Chapter 5
It hadn’t been easy, but Talon had done it. He hadn’t stormed off like a man possessed and taken up Cat’s trail. Instead, with self-control that surprised him, he organized a search party with his five best men to accompany him. He told the others to wait for the Kalatassians' ship, and, if they hadn’t returned in the meantime, to board the ship. They had accepted their strict orders to let the Kalatassians take them to Kanthari 7 with some mumbling. He had looked at each of them and growled suggestively, and their sounds of displeasure had gone silent. Talon was secretly pleased that his men didn’t want to leave their commander, but of course, he didn’t want to encourage them by praising them for their commentary. That would be the day!
When he was sure that the majority of his men would return home safely without him, he felt a little better. Now he could concentrate on what lay ahead of him: freeing Cat from the hands of the Krak’Heri. He could only speculate as to the motives of the tentacle-armored race, but he had a strong suspicion that Cat’s disappearance was connected to his ruler’s cruelty.
The so-called Krak were a tough and long-living race, and as such, their memory was especially strong. Were they acting in revenge, because one of theirs had been mutilated in a most barbaric way? Talon tried to remember the woman’s face. In his eyes, she had been exceptionally ugly. She had been cold, her skin covered in scales, but her eyes had been beautiful. They were a dark blue that reminded him of the color of the ocean that Ferthoris had fished her out of. Had the king won her in a poker game, as well? In the end, it didn’t matter. After her limbs had been removed, she had been useless to the king, and he had ordered his men to drop her off in the desert. A creature of the ocean like her couldn’t survive without water, and she had died a cruel death in the hot desert sun.
He realised that there was a strong possibility that Cat’s abduction was an act of revenge. He gulped when he thought about what the Krak might do with a woman they thought was his ruler’s next chosen one. A wave of hot anger set his body on fire and awakened the predator inside him. Damn his king and his perverted, lustful ways, and damn the Krak for abusing a woman. The damned fish heads weren’t men enough to get their revenge in battle. They probably had no idea that Ferthoris III would just dismiss the loss of his human wife with a dramatic wave of the hand, and then log in to the next poker game right away.
Talon and his men ran around the building, looking for broken windows where they could take up the trail. It wasn’t time to shift yet. They didn’t know whom they would run into, human or Krak. If they let their animals go now, they would waste valuable reserves that they would need in battle later. He told the feline predator that was raging inside him to remain calm. One look at his men told him that they were having the same struggles that he was. They were trained for this and had enough strength to keep their animals in check, but you could see the tension in all of their faces. It wouldn’t let up until the animals had dug their claws into their enemies’ flesh. At least the driving snow had let up. The bitter cold around them wasn’t pleasant, and without the snow that covered everything, they would be able to take the scent up better.
Felcor, who was running right behind him, cleared his throat to get Talon’s attention. Without slowing down, he waved him over. “What’s up?” he asked curtly.
“What will you do with the woman after we have freed her?”
Talon’s anger boiled up. “What has gotten into you? Are you questioning my orders?” he said through tight lips.
Felcor lowered his head. He was a good guy and an excellent fighter, but he would never be a leader. That’s why it was so surprising that he had even dared to ask the question. “It’s just that…” he looked for the right words, then squared his shoulders and looked right at his commander. Talon noticed this with astonishment, but barely had time to think about this unexpected realization. The young man’s next words would normally have sufficed to put him in a state of shock. “Some of us are wondering why we have to meet our king’s every mood without question. I mean,” he added hastily, when Talon’s growl reached his ears, “we don’t have anything against fighting – quite the opposite. Every one of us loves a good fight. You know that. We just don’t see any reason to answer to every whim of a man who hasn’t the slightest clue about battle.
Talon was silent. The words hit too close to home and to the thoughts he was finding in himself more often. Actually, he should have cut Felcor’s head off, right now, and not just in the metaphorical sense. “That is high treason,” he said quietly, looking down. He could see the next broken branch that showed him the way to where he suspected Cat was.
“No, it is healthy Kantharian sense,” Tybor joined in, from behind him. His low bass sounded happy, as if he was finally expressing something that had been on his mind for a while.
“Exactly. We do not want to serve an idiot. We want to be your men,” the fourth in the bunch confirmed. “This isn’t a trap,” he added, and Talon almost flinched. They knew him too well not to guess his first mistrusting thought. “Nobody here is questioning your loyalty, but…”
“Since we first saw how you looked at the human woman, we have wondered if we couldn’t have a meaningful life, too,” Tybor jumped back in. Talon turned his head and scented unobtrusively. The smell he perceived did not smell like lies, but not like the whole truth, either. They were all sick and tired of the king who only cared about affairs with women, but there was something else he couldn’t put his finger on. Either one of them was hiding something, or they were afraid to tell him everything. His heart was beating faster than it should have been. A life without Ferthoris III flashed in front of his eyes. He forced himself to slow his racing heart.
“We will talk about it after we return the human woman to safety,” he instructed them and tried to make his voice sound stern. “Right now, we need to concentrate on what is really important: saving her from the Kraks’ slimy tentacles.” He stopped, knelt on the ground, and looked closely at another track. It pointed almost too clearly to the northeast. Either the Krak had been in a big hurry, or there was another reason why they had left a trail like a herd of elephants. He stood up and turned to his men. The sight of their eager faces gave him a pang. “Something isn’t right here,” he said softly. Tybor, the oldest of his warriors, nodded in agreement. This was new too, he thought to himself. Since when did they show agreement with what the commander was saying?
“The trail is too obvious,” Felcor agreed. “Someone wants us to rescue the human woman.”
“Stop,” Talon said, and raised a hand. They all went silent and turned to look at him. “We need to proceed systematically and logically.” Why was this increasingly difficult for him? His men were different since they had landed on Earth. More insubordinate and independent. This was also something he would have to think about later.
“We are certain the Krak took Cat with them, because we can trace their distinctive smell.” He felt the heat rise to his face when he called her by her first name, instead of calling her a “human woman.” “The Krak have good reason for wanting to take revenge on Ferthoris,” He held up a second finger and then a third, “but Cat is a thoroughly unsuitable object for taking revenge on the king, since he hasn’t even met her yet. Her loss will not hurt him.” He pointed the fourth finger at himself. “Who would the loss of the woman hurt? Who is looking for her? Tell me if I am wrong, but it isn’t Ferthoris the Krak are after. It is me.” He looked at each of them and saw only agreement. “Can anyone tell me why?”
He crossed his arms in front of his chest. They all shook their heads, baffled. None of his men had an answer. He thought about the traitor, who was probably sitting with his men in the library right now. Who could it be? What had Talon done to him that would make him put the lives of his fellow warriors on the line, just to see Talon go down?
“At this moment, it doesn’t matter why the Krak kidnaped Cat,” he said into the awkward silence. “We will do what we have to do, but I will need an answer later.” He was aware that this must have sounded like a threat to his men, but it was too late to do anything about it. It was time to rescue Cat. Everything else would have to wait.
He set off. His warriors’ steps were quiet, but his sensitive ears heard every squeak their feet made on the blanket of snow. With every step they took, the smell of the Krak got stronger. It wouldn’t be long before they reached their hideout.
It was time to shift. Talon gave Tybor the sign to stay behind. The experienced warrior would keep watch while he and the other men prepared themselves. He raised his eyes and took in everything about his surroundings. Until now, they had been moving through a thick forest. Now, however, as they were approaching the edge of the forest, the area was changing abruptly. He could see a paved street, but its deep cracks told him that it wasn’t in use. Since the big catastrophe on Earth, humans only took care of the roads that were used the most and were necessary for the transportation of goods. Everything else, from buildings to transportation routes, was left to decay.
To Talon, the defective street was a good sign. At least they wouldn’t have to worry about running into any humans around here. The Krak had probably looked for a place to flee to as much as he had. A place where they were hidden from the eyes of other species.
Carefully, he looked through the thick bushes that separated the woods from the street. Even though the nauseating smell was very strong, he saw nothing but a huge building. The extinguished neon sign told him that there used to be a zoo here. In vain, he rummaged through his brain, trying to remember what that word meant.
He had no choice. Now or never. He gave his men the signal. The cracking and crunching behind him told him that their animals were coming out. He lowered his head and released his lion.
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