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

She doesn’t trust me.

“I just saved your life.”

Her face remains rigid, her hands bent into claws ready to strike.

“Fine,” I say. “But I’m leaving you here.” I point to the bluff that was my home for the past few months. “There is a ledge over there. Thirty feet up. You’ll be safe there if you can reach it. You left a scent trail, yes? For the others to follow?”

She doesn’t answer, but I know she did. “They’ll find you sooner or later. Though it might take some time for you all to find the way out.”

I pick up her hammer. Alice’s blood drips from its surface. “But I don’t think they’ll attack you while you carry this.” I toss the hammer to her and she catches it. She’s confused by my kindness, most likely because she’s never experienced anything like it before.

“Why are you doing this?” she asks.

I stare at her for a moment, asking myself the same question. Is it because she’s beautiful and some part of me wants to be with her? Is it because she’s Ninnis’s daughter and I feel a lingering obligation to serve him? I determine it’s neither of those things. The realization that these people have been corrupted by an evil beyond their comprehension breaks my heart. They are slaves who believe they are free. They’re blind and they don’t know what they’re doing. Not really.

So like Ninnis before her, I have decided to forgive her. And I tell her as much. “Because I forgive you.”

“Forgive?”

She’s never heard the word before. I quote the dictionary in response. “To grant pardon for or remission of an offense. To cease to feel resentment against an enemy.” I add a personal touch, saying, “I choose to love someone despite all of the awful things they have done.”

She whispers the word “love” to herself and looks down at the grass. I can see she’s lost in thought, but part of me can’t help wonder if she’s trying to delay me so that the others might arrive before my escape.

I snatch up Whipsnap, enter the jungle and sprint for the lake before she even realizes I’m gone.





5



The waterfall that constantly flows into the cavern creates a steady breeze and carries scents down from the tunnel high above. I sometimes catch whiffs of creatures lurking high above, some known, some unknown. As I approach the lake and feel the waterfall’s mist on my face, I smell something foreign.

I pause at the edge of the trees, testing the air like a dog, sniffing quickly. The scents are new, but without a doubt, human. The hunters are approaching. Judging by the number of different scents, there are six of them.

I look up and see nothing. They haven’t reached the waterfall’s edge yet. But they will soon. The hunters are most likely following Kainda’s scent trail. Thanks to the flow of water and wind it generates, they won’t get my scent until they’ve entered the cavern. When that happens, they’ll smell me, Kainda and cresty blood. For a moment I fear they will assault the dinosaur pack, but no, with me so close, they won’t waste the time. They’ll give chase.

With Whipsnap attached to my belt, I run for the water. Gloop is there and barks at my approach, urging me faster. The seal can smell the hunters, too. I dive in, doing my best not to create a splash, and I swim out toward the rest of the pod. Apparently, I’m not fast enough for Gloop’s liking. He gets under me and when I hold on to his neck, he puts his flippers to work and my speed through the water doubles.

As we get closer to the pod, they turn and head for the waterfall. The waterfall’s roar fills my ears as we near it and I can now taste the hunters in my mouth. They must be standing in the water above us. I look up and see something I hadn’t noticed before. A rope, dark and wet, dangles next to the falling water. This is how Kainda entered the chamber, and how the other hunters will soon follow. The pod reaches the waterfall before Gloop and me, and one by one they start slipping beneath the water. I sense we’re going to follow and take three quick breaths. Then we’re underwater. Not deep, maybe twenty feet. I look up and see the waterfall roiling the water. And then we’re beyond it, sliding into darkness. We speed forward as strong flippers and a fast current accelerate our passage.

I’m blind now, which is a strange feeling, because I’ve grown accustomed to life underground. Then I remember that I’ve been living in a well lit cave for a long time. My eyes will have to adjust to the darkness again.

Spots emerge in the black and at first I think there must be glowing crystals or bioluminescent algae in this submerged tunnel, but when my chest begins to ache I realize that I’m close to losing consciousness. I tighten my grip on Gloop’s neck and he seems to sense my panic. The water pulses past me as we push forward. The seal’s back arches beneath me and our speed increases again.