“Should make apleipen,” Dorie says, pushing hair from her forehead. “To keep her safe.”
“A pleipen would be useful,” I agree. “What is that, exactly?”
She describes it to me, and indeed it would be a wonderful thing to have.
“I’ll make one tomorrow,” I decide as I gauge how long it will be until sunset. “Tonight I have other things to do—Dorie, get into the ship.” That last part comes with urgency.
Dorie stands up, tense. “What is it?”
“Krolt,” I tell her tightly as I grab Aker’iz and her backpack. Sensing the emergency, she immediately starts to cry. I put her inside the ship. “I’ll be right back, Aker’iz.”
Dorie gets her spear and steps inside, too. “Come on.”
“I can’t hide from this enemy,” I tell her as I draw my sword. “They must be defeated. If not, they’ll keep coming back.”
There are two of them, their bodies so thin seen from the front that they’re just lines. But their heads are wide, with one eye on each side. If not for the low sun, I would not have seen them, so well do they blend with the jungle around them. I wonder how long they’ve been there.
“I’llfight,” Dorie says as she steps back out and closes the hatch to the ship, cutting off the sound of Aker’iz’s furious protests.
The krolts are walking slowly, side by side, watching us. But they’re not here for fun. There must be a nest nearby, and if we don’t kill these two, the whole pack will keep coming.
“Get inside!” I seethe. “I can’t protect you out here!”
“I’ll fight,” Dorie says, voice flat and determined. She takes up a defensive position with her back to the Plood ship.
It’s hard to tell exactly when the krolts start to move faster, so thin are they. But now they’re clearly coming. Their bodies are splotched with green and blue, so that they’re almost impossible to spot. They climb over the barricades and come into the clearing, teeth glinting in the red sunlight.
I take up my position three paces in front of Dorie. That way, I can ward them off before they get that far, and Dorie has room to finish them off.
“Stay there,” I tell her tightly. “These are not easily confused.”
The first krolt comes trotting as if it’s going past me. As it gets close, it turns its head towards me and pounces.
I’m ready for it and slash out with my sword. The tip just misses as the krolt bounces back in a move I’ve never seen before.
“Stay behind me,” I remind Dorie. The other krolt is pacing back and forth, just looking for an opening. And I know these things can attack together.
I realize what they’re doing—they’re waiting. They must be expecting more krolt from their pack, and now they’re tricking us into thinking they could attack at any time.
I can’t allow that to happen.
“Waarrr!”I suddenly run at the nearest krolt, roaring with sword lifted, just as it’s changing direction and slightly off balance. My blade hits it at the side of the head, slicing off half. The krolt falls sideways, spraying blood and kicking wildly with its strong legs as it hisses furiously. I know it can’t get up. Krolt live their whole lives running, because of their thinness.
I run back to Dorie just as the second krolt pounces on her. She yelps and holds her spear out, but the krolt ignores it and goes in to take a bite with its great, blade-thin gape.
My sword grazes the predator’s tail, and it turns towards me, eyes rotating in their sockets.
Dorie thrusts her spear at it, but misses.
“Keep trying,” I encourage her as my sword clangs uselessly against the attacker’s side—the angle was wrong. That gives the krolt a chance, and it snaps its great jaw at me.
I get a whiff of rotting meat as one of its teeth slides along my arm, cutting it open.
Immediately, my grip on the sword is weakened by the blood running down my arm, but I slash again and miss completely.
The krolt runs as if escaping, but I won’t be tricked. I stay three paces from Dorie, sword ready.
Indeed, the krolt was just picking up speed for a new attack. And it’s so fast I miss with my desperate hack, only striking empty air and bringing myself off balance.
