Page 24 of Valka

At some point, while still beating the bloody mass that was once Skala, Valka realized there were more to deal with. Slowly he turned, his chest heaving, his expression a harbinger of death, and the blood that coated him a warning to all those who stood by, entertained by the attack on his female. His entire body was coiled tightly, ready to lunge at his new targets; those who laughed instead of helping Delia. He took a step toward them, then another, and another until he was chasing and they were running. The females, he shoved to the ground and pushed out of his way as he focused on the males first. He caught one male, holding him by the hair and pounding his face with his opposite hand over and over again until he was unconscious. Valka dropped the male to the ground before darting quickly to the side to snatch another of them out of hiding behind the jagged rocks. This one made the mistake of trying to swing at Valka. Valka grinned coldly as he caught the male’s arm and brought it down on his lifted knee to force the elbow to bend backward, breaking at the joint. The male went to his knees screaming in pain as a loud snap reverberated. Valka kicked him in the throat, leaning over him as he lay on his back struggling to breathe. “Die,” Valka sneered at him. “Valka watch. Valka laugh.”

Valka stood over him and waited until he died while forcing loud, frightening laughs from his chest. Once the male was dead, Valka lifted his head, searching for the rest. There weren’t many. Those who had something to fear from him had continued running and were now hiding themselves away in their homes. It didn’t matter, though, he knew who they were. Those standing around him now, had no reason to fear him. They came out to see for themselves why Valka had lost control. He glared at them, preparing to send a message through them to all those he planned to kill. “Hurt Valka female. You die.”

No one said a thing, they simply watched him wide-eyed, thankful they weren’t even sure which female was his.

“Valka,” a feeble voice called.

Valka turned at the sound of his name and found the old woman who’d approached him earlier trying to get to Delia, but no one could get close. The skaevin she’d been feeding, attracted by the noise and scent of blood was sitting beside her, its giant wings covering her body. “Go! Move away from her!” the old woman shouted, taking an old soft blanket off her shoulders and waving it toward the skaevin. The giant raptor stretched its head toward her, snapping its beak.

Valka hurried back to Delia, getting as close as he could.

“It won’t let me near her,” the woman said.

“Move!” Valka bellowed, trying to charge the bird and make it move away from Delia.

Instead of showing any concern at all for those trying to make it leave, it settled more comfortably and tucked its wings more tightly around Delia, who still lay unconscious.

“Feed it,” the old woman suggested. “Lure it away.”

Valka glanced around quickly, his gaze landing on the two bodies he’d left bleeding in the sand. He strode over to Skala and grabbed up what was left of him, dragging the body back toward the skaevin. “Eat!” Valka shouted, tossing the bloodied mass off to the side.

The skaevin eyed Skala’s body, then Delia.

“He’s protecting her,” the woman said.

Valka unable to contain himself any longer, circled the skaevin, looking for a way to dart in and get Delia away from it. Finally deciding he’d kill the creature if he had to, he looked around for his battle-axe realizing he’d dropped it somewhere along the way. Thinking of the way Delia had handled the beast, he did the same. “Go,” he said, keeping his voice low and non-threatening. “Mine Delia,” Valka said, kneeling beside Delia, andtouching her gently. Relief washed over him when he realized her skin was warm, she was still alive.

The skaevin watched him closely, making sure he wasn’t hurting Delia.

After a few tries, Valka finally managed to pull her closer to himself and away from the skaevin.

The old woman quickly tossed her worn blanket over Delia to cover her, and Valka rose from the ground with Delia in his arms. The skaevin emitted its shrill call, objecting, but it seemed to realize that Valka was trying to help her, not hurt her.

“He hit her hard, she may have broken ribs, too. She’ll need care until she wakes and recovers. Bring her to my hut, I’ll care for her until she’s well,” the old woman said.

Valka looked down at Delia still unconscious in his arms. He blew across her face to try to remove some of the sand.

“Bring her to me, I’ll care for her until she’s strong enough to return to you,” the woman said.

Valka shook his head despite the fact that the women of the tribe routinely cared for those injured until they were able to care for themselves. “Mine,” he said, his voice gravelly with emotion as he adjusted her body so he held her more securely. He walked away from the elder, and without stopping to rebalance Delia, he jumped up to the lowest foothold in his cliff wall with very little effort, not slowing until he reached the top of his cliff and stepped onto the flat ledge leading to his cave. Valka waited until he was inside his cave and adjusted her in his arms, putting her head on his shoulder and replacing his hands so that he wasn’t touching her ribs.

“Valka kill Skala more!” he growled as he strode right past his bed of furs and took her straight to the thermal pools that only he and Delia knew his cave hid deep within its walls. He approached the bathing pool, and walked right off its side, dropping into the warm, soothing water. He just stood there,looking down at Delia resting in his arms as he willed her to open her eyes and disagree with him again. It was part of what he liked most about her, she was not afraid to let him see that she was not happy with him. She was brave, and she was loud. He held her floating just on top of the water and used his other hand to cup handfuls of water and drip them down over her face and hair. Once he was sure that the sand was off her face and body, and her hair rinsed clean, he took one large leap out of the water and landed beside the pool, still holding Delia.

Valka took a few minutes to wring some of the water out of her silver hair, then took her back to his furs and put her right to bed. He dragged one of the large logs he used to sit by the fire over near the bed and sat down on it, simply watching her sleep.

Chapter 10

Sometime later Valka jumped up, startled by a male voice calling his name.

“Valka! Valka, are you there?”

“Valka kill all!” he snarled, so angry that Delia had been harmed, and now others dared to even come close to his cliff, much less actually climb up it.

“It is Elkva! I have come to bring your axe and your food, and cold rocks.”

“Show yourself,” Valka growled.

“I cannot,” Elkva called.

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