Colt's head was bursting with stress. His own soldiers were acting in clear disobedience to his orders. The other divisions were killing for sport and hairs away from killing each other. Her Majesty's appetite grew with every passing day, but the supply of food did not. To top it all off, the prey was fighting back.
"Has anyone had contact with Division 8?"
The grunts he was interrogating made some inintelligible noise. His gaze snapped to a passing Cheetu, who froze then sheepishly shrugged his shoulders.
Just as Colt was about to have a silent explosion, a body dropped by his feet.
He recognized the human. His looked up at the appearing figure.
"I've been trying to call you for the past twenty-four hours," Colt told the captain. "Why did you not respond?"
Orbish eyes rolled individually in its sockets, before Meleoron's lips settled into a wry smile. "Because I was busy doing what you asked. You wanted me to track the rare prey, did you not?"
Colt folded his arms. He studied the human more thoroughly this time. Indeed it was the same one that had fought Rammot. The human with the power to discharge lightning from his fingertips. Of the time of the confrontation, Colt did ask Meleoron, who had been in a nearby territory, to follow pursuit. Tail them. Gather information. Strike if the opportunity arose. At least, that was the plan until Hagya and his division took matters into their own hands.
Thinking about Hagya worsened his headache.
"Wait, so if you were handling them, then what is Hagya doing?"
Meleoron produced a pack of cigarettes. "My guess, hiding."
The three rare prey had split up halfway to their nest. Meleoron had followed the two young ones, leaving Hagya with the reaper and his scythe.
Hagya talked boldly, but acted cautiously. A glance of their power, and he would understand just how outclassed he was. How outclassed they all were.
It took two flicks to get his lighter to work.
Colt did not miss the subtle shake in the flame. He uncrossed his arms. "Capturing this human couldn't have been easy. Where's your division? We'll replace any missing numbers."
"You're looking at it."
Like Meleoron said. Outclassed. Too much blue. An entire ground stained with the color of his troops, his comrades. Had luck not been with him, he would have joined their bodies.
Zazan once claimed she brought in a prey worth a thousand humans. If so, then this one was worth a million. Meleoron believed he has fulfilled his lifetime quota.
Colt could keep his soldiers; Meleoron was done.
This was his resignation.
A breath of smoke, and the captain had disappeared from sight once more. For a while, there was the sound of padding footsteps, leading further and further away. After that, nothing.
The only evidence of his existence was the offering he had left behind. It lied on the floor, cold and unmoving.