K'aijeen ran, but not very far. She sloshed through the knee-deep water until she'd reached the shallows on the other side and there turned to watch Thal. She had hoped he would follow her but was not surprised when he did not. A dead branch with curling leaves hung from a loop of red thread on her side, and she took it in her hand, untangling it quickly. Her hands moved quickly and carefully despite the fear that was pulling strange, choking sounds out of her shredded throat. She tried to think of Thal's questionable mortality as a boon, but she couldn't manage to lie to herself like that. He was still just a body, after all.
*
Baoht Zuqqa Roh crouched in a muddy pool, his shining scales making him appear as a great stone. He held his bow and its arrow low beside him, just above the water, and the hot wind that wrapped him stirred up the surface with considerable ripples. He watched the first drake dealing with the thrown stones as the two others surpassed it to rush the man. This was the prey given him by Shan'Gai Chah? Baoht Zuqqa Roh should have sent two arrows back with the tracker. Perhaps his drakes had misread the scent. That happened sometimes. He would ensure his target after this one and his companion were dead.
The fourth drake passed Baoht Zuqqa Roh to one side as he lifted his bow and directed it towards the sick-looking child that had fled.
*
Baoht Zuqqa Roh crouched in a muddy pool, his shining scales making him appear as a great stone. He held his bow and its arrow low beside him, just above the water, and the hot wind that wrapped him stirred up the surface with considerable ripples. He watched the first drake dealing with the thrown stones as the two others surpassed it to rush the man. This was the prey given him by Shan'Gai Chah? Baoht Zuqqa Roh should have sent two arrows back with the tracker. Perhaps his drakes had misread the scent. That happened sometimes. He would ensure his target after this one and his companion were dead.
The fourth drake passed Baoht Zuqqa Roh to one side as he lifted his bow and directed it towards the sick-looking child that had fled.
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