Illiya - Taylor Neeran Chronicles #1

Chapter 22 - Desperation

Hunter

Taylor awoke to the growl of the Vaseth. She threw out an arm and stopped herself before she toppled out of the tree.

"What the hell were you doing sleeping? You could have died!" she scolded herself as she looked down.

The Vaseth had stripped the rear legs of the Urlock to the bone and was working on the middle set. Three more piles added to the stench wafting up into the branches. "Bastard, that stinks!"

Reminded that could soon be processed Taylor adding to the fetid odours, Taylor ate the one remaining piece of fruit in her pack and formulated a plan. She practised her grip on the spear as she watched the Vaseth systematically strip the Urlock back to the bone. Some bones disappeared whole into the dog-like jaws of the Vaseth, presumably too small to work around. Taylor made her plan. The Vaseth ate, slept and defecated in a fairly regular pattern. If she was right, the Vaseth would have a nap soon. Hopefully, it had become used to her walking around overhead, but she needed to make sure it would ignore most of her movements. She walked in circles around the tree, watching. The Vaseth's ears tracked her around the tree. She decided to make a little noise and sang as she walked, occasionally banging the spear against a branch. The Vaseth's ears twitched and tracked her around the tree. Taylor sat down for a rest, then got up and walked around the branches. This time, only one ear tracked her. She repeated the cycle of noise and quiet until the Vaseth's ears swiveled in directions other than hers. She threw a small branch off to the side. Ears swivelled to follow the noise. "Still paying attention, but hopefully getting used to me."

Taylor watched the Vaseth as it dropped a rib bone on the ground and lay down beside the Urlock, its ears twitching. She tapped the spear against the branch in a regular pattern until the Vaseth growled and fell silent. Its ears slowly drooped.

I've only got one chance to do this right, and with just one scratch I'll be dead.

Taylor stood up slowly, stepping out further onto the branch until she was right over the Vaseth. She backed up a little so that her feet were above its hind-quarters. She glanced back towards the tree, studying the rough bark.

No time like the present, she thought as she spread her legs out between two branches and gripped the spear with both hands.

Breathing quietly in and out several times, Taylor nodded to herself. Adjusting her position so that only the balls of her feet rested on the two branches, Taylor jumped up and fell straight down, driving the spear through the chest of the Vaseth.

The Vaseth lunged awake, twisting and snarling at the spear sticking out of its chest, claws digging into the soil. Taylor was halfway up the tree when the Vaseth managed to get its teeth into the spear. Taylor watched as it pulled the spear out a few centimetres, but the Vaseth's struggles gradually slowed. After a while it stopped moving, the rise and fall of its striped chest the only sign of life, and then it became still. She waited until insects moved from the Urlock onto the Vaseth. When an insect landed on the Vaseth's open eye and it did not blink, she carefully lowered herself down out of the tree. She picked up her walking stick and cautiously circled around the tree to where the Vaseth and Urlock lay. The Vaseth didn't move, even when she poked it with her walking stick.

Taylor tried to pull the spear out of the Vaseth, but it was stuck fast. "You're going to get a trim, my friend," she said to her walking stick.

Taylor started to walk away when she paused. She thought about the Yurm she had eaten. Some meat would be nice, but she had no idea if the Vaseth was safe to eat, and what was left of the Urlock was probably laced with paralysing toxins.