My blood boiled with seething fury. How dared they? And for what? Credits? I never understood the off-worlders’ obsession with acquiring riches well-beyond what they required to live comfortably and provide stability and security for their families. But this massacre of innocent creatures out of greed?
Even if they claimed it was to provide therapeutics for their people, nothing justified the senseless killing of one non-threatening species for the exclusive benefit of another. The Flayers had been a global threat that needed to be controlled. The Khenads, the Scogas, and the Varolas had not been a menace to anyone. They’d only wanted to peacefully take care of their young during the birthing season.
In the distance, Federation extraction shuttles were picking up the hunters at various rally points. I wanted them all present when I unleashed my wrath. I tried to silence my unease that Serena would witness me killing one—or more—of her fellow hunters. But she shared my anger. Even now, I could feel the fury tensing her body beneath me and taste it on my tongue as Dagas took us to the off-worlder base.
Like me, she wanted blood.
As Krada had mostly negotiated the Federation’s permission to hunt on our planet, and as the village’s Great Hunter, it fell to me to render judgement on this atrocity and to exact the punishment I deemed appropriate. A more powerful hunter than I could have laid claim to that role and asked me to step aside, but only my father could have made such a boast. Although the news had undoubtedly reached him by now, Tulma was too far for him to arrive in a timely fashion.
When we cleared the last tree before the Federation base camp, 600 meters ahead, I finally got a good view of just how many hunters from the neighboring villages had joined us. The sound of the hooves of our Drayshans thundered as we surged like a death wave onto the base.
I dismounted before Dagas had come to a full stop then helped Serena down. I removed the lance hanging on my back and held it firmly as I moved forward, Mandha and Raskier flanking me, Serena and the other hunters following behind. The large doors of the base’s ship hangar began opening long before we reached them.
A very nervous looking Edocit waited for us at the entrance of the hangar. The vine-like hair of the male appeared withered from stress, as did the flowers that grew on them.
“I am Bron Kflen, the Federation Master Hunter,” the male said. “We have received word of the horrible discovery you have made. We—”
“I want the culprits,” I hissed, interrupting him.
“We don’t know who they are,” Bron said in an apologetic, almost pleading tone. “We only have a potential suspect. But we have searched everyone’s quarters and shuttles and found nothing.”
I pushed past him and entered the hangar where the off-worlders were gathered. The room reeked of the fear I could read on every face. To my surprise, none of them were armed. Then again, I could see why the Federation might have ordered it so in order to avoid a regrettable mishap.
Not that it would save them.
“Great Hunter!” Bron exclaimed, chasing after me. “Please, let us resolve this peacefully. The majority of the people here are innocent and respected your rules.”
I ignored him, my gaze scanning the room until it landed on the one I’d been seeking. “Zamorian, step forward,” I shouted.
The people around him all scattered as if he’d suddenly become infected with a highly transmissible disease.
“I am innocent!” he shouted back, hitting his chest with his four fisted hands. “I am being set up because of the incident with that damn human female!”
“You hid your bracer so that we couldn’t track your trespass,” I hissed, advancing menacingly by a couple of steps.
“I didn’t hide it! It was stolen from me,” the Zamorian argued angrily. “I put on my bracer as usual before going out to hunt. It was only a couple of hours in that I realized it wasn’t my real bracer because none of my preset scan configurations worked. I reported it missing then, and the Master Hunter told me it was showing on their radar as being southwest, at least a two-hour ride on speeder from where I was. By the time I got there, it had been recovered by someone else and some extractors brought it back to the base.”
“He did contact me about his bracer having been replaced,” Bron said cautiously.
“And how do you know that he didn’t deliberately use the wrong one to pretend that he was being set up?” I challenged.
“I don’t,” the Master Hunter conceded. “But I also cannot prove that he did. An accused is innocent until proven guilty. This is all circumstantial.”
“Then find me whoever is guilty, or we will consider that you are all conspiring to protect him, and you will equally face our wrath,” I snarled.
Outraged shouts answered my statement, many of the people present yelling at the Zamorian to confess.
“You cannot do this!” Bron exclaimed.
“I can and I will.”
“Szaro…” the soft voice of my mate called out behind me. My head jerked towards her. She carefully approached and came to a stand next to me. “I have no love for that Zamorian, but Master Bron is right. An accused is innocent until proven guilty. I know more than half of the hunters in this room, and they are upstanding, respectable people who do not deserve to be punished for the crimes of the vermin that did this. Although I don’t put it past Baron to have committed those atrocities, we need proof.”
“And how do you propose we find this proof, my mate,” I said, struggling to keep my anger in check.
“If they found nothing in their quarters or in their personal shuttles, that means that they had a stealth shuttle come retrieve the ill-gotten bounty,” she explained. “By the looks of things, the Varolas and the Scogals were slaughtered yesterday. The Khenads were attacked this morning. That means that shuttle is still around. They’re either storing everything in its hold, or the shuttle is making regular trips to the space dock to unload the cargo in their acolyte’s vessel.”
Serena turned to look at the Master Hunter.
“If you haven’t already done so, check the ship manifest of the dock for any activity from the ground,” my mate said. “Although I suspect you won’t find any. If my gut feeling is right, they were too clever for that, and Baron’s sorry ass is truly being set up to take the fall.”
“Which would mean the shuttle is still down here on Trangor,” I said, understanding my female’s logic.
“Yes,” Serena with a feral smile. “If we scan for residual energy signatures alongside the border of the forbidden area near those sites, we might be able to track them.”
The Master Hunter cast a look at one of the Federation staff and gestured with his head in a way that I assumed meant for him to immediately get on it. I didn’t know the technical aspects my mate had referred to, but I understood the general idea. Gratitude and pride filled my heart that she should leverage them to help us achieve justice.
I stiffened, suddenly struck by an idea.
“There’s something else you can try,” I said to the Master Hunter while glaring at the Zamorian. “The culprit harvested a great deal of Attrimat around the Khenads’ den. He would have been covered in spores. Even if he cleaned himself or wore protection, there will likely be traces left on his clothes, speeder, and anything he interacted with.”
“Bryna, Tarn, go scan Bayrohnxiyiek’s room and speeder for spores,” Master Bron ordered.
Instead of the panic I had expected, the defiant grin the Zamorian gave me triggered the first spark of doubt in my mind as the two Federation employees left the room. The troubled expression on my mate’s face confirmed she, too, had noticed.
“Please have Tholya and Djomoug’s rooms and speeders scanned as well,” Serena suddenly added.
It took me a moment to identify the two males she had named in the crowd. The shocked and terrified expression etched on their face screamed guilt and panic—the reaction I had expected from the Zamorian. They were a bipedal, furry species that reminded me vaguely of felines.
“Tholya and Djomoug?” Master Bron asked, confused. “Like everyone else, their personal trackers showed them moving all over the forest all day.”
“They could have attached their bracers to a preprogrammed drone in camouflage to fool your radars while they traipsed around elsewhere,” Serena countered.
“Just like anyone else could have,” one of the accused argued.
“Except everyone else made a bunch of kills yesterday,” Serena challenged. “But your score and Djomoug’s barely moved. How do you explain that?”
“Bad luck!” Djomoug replied in his companion’s stead. “The Flayer population has run low now. Everyone is chasing the same ones. We just—”
“Stop arguing,” I snapped. “If you have done nothing wrong, then you should have nothing to fear. But if you did, I bet that pretty fur of yours is covered in spores.”
“Easy enough to confirm,” Master Bron said.
He extended a hand towards one of the Federation staff, who handed him a handheld scanner. He first went to the Zamorian, who spread his four arms wide while staring at me defiantly. Before the Master Hunter even started, whatever suspicions I still held about that male evaporated. He was far too confident to be guilty.
“Clean,” the Master Hunter confirmed before turning towards the other two.
They started arguing again, backing away from Master Bron. A human and another Edocit caught the arms of the one called Djomoug, who immediately started struggling to free himself. Tholya tried to flee, only to be intercepted by the other hunters. Master Bron no sooner raised his scanner in front of Djomoug than it went off.
“I invoke the right of sanctuary,” Djomoug shouted. “I demand sanctuary! Mercy! Mercy!”
Tholya tried to flee, but Raskier and Mandha—having anticipated it—caught and immobilized him, face down on the floor. Each one had wrapped his tail around one of his legs, and held one of his arms twisted behind his back. I tuned out his pleas for mercy.
“There is no right of sanctuary on Trangor. There is only Ordosian law. And I am its enforcer and executioner,” I hissed, my fangs descending as I advanced towards Djomoug. “Release him.”
The human and Edocit complied, all the other hunters moving further away, forming a circle around us. Djomoug tried to run, but I moved much faster. The minute I caught his arm, Djomoug pivoted on himself, swiping his vicious claws at my face. I bent backward and to the side, my great number of vertebrae allowing me to effortlessly achieve sharp angles without losing my balance. Using my momentum, I spun around, snapping the arm I still held. He cried out in pain and tried to elbow me in the chest. I blocked it with my palm, caught his throat with my other hand and spit acid in his face.
His screeches of pain and the acrid scent of burning flesh only fueled my bloodlust. I pulled the hand he’d covered his melting face with and also snapped that arm at the elbow. I couldn’t risk him using his claws on me as he tried to free himself of what would follow. I then backhanded him hard enough that it dislocated his jaw while sending him crashing to the floor. Heedless of Djomoug’s gurgling growls of agony, I slithered over him, slowly wrapping the three-meter length of my tail around him.
And then I squeezed.
I felt each of his bones shattering beneath my vise-like grip. The whole time, my gaze never strayed from Tholya, who watched the whole thing with horror. Blood poured out of Djomoug’s mouth, nose, and ears moments before he went completely still. I unwrapped my tail from his mangled remains and advanced towards Tholya.
“I don’t want to fight you! I won’t fight you!” Tholya shouted in a pleading tone.
“You can fight, or you can be executed like the vermin you are,” I snarled. “Either way, you die.”
“I WON’T FIGHT! YOU CAN’T MAKE ME FIGHT!” he yelled.
“As you wish,” I replied.
I looked at my brother then at Raskier. Words were unnecessary. They lifted him by his arms, their tails still keeping his legs shackled. While summoning a ball of venom, I wrapped my hand around his nape and sank my claws into his flesh. As soon as he opened his mouth to scream, I spit the ball to the back of his throat. He nearly choked, cutting his scream short. He instinctively swallowed then coughed, yelping when Raskier and Mandha both dropped him. I turned around and we headed back towards the entrance.
“What… what did you do to me?” Tholya asked in a frightened voice.
The rattling of my tail was his sole response. Within seconds, he was screeching in agony, writhing on the floor as dark veins covered the non-furry parts of his body. Violent spasms shook him, making him brutally smash the back of his head on the hard floor, while foam formed at his mouth. And then he went limp. I stopped rattling my tail—the poison had served its purposes and no longer needed this enhancement.
I allowed the deafening silence to sit in the room for a moment, my gaze roaming over each of the hunters present to make sure they understood worse would happen to any of them who thought to defile our planet like this again. I then turned to their Master Hunter.
“The First Hunt is over,” I said in a harsh tone. “You will all be gone by nightfall.”
“But you can’t—”
“The First Hunt is OVER!” I snapped, baring my fangs at him. “Be gone by nightfall or face the consequences. And find me that shuttle.”
I turned towards Serena, bracing for the horror I might find in her gaze. But I found no condemnation in her eyes, only the satisfied glimmer of one who had been vindicated.
My Ashina… My Goddess…
I extended a hand towards her. She took it without hesitation and followed me as I led her out of the hangar, the hunters of the joint tribes shadowing us.
