Pirate's Gold - S.J. Sanders Page 0,32
Egbor’s breath wheezed out him fearfully, but his hand did not shake as he kept the weapon leveled in her direction.
“Lead the way to safety,” the captain snarled. “If you do not save us, you will not be saving her either.”
The sound of rushing water and scraping was getting louder. Terri didn’t have to look behind her to know the creatures were heading in their direction. Azan’s arm suddenly banded around her, lifting her up over the larger female’s shoulder. Terri swayed as the Blaithari stooped to snatch up Garswal in her other arm.
“Hurry!” she shouted as she began to hop from one patch of ground to the other, hauling both charges over the terrain as fast as possible.
Veral let out a roar of frustration, his mandibles stretching wide and his vibrissae, which seemed to be in moving in a highly agitated state since they stepped out onto the planet, whipped faster. Craning her head around, she watched as his eyes narrowed on Azan before he spun around and sprung forward.
Terri didn’t know what unspoken message passed between them, or what he saw in the Blaithari female in that moment, but whatever it was, he had decided to trust the female to get Terri away.
Flopped helplessly over Azan’s shoulder, Terri dropped her head. Her neck ached from the angle at which she had held it. It had the unfortunate side effect of providing her with an unhampered view of the creatures hunting them.
Their long bodies seemed slowed down a little as they whipped themselves in a rapid glide over the top of the mossy surface. Their mouths, full of sharp teeth, opened wide. Webbing fanned from both sides of their head in intricate, boney fins as they neared, preparing to strike. Terri did scream that time when one shot forward to snatch a Blaithari, a male she didn’t recognize, off his feet. His scream joined hers, but was cut off as the serpent slipped back into the water.
Her scream didn’t have time to quiet when the second serpent snapped up a squealing Turogo, ripping him away from his companions. They tried to fight the creature for him, each with one of their hands gripping him tightly while the other hand fired their blaster upon the monster until the very last moment when the creature yanked him away, breaking their grasp on him. The serpent didn’t waste time. Its body careened back, splashing into the water, the male’s shocked gaze burning into Terri’s mind as he disappeared with it, his torso caught in its mouth.
The other males of his group did not even try to catch up after that. Even as they shrank in the distance, Terri watched as the three other males of his group dropped to the ground in grief. The anguished cries of the males continued long after he vanished into the water. They were nearly out of sight when they cried out again as the ground of the floating plant matter near them pushed up and away once more, and she was able to make out more serpents rising to put the grieving males out of their misery.
She didn’t even realize she was crying until Azan’s voice met her ear.
“Save your grief. The Turogos are spawned in symbiotic packs. They would not have lasted long without their brother. They waited for their souls to be carried to rejoin him. This is their way,” Azan whispered fiercely. “If you must, direct your emotion to the male who leads them and let it burn. Many will die in this place, between the creatures of this world and your mate’s vengeance. I am certain of it. But not me.”
The assurance in the female’s voice reminded Terri of just how much of a survivor Azan was. Everything could burn down around her, and regardless of what she might feel for the plight of the others, she wouldn’t allow herself to go down with it. Terri understood. She had been there herself. If not for Veral, she would still be looking out only for herself. But she had more to worry about now.
They had to survive. There was no other option.
At least there were no further sounds of pursuit. Whatever those snake creatures were, they had given up the chase to consume their prey. It made her ill to consider that it could have been any of them who ended up in the bellies of the creatures. It sickened her further that her belly growled now, of all times.
To her surprise, Azan’s