Never

Chapter 46: Knight tears

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The adrenaline of the battle fought kept her moving, but with each passing minute the additional energies were depleted and the pain in her body appeared. Orchid was exhausted, all she wanted was to lie down and sleep for a while, but this was not the right time, she was dirty with the blood of her adversary, in a wild territory, the well-being of her tribe was in danger and she had three grubs in her charge that required attention and care.

Unfortunately her body was in no condition to keep up with that rhythm without a break, her already weakened legs buckled under her weight and the mantis fell to her knees. Her companion ran to help her, he was scared, both for the well-being of his lord, and for the fact that without her he did not know how to escape from that jungle.

"My Lord! Are you okay? Are your injuries very serious?"

"Don't worry Cris, I'm fine... Just... Exhausted..."

"Well, let me disagree. Perhaps you stopped the bleeding from your leg with those plants but it needs to rest, or a more professional medical help"

"But there is no time for that, I must take the children with their mother." Orchid managed to stand up with some difficulty.

"In your condition, I don't know if you are capable of reaching the village as you are, or of protecting the young and yourself. Remember that we are going to a battlefield. If the spiders see you with the babies in a cage they could react badly thinking the worst."

"You're right... I can't go there with the children under these conditions..."

She took a few moments to think of an appropriate plan of action, but in her state just standing already required a lot of effort, much more complicated was for her even think of something. Although she tried to concentrate her mind began to wander in thoughts confused and meaningless where every image she saw evoked some distant memory, but somehow that managed to be useful. The path of her eyes crossed a thorny branch that triggered a relatively recent memory.

She surveyed her surroundings as if she hadn't been busy in it for the last 15 minutes, but with this second glance she was able to recognize the site, she knew it and was near a place where they could help her without asking too many questions.

"Cris, I know what to do, come, help me a little."

Leaning on her companion, they made their way through the jungle until they reached a rustic path that led them to a lost hut in the confines of that jungle, a place where two artists had taught her an important lesson.

The urge to attend to his lord made Cris forget all discretion or respect, he kicked the door of the hut and forced himself inside, but as soon as he entered he regretted not having knocked first, because he had to witness an uncomfortable scene that involved two beetles kissing.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH!"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Without saying anything, he quickly left the hut slamming the door.

Cris, quite disturbed, sat outside the house where Orchid with the children were waiting for him, his pale and distressed countenance did not go unnoticed.

"Uh... are you okay?"

"I saw... two beetles kissing..."

"Yes, I forgot to tell you that the occupants are a couple."