Empyrean Iris Story Collection Vol. 3

On His Own Supply

That, in this case, was a lie considering that the young Tesraki kept looking over his shoulder like he expected to be followed. To bad for him his caution was going to cause the exact thing he was worried about.

Thomas began nonchalantly following in his direction looking down at his implant as he did. The rest of the party had moved ahead making it difficult to alrt them without calling attention not himself, so he let them go knowing that they would either find soemthing or not. He could text them his location if he found anything interesting.

He followed the young Tesraki through the market and out into tone of the tunnels, turning off his implant and using his superior night vision to follow the small creature who was having difficulty making his way in the dim light. Thomas knew that the young creature would not be able to see him from here and so stalked at a distance like a waiting predator. It was actually a pretty exhilarating feeling all told. Most humans didn't get the opportunity to experience being a predator despite their ancestry, but here he was, stalking prey through the dark.

He followed the little creature until he could hear voices, and then slowed up to allow him ahead moving until he could just make out sounds.

"Sir."

"WHAT! What do you want."

The young Tesraki made a sort of pitiful sniffling noise before continuing, "Sorry to bother you, sir, but I spotted another Drev in the market."

"Another drev?"

"Yes sir.... But it is small."

"Small or tall, I don't care the green one has decimated our entire fighting field and we are going to need someone knew as an opponent before the crowd gets restless. They haven't seen a good fight in days."

There was some more sniveling and groveling before There was a snarl, and the small Tesraki hurried from the room. Thomas pressed himself up against the wall in a welling of darkness and stayed perfectly still. He knew that the eye was drawn to movement and the Tarski's night vision was poor, if he stayed still, he wouldn't be noticed, and so he wasn't. The young Tesraki passed without incident, and he was able to move forward in the hallway to peer into the room.

Well...

He had found Noctus.

The little creature was looking a little more the worse for wear, almost shockingly so. He was thin for a Tesraki.

They tended to keep most of their fat stores in their tails using them for a counter weight much like kangaroos did, but.... He seemed unusually thin and rather wobbly on his feet as he moved around. His fur was falling out in patches, and the way he paced..... well It was very familiar. The twitching of his hands and eyes and the way his ears moved.

Well

Thomas would have bet his sobriety that he was looking at an addict.

Thomas wouldn't bet his sobriety unless he knew he was right.

He inched forward along the floor and watched the Tesraki scratch at the fur on his chest, which continued to sluff off in little clouds. He probably wasn't eating.

He had committed cardinal sin number one.

Don't get high on your own supply.

Thomas inched himself back into a corner as he heard another group heading up the hall. He held his breath as they passed, but he shouldn't have been worried. No one saw him.

He wasn't worried.

At least he wasn't worried until he saw what they were dragging.

Bodies.