Page 79 of Unleashed

“Your next meal isallyou think about,” Balir remarked.

Grinning, Vortok gave Nina’s bottom a squeeze before patting it gently. “I have something else to occupy my thoughts now.”

Aduun chuckled and pushed himself to his feet. While Balir passed around a few pieces of dried meat, Aduun carried the waterskins to the waterfall and refilled them. When he returned to the others, Nina was sitting up, laughing at a story from Vortok as she ate.

He paid little attention to Vortok’s words; they’d heard one another’s stories countless times, had experienced many of them together. It was the ease with which Vortok spoke, Nina’s casual laughter, and the knowing smile on Balir’s face that caught Aduun’s attention. Apart from their bestial appearances, this could otherwise pass as a morning out of their old lives — the camaraderie, the amusement, the comfort.

The journey had been long and difficult for all of them, Nina included, but if this was what they could claim at the end…

He knew things could never again be as they’d once been. He could never have his old life back. This couldn’t erase all those years of suffering, of pain, of enslavement, but it was more than he could ever have hoped for.

Thiswould be a life worth living. A life he longed to have with every part of himself.

There could be no failure.

When Balir offered him some meat, Aduun accepted it and ate quickly. What they’d shared here, at the base of this waterfall, was something special, something he’d hold onto for all his days, but they needed to press onward. It was selfish to lounge here in contentment and luxury when their people were somewhere beyond, suffering.

After eating, they checked to ensure everything was packed, drank from the waterfall, and resumed their journey, guided by the calls for help Nina heard in her mind.

The runoff from the waterfall formed a stream that continued downhill. They followed alongside it; fortunately, the decline wasn’t as drastic as it had been coming down from the cliff to the pool. Before long, the rocks were gone completely, giving way to increasingly thicker vegetation. The direct sunlight never fully returned, leaving them with a hazy, grayish sky that suggested the potential for rain.

The land was largely level at the base, with only shallow dips and low rises to break the monotony, many of which revealed the tangled roots of gnarled trees. Aduun had spent time in the forests around the tribe’s lands and was familiar with many plants and animals, but the vegetation here was strange to him. The trees had wide, relatively short trunks, contrasted by long, reaching branches — some of which were easily twice as long as the trunks were tall. Vines and fuzzy-looking moss hung from those branches in many places.

Though it wasn’t nearly as hot as it had been in the desert, the air was quite warm; it was also thick, stifling, andwet.

The stream flowed into one of the depressions, becoming something closer to a pond. Aduun led the group over the higher ground surrounding the depression. Tall, grass-like plants grew along the edges of the water, and swarms of tiny insects buzzed and flitted in the air.

Pausing at the highest point, Aduun surveyed the landscape. More small bodies of water were scattered around as far as he could see, marked primarily by the tall grass growing at their borders. Most of the trees stood on patches of raised ground, but a few had their bases submerged completely in the water, their trunks weathered and gray.

“He really likes to make these transitions jarring,” Nina muttered, stopping beside Aduun.

He glanced at her. Though her skin didn’t have the unhealthy red hue it’d take on beneath the desert sun, sweat glistened on her forehead.

“All part of his game,” Aduun said.

“The natural order of Sonhadra was never his concern,” Balir added from behind them.

“None of the Creators seemed to care about that,” Nina said. “They changed so much on this world…especially the people.”

The reminder didn’t spark quite as much anger in Aduun as it would have a few days before. His frustration and fury were there, without question, but they had been tempered now by his sorrow. By that taste of hope he’d been gifted. Sonhadra and its people —hispeople — had been changed forever. He hated that fact, but now he understood that it was beyond his means to change things back.

The old world was gone forever.

But now he had Nina. Now there was a meaningful future ahead of him.

“Come,” he said softly before continuing forward.

As they advanced, the landscape subtly shifted; the water grew increasingly murky and more prevalent, covering wider and wider stretches, the ground became softer, and the plant life became stranger.

The trees increased in variety and number, growing in tight copses scattered through the water and on the high ground, and the vines and moss clinging to them thickened. Some of the vines had strange, bulbous growths on them. Odd plants grew at the bases of trees and near the water, many in surprisingly bright pinks, purples, and blues. Some grew in clusters, some alone; some had long stalks, while others looked like fat, misshapen eggs.

Aduun’s attention was caught by one of the plants when it moved — it was a long, pinkish stalk topped with a circular growth that was covered in a mess of hair-like tendrils, some of which had twitched. He paused to watch as an insect landed on the plant, undoubtedly lured by the glistening liquid at the tips of the tendrils. With surprising speed, the tendrils closed around the insect, folding it into the center of the plant.

It was as fascinating to witness as it was unsettling. He had a sense that this was but a taste of what Kelsharn had laid in wait for them here.

Nina slapped her arm and cringed when she lifted her hand; a string of ooze, the remains of the insect she’d squashed, trailed from her palm. “I’ve never seen a place like this before.” She frowned as she stared at her hand, nose wrinkled in disgust. “Maybe that was for the best.”

“Each place has its own challenges,” said Balir. “We will adapt to these and overcome them, just as we have the others.”

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