“Well, Urib males elect their Council Supreme, don’t they?”
Zul shook his head. “Retiring council members appoint their successors.”
Her eyes widened. “Oh, that’s not fair at all! The Council Supreme doesn’t represent the people then, does it?”
“No, it doesn’t. That is what Bran, Gil, and their co-conspirators are trying to change.”
Ursula nodded, glad to have confirmation. “Then their revolution is long overdue.”
“Do you really think so?”
She nodded, a decisive gesture. “Yes, I do.” She took a breath and gazed into the distance, then shouted at her wandering son, “Crow, get back here!”
Zul glanced at the child and darted toward him, seeing what the child and his mother had not: a lurking predator. Claws extended, he roared and pounced on a kodo that stalked an easy meal. The kodo screeched. Crow cried out. Ursula screamed and dashed toward her son. She snatched him in her arms and raced away as Zul dispatched the ferocious lizard with brutal efficiency. Clutching her son, she saw the size of the kodo and shuddered. It was at least six feet long from snout to tail and had to weigh more than she did.
Lifting the dead animal in his right arm, Zul grinned and said, “We’ll dine on fresh meat tonight.”
Chapter 31
Ursula lost count of the days they spent in that box canyon. Zul noted the loss of her appetite and commented upon it. She brushed it off as a distaste for the monotony of their diet and took pains not to let him witness the occasional bout of nausea. The few times she could not conceal it, she passed it off as a human reaction to their diet because the hardship of camping, despite the supplies Zul and Suvesh brought, made every day seem longer than it really was. In addition and quite simply, maintaining an acceptably modern standard of cleanliness when camping just wasn’t possible without a great deal of effort that none of the males were willing to accept. Crow, like most little boys, enjoyed being dirty.
At least the water in the stream flowing through the canyon was potable. Or maybe it wasn’t, and that was the problem. There was nothing else to drink, so they drank what was available. The assumed potability of the water saved her hours and hours of needing to boil it before consumption to avoid dysentery, cholera, or whatever other nasty alien bacteria lurked in wait to cause diarrhea, belly cramps, fever, vomiting and other misery-inducing symptoms. Unfortunately, cold water simply wasn’t effective at cleaning lizard grease off their limited cookware. Perhaps that grease had gone rancid? Ursula considered the time and effort of boiling water to clean thelizard grease.
And, ugh, she was sick and tired of eating game. Except for the small, carefully hoarded and sparingly consumed store of dried fruits and nuts brought along in satchels from the manor, their diet consisted of meat, meat, and more meat. If she’d brought her some of her jewelry, she would have traded it all for a handful of fruit and vegetables, but there was no trade to be made.
Privacy, in addition to fruits and vegetables and modern standards of hygiene, was another luxury she was forced to abandon, especially after nearly being attacked by a pack of hungry yirklas. Only her shriek of terror had caught both Zul and Suvesh’s attention and saved her from being mauled to death. Zul, who had been hunting, somehow managed to move fast enough to put himself between the yirklas and his mate. Upon seeing his metamorphosis from the Zul she knew into the enraged berserker, Ursula understood why they’d assigned him to the duty of protecting her and Crow.
After that incident, Ursula wondered how Zul had managed to camp out there by himself without falling prey to the predators that called the box canyon home. Ursula resented not being able to perform necessary biological functions without someone standing guard over her—and that someone was almost always Zul. Zul did not want Suvesh performing that intimate duty, so Ursula did her best to wait until he returned from hunting.
She hated thinking that the box canyon with its primitive conditions, inconvenience, and dangerous predators was the safest place for them, but she did not challenge his decision to stay or demand to move elsewhere. Instead, she held her tongue, kept a watchful eye on her son when Suvesh wasn’t otherwise occupied, and endured. Zul hunted, Suvesh cleaned the game and cooked it, and Ursula cleaned up afterward. After the first few meals, she enlisted Crow’s help, although the boy protested.
“If you want to eat, then you help with the work,” she said.
“Do as your mama says,” Zul added.
She enlisted her son’s assistance with other domestic chores, too. Both of them helped Suvesh gather wood and keep the fire burning. Ursula and Suvesh constantly hauled water in the twocollapsible buckets they had. Ursula was surprised at the volume of water they used and looked for ways to minimize that consumption without further relinquishing cleanliness. Ursula even demanded Crow assist with washing their meager wardrobes in the stream. The lack of laundry soap meant their clothing remained stained even though they were rinsed clean.
Keeping their earlier conversation in mind, she asked Zul only once if he’d been able to communicate with Gil. He nodded and offered no further information. His reticence aggravated her, but she had no desire to argue with him again. Or was it still? She’d lost track and appreciated sleeping in the protective embrace of Zul’s arms too much to maintain the frosty silence she’d treated him to back in Fangrys. Ursula liked to consider herself practical when need be—and sleeping safe and warm within her berserker’s embrace was much better than lying cold and alone, separated from the hard ground by a mere blanket.
Zul watched as her cheeks lost fullness and her ribs became prominent despite the gentle roundness of her belly. She was losing weight, and he did not like it. However, he was unwilling to subject her to a trek across the desert to the nearest bastion of civilization where they could be identified and arrested.
One evening after a supper killed that day and cooked over the fire, she asked as Suvesh listened with ill-concealed interest, “How did you know to bring us here?”
“This is a place I stayed often enough during the years I wandered after my Prime and Second were killed,” Zul replied.
She shook her head. “No, that’s not what I meant. How did you know to leave Fangrys that night?”
“Ah.” He nodded and decided to give her as much honesty as he dared. “Bran, Gil, and I made plans. If circumstances were such that it was prudent to flee to secure your safety, then they would order me to retreat. Gil relayed the order.”
“And?” she prompted.
Zul shrugged. “He ordered me to retreat and cut off communication.” He made no mention of Bran having cut off communication first.
Ursula rolled her lips between her teeth as she absorbed the information, sparse as it was. “And have you checked in with Gil since then?”
“Yes, you know I have.” He did not mention how often; that wasn’t important.
She closed her eyes, taking a moment to master her easily aroused temper. Composing herself, she asked in an even tone, “Is there any information you can give me? Any reassurance as to whether Bran even lives?”
