Skar Coldblood's Arc

Chapter 1 of 1

Skar Coldblood counted the empty nests again. Twelve hollows in the cave floor, each lined with old moss, each cold. Skar's whole clan had slept here. Now only one green lizard breathed in the dark. The predators had come three nights ago. Skar had heard the screams from the ridge while hunting. By dawn, nothing moved below but the beasts, dragging what they had killed. Skar watched from the cliff and did not go down. A coward's choice. A living one. Now Skar stood alone in the mossy cave, tail dragging on wet stone. Eggs needed a mate. A clutch needed a clan. Skar had neither. The bloodline would die inside this hollow unless Skar walked out and found another of their kind. Skar packed a hunting pouch. Dried meat. A sharpened bone. The weight felt wrong without others. For a long moment Skar stared at the dark opening in the cliff, moss hanging over it like a curtain. Leaving meant the predators might find the cave and wait. Staying meant certain death. Skar stepped into the light. The forest below smelled of blood and rot. Skar moved slow, claws testing each root. Every snapped twig sounded like a trap. Skar followed the old river path, searching for tracks that were not from the beasts. By midday, Skar found them. Not predator claws. A trail of narrow, clawed prints pressed into the mud. Lizard prints. Fresh. Skar's heart slammed. Another survivor. Skar followed the trail up a shallow slope, keeping low behind ferns. The prints led to a stream. There, crouched at the water's edge, drinking from a cupped hand, was a red lizard. She heard Skar and spun, bone blade already up. Her scales were the color of dried blood. A long scar crossed her snout. She did not greet Skar. She studied Skar's hands for weapons, then Skar's eyes for a lie. "You're from the river clan," she said. Her voice was flat and hard. "They're all dead. So why aren't you?" "I hunted the night they came," Skar said. "I survived because I wasn't there." The red lizard lowered her blade an inch. "SoViet Anolea," she said. "My clan's gone too. Same beasts. I've been tracking them for a week." Skar swallowed. "Then we're the last two." "Maybe," SoViet said. She wiped water from her chin. "I'm not looking for a mate, lizard. I'm looking to kill what killed my people." Skar's goal and her goal stood at odds. To rebuild the bloodline, Skar needed her. But she wanted the predators dead first, and that hunt could kill them both. Skar held out the dried meat. "Then we hunt them together," Skar said. "And we talk about the rest after." SoViet looked at the meat a long time. Then she took it. "After," she agreed. Two survivors now shared one trail. But they wanted different things from it.