Page 13 of Darik's Quest

He had to place his faith in the goddess on this.

The baby was making sounds of distress and refusing the bottle so he picked her up to adjust her position. She belched a huge burp and spat up a quantity of the milk, which fortunately landed on the floor and not all over Darik. He had a vague memory now of Megan talking about how one had to burp a baby and should keep a cloth handy.

“I’ve got a lot to learn, I can tell,” he told the baby who blinked at him and resumed her vigorous drinking.

Lingering here was a bad idea but he couldn’t rush the child and she needed a full belly before they left.

Once she was done, he burped her again, cautiously and settled her into the sling, where she felt right, the slight weight perfect. She had a fresh baby scent which he and his predator found soothing and sweet. Darik nuzzled her tiny head as she cooed, in a good mood now she was dry, full of milk and getting attention. She grabbed his hair and he had to disentangle himself from her tiny fingers. She pulled with surprising strength for one so tiny.

Carrying the infant, he searched the house for anything useful, finding a better pack than the one he had. He loaded the full bottles into it, as well as a loaf of fresh bread and other essentials from the kitchen for himself. Then he ventured upstairs again, taking diapers, fresh clothes, two handmade baby blankets and several small stuffed animals which had obviously been sewn with loving care.

He found a shirt which would fit him and laid the girl on the bed while he put it on. She played with her toes while he assessed the room. There were no pictures, no portraits, nothing he could take to tell her anything about her parents in the years to come. He had no way to even know her birth name, which saddened him on her behalf.

“I’m going to name you Mia Laryllis,” he said to her. “It means beautiful flower in my language. I’ve never seen a baby as beautiful as you are to me.” Not that I’ve seen many babies. Picking her up, he gave her a cuddle and tucked her into the sling with one of the stuffed animals, which she grabbed and began sucking on the long ears. As he headed toward the ladder, something caught his eye on the table beside the bed and he detoured to examine the item. It was a broken necklace, with a pendant made from silver wire and a beautiful agate, lavender and dark blue, with opalescent inclusions. Camron can fix it for her when we get home, he thought. An heirloom of her mother’s for Mia at least. And there I go, assuming she’s going to be raised as my child. Going to have to persuade the goddess to grant my request.

He made the leap to the floor, landing smoothly so as not to jar the baby. As he walked out of the house he took another long look around but saw nothing else easily transportable to take for Mia. As he was about to walk out the door an intricately carved wooden spoon hung from a nail on the wall caught his eye and he tucked it into his pack. Closing the door respectfully, he took a few minutes to open the pen and encourage the animals to meander outside their enclosure. After making sure the water trough was full, he’d done all he could. He didn’t have much hope for the beasts evading the local predators—well, maybe the ornery goats would do all right—but at least they wouldn’t be trapped and left to starve.

Darik had no desire to set foot in the other two houses but he forced himself to make a quick reconnaissance, mostly to make sure there were no other children left behind as Mia had been. The homes were empty and saddened him. Three families or one extended family had been living their lives here, probably pretty happily and then in one night the enemy brought their form of tragedy to people who in no way deserved their fate.

Knowing he’d been here much too long, Darik headed out of the clearing, going north at an easy jog, wondering what the goddess had in store for him and Mia next.

* * *

He was forced to travel more slowly with the baby. She was a good companion for the most part, only growing fussy when she was wet or hungry. At those times he had to stop and take care of her needs although he enjoyed cuddling her while she drank her bottle and studied him with those intense hazel eyes. He had to backtrack twice to find the long eared stuffed animal after she dropped it and finally tied it to the sling before she made bunny hide and seek into a game for him. It was her favorite toy without a doubt and he was sure her mother must have made it for her so he wasn’t about to lose it.

He stopped for the night and spread one of the baby blankets for her to have tummy time and do her rolling over after being cooped up in the sling all day. Darik and his beast were on the alert for any slightest danger in the surrounding woods which might threaten their young companion and she slept for the night on his chest, swaddled in the quilt he’d brought, his arm holding her tight.

As they started out again in the morning he was glad he’d had extra time when he first found Mia because he could see now he was barely going to make the goddess’s seven-day deadline.

Late in the afternoon he reached a point where the plateau on which the spring was located loomed in front of him and the only remaining obstacle besides the need to climb the cliff was a broad expanse of rippling green grass, stretching in all directions. Darik had an uneasy feeling about the seemingly benign expanse of open ground and his predator was the same. He lingered in the tree he’d chosen to ascend for a long time, studying the terrain and seeking to pinpoint the cause of his unease.

So far on this journey he’d encountered nothing a determined everyday person couldn’t overcome but the legend he’d been told, about the chief who sent a hundred men here and only got ten back, lingered in his mind. What hazard had they encountered capable of taking such a toll of seasoned soldiers?

A flicker of movement caught his eye and he stared in disbelief as a group of five adult creatures the likes of which he’d never seen before ambled into view, a raft of juveniles scampering around their feet. The beasts stood about four feet at the shoulders and were covered in white-black-and brown feathers but there was nothing cuddly or cute about their massive legs, bulging with muscles and ending in three clawed toes with talons longer than his. Their front paws were like vestigial arms, short and with wings much too small to actually fly. He was caught by the way they moved, which was reminiscent of birds, and could also tell they were communicating in some fashion. One of the adults snapped at a juvenile which tripped over its feet, catching the smaller individual in a mouth full of serrated teeth, tossing it aside without mercy. The injured fledgling staggered to its feet and was instantly attacked by the rest of the babies.

The tallest of the beasts straightened, its red eyes gleaming with intelligence and Darik shrank against the tree trunk as the alpha of this herd or flock stared right at the spot where he was.

“We’re in trouble now, baby,” he whispered to Mia who peeked up at him from the sling with her usual good-natured burbling.

He’d wait all night if he had to for these animals to move on from the grassland. They were obviously meat eaters with those teeth and there was nothing here for them to dine on. Maybe they came for water—he heard a stream not too far away.

Suddenly a herd of deerlike animals moved into view, coming from the stream. Darik checked on the predators and saw they’d gone still, their feathers allowing them to blend into their surroundings. As the first deer wandered past, snatching mouthfuls of the drying grasses, the hunters burst from their cover and attacked. The deer ran for their lives, moving in leaps and bounds with desperate speed but the predators kept pace with them easily. The stampede moved on past the place where Darik was concealed and he took a deep breath.

Now or never.

After making sure the sling was tightly fastened, he leaped from the tree branch to the ground, covering quite a distance and sprinted as fast as he could go toward the cliff, hoping the hunters were preoccupied with the deer. He wasn’t sure he could outrun them but he had a head start and he and his inner predator were highly motivated. His beast was used to being the apex predator in any situation and was badly shaken by the appearance of the local talent. Darik calculated he could probably take one down with his own natural weaponry but no way he could handle five, especially as they hunted prey as a team.

He heard eerie whistling sounds from off to the right where the predators had chased the deer and managed another burst of speed. Why they’d want to pursue him with the easy meat of their multiple kills right in front of them he couldn’t imagine but theirs was an alien intelligence and nothing was ruled out. Taking a second to glance in that direction, he saw two of the smallest members of the flock charging toward him. He guessed the most senior were taking their turn to eat first and these two were hungry and not in the mood to wait. Darik represented a snack they wouldn’t have to fight their alpha and the two wingmen for.

Adrenaline coursed through his system and he managed to tack on a bit more speed. The swathe of grassland was wider than it had appeared at first, with a gently rolling aspect to the terrain. Darik wished for a blaster but the spear was the only thing he had. Without slackening his pace he took aim and launched the primitive weapon with all the strength in his arm and shoulder muscles, aiming for the eye of the closest animal. The creature screeched and tumbled head over tail to the ground, clawing at the spear in its eye socket with the lethal claws on its toes.

The second swerved to avoid its flailing companion and continued its pursuit of Darik.

Mia was crying now but he couldn’t spare any breath to comfort her.

He hit the wall of the cliff at a full run and began climbing, grateful to find cracks and crevices he could dig his talons into. Terrible pain lanced through his thigh and he saw the creature had made a giant leap and clawed him, trying to drag him to his death. Darik’s instinctive reaction to pull away and lash out with his own talons saved his life. Immediately he climbed to the next set of handholds. Blood dripping from its snout where Darik had scored it, the beast stared at him from the base of the cliff while he hung, blood streaming down his leg. “Don’t wait for me to fall,” he yelled at the beast defiantly.

Rising to its full height on the powerful hind legs, his adversary made a leap at him but missed.

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