Page 49 of Mates for the Raskarrans #1-6

CHAPTER EIGHT

Anghar

“Ellie!”

I hear the female call my linasha’s name.

And I know it is a mistake, that I should not take my focus from the merka beast, but I cannot help it.

My eyes are drawn to my Ellie as she flees across the sands, her tribe sister chasing after her.

My heartspace aches to see her - happiness and sadness warring in my chest. She is here; we are together. But she runs from me.

The sting of the merka beast’s lashes brings me back to the present moment, and the danger we are all in.

Maldek leaps into the fray, Gregar not far behind him, and between us we bring the creature down. I catch Gregar’s eyes, glance in the direction of my linasha, just as she crosses into Lina’s forest.

I do not wait to see if there is more to be done to protect the others on the beach. My Ellie is my only concern.

I run after her.

I do not stop to think about it, just launch myself after my Ellie, my feet churning the soft sands.

She is small, far lighter on her feet than I am, and I fear she will get too far away from me.

I am not afraid of not finding her. I am the best tracker in the tribe.

There is nowhere she could go in the forest I would not be capable of tracking her to.

I am afraid of it taking too long, of not finding her before something else does.

It is clear that my linasha’s people are not used to the creatures of the forest. They had little defence against the merka beasts attacking them.

My eyes were focused on my Ellie alone, but I think I caught sight of another female injured, the sands turned red around her.

I fear for what it means. I fear she is too injured for even Shemza’s skill.

I fear others among the tribe will be as well.

But most of my fears are for my Ellie.

I keep running, plunging into the forest with little care for what might lurk in the trees here.

I have been running through the forests for days on end now, but I am not so foolish as to think doing so alone is the same as with my brothers at my back.

I should be careful, checking the branches overhead, looking for signs of predators.

But I cannot do that without allowing my Ellie to run ahead of me.

She is so small. Strong and fierce, but weaponless.

A merka beast would kill her with ease. My stomach clenches at the thought and I run harder.

It is not difficult to see where she has gone, at least. Her trail through the trees is obvious enough for a youngling barely into his hunter training to follow.

I race after her, pushing my tired legs to move a little faster.

She has the head start, but I have the advantage in the trees, I think.

I should catch up to her soon. Should reach her before trouble strikes.

Then if I have to drag her back to the sands, fighting against her the whole way, I will do that. Even if it means she never speaks to me again, never looks on me with those dark brown eyes, never opens her heartspace to me.

If that is the price I have to pay to keep her safe, I will pay it gladly.

The trees grow thicker ahead of me, their trunks pressed close.

I think of my linasha’s dainty frame, how easily she will slip between them, passing through the small gaps where I cannot.

It is as if everything is against me this day.

I loose my claws and launch myself upwards into the branches.

Sometimes the forest floor is faster, sometimes the treetops.

It is an important skill for a hunter to know which.

But these trees are unfamiliar to me, and I have to go slower than I would like, for fear of finding the branches weak with rot.

My heartspace urges me to run with abandon, to forget about any danger except to my linasha.

But my headspace reminds me I am no good to her injured.

With half my attention on the branches, half on my Ellie’s trail beneath me, I continue through the forest, moving as fast as I dare.

She must tire soon - her wild flight driven by fear and the rush of blood that it creates.

Such things have great power for getting a hunter out of a dangerous situation, but they do not create endurance.

When my Ellie stops, she will be exhausted. Vulnerable.

As I pause to assess the sturdiness of a branch, my ears twitch, detecting the sound of gasping breath.

I press forward, my body gliding through the branches no louder than the wind.

Beneath me, my Ellie has stopped, leaning against a thick tree trunk, her arm wrapped around her stomach, clutching at her sides as she sucks in the humid forest air.

I can see the tremble in her limbs - how she has pushed herself beyond exhaustion.

My heartspace constricts. She ran from me. She will not be happy to see me, my headspace and heartspace agree. I must do all I can not to frighten her further.

I start to lower myself down the tree, not being careful to be quiet.

My Ellie’s eyes snap to the branches I am moving.

I am ready to launch myself after her, but then her shoulders slump and she drops to the floor.

She has nothing left in her, her arms curling further round herself as she shrinks down, as tiny as a youngling.

I check the area, a quick glance round at the treetops, scanning the floor for any tracks or scat. Nothing. We are as safe as we can be in an unknown place, the only sounds the calls of distant birds and the gentle rustling of the leaves.

So I lower myself to the ground, sitting across from my Ellie. If I have learned anything from our time in the dreamspace, it is that I must be slow, cautious in my approach. As long as we are safe, I will give her all the time and space she needs.

I do not just sit, though. I remove my pack from my shoulders - a light travel pack, but containing some rations, along with my hunting tools.

My bow is tied to it, unstrung for ease of travel.

My knives are tucked into my boots, but I leave those for now.

It is my waterskin I am after. I made sure it was full before we started for the sands this morning, ready to provide for my linasha and her people, as a good male should.

I locate it in my pack then hold it out towards her, shaking it a little so she can hear the liquid inside.

My Ellie’s brown eyes watch me, narrowing as they search my face.

She must be thirsty. My own throat itches for a gulp of cool water, but I will see to my needs once my linasha has had her fill.

Her needs are greater than mine. I think of the feel of her ribs beneath my fingers, her bones so close beneath her skin, and renew my vow to Lina that she will never feel the pinch of hunger in her belly again.

I will hunt day and night to make this so.

She does not reach for the waterskin, just remains curled around herself. I draw it back, removing the lid and raising it to my own lips, drinking a mouthful down. Just a small mouthful, though I could easily gulp the lot. I only want her to see that it is safe to drink.

I fix the lid back in place, then set the waterskin down, nudging it towards her, before sitting back, well out of her space.

Her eyes lock on me for a long moment, then she unfurls, like a flower turning its petals to catch the rays of sun filtering through the canopy overhead.

My breath catches in my throat as I see her - truly see her - in the waking world for the first time.

She is sweaty and dirty from her flight through the forest, but also from days of only just surviving on the sands.

Her curly hair is stiff with salt, her face freshly cut on one side from the merka beast’s lashes, scabbed on the other from some older injury.

But it still fills my heartspace with joy to look on her.

To see her strength, her beauty, in the flesh.

Her eyes narrow, and I dip my head. I do not want her to get the impression that my headspace is filled only with thoughts of mating.

I suspect my desire is clear in my eyes.

It is difficult for me to contain it. Being so close to her is overwhelming.

My linasha, my female, gifted to me by Lina.

A blessing I never thought I would get. No male could fail to be overwhelmed in such circumstances.

But I need to show through my actions that my desire is unimportant.

That my Ellie’s safety and comfort are my only concern.

While my eyes are downcast, my Ellie darts forwards, scooping up the waterskin.

I watch out of the edges of my eyes as she opens the lid and takes a deep, scenting breath before raising the container to her lips.

A sound escapes her throat as the cool liquid enters her mouth, a low sort of moan that starts a stirring need in my groin.

I acknowledge the feeling. Dismiss it. It does me no good to dwell on possible pleasures we could share. It does not serve my linasha now and that should be my only concern.

While my Ellie drinks her fill, I glance around, looking for djenti bush.

Its healing berries would take care of my linasha’s hurts and my own.

I have barely felt my own injuries, so taken up with the chase as I was.

But now I have stopped, my hurts make themselves known.

They are nothing major, nothing I cannot resume ignoring, but I would like to have no hindrance to my ability to care for my linasha.

A quick scan of the area reveals nothing, though.

I would have to get up, scout around to actually find a bush, and I do not think this is the right choice at the moment.

Much as I wish to give my linasha the space she needs, I also do not wish for her to leave my sight.

Not while we are beneath these unknown trees.

Instead, I turn my attentions to what I have to hand.

Rations. Not many - the plan was always to travel light and fast to the egg, then back to the village more slowly, hunting on the way - but I have enough to take the edge off any hunger she might be feeling.

I take them out for her, placing them where I placed the waterskin before.

I happen to glimpse at her just as her tongue darts out to wet her lips, and I know from that alone that her stomach pains her.

She takes hold of the parcel of rations - a simple bar of dried meats mixed with grains.

Not the most delicious of our foods, but it fills an empty belly.

My Ellie nibbles on the corner, her eyes fluttering shut as the salty flavours touch her tongue.

And I wish she could understand my words as well here as she does in the dreamspace, wish I could tell her to eat her fill. Wish I could tell her how much joy it brings me to provide for her.

As if she can hear my thoughts as they spin around my headspace, she looks over at me.

Her gaze has softened a little, her brow no longer furrowed with such distrust. My heartspace pounds, invisible lines reaching out from me to her, winding around us, binding us together.

Can she feel it? The sacred bond we share?

She is not raskarran and does not know Lina’s ways, but will she come to understand and accept them?

“ Whadyuwanfrome? ” she says.

Her words are garbled nonsense to my waking ears, but her voice is the same soft caress. There is no bite in it today, just a kind of strain that I wish I could soothe away for her.

“I will take care of you, linasha,” I say to her, trying to fill my voice with the sincerity of my promise.

“I will provide for you and your tribe sisters and I will do this for the joy of it. Because it is what Lina would want me to do. I will make sure you never want for anything, and you will owe me nothing for it. I would do it all simply to know you are well and happy.”

She cannot understand me, I know this, but it seems to me that something in her softens.

I do not know if this is just my heartspace seeing what it wants to see, or if the set of her mouth really does shift from displeasure to something else.

I am so focused on her, every part of my awareness sucked into trying to interpret her expressions, the way she holds herself.

It is my undoing.

I hear the sound of undergrowth rustling behind me at the same moment my Ellie’s eyes focus on something over my shoulder. I glance at my bow, too far from me and not strung. Useless.

“What’s that strange creature you’ve found, brother?” an unfamiliar voice speaks behind me.