Page 11 of Mates for the Raskarrans #1-6

CHAPTER NINE

Gregar

T here are three merka beasts, two of them rangy, desperate things. The third is better fed, but I know enough from my hunters to know this is not the dangerous one. It will run if it senses a losing fight. It does not need to feed today.

The others... they are little more than skin and bones. They will starve if they do not catch something soon, and there are many females here. Enough to keep them fed for days.

Even as I grip my spear and assess the threat of the merka beasts, my heartspace sings with gladness.

Many females. Perhaps not all for males of my tribe, but I hope at least some more than Anghar and I are so lucky as to find their linasha among them.

Even two or three more females for the tribe would be enough to bring us new hope.

Younglings. A future to fight for and protect.

We have all lacked purpose and in these females perhaps we have found it.

Maldek and Rardek focus on the healthy merka beast, bashing their spears together and making battle sounds.

They will have it driven off back into the forest soon.

Vantos aims his spear at one of the other two beasts, while a female wielding fire keeps it away from the others cowering behind her. A fierce one, that one.

Shemza slips past them and kneels in front of one of the injured females. She clutches her arm and looks at him with terror, but I know Shemza. He will soon have the female’s trust. He is gentle and kind and you can see it in his eyes, as clear as the trees all around us.

I turn my attention to the final beast. Anghar has its attention, pacing slowly backwards to lure it away from two females.

They both grip weapons, but they are only small, not strong enough to take on the merka beast, even with two of them.

One has brown skin, her hair - stiff with salt and grime - as wild as her eyes.

Next to her, a pale figure. I recognise those slender curves.

Like her companion, my linasha is filthy, half wild, but I could never not notice the swell of those full lips, or the strength in her gaze.

My heartspace pounds and I heft my spear, ready to strike should the merka beast switch its focus from Anghar.

But my friend is a skilled hunter, and the creature knows the threat he poses.

Knows if it turns its back on him, it will perish on the end of his spear.

As long as its lashes flick about in front of it, Anghar cannot strike, and so they remain locked in a battle of wills, edging further and further away from the females.

I edge closer to them, wanting to put myself between my linasha, my Liv, and the dangerous beast.

I watch as she puts a hand to her companion’s arm, gripping her with light fingers.

She is a leader among her people then, seeking to reassure.

The other female’s eyes are still wide with terror, and she looks over my Liv’s shoulder to me and backs up a step.

I freeze, not wanting to scare her, raising a hand in what I hope is a peaceful gesture.

My Liv turns, and our eyes meet in the waking world for the first time.

My heartspace pounds a drummer’s rhythm, strong and insistent in my chest. My linasha’s eyes grow wide, her lips parting, and I wonder if she will press them against mine again.

Once the merka beasts are dead or chased away and her injured friends are seen to and everyone has eaten their fill of our supplies - I am not a selfish male.

But, in that moment, even in all the chaos and danger around us, her lips touching mine is all I can think of.

And the taste of her. Always the taste of her.

I wonder if it will be even sweeter in the waking world.

I tear my attention away from her, towards Anghar and the merka beast. He has lured it almost all the way to the trees now, and Maldek is stalking up towards us, a spear in hand.

I catch his eye and gesture for him to flank the creature with me, then look to Anghar, nodding to him.

Hunters and warriors all learn the code of speaking without words for moments like this, and Anghar knows without having to look round that his brothers have his back.

I edge further round, towards the females, but not looking to them.

There will be time for looking, and touching, later.

“ No!” a feminine voice cries out.

We all of us turn to look. It is our mistake.

The other female has taken off running towards the forest. It is my linasha who called out, but Anghar’s eyes track the other across the sands.

Sensing his distraction, the merka beast pounces forwards, lashes slashing in to Anghar’s face and chest. Maldek roars, jumping forwards, spear stabbing in to the side of the beast, but not hard enough to secure the kill.

It swipes at him with large claws, but Anghar has rallied, and thrusts with his own spear, knocking the creature off balance. Its claws miss Maldek by a whisper.

“ Elliecomeback!” my linasha screams at the fleeing female, and I realise I do not understand her words. In the dreamspace we communicate just fine, but here in the waking world, her words make no sense to me.

Then she takes off running after the other female. Every instinct in me cries out to chase after her, and I step forward.

“Gregar, we need your spear!” Maldek calls to me.

I wrench myself round. My two hunters have the merka beast pinned, but it is fighting like dying animals often do.

Ferocious in its final efforts. While Maldek dodges its claws and Anghar pins its lashes, I come up behind the creature and drive my spear through its neck.

With a final shudder, the creature goes still.

I look to Anghar. He looks to the trees.

The brown-skinned female has disappeared between them, and my linasha is close behind her, shouting as she runs.

“ Ellie! Stop!”

“Take care of the females here,” I say to Maldek.

He nods, understanding in his eyes, a seriousness that he and his brother rarely display.

I turn to find Anghar already running. His feet kick up sprays of sand as he sprints towards the tree line, shooting past my linasha into the forest. The brown-skinned female is his then. I can think of no other reason he would chase after her with such singular purpose.

“ Ellie! ” my female calls again, her voice higher, hoarser.

She fears for her friend. I wish I could call out to her, tell her that Anghar will find his female and bring her back safe, that he will let no harm come to her.

But we do not share the same language. We would have to be in the dreamspace to speak such words and understand each other, and we are a long way from sleeping right now.

My Liv obviously does not trust Anghar to bring her tribe sister back, for she keeps moving towards the trees.

I chase after her, but she is a long way in front of me.

She will make it to the forest before I reach her.

But she runs without concern for her surroundings.

I am no hunter, but my tracking skills are good enough to follow the trail my linasha will leave if she keeps bounding like an ensouka.

Still, I pick up my pace, moving faster.

The sand shifts beneath my feet, threatening to trip me.

I am too big, too heavy for moving quickly on such terrain.

“Liv!” I call after her as I stagger and stumble forwards. If she hears me, she ignores me, pushing on into the forest.

I am almost certain she is in no danger. If there were other predators around, they would have joined the merka beasts in their attack on my linasha’s tribe. Everything else will have been scared off by our battle cries.

But it is still only ‘almost’ and that is enough to make my heart race a little.

It is the thought of other tribes that most concerns me.

We saw no sign of any, but in our haste to get here we were not exactly careful observers.

The right decision, it seems, for my linasha and her people would not have held those merka beasts off much longer.

A shudder goes through me at the thought of what might have been had we not arrived as soon as we did. Pain cuts deep in to my heartspace and urges me onwards after my linasha.

I made a vow to protect her, that I would not lose her. I will not see that vow broken now.

With concentrated effort, I start to close the gap between us. The closer I get to the tree line, the more firm the ground grows underfoot, the roots of plants holding the shifting sands in place. I speed up, breaking through into the trees a moment later.

“ Ellie!” My linasha cries. I follow the sound, crashing through the undergrowth in my haste to reach her.

She is standing in a small clearing, eyes darting round. Her hesitation, her uncertainty over which direction to take, has prevented her getting too far ahead of me. I think my hunting skills would have been sufficient to track her, but I am glad I do not have to test it.

As I approach, she snaps round to face me, eyes going wide, lips slightly parted.

In the dreamspace, she is powerful. Even when her hands are bound, she commands me, demanding my touch and her pleasure.

Now, as I reach a hand out towards her, she flinches back.

She is dirty, her hair lank and greasy, her clothes stained and stinking.

Does she think I care about this? Does she think I find her less appealing?

I understand now why she was afraid of starving, of dying.

She and her tribe are not well prepared for this land.

They have no males, and not enough female warriors to keep them safe.

I think they have not ventured off the beach, that they do not know the roots that mash into a paste that cleanses the skin, or the berries that heal shallow wounds.