Introducing Trgyl

Awhile ago, you met Pala from my upcoming novel, Sentient.  Today, you meet the other main character, Trgyl.  I’ll let his actions speak.

Trgyl settled deeper into the cluster of leaves.  If he stretched, he could break his head through the rustling shelter above him.  This tree was the tallest in the forest.  From the top, he would be able to see all the way to the river and beyond, to the great sand hills.  If he stretched.  But, if he did, something might see his movement from below.  And that something might be the food that his barrio needed so much. 

      He flushed his skin dapples darker blue to match the changing shadow patches.  It took almost three times as long for his skin to change color.  The thin overlayer of white scaley powder that covered his body wasn’t holding the color pattern well.  He was getting too dry.  Soon, he wouldn’t be able to hide himself at all.

      Often he’d waited, perched in a tree like this, for days for just the right creature to happen on the trail below him.  This time, though, was different.  The slice of hunger in his stomach reminded him that he didn’t have any more days to wait.  He’d been here too many days already.  And he’d begun the hunt hungry.

      He shifted to look through a hole between the thick leaves.  He could easily see the gap in the distant forest bank where the strange new creatures made their barrio.  That used to be a lush feeding ground for many animals.  He couldn’t see any of the new creatures from this distance, but he knew they were there.  There were the soft ones that were twice his size and walked as he did, on two feet.  Giant hardened ones swallowed the soft ones and carried them inside. Smaller hardened ones carried the soft ones on their back.  And the smallest hardened creatures, close to his own size, flew through the forest by themselves.