First Draft: Aurora: Chapter Four
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“Where are we going?” I asked him, since he had a better idea of this plan than I did.
He pointed down the docks, and I squinted in the direction his claw gestured. Through the wind and the rain, I saw the hazy shape of a large boat in the distance.
“How do you know it’s ours?” I asked.
He did a sign that I recognized, one that said, “I just know.”
“That’s not really reassuring,” I replied, to which he simply rolled his eyes.
I supposed we didn’t have many options. The only other boats I saw were clearly shipping boats meant for crates and parcels, not bugs. The sailors, instead of continuing their work unloading their boats, paused and regarded us with cold, wary gazes as we walked by. When I made eye contact with them, they departed quickly into the safety of their ships, as though I were about to tackle and devour them.
Impulsively, the thought did have some appeal to it, but I knew better than to eat sapient bugs. Our only prey now, after the Treaty, had to be bugs without higher thought, and since this happened in my lifetime, old habits clearly died hard—harder than I had initially thought, anyway.
That, and I hadn’t actually seen many bugs for the last several years. Devouring other arachnids, though technically legal, was often not worth the effort in Vredrivala, for spiders there had been training to hunt and defend themselves since hatching. They also lacked the delicious smell bugs, especially the mosquitos and water striders, emanated—the scent of fresh blood and meat beneath their shells, becoming stronger as their hearts raced in fear. My stomach growled despite myself.
Pietro shot me a warning glance, and I shot one back, daring him to speak. He backed down, shaking his head.