Page 67 of The Warrior's Oath
“And Dohrags. Remember, there are multiple hostile forces in play in this region.”
“Right, whatever. The point is, we should get going, like, yesterday. The longer they’re out there, the more danger they’re in.”
Korvin stared at her a long moment, torn, then slowly shook his head.
“My duty lies with my general.”
Nyota flinched as if she’d been struck. In a way, she had.
“What do you mean, your duty? I thought you were honor bound to protect me.”
“I owed you my life, yes,” he replied, a pained look in his eyes. “But as you pointed out, I have returned the favor. The debt is repaid.”
“B-but you’ve got to come with me.”
“I cannot. My remaining obligation is one of honor. I must find my general at all costs. But you have grown strong.Verystrong. And your tracking skills are greatly improved. In addition to that, your new runes will help you as you seek out your friends.”
Nyota felt rage and disappointment surging within her, mixing into a potent cocktail of angry spite. “You’re seriously going to ditch me? After all that’s happened? After this morning? After last night?”
“I—”
“You son of a bitch. I thought you were different. Special.”
“I do not mean to disrespect you, and what we haveisunique. But you fail to grasp that my general is a great man. A warrior of unmatched skills. And having more Nimenni in our group will only serve to strengthen us. To benefit our cause. Adding Heydar to our numbers will provide us a great advantage, whereas, no offense to you, humans tend to be small and weak. They will not provide benefits toward our continued survival.”
She stared at him cold and hard, her silence cutting him with every second.
“Please, say something.”
She held her tongue a moment longer.
“Nyota—”
“Fuck you, Korvin,” she spat. “Fuck you and your general.”
With that she spun on her heel and stormed off in the direction the humans had gone. Korvin watched her go and sighed, then turned to follow the Nimenni tracks. She hesitated as she reached the tree line, turning back to take one last look at him, then plunged into the woods.
Korvin stopped a few seconds later, looking over his shoulder at her shrinking figure. A painful tug in his chest pulled at him, but he merely looked at the Infala rune loosely covered by his tunic and sighed. They were close, yes, but the pigment’s connection was not yet complete.
Nevertheless,somethingwas there between them. A connection of a different sort. He turned back to his path and started walking. Whatever the case, he would have to put that aside and do his duty. It was the Nimenni way.
CHAPTERTWENTY-SIX
Nyota’s anger simmered a long while as she trekked through the woods, and with it her runes seemed to pour additional energy to her limbs.
From what she’d seen and felt during their fight with the Raxxians, as well as the revelation that they very well may be sharing blood and pigment, she had to wonder if she was possibly pulling power from Korvin’s body rather than her own.
“Serves him right,” she grumbled, leaping over a fallen tree with her newly powerful legs.
If indeed they were tapping the same wellspring of energy, she was damn well going to make the most of it. He actually had the gall to say humans were inferior. Weaker.
She had to admit that the others actuallywere, but that was beside the point. They were in a place where other people of his kind existed. But her? These could be the last humans alive outside of back home on Earth, and finding them was paramount.
She stopped in her tracks, head cocked as she listened to the wind. Her hand slid to the hilt of her knife, ready for a fight. Stock-still she remained for nearly two minutes as the faint sound grew nearer.
“Oh, son of a bitch,” she groaned when a small animal no larger than a lamb trotted across the path. It took one look at her and turned tail and ran.
“Yeah, you’d better run before I make lunch out of you,” she jokingly muttered.
