived.”

Telok’s eyes followed the gesture to a huge tree ahead. It appeared no different than any other tree in the jungle, with moss and vines clinging to its bark. The lower branches were large and full of leaves, obscuring his view of anything higher up.

“Arrived where?” Cole asked, looking around. “I don’t see anything.”

“Tovuunshai,” Tas replied.

“Tovuunshai…” Lacey shifted her weight atop Telok to look at Tas. “That means den place, doesn’t it?”

“Yes. Tovuunshai is wherever we keep our dens.”

Cole’s brow furrowed. “So if you make a temporary den somewhere, that’s also Tovuunshai? Doesn’t that get confusing?”

Chittering softly, Tas led them toward the base of the tree. “Tovuunshai is where our Nedrayas dwells. If the shadowstalkers leave Takarahl, it is still called Takarahl. If the thornskulls leave Kaldarak, it is still called Kaldarak. When our Nedrayas leaves this place, it will simply be another spot in the jungle where the trees grow tall. Tovuunshai will be wherever we choose to den next.”

As the group reached the thorny brush growing thick around the base of the tree, Larkhets made warbling calls overhead. Ess and Ohn grasped some of the brush and dragged it aside to reveal an opening.

Telok stepped forward, bringing a stairway into view—a stairway all but invisible to anyone who wasn’t standing directly in front of it. A few steps backward hid the stairs from sight again. It was shielded on one side by a wall shaped of the same mossy bark that covered the tree.

“Oh, wow,” Lacey said.

“Right?” Cole moved back and forth. “Now I see it. Now I don’t. Now I see it, now I don’t.”

“Dork,” Lacey teased.

Shir chittered and motioned for them to follow. “Come.”

Tas and Shir moved up the steps while Ess and Ohn remained to the side, holding the brush. Garahk went up next, and Telok followed, with Cole and the other thornskulls behind, their legs thudding on the planks. The steps wound around the trunk as they rose.

“Well shaped and well hidden,” Garahk said with an appreciative hum. “Kaldarak’s woodshapers may have much to learn from yours.”

“I am sure there is much we may learn from yours as well,” Shir replied.

Farther back, Zesh said, “Forgive us, Ayali. These stairs were not shaped for someone of your mighty stature.”

“They are honored for you to stride upon them,” Ess hurriedly added, raising his voice to be heard.

Ayali chittered. “Not honored. Strained.”

Telok glanced back, but the curve of the stairs kept all but Cole and Okkor blocked from view.