Page 29 of Sohut's Protection

He didn’t even see the flora he was traversing over.

All he could think about was the creature.

Sniffing the air again, he caught the faint scent of spring water, and an idea immediately formed in his head.

The best way to capture elusive creatures was not to actively go after them.

He needed to cut off something the creature couldn’t do without…

There was water nearby and he’d bet his gonads that that’s where the creature quenched its thirst.

If it was going to hide from him, he bet he could coax it out of its hiding spot by cutting off the one thing that it definitely needed: life fluid.

* * *

He followed his sniffer, and sure enough, it took him to a spring gushing from the side of the mountain.

It was set in a small clearing, with thick vines running over hard rock.

Years and years of the water beating against the rock carved a narrow pool that filtered through the rock and allowed the water to carry on down the mountain.

Crouching, his fingers brushed over the vines on the floor.

There was a faint indentation there, like a path of some sort. The more he looked at it, the more he could see there were several of these indentations—almost as if the animal took different paths to access the water.

Sohut blinked, his brows furrowing.

He was right about the animal being intelligent.

It didn’t want to leave visible tracks.

Sohut’s brows dived deeper as he ran his fingers over one of the slight indentations.

To the Gori and many other beings, the vines running across the floor would look completely natural—untouched.

But his eyes were trained to see beyond what appeared to be natural.

Tracking elusive creatures was his forte and though the ground looked undisturbed, he could see the signs of regular wear.

The almost imperceptible flattening of the vines in certain parts…

The sprouts growing only in certain areas…

As he surveyed the area, he knew he was right about one thing.

Whatever the creature was, it needed watering regularly and if he stayed by the water hole, the animal was bound to come to him sooner or later.

Pure thirst would drive it to reveal itself.

Standing so he could stretch, Sohut turned his eyes upward.

Visibility was getting low.

Above, the sky was slowly turning to a deep purple and he could see the outline of Hudo III’s double moons as the planet entered the dark cycle.

The good thing about Hudo III was that the nights weren’t too cold. He could sleep outside without shelter. It wouldn’t be the most comfortable, but it would do.

Getting his light-disk from his satchel, Sohut engaged the device and set it in the center of the little clearing.

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