Excerpt: The Darkness Within

“She is ours!” He spat.

“You can understand me then? Perhaps you are not as far gone as I feared,” She said, the last murmured more to herself then to the skliden. Her dark eyes flicked from the skliden to the young shralden pinned beneath his large hand and she gave herself a slight shake, wielding her weapon expertly as she drew cautiously closer to them. Her eyes were continuously drawn to the white shralden; such a color was simply unnatural. “Is she baalin too?”

The skliden didn't recognize the word, and the hunter was getting too close for his comfort level. He puffed up the pouch on his throat, a mutation that served more then one purpose. For now it made him look larger and more threatening to the small hunter, but if she continued to approach, he could spit the stomach acid that gathered there at her. His excess saliva dripped from his jaws to land on the ground with a soft hiss as he glowered at her.

The now acidic saliva was barely missing Rilyuta's head, and the sindjh seemed to realize the danger she had put the child in. She stopped approaching and stood a few feet away from the sithra pair. “Is she infected?” She tried again.

Huffing, the skliden deflated and swallowed back his bile, unable to talk while the pouch was full. “No, she is special.” He said, glancing down at her to stroke her head tenderly. “Aren't you, shi?”

Rilyuta was barely conscious from the lack of oxygen, and the skliden seemed to finally realize that something was wrong, as he cried out and let go of her. She gasped as she could finally breathe properly, her lungs burning at the sudden intake of air. She lay there panting, unable to even think of escaping at this moment. Besides, this strange smelling person would save her. They had too.