Chapter Six
SUNDAMAR
His boots crushed the ground, leaving angry footprints behind him. He wasn’t a quiet valos, not by a long shot; those who were powerful didn’t need to hide. Their strength did the work, allowing them to rule over others, and have all their demands met. It was all his and had been since the day he opened his eyes. Sundamar was given dominance before he even knew his name, and he hated it.
A valos could be born with it but that wasn’t true power: true power had to be earned. He had earned nothing, which was why he was ashadowed dirtleader.
A twig snapped under his heel, making him bite down on his teeth so hard that his jaw locked. Another snap, another crunch, another thump, each new sound ticked away at him, reminding him that no matter what he did, he would never fly.
Sundamar barreled through the forest, sending the wild beasts fleeing with his loud approach. Even the ak'rena, the four-legged screechers that infested and feasted on anything in their path, gave him wide berth. It was unfortunate because he itched to draw his sword and send limbs flying. Another part of him wished to pierce something as well...
He cursed as his member rose to attention.
Snap. Crunch. Thump.
He came to a stop, sniffing the air as a breeze swirled past his nose. It was gone before he could name the scent it carried but he had discerned one piece of information. He scanned the grove around him: the broken foliage on the ground, the fruits pulled from bushes, bitten into and left behind.
Sundamar smelled... blood. It wasn’t fresh. It didn’t smell like valos sanguine nor a Sonhadra beast; it smelled... used, possibly tainted. He dropped to his knee and lifted one of the forgotten fruits to his face.There.A bite mark, similar to a valos’s bite but smaller.It can’t be a valos.First off, he knew no valos that readily feasted on poison fruit, secondly, he smelled none of the species in this glen nor nearby, and thirdly, the bite was far too small, delicate almost, as if the being who nipped it was afraid to and took the tiniest morsel possible.
The female’s been here.He dropped the spoiled fruit and stood, one hand reaching back to clasp the hilt of his broadsword. Moments passed as his fingers twitched upon it, waiting for a possible trap to spring, but when the silence continued, only interrupted by the occasional forest song, he let it go with a sigh.
I really want to stab something.His swelling organ twitched as though in agreement. Sundamar shifted on his feet before he forced himself to stop, refusing to acknowledgeit.
He perused the area and found more footprints amongst the slight drizzle of rain. He wasn’t a tracker by any means, having been raised to lead rather than follow, but he could easily make out the large footprints of the ak’rena and the smaller, more chaotic, prints of a small valos. Booted prints that may only be from a valos whelp, which meant either the Creators were back or one of the other species were breeding.
Sundamar figured the former was more likely. It was the only explanation for the lifeforce flowing back through him. He moved to the center of the attack and that’s when he saw it, the blood he’d smelled earlier. A washed out trail that dragged off into the forest.
He gritted his teeth, and with his hand back on the hilt of his broadsword, he followed the prints. The dried, muddled edges were rehydrating with rain and already washing away. He picked up his pace as he was led further and further from the attack site. His fingers tightened as he moved with caution because even though it was midday and the ak’rena were creatures of the night, it didn’t mean they wouldn’t awaken and attack him.
The sword slipped silently out of its scabbard as the dank scent of wet dirt and reinvigorated blood heightened. There were no more small valos prints, none that had followed this trail, and he found a whisper of relief knowing that the pale girl from earlier hadn’t risked her life.
Although every step he took on this path was one step farther from her, his heart beat wildly knowing he was close. She looked nothing like he had ever seen.This need to conquer won’t release its hold on me.It wasn’t simply the magnetized pull he felt with the female, it was also the mystery of the stone that lay before him. A stone that could finally make him whole.
His eyes landed on a strip of tattered orange cloth. Blood glistened on the dirt around it.
Sonhadra had undergone a change, one that he hadn’t seen nor known about until it had already happened.
The blood path deepened, and the trail was no longer just on the ground, but dripping on the nearby plants and bushes.
Splatter. The earthy scents strengthened and he swallowed down the bile in his throat. Another strip of strange orange cloth. Sundamar passed it all by, intent on what was ahead of him.
His booted feet squished beneath him and the wind picked up. His skin prickled. He felt cut off, hidden away from the sun and all its glory. Even now, his temperance diminished and he teetered on the border of uneasiness. The gloom always had this effect on him, same as his brothers, but he felt it more than Galan, Quist, or any of the others had. Lusheenn detested all places blacked out and dark.
His nostrils flared and he tossed a thick branch aside. A nest of sleeping ak’rena lay on the other side, their maws gored with the strange-smelling blood, and their bellies distended. In the middle were more pieces of cloth, drenched in murky rain and browned-out blood. Bones had been picked clean and limbs accompanied them. A head so alike a valos, with a toothy mouth poised in an endless roar, stared back at him.
