Alarmed, Rhyst trotted along the path down into the steep ravine. He only hoped that Cha’lii had not been lost to the appetite of the lor’vash. He could not lose her so soon when he had yet to recover any compensation from her for the indignities he suffered. That he found her company pleasant he didn’t care to dwell too much on.
As much as her visits to his cage had been a small comfort to him, having her in his arms for hours had an unprecedented effect on him. Rhyst had secretly enjoyed the contact. He was certain, however, that the sudden anxiety he felt at her disappearance had nothing to do with that. When he recovered her, he would have to tie her to him and not let her out of his sight again.
As he dropped down into the first copse of trees, Rhyst crashed through the brush, not even attempting to be silent as his fear for the small female drove him forward. He did not realize that he was growling, however, until he startled a group of winged sa’vals from the tree in which they were nesting. They burst from the branches, their songs echoing through the late evening sky as the nocturnal creatures rose higher into the air.
As beautiful as sa’vals were, with their jewel colored wings, they did not capture his attention for more than a moment before he was once again descending. Every now and then, he caught the scent of spoor from the ga’torna, but at the edge of the water it disappeared, the predator giving up the chase. Smart animal.
Where its scent disappeared, however, Cha’lii’s perfume was richer, drawing him like a beacon. He stopped when he came across the severed tentacle of a lor’vash bearing a thicker scent trace, one that occurred from direct contact with her. His stomach twisted at the sight, knowing how close she had to have been to the creature. It also gave him some hope.
The lor’vash, for all their formidability and fearsome nature, would retreat to heal if injured in such a way. If she had managed to wound it before it did substantial harm to her, there was a chance that the offworlder was still alive. The spark of hope burned in him as he leaped over the mangled tentacle and raced along the banks, following the trail his orb picked up of the smudged imprints of her feet pressed into the sandy mud.
His breath billowed out of him as his legs stretched, running at full speed. He paid no mind to the whip of greenery against him as he rushed through the forest that grew in the deep valley. His focus narrowed on two important facts: Cha’lii was alive, and she had come this way.
Rhyst inhaled the damp air, taking it deep within his lungs. Her scent teased him and called to him, and he followed that call like an an’dangal pack following their prey. She called to him, and he could do nothing else but answer.
Moving away from the water’s edge, Rhyst began to push through thick trees, cursing the various roots and limbs that tangled around his legs to the damnable depths of misery and pain. Typically, Tak’sinii enjoyed trees, but the a’sankh had a complicated relationship with them. While he admired their beauty and the comforts they provided, he knew that they also concealed dangers and, for the larger a’sankh males, it made walking through them treacherous and a lesson in patience to stay on route. He didn’t see the crevice in the rocks at first, half-buried among the foliage and wrapped in the roots of the vash’ra trees. His paws scrabbled for purchase, claws digging into the ground as he nearly slipped into a hole. Many a male had suffered slow, agonizing deaths after breaking a limb in a hidden crevice and being overcome by predators in his weakened state. Rhyst’s missing claw still ached, as it always did when he extended the rest of the claws on his left forepaw, but he ignored the burn as he pulled himself to safety.
He peered into the hidden darkness. The humidity of the vash’ra toyed with his senses so much that he almost missed the fact that Cha’lii’s rich fragrance was coming from that very place. He dropped down to his belly as he caught sight of the pale curve of her cheek and the strange dark fringe of hair that circled her eyes in the wan light