Page 21 of Ragoru

His hackles lowering now that they put some distance between them and the plant, he fastened a curious look on her. “Is that normal on this world just by crossing a river? Thral and I were farther north, right up against the mountains as we followed them east. It seemed like a good plan up until the point that we couldn’t cross the river and had to go higher into them, so we haven’t seen any of this. I never thought there would be such a place as this,” he admitted, “but your words worry me.”

Evie shook her head. “We usually don’t see such huge shifts in the local flora from one side of the river to the next because seeds and plant spores tends to distribute widely until they get to an area inhospitable for their growth. The shifts typically are small, though noticeable if you know what to look for as you move out of their growing zones. The carnivorous plants… those are just something that we deal with and work cooperatively to remove when we come across them because they are invasive as fuck and deadly. And unfortunately, they’re everywhere here except maybe beyond the northern mountains into the arctic flats. Up this far north, they tend to be a hardier to withstand the winters. In other parts of the continent, they can be more vinelike and climb the trees from which they can drop onto their prey as it brushes by them, or in thin tendrils that blend along the ground as they do at the edges of the desert.”

Vrishna’s pelt shuddered, and she knew that she struck a nerve.

“Plants that kill and consume prey—being hunted by them—it feels unnatural.”

She grinned over at him. “Doesn’t it? Kind of feels like you’re no longer at the top of the food chain when there are other things out there ready and willing to eat you. Welcome to Solum,” she chuckled.

He cast her an offended look, which just made Evie laugh harder. “Iamat the top,” he grumbled. He turned slightly to eye the plant shrinking in the distance behind them. “I just do not like unpleasant plants, no matter how attractive.”

“Yeah, that is the kicker, isn’t it?” She smiled as he stared at her in confusion. A wry smile crossed his face, and his ears twitched as he chuffed.

“There are times that, despite the gift of the Shining Ones, I do not know what you say. But I think I got the idea. Itisunpleasant that an attractive plant is dangerous,” he agreed with a nod.

She allowed her eyes to skim the forest once more, the carnivorous plant reducing to a snapshot in her mind to record later as she endeavored to get as much pleasure out of the day as possible. This could possibly be her last day with the triad, and she wanted to enjoy it. As she walked, her gaze flicked to her males, drinking in the sight of them. To Vrishna as he ambled at a sedate pace beside her, his own eyes frequently turning toward her as if he couldn’t bear to let her out of his sight for long. To Sabol as he loped among the trees, moving slightly ahead and circling back around with a sort of nervous energy and yet consistently within range to leap to her defense. His eyes often cut to her, and whenever they did he smiled, at times almost wistfully like he half-expected her to disappear as if she were nothing but a figment of his imagination.

And then there was Thral. Power oozed from him as he paced ahead of them, constantly scanning their surroundings and the path ahead. That didn’t stop him from glancing back at her, possession and something like happiness on his face. She watched him the closest, imprinting his image on her memory just in case she didn’t see them again. Of all the males, he seemed to be the loneliest and struggled the most with accepting the simplest displays of affection. It was as if he didn’t understand it and was only slowly beginning to trust it. And that only made her feel worse for what she had to do in order to keep him safe.

The irony was that with the three males she’d never been safer while traveling through the woods. Not even the grey engal dared to approach near where there were Ragoru. She sometimes heard them or caught sight of them in the distance. Same with the other predators. She would see signs of them in the woods, but they kept far away, confirming Vrishna’s boast at being at the top—the plants aside.

Tearing her eyes away from Thral’s silhouette, she allowed her gaze to travel along the trees until it rested on something that didn’t quite fit. She frowned and squinted at the unnatural shape of wood blending in among the trees.

It can’t be. It almost looks like…Her thought stopped as she swung her pack around to the front of her body and hastily unzipped in, digging for her comm. Sabols ears perked and he swung around, loping over to her side.

“What is it?” he panted.

“One moment,” she drawled as she drew up the satellite schematic and magnified it, dragging it along the forest where she presumed their approximate location would be. It took her a little longer than she liked since it appeared that her estimation was slightly off but then she found it on the image. A manmade structure. And there were others, though they were miles apart.

Had this once been set up with the intention of being a farming community?

Early Earth colonizers had utilized their shuttles to do rapid builds all over the continents. It’s how the first of the citadels got established so quickly and many of the major towns before the roads were built to connect them. That also explained some of the berry plants that were now growing throughout the forest. They likely began as a starter food crop around the farms.

Grinning, she glanced back up at the looming shape hidden among the trees and laughed aloud. Sabol made a sharp sound of objection when she immediately turned toward it and began to run through the trees, spurred on by her excitement. A loud, rippling howl of alarm followed after her, and it was soon followed by the sound of the Ragoru crashing through the trees as they tore after her.

She was snatched off her feet so suddenly that the air burst painfully from her lungs. Her eyes watered as she gasped for air, and after a couple of tries painfully drew in a deep breath. Through streaming eyes, she peered up at Thral as he came to stand before her, all four of his arms crossed over his chest though his ears twitched and moved on high alert with the sounds of the forest.

She craned her head back at met Vrishna’s hard expression. She winced and peered around for Sabol and immediately felt worse when she saw that he stood a short distance away with a furious look on his face. Why were they so pissed? They would kiss her if they knew what she’d just discovered. If she’d bothered to tell them before she’d gone racing toward it.Oh.

It wasn’t the first time that eagerness had made her reckless in the excitement of discovery. Usually, it was not quite paying attention as closely as she should have while trying to catalog an infrequently seen species, but she’d never been so preoccupied that she’d ever actually been in danger. Inconvenienced a bit by getting caught in tangleweed, which were one of the few nonfatal and most prevalent predatory planets on Solum, or falling into a mud hole, or even caught in the long reeds of the poison narthrush. Then there was that time she was stung by dozens of zilka bees when she stumbled into their nest. It had all been annoying, but it had never concerned or inconvenienced anyone but her… nor caused anyone to fear for her safety since she had been alone for more years than she could probably accurately calculate.

“Oops,” she mumbled as she looked back up at Thral.

Thral’s eyes narrowed on her. “What were you thinking? Do you realize how much danger you could have put yourself in?”

“Sorry. I know I wasn’t thinking at all of anything except…well… that,” she pointed behind him.

He huffed and turned, peering through the trees as the other two males turned their heads in the same direction. All three males stilled completely. Although it was still mostly hidden by trees, flowering vines, and more tangleweed than she wanted to even touch, the house rose among the trees far more noticeably than it had as they were passing. There was no way to mistake it for anything else. Unfortunately, that fact didn’t seem to be appreciated by the Ragoru. In fact, she would wager just the opposite by the way all three males immediately shuffled back, carrying her with them.

Evie attempted to wriggle out of Vrishna’s grip, but she immediately stopped when he growled and spun away from it with every intention of loping away from it. She slapped her hands on his arms.

“Wait, wait!” she shouted, and all three males came to a reluctant halt and as one stared at her. She gave them a reassuring smile. “I don’t know what just happened there, but it’s a house. An abandoned one. I told you that no one lives up here. These houses may have never even been inhabited. There are a few places that were set up with the intent of moving people out to them and then were never utilized because they were in difficult and unfavorable places.” She snorted humorously. “Gandara Mountain in the southwest has an unused city at its summit last I heard. I don’t even want to know what they were thinking. The point is,” she hurried to explain at the impatient looks, “as long as the walls are all standing and the roof is intact—and a good guess that they will be because literally nothing is made like the Earth-made buildings were—then we will have a safe place to sleep tonight. We can take a little time catching up on rest without to worry about Solum’s wildlife.”

Thral’s ears tipped toward her, and then his head turned to peer back at the building. He grunted softly before glancing at the males who practically held her captive between them. Until that moment, she hadn’t even noticed the way Sabol had eased so close to Vrishna’s side as if he were worried she might actually have been able to wrest herself from the huge Ragoru’s grasp. Not much of a chance there, but she was a little touched all the same at his protectiveness.

“I will check it out and determine whether it is safe enough to den in for the night as she says. Sabol, Vrishna, remain here and watch her in case something else catches her eye,” he muttered before stalking off.

Evie gave his departing backside a dismissive sniff. She was a little careless with her safety in the heat of the moment, but she wasn’t that bad. Yet from the way her guards now kept her sandwiched firmly between them, she was guessing that they weren’t as convinced. Sighing, she relaxed back against Vrishna’s chest. This was nice. Her legs were killing her from walking all day, anyway. She would just take a little catnap while she waited for Thral to return. She hoped the house had a bed.

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