Page 34 of Heart of the Deep

He moved up the rise and fell into place behind her as they continued through the jungle. Occasionally, she paused, crouching to study the ground nearby or reaching up to run her hand over a thick vine.

Before long, she seemed to find whatever it was she’d sought. She stopped at a cluster of vines, touched them with palm, and kneeled, drawing a knife from her boot. The weapon was similar to the one she’d handed him on the ship. Standing up, she cut a notch high on the vine and crouched to sever the plant completely near the ground.

She leaned back and lifted the open end of the vine, holding it a hand’s span over her mouth. Water dripped from the severed plant to land on her waiting tongue.

When the flow of liquid slowed, she tipped the vine up and looked at him. “Do you need some?”

“No,” he replied. “Is there anything humans don’t do with plants?”

“What do you mean?”

“You eat them, and Arkon said you use them to make clothing, shelters, colors to paint things. You drink from them, too?”

“Most plants have a use.” She shrugged. “I guess humans are just...resourceful. We make do with what we have.”

Dracchus grunted; the kraken had made do with the Facility for generations, using what had been left after their ancestors claimed the place. But that didn’t quite match what Larkin had displayed.

The kraken, as a people, could stand to be somewhat moreresourceful. Their home would not last indefinitely, and they needed to think beyond what they had now. Arkon was good at it, and sometimes Jax, but the rest — Dracchus included — seemed to show little ability for it.

And yet, they were part human. Did that not mean they were all capable of innovation to some degree?

He went to the severed vine and lifted it, glancing at the open end before looking back at her. “So, we will shelter here, where there is water?”

“I think we’re close to a larger water source. I’ve been following a krull trail for a while now, and they usually walk particular paths to get to the water.”

Larkin resumed the journey, and Dracchus followed, dropping his gaze to the ground. He swept his eyes back and forth over the jungle floor, looking for thekrull trailshe’d spoken of. The plants, both living and dead, were too similar for him to differentiate, and he had no idea what a krull was.

He glanced at her boots. As she lifted a foot, some of the dead vegetation came up, and he noticed a depression in the ground below matching the bottom of her boot. Tilting his head, he searched the area nearby. Not far from her boot print, he noticed a more defined mark in the dirt — a cluster of three oval shapes, the central one straight with the outer two angled away.

His gaze shifted forward, and he spotted another track half-covered by rotting leaves.

Understanding dawned on him; this was the same technique his people sometimes used to locate the dens of the hard-shells dwelling on the seafloor. The creatures left visible pathways when they crawled over the loose sand on the bottom.

“So…this Arkon sounds intelligent,” she said.

“Yes, when he is not being foolish.”

“Aren’t we all a little foolish?” Larkin brushed aside a low hanging branch and suddenly leapt back. The branch sprung back into place, but something dropped into the brush below. “Move back,” she commanded.

Dracchus held his position as she backed up. Though he was unfamiliar with land creatures, he would not retreat.

She glanced at him over her shoulder for an instant. “Damnit, do youwantto die? I said move!”

The creature emerged from the thicker vegetation. It had a long, thin body with rough-looking skin that resembled the outside of the nearby trees. The creature lifted its front off the jungle floor, rising unsteadily so its head swayed at the height of Larkin’s waist. Tiny legs tipped with claws lined its belly. The creature opened its mouth, revealing two long, thin fangs.

It advanced slowly, matching the pace of Larkin’s retreat, and hissed each time its head lurched forward in a mock attack. Larkin seemed to be its sole focus.

Dracchus growled and moved in front of Larkin, pulsing his skin red and black. He reached behind him with a tentacle to guide her away, holding eye contact with the strange, aggressive beast.

“What the hell, kraken?”

He spread his tentacles, positioning them to intercept a potential attack, and eased sideways. The creature followed his movement, twisting the upright section of his body to keep him in its vision. It continued its lunges, darting forward and swaying back. Dracchus sensed that this was little more than posturing — like the dancing that began a challenge between two kraken — but he didn’t lower his guard.

The distance between kraken and beast shrank. Dracchus tensed, preparing for the imminent strike.

Larkin moved around him suddenly, swinging a large branch downward and bashing the creature’s head into the ground. She pressed her attack, hitting the creature repeatedly, mercilessly.

“Krullheaded—”

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