Suddenly, a deep, booming laugh is echoing through the trees. I whip my head around to see Drasuk lumbering after me, his massive frame shaking with amusement.
"Wait!" he yells out, his voice laced with laughter.
Case in point, right there. He is a lumbering oaf.
I glare at him, refusing to budge. Why won't he just go away? The jerk.
He finally stops a few meters behind me, his laughter subsiding into chuckles. "Alright," he rumbles, wiping a tear from his eye—or at least, what I assume is a tear.
It's hard to tell with his oversized features.
"I apologize for the amusement at your expense, human. But your flustered state is rather entertaining. Endearing, even."
I grit my teeth.
Endearing? The last thing I want to be to this bumbling lizard is endearing.
"Look," I say, crossing my arms. "If you won't simply leave me alone so I can sneak around instead of announcing to the whole fornicating forest that we are here, can we just move on? Before one of those things we fought earlier decides to make a snack of us?"
Drasuk's expression is softening, and a flicker of seriousness crosses his features. "As you wish," he rumbles, his voiceregaining its usual depth. "Though, I must admit, your question about my sense of smell was a curious one."
I sigh. Here we go again.
"Well?" I prompt, a hint of curiosity peeking through my annoyance.
He tilts his head, his slitted pupils scanning the forest floor. "Our sense of smell is far superior to most," he explains. "We can detect scents from quite a distance away, depending on the wind and the potency of the odor."
"How far are we talking?
"I can still smell the wreckage."
A glance behind us confirms that I can't even see it anymore. We took a detour into the forest, before looping back, but I'd say it has to be a good ten klicks away.
"That far?" I ask, surprised.
This is worse than I feared when it comes to my raging arousal, and better than I hoped for locating the women.
"Yes," he confirms. "It's a valuable tool for hunting and tracking prey. It also allows us to detect danger from afar, such as approaching predators or changes in the environment."
"No excrement, Sherlock."
"Sherlock?"
I ignore his question. "I was in a pod when I woke up."
"A cryogenic chamber."
"Okay, a chamber. There were nine other women with me. Do you know what a chamber would smell like, and can you use my scent to scan for the women?"
"Yes. I have already been doing both, Kira."
"With your super nose, right. So, like a giant bloodhound?" I tease, a sliver of a smile playing on my lips.
"You'd have to define that for me to say."
"An animal known for a strong sense of smell on earth."
"I have no point of reference to reply intelligently."
