by Jacinta Jade
Yet she quickly found herself tensing again as Loce, Kovi, Tamot, and Jorgi, who had resumed his usual form, rounded on Deson.
Although they appeared at first confused at the sight of two winged forms, their confusion rapidly turned into disbelief.
‘You have a second form?’ Tamot blurted out.
Deson nodded, his jaw muscles tensing.
Siray saw Tamot open his mouth to begin hammering Deson with questions, so she jumped in before he could begin.
‘We both do, actually, but this isn’t the time to discuss it,’ she said firmly, again cutting off that line of questioning before he could begin. ‘First, we need to be sure the scouts didn’t see us.’
She looked back up at the light that came through in fragments from the hole, then turned to Deson and Baindan.
‘What did you do up there?’ she asked them.
‘I grabbed a nearby branch that had fallen from a tree and positioned it over the hole before I Changed,’ Baindan said. ‘It still had a fair amount of leaves on it too, so it should hide the hole from the scouts.’
‘Ssshhhh!’ Wexner hissed. He pointed upwards, and Siray glanced up in time to see a small shadow blink over high above.
After a moment of them all staring intensely up at the sky far above, Kovi said, ‘There’s no point waiting here any longer. I don’t think the air patrol spotted the hole, but even if they didn’t, the ground patrol will be along soon anyway.’
They all agreed, and Siray turned to Jorgi expectantly. ‘So, tell us again why we followed you down here?’
Jorgi smiled and gestured for them to follow him as he moved farther into the cave. ‘As I fell into the hole, I had enough sense to Change into my hopul form. With all those legs and the bony plates on my forearms, I was able to get some grip on the sides of the hole and slow my fall before I reached the bottom.’
He grimaced slightly. ‘It still wasn’t a graceful landing, but at least I’m all in one piece.’ He stopped before the cave got completely dark. ‘In my hopul form, I could smell fragments of different air circulating around in here. But’—and Jorgi’s grin widened a little—‘more importantly, I could hear the sound of water moving.’
Siray felt her eyebrows lift. Running water? This could be the answer to their current problem!
Baindan surprised them all then by suddenly Changing into his cripwof form, and Siray watched as he moved forwards to stand just beyond Jorgi, his head uplifted and tilted, his nose working. He Changed back. ‘He’s right,’ he said, moving back to the others. ‘I think it’s a network of caves with an underground stream.’
‘But where does it lead?’ Wexner asked.
Baindan shrugged. ‘We can’t be sure. But,’ he said and then raised a hand to forestall the murmurs of the others, ‘we saw rocky outcroppings in the distance.’ He turned to the cave wall closest to him and tapped it. ‘And I’m guessing that this is the same kind of rock. It might take us a little wide of our target, but we’ll be hidden for a lot longer than if we travelled on the surface.’
Siray shrugged. ‘I don’t really see that we’ve got any other option.’
Deson nodded. ‘I agree. And I don’t want to wait around to see if the patrols discover this place either.’
Wexner was the only one who frowned. ‘Just one question. You said the network might take us a “little wide of our target”. What target?’
Baindan turned to him and Genlie to explain. ‘I’m trying to get us to one of the other Resistance facilities,’ he said.
Wexner shook his head. ‘No good. The sergeant once told us that if something like this ever happened, they would all move.’
Baindan nodded. ‘That’s right. And I know some of those secondary locations.’
The others all looked at each other, and Wexner raised his eyebrows. ‘Well, alright, then. Though you’ll have to tell me more about this later.’
Baindan nodded and turned to Jorgi. ‘I think you’ve proved that your form might be best in this situation.’ He gestured to the dark caves ahead. ‘Lead on.’
Jorgi gave a smug grin and Changed, the others giving him more room as his six legs moved him forwards with ease in the dark.
***
They quickly developed a system for moving through the caves that, apart from the place where they had entered, were almost completely dark. Tamot ended up having to sacrifice the jacket he had previously saved from Kovi’s rampage the evening before so it could be ripped into long strips and the strips braided and joined together by Loce. The result was a length of rough rope, one end of which Jorgi held in one of his limbs. The others all held on to a section of the rope behind him, using it as a way to ensure none of them got lost in the dark. Siray was positioned behind Baindan, who had placed himself behind Jorgi, to help ensure they chose the right direction to move in if faced with multiple tunnels.
Jorgi had done an excellent job so far, using his senses to lead the group through the dark network of caves, carefully guiding them around cold, dark holes and huge hanging daggers of rock that the rest of them couldn’t see.
Behind Siray trailed Deson, Tamot, Wexner, Genlie, and Kovi. And although Siray had to focus on feeling her way carefully in the dark, and listening to Jorgi’s snorts and rumbles, she was distracted half the time by the closeness of Baindan in front and Deson at her back, the darkness somehow heightening her sense of the males. Sudden stops by Jorgi would mean she would go walking blindly into Baindan, and Deson into her. Or once, when she slipped, Baindan turned to grab her just as Deson also grabbed her from behind, leaving Siray in an awkward position where she couldn’t move at all with both of them trying to hold her up.
It was a slow and frustrating way to travel, but she knew just as well as the others that the longer they could travel in this way, the longer they would escape detection by the Faction patrols. It was also terrifying, at times, when Siray’s imagination conjured up deep, dark holes, or when she thought she heard the whisper of cackling in the dark. In those moments, she squeezed her eyes shut, which made no difference whatsoever, except to help her drive away those memories of the Lost One by force of mind.
The group continued to move forwards for a long time before they rested. At least, Siray thought it was a long time. In the dark, however, she really couldn’t tell. When they paused for a break, they literally just stopped where they were and sat down. They couldn’t risk moving too far in any direction, let alone letting go of the makeshift rope, so they didn’t try.
After a span or so, Baindan urged them all up again, and Siray felt the tug on the rope that meant Jorgi was moving again. By agreement, they had decided to travel in silence, barring Jorgi’s grunted alerts and the whispered passing of instructions down or back up the line. Siray was grateful for this, as she felt like she needed every other sense on high alert to compensate for her eyes.
After a long time, Siray’s legs and feet began to hurt, but she pushed on, as she knew that Wexner and Genlie had to be hurting more. The pack of meat that she had taken from one of the others was still slung over one of her shoulders, and although it had felt light initially, it seemed to weigh more and more as they continued on.
Siray was at the point of promising herself that each next step might be the final one when, at long last, Jorgi came to a stop. Baindan sent back a quick warning, which she passed on to all the others so that they didn’t pile up again.
Jorgi must have Changed, because Siray heard him say to Baindan, ‘I think this might be a good area to stop for some rest, but I want to check it out a little more.’
Baindan must have agreed, for the next moment Siray heard the sound of a hopul snort and then something large moving around ahead as Jorgi let go of the rope. The group remained silent as they waited, the tension in the air palpable, and she listened hopefully as Jorgi moved around somewhere off to her right in the dark.
After a short while, the sound of multiple large feet moving towards them had Siray straining her ears to hear Jorgi’s r
eport even before he had reached them.
‘Looks like there’s a shallow bowl just ahead where we could all get some rest, with no worry about anyone rolling too far in their sleep,’ came Jorgi’s soft words.
Siray exhaled silently in relief, but the sigh from Genlie near the rear of the group could be clearly heard by all. A quick pause, possibly Jorgi Changing again, then a tug on the rope, and she was moving forwards with the others as Jorgi guided them to the depression he had found. Another pause, and Jorgi’s voice carried to her once more.
‘We should be alright here.’
Tired, Siray decided to sit down where she was, carefully bending over and putting one hand to the cave floor, then the other, before she felt sure enough of her position to sit down completely. A quick feel around with her hands and feet assured her that Jorgi was correct—she was indeed lying in a bowl-like depression. Once everyone was settled, they quickly passed Genlie’s waterskin around the group, and then handfuls of berries were also shared.
It wasn’t much, but to Siray’s aching stomach, it would be enough for her to be able to doze off. Hopefully, she thought, they would be able to find somewhere tomorrow where they could cook the wefron meat.
As the sound of movement amongst the group quieted, Siray realised that there was another good reason for sleeping in a huddle.
The cold.
Now that they had stopped moving and her body was cooling off, Siray could feel both the chill in the air and the chill in the ground seeping into her body.
Next to her, Baindan must have felt the slight shake her body gave, as he pressed his back up closer to her, his additional warmth soothing.
As her eyes grew heavy, Siray wondered for one foggy moment if they ought to have set a watch. But then she realised there was really nothing to watch for in that stretching dark.
And the caves were so quiet that they would be able to hear anything approach.
Siray shivered again and hugged herself as she felt herself begin to slip into that peaceful realm of sleep.
Sometime later, she vaguely felt an arm come to rest over her waist, and Siray sighed softly in gratitude. The weight was like a warm blanket, and she didn’t think any more of it as she clutched at it and fell into an even deeper sleep.
CHAPTER SEVEN
MUCH TOO SOON, Siray’s eyelids fluttered open. Stretching, she groaned quietly at the protest of knotted muscles that had spent the spans on cold, hard rock. Her movement caused someone’s arm to slip from her waist, and she tilted her head sharply to see Deson, still asleep, retract his arm and roll over. Siray’s stomach tightened at the thought that he had been holding her all night, and when she looked away from him nervously to see Baindan on her other side, also still asleep, she shook her head. She was too groggy to start considering how she felt about whom.
Carefully sitting up in order to not disturb anyone else, Siray curiously glanced around the dully lit cavern that she and her friends were in. Then, a jolt of excitement went through her as she realised.
She could see!
Siray gazed around her in both amazement and conscious relief at the revealed underground space. As Jorgi had said the night before, they all rested within a shallow depression in the cave floor, and now Siray could also see that the bowl itself was actually set to one side of an enormous cavern. The huge open space was crowned by an undulating ceiling that stretched high overhead, the small holes that punctured it every so often allowing soft rays of sunlight to stream through in small bursts.
But that wasn’t what excited Siray the most. On the far side of the cavern, to one side of a bend in the wall, she thought she could see something softly reflecting the sparse light. She stretched her neck a little farther in her seated position, excitement building within her. As she moved, the reflected light shifted a little as well, and she almost gasped out loud.
A pool.
Siray glanced to her left at the others, wanting to share her excitement. But soft snores and slow breathing was all she encountered. She exhaled a little. No, it would be too cruel to wake them when they all so sorely needed the rest.
She turned towards her right side again, meaning to push herself up to her feet, and almost jumped. Baindan was lying there with his eyes open, watching her. He smiled when he saw her look at him.
‘Morning.’
Siray put her hand over her heart, as its elevated pounding slowed again. Then she gestured around the cavern. ‘Just look at this,’ she whispered to him.
Slowly sitting up so he didn’t disturb the closely parked Jorgi or his snores, Baindan nodded. ‘It’s nice to be able to see everyone again,’ he whispered.
Siray looked around once more at the others before she continued carefully getting to her feet. Stepping lightly out from the depression in the floor, she began moving silently away.
‘Where are you going?’ Baindan whispered after her.
Instead of responding, Siray turned partway around and jerked her head towards the pool of water she had spotted.
Baindan’s eyebrows rose in an almost comical manner, as both surprise and joy crossed his face. They could all use a wash.
Siray turned around and continued on towards the pool, yet quiet, almost imperceptible steps behind her made her look back once more.
Baindan had also left the others and was following her.
Turning away again and being extra careful not to trip over any of the smaller depressions in the cave floor, Siray silently wove the rest of the way around some impressively sized stalagmites and to the edge of the pool. Drawing up to its edge, she saw that the pool was actually larger than she had first thought, half of it having been hidden by the curving wall of the cave. As she leaned over the edge of the small rock wall that separated the water from the other section of the cavern, she saw that the water was so clear that she could easily see its depths, which were far shallower than she would have suspected. Even better, she thought that, at this particular end of the pool, she would be able to comfortably stand if she did go in.
A sigh from beside her announced Baindan’s presence.
‘Wow,’ he murmured softly.
Siray nodded in agreement. It had been four nights since the training camp had been attacked, and ever since then, they had been running.
Which meant they all felt, and probably smelled, pretty poorly.
Beside her, Baindan knelt and scooped up some of the water into a cupped hand. He sniffed it first, then raised the same hand and allowed a little to dribble into his mouth.
Siray smirked at him, Changed into her sevonix form, and drank as well, lapping up the water cautiously with her broad tongue. Clear. Her instincts shouted no warnings at her.
She Changed into her normal form and dipped her head once to Baindan.
He grinned and began peeling off his soiled layers.
Siray’s eyebrows rose of their own accord at this, and she tensed.
But after Baindan had pulled off his pants and flung them aside, he thankfully left his shorts on and then sat down on the edge of the small rock wall to slide silently into the pool.
Siray watched unmoving as his defined torso sank into the clear water, a smile sliding over her face when Baindan turned his back towards her, allowing her to admire his muscled frame secretly. She watched for a moment longer as Baindan bent his legs and ducked his head beneath the surface of the pool, his brown hair waving in the water.
As he popped up to the surface again and stretched out to float on the surface, Siray didn’t wait any longer.
She pulled off her torn and grubby shirt and let it drop from her fingers to the ground, exposing her flat stomach and toned arms to the cool air of the cavern. She didn’t touch her chest wrappings but began pulling off her boots and then her socks one by one, luxuriating in the feel of the cold rock beneath her feet.
Then she untied her pants and let them just fall to the ground around her ankles before she stepped out of them and sat herself down at the edge of the pool. Now c
lothed in just her undershorts and wrappings, Siray let her feet and legs sink into the pool.
She quickly stifled a gasp.
The pool was colder than she had anticipated, but it did feel very refreshing as she swished her legs slowly around in the still water.
Baindan had turned towards her from where he floated farther off in the pool, and his grin told her everything she needed to know about what the next bit would feel like.
Breathing in deeply a couple of times as she prepared herself, she took one final breath before she pushed off carefully from the edge and let her body sink down into the shallow water, keeping her eyes open.
The coldness of the water was intense as it wrapped around her body, the cool temperature making a number of bubbles burst from her mouth. But she let herself float there for a long moment, allowing her body to get used to the temperature and her eyes to adjust, before she exhaled further and kicked her body up to the surface again.
Taking in a deep breath of fresh air, Siray stood, noting how the air of the cavern comparatively felt quite warm.
As water continued to stream from her body and the little clothing she still wore, she reached up and, with some difficulty, untied her knotted and dirty hair, raking her hands briskly through it. Then, bracing herself again, she ducked under the water once more.
As her hair floated around her, Siray decided that the temperature of the water wasn’t as bad the second time, and she twisted her head this way and that, enjoying the feel of the water dragging against her hair as she moved.
The water was as perfectly clear as it had appeared from above, and the sparse patches of sun rays that penetrated through the ceiling almost looked magical as they shone on the surface and through the depths of the pool.
Siray could also see Baindan’s toned legs and lower torso moving through the water towards her, so she straightened her legs and stood up again, pushing her long, dripping hair away from her face.
Baindan was standing a few paces away.