Last to Fall

ch 12

—a few days earlier–

Azriel~

After taking a break and eating some of the kabiet, I continued my walk home only for the female human to continue following me.

She’s worse than an overly attached kit who refuses to let their parents leave the den without them!

I picked up my pace in hopes she will decide she cannot keep up and will leave, she poses no threat to me and I doubt she will survive the trip to my home territory if she tried following me all the way… I want no business with her, female or not humans have been nothing but trouble…

I walked on for hours and it was clear she was starting to fall behind, but the woman was persistent. Looking back I could see her struggling to get over a fallen tree in her path like a helpless child.

Why was she so intent on trying to stay with me, have I not made it clear I want no business with her? Against my better judgment, I continued forward, as my curiosity about the female grew. Most humans who came here were male, all of different shapes and sizes. Seeing a female of their species was… strange…

Glancing back I could see she wasn’t paying attention and seemed distracted. Taking the chance I quickly hid behind cover and climbed into a tree, out of sight.

The female quickly took notice of my absence and started to panic. I watched closely as she ran around desperately looking for me. I had a strange itch to show myself to her and make her stop panicking. I’m not sure why…

For a while she completely stopped and sat under a tree crying, eventually falling asleep. She seemed so weak and defenseless…why come out here if she didn’t want to be in the forest alone?

After her little break, she woke up in the middle of the night and became paranoid and much more scared. I was laid back in a branch high in the tree above, watching closely she was right to be afraid at night. Her pale skin and light hair made her easy to spot, but the lack of sleep was much worse in her case… staying up until morning made her sluggish and slow…

Once she got up to start the day, she ended up freaking out and killed a haisu that managed to crawl into her sack while she slept, like she was scared of it… I was right about one thing, humans are all capable of violence…

I continued to follow her into devil cat territory and watched as she roamed around carefree, was this female trying to get killed? She even climbed onto the devil cats basking rock and laid on top of it.

Seeing movement in the bushes nearby I caught a glimpse of a few devil cats stalking the girl, yet she was completely unaware. Gripping my spear tightly I made sure to stay hidden within the trees while watching.

I was only going to watch what she did for a bit and then leave. but this female would die if i left her alone…

Growling, I cursed the moon of fate for putting such a weight on my shoulders, I didn’t want the responsibility of caring after a human!

Turning away I looked in the direction of my home, I could leave, and let her fend for herself… she is the naive one for wandering into dangerous territory…she should know it’s dangerous there were signs all around her and the place reeks of the cats scents…she will learn her lesson, to not be so careless. that is if she survives…

I could hear the sounds of the devil cats approaching their prey, and found myself fighting to not turn around, to look at the helpless human… I need to just leave, let nature run its course, and go find a hunter’s den to spend the night, I know there’s one close by…

The angry snarl of one of the devil cats drew my attention and I looked back to see the female was completely backed up against a tree. She was stricken by fear and frozen on the spot, with no idea where to run nor anything to fight back with.

Growling I cursed myself and gripped my spear tightly, I turned back towards the commotion and readied my spear…

I need food anyway…

Waiting patiently for the cat to get closer I let my spear fly as it lunged for the female. It was instantly dead and the others ran off in fear of being next. I can’t believe I’m doing this…

I glared at the female as she slowly registered what just happened, but the look of fear on her face pulled at me for some reason and my anger dissipated. Once she saw me in the tree I jumped down and started towards her.

She cowered slightly at my approach. I looked down at her as she stood there cornered up against the tree like a helpless pup. My gaze moved to her hair and only then did I realize it was braided…she belongs to a male…

My irritation only grew at this realization. The braid was sloppy and was barely held together. That means her male is either poor at his craftsmanship or has not fixed her hair in a long while. But if she has a male why is she out in the middle of the forest alone?!

Mumbling a curse I grabbed my spear and dragged the dead cat to the closest hunting cave, the female was quick to follow…

After getting a fire going to keep warm I stood up and walked out of the cave, over to the dead devil cat to start skinning it. In most cases, I would use the furrs and save them but I was in a rush to return home, so for now I would only take the meat.

Grabbing a large pempi tree leaf I wrapped the food and moved the leftovers further from the cave so scavengers and predators would not be drawn here.

Taking the meat inside I saw the female warming up by the fire. I sat down across from her and motioned for her to hand me the bowls. It took her a moment but she quickly understood, splitting up the food I one bowl down before her.

“Eat”

She seemed confused and looked at me and the food. Rolling my eyes I grabbed a piece to show her and tossed it in my mouth, she almost seemed revolted by it and shook her head mumbling in her strange language, and moved away from the food like it was poisoned.

This confused me…surely she was hungry, I do not understand why she is recoiling from it…if this female does not eat meat she would surely starve or become too weak to survive…

I waited before taking the bowl back and eating it myself. I haven’t eaten a decent meal in days, because of that last human…my hunt took me longer than expected, and that one was quick…

Time passed by and I pulled down the furs that had been left in the hunting cave for any travelers who might come by, it will be nice to sleep a bit more comfortably tonight…

I was lucky one of these caves was close by, as night has already fallen and sleeping in a tree isn’t very comfortable. Starting at the fire I thought about how I should go about heading back to the tribe grounds, I could take the quickest path and be there in a mere few days, but that means I would have to sleep in more trees and eat mostly kabiet…or I could take a longer route and stop by some of the hunting spots to sleep comfortably, it would take a few extra days but the trail is safer…

My gaze moved back to the female as she sat up against the cave wall watching me. What should I do with her?... She has no weapons and whoever her mate is must be worried, and searching for her…

my gaze moved to her braided hair. Why did she fall from the sky like the other humans? I thought only unmated males were sent here…but a claimed female? It makes no sense…where is her mate he should be with her…

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed something moving along the wall towards the completely oblivious female.

Grabbing my spear I slowly got up keeping my eye on the venomous little pest…

The female seemed confused and pressed herself closer to the wall. That’s the exact opposite of what she should do! Does she not notice it?!

Before it could get any closer I lunged and pierced it with the spearhead, close to her head, earning a startled yelp from the female and an agonizing hiss from the xioth as it squirmed in pain.

She looked back finally noticing the creature and moved away as I twisted the spear effectively killing it.

Disposing of the body and head I turned back to the female who seemed to be in shock, then moved to my bedding to lay down.

She moved back to her own bedding and did the same looking over at me. Sighing I closed my eyes to rest…

What in the seven moons am I going to do with her…

(Alien vocabulary:)

Nai- danger / No

Sa’te- eat

Ke’et - stay

Kei- sleep

Draven- the hunter (characteristics unknown)

Kabiet- a blue pomegranate-like fruit that tastes like nectarine.

Haisu- a rat-like rodent often considered a pest that often steals food.

Xioth- an insect creature with the front of its body being similar to a spider connected to a centipede, (extremely poisonous).

Pempi- a large tree with equally large leaves similar to a palm tree.