The Last Hunter: Collected Edition (Antarktos Saga #1-5)

“Hold on,” I say, placing my hand on the wall. I reach out, feeling layers of stone and pockets of trapped gas. Then I find what I’m looking for. It taxes my already weary body, but I manage to extract two crystals from the stone, one blue and one yellow. They’re brighter than any of the crystals I’ve seen, perhaps because they’ve never been exposed before.

I fight a wave of dizziness as the crystals fall into my hand like a snake’s disgorged meal. I brace myself, closing my eyes. I’m fading. After a deep breath and a shake of my head, I fight back the exhaustion and turn my attention back to the crystals. It takes just a moment of thought to bind them together, forming a glowing chunk of crystal the size of a large walnut. I hold the newly formed light source up and find it does a better job lighting the tunnel than the flashlight did. The gray stone walls glow blue and yellow with a strip of green where the colors meet.

I hold the light out to Kat. She stares at me, gauging me in some way I can’t quite understand. “Was it hard for you?”

“I’ll be okay,” I say, thinking she’s talking about retrieving the crystals from the stone.

“Was leaving him hard?” she asks, this time sounding like she might tear my head off. “Or is abandoning your friends something you hunters do?”

That stings, because not leaving my friends behind has always been a priority for me.

Em knows this more than most and she responds before I can. “Solomon sacrificed his life to save my brother. He didn’t have to. He knew it was a trap. He knew he would likely die. But he gave himself up and risked everything to save him. He spent three months in Tartarus, what you would call hell, as a result.”

“There was a time when I wanted nothing more than to kill Solomon,” Kainda says.

Her admission, while well known to Em and me, is a surprise to Kat. Her eyes go wide a little as she turns to Kainda.

“Given the chance,” Kainda continues, “I would have crushed his skull and taken pleasure in the scent of his blood.”

Can’t say I’m enjoying the details, but they’re driving the point home. Kainda and I were once mortal enemies.

Kainda crosses her arms. The story still makes her uncomfortable. “But I was wounded—mortally—by one of the cresties, what you call, crylos. He could have left me to die. It would have been a simple thing. The cresty matriarch was powerful. Hunters were closing in. Solomon was not as strong back then. They would have killed him. But he stayed. He fought for me. He saved me. And...he forgave me.”

Kainda’s final words nearly bring a smile to my face. Kainda, one of the most feared hunters, daughter of Ninnis, just delivered a fairly convincing morality lesson about forgiveness. My mind is officially blown.

When Kainda is finished, Kat turns her eyes back to me. She wants to hear my answer.

“I will regret leaving your husband behind every day of my life,” I say. “But I will also learn from it. He said, ‘This is war. People die.’ He wanted me to finish the mission. To win this fight. To do what it takes even if that means losing a life.”

Her head sags. Her shoulders drop. With a shake of her head, she says, “You got it wrong.” When she looks up again, there are tears in her eyes. “War is the act of taking lives. A lot of lives. On both sides. Leaving Wright behind was just the first of many to come.”

“Not if I can help it,” I say.

Faster than I can react, she’s in my face. “You can’t help it, kid. That’s the point. People are dying right now.” She stabs a finger upward. “On the surface. Some of them in your name. And now, we’re dying down here, too!”

My patience evaporates and some of that Ull passion comes out. “What would you have me do?” I shout. “Give up? Stop fighting? I didn’t bring you to Antarctica. That was you! You and the rest of the screwed up human race, in the wake of a worldwide catastrophe, decided the solution was to kill each other over a new chunk of land. That’s why you’re here. To kill people. I’m just trying to save people.” I turn away from her. “I’m trying to save everyone.”

I shake my head and start to walk away. “We’re wasting time.”

“You’re right,” Kat says, stopping me in my tracks, but is she talking about wasting time or my tirade?

“You’re right,” she says again, this time with a hint of sadness. “I just wanted to be sure Wright didn’t die to save a fraud.” She steps past me, leading the way into the tunnel with her glowing crystal.

“Kat,” I say.

She pauses.

“Despite what he said, I’m pretty sure Wright died to save you. We just happened to be there.”

She considers this, gives a nod and continues on without another word.

I try to follow quickly when I realize that Kat has no idea where she’s going, but my weak legs fail me and I fall to my knees. Kainda picks me up and helps support my weight.