32

They had walked for the first hour straight with little said between the six of them. In the relative cover of the early morning, the sun only beginning to seep through the horizon now, they were able to make good ground east. Toward what, none of them could say.

They stayed close to the shore, though here the ground ended at cliffs instead of beaches, and the forest grew dense. The ground was covered in vines and fallen leaves. The air was thick with the sounds of animals, birds, and insects. As they moved, they stayed silent, only interacting with each other with glances and nods.

As the sun's rays shined through the bottom of the forest floor where the horizon met the sea, Chekka broke the silence, "Ihk tahl mi noon nah."

"Idiot, if you speak to the pink king, don't speak our tongue," Shevrohn scolded, "how's he supposed to know what you're saying?"

"If I just take the fucking water from him, I don't have to speak at all." Chekka aggressively reached for the water skin around Aegon's shoulder who was walking in front of him. Aegon caught his attempt and swatted his hand away. He pivoted, looked at the Brindled Man, and smiled.

"You could just ask." Aegon said as he took the skin strap from around his shoulder and handed it to Chekka.

"He's quick." Shevrohn said with a smile of his own. "If you just asked, you wouldn't have been made a fool in front of the twins you so badly want to fuck."

"Don't say that in front of them." Chekka said with a bit of growl to his tone.

"They don't speak Valyrian you idiot." Shevrohn responded.

"I know 'fuck'," one responded. Aegon couldn't tell if it was Trihknee or Trihknah.

"See Shevvy, shut the FUCK up!" Chekka said. The twins giggled.

"We should all stop for some water. Here, give me that." Nahknani ordered to Chekka. He promptly took another quick swig before tossing it over to her as she sat down on the thick black root of a nearby tree.

The sun continued to climb and beams of light shone down on the greenery. As the light hit some of the bushes and trees, colors began to swirl through the veins of the leaves, the meat of the green either lightening, darkening, or changing color all together. A beetle buzzed passed Aegon's face, as he stepped toward where Nahknani was sitting. The brothers found a spot behind another thinner tree where some moss was growing. It was still in the shade, a muted brownish green, but looked soft enough to sleep on. The twins looked for a root near Nahknani's, but she shooed them away with a fierce glance she tried to hide, but failed. One grabbed the beetle out of mid-air and thrusted it into her mouth. Maybe Trihknah. Aegon heard it crunching as she walked away to find another spot, but he didn't look back to see where.

He sat down next to her on an adjacent root and twirled the pack from his back onto his lap. He reached in for some food. The stolen ship had fruit on it, among a few other provisions, and each of the travelers brought enough with them to sustain them for a few days of travel. He pulled out a plump orange sphere of fleshy soft fruit and bit into it like a Westerosi peach. The tangy sweet juice seeped into his mouth with each bite as he reached into the bag for another to offer Nahknani.

"Want some?" he mumbled, his mouth still half full.

"No," she responded staring off into the jungle. Her gaze was distant as if off in thought.

"What are you thinking about?" He asked.

She turned to look at him. Her eyebrow furrowed. "I trust you, Aegon, but what are we doing? Why are we running away like this?"

"I told you on the boat. I-"

"I know what you said on the boat," she said, cutting him off before he could finish his thought. "I get it. You had a dream. A vision. I remember your dream when you lay almost dead as I healed you. You were dreaming then. Dreaming of something terrible. What did you see? Is it the same thing? Do you see the future? Do you know our fate? Does it happen sometimes or only now?"

She asked so many questions, Aegon didn't know which to respond to first, or how. "Easy, Nani-"

"Don't call me that. Only the people that love me call me that."

"Nani," he looked into her eyes as he said it and smiled. "It's not just the dream. They sailed east when they could have stopped us right there. Something is more important to them than stopping us. And since we've started this journey together, its all pointed to the slavers taking advantage of your people. JaHarle, Ootrahk, your father, they could also be taking the other clans for all we know."

"They are not my concern," she said and shrugged. "I've never even met anyone from the clans past JaHarle's. We need to be with my people. I am afraid of what will happen while we are gone."

"Your people are safe, Nani. But only for now, if I'm right. Something is leading me to where I'm needed. Something has since my ship wrecked," maybe even before. "Something led me to you." He said, again looking into the mesmerizingly blue orbs that were her eyes. They looked like sapphires filled with all the stars from the sky, and swirls of the soft purple of a sunset.

"Stop it," she nudged him. "Seriously. Are they safe? How could they be?"

"In a matter of speaking, they are for now. How will JaHarle know where they are? And if he's working with the Ghiscari, he'd think Ootrahk's forces dead. He wouldn't know to send enough men he'd need to win." She heard his reasons, but her face remained unchanged.

She said, "We have far to journey then." She turned her back to Aegon as she reached in her own pack for something. She pulled out something that looked like a stick of salt beef, but paler, and announced to the rest of the group, "Don't get too comfortable. We have a long way to go and I want to get back to our people as soon as we can." She bit into the stick, ripped at it, and put the remaining length back into her pack. She turned her head back to him and lowered her voice again, "I hope you know what you're doing." Aegon hoped the same.

The smaller groups of two all converged after a brief rest to drink, eat, and relieve themselves and they began to trudge back out into the unknown. Of all of them, only Shevrohn had ever been this far, but even he had never gone much further than the mouth of the river. As far as Aegon's journey through Sothoryos had taken him, this would be that much further. As hard as they had all fought, this fight would be that much tougher. Aegon didn't have confidence in the himself or the mission on its own, but he trusted in destiny and honor, and he knew this was the right thing to do. Regardless of the cost.

Morning turned into afternoon as the band of travelers continued east. They jogged through dense forests full of life and vegetation, colors so bright and beautiful in the sunlight the scene was almost distracting at times. The group began to conversate with each other more, the twins and Chekka huddled in motion speaking the tongue of the Brindled Men, Shevrohn, Aegon and Nahknani talking mostly in Valyrian.

They didn't talk about anything specific. Once, Aegon asked about a bird he saw dancing. He had never seen an animal move in the way that it was, jumping back and forth, vibrating its luminescent plumage and puffing up thick black feathers to contrast with the streaks of bright orange and a glittering purple. Shevrohn called it the Lohknay Vehr, or lover bird, and explained this dance was a mating ritual. Aegon almost convinced the party to stop to watch it, but the brothers giggled when Nahknani replied, "If I thought you could learn something useful, I'd say let's stop, but that bird is too advanced in his arts for you to fully understand, so the lesson would be lost on the likes of you." When Chekka explained what she said in their language to the twins, they laughed even harder, and they all agreed to keep moving.

Another instance later, Aegon stopped to ask about a three-foot rat or beaver he had seen. "What the fuck is that?" he asked, seeing the giant rodent gnawing at a root on the forest floor. Aegon hated rats, a common vermin aboard ships and around harbors. He had grown to accept them, at their size, illogically frightened of them, trying to keep them out of his sight, then out of his thoughts. But this fucker was huge! And it bothered him to see a giant fucking rat!

Shevrohn called it a Cahpeebarrahk. He said they were the favorite prey of the jahkyar. "But you would know all about this wearing a cloak like that." He chuckled to himself, amused by the apparent fear of a rodent by the man wearing the dead skin of carnivorous big cat. "That being said, we should keep our eyes open. If cahpeebarrahk are around, very close the jahkyars will follow."

When the sun had reached the top of the sky, they decided to stop again. When they all sat, the twins and Chekka found their own spot, as Shevrohn found a spot by himself. Aegon found a spot that was somewhat clear, only covered with a few leaves, and sat down comfortably on them. Nahknani followed him, laying near him, her legs crossed, the top bent in an elegant way that accented the shape of her calf. Aegon laid back into the leaves and looked up into the canopy. "I miss Lem. What did you do with him?"

"I told him to stay. He didn't. I told him to stay back. He listened to that somewhat. I would bet he's not far. They say hahkyeen have among the best sense of smell in the lands and I'm sure he's trying to find us. He's found you before, hasn't he?" She turned her torso to look at him. Her auburn locks swayed from her shoulder and down, draping her smiling face as he looked up at it. The sun gleamed on the twirls of red and the parts that glared back at him almost looked aflame. None of the other Brindled People had coloring like her. They were all blackish, grayish, brownish even a little blueish. In the North, they said you were kissed by fire when you had red hair. In that moment, it looked like Nahknani was.

"That little guy has taken a serious liking to you." He said, raising his head and turning toward her. He rested his head back down on his hand, propping it up on his elbow as he laid on his side, looking at her.

She smiled, gently tossed her head and hair back, and looked back at him. She spoke softly saying, "He has, hasn't he? I mean, what's not to like?"

"Do you want me to list it?" He said, chuckling under his breath. Her face twisted into that adorably angry face she made at jests and shoved his shoulder. He shoved her back, softly with one hand, playfully. She grunted, grinding her teeth, and quickly shoved back, hard, and knocked him over. She lost her own balance, and fell on top of him, their faces almost crashing into each other.

She bounced off of him awkwardly, and her face shrunk with shame. She propped herself back up and turned her body away from him, curling her knees to her chest and hugging them.

He propped himself up on both elbows behind him, then sat up and climbed to his knees. He brushed the hair off of her shoulder and neck with his left hand, and gently glided his fingers through the hair above her ear. She turned her head slowly with the gentle pressure from his left hand and repositioned her body, still curled into herself but facing him.

They locked eyes, and paused for a moment. He brought his left hand back down beside her to prop him up. He leaned toward her with his right hand out to meet her face. His fingertips gently slid through the hair on the other side of her head and brushed it back until he had the back of her head in his palm. His face met hers and they kissed. Her soft lips met his with a rush of blood to his head and a tingle on his own pouted lips. He didn't think as much as he did as he recoiled for another, his mouth and hers slightly open. It was subtle, gentle, and they recoiled for a few more times. His heart was racing too quickly to count.

She reached for him and pulled him down on top of her. He landed in between her legs and kissed her again. He propped himself up with his left and continued to hold her head with his right. She reached down to his breeches. She traced the outline of his hard member through the fabric and then grabbed the laces to open them. He stopped kissing her and said in between a breath, "Not yet." He panted and continued, "Just this."

He continued to kiss her and they began to roll back and forth. She rolled on top of him and pinned him down with her legs wrapped around his hips. She sat down on him with her ass and arched her upper body back, reaching her hands behind her. Her wrap loosened and fell, exposing the full swell of her breasts. Each fell in place and bounced back smoothly, the soft pale skin of her flesh hairless in the most important places. Her nipples were hard, pointed, and pink. She paused, as she did, as if to let him behold her splendor. She was splendid indeed. The sun shone down through the canopy and framed her with an amber glow, her hair all a tangle and wild from rolling. After her pause, Aegon wrapped his arms around her and pulled her back down to him, meeting her chest with his lips, kissing and nibbling up to her neck. He leaned his head back and looked up at her, waiting for her to lean her head down to kiss again. She looked into his eyes and started to slowly descend.

Behind him, twigs snapped and leaves rustled. It wasn't close enough to see what it was, but it was close enough to hear. Nahknani jumped off him to her feet. Her breasts bounced as she rose and he couldn't help but stare. "Get up." She said, looking down on him, her face now stern and sober.

He gathered himself to his feet and scanned the forest with her. The noises stopped when they rose, as if in response to them. That made them both even more uneasy.

It wasn't Lem. He'd just bound up to them and crash into the middle of their kiss. Probably. In a lot of ways he was just like Lem, and Lem, the human, would definitely do that. Cock block.

There was something else in the forest with them. He didn't know what. And by the look on Nahknani's face, neither did she.

From behind them, he heard Chekka call to them in Valyrian, "Did you hear that?"

Nahknani turned to answer, covering her exposed chest with both arms, "Alert the other's. I don't know what it is, but get ready."

"What were you doing to have your tits out?"

"Now!" She growled, and flashed her teeth.

Chekka spoke their tongue to the others as Shevrohn and the twins popped up with their weapons in hand, ready.

Aegon squinted trying to focus his vision, but nothing stood out against the terrain. Neither he, Nahknani, or any of the others could see anything on the ground, or even in the trees. Aegon stepped cautiously towards where he heard the noise. His pace was somewhere between a casual stroll and a tip-toe, but after a few steps, the culprit scurried away again, snapping more twigs and crunching more leaves, and they saw the small black silhouette.

Aegon pursued it, the thing was too small to cause any real harm, but curiously, he wanted to know what it was. It ran somewhat like a person, though its legs were shorter in proportion to that of a normal biped. It almost waddled back and forth as it ran, its arms much longer than its legs, and used its arms from time to time almost as front feet, leaning into some steps to gain more ground. It was covered in thick black fur, with broad shoulders for a little guy, and black fingers, with black nails instead of claws.

After a short chase, Aegon caught up to it and continued slowly toward him. He tried calling to it with whistles and clicks, even going as far as to speak to it in the common tongue. "C'mere little one. We won't hurt ya."

Aegon lowered himself to appear less threatening and called to it once more with a whistle. The creature turned and looked at Aegon. It had a face that resembled a person's, all black, with a sunken nasal cavity and wide white and brown eyes that showed its soul. It was a juvenile, maybe even an infant, and it looked frightened, though not at Aegon. Nahknani caught up to him and knelt next to him. The creature immediately looked more comfortable and hobbled over to them with what looked like a smile. It had teeth and a facial structure like the Brindled Men, yet it was clearly more ape like in manner and build. In his journey's, Aegon had seen all types of different monkeys before, but he had never seen an all-black one without a long tail. And for a juvenile, it was huge, almost as big as Lem.

Nahknani reached out her hand toward it, and it reciprocated by curling into her, rubbing the top of its head on her hand as if to solicit attention. She smiled as it looked up at her, still bare-chested, and reached for her breasts. "Those aren't for you, little one." She said, gently shooing his black hands away.

Another crack deeper in the woods sounded, and the little ape jumped into Nahknani's arms. "I think he's being hunted," she said, hugging the infant close.

Aegon stood up and looked around. He had a feeling he knew what it was they were looking for, so he looked into the trees. He listened for another crack. None came. The forest was silent.

"Take him toward where we were. I'll find the hunter." He switched the dirk from his right to his left and picked up a rock the size of his fist with his throwing hand. He scanned the trees, looking for the spotted suspect he thought was responsible, circling the area to find the predator.

He thought he saw something above him and heaved the rock. It hit a body and a subtle grunt came out in the tone of a roar. The jahkyar exposed itself and climbed away, darting at first, then slowing to a defeated saunter. It disappeared into the canopy as silent as it had come, and when he looked to the baby ape, he saw the fear melt off its little face, and refocus on Nahknani's exposed breasts.

"It must be hungry," she said, as the ape kept reaching for them even as she re-wrapped herself. The twins hurried over to coo at the baby, now that the threat had been handled, and coddled it as if it were their own.

Shevrohn stepped toward Aegon saying, "That is a baby silfahkbay, or Gray back. They are the largest apes in the jungle, save Great Chahka. Its mother can't be far. We don't want to be here when she finds it."

"We can't just leave him here. The jahkyar will come back." Nahknani replied, as she stepped away and let the twins enjoy their time with it.

"So what? You want to take it with us?" asked Shevrohn, clearly against the idea.

"No. We'll just let him follow us is all," Nahknani said, ending the discussion. Shevrohn was not pleased.

They gathered their things and began to travel again, letting the little ape tag behind. A few times it reached for Nahknani and the twins, stretching its long hairy black arms up as if it was asking to be held. The women each took turns obliging him, succumbing to the extreme cuteness he displayed with each pitiful glance. He certainly knew how to manipulate the girls.

It wasn't very long back into their journey they heard more rustling in the distance. The three men readied themselves, as the three women continued to pass around the infant ape. "Sounds like soon enough we'll meet its kin," Chekka said. "And it will be good riddance too, taking all the attention."

"You're just jealous the pink king had Nahknani's tits out, and you haven't even seen as much as an ankle." Replied Shevrohn.

"Their ankles are out now."

"They're not out for you."

Though the brothers were always entertaining as they bickered, Aegon remained focused on the distant forest and the rustling that slowly approached them. "Bring the little thing here." He yelled to Nahknani. "If its his family, I want them to see him first."

A bush cracked and bent wildly toward them as the first of the ape's kin came into view. A much larger version of the infant bounded forward through the brush leaning forward on its knuckles as it ran. The all black figure looked at a height with the men he was traveling, or taller, and had thick muscular arms and chest twice as thick as his companions. More followed closely behind, some a bit smaller, some a bit larger, but all of them were jet black from head to toe. Why are they gray backs?

They hooted low and softly. There was empathy in their voice as they called. The baby jumped out of Trihknah's, or Trihknee's, he couldn't tell, and hooted back excitedly, running back to them with its arms in the air. Aegon saw the eyes of the first ape that broke through the bush light up, and saw it almost visibly smile as it called again, loudly, and ran over to the baby.

It grabbed it, hugged it tightly and pushed it up as it crawled onto its shoulder. They hooted at each other, the larger more intensely than the baby at first, then the baby cooed and hooted like it was telling a story.

The larger looked up at them, acknowledged them with a lasting stare, then turned back into the forest with the rest of its party and vanished shortly into the brush.

"I'll miss him." Nahknani said.

"How do you know it's a him?" Chekka asked.

"I can just tell." As Nahknani finished, the brush exploded again with a loud crack and another large figure emerging out of the greenery. This one was much larger, four or five heads larger than the brothers, dwarfing the other gray backs in height and girth. Its forearms were as thick as barrels, thicker, and its chest was as wide as a row boat. Its fierce face was longer than the other's. Its fangs were bared like the Brindled Men, but larger. Sharper.

It stood straight, gaining height until it's head reached a branch no one would describe as low hanging and beat its chest with successive thumps, grunting low and loud. It lowered back down onto its knuckles and punched the ground a few times before looking back at them. At the angle it was standing, Aegon saw its back. Now I get it.

In the distance Aegon heard a hoot, from the others that had just left most like. The enormous one turned and responded. He turned back to stare down Aegon and his party.

"If we all attack at once, we could bring him down," Chekka said, arming himself with his new steel.

"At least one of us will die," Shevrohn responded, looking around, waiting for the rest to arm themselves.

The gray back saw Chekka's stance and stood again, seemingly threatened by his posture and stepped toward them.

"Stand down. If we do not pose a threat, he will not attack," Aegon said with a strange authority. He wasn't sure about what he thought, but he felt deeply that this was nothing more than a protective father. If they backed down, so would he.

"Then why is he still charging," replied Chekka, still poised in a striking stance.

"Because you are still in a threatening stance. Stand down!" Aegon yelled as the ape started moving faster.

"Chekka, ehk too ihk ahk lan!" Shevrohn yelled at his brother. Chekka quickly dropped his sword and kneeled with his head down. Shevrohn followed suit. As did the girls who were intensely watching despite their silence. Aegon lowered himself, but kept his eyes on the approaching beast.

It saw them defer and stopped. A few more moments and it would have been on them, but it snorted a few more times, turned and began to walk away back where it had come from. They froze until it was out of sight. Aegon exhaled dramatically. It felt like he was holding his breath for hours.

"It did turn around after all. Fucker. Stay away." Chekka taunted as the ape was fully out of sight and ear shot. "You aren't too bad to have around pink king. Seems like you were right."

Aegon rose to his feet and turned his head to Chekka. After a brief pause he replied, "Hopefully from here moving forward you remember that and listen to me."

Shevrohn responded with a smirk on his face, "Good luck. I've been trying to talk sense into him since he was born."

"True brother," Chekka said, "but you were never right. The pink king is."

At least this time.

A/N. Hello all. Once again, thank you for reading. We've reached a landmark here as the story moves into the final act. Of all the things I want to hear feedback about is the budding relationship here and your thoughts. I embarked on this journey, and that specific subplot, thinking this would never happen. Now, I fear, it is starting to, but much like Aegon, I am confused. I'd love to hear what you guys think as your perception of all this is not preconceived like mine is. I have always thought differently, until organically all this has lead to where we're at. PM or comment on the story, I'm interested to hear what you guys think.

As always, thank you so very much for reading.