I don't even know what continent I'm going to die on.

I flew through the dense trees as fast as I could. The sudden terror I had felt was starting to fade, and in its place I was being left with nothing but a cold, focused resignation.

I knew I was about to die. This creature was going to catch me eventually, and when it did... it would kill me. It was as simple as that. I had no chance in a fight against it, and I couldn't risk what it would do if I fled.

The only thing I could do now was to try my hardest to make sure it didn't mean Minna died too.

I banked around another tree. The creature jumped ahead of me and landed on a tree in my path, and lashed out at me with the deadly stingers on its tails.

I tucked my wings in and dove downwards. The tails slashed past me and slammed into the tree I had just ducked around.

For a brief second I had a half-hearted hope that the stingers would get stuck in the thick bark... but that bit of optimism was quickly dashed. The monster simply tugged on its tails, and the stingers flew back in a shower of splinters.

I changed directions and flew onwards.

The easiest thing would have been to simply fly up. The monster couldn't fly, even though it could leap incredible distances. If I flew above the trees then eventually I would be too high for it to catch.

But it was smart. If that happened, it would give up and go back for Minna. And it would realize I was only toying with it if I tried to get its attention back after that. It had to believe it could catch me if it was going to keep chasing me. And that meant it had to be able to catch me.

I wove through other trees and tried to angle through denser growth. The creature was big. The closer trees would at least slow it down.

Another gurgling sound came from above me and I jerked backwards just in time for the heavy stingers to crash past me. Somehow the monster had gotten ahead of me without me knowing, and had stabbed downwards as I had flown by. Terror flooded back through me again and replaced my resigned focus with instinctive action. I tucked my wings in and spun again, slashing out in all directions with my claws, then flung my wings back out into frenzied flapping.

Had I hit something? My claws felt wet now. Sticky.

A gurgling scream of pain came from behind me and I felt a brief triumph. I had. And whatever I had must have been somewhere vulnerable. Probably one of those eyes.

I tried very, very hard to not think about what was now covering my claws.

Another crashing sound came from behind me as the creature jumped after me, but the pain from my strike had delayed it. I was a bit ahead of it for now.

I took a deeper breath and tried to think. Maybe there was something nearby I could use to help. The same scents came back to me - trees, water, dirt. I smelled several enticing fruits and flowers nearby, but they were useless. The creature itself. An odd sour scent that I assumed was whatever served the creature as blood.

None of those seemed particularly helpful. But what I was doing wasn't exactly a winning strategy.

I turned again and flew towards the scent of water. Maybe that could help. If there was a pond or something it might slow the creature down while it went around it. It wasn't like it would make things worse, could it?

I had been flying as fast as I could for at least twenty minutes when I finally reached the water. I hadn't gone in a straight line - that would have been too easy for the creature to predict and catch me on. Instead I had flown in diagonals and looped back along my path several times, doing everything I could to slow the creature down. The dense trees did slow it down, but it wasn't enough to overcome the distance it could cover with each of those powerful leaps.

Each new beat of my wings had my lungs screaming for air, and the creature had caught up with me twice in that time. I managed to evade it one time by spitting a fireball right in its face, but the second time one of its stingers had grazed my tail. I didn't have time to look at the injury, but I knew it had cut me. It took more effort to fly straight now, and I was pretty sure I was bleeding. I sincerely hoped the stinger wasn't venomous.

I was exhausted. I wasn't sure how much more time I was going to be able to buy.

I suddenly broke through the trees and found myself over a river. There hadn't been any shore to give me a warning - it had been trees one moment, then I was several lengths out over the river. I panicked and pulled up into a hover. No...

It was too dark to make out how deep it was, and I had no idea how fast the water was flowing, but it was definitely wide enough that the creature couldn't easily run through it. I doubted it could even jump across.

I was beyond its reach now. Just as surely as if I had flown straight up into the air.

There was nothing to stop it from giving up and going back after Minna instead.

The horrible gurgling sound came from the edge of the river, and I grimaced. I looked over my shoulder and saw it crouching on one of the trees. One of its angry red eyes had gone dark, but the others were all fixated on me.

It stared at me for a long moment... and I saw when it made its decision. It relaxed against the tree and began to turn.

My wings were burning and begged me to let them rest, to simply glide away and find somewhere to land. My instincts told me to flee from that monster, to get as far away from those nasty stingers as I could.

But my mind knew exactly what would happen to Minna if I did either of those things. If I hadn't bought her enough time yet. If she still needed a little bit longer, even just a few crucial seconds...

I straightened my wings to pull out of the hover, and flapped back towards the treeline.

The monstrous arachnid paused in its turn and gurgled again. I saw it focus back on me and could see confusion somewhere in those dark, beady eyes.

I started to build up more flame in my mouth, hoping maybe I could get lucky and land another hit on an eye, instead of scorching the fire resistant exoskeleton. That would hurt the creature more, maybe even make it retreat for a bit to nurse its injuries. That would be something. That would buy a few more minutes for the wounded Kymari. I closed my eyes as I drew towards the monstrous creature and opened my mouth to unleash what I was sure would be my last burst of flame...

The blast from a Kymari weapon rang through the air.

A second immediately followed it, then a third, then a fourth. It quickly turned into dozens. Somebody was shooting, and wasn't stopping.

I jerked out of my flight and pulled back towards the river, flapping as hard as my exhausted wings could manage to get some distance. I heard a furious gurgle from the creature as the sound of still more shots filled the air... then I heard another gurgle, this one pained and softer.

I heard the sound of one more shot. Then it was quiet.

My wings burned, but I pulled into a hover to look back at the treeline. The monster had fallen from the tree and landed on the ground. Jagged marks were cut in the bark of the tree, some from the monster's claws and others looking more like burn marks. Probably from the Kymari weapon.

From whoever had just rescued me.

I stopped flapping and let myself glide back towards the trees. I was too tired to keep flying, and I was sure the creature was dead. I didn't have anything more to worry about. Or at least, I really, really hoped I didn't have anything to worry about. I wasn't sure I could handle anything else.

I tried to aim for one of the low branches near the shore... but my wings were exhausted. As soon as I was back over solid land I dropped to the ground and collapsed. I spread out my weary wings and panted for as much air as I could shove into my aching lungs.

"Nate? It's safe now. It's dead." Morton's voice came from where the shots had rung out. I breathed a sigh of relief in between pants and slumped deeper against the ground.

I heard the sound of someone moving through the dense undergrowth, then Morton appeared from around one of the trees. Even in the darkness I could see that most of his armor was gone, though a gun was holstered in the heavy belt around his waist. He was watching the device on his wrist, and I heard it make a faint beep as he pointed it in my direction. Of course. That tracker they put in me.

I warbled up at him in gratitude, and he walked carefully over to me. "Sorry I took so long. Jexal woke me up, but I think I have a concussion from the crash. It's hard to focus." He slumped down against a tree near me and exhaled in a pained huff. It was obvious he had been running as fast as he could and that he was tired.

We both panted for a few minutes before he started speaking again. "He told me what you did. Drew that creature away while we were all unconscious. Saved our lives." He stared down at me and panted for a few more breaths, then shook his head. "Even though you must have known it would have killed you."

I just remained sprawled in the dirt and didn't answer. I was still supposed to be an animal anyways, and... what could I say to that? I couldn't have sat by and done nothing. Not if it meant Minna would get hurt.

Morton wobbled a little and slowly rose back to his feet. He braced himself against the tree for a moment, then carefully stepped away from it and smiled down at me. "Come on, Kymallata. Let's get you back to your bond companion."

I sprawled limply on Morton's shoulder and let him bring us back to the shuttle. I had to be careful with my claws - he had left his armor behind, probably so that he could run faster, and his shirt didn't have the same padding that Minna's had. He moved slowly, and even going in a straight line it took us at least another twenty minutes to get back to the shuttle.

Minna was still unconscious. As soon as I saw her I glided down from Morton's shoulder and landed on her chest. I stretched my wings out over her and sprawled against her, still feeling very exhausted.

Her father had stripped her armor off and had used some wood to make a makeshift brace for her left leg. Strips of cloth tied the wood in place and kept her leg straight. Other than that she seemed to be okay - she still had the nasty bump on her head, and I could make out a few more bruises on her arms and neck, but there didn't seem to be anything else obvious wrong with her.

I had no idea how you would treat internal bleeding, but I had to assume her father had done something to stop it, too.

The other Kymari were still unconscious. They had been stretched out next to Minna, and had bandages covering most of their wounds. A few still looked untreated, which suggested that they had run out of supplies to treat them with... but all the major injuries looked to be under control.

Minna's father was slumped against a tree. He was awake, but I could tell he was in obvious pain now. He stared at me as I covered Minna with my wings.

Morton stumbled into the clearing behind me and slumped against the same tree Minna's father had picked. He lifted his hand in a vague gesture towards me and nodded at the other Kymari. "Found him."

I snorted at the lame joke at the same time Minna's father did. Morton leaned his head against the tree and stared up at the sky. I nudged Minna's head again just in case, but when she still didn't move I lowered my head back to rest on her chest. Minna's father just sat against the tree and continued to watch us.

Another half an hour passed like that... then Ivy reached back out to me. "We've got you! Trenil just got a hit off your tracker. We'll be there in a few minutes."

I breathed a sigh of relief. "That's great. How did you find us?"

"Mostly guess work and some luck. We got the sensor data from the second military ship before it took off after the freighter; Trenil went over it and spotted your shuttle getting hit. That narrowed down the path you were traveling, and he managed to get a general idea of where you must have crashed. We've just been flying around in that area hoping to get a signal." Ivy paused. "Wow, you really are in the middle of nowhere. No wonder nothing worked."

I grinned to myself. "Clever. Tell him thanks."

A bit of worry entered Ivy's voice. "Are you okay? You sound tired."

"There was a bit of excitement down here. I'm fine. But please hurry. Minna is still unconscious."

"We'll be there soon." Ivy sent me the memory of a hug through the mindlink, then she went quiet.

I heard the faint sound of an engine a few minutes later. I perked my ear tufts at the noise and looked up at the sky, but I couldn't make anything out yet through the dense trees. Morton and Minna's father looked up a few seconds after me, and a look of relief came over both of their faces. "Sounds like somebody found us."

Morton nodded and started to climb to his feet. "Help me move everyone closer to the shuttle. They are going to need the clearing to land in."

Over the next few minutes the two Kymari dragged the unconscious guards out of the dirt furrow and up against the crashed shuttle. I hissed a little when they moved Minna, but they were careful with her, and I was exhausted enough that my instinctive protectiveness towards Minna was manageable.

A shuttle drifted slowly into view through the gap in the canopy and lowered gently down to the ground. The side of it opened, and a second later Ivy darted out of the shuttle to fly towards me.

I gave her a fluting whistle in greeting, though I didn't move from Minna. I felt a huge sense of relief.

We were all safe now. Everything was going to be okay.

I felt the eyes of Minna's father on me. I lifted my head up enough to look towards him, and saw him staring at me as Ivy fluttered around us.