Page 62 of Shifter King

It was about time.

AaQar sped along beside Naatos. "Bealorns?" he demanded incredulously.

He barely nodded when the collapsing tunnels split. Five separate directions.

Crespa!

They split up, the heavy thunder beneath the earth confirming QueQoa just kept heading straight. AaQar took the one to the first to the left. Naatos took the second to the right as WroOth slid to the first on the right.

Most of these were diversions. It was a good gamble. The second to the left would run the greatest risk of running into the deep-veined roots of the mako trees as well as the slate foothills. He charged ahead, willing himself faster.

It was reasonable—

No! No, no, no. He squinted, running lower to the ground now. Something was off.

The Bealorns knew there were Vawtrians out here and that they would likely come for her. They'd sent out more beetles than there were in their party. But would they have risked that one of them would choose the right one? Even if they only knew there were three Vawtrians to one Neyeb. And they'd probably heard about WroOth. So they'd sent five.

That wasn't a Bealorn strategy. They liked sure things. They worked with traps and venoms that left little to chance. And these Bealorns wanted them reacting. There was no reason that the goliath tunnelers had to make their tunnel collapses so visible. He'd have only done it for one reason himself.

* * *

Everything wentdark as dirt kicked up against Amelia's face. The goliath tunneler raced along the passage, dull thuds and collapses following as if something were kicking in the tunnel walls behind them or as if there were multiples. The stench of the beetle and earth filled her nostrils along with the constant mist of soil. Spluttering, she shielded her face with one arm as best she could and fought to free herself with the other.

No matter how she struggled or pushed, she couldn't press those mandibles apart. It kept a tight grip, pinching her uncomfortably. And somehow, whether in the struggle or the maneuvering, it had gotten its mandibles higher up onto her chest, which made breathing a little harder.

It emerged from the darkness and up into the early afternoon light. The goliath tunneler charged ahead, plunging through delicate ferns and waxy shrubs and over rotting tree trunks. Branches and twigs slapped her face, and rocks scraped her legs. It might kill her just by continuing to run at this pace, but that didn't mean she'd go out without fighting.

Clenching her teeth, she removed one of the daggers from the sheath fastened to her sash and stabbed its grey underbelly.

The dagger didn't even dent or scratch the tunneler's carapace. It didn't even cut into one of the seams. The beetle scurried along, far faster than its mammoth size and awkward bearing suggested it could.

Shrieking crespa! What was this thing's weakness? It wasn't behaving at all the way AaQar had described. And that meant—well, she winced as another branch struck her.

This wasn't coincidence. The baby Bealorn had been abandoned close enough to the camp to be heard. The baby had stunned her. The goliath tunneler had to belong to a Bealorn. And that meant that they'd have something to suppress the scent eventually. Even if she could manage telepathy, she couldn't tell them where it was. Everything was flashes of brown and long streaks of green. How could she distinguish it?

She grabbed at the leaves. Some whipped along her palms and cut them. That worked. Blood was a sign. Even if the Bealorns used something to mask their smell, blood would be visible. If there was one thing Naatos could track, it was blood.

* * *

Naatos spunaround and charged back.

It took only a couple minutes to get back to the split point, but sure enough, the earth had shifted yet again along the collapsing tunnel line. And a few hundred feet later, there was a hole.

Damn those Bealorns. If he lost the trail because of this— he charged after the trail of broken branches and leaves.

The heavy scent of the goliath tunneler engulfed him, warring with the plague lion scent. He continued his pursuit, legs pumping, energy focused.

Then he glimpsed something bright red. Blood. The faint scent of Neyeb blood—her blood—reached him through the vile cocktail of odors.

Yes! It was her. He roared a warning out, summoning his brothers back. They had the trail now.

* * *

The goliath tunneler halted.It scritched and clicked deep within its jaws, then stopped as if listening. A series of short whistles sounded in the distance.

Writhing, she kicked harder now. "Let go. Delorme, let go! Delorme, release! Whatever command works on you, you big insect!"

The goliath tunneler crouched; her feet brushed the ground. She strained to dig the toe and ball of her shoe into the grassy earth. A dark gouge appeared in the green.