So sudden, their targets didn’t even make a sound before their bodies fell.
Five arrows in all met their mark in rapid sequence and two at a time. Within seconds, Sin’s would-be captors lay dead or disintegrated at the edge of the pit above.
He opened his eyes and squinted at the top of the pit.
No one was there. A strong wind swept the ashes away, while the rest of the forest remained eerily silent.
Then, his sharp ears picked up the faintest sound of footsteps crunching through the grass as someone approached. Almost silent like a feline predator, but bipedal.
Only Hunters moved like this. And only one Hunter that Sin had ever met moved this silently.
His breath froze and his heart skipped a beat.
He didn’t dare to hope.
Could it be…?
A familiar shape leaned over the top of the pit, features cast in shadow.
But Sin would know him anywhere. His nostrils flared as he filled his lungs with the male’s forest fresh scent.
“Now we’re even,” Zai called down to him in that gruff, low voice.
“I just saved your mangy ass. I always pay my debts.”
~ * ~* ~ *~ * ~* ~ *~ * ~
They were both silent while Zai jumped down into the pit and figured out a way to cut through the weakest links of the net and pry open the metal claw around Sin’s back paw.
How did this happen?Zai thought to himself furiously, his heart hurting at the sight of Sin trapped and wounded.
Helpless.
Zai had only been gone for a short while in the Celestial Realm, but Sin had changed so much in that time.
His fur was unkempt and matted with dirt. Clearly, he wasn’t bathing frequently enough, didn’t take care of himself as felines were wont to do. That such a beautiful Beast seemed to possess no pride in his appearance, unlike the cocky, confident Sin Zai knew, made Zai’s chest squeeze chokingly tight.
He was lean to the point of being boney. His thin hide barely covered his ribs. Though he was still muscular, there was a gaunt edge to him. Not quite as bad as when Zai had first freed him from Queen Ashlu’s prison, but just about. That, combined with his mangy fur, made Sin look ragged and worn, a shadow of his former self.
But even more concerning was the fact that the Beast didn’t make any sounds as Zai worked to free him. No growls or purrs of greeting. No communication through their mind link.
Were they still connected by the link?
Zai’s chest hurt even worse to think that they might have lost it.
He knew instinctively that time in the Celestial Realm passed differently than on earth. He knew that a mere half hour in that plane could be days, weeks or years on earth. There was no logic, only Fate.
He would have come back sooner if he’d only known. He would have done everything in his power to shorten the time they were apart.
But the flow of time between the realms was unpredictable. It could well be that even if he’d left as soon as he arrived, his return to Sin would be even farther into the future than now.
At least he got here in time. And as Fate would have it, he’d arrived in full Hunter gear with all of his weapons and his trusty bow slung across his back with a full quiver of arrows.
Sin didn’t seem to breathe as he regarded Zai with those strangely guarded yellow eyes.
As if he was trying to pull an invisible armor around himself. As if Zai was a threat from whom he needed protection.
And that hurt most of all.