Soon enough we all made it to the tree line with two of the women lagging behind and looking a lot more exhausted than the others.
We took a moment to catch our breath now that we’d crossed into the forest and I looked up at the strange giant teal leaves above me. One had fallen to the ground and I picked it up. Something in the middle caught my eye. On Earth the middle of a green leaf would look like a green vein, but here the vein of the leaves were purple. The tan woman next to me also picked up a leaf to inspect it.
“There’s something strange about this ecosystem.” The woman who looked to be in her early twenties nervously tucked her hair behind her ear and put the leaf in her hand down.
“I’m Anusha,” she continued. “I just finished my botany degree.”
“We should keep walking,” Fatima suggested. “It’s light out now, but we don’t know how long the day cycle is here. We need to find shelter before night falls.”
To emphasize her point the sound of branches breaking under foot sounded through the forest. None of us wasted any time continuing forward into the dense woods.
Chapter 3
Tarak
“Did you hear that?” Brexl, the fiercest and most scarred of my hunters, went still.
“Was it thunder?” Orsu, who always wore a smile on his round face, frowned as he looked up at the clear sky.
“That was not thunder,” I concluded. Our uneventful hunting trip had just turned into something more interesting.
“Should we investigate the noise?” Brexl was always ready to defend our dekes from any predator big or small. My dekes might be full of outcasts, but they were my outcasts, under my leadership and protection.
I pondered the situation. “We will go, but we will move silently and be watchful.”
“Yes, Savrix,” they responded in unison.Savrix. The honorific title for leader was something I still took great pride in having earned even after many seasons.
I led my hunters along the trail that led to Orsu’s full-moon den. We all had our separate locations that we went to when the big moon was full. Orsu’s was a spacious den covered by a sturdy shelter.
“Maybe the goddess has finally heard your prayers and sent us some mates or some easy prey,” Orsu joked as he grinned at me, making his already round face seem even wider. His shaggy brown hair added to his height. His ramireiskin coverings swished with each movement of his large legs supporting his round belly.
“I don’t think the goddess is ever going to bless us.” Brexl frowned. Orsu and Brexl were like the two sides of the same moon, one was always filled with happiness and light while the other navigated each day under a dark cloud of sadness.
“Ah, don’t say that Brexl. You never know, maybe she’s just taking her time.” Orsu patted the scarred hunter who wore his hair tied up high on his head. He wore a ramirei skin vest that covered most of his chest, where his scars were the deepest.
As we walked I felt a trembling under my feet. It took me a second to hear the vast amount of hooves hitting the ground at once.
“Quick! Up the trees!” No sooner had I uttered my command did I see a large herd of ramirei headed our way, trampling every small plant they crossed.
The three of us climbed separate trees to stay out of the ramirei’s way. They were the least vicious of the beasts on Valo Prime with their hooved feet, soft fur, and antlers, but even though they were mostly docile, when they moved in a herd, they could easily trample any hunter. Their fangs were something to avoid, but other than that they provided easy meat and hides for my dekes.
Next the jagwa’s crashed through the trees. They were fierce felines with their sharp claws, long fangs and fur that resembled brown vines that blended well with the trees. They were creatures that usually moved on silent feet, but today they thudded through the forest as if they ran from a foreboding foe.
The forest creatures stampeded past us, not even looking up as they ran by. Whatever made that sound must have been very large to scare away so many herds.
After the animals had galloped past us, the forest became quiet again and we climbed down from the trees.
“They must have been running away from whatever made that sound,” Brexl observed. I nodded my head in agreement.
“Let us continue down the trail.” I pointed my spear in the direction of the footpath that had been carved through the brush from the many hunting trips my hunters have taken through to this part of the forest. My spear was only necessary if I wished to throw it at a beast to wound it from a distance. My animal shifter form was all I needed to hunt and protect myself. My claws, fangs, and thick paws made me a dangerous beast, which was necessary since we had been cast out of the safe haven of the valley that the main dekes lived in.
We walked in silence until the sun was no longer high in the sky.
Brexl stopped and sniffed the air. “Something is burning, but it is unlike anything I’ve ever scented before. It smells…wrong…”
Orsu and I sniffed the air as well. There was something strange about the scent. It did not smell of burning wood or leaves; the scent was sharp and unpleasant, but there was another scent in the air, something delicate and sweet.
Orsu shifted into his animal form unexpectedly. The large male grew even larger as his paws took shape, his shoulders and chest filled out with a thick brown fur, his fangs elongated, and claws tipped his fingers. His ulgra bear form was menacing.
