spears of Uu'kata (CLEAN(ish) Version)

Chapter 31 - A Lone Figure

Ahnekk's heart thundered, dread churning in his guts like a rockslide as he raced for the river. Horns blared and shouts filled the air.

He heard the river ahead. Someone was screaming, children wailed. Males shouted.

Bursting through the treeline, he found Shodara halfway out in the river, hands held to her face, screaming like he'd never before heard her scream. A female and a group of boys were carrying a girl-child across the river.

"Shodara!" Ahnekk hollered, leaping into the river and rushing to her. He turned her around to find tears streaming down her cheeks. "Are you hurt?" he demanded.

"Charlotte!" she wailed. "She was taken by an ennelath!"

Ahnekk felt the blood drain from his face.

"Ahnekk, it stung her. Over and over. She fought it to save Rikki."

"Where's Hefkah?" he demanded, eyes searching.

"He went after it! Ahnekk, it stung her!"

"I know, my love. I know," he said, sorrow gripping his heart.

A single sting from an ennelath was enough to kill an adult male.

Rage ripped through him and he snarled, letting go of Shodara. He was going to kill that thing. How dare it hunt his people.

Ahnekk waded to the far side of the river just as more warriors leaped into the river behind him.

Enneleth were vicious killers and expert hunters. They could hide in plain sight due to the coloring of their pelts and they could pass all but unseen and unnoticed. So, why had this one left such a swath of destruction in its wake?

There was a clear trail of smashed bushes and flattened ferns. He followed the path for several feet before he saw the blood. Bright red human blood.

Fear gripped him and he had to tell himself to breathe as he continued forward, joined by several other warriors.

They caught up to Hefkah, who ran with a hammer gripped in his hands, a snarl on his lips. The trail of blood was becoming more defined. Ahnekk knew she was dead but he wouldn't leave her body to be eaten by the beast. His entire chest seemed to have in st the thought.

Charlotte. Dead.

He knew how Hekfa felt about her. Had he caused this?

"What happened?" he demanded.

"The ennelath tried to get Rikki. Charlotte somehow knew it was there before anyone even saw it and she attacked it to keep it away from the child. I tried to get to her but the beast was faster," Hefkah said as he ran. Ahnekk could hear a tightness in his voice. No, Hefkahhad not caused this.

"I'm surprised you would care enough to go after her, considering your brother," Ahnekk said.

"Rikki is of the Nine Vipers. She is the only girl child to be born to us in fifteen years and Charlotte put herself between an ennelath and the girl. I know she's dead but she has done us the greatest of honors in protecting a Nine Viper child. I will find her and kill this beast."

"Then we hunt together," Ahnekk said.

The trail of crushed foliage widened and blood splattered almost everything. It wasn't all Charlotte's bright red blood though. Blue ennelath blood mixed with hers to make splotches of vibrant purple. He found a piece of fabric from Charlotte's dress, ripped and blood-soaked and he picked it up carefully, swallowing against a lump forming in his throat.

"Storms and spears, how was she still alive to fight it?" Hefkah wondered.

Ahenkk was thinking the same thing. A sting from an ennelath killed in under a minute. But this was clearly a battleground.