Between The Crystals

Ch 76 Flash Flood

The air hazed over and cleared as I brought eight hunters to a new crystal the Saursune had guided us to. Roxanne, Calum, and Andre were collecting greens nearby and straightened in surprise.

"I brought you some more helpers," I told the porters.

"Oh, thanks," Roxanne said, coming over. She took a second look at me. "You look tired."

"It's been a long morning," I said, hoping she wouldn't think a Saursune caught me already.

To distract them, I told them about my plan to leave some of my group with them, notably not mentioning the patriarchs didn't want me near fields or out by myself.

Roxanne readily nodded. "I'm always happy for more helpers. I can try porting them to the Guard Station, but I might need your help if a Saursune shows up."

"Sure. In the meantime, I'll be at Orange Flower if you need me."

I ported to Orange Flower and joined the others in their mostly fruitless quest for edible greens without damaging the plants beyond recovery. Right now, I was very glad that half of my group was with Roxanne.

~

The morning passed into late afternoon without the Saursune returning. Our collections were meager, and there was barely enough to feed us. I stood straight and stretched the kinks out of my back after picking leaves off the ground for far too many hours. My carry net was completely empty.

I watched as Callie picked leaves and stuffed them into her mouth with single-minded intensity, more active now than she'd been all day. My heart broke as I recognized the early signs of a child reacting to food scarcity. She knew her food would be restricted when we went home, and each leaf she ate now was one more thing in her belly to keep the claws of hunger at bay while she slept.

I closed my eyes to keep the tears at bay. Children were not supposed to go hungry. I'd heard at least two crying last night as well. My far-ranging hunters might be bringing in a fair bit, but most groups were struggling to find enough to feed themselves, let alone others. One large group couldn't feed an entire village. If the patriarchs kept putting restrictions on Grant's plans, the rationing was only going to get worse.

During the big drought, I remembered hugging Merryl as we cried ourselves to sleep from hunger. We had even harvested near the farms and just outside the fields during those dark days. Many hunters had gone searching for lost crystals, as had I. All of us had taken risks we would have never otherwise taken.

There was no way the patriarchs didn't remember those lean years, and despite that, they didn't even want us to go near the fields right now because a Saursune might kidnap us. Unfortunately for them, I would do everything in my power to keep a child from crying from hunger, even if it meant letting the aliens come over to visit me. And I didn't particularly care if the patriarchs liked it or not.

My thoughts were distracted as a flash of brown bounded into sight, slowing to a trot now that she was closer. The brown Saursune headed directly for me. Her jaws weren't quite closed, and as she got closer, I could see she was carrying something small.

She circled around me and sat on her haunches as she dropped a clam-shell shaped object into her hand. Her hum vibrated the air as she sat up—freeing her hands—and opened it like a clamshell.

I shifted my weight, unsure of what the mud-like substance was and what she was doing. With a deeper hum, she dabbed her finger into the brown stuff and set the shell on the grass. Turning to me, her other hand reached for mine.

The sight of the claws actually extending toward me sent my heart racing. It was a struggle not to pull away. My eyes focused on the four scars on the back of her hand as she lifted my arm and gently dabbed the brown stuff onto my bruised wrist. She carefully smeared it over the discolored skin without her claws so much as brushing against my skin. Coolness radiated into my skin and made the dull ache fade.