Also, do not try to speak.
Akar will speak for us. Here, he draws closer. When you first see him,
hold on to me tightly, as if shocked and startled. We must make him
think you have never seen him, and had no knowledge this mountain was
his. Now. Prepare yourself!'
When the Mantis' head finally did appear, leering in at them
ominously, she found doing exactly as he told her infinitely easier than
not doing it. She clung to him as if possessed, and the Mantis'
first glimpse of them was exactly as Kalus had wanted it. Akar stood
submissively to one side, allowing the Monarch an unobstructed view.
After studying the three closely, he gestured for the wolf to follow him
to the broad ledge outside the larger cave. Akar obeyed
unquestioningly, snaking his way carefully down the sharp incline.
'What will he do now?' asked the girl, moving with Kalus to watch
from the stone lip that ran like a low parapet just beyond the entrance
of the niche.
'I do not know. He will want to know why we are here, but after that
I cannot say. But I think if he was going to kill us he would have done
it already.' The girl was quietly stunned by the calmness with which
he said the words.
Once down on the ledge, the two communicated in a way known only to
themselves: Akar through a series of short barks and body movements, the
Mantis through subtle movements of his antennae, foreclaws and upper
body.
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