Warrior by Cara Bristol

Author:Cara Bristol [Bristol, Cara]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: BA
Publisher: Cara Bristol
Published: 2014-10-19T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

Two days later

A cachinna alighted atop the front wall of the conveyance, bobbing its head from side to side as if studying them through its reflective eyes. In a debate over which creature was more repulsive—cachinna or drakor—one could make a good argument for the disgusting insect. Along the harrowing mountain road, they’d encountered several, though none as audacious as this one.

Urazi lifted his foot and aimed his boot at the carrion beetle, but it flew away with a cachinnating buzz before he could crush it.

“Missed!” he said. “Just as well. We would have smelled it the rest of the journey.”

Anika wrinkled her nose and nodded.

The beetles grew large, about double the size of an acca nut, and, when smashed, they emitted a rank odor much like the sickening-sweet smell of the rotting flesh they consumed.

“I hate those things.” Anika’s mouth turned downward. “I do not like to think about those insects feeding on my body after I am dead.”

“Agreed.”

The conveyance squeaked and groaned as the huffing beasts pulled it up the steep grade, the mountain’s edge only meters to the left of their wheels. Deep in the canyon below—too far to even see—an icy river flowed. He shifted on the seat, itching to assume control of the reins. Anika handled them competently, but that did little to soothe his fear of plunging into the abyss or facing what existed on the other side of the mountain.

Once they descended the ridge, they would enter Qalin’s province.

“Cachinna are not even a native species!” she complained.

After multitudes died in the Great Plague spread by the disease-carrying drakor, Parseon could not keep up with cremation. To prevent the further spread of illness, Parseon imported an alien species of insect, which fed off the decaying flesh of Parseonoid species. A small swarm of cachinna could pick a body clean in minutes. “Cachinna serve a function,” Urazi said, and jerked his gaze from the ravine to focus on the conveyance ahead. Nervous sweat beaded, despite the chill. “Especially in time of war,” he added. Better to talk about the noxious, disgusting beetle than to focus on the steep drop. If something happened to startle the beasts…. “That is probably why we are seeing more of them now.”

“Well, I wish they would go back to the planet they came from!”

“I do, too.” The insects’ consumption of decaying flesh did not bother him as much as a ludicrous a notion that cachinna possessed intelligence. The last one had cocked its head like it was committing Urazi’s face to memory. Your day will come. I will be back for you. And its buzz! Urazi shuddered. If he didn’t know better, he’d swear it was a laugh.

Anika glanced at him. “I am glad you are riding with me.”

“I thought you could use the company.” Not a lie, but not the truth either. When they entered Qalin’s territory, Urazi wanted to stay near. He’d leaped aboard her conveyance first thing that morning, rather than joining Luka in accordance with the rotation schedule.

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