Auric by Leslie Chase

Author:Leslie Chase [Chase, Leslie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-02-04T06:00:00+00:00

14

Auric

The good news was that the beast’s venom wasn’t deadly. Its stinging tentacles were paralytic rather than fatal, and I wondered what had caused such a powerful predator to evolve stings like that. Either they hunted something that needed the poison to bring it down, or it was a defense against something higher up the food chain.

If something hunted those creatures, it would be an interesting challenge, but not one I wanted to meet with Tamara in tow. She’d suffered enough from my failure to protect her as it was.

Luckily, there didn’t seem to be any permanent damage. Her fingers started to work again quickly, and by the time the sun rose she had control over her whole arm. Though she tried to hide it from me, Tamara was still in pain — but she would recover.

I hadn’t failed her too badly, thank the blessed ones. Tamara would return to her people in one piece, though the marks the stingers had left around her wrist remained. A reminder to of my failure.

The hologram cat watched as I examined her, big eyes full of curiosity. Once I’d finished examining Tamara, I turned to him.

“Thank you,” I said gravely. “You served your mistress well, better than I did.”

It might be a computer simulation of a cat, but it deserved the acknowledgement. Without this Mr. Mews, Tamara might have died before I reached her.

The cat meowed back at me. I doubted it understood a word I’d said, but that didn’t matter. Reaching out carefully, I brushed its little head, feeling the forcefield push back at me gently. The little purring noise it gave off made me feel a bit better, and I managed to smile.

Tamara was smiling too, watching with amused patience as I spoke with her hologram. I pulled my hand back and took a deep breath. Time to focus on practical matters — we had a long way to go today, and hadn’t gotten much rest.

Before we set out, I found a couple of long straight branches and broke them off. Without tools it wasn’t easy to shape the ends into points, but I did my best with my claws. Holding the tips into our small fire hardened them.

Crude spears were better than going unarmed.

Tamara tried to speak to me a few more times, but what was there to say? She might not blame me for this mess but I knew better. The sooner I got her back to her own kind the better — then she’d be safe and I’d be beyond the temptation I felt.

She might be my mate, my khara, the female fate intended for me. That didn’t make me worthy of her, and I would not let myself fall into the trap of thinking I was.

Setting out towards the source of the smoke we’d seen the day before, I kept a careful eye on the foliage around us. Now that we knew there were predators who would attack us we had to be doubly careful, and I would take no chances with Tamara’s safety.

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