by Dixon, Ruby
I follow him, peering into the edge. The stone itself is sandy and gritty to the touch. Sedimentary, which is perfect for fossils. The cave is a little worrying, though. It’s no more than a narrow slit into the rock, maybe wide enough for my shoulders, and long.
And dark.
I hesitate. “You’re sure it’s this cave?”
He thinks for a moment. “Pretty sure. It was one like this.”
“Safe to go in?”
S’bren nods. “I will go first.” He stabs the butt of his spear into the rock and more of it crumbles alarmingly, and then hauls his big frame into the cave. I expect him to completely disappear for several minutes, but he turns around almost right away. “Come. It is not that deep. Use my spear to balance yourself.”
He offers me the end of it and I take it, using the weapon as a walking stick. I try to step into the cave like he does, but his legs are longer, and when I climb into the mouth, I wobble and nearly fall backwards. He grabs my arm and hauls me inside, and then I step down.
The cave mouth immediately drops down into a hollow, almost like a fishbowl tilted on its side. The cave itself is dark, the only light coming in from the entrance. The “bowl” of the cave is covered with grit and bits of shell, dried seaweed and other bits of debris. In the back, though, I see pale white lengths that can only be bones, and my heart skips a beat.
S’bren was right. This is the cave!
I cross the length of the cave, noticing that it’s not much larger than my room was back home, and drop to my knees in front of the bones. I brush my hands at the sandy base of the pile, expecting to see them embedded in rock—only to have one of the bones come away in my hand. I study it, curious. Small crab-like creatures cover one end and I shake them off, then frown at the item in my hand.
This isn’t a vertebrae of an enormous sauropod—which is what S’bren had. This is a rib bone to a large creature, larger than a human, but definitely smaller than anything I’d anticipated. In fact, if I had to guess, it looks roughly dvisti-sized. I study the break at the end of the bone, and there’s still marrow inside.
This is new. This isn’t a fossil at all.
“I don’t think this is the right cave,” I say thoughtfully, touching the bone. “It looks like a dvisti fell down in here and died. It could have broken a leg and that’s why it wasn’t able to get back out.” Some of the debris scattered around here might be remnants of our unlucky herbivore. I’m disappointed, but not entirely surprised. Fossil hunting is always a tricky game that ends in disappointment as often as it ends in success.
S’bren snorts. “No dvisti could get in here on its own. Their feet are all wrong for climbing.”
I consider that, but he’s right. They have the same sort of three-toed development that many of the land-mammals in this world do, including the island tribe. The dvisti foot is a lot like a soft version of Earth’s ancient horse ancestors, the hipparion, but with one large, flat toe and two smaller ones for gripping. They’re good for walking in deep snow but terrible for real climbing, which is why they stick to the valleys. In fact, the dvisti remind me a lot of the precursors to camels, albeit adapted for hardy, never-ending winter instead of deserts.
They’re not climbers either, though.
Hmm.
“This is not what you are looking for?” S’bren asks, holding something out to me.
It’s a jawbone. Again, the bone is fresh, and this one is distinctly not a herbivore’s. It reminds me of a juvenile crocodile. “Where did you get that?”
He shrugs and gestures. “They are all around the edges.”
I turn, and sure enough, he’s right. There’s not just debris along the sides of the cave but littered bones of all kinds of animals. I’ve been so utterly focused on finding my dinosaur fossils that I didn’t stop to think about what I was looking at.
“Is this something’s den?”
S’bren shrugs. “Most likely. You do not want this, then?”
I take the jawbone before he can pitch it and clutch it to my chest. “I think we should leave here. What eats these things?” I pat the jawbone. “These and dvisti?”
He looks uneasy. “We did not have dvisti on the island.”
“Did you have things like this?” I ask, touching the sharp teeth still attached to the jaw.
“Oh yes. Many, many kaari.”
Kaari. The name sounds vaguely familiar, but I don’t know from what. “What do they look like?”
There’s a low, angry rumble outside, almost like a snarl. Something big and heavy splashes through the shallow water, and S’bren and I stare at each other in horror.
Did I want to know what a kaari looks like? Because I think I’m about to find out.
S’bren raises his spear to the entrance and then pushes me behind him. “Stay back, D’vi.”
As if I want to rush forward? “What do we do?”
Something moves toward the entrance of the cave - something with a long snout, lots of wicked teeth, and a reptilian body.
“Kaari,” S’bren hisses. “A tidewalker kaari.”
A what? I stare at the thing, terrified and fascinated both. The paleophysiologist and phylogenist in me tries to classify it on sight. Definitely crocodilian ancestry, but bigger than any crocodile I’ve ever seen. This thing’s big enough to eat S’bren in a few bites. The snout is long and wicked, and the stance menacing. How is a lizard-like creature like that able to thermoregulate on an icy planet like this? I could understand them at the island, where the temperature remained unnaturally warm due to geothermals, but here on the beach where it’s frigid? It makes no sense, unless it only looks reptilian and is truly warm blooded. I’m fascinated at the thought. Does it have any of the markers of a mammal, I wonder? I don’t see fur, but it’s entirely possible there are mammary glands and—
The thing surges forward with a hiss, baring its teeth.
I scream, staggering backward. I suddenly don’t care about thermoregulation or mammary glands on the darn thing. I just want to go home, back to the beach…
Back to N’dek.
S’bren stabs his spear at it, bellowing. It hisses and retreats a step or two, and I press my hands to my mouth as it disappears from the cave entrance.
“Is…is it gone?”
He shakes his head, gripping his spear. “No. We are protected for now. It will not come closer as long as I guard the entrance.”
Relief shoots through me, and I press my hands to my breastbone…only for another worry to hit. “Isn’t the tide coming in soon?”
“Soon,” he agrees grimly. “Tidewalker kaari are smart. Perhaps it waits for that.”
Oh no. So death by tidewalker kaari or death by drowning are my choices? “Someone will come after us,” I say hopefully. N’dek will notice I’m missing soon enough.
He’ll save me.
I hope.
19
N’DEK
We race down the beach as quickly as possible. K’thar made L’ren stay behind, so it is just myself, J’shel, K’thar and G’ren hunting down S’bren. I know I am the slowest, but I do my best to keep up with the others, even though my stump feels as if it is being ground into a pulp. I do not want J’shel to carry me. I do not want Devi to see me being dragged around and think she should stay with S’bren.
“Footprints in this direction,” K’thar says, his flyer curled around the furry neck of his tunic. His camouflage flickers back and forth before settling back to his normal skin-tone. Our camouflage is useless under layers of clothing, and I know it frustrates him as much as it frustrates me.
I move to his side, ignoring the heavy, awkward thud of my false leg. “One set or two?”
He crouches in the sand, touching one step. “Two different sizes of feet, both in boots.”
“Smell,” Gren says, his voice nothing more than a growl.
I turn to look at him, and he touches his strange nose, his lips parted as if tasting the scent. “Smell,” he says again, and then takes off d
own the beach in a different direction.
I pause. Is he warning us of danger? He knows we are searching for my Devi, so why is he leaving? I bite back frustration in an effort to understand. We cannot afford distractions. If S’bren has truly stolen her, he will want to get away as fast as possible.
“Smell!” Gren calls again, from farther up the beach. Meanwhile, K’thar follows the two sets of tracks that wander along the water’s edge and are close to being washed away.
“I will see what he wants,” J’shel says, touching my shoulder before jogging after Gren.
I turn and follow K’thar, because I do not care what Gren smells at this moment. If it is a beast, we will deal with it. For now, I just want my mate.
We follow the tracks, and they lead to cliffs where even now, the tide comes in, crashing against the rock.
“The footprints stop here,” K’thar says unnecessarily. I can see that. I can track as well as him. I stare down at the sand, where the icy water brushes against the soles of our boots. Either they turned in another direction and hid their footprints somehow, or they have followed the cliffs. I look at the rocky, dangerous shoals, now nearly covered in water, and anger burns in my heart. If he has taken her this foolish way simply to hide his trail…
“Ho,” J’shel calls, and I turn to the side. He and Gren walk along the cliffs, the fur-covered darker male raising his head every now and then to scent the air. J’shel holds his spear at the ready and his mouth is pressed into a firm line. He points at the sand. “Kaari tracks,” he says. “Tidewalker kaari, too. Biggest one I have ever seen.”
“Here?” K’thar snorts in disbelief. “It is too cold.”
“It is here anyhow,” J’shel says. “And its trail follows very close behind them.”
My mouth goes dry with fear. Is it hunting my Devi? Has it picked up her lovely scent? Does that fool S’bren even know how much danger she is in? A kaari is trouble on its own. Tidewalker kaari are the worst kind, able to live both on water and land and terrorize both.
Gren turns his head, his entire body stiffening. He gazes out at the cliffs, where the water crashes.
Just then, I hear it. A muffled scream.
Female.
Devi.
My mate.
“DEVI!” I howl, flinging myself forward toward the cliffs. I stumble on the rocks, my false leg unable to find a grip. Snarling, I slam into the sand and quickly get to my feet once more.
J’shel is at my side in an instant. “Take my hand,” he says, extending it to me. “Use my weight to balance.”
I want to bare my teeth at him, to snarl that I need no one or nothing, that I can walk myself—but I hear Devi’s muted scream again, and I am reminded that nothing matters but her.
Biting back my pride, I lock one of my arms around J’shel’s and we move forward onto the rocks, spears gripped at the ready.
DEVI
I scream as the icy water rushes in once more, slamming me against the back wall and turning the debris in the cave into an awful soup of filth and bones. It soaks my boots and pants, and then rushes back out again, sucking at me and dragging me back across the floor.
I might be dead before the monster even gets to me if this keeps up.
My teeth chatter and bang against themselves as I get to my feet, staggering. S’bren seems less affected than I am, remaining vigilant at the entrance of the cave. Every so often, he stabs and snarls at the creature when it tries to attack once more, but we are in a standoff. It can’t get to us, we can’t kill it.
And all the while, the water rushes in, creeping higher and higher with each sweep of the tide.
I press myself against the back wall, my feet desperately trying to find purchase and somewhere to perch so I can avoid the next rush of water, but the rocks stab at my soft boots and make it impossible for me to step on them. I clutch the jawbone to my chest, shivering, and stare up at S’bren. “We have to get out of here.”
“I know,” he growls, frustrated. His voice is strained, the pressure of our situation—or the chill of the water—getting to him, too. “He will slay us if we try to move past, D’vi. It is not safe!”
“Neither is staying here,” I exclaim. “We—”
“DEVI!” a male voice bellows in the distance.
I gasp, because the voice is barely audible over the roar of the water, but I know who it is. I know that voice. I know that man. “I’m here!” I shriek, my voice echoing sharply off the rocks. I don’t care, though. “I’m here!”
“DEVI BALASUBRAMANIAN,” N’dek howls.
“HERE!!” I squeeze the jawbone tightly, wishing there was more I could do. “Come and get me!”
S’bren makes a noise in his throat. “They are attacking it!”
“Can I see?” I ask, just as the water sweeps in and knocks me off my feet again. Shuddering, sputtering, I try to get to my feet. It gets harder each time, as if I’m growing weaker from the constant cold and the battering. My clothes feel as if they weigh a hundred pounds, and I’m shaking as I try to make it to S’bren’s side.
He offers me a hand, and I place my ice-cold one in his. He tries to lift me up beside him, but I’m too weak to help much, and after a moment I shake my head and let him go. “I can’t,” I say between chattering teeth. “Just watch for me. Tell me how it goes.”
He stares out the front of the cave, the spear clutched in hand and ready. “They are distracting it, pulling it away from the cave,” he says. “It is J’shel, and K’thar, and N’dek and the beast one—Gren.” His gaze flicks back and forth, and then he puts his back to the wall, bracing himself again. That’s the only warning I get before another rush of water floods in. They’re coming faster and faster, and it feels like the water isn’t moving out as quickly as it did before. My toes are numb in my wet boots, and I’m not entirely surprised to see that I’m standing in ankle-deep water. The cave’s filling up. A few more washes in and we’d be goners.
But it’s all right, because N’dek is here. I clutch the jawbone, doing my best to ignore the cold. “Tell me what N’dek is doing,” I say.
“He is on its back,” S’bren calls. “His knife is dug into its head and he clings to its back as it thrashes, trying to throw him off! They are rolling in the water—”
My eyes go wide, and I imagine N’dek fighting such a thing, an overgrown crocodilian ancestor that’s twice as dangerous and three times as deadly. All of a sudden, I don’t want the play by play. I just want N’dek to be safe on the beach.
“It came up and he is not on it anymore,” S’bren says in a hushed voice. Water rushes in once more, and I’m tempted to sink beneath the waves. “Now Gren is on it—”
“Go b-back to N’dek,” I beg him. “Where is h-he?”
“I do not see him,” S’bren says, and a little bit of my heart dies. “No, wait,” he says. “There he is!”
“I d-don’t want to hear any m-more,” I tell him. “I d-don’t think I c-can stand it. Just t-tell me if we win.” I lean against the back wall of the cave, shivering, and wait for my man to come rescue me, like the saddest damsel in distress ever. If he needed sciencing, though, I would totally be there. But fighting monsters? I’ll leave that to the professionals.
20
N’DEK
I sink my knife into the creature’s eye one last time as it shudders and goes still.
It has taken the combined efforts of all four of us to take down the fierce creature, and I was not entirely certain we would do it. Gren made all the difference, though. He fights like a beast untamed, and J’shel pats him on the back with pride. He has won this day for us.
Now, cold, battered, and bleeding from a dozen shallow scratches from the tidewalker’s sharp teeth, I push away from the dead creature. I swim through the shallows and haul myself onto the rocks. My stump is waterlogged and shifts when I try to put my weight on it, which just makes me growl in frustration. I will crawl to get to Devi if I must, but I will get to her.
“Let u
s get this meat to shore,” I hear K’thar say. “J’shel, go with N’dek in case there is a problem.”
“Of course.” J’shel bounds through the shallows and catches up with me in a heartbeat.
For a moment, I resent his two strong legs and endless energy. I want to be as strong as I can for Devi, and right now, I am exhausted and she is not yet safe. He remains at my side and does not touch me, and I know he will not unless I ask. I hate that I am moving slower, that my leather-bound false leg does not work as well as it should now that it is wet. Frustrated, I haul my body onto the rocks and grit my teeth when my leg slides without purchase.
“N’dek?” I hear Devi call from within the cave, her voice hesitant and afraid.
I am letting my pride get in the way of helping my mate once more. Growling at myself, I reach for J’shel’s arm and use his strength to get to my feet.
He nods at me when I do.
“I hate being weak,” I mutter.
“You are the strongest hunter I know,” he says, utterly serious. “And you are yet recovering. Give yourself time and you will put us all to shame once more.”
I look over at him in surprise, and I realize he speaks the truth. In his eyes, he sees me as strongest. Not as broken, nor useless, just strong. I nod at him, unable to find the words to express how I feel. Seeing the respect in his eyes makes me feel…different. Better. And I do not feel as bad when I take his arm again. It does not mean that I am weak and useless, it just means that in this moment, I need the strength of my tribe to help me.
It has taken me a long time to come to that realization.
With J’shel’s help, we make it to the mouth of the cave and I climb inside, my knife clenched in one hand, spear at the ready in another, and I growl at S’bren as he moves to the back of the cavern. It is a small cave, but it is rapidly filling with ice-cold seawater, and my Devi leans against the back rocks, looking small and fragile. Her lips are dark and purple, and her eyes are glazed when she stares at me. Her teeth chatter constantly, her mouth trembling.