by Kyle West
“Perhaps your hold on them is not as great as you think. Are you the daughter of the king and queen, or am I? Who do you think they will really believe?”
Shal looked at me placidly. The begging, the pleading, the apologies...they were all an act. I realized then just how dangerous he was. He probably realized that it was risky for me to go in, but he still deemed it worth it.
“I am sorry this did not go according to plan,” Shal said. “Truly. I hope you can understand that the Hyperfold is still a work in progress. It will always be a work in progress. But nothing...and I mean nothing...can bar that progress.” He looked at me, his eyes murderous. “Do I make myself clear?”
“You forget yourself,” I said. “You might be close to getting what you want. But you’re not there yet.”
He had the audacity to smile. “Of course, Princess. Of course.”
I didn’t speak another word. I turned and walked out of the Thought Dome, concentrating on keeping my steps calm and measured, even if all I wanted to do was run.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
THAT AFTERNOON I AWOKE, KEEPING watch as Isaru slept on. It was another vision from the Xenofold, and so far, all signs pointed to it being a continuous story. Not only was it another vision of Mia, but a vision within a vision. For the first time I had gotten a glimpse of the Hyperfold itself.
I still didn’t know why I was having these dreams, but perhaps it would all become apparent soon.
As we ate, I told Isaru about my dream. He listened quietly, and had some of the same questions I did. Just how was I seeing the world exactly as Mia had seen it? As we talked about it, Isaru had a theory that I would have never considered.
“You said Mia sought visions from Anna, right? Well, what if she got them?”
“What do you mean?”
“Assuming she did, there would be some form of connection between you and her, because of your past. Perhaps there was a link then, and that link remains within the Xenofold itself.”
It was a startling thought, and crazily enough, it made some kind of sense. How that would give me access to all her thoughts and memories, I couldn't have said. It seemed a bit intrusive, yet then again, there it was.
We dropped the subject as we packed all the food into our packs. There was far more than we could carry, and it was good to have our packs full again. We ate as much as we could before setting out at the onset of evening, heading north with the Selvan rising high on our right.
As the night wore on, it was all desert and dunes...little surprise there. But after a few hours, we did see a bit of a transition. Some high hills caused us to break away from the Selvan, veering west, but along the slopes there was actually some growth – scrub and cactus for the most part, but we even crossed several streams – in short, more water than we had seen in over a week. It could be that we were at last approaching the end of the Exiled Lands. If that was true, we were probably days away from catching sight of the Salt Lake.
We picked prickly pears when there was enough of it to warrant stopping, eating it while we walked.
We came across a shallow stream running down from the hills, so we took the opportunity to fill our canteens. We followed it since it was the easiest way to break through the hills, and by happenstance, it was also going north. We made it through the hills a couple of hours before dawn, where we were again on a dry flatland. Dry as it was, there was more vegetation.
The stream widened as smaller rivulets joined it from the surrounding hills, and it was almost wide enough to be called a proper river, now. Just as the gray of dawn tinged the eastern sky, we made for a stand of trees growing along the riverbank. There, we waited out the day and went to sleep.
I DIDN'T SLEEP WELL. I was used to the ground by now, but sleeping in full daylight was hard to do. Isaru was having trouble with it as well, because I heard him turning and grumbling several times.
In the end, we decided to set off that afternoon. The sun wasn’t as hot as it had been further south, though it was still warm.
We ate a quick meal of some jerky and the rock-bread before setting off north once again. Looking east, the Selvan was no longer in sight. Either it had veered away from us, or we had veered away from it. Instead, there were snow-capped mountains, quite low, but mountains nonetheless. Trees and vegetation grew thickly along the riverbank, to the point where we had to stay well out of its way to make any sort of progress.
As we crested a rise in the land, I saw movement at the edge of the trees along the river. I put a hand on Isaru's arm, pushing us both down. He hadn't seen it, so I pointed straight ahead where, in a patch of scrub, a brown hare was munching on something. It was a long way off, but with luck, I could sneak closer and land a good shot. This was the first animal we had seen in well over a week, and just thinking about rabbit stew, as scrawny as this rabbit was, made my mouth water.
“Wait here,” I said quietly, reaching for my bow.
I stayed low to the ground and slunk forward, veering right so that I would be out of the hare’s vision. I headed for a patch of scrub that would hopefully provide the cover I needed. Shooting rabbit was hard since they were so small. Trapping was the way to go. As inexperienced a shot as I was, I was hoping that by reaching for Silence, it would give me the edge I needed.
By the time I strung an arrow to the Silverwood bow and aimed, the hare was in the same spot, completely oblivious to my presence. It wouldn’t stay that way for long, though.
The hare moved a bit closer to the tree line. I drew until my hand was even with my ear; this arrow would fly fast, and I might have time for one more if I missed this first shot. The first shot would have to be the one to make it, though. I wouldn’t have time to make a second one fly as true as the first.
I let my mind empty until all that was left was Silence. Everything else faded from view but my target. There was nothing but concentration; even the tension in my arm felt distant. The hare stiffened; did it know it was being watched? I lowered the bow, ever so slightly while letting out a breath, and released.
The arrow seemed to fly in slow motion, arcing through the air. The hare shot away, dashing for the trees, but seemed to trip over something. I reached for another arrow, nocked it, but didn’t shoot. There was no need.
The hare lay dead about two feet into the underbrush.
I let go of Silence and the world returned to focus. The warm wind blew, the wind shifted in the trees, a hawk circled above.
I could hardly believe it. I had killed my target.
I left the cover of the trees. I wanted to laugh, but for some reason decided to restrain myself. I walked forward even as I heard Isaru hooting and hollering behind me.
I came to a dead stop just twenty paces from where the hare lay, because something big was moving in the trees ahead. I reached again for my bow just in time to see a lumbering black bear rush from the trees. At first, I thought he was coming for me, but instead, he nabbed the hare and turned back for the trees.
I felt red-hot fury burn my cheeks. “Hey! Get back here!”
I sprinted forward, drawing my katana at the same time. The bear bawled and darted further into the thicket, squeezing through the underbrush with ease, despite its size. I could hear Isaru yelling behind me, but I wasn’t going to let that bear go without having my say.
By the time I made it to the tree line, the bear was nearly out of sight. Just through the trees, I could see the narrow river. I lifted my bow, but didn’t fire because there was no way an arrow was making it through the thick growth. As the bear reached the stream-bed, it looked back with the hare hanging limp in its mouth, cocking its head. It then turned around waded into the stream, swimming to the opposite shore.
Isaru slid to stop behind me. We were both quiet for a while. All I could do was stare into the trees, as the dinner got away.
“I have no words,” I said.
“It wasn’t that much meat, anyway.” Isaru said. “And we got plenty from the camp back there.”
/> “It’s the principle that counts,” I said. “I shot it. Against all odds...”
Isaru chuckled. “That bear only cares about his stomach, the same as you.”
I crossed my arms, and that was enough to keep Isaru from saying another word. Maybe letting it go was better, but it was hard to accept that. I could chase the bear, but then again...it was a bear. That wouldn’t be very smart.
“I can’t believe my bad luck. Hopefully, it’s all good from now on.”
“After that, it has to be. We have plenty of food, so what’s the harm?”
“Anything to stretch our supplies further,” I said. “Well, there’s no use sulking over it.”
“We’ll find another one,” Isaru said. The way he said it, strangely, made me believe it was true. There did seem to be an abundance of animals around here, probably because of the river.
Finally, I looked away from the trees. “All right. Let’s move on.”
If I saw that bear again, though, things were going to be different.
TO MY ASTONISHMENT, Isaru was right. We didn’t just find another hare, but three. I managed to even repeat my success by shooting one out in the open, far away from where any bears might be lurking. The shot had been even more difficult because it was an hour or so from sunset. Words couldn’t describe how vindicated I felt as I tied its hind legs to my pack. Within hours it would make a tasty stew.
If anything, the onset of evening brought out more wildlife. I could hear it, mostly – birds, the chattering of squirrels and other small mammals, the buzz of insects. Life teemed around the river, which had only widened as we made our way north.
Neither Isaru nor I doubted it now; we had to be close to Salt Lake. With Salt Lake, that meant we would soon be turning east. That being the case, we decided to switch back to sleeping at night, a change I was more than ready for.
We stopped just below a rocky outcrop to set up camp, at the base of which was a copse of pine where thick needles coated the ground. There was plenty of dry wood to start a fire, so Isaru got one going. Meanwhile, I skinned the game, making a mess of it because this is something my father would have done. Deboning a hare is a huge pain, but Isaru’s knife did wonders; the ichor-infused obsidian cut through sinew and bone almost as good as sharp steel. Every time a piece of meat was torn free, I threw it in the pot.
Meanwhile, Isaru went off in hopes of finding wild onion or other edibles. I didn’t have much hope, given the dryness of the land, but Isaru surprised me by returning with not only wild onion, but pepperweed, wild carrot, and yucca root.
Isaru handed everything to me to chop up and throw in the pot. Once everything was cooking, Isaru covered it.
We both settled back and watched the flames as the very last of the daylight faded. I wasn’t worried about anyone being out here, though maybe I should have been. If there was a stream nearby, it might mean there were people nearby, too. But Isaru and I had seen no sign of human life in the past few days. Maybe we should have been more cautious, since we knew firsthand what human life acted like around here.
We gave the stew just under an hour or so before taking the pot off the coals. We lifted the lid and the smell was intoxicating. We hardly waited for it to cool before dishing it out in our wooden bowls.
Nothing in my entire life tasted as good as that stew. The meat was chewy, and probably wasn’t choice, but that didn’t matter. The yucca root made the broth thick and creamy while the onions and pepperweed added a lot of flavor. My tongue and the roof of my mouth were both burned slurping it down, but I couldn’t make myself slow down.
Half an hour later, the entire stew had been eaten. It was good to feel so full, and I just sat there enjoying the feeling.
I was starting to doze off when I noticed a shadowy shape materializing from the darkness.
“Isaru!”
He was up in a flash, katana drawn, and the animal bawled and lumbered away through the underbrush.
I’d recognize that bawling from anywhere.
“It’s him!”
Isaru sheathed his katana and stared off into the trees. It was pointless, though – that bear’s black fur made him impossible to see.
Isaru chuckled. “I guess he’s a fan of your cooking, too.”
“Ugh,” I said. “He probably smelled the food from a mile away.”
Deep in the shadows of the trees, I could see a pair of eyes glinting from the firelight.
“Go away!” I yelled.
The eyes just stared back, unmoving.
“Maybe we should throw him the bones,” Isaru said. “It’s not like we need them.”
“He’ll just choke on them,” I said.
Isaru laughed. “You’re starting to get attached.”
“No, I’m not.
“He might make a nice pet. Do you think he would carry some of our stuff?”
“Not unless there was food in it. Maybe one of us should stay awake with him out there like that.”
“When he figures out we have nothing more, he’ll go away.”
I wasn’t so sure of that, given this particular bear’s determination.
“It’s strange,” I said. “Most animals run away at the first sight of a person. There must not be too many people up here. He doesn’t know we’re dangerous.”
“He’s just curious,” Isaru said.
“Well, his curiosity might get him killed.”
I sat back down, not truly worried about the bear, but there was something about the way he was following us that bothered me. It didn’t seem like normal behavior for an animal, even if he was hungry. I doubted he was desperate enough to attack us...not a black bear, anyway. At most, he might get too close, in which case we’d have to scare him off.
“I’m throwing out the bones,” Isaru said, finally. “We need to get anything that smells like food out of the camp.”
“We have food in our packs.”
“Good point. Well, I guess we’ll just have to be careful, then.”
Isaru gathered our leftovers, which consisted only of the rabbit’s stringy bones, and went off into the trees. I heard him toss them out somewhere in the distance. Half a minute later, he rejoined me at the fire.
“We should keep this burning,” Isaru said.
I couldn’t have agreed more. I looked back at where the bear had been, but his glinting eyes were gone.
This thought was shortly followed by some chomping and munching. He had to be hungry if he was trying to get to the marrow of such a small animal.
“I don’t understand,” I said. “Animals are built to survive, right? That bear is old enough to be able to find his own food.”
“That’s an interesting point. Either this bear is really bad at doing his own hunting, which isn’t likely if he’s lived this long...or maybe there’s something else in the area that’s really good at it that’s eating all of his food.”
Now I could see what Isaru was talking about. “A bigger predator, you mean.”
“Maybe.”
“In that case, maybe we should set a watch,” I said.
We drew sticks to see who would get it first. It was Isaru. For which I was thankful, because I was about ready to pass out.
I turned with my back to the fire, wrapping myself in my blanket.
My last thought, before falling asleep, was that the bear could have been hanging around us as much for protection as for food.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
WHEN ISARU WOKE ME FOR my watch, there was actually a bit of dew on the ground. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d seen the stuff. The Sanctum, probably.
As Isaru settled down for sleep, I got the feeling that he had stayed up longer than he should have. It couldn’t be more than a couple of hours until dawn. It was nice of him, but I would rather for things to have been fair, but men like to prove how tough they are. Sometimes, you just had to shrug and let them, because it’s usually to your benefit.
I fed the fire, knowing that the extra sleep I ha
d gotten wasn’t enough. I forced myself to stand on my aching legs, or else I’d nod off.
I peered out into the trees, but there was no sign of the bear. Apparently, it had lost interest. I could only hope. I didn’t know too much about bears except that they liked to give me a hard time.
The rest of my watch passed uneventfully. I practiced sword forms to keep myself moving, and as soon as dawn was discernible, I woke Isaru.
It was hard going back to the rock-bread and jerky after last night’s meal, but it was food, and much needed food at that.
Soon, we had set out from the pine copse and back into the drylands west of the river. The terrain was rolling and empty. Aside from the wind swirling dust, Isaru and I were the only moving things in sight. All the animals seemed to be hiding today.
And though we hadn’t seen people yet, it seemed strange that we had not come upon signs of them. There was more water here than anywhere since the Colorado. My thoughts went back to what Isaru had said yesterday – there might be something in these parts big enough to be eating all that bear’s food. I didn’t know if that was the case, but the thought put me on edge all the same. I was more alert than usual; my hand never strayed far from my sword.
By midmorning, following the narrow river north, we came upon the ruins of a building – what might have once been a house. It was half-buried in dirt, and scrub grew along its broken walls, where there was shade. Its roof had long collapsed, and only a few feet of its stone walls were visible. We came upon more houses like this, half-buried. Sometimes, two of them would be right next to each other. Others were easy to miss, signified by nothing more than a few bricks or a cracked foundation. Others sat off alone on the tops of hills, or were lost among the tangle of stunted trees and scrub.
“There was a city here once,” Isaru said. “Long ago. Four hundred years seems to be long enough for a desert to swallow a place.”