Unlikely Bonds

Chapter 22: Pauk My Life

I was barely even winded by the time I stood in front of the largest underground cavern I had ever seen. Inside, it was not unlike the images of Earth's rainforests that I had seen.

There were green-covered hills that flowed back as far as even the mask could see that had nothing to do with sand. At the top of the cavern were millions of fluorescent orbs that showered the valley with a sunlike light. Below where I stood on the cliff, there was a flock of birds, similar to that I had seen on Earth, that fluttered off toward the monstrous waterfall that provided the valley with an eternal mist, as well as a large lake of crystal clear waters. A thick river snaked from the pool and seemed to fork and disappear into the dense jungle.

My mask picked up on so many animals, insects, vegetation that I had to stop and stare in wonder at the vast ecosystem that thrived under the surface of this planet. The air was humid, but not unbearably so. The warmth of the blazing sun above seemed to help prevent this little pocket of paradise with enough heat to allow life to thrive like it was. Anak could live out here in peace for centuries if he chose to. That would not do at all.

I looked for any evidence of a bipedal track. My mask honed so far deep into the valley below that I never would have seen it myself. I leapt from the cliff, landing on a formation dozens of feet below and continued my descent until I hit the bottom.

The sounds of life were louder here than they had been up on the cliff which was to be expected. The looming treetops would act as a sound buffer. I noticed that as I approached, the sounds of wildlife ceased, so they had been taught to fear a predator of some kind. Whether it was a natural predator that reigned here or an invasive one, I'd likely find out soon."

Once I came to the print, I was able to compare it to the track Volok had found. They were an exact match. This one was less than a day old. I followed them until I came across a disturbance. Drying black blood had been spattered against the tree, but lack of any more blood told me that a creature met is demise nearly as quickly as it had been lifted away.

Sure enough, when I looked up, I could see the claw marks from the trees. I had seen them enough to know that this was a Yautja kill. Assuming that this was Anak, I coud tell by the marks that he had bladed greaves. They were long and hooked from the look of the cuts in the trees. I lept up into the trees to get a closer look and noticed that the trail of blood continued here. He had dealt the killing blow here and then been carried south.

I followed the trail from the tree tops. Had I tried to follow on foot, I would have lost the blood trail half a mile back. Anak clearly didn't expect us to find him so soon, because he had made no effort to conceal his trail. Hell, he was right to assume so. I doubted we would have found this place without the little accident back there.

I knew the information we picked up from this little undiscovered place was going to prove valuable once we could get it back to Yautja Prime. Even if it didn't offer any promising means of honorable hunting, our kind valued resources. Perhaps there was a flower here that offered another kind of poison that we could work on becoming immune too or perhaps the hide of an animal here could provide a better alternative to that the clans were partial to? Anything new could prove a benefit of life improvement back home, so even though I was keeping my focus on following the trail, I made sure to turn my head every now and then so my mask could store the information for the scientists back home.

I slowed again because I was suddenly lookin at the skinned remains of what looked like some six legged canine that was hanging. Most of the blood was already gone, no doubt drained during the skinning process. He had left the eyes in the poor thing, so it looked like it was stuck in a terrified state, but had pulled open its rib cage to pull out the organs until it was nothing more than a hallow cavity of bone and meat.

I scanned the area around me, because I knew that no Yautja left their kill for long. My mask switched to pick up more prints and the area lit up. For a moment I was a bit overwhelmed with how many there were, wondering what the hell Anak was doing, but then I noticed a bare foot print. I understood then that I was looking at multiple Yuatja prints.

I cursed inwardly and turned to head back toward the tunnel entrance, because there was no way that I could take on multiple Yautja males on my own. I was met with a deafening roar below me. There on the ground, was a large, heavily scared male. His yellow eyes were fixed on me as he spread out his arms aggressively. Immediately, there were numerous roars that answered him. Some of them were close by, while others seemed miles apart.

Paya...I had stumbled into the lair of a band of Bad Bloods...

***AUTHOR'S NOTE***

Another Short one. But I'm hoping the next one won't be. Thanks for everyone who has been sticking through for me <3