Page 31 of Black Mamba

“This one isn’t the one that took Elena?” the first male asks.

“Show her to me!” I roar. If they killed Deiys, who knows what they might do to her. I have no reason to trust them. “If she is in there, show her to me! I will rip this vessel to pieces if I must.” I shove my body against their ship with all the force I can muster.

“She’s not in here!” one of them shouts. “Fuckers can really talk.”

“Prove it,” I growl.

The males glance at each other, then the one on the left looks into the part of their ship that is hidden from my view. “We tried to save her but another one, another you took her before we could stop him. We killed one of you—we’ll kill you too if you try to come in here! Back off!”

“Another one of me?”

Greg waves the gun’s barrel at me. “He looked just like you.”

Ixi.

Ixi has her.

It would be why I smelled him earlier. I push away and turn for Ixi’s territory. I rush past the ships and into the thicker foliage of forest behind them.

Ixi would not harm her. He is not the vicious sort.

Deiys was a surprise.

He is… dead.

Deiys’s territory is across the river and east. He rarely crosses the water into my or Ixi’s lands and only did when he had information to give. He was a loner—primitive—and many seasons would pass by without seeing him.

The humans killed him with the head wound. He would not have been able to regenerate quick enough to survive the trauma.

I am saddened by his death, but I do not know why it happened, why he was within my territory to begin with. I will mourn him once I find Elena.

I arrive at Ixi’s nesting grounds—a series of rectangular brick buildings—that line the shoreline of the river. The crumbling ruins are interspersed with large walls of newly built clay and wood, all of which are covered in roofs made of black plastic tarp and winding vines. Long pieces of chopped wood and thick tree branches stabilize the structures.

Scenting both Elena and Ixi in the air, I do not announce my approach, instead entering Ixi’s home as quietly as possible. I do not know how we will respond to me after how chilly I was at our last meeting.

Ducking under the flap of a tarp at the entrance, I enter a portion of the building where the roof is made entirely of crisscrossing vines. The sunlight that bleeds through creates a dimly lit and shadowy atmosphere. There are tables throughout, and hides—specifically deer hides—covering the few brick walls and windows.

Moving deeper down a viney walkway along the water, I enter the next building. I come upon a set of stairs and a large room covered with tarps. Following Elena’s scent, which has only thickened since trespassing into Ixi’s domain, I hear her—smell her—before I see her.

Shifting aside a hanging tarp with my arm, I discover her lying in the center of Ixi’s hide nest. Her delicate form is partially spread out, her face tilted to the side. Her dark brown hair fans across the fur behind her. Surprised she is unguarded by my cousin, I approach her unconscious form, eyeing the bruise mottling her brow.

She is hurt.

My gaze drifts to her thinly-strapped black undershirt and the rich redness around her right shoulder. The bone protrudes at the side while her arm hangs limp below it. I check her for more wounds, discovering nothing out of the ordinary except a new layer of dirt and grime. There is no blood.

I reach to pull her into my embrace when I hear Ixi approach from behind.

“I will not let you take her without an explanation,” he says with a hiss.

“Yessss.” I turn around and face him, meeting him on the other side of the flap. “You will.”

“She is hurt.” He waves his clawed hand at her. She does not need to be moved unless necessary.

“I can see that! Her shoulder is red. Her forehead is bruised.”

Ixi hisses low and deep before straightening. “Did you hurt her?”

I pause, my gaze narrowing upon him. “You think I did this—” I wave my hand at Elena’s unconscious form. “All I have tried to do is prevent thissss!”