Page 37 of Orange Sky
I blame that though for losing oxygen in my brain.
Everything felt foggy. I knew I was losing consciousness and still, my last thought if Zirc was okay. He wasn’t bleeding badly but he had nicks and bruises on his arms and neck the last time I saw him.
Zirc, I whispered in my head.
???
(Zirc)
I felt my insides pounding with black rage.
I thank the fathers for helping me. How else could I have defeated amusat?
With only my sword and bare claws.
Looking down, I saw my full claws out. Long and darker than my steel gray fur. Almost black from the blood of the musat making it barely visible in the darkening night in this forest. Rarely has anyone been alive to describe my claws.
Brin has been taken.
That single thought made me want to rage more.
I saw the black fire from what’s left of the musat. It crawled out of the sand and now I can see the large part of its body burning. There will be nothing left, no traces of the creature once the black fire is finished.
Even this forest will be gone in the next few days. But no one will know. Such is the power of my Silver tribe. Except for the two people with me earlier.
My thoughts kept turning back to Brin. I need to think beyond her. And plan my next steps.
The manasty behind her. Though he is shrouded in black garments, I smelled him. How dare he take Brin away! When he even smelled a little of her.
What drove him to take Brin away?
I purposely stepped away from the musat’s carcass.
One, two, three steps.
Then I was running full tilt towards the plains again.
I saw the horse running on full gallop beside me. Might as well take him with me.
I grabbed thetaaffeiterock. Using my energy and channeling it to the rock at my hand, I rubbed and as usual, the background blurred around me and the horse.
Only a few second later, the background cleared and I can almost see a mountain silhouetted against the moons.
Good, that blue guy can only go so far as a quarter of an impes. Or maybe it was intentional?
I heard the horse whined so we both slowed down to a halt. The horse put its front legs up and down as if trying to kill a qhudril on the ground.
“Shh,” I said trying to calm it down. And it did. The Blue Tribes is really deserving of being the best breeders and trainers of horses.
Taking the lead, I tried to slow down our pace, lower mine and the horse’s heartbeats. And listened to the still night.
Still holding the taaffeite, I changed direction and head back towards the western side of the mountain. Beyond the mountain is a swamp. Home to dangerous creatures and manasties.
Pirates, my inner beast whispered.
It irritated me that I felt my unease loosen a bit. If these are pirates, then they probably want me and not her specifically.
A bait.
