Kira

Chapter 1. Trust in the Gods

"I wish you wouldn't go."

Those words rang in Tua's head as she crouched in a tree, clutching her belly. Her womb tightened again beneath the armor that covered her rounded middle. She raked her claws through the wet bark, enduring the pain of yet another contraction. The thunderstorm thoroughly soaked her equipment, rendering it useless and leaving her more susceptible to an attack.

The ooman soldiers hadn't yet located her, but she knew they were close. She could see their forms creeping through the dense foliage in the distance through her visor. Their bodies glowed like great funeral pyres burning in the frigid jungle.

They walked in a close formation, each scanning for her with bulky ocular devices strapped to their helmets. She pressed herself against the trunk of her perch to remain hidden.

"What if you begin labor? How will you nurse a newborn and focus on the hunt?"

Tua glared at the glowing hostiles. She wanted to dispatch them, but her body had other ideas.

I'Jahd's pup was as stubborn as he... Or, more likely, it was her own stubbornness. Aren't we quite the pair, she mused.

The little one was ready to leave Paya's warm embrace in her womb. She rubbed her belly, comforting her unborn. Her cervix contracted again, reminding Tua of the precarious position she had put both her and the pup. When she returned to the clanship, she would never hear the end of his rightful anger. It wasn't like she expected their young to be ready now.

She breathed in slow breaths, forcing herself to focus on the soldiers as they continued their search. They were not yet close.

Paya's war drums thundered in the inky sky, rumbling through the tempestuous clouds. Precipitation continued to douse the region, blanketing the rattling growls of pain forced from her throat. The contractions came in closer succession to one another. Soon, she would have no choice but to give birth.

The small unit of six ooman soldiers drew closer. Their leader used silent hand, the group pausing to search the thick canopy. In tight coordination, they split into groups of three. One searched the zone around Tua's perch.

She selected her ki'cte-pa from her utility belt, extending the spear to its full size and poising to strike. The rain washed out the scent of the males almost entirely, but she still caught a hint of fear from the group. It was thick and cloying, the harsh scent of sodium burning her tongue. Her grip on her combistick tightened as she picked out a male that lagged behind. His fear was the most pronounced.

Pathetic... Tua sneered with contempt.

They dared to hunt her while harboring such fear. Such an emotion was despised among Paya's children.

It was a weakness that the clan mothers purged from their young at an early age. Fear clouded one's feelings, distracting them. There was no room for it.

However, to see fear in a prey species was expected. Oomans were soft with their babes, swaddling them in the soft cocoons of a sheltered youth, protecting them from harm and dangers, and limiting their mistakes. If Tua had done such a thing with her young, she would've been mocked by the entire enclave. Her pups would be weak and die before they were of age for chiva. Like any mother, she would feel sorrow for losing a pup but return to hunting until the mating season rolled around for a hunter to fill her belly with another.

Lightning flashbanged the darkened jungle, her visor blinding her at the sudden intense light. At that moment, her unborn squirmed in her belly, and her cervix contracted more than it had so far. She growled, the searing hot pain burning through her nerves like a raging fire.