Chapter 2-1
320 Words
Chapter 2
Leaves sighed together as Aleledai pushed them aside, despite his best effort to make no sound at all. It didn’t matter once he saw the state of the humans on guard at the mine entrance. The big glass bottle changing hands at an alarming rate told Aleledai everything he needed to know about this group. Alcohol was a bane and Aleledai had no idea why humans indulged often, or in the quantities they did. One experience with the nasty stuff was all he needed to keep him away from it.
Srahuni jabbed a finger at the young woman closest to the dark pit in the group. “That’s the leader.”
“This will be easier than I thought,” Aleledai murmured, a wolfish grin already taking over his face.
“We don’t know the state of the Caniean down there, but Zerai is ready to administer aid if they need it.” Srahuni’s grin matched Aleledai.
They had traveled a week from camp for this. When word had come to him of a new work crew so close to his camp, Aleledai’s outrage burned out every other thought for a long time. After the m******e of the last rescue, not far from this exact mine, he thought the humans would keep away from the area. Perhaps he overestimated their intelligence. Or they were hurting badly for the cobalt.
His second, Srahuni, had puffed up with indignant offense when Aleledai told him about the reopened mine, blue-black scales and pitch dark skin flushing a deep purple. They set out later that day with four more Caniean, a plan almost nonexistent. Their medic Zerai and three veteran warriors, Vunei, Tequi, and the biggest was Opati, all volunteered without hesitation when Aleledai asked his camp. They seemed to love these little rescue expeditions.
“So, same plan as usual?” Aleledai had to ask. It was tradition.
“Smash them all and chuck them down the shaft?” Srahuni seemed to think it over a moment. “I always love this plan.”
Aleledai snorted and waved him away.
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