Page 85 of The Hunter

He’d never seen mentions of that unity in the carvings in Takarahl, where Zurvashi and the queens before her had likely ensured no such stories would be remembered or recorded. Many of the carvings—especially those involving prominent male vrix—had been intentionally damaged and destroyed.

But Telok had seen the evidence three moon cycles ago, after defeating the Zurvashi loyalists who’d captured Rekosh and Ahmya. Rekosh had led everyone to the ruins he’d discovered with his mate. Ruins that had once been a place for vrix of all kinds to convene, where they were depicted together in timeworn stone carvings.

That discovery had only made the new peace and openness between Takarahl and Kaldarak seem more right.

“I cannot speak for Queen Ahnset or Takarahl,” Telok said, “but I know she would want the same.”

Lacey raised her hand, and asked in vrix, “If I could speak?”

“We’re not in school,” Cole murmured in English.

She lowered her arm and shot him a glare. “I’m just being polite.”

Shir chittered gently. “Please, Lacey. Speak.”

Lacey faced the council, and when she spoke in vrix again, she did so slowly, as though carefully choosing her words. “I am not a vrix, and I do not know your history. But humans know war. We know the pain and loss that comes with it. And many of the wars our kind fought were caused by greed. But now we are here. From the moment we woke up, we lived in fear. Fear because of this new place, and fear because Zurvashi sought to kill us.”

“And she did kill one of us,” Cole said softly.

Soft gasps arose through the winddancers.

A pang of sorrow lanced Telok’s chest at the thought of Ella. Ella, who had been so weak from sickness, who had been brutally slain at Zurvashi’s hand. Had Telok questioned Ahnset when she was carrying Ella out of the ship that night, had he stopped her, had he gone out sooner to seek her…

Zurvashi would not have killed her, but Ella would still be dead…though we might have filled her final breaths with peace rather than pain and terror.

That would’ve been more than most could hope for when they died.

“Zurvashi discovered us and wanted us dead.” Lacey placed her hands atop Telok’s arm, which was possessively wrapped around her. “But it was a group of shadowstalkers who protected us, including Ahnset. And then it was the thornskulls too. Garahk and Nalaki welcomed us into Kaldarak, and since then, the thornskulls have treated us as family. They did not have to aid us. They did so at great risk to their kind, knowing the queen hunted us. They are good, and they do want peace. So do the shadowstalkers. I think we all want the same thing… To live, happy and safe.”

Garahk touched a knuckle to his headcrest in respect as he dipped his head to the council. “The friendship of Kaldarak is yours.”

Telok and the other thornskulls, along with the two humans, mimicked his gesture.

“And the friendship of our Nedrayas is yours.” Shir folded her arms against her chest, forearms crossed, and bowed, with her companions doing the same.

“I am glad,” Garahk said with a trill. “But there are more words to share. You asked for aid with the kurghests.”

“We did,” Tas replied from his cushion near the dais.

“I must make it known that the friendship between our kinds does not depend upon your agreement,” Shir added. “We ask it of you only because we know not what else to do. But we cannot—will not—demand any of you risk yourselves on our behalf.”

“And we will offer whatever you desire in exchange. Whatever we can give,” said Sahn.

Jehk’s crimson eyes swept over the thornskulls and Telok, bearing a dire gleam. “The survival of our Nedrayas hangs by frayed threads. These kurghests kill with a thirst for blood that cannot be quenched and eat with a hunger that cannot be satisfied. Already, our hunters struggle to bring meat to Tovuunshai, as the animals that have not been devoured have fled, and it is more dangerous to forage with every day. If these beasts remain, we must find a new place to dwell…and I fear we will lose many more of us on such a journey.”

Sahn buzzed, the sound low and mournful, nearly broken. “Our Nedrayas would shatter. Many of we elders would be unable to make the trek, and we would refuse to slow the rest down. And our younglings would be exposed to great danger in the Tangle.”

“Our younglings are the hope of our kind,” Shir said.

Tas clenched his fists at his sides. “And the kurghests may well take our movement as a threat to their claim on these grounds. If they were to attack as we traveled… I fear we would lose far too many. Their prime has been unchallenged, so their numbers have swelled.”

Telok’s throat constricted, and dread pooled in his belly.

Every kurghest pack had a single, dominant adult male, the prime, which mated with the adult females. Challenges were commonplace for the beasts—a new male would arrive, defeat the old, and seize control of the pack. The new prime kurghest’s first instinct would be to cull the offspring of his predecessor. That cycle kept packs relatively small and often saw them splintering into smaller groups.

But if there was a prime strong enough to hold its place for years, attracting new mates and keeping those it had already claimed by its side… The pack would grow into a force of destruction that would upset the order of the Tangle itself.

Such a beast would be unlike anything Telok had faced.