Author's Note: Here it is as promised, hope you all enjoy it. thank you so much for the follows and reviews :D they encourage me to keep writing this story. Lol btw, I finished writing this chapter and posted it at 3am so you have my apologies if there are any mistakes haha

Jovem was high up in a tree, tossing fruit down to Selva when the scream pierced the air.

'Time to go back,' Selva called up to him. He unhooked his claws and slid down the tree, leaving scratches down the trunk. Selva had already started back, the basket of fruit hanging from one arm. 'Those damn people must be trying to get into the city,' Selva muttered as they walked. 'Good thing I keep the security measures maintained. I don't get why people can't just leave things alone.'

Jovem made a noise in his throat which sounded like a chuckle. Will we be in danger there, Sister? he asked. Selva shook her head.

They had made it to the building where the girl had been sleeping. The ashes of her fire were in a pit in the middle of the room. The building had obviously been special. There were tall pillars along the walls, with large statues standing between them. The statues were of human-like creatures, with weird armour and helmets with dreadlocks hanging down from them. Frank stared at them as he walked past. They must be the warrior gods the savages who built this place must have worshipped. The sun glinting off something shiny caught his eye and he stepped closer to the nearest statue. The bands around the stone dreadlocks were inlaid with diamonds! He ran to the next statue. The bands on this one were set with emeralds.

'Quick, help me get the gems off the statues,' he ordered Terry and the remaining hunter. They obliged, although they didn't seem overly excited about the task. The hunter had chosen a statue near the entranceway, one with deep red rubies set into the stone. He struck the statue with the tip of his knife, trying to chip the stone away from the rubies. As soon as the metal connected with the stone, the helmet on the statue fell away. He never saw the face of the statue, a spray of liquid shot out of the statue's mouth. He screamed as the liquid ate away at his skin, burning through to the bone in seconds. Frank sprang backwards, away from the statue he'd been stripping. Terry followed suit, staring at the faceless body.

'We need that girl!' Frank snarled.

'What girl?'

'The girl who slept here last night. She's alive. She must know where all the traps are. We have to find her.' Terry nodded and pulled his pistol from his belt. Time for some action.

Kar'ja had watched the Oomans enter the city. The traps were clever. He very much approved of them. Now the remaining two were hunting for the female. He was perched on part of the temple roof that was still intact, watching the proceedings with interest. The female and kainde amedha were approaching from the back of the city. The two males were walking towards the back of the city. Judging by their speed, they would meet very soon. He considered interfering but decided against it, wanting to see what the female would do.

Jovem grew more on edge as they approached the city. Selva sensed his anxiety but kept going, the city was her home and she wasn't going to let anyone invade it without a fight. She wasn't afraid of the men. She was worried about the possibility of getting hurt, but worry wouldn't stop her from defending her home. She had fought men before, poachers mainly, and had always managed to triumph. Her knowledge of the ruins, the jungle, and the plants and animals living around her gave her an advantage over any intruders. As they drew closer, Jovem walked off to the left, dropping low to creep along, hidden from the city by leafy bushes. Selva let him, sensing his intention to launch a surprise attack. She saw the men a split second before they saw her. One of them yelled something she couldn't hear and a shot rang out, the sound echoing off the stone walls. She threw herself into the bushes on her right, reflex and instinct taking over. She rolled as she hit the ground, ending up back on her feet in a crouch behind the bushes. She heard their running footsteps approaching and tensed up in anticipation. When they sounded close enough, she launched herself out of the bushes, colliding with one of them, her arm landing a glancing blow to the other's face. The man she'd collided with fell to the ground, with her on top of him. He swung at her with a fist. She blocked it easily and responded with one of her own, striking him square on the jaw. The force of her blow pushed his head back, slamming it onto the dusty brick road. His eyes glazed over and he lay there, stunned. Selva felt impact on her side then she was on her back on the road, blue sky above her. Her ribs ached where the other man had kicked her, but she rolled to avoid a second kick, ignoring the pain as she dodged this threat. He grunted with frustration as she forced him to pursue her back into the city. She scrambled to her feet as he pointed the gun at her, and took off running, hearing a crack as he shot at her. A curse followed the shot, telling her he had missed. She ran around a wall and headed for a large room situated behind the bathing room. It looked pleasant enough, with intricate carvings in all four walls depicting beautiful scenes of celebrations. The remains of tables and benches lined the walls, with a fire pit in each corner. Her parents had speculated that this was a place of relaxation and entertainment for the city people, until Selva had accidentally discovered a chest of sharp implements under one table. Now, she knew every inch of the city, having had years to explore it, and she knew this room was her best hope against a man with a gun. She ran the length of the room and jumped onto a table against the far wall. With no hesitation, she began to scale the carved wall. A bullet struck the wall near her head, chipping the stone. She flinched as some of the shards struck her cheek but kept going up. The second bullet embedded itself in her leg, but the adrenaline pumping through her veins kept her from feeling the pain. Instead, she felt only the impact, as though she had been hit by something. Making it to the top of the wall, she hauled herself up and sat there, watching him come across the room. The floor was made up of different coloured stones and bricks. From her position, she could see the picture they formed; a creature similar to the statues lining the temple, but with a long red cloak over his shoulders, facing another creature, a creature that looked a bit like Jovem now that she thought about it. The human-like creature was holding a spear raised above it's head, the point aimed at the throat of it's much larger opponent. The tip of the spear was in the very centre of the room, and the artist had added a bright star around it, indicating light glinting off polished metal. When the gun-wielding intruder stepped on this star, Selva pulled on the rope that had been lying on the top of the wall beside her. A rumble below his feet was the only warning the man got, as the floor opened up beneath him, dumping him into a pool of boiling hot water.

Frank groaned and rubbed his head. The bitch was fast, and strong. His hand came away from the back of his head with a smear of blood on his fingers. She was gonna pay for that. Swearing, he got to his feet and pulled his own handgun from his belt. Personally he hated guns, the recoil, the noise, the smell they left on his hands, but this girl was a threat, and if Terry couldn't handle her, he would have to. Nothing was going to get in his way.

Selva replaced the cover on the boiling hole, hoping the smell of cooking flesh would dissipate soon, it was making her sick to her stomach. Now that the adrenaline was thinning out, she felt the burning pain in her lower calf, and the stinging pain in her cheek from the stone shards. Her ribs were throbbing too, an ache that promised not to go away any time soon. Her hands were scraped from the quick climb up the wall, and she knew she would have more than a couple of bruises on her arms and legs from the dive into the bushes and the collision with the man. Sighing, she tore a strip off her shirt and tied it around her leg to slow the bleeding, wincing when she pulled it tight.

'Not over yet,' she told herself calmly, leaving the room. She walked into a fist. The blow staggered her, and she fell back. He followed her, drawing back and striking her again. She felt her eye start swelling up and took a deep breath to clear her head. It wasn't very effective. The man grabbed her by the front of her shirt and she opened her good eye to find herself looking down the black barrel of a gun. There was a flash of movement on her right and a dark blur was flying towards them.

'Jovem!' she cried too late as the man swung the gun around and fired three times in rapid succession. Jovem fell to the floor, the stone hissing and melting where his blood landed. Selva stared at his still body, tears welling up in her eyes. She was reminded of the danger she was in when the man shook her roughly. Shaking, she looked into his eyes. All she saw was greed and hatred. Smoke was rising from the barrel of the gun as he raised it to her face again.

Kar'ja had seen enough. He wouldn't let this Ooman male take the life of such a strong fighter, if she was to be killed, it would be by a worthy opponent, a skilled warrior, not some pitiful Ooman with a primitive weapon.

The air behind her captor shimmered, attracting her attention. The man began to turn his head, clearly wondering what had distracted her from her own impending death. There was the sound of metal sliding on metal, then blood was bursting out of his chest as two holes appeared in his flesh. His hand fell away from her shirt and she stepped back as he was lifted off the ground, his gun falling uselessly from his other hand. There was an electric crackling, a sound she hadn't heard since she was a child as she had no need of electrical appliances living here. The man was tossed to the side, her eyes following his body as it landed in a crumpled heap against a bench. A low growl in front of her drew her eyes to the large human-like creature standing before her, blood dripping off the twin blades on it's wrist.