Page 86 of The Hunter

“We have been unable to track the beasts,” Tas continued. “They strike from hiding and vanish into the Tangle with their prey like ghosts.”

Nodding, Garahk hummed thoughtfully. “So you ask us to slay these beasts for you.”

“No.” Tas twisted to face him, mandibles twitching. “We ask that you aid us in the hunt. We need your strength and skill, but we will not hide while you go out in our stead. We would stride alongside you.”

Now Garahk stood. He turned to look at his companions, meeting their gazes one by one. “I see much shar’thai. Enough to blind all eight of my eyes. Will we hunt?”

Ayali was the first to rise and thump her leg on the floor, making the wood planks vibrate. The other thornskulls immediately did the same, their stomps rapidly gaining speed.

Telok couldn’t help but recall the day they stood together against Zurvashi, when the thornskulls had pounded the butts of their spears on the ground, working themselves toward a battle frenzy.

Cole also joined them, and Lacey leaned to the side, thumping her fist on the floor in unison.

A cold, thorny strand coiled around Telok’s hearts and squeezed tight, its chill piercing down to his spirit. She could not take part in this hunt. It was too dangerous, and she was too inexperienced, too… Too precious.

I cannot lose her too.

Garahk looked back to the dais with a chitter. “We will hunt, my friends. And if any vrix can track your beasts, it is Scarhide. He sees with all eight eyes and finds what others cannot. Beast, vrix, and spirit cannot hide from him.”

The thornskulls cheered enthusiastically, stomping faster and harder, making it feel like the whole tree was shaking. But Telok’s thundering hearts were louder, the throbbing of his pulse stronger.

It is simply another hunt. One of many.

But no part of him believed that. Never in all his life had so much been at risk during a hunt.

He would have to find some way to convince Lacey to stay behind. Failing that…he would have to take the choice away from her. His arm tightened around her, fingers curling to press his claws over her belly.

Lacey turned her face toward him and frowned. “Telok? Are you okay?”

Telok met her gaze, and words clawed through his mind, forming a hundred responses, a hundred ways to tell her that she could not come along. That he would not allow her to. All the reasons were right there at the forefront of his mind.

But before he could voice any of those words, the thornskulls fell quiet, and Shir said, “You are all welcome to stay with our Nedrayas as long as you wish. We will show you where you may shelter and leave your belongings, and then we hope you will join us to share a meal.”

“Music and dance, as well,” Sahn added with a soft chitter.

A hurried stride pounded across the floor planks outside the building, swiftly drawing near. Telok knew from the sound that it belonged to no vrix.

The silk curtains covering the doorway were flung to the sides as a human female burst into the room. She came to an abrupt halt, chest heaving with quick, heavy breaths. When her dark eyes fell upon Lacey and Cole, they widened, and her lips parted in a gasp. “Oh my God, it’s true.”

CHAPTER 20

Lively music carried through Tovuunshai—the strum of string instruments, the pounding of drums, the hum of voices weaving a wordless melody. Tas and several winddancers sat near the humans, while many others mingled with the thornskulls, conversing, chittering, and eating like they’d been friends for all their lives. Striking colors swirled as other winddancers danced, trailing long scarves of sheer silk through the air.

But all Lacey could do was stare at Sophia.

The brown-skinned woman sat crossed-legged on a blanket across from her, eyes shifting back and forth between Lacey and Cole, in a similar state of shock. They hadn’t spoken much beyond introductions before Tas had led Lacey and her companions to their makeshift dens so they could drop off their things and clean up before joining the festivities.

While Garahk and the thornskulls opted to remain together in a larger structure, Cole and Lacey had selected smaller buildings, preferring to have some privacy.

Of course, Telok had simply followed her into the building she’d chosen and dropped his things next to hers like they belonged there, effectively claiming the den alongside her. He’d looked at Lacey as though daring her to argue, but she’d kept silent, secretly delighting in it. She’d been sleeping in his arms for the past five nights, and though she wasn’t about to admit it to him, she knew she wouldn’t have slept well without him against her.

Satisfied, he’d retrieved a blanket from his bag and hung it across the entryway with sticky silk, making the room immediately more intimate.

And then they’d been shown to what Tas had jokingly called the village waterfall—essentially a communal shower where they could wash away the grime and sweat of travel. Numerous cisterns in the boughs above collected rainwater, which fed into a simple but effective system of aqueducts and spouts in the village, ensuring the winddancers didn’t have to venture to the jungle floor to fetch water.

Lacey had been in heaven as she’d taken a quick shower. Who cared that she’d done so with her clothes on? Just feeling that water flowing over her, just feeling clean, was divine.

“I…still can’t believe it,” Sophia said with a shake of her head. “When they came to my den and told me there were more humans here, it…it didn’t feel real. Didn’t feel possible. I thought it had to be a mistake, or that I’d misunderstood.”