To ensure she’d return. Smart. I’m relieved to know she’s not leaving me. Or rather, my people. But why is Atox allowing her to leave our settlement at all?
“Why are you going to Pen’Kesh?” I ask as Tansey flails her arms to ward off the tumek who have her cornered. They won’t harm her. Sojek would never put her back there if there were even the slightest chance of that happening.
“I’m going shopping.”
“You need tools? Needles and thread for sewing?”
“I need…stuff.”
My female is not a convincing liar. But that is fine. If our grak has given her permission, then I will not interfere.
“You will be under my command during the entire journey to Pen’Kesh, the time we spend there, and the duration of our return here,” I say as I remount. “Move out, Sojek.”
The cart lurches and Tansey screams as she nearly falls over the side.
“Sit, female, before you break your neck!”
“I’m not sitting with those animals. They bite.”
“All creatures bite.” I flash my tusks and vekk me if I don’t remember how her face shone when I dragged my tusks over her hard nipples.
“That’s why I’m not sitting! I don’t want to get bitten.”
“Their bite is harmless. Tumek have no teeth.”
“Unless you can say you’ve been bitten by one and it didn’t do any damage, I’d rather avoid their mouths altogether.”
Even in this, she does not trust me. I inhale a deep breath, demanding patience of myself, and point to the pile of blankets stored in the rear of the cart beneath the hay. “Place one over your head to protect yourself.”
“I’m not trusting my life to a blanket.”
I position my gorja near her. “I have a job to do here, Tansey. Either sit down or return to the tunnels.”
“I wasn’t prepared before. Now I am.” The stubborn female grips the iron frame so hard that her knuckles turn white. “I’m going to Pen’Kesh.”
I don’t care how strong or determined she is. The first rut the cart hits, she’ll fly off and get hurt.
“Then sit up front with Sojek.” I suggest, hating the idea of her sitting on another male’s lap, even though Sojek’s barely an adult and still has the innocence of a youngling.
“I will not sit on a child’s lap.”
“I’m not a youngling,” Sojek says, flashing his tusks at what he’s taking as an insult.
No wonder Atox gave me the supply run. I can’t even effectively command a youngling and a female.
“The driver’s bench is only wide enough for one, which means you either sit on Sojek’s lap or sit in the cart. If you do not decide quickly, I will leave you here. You’ve already made us late with your arguing.”
“I already tried convincing her of this, Warrior,” Sojek speaks up. “That’s when a tumek broke loose and I had to chase it down.”
“This is why you were late?”
Sojek nods. “As soon as I caught the tumek, I tossed it and the female into the cart.”
An interesting solution. “Tumeks are not hard to catch, Sojek.” I stare at Tansey, fairly certain she’d been arguing with him as she’s arguing with me now.
“It’s not her fault,” Sojek speaks up quickly, a hint of fear in his eyes. He likely knows of my displeasure with Tansey. The whole camp does, except they do not understand it’s not my female’s behavior that angers me, but my own.
“The tumek chewed through its line before I loaded him onto the cart,” Sojek adds rather quickly, as if he fears he may get Tansey in trouble by telling me the truth. “She helped me chase and catch the tumek.” Sojek’s always a little nervous around me and Atox, but he’s not a liar.
