Call of the Eagle: A Space Opera Adventure (Star Rider Book 5) by Heidi Skarie

Author:Heidi Skarie [Skarie, Heidi]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Published: 2022-08-01T00:00:00+00:00

14 Hortar

Fawn stopped to take off her jacket. The day had grown warm as she and Baymond hiked through the woods. The tall trees shaded them from the sun’s direct rays, but they were exerting energy climbing up steep, rocky embankments. The river was a series of falls here and they had occasional glimpses through the trees and bushes of the rushing water.

They’d gotten a late start. She’d slept in after being up much of the night guarding the camp, while Baymond had fished—unsuccessfully. Hunger pains gnawed at Fawn’s stomach. She’d barely eaten the day before except for a few arga leaves and today there’d been nothing to eat. But she didn’t complain. Baymond hadn’t eaten anything either and he was coping with walking with a barely-healed leg wound.

By the edge of the river, Baymond stopped and leaned against a tree with one hand resting on his walking stick. Sweat glistened on his forehead and his face was drained of color.

“How far is the village?” she asked.

“It was only supposed to be another five miles as a bird flies. With this windy trail it’s much longer.”

“You look exhausted. Do you want to camp here for the night?”

“No, I want to get to the village. We need food and a place where we can both sleep through the night instead of taking turns keeping guard.”

Her chest tightened as she thought of the burned village. “A village won’t give us any protection if Raptor soldiers attack.”

“True, but it will give us protection against arktos and black cougars?”

She cocked an eyebrow. “Black cougars?”

“While you were sleeping this morning, I looked up information about this region on the tablet. Black cougars live in this area.”

“Are they dangerous to humans?”

“They’re elusive, but if you see one and run, they’ll give chase and could easily kill you. They weigh over two-hundred pounds and are known to watch for prey from tree limbs. They can also swim, so jumping in the water to get away won’t do any good either.”

“So, what do you do if you see one?”

“It’s best to make noise so we don’t startle any predators. But, if you do see one, stay still and hope it moves on. If it doesn’t, shoot it.”

“That will only work if it doesn’t leap onto you from a branch before you even know it’s there.” More concerned about him than the elusive black cougar, she took the vita scan out of the side pocket of her backpack and slid it across his forehead. “You’re running a low-grade fever. Are you taking the antibiotics?”

“Yeah, but they weren’t developed for the bacteria on this planet.”

“I hadn’t thought of that. Give me your water bladder.”

He took his empty water container out of his backpack and handed it to her. She filled it from the rushing river and dropped in a water-purifying tablet before handing it back to him. He put it back into his pack and took a long drink from the attached tube.

Fawn refilled her own water bladder, then swallowed a few gulps.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.