A troubling one.
I know I've been staring for far too long, but the sight holds me captive. Memories of the countless battles I've fought, thecountless lives I've taken, all seem to fade away, replaced by this... yearning.
It's incredibly unsettling.
Finally, snapping out of my trance, I quickly lower the dagger. "Just a little thorn, but made out of a very hard alloy," I mumble, my voice rough. "You can have it."
The little bit of fur above one eye twitches upwards when she looks at me, and I wonder how much of my feelings she can read in my spines. They ignore my attempts to shift them to something more neutral.
She takes the knife and runs a finger along the sharp end, not minding the line of blood that flows down the edge. "Pretty nice for a 'little thorn'. You sure you want me to have it, Drasuk?"
I grunt, not bothering to respond when I've already said as much, moving to continue our trek. My spines are shivering as I try to trample all these useless thoughts and feelings.
I look back when she makes a sound of triumph. She located the sheathe and is unsuccessfully trying to loop the too-small belt around her waist.
I swing my body back around and start walking away from the camp, Kira not far behind me as she makes annoyed grunts.
The sun is finally sinking below the horizon, having given us a day that felt longer than it had any right to. With it comes a shift in weather; a chill wind blows from the desert, makingme bristle. It has a more profound effect on Kira and her teeth audibly chatter.
"Enough dawdling," I rumble at her. "Night is almost upon us, and I have a feeling that we want to be nowhere near the desert when it happens."
***
Kira sighs in relief when I tell her we can finally stop.
We are currently right in front of a large waterfall, having broken off the desert forest divide some time back to evade a swarm of pointy-looking desert beasts. I managed to snag one as we ran.
It smelled nice. Much-needed protein, all things considered.
I turn and Kira's face is slack as she stares at the waterfall with wide eyes. Something tells me that if it weren't for the situation she was currently in, she would stand for a long time admiring the nice view in front of her.
"Let's go," I tell her.
Then, I stride into the pool at the bottom of the waterfall, heading toward it.
"What are you doing?" she asks, confused.
I pause and turn. "There is a small cave behind the waterfall. We will use that for the night."
She looks like she might balk.
I suppose if I was her size I might too. The waterfall looks turbulent; she'll take a beating trying to swim through it into the cave behind, but she doesn't seem comfortable being out in the open, either.
After a huff, she carefully makes her way down the large slippery rocks into the pool. I continue on before glancing back to ensure she hasn't broken anything. Something about what I'm doing must be amusing to her, judging by the look she has on her face.
The water line comes up to my chest as I wade through it. Meanwhile, she must swim through the water to reach me, which is choppy from the violent pounding. She's an excellent swimmer but also tired, so she takes a while to reach me.
I wait off to the side by an area where the falling water isn't coming down as hard.
When Kira meets me there, I push through the cascade. She takes a deep breath and goes under the water. She kicks her legs and throws out her arms, going as far in as she can, trying to clear the roiling water, but it simply spits her back out.
I thought she gained newfound strength?
She pops back up, sputtering and cursing, then tries again. She might eventually succeed on her own, or drown, but I'm too impatient to find out. When she gets close enough, I reach out my tail, wrap it around her small waist, and pull her through the plunge pool.
She breaks the surface with a deep inhale and looks around. "Thanks," she coughs out.
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