Page 19

CHAPTER

FOURTEEN

CORVAK

The strange snow-people fill me with ideas.

They're not gone in the morning. From the moment I wake up, their scent is in my nose, drowning out the sweet smell of Aidy's arousal.

Even with them around, it is difficult to resist her.

It does not matter that we are both tired and sweaty from travel—I would lick her all over given the chance.

I live to watch her small movements, the tuck of a bit of hair behind one ear, the way her lashes flutter when she awakens, the dart of her tongue as she licks her lips.

She worries over the snow-people, and so I will take them on as my problem.

Now that they have seen my strength, they cower and bow whenever I approach.

Aidy tries to communicate with them, using hand signals and repeated words, and she makes some headway with one female that seems more intelligent than the rest. When we need to speak, Aidy seeks that one out.

She speaks to them as I break down the camp and repack things.

Without as much food supplies, I manage to fit it all into one pack, so that I can give Aidy a break.

She does not complain, but I don't like how her soft, delicate feet are faring.

She has no callus, no built-up natural resistance to long walks.

Just as a clone would not, either. It is a thought I keep to myself.

When we set off in the morning, I am not surprised that they follow behind.

Aidy gives me worried looks, but I don't let our stragglers bother me.

As long as they remain quiet—and they are trying, judging from the muffled hoots—it should not be a death sentence.

We head away from the fallen star, because I worry that someone else is going to come investigate it, looking for gear.

The best thing we can do is go away from it, and find someplace with game and a defensible location to establish a fortress.

As we walk, I study the snows and the scents.

There is game in the area, the wind holding steady and bringing their scents toward me instead of the other way around.

It is a good sign, even if I cannot abandon Aidy to go hunt.

Even now, her steps are slow and tired despite a full night's sleep.

She needs more rest. I want to find a defensible place soon.

The snows tell me other things. With the fresh blanket of snow coating everything, it is easy to see tracks.

There are tiny ones from smaller creatures, and a few from a massive round-footed creature that I do not wish to run into.

Probably an herbivore with those rounded feet, but you never know.

There are lots of tracks in the snows, but none from our fellow gladiators.

This is a good sign.

Later in the morning, as we walk, I could swear the number of snow-people following us grows. As we cut through a low-lying valley for the mountainous slope on the far side, I turn to see how our stragglers are keeping up. As I watch, three more snow-people join the cluster trailing behind us.

"More are joining," I say to Aidy.

She bites her lip. "What do we do?"

"Nothing. We let them join."

The new snow-people hoot wildly, only to stop once they join the others. We continue on for a time, when the hooting begins again. Aidy and I stop and she turns, making the "quiet" gesture. I pause, too, because they could be alerting us to danger.

One of the males—one of the bigger ones—has pounced on something.

As I watch, he hauls it out of a snowy den and holds it up in the air.

It is a smaller creature, much like the one I stole my khui from, and it kicks and squirms, desperately trying to break free.

The snow-man races to my side, holding out the creature for me to take.

Nearby, another digs at the base of a straggly looking bush and pulls it up, revealing a thick taproot.

And a new idea blossoms.

These snow-people are not a problem.

They are an army.

And as long as I feed them, they are at my command. No one will be able to defeat us if we are surrounded with a loyal army. It does not matter if they can fight. I can teach them how to fight. What matters are numbers and a defensible position.

I like this new idea, very much.

Then again, I like any idea that involves myself and Aidy winning this scenario.

It is a much broader one than I had anticipated.

In the memory banks I have, the games were always established with set boundaries.

Supplies would be dropped, and new aspects of the game would be unveiled.

The winner would get a female once the game was completed.

Some of the rules are different now, but as the differences pile up, I start to wonder why this is so.

Is there something else going on that we are unaware of? And if so, what?

Hopefully it is nothing an army cannot take care of.

I take the squirming animal from the snow-people, thank the creature for its sacrifice, and kill it swiftly. "This will be the start of tonight's stew."

Aidy's face is pale, but she nods. "It was nice of them to hunt that for us."

I cut the throat of the animal and sling the corpse to my pack so it can bleed out as we walk.

As we do, I mull the idea of my personal army.

They will be easy enough to arm with spears, and if that fails, they have claws.

They can help with the hunting. The old and the children can hunt for roots or help melt water.

The strongest can act as guards. I like this. I like this a lot.

I keep thinking of things to include in my army. Should I teach them maneuvers? Phalanx formations? The possibilities are endless.

I am not sure how Aidy will feel about this, however.

I glance over at my female. Her face is ruddy with cold, her long hair tangling about as the breeze lifts it. "How are your feet?"

She rubs the tip of her pink nose. "They're managing, but I wouldn't say no to a shorter hike today.

Do you think we can find someplace safe now that it's getting rocky again?

" She points at the distance, where the cliffs rise to even more jagged heights.

"I feel like we're going back into the mountains instead of coming back out of them. "

"Perhaps we are. I will look for a good shelter so you can rest your feet."

"Is it safe to separate?"

"It will be." I tip my chin at the snow-people trailing behind us. "We have acquired more of them. Did you notice that?"

"We have?" Her face falls. "I don't like that."

"As if we have a choice? Tell them to go away, then." I know she will do no such thing, and smile to take the bite from my words. "You know they will not listen."

"I haven't learned enough of their words yet.

" She tucks her hair behind her small, rounded ear, and my cock fills with blood.

The humming in my chest grows louder, and for a moment, my knees weaken as her scent drifts close.

I move closer to her, and when she gazes up at me in surprise, I pull her close and bury my face in her mane. "Are you okay? What's wrong?"

"Nothing." I keep my face buried in her hair.

Her scent is intoxicating, her soft body against mine distracting…

and not close enough. I want so much more than just walking at her side.

I want to touch her all over, to hear her make the little gasps and sharp inhales the way she did when I touched her feet.

The way she did when I touched her between her thighs.

For a brief flash, I resent my budding army because they give us no time to be alone.

But that army will keep her safe.

Reluctantly, I let her go. Her face is full of confusion as she gazes up at me, and I lightly rub my knuckles along the curve of her jaw. "I was just wishing that we were alone."

Her pink mouth curves into a smile. "Good wish."

Behind us, the hooting escalates, and I turn to see another one of the snow-people has caught something.

He brings it to me, the creature writhing and still alive.

I am the official executioner, it seems. I eye Aidy, and there are dark shadows under her eyes today.

She seems tired, and I know her feet must be bothering her.

So even though I would prefer to be much, much farther away, I make a decision.

I point at the rocks in the distance. "We will stop there for the day.

The game seems to be plentiful, and we will cook our food and look for a strategic place to claim as our own. "

Aidy's smile of relief is telling. "I love that idea."

The distant cliffs are riddled with jagged edges and broken rocks.

It is strange to me—I had always pictured that a mountain would be a solid block of stone, to be climbed like something in an obstacle course.

What I am learning is that mountains here are made up of steep slopes and uneven stone, rockfalls and deep slices that make impossible-to-scale cliffs.

There are crevices that seem to be nothing but ice packed between taller rocks, and snow.

So much snow. It hides the sharp, small rocks and the places where footfalls are precarious, and I worry even more for Aidy's delicate feet.

I do not climb higher, but instead, follow a new, foul scent that permeates the air, and in the next rocky crevice, there is water, trickling through the rocks.

It is the cause of the stink, but this time I welcome it. The water steams and flows into a bright greenish-blue pool, with jutting tumbles of rocks all around it.

Aidy is thrilled at the sight. She clutches at my arm, not just for balance, but because she is delighted. "Running water! That must be some sort of hot spring. You think it's drinkable?"

I glance over at my army. "We watch them to see."

I find a good place to sit and pull Aidy into my lap.

She is stiff at first, and then relaxes, sighing with contentment.

The purring in her chest grows so loud it feels as if I can hear nothing else.

Her scent surrounds me, and my cock remains hard and aching, flooded with the need for her.

Instinctively, I shift her, settling her hips against mine and her back to my front.

She sucks in a breath but doesn't move away.

She takes one of my arms and loops it around her waist, as if wanting me to hold her closer.

I jerk my hips, flexing upward, all so I can press my cock harder against those soft, gloriously scented parts of her.

Her breath catches again.

I bite back a groan. My female. Mine. My Aidy. My ?—

"Look," she says.

It takes a moment for her voice to penetrate my hazy thoughts.

I force myself to pay attention, to look up as she commands.

When I do, I see that the snow-people are moving toward the running stream.

There are sticks on the edges of the water, tall reeds of some kind, and they approach carefully.

One of the males moves into the lead and carefully skirts the water's edge.

Then, he leans over and grabs at the closest reed, hauling it from the water and retreating.

As he does, I see there is a flopping, angry blob on the end.

It looks like an ugly, rounded fish with giant teeth.

The snow-male grabs the end of the reed and bashes the fish against a nearby rock.

Then, he looks over at me for approval, just like they have all done every time they have brought me a kill.

The snow-people grab another fish-on-a-reed and bash it, and as we watch, the other reeds retreat, heading to the far side of the pool. Some of the snow-people follow, while others crowd in the now clear area and dip their hands into the warm water to drink.

"Piranhas on a stick," Aidy muses. "Terrifying. I'm glad our friends are showing us the safe way to approach the water."

I grunt, because my army is proving more handy than I realized. "We will stop here and see where we can set up camp, then. If the water is safe, it is a good advantage for us."

"And I would really love a bath," Aidy says, voice wistful.

The longing in her voice ensures that I will do everything in my power to ensure that she gets her bath. "You will have one. I swear it."