Page 106 of The Delver
“No!” Callie rushed forward without thinking. As she planted her left foot, she felt warm blood trickling down her leg and a deep burn beneath the silk enwrapping it, but she was already committed, swinging the hammer in a downward chop with all her might.
The stone tool struck the spiritstrider’s skull with a dullthud. The impact made the hammer bounce, breaking her hold on it, and it fell to the ground even as the vrix’s legs buckled.
Urkot tugged on the spiritstrider’s hair again, forcing its head back. As Callie stumbled and fell back onto her ass, Urkot hammered a fist into the spiritstrider’s exposed throat thrice in quick succession. Something crunched on the third blow.
He shoved the limp spiritstrider aside. It collapsed in a heap partly inside the cave mouth. The vrix he held in a headlock was clawing at his arm, making choked sounds. But more movement from the cave meant more spiritstriders about to join the fray.
Callie could only watch, feeling immensely small and helpless, as Urkot punched his foe until the spiritstrider’s struggles ceased and its only movements were its involuntary twitches with each heavy blow.
Effortlessly, Urkot hefted the vrix over his head. Powerful muscles flexed in his broad back and shoulders. In that moment, he looked bigger and more fearsome than even the massive yatins—beasts that made elephants seem petite—that had once attacked their tribe.
And despite everything, despite her pain and fear, it was not lost on Callie just how fucking hot he was.
With a bellowing roar that must’ve made the very stone before him quake, Urkot threw the spiritstrider into the cave.Callie saw it crash into a pair of its comrades. All three spiritstriders fell down the slope, vanishing from sight.
A voice echoed from within the cave, repeating a set of commanding, indecipherable words. The first spiritstrider to have charged out of the darkness dragged itself onto shaky legs using the cave wall for support.
Keeping her eyes on the spiritstrider, Callie felt around on the ground until her fingers found the fallen hammer. She lifted it into her hands, holding it before herself as though it could somehow ward off her enemy.
Shoulders heaving, Urkot placed himself between the other vrix and Callie, watching as the spiritstrider felt along the wall and clumsily retreated into the cave.
Clicking sounds came from below. Were they…were they retreating?
Urkot stood vigil at the cave mouth for several heartbeats. Blood glistened on his hide from numerous cuts and scratches, including fresh claw gouges across the scar on his left side.
He turned to Callie suddenly, strode to her, and sank down onto bent forelegs. Though he was right in front of her, her eyes fell on the lifeless vrix lying only feet away, the sun beating down on its pale, dirty hide, worried it would spring up at any moment and attack.
“Callie.” Urkot caught her chin and, with a delicateness that shouldn’t have been possible after the brutality with which he’d fought, tilted her face toward his. “Are you hurt?”
She dropped the hammer and covered his hand with both of hers, shifting his palm to her cheek and pressing her face against it. “No. At least…not any more than I already was.”
He glanced down at her leg, and an unhappy buzz escaped him. The white silk he’d wrapped around it was saturated with blood.
“Ah, my sweet suncrest…” Carefully, he gathered her in his arms, lifting her against his chest as he rose. She hugged his neck.
“We must go,” he said.
Pain radiated in her leg, growing with each heartbeat, and she felt blood running into her boot. “Will more of them come?”
Urkot strode forward, leaving the cave behind. “Not while the sun shines.”
CHAPTER 28
Urkot’s strengthwaned along with the fading sunlight, and by the time the sky had nearly gone dark, he knew he would not be able to continue much farther. Exhaustion, that old, tireless foe, had caught up to him, and he was not foolish enough to believe he could fight it off.
But he could not lose that battle yet, not until he and Callie were as safe as possible. Not until he’d seen to her.
The jungle was only going to be more dangerous once night settled in, and it wasn’t only due to the threat of the spiritstriders coming out to hunt. Many of the most dangerous predators prowled the Tangle under cover of darkness—and the scent of Callie’s blood would be a potent lure.
Though there was a stubborn part of him willing to push onward until he collapsed, he knew that wasn’t helpful for either himself or his mate. He needed to act now…before he became unable to do so.
He’d been moving adjacent to a winding stream for part of the afternoon; he turned toward it now, striding to the water’s edge.
“We will stop here.” He reached a hand back to Callie.
“Okay,” she said quietly, taking his hand and sliding off his hindquarters. When she put weight on her wounded leg, she winced, emitting a cry as she squeezed his hand.
Urkot swept her up into his arms and sat her down on the ground.
