Tovis dragged a hand over the dark tuft of hair on his chin and eyed the egg like he expected a fully grown percer to burst out and attack us.
“The males aren’t aggressive, right?There’s a decent chance it won’t even be dangerous,” I pleaded.
“Not aggressive and not dangerous are not the same thing,” he warned me, but there were little crinkles by his eyes that told me I’d made my case.“I knew I picked a soft-hearted mate, but I didn’t expect that softness to extend to percers.”
I beamed at him.“Imagine it's a male, and we tame it.”I pointed at the dead behemoth on the ground.“Imagine having one of those on your side.”
His ears perked and he grinned.“Thatwouldbe fun.”
19 Tovis
We were moving slowernow that I wasn’t carrying Jiith and Jessa, but by noon we’d reached more familiar territory.I spotted one of the towering posts that I’d been told used to be a ‘billboard’.The massive rectangle had fallen from its perch, probably shot down by an over eager syto scout during the invasion.It bore the faded image of a woman smiling widely and holding up a fan of green papers.
I pointed to it.“That’s one of the markers we use for patrols.We’re on the very edge of the territory my band covers.”
“We’re close?”Jessa asked, pushing her sweaty hair out of her face.She’d started the morning moving gingerly, and I knew her feet had only gotten worse the more we walked, but she refused to let me carry her.
I shook my head.“I know where we are now, but it will take at least another two days to reach camp at this pace.”
“I’m slowing us down,” she said.
“Not just you,” I looked down at the syto cuffed to my hand.Jiith was struggling, I’d carried him for an hour to give him a break, but his ribs pained him too much and he’d walked most of the distance we’d traveled.
He’d walked slowly and it was just getting worse the longer we went without food and water.
“We’ll find a building, and look for supplies,” I looked up at the sky, noting the hot glare of the sun overhead.“At least we can get some shade.”
“If we stop for a while, I can work on opening the cuffs,” Jiith said wearily.“Once we’re separated you can leave me behind.”
“We’re not leaving you,” Jessa said.
“Don’t feel guilty,” the syto said.“I’ve been trying to muster the courage to ask you to kill me before you leave.I’m not healing and I’d rather not slowly starve to death.”
“You’re not dying,” she hissed, her sunburned face turning red as she blinked fiercely.“We’re all getting out of this, so just shut up.”
My mate claimed to hate Jiith for helping to capture her, but it was clear to me she was too kind to hate a male as pitiful as the one we were dragging around.
