Ethira

by J D Evergreen

  Lucas is first to reach the narrow platform and sneaks a peek through the gap. A slip of light dances over his face. He draws a long knife, the metal ringing softly as he pulls it from its sheath. The noise echoes around the fragile cave, and everyone looks at him.

  “What?” Lucas asks. “The last time I walked out of a cave I spent the following hours in various levels of terror.” Lucas defends, shifting his grip on his knife. “Sorry if I am not filled with warm fuzzy feelings.”

  I have to agree with his reasoning, and as I step up onto the platform, I draw my sword and stealthily follow Lexa and Lucas through the gap.

  Chapter Seven

  Balooga Trees

  My eyes water as we enter the cavern that makes up Shadowsoul. It is far brighter than the darkness our eyes have been straining in as we walked through the tunnels and I have to wipe my streaming eyes. I crinkle my nose as it is assaulted by the awful acidic scent of burning oil.

  We stumble between tube like plants. These bulbous plants are a dull, yellowy brown, and it would take two people linking hands to circle the thick trunk of just one. Sad little leaves puff from the top and reach towards the dim cavern light, wilting even as they grow.

  In the distance, a tall building shines brightly, belching thick smoke into the cavern. Flames lick the air between the buildings chimneys and the cavern ceiling, casting an ominous orange light that reflects off the billowing smoke inside the high cavern.

  The whole building emits a surprising amount of light. This structure is so far away I can only make out individual parts, like the main section and the two massive chimneys, but even so it is enormous.

  I gape at the orange smoke. Is this what has been lighting the dim cavern for all these years? Is it possible this factory is the reason the compound was never completely in darkness?

  I look at the gap between the building and the cavern roof. What even holds a cavern this large up?

  Lexa peers in between the tube-like plants around us, scanning the area for immediate danger.

  I direct my gaze at the large, sturdy plants. On tiptoes I could touch the top of the tallest one. They are impressive, but still small compared to the mushrooms in Ethira.

  I step into a small ring of boulders that are scattered around the squat trees. Snuggled between almost all the gaps are small clusters of mushrooms. I eye them with suspicion.

  I crouch to run my fingers through a thick carpet of yellow-green moss and the soft plant tickles my fingers, cushioning my feet. Sadly, there are only a few patches of this magnificent plant, and they grow in dark spots between the plants.

  Lucas approaches the nearest tree stands on a nearby boulder and expertly plucks a brown ball from the top and cracks it open with the butt of his knife.

  “You guys might not trust me after our last wild food encounter, but I promise these are balooga seeds. It was my job to run the machinery that refined these. Once they are cooked, the white meat inside can be eaten.”

  Melissa looks weary as she steps up to the fruit. “I have eaten these before. I am sure they are safe.”

  For the next half hour, the group splits up and collects balooga seeds while Lexa and I collect wood for the fire. Most of our ‘wood’ comes in the form of balooga bark.

  We build the wood behind a large boulder that will block the flames for anyone not coming out of the same tunnel we did. I struggle with the strike flint a few times, but on the fifth go, a spark flies off and into our pile of wood. Eagerly, Lexa and I blow at it, and the little spark catches, multiplying until flames merrily munch their way across the wood.

  Lexa shuffles over to the moss patch I am in and sits down. Her eyes have deep bags, and the cut on her arm has still not healed over. It is just a small green line, but I am concerned her lack of sleep has to do with how slow she is healing.

  “Why don’t you sleep?” I ask her.

  Lexa looks at me. “There is much to be done.”

  I raise an eyebrow and nudge her. “Much that can be done by others while you sleep. You must be wrecked by that fruit we had earlier, not to mention everything that happened before then. I don’t know how you even managed to stay awake.”

  Lexa rubs her eyes. “It was not easy.”

  I pat the soft moss beside me. “Sleep. I will wake you when the food is ready, or if anything happens.”

  Lexa reluctantly lies down, her common sense clearly warring with her need to help out. Eventually, the rational part of her brain wins and Lexa curls up beside me by the fire.

  It takes a few moments, but her breathing evens out and sleep overcomes her. I stay and keep watch, steadily adding fuel to the fire, building it the way Lucas showed me to get it nice and hot.

  I have a merry blaze by the time the others have returned with six fist-sized fruits. Melissa holds up a water canteen. “The trees hold water, and releasing it is as easy as a small puncture with a knife.”

  I smile at her. “And how did you figure that out?”

  Melissa shrugs casually. “I threw one of my knives at the tree and water seeped out around it.”

  I shake my head at her and watch how Lucas sets about splitting the balooga seeds and peeling out the flesh. Nathanial unearths a sizeable flat rock from the sandy soil and inspects it. Seemingly satisfied, he brushes the slate clean with his palm and places it on the red-hot embers. I tense up. The last time we put rocks in the fire they exploded. I saw for myself the damage they did to those pink dogs.

  Tash senses my tension. “It is okay, only river rocks, crystals, and any sort of shiny rock explode. Standard grey, boring rocks are just fine to use.” She indicates the rock resting on the hot embers. “In about an hour, this rock will be hot enough to cook the flesh from the balooga seeds, so we don’t have to char them in the fire.”

  I lean forward to inspect the rock, eager to learn. “So, it works like the small metal pans the guards use to cook their meat?”

  Tash furrows her eyebrows. “I never spent a lot of time with guards when I was imprisoned, I was a type of engineer, and they don’t really regard us as a high priority.”

  Nathanial shifts uncomfortably. “Yes. It is like the metal pans the guard’s use, except this takes longer to heat and cool down.”

  I pick up a small rock from nearby and hold it up. “Is this the right type of rock?”

  Nathanial takes my stone and inspects it shaking his head. “No, see the glassy line through the middle here. This rock has quartz, and it is very likely to explode in the fire.”

  I take the pebble back and roll it through my fingers, tracing the faint white line that runs through the center. I discard my rock and begin searching for a new one. This time I pick up four different stones before I choose an inconspicuous grey one to show Nathanial.

  “Yes, this one would work, not that it’s much good. It’s too small to cook food on.”

  I nod at him and take my rock back to my spot by the fire. Now that I know what type of stone to look for, I start to see them everywhere, and I pick up five more before I take my seat.

  Lucas has cracked open all of the seeds and already pulled the white flesh from two of them, I grab an empty husk.

  These would be the right size for a tea cup. I look over at Lexa as I recall the night we had tea in the mess hall at the rebel camp. Too bad we don’t have any of Lexa’s metal kettles to boil the water with.

  I look out at the cavern around us. I haven’t seen any wildlife since we left the tunnel. I don’t know if that is a good or bad thing, but maybe it has something to do with how much thicker the air seems to be over here.

  Or perhaps it is because the animals here have reason to fear us. I can’t imagine the animals in Ethira have much contact with humanoid species, so they haven’t been regularly hunted before. The screaming mushrooms make sure of that. But out here, who knows.

  “Too bad we don’t have a kettle,” Tash says as she relaxes and watches Melissa start to cook the white flesh Lucas is harvesting.

  “Why?”
Lucas questions, using his juice-coated hand to push his glasses back up his nose.

  “Doesn’t balooga sap from the fruiting trees make a sweet tea?”

  Lucas pauses for a moment. “Yes, but you have to collect it from the roots, and as you said, we have nothing to boil water in. The sap would just harden if you put it into cold water.”

  I look into the fire and the sizzling rock. “What about the hot rocks?”

  “What?” Nathanial grunts.

  I point at the small rocks I collected that sit between me and the fire. “What if we heated the rocks and put them in water held by these shell things?” I say holding up the empty yellow husk.

  Nathanial blinks at me for a moment, and everyone waits in silence. “That could work, but how would you get the hot rocks out of the fire? A rock like that will get very hot.”

  I deflate a little. I hadn’t thought about that part.

  Tash is quick to step in with an idea. “What if we make wooden tongs out of balooga bark? They wouldn’t last very long, but it should work to get the rocks out of the fire and into the makeshift cups.”

  I smile and eagerly place my rocks into the fire as Tash sets about making tongs while Nathanial and Melissa go to collect the sap.

  The sound of sizzling balooga flesh fills the air around us, and I take a deep breath of the spicy scent. My stomach rumbles loudly in response, and I place my hand there to quiet it.

  I sit patiently as Lucas turns the meat with his knife. “It will be ready in a moment,” he declares with a small smile.

  I turn to Lexa and take in her relaxed face, her chestnut brown hair gently tumbling over her shoulder to pool beside the arm she is using as a pillow.

  It seems so unfair to wake her, but I promised. Gently, I lay my hand on her shoulder and give it a squeeze. “Lexa,” I say in a low voice. “It is time to wake up, dinner is ready.”

  Lucas hands me a seed husk filled with steaming white meat. I put it on the ground in front of me as Lexa's green eyes flutter open, and she rubs them with her fists. I inspect her forearm, and I am relieved to see her marks are gone. I hold a makeshift balooga seed bowl of white meat out to her. “Dinner is ready.”

  Lexa takes the bowl and carefully sits up, taking stock of everything around her, as if to truly ensure she had not failed the group as a leader in her sleep.

  I return my attention to the food in my own half seed. A small white beetle crawls along the rim of my bowl and has the audacity to dip its hungry nippers into my dinner. “Get your own,” I mutter as I flick the insect away.

  I take a small white chunk of spicy scented meat and pop it into my mouth. The rich flavor rolls across my tongue. The flesh from the seed is undoubtedly tasty.

  It doesn’t take me long to finish my dinner.

  I fill my empty seed shell with water and use Tash's wooden tongs to extract a hot rock from the fire. As soon as it makes contact with the water, it hisses violently, and within minutes the water has reached a rolling boil. Carefully, I use the tongs to remove the rock and set it aside. I don’t know if it is still hot, but after seeing what it did to the water, I am not going to touch it to find out.

  Slowly, I pour in a measure of the tree sap and stir the liquid in with the tip of my knife. The water turns a pale red. I take a deep sniff of the fruity tea and hold the cup out for Lexa.

  She raises her eyebrows and sets down her empty bowl to gently take mine into her hands. Carefully, she takes a sniff and a small sip.

  A small smile crawls on to her face. “This is delightful.”

  I smile and repeat the same procedure with Lexa's bowl until I have a steaming cup of my own. I hand over the tongs to Tash who is eager to prepare a cup for herself.

  I sit back and slowly sip my sweet tea. Since I have been introduced to this world of flavoured, drinkable liquid, I haven’t been able to get enough of it, and I enjoy the freedom of having it whenever the chance arises.

  The warm cup helps to take the chill from my fingers. It is always so cold in the cavern, and now that I am fed and watered my body has found something else to complain about. I tuck my knees to my chest in an attempt to keep warm. The fire helps but almost all the wood had been used for cooking, and now only a medium heat remains. Not enough to altogether remove the chill from the air.

  Silently, Lexa shifts closer and presses her side against mine. The warmth from her immediately works to sooth the shaking that had begun in my hands.

  We stay drinking and eating quietly until the fire has burned so low it no longer offers any comfort in the cold, dark cavern.

  Lexa rises to her feet with a stretch. “We need to keep moving. It is essential we figure out where we are and how much further it is to Erast. Those problems will not be solved sitting here.”

  I sigh. Lexa is right, but my body is only used to short bouts of adrenalin-rushing endurance. Arena matches lasted three hours at most and then for the time after that I was locked in a cage. My body hasn’t trained for this almost constant long-term moving.

  I climb to my aching feet and do my best to stretch out my sore muscles. I suppose if I don’t push through this, I will always have this problem. Lexa leads the group towards the flaming factory in the distance. I eye it with distaste. Hopefully, we don’t have to go too close.

  Since we climbed out of the tunnel, I have been aware of the awful smell of the factory seems to produce. Not to mention the thickness that fills the air. I rub my head; hopefully, this headache passes.

  We trudge along the uneven terrain, and I stumble around boulders and stunted plants. Everything here looks sick and even the mushrooms sag.

  Eventually, we come to a hard-packed dirt road that is roughly wide enough to accommodate a large wagon. Which judging by the deep ruts down the middle and the large piles of animal droppings, it did so quite regularly.

  Lexa peers both ways down the track. “I think for now it should be safe to use the road, but if someone even suspect they hear a wagon or any creatures approaching, we should get off and retreat into the cover of trees.”

  Nathanial nods. “That is wise. No free humans roam the open, and if scarlet guards find us, they will not show mercy.”

  “Are there any free colonies of people?” I ask, thinking of the scarlet guards and their families.

  Lexa shakes her head. “Only rebels who live in secret communities and occasionally other small bands.”

  I dodge around a knee-high balooga tree and its withered leaves. “What about the guards?”

  Nathanial clears his throat and replies, “Even the guards are slaves. Some may enjoy the freedom to select mates and live in houses, but even they are monitored and confined to a type of compound. Their freedom is limited to their position.

  “They do have these holiday camps for the two months a year when the guards are off duty. These are still monitored, but there are groups of entertainers that travel through places like this,” Nathanial finishes.

  I pause to consider his words. “Is Erast one of these holiday camps?”

  Lexa nods. “It is.”

  I swallow. “So, we are deliberately heading towards one of the places filled with people whose job it is to seek out and destroy rebels?”

  Lexa grips the hilt of her sword. “I am afraid so. The goal is to encounter the entertainers before they arrive.”

  I fight back the wave of adrenalin. “I didn’t know Darkmor allowed slaves to be entertainers?”

  “He doesn’t. Usually they are illegal and owned by scarlet guards who have declared other slaves as dead and then force them into their own personal service.” Lexa quickly fills in.

  I fall silent as my thoughts travel to Darkmor and his monstrous minions. They really did have complete control over the human race. I glance at the group around me. Well, almost.

  The dirt road is long, but traveling without having to dodge obstacles is a nice change, and as long as you walked along the edge you could avoid most of the piles of animal dung.

  I eye a
pile of excrement as I pass it. The waste easily rises to my knee and is about half as long as it is wide. It is hard to believe that animals big enough to make that pile actually exist. My nose scrunches of its own accord as we weave our way through the manure-laden road.

  The further we travel along the road, the brighter our surroundings become, and the more uneasy I become about the factory growing in the distance.

  The road narrows, and on one side the trees begin to disappear until there is a sharp drop into a dark cavernous crack beside us.

  Cautiously, I peer over the edge, but strain as I might, I can’t see the bottom.

  Melissa toes a rock to the edge and pushes it over.

  I count the seconds it takes to land. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. A loud clunk rings out from below us as the rock crashes against something substantial.

  Melissa raises her eyebrows and whistles. “Wow, that’s a big one.”

  I nod. “How far do you think it goes?

  Melissa shrugs. “It is usually around 10 meters for every second the rock falls.”

  I look back at the hole. “I counted six seconds.”

  Lexa comes to stand beside us. “That is around 60 meters.”

  Melissa steps back from the ledge. “That is not a hole you want to fall down.”

  We all back away from the edge and stay closer to the other side of the narrowing road. The cavernous break lingers beside us for some time, a gaping inky hole of death. Up ahead, the edge of the road that isn’t a giant drop becomes a steep unscaleable cliff face. Even if we had walked in the trees, we probably would have been forced onto the road by this mountainous obstacle.

  I slow down to walk beside Lexa who is bringing up the rear of our party. “Any idea where we are?”

  Lexa shakes her head. “I have never travelled through this place before. When I do travel to other bases, it is always through mountain passes. This is too open, and the chances of getting caught are increasing drastically.”

  Lucas spins around suddenly and peers into the distance. “Did you guys hear that?”