30 Taz
Dargo’s eyes closedand he slumped forward, crashing into me as I struggled to hold his weight.His ax hit the ground and his head lolled on my chest.When he’d tackled the percer, I’d felt my heart stop.
I’d never seen him like that.His pupils so dilated his eyes were almost fully black, his face twisted with rage as he battered the percer with his ax and his fists.A beast that should have taken a dozen males to take down, Dargo had destroyed single-handedly and he was paying the price.
His right arm had a vicious bite, the flesh torn, blood foaming out of the wound and mixing with the thick, toxic saliva of the percer.There were other injuries scattered over his body, but none scared me like that bite.
I lowered him to the ground and ripped the bottom half of my shirt off, wiping at the gruesome wound as I relived the terrible hours of sickness I’d endured when the stuff had touched my skin.
I’d almost died, and he’d used some sort of medicine on me.I didn’t have anything and Dargo’s bite was so much worse than what I’d endured.
Hands shaking, I scrubbed at the wound, desperate to scrape off as much of the venom as I could before it entered his blood stream.
We were miles from camp, and I could still see the pack of percers a few hundred yards from us.The rest of the creatures must be the boars Dargo had talked about.They were smaller, bulkier, and lacked the creepy back limbs of the females, but I didn’t know if they’d come after us now that the sow was dead.
Dargo shuddered, his eyes flaring open as he jolted up to his feet, swaying drunkenly even as he whirled to face the looming pack of males.
“Cover, we need cover,” he mumbled, nearly falling on his face when he tried to walk.I braced my shoulder under his arm and helped him stagger toward a scrubby little tree several yards away.
The short distance seemed endless as more and more of his weight fell on me and as soon as we reached the tree, his legs gave out and he crashed to his side.
“What do I do?”I demanded, hovering over him as he panted and his skin gleamed with sweat.
He waved a hand at me, eyes rolling wildly and I knelt next to him.
“Just sit,” he breathed.“The boars won’t attack us if we don’t approach them.”
“I don’t care about that,” I hissed, furious at myself for getting us in this situation and terrified I’d be forced to watch him die of a percer bite.
“What do I do for you?How can I help?”
A weak smile crossed his face and he shook his head.
“You can’t do anything.”
“Dargo.”My chin was trembling and I bit my lip to force the tears back.“Don’t say that.”
