Page 148 of Gladiators of the Vagabond Boxset

Hina

I was starting to think I’d never find a spot with fresh drinking water.

I’d been walking for hours, and while I’d been conservative with the small amount of water in my flask, it was nearly empty now.

The trees and plants around me seemed to follow most of the expected patterns, so I didn’t feel too disoriented on this alien planet.

I’d picked up a few nuts and berries along the way that I had noticed were abundant in the area and appeared to be favored by a bird-like species.

I was going to try those in a safe and controlled manner once I had a source of water and a secure spot to camp.

When I heard the gurgle of a little stream, I quickened my pace, rushing through the dense, thick purple shrubbery.

It opened into a small clearing where a tiny stream of water trickled down from a pile of big black and gray rocks and slithered over pink mosses into a sand and rock basin, before draining away a little farther along into another big rock crevasse.

I hurried across the spongy moss on the ground and dropped to my knees at the side of the small pool.

It was completely clear, and I saw no signs of any animals, no fish or bugs in the water itself.

There were no tracks leading to the pool as far as I could see; maybe the moss hid those signs, though.

I drank the last of the water in my flask carefully, then filled both of them up and tucked them into my improvised knapsack.

I’d have to boil that water first before I risked drinking it, but if I could locate a good spot to find shelter nearby, I’d at least have the basics covered.

Lifting my head, I looked around, studying the nearest rock formations for a likely cave.

The higher I had climbed, the less tall the foliage had gotten.

Now it was mostly shrubs and fern-like plants.

Higher up the mountain, I could see that this gave way to thick, hardy grass and more moss.

I shouldn’t climb any higher than this, or I’d lose the abundance of plant life at this level, plants that would sustain me with food, if I could figure out what was safe to eat.

My luck held as I set out for a plausible rock formation, slipping between denser shrubs and tall purple ferns, until—barely two minutes later—I stood in front of a small rock opening.

A cave. On one side, the ground dropped away rather sharply; the other rose up to the mountain peak, thickly overgrown with some kind of bramble heavy with juicy pink berries.

There was a small ledge around the side of the cave opening, like a path curving along the rock wall.

It tempted me to go take a look, but the cave itself seemed more promising.

My eyes had already dropped to the ground, trying to spot any tracks leading up to the opening.

My biggest worry was that someone might already be living in the cave—if it was occupied by a predator…

Right on cue, the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end.

I had the feeling I was being watched, a primal, incredibly instinctive feeling.

I spun around, searching through the brambles on my right and the shrubs I’d just climbed through at my back.

I couldn’t see anything, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t anything there.

Those big purple and pink fronts shifted and moved.

Oh boy… I saw a pair of red, glowing eyes and then a second pair of yellow ones, a little farther away.

That was not good. The red ones blinked and moved closer, slinking low to the ground, blinking in and out of sight as they passed behind leaves.

That was no small animal, the size of those eyes, the height they were at…

It had to be a predator. And those yellow eyes…

They were above my freaking head, and those shrubs were tall, but not tall enough to support any kind of weight.

I’d seen how bendy and sleek those branches were.

Whoever those yellow eyes belonged to, it was big.

I backed away slowly, cursing inside. Had I walked right into a predator’s den?

Had I survived execution and a bizarre spaceship crash only to die as an alien predator’s meal?

I swallowed roughly, my fingers tightening around the walking stick I’d found.

It was a flimsy weapon, but maybe a good, solid whack would distract them long enough for me to make a run for it.

First, the creature with the red, glowing eyes stepped out of the bushes.

A big creature, it was completely black and about the size of a tiger.

Its head was an odd cross between a bear and a cat, with rounded ears and a wide, stubby snout, but the keen, sharp intelligence of a cat, and an impressive set of silver whiskers.

A long tail swished behind it, all of its thick fur a midnight black that seemed to absorb light.

Its body was sinuous and graceful, a little too slinky, too sleek.

It threaded the edge between extremely uncanny and beautiful.

With that mouth full of sharp, white fangs, I was certain it could rip out my throat in a single second.

At least I’d probably be instantly dead, small comfort, but I was on borrowed time anyway…

The creature paused just outside the shrubs, cocking its head this way and that, studying me. I couldn’t help but stare, my heart pounding furiously in my throat, my legs trembling. What the heck was it doing? Deciding which part of me looked the juiciest?

The shrubs rustled, my head snapping up at the sound.

In my panic at seeing the weird cat/bear, I had forgotten about the second creature, the bigger one.

He stepped out of the shrubs, and it was definitely a he.

Yellow eyes focused on me in an unblinking stare.

His skin was streaked in the same purple and pink as the plants around us, making him blend almost entirely with the bushes.

But as he took another step my way, his skin seemed to go more muted, sliding from those vibrant colors into a deeper, darker gray.

Oh… He was tall, close to seven feet, with muscles stacked upon muscles, his bare chest rippling from thick pectorals into a row of impressive abs, and those neat V-shaped lines arrowing from his hips down into a black leather kilt.

There was a strap for a bag crossing his chest, and a belt with several pouches draped around his hips, a freaking ax weighing it down on one side.

Shit, this place was inhabited, and I’d run into one of the locals.

Somehow, I doubted he was friendly—or maybe he was going to try and be too friendly.

I backed up a step, my eyes flicking between this alien male and his pet hunting animal.

A sharp white ridge rose from a point on his forehead, arcing over his skull to the back.

A mane of undulating strands covered his skull on either side.

I wasn’t quite sure if that was just hair waving in the wind, or if those strands were thicker and moved all on their own.

He looked so alien, and when he opened his mouth and started talking in a strange, guttural language, I glimpsed razor-sharp teeth.

I couldn’t even parse the tone of his words, whatever intent was there, my instinct to flee just took over.

I spun on my heels, dashed forward, and at the very last moment decided not to leap headfirst into a dark cave.

I dashed around the rock, across that small, narrow ledge, rocks dangerously clattering over the cliff at my side.

The edge ended so abruptly in a gaping black hole that I had no time to brake. I went over it, pinwheeling my arms with a frightened scream.

*

Fierce

My tracking skills and Snarl’s sharp nose had led us up the mountain at a quick pace.

Jakar and Sunder steadily followed us up the rocky slope while they softly conversed, pointing out things of interest along the way and speculating about the human we were tracking.

I mostly ignored them, allowing my senses to take over, letting myself revel in the hunt.

This felt good, here, I was in my element, not stuck aboard that spaceship where I knew nothing, understood nothing.

When we reached a small stream of water, burbling up between the rocks, I knew we were getting close. The mossy ground here hid all her tracks, and I suspected she’d crossed the crystal-clear stream. Her scent had caught on the water’s surface, swirling in the air and confusing my senses.

Snarl had already leaped across and was rummaging around in the underbrush with his nose.

He knew, as well as I did, the general direction she had taken, but I found myself shrugging at my brothers.

“Let’s split up for a moment. I’m not entirely sure which way she went.

” I pointed Sunder one way, Jakar another, and then followed after Snarl and the female.

“You are meeting Fierce Female alone?” Snarl asked me as we easily slipped through the dense shrubbery.

My skin automatically started shifting its tone, blending in with the pink and purple plant life surrounding me.

My feet found the quietest spots to walk on as we closed in on our prey.

I didn’t know why Snarl was calling this human woman we were hunting Fierce Female.

He tended to add a descriptor to the names of the people he knew, but why he’d picked “Fierce” of all things to describe her?

Ziame, our captain and a great, big, scaly creature as unique to this quadrant as I was, he liked to call “Warrior Ziame.” While Sunder was “Wise” and Thorin “Angry.” Recently, that one had changed to “Grumpy”—a step up from angry—since Thorin had mated with Camila.

I understood those; they made sense. This didn’t.