“Tell us where you are going, and you can leave without trouble,” the leader demands, his eyes focused on the mask in my hand.
I consider his wishes very carefully. How many of these people will die if I don’t come clean about what lies in the Pith? What about Antero? What about myself? But if I do tell him, will he try to stop me anyway? Will this only end in bloodshed? “I am going to the Pith,” I finally admit.
“No one goes there,” comes the immediate response.
“I know that!” I gripe, feeling frustrated and on edge.
“No, there are strange things that occur in the Pith. The land is practically barren. What does grow there does not last long. Unusual shadows and sounds plague the place. Some say it is haunted. Others argue it is cursed. If you go there, you will not return.”
“I have my reasons for making the journey,” I announce, trying not to sound terrified after hearing their description of the place.
The leader of the nameless whistles sharply, motioning swiftly to the crowd behind him. A narrow path forms between them, human bodies forming the walls. “Go then. You’ve been warned: you will not survive the journey. If you are so intent on traveling to this land, we will not have to worry over you long.”
I race away from the nameless unchosen, seizing the opportunity to reset my mask and escape before the offer to leave unscathed is rescinded. It is a strange comfort, to feel the wood biting into my face once more, providing a barrier between myself and the outside world. I scurry back to the shore, cursing myself as I trip over bits of driftwood and weeds. I had strayed farther than I had intended.
Half an hour later, Antero and I rejoin one another. “I found some cress by the stream,” he exclaims proudly. I do not have the stomach for it, still shaken by the words of the nameless leader. Antero eats his meal in silence, while I brood over the journey. Not for the first time, I question if I am making the right decision.
When Antero finishes eating, my mind is made up once more. This is about so much more than just my safety. I owe it to my country, to the Cassé that still lives in my memory, to discover what lies in this place. I point toward the River Sangre. “We have to cross over to enter the Pith. There’s a sort of bridge about thirty yards east of us.” I do not dare mention what kind of bridge it is yet; I cannot handle his incessant, terrorized questions this early in the morning.
Soon enough we reach the place, a small stepping stone path that rises up strategically through the rushing, violent current. Water churns foamy green around the exposed rocks. Some are coated with strong willed algae that desperately clings to the stones, fighting the rushing current in an effort to survive.
“We have to cross there?” Panther’s voice is barely able to be understood over the roar of the water. His eyes widen as I point to the stones. “No way, Mynah! We would surely drown! One misstep and you’re swept away!”
“It’s the only method, Panther. Even if you travel to the nearest towns, no one has ever bothered building an overhanging bridge to the Pith. It is deserted, remember?” I bellow over the current, unsure if Panther comprehends my words.
“Mynah, I cannot cross there!” Panther exclaims, hands on his head as he observes the swirling water beating the shores. Tree limbs as thick as my wrist cannot even survive the strength of the current. Such a branch floats down to the stones before us, smacking against them until it snaps in half. Panther gulps, and I realize I’ve lost any hope of getting him to cross this water willingly. “I can’t do it!” His eyes never leave the broken branch. Judging by the horrified expression on his face, he is just as disturbed as he would have been if a body had just shattered against the stones.
“Do you want to know what’s in the Pith?” I shout over the current. “Because the only way to find out is to cross. You can do it here where we are alone, or we’ll have to backtrack to the nearest town. The only difference between the two options is the fact that in town we’ll have witnesses.”
Panther drops to his knees, reaching out in vain for the first stepping stone. All he succeeds in doing is nearly plummeting into the current. “There’s no way,” he wails as his fingers slide off the slick surface of the rock.
I do not have time to waste watching you let your fear overpower you, I shout at him through our bond in our minds, and I feel him flinch at my harshness. Tugging on the control I have, I demand that he cross quickly. Antero, you are the one who wanted to see this place. Now carefully hop across the rocks! Don’t stop until you reach the other side. I can feel him recoil at my command, fighting against me without success. His body heaves as he makes the first jump, his hands swinging to keep his balance. On the second jump, he stumbles, his knee banging into the stone. He howls with pain as blood dribbles down to his ankle, but he keeps moving until he’s across the rocks.
I let out a sigh of relief, having held my breath in fear that he’d end up getting swept off to the ocean. My turn, I remind myself, eyeing the stones. I attempt to quell a sliver of fear in my gut. Don’t think, just go. Don’t stop until you’re back on solid ground. My movements are far surer footed than I feel as I run across the stones. Landing beside Panther, I drop to the ground, working my fingers into the sand for comfort.
“Show off!” Panther mumbles, his hands grappling with his mask in frustration. “Do I still have to wear this thing?”
Chest heaving as the shock and delayed fear of my actions finally catches up to me, I pull him up to standing position. “Never take off the mask, remember? Now, we have a little way to walk before we reach the Pith, and we do not want to waste daylight. Come on!”
A small remnant of a few trees blackens this side of the land, most vegetation still crunchy and brown despite the many years since the windstorm. The ground consists of sand and rock, so every step we take kicks up a swirl of dust. The air smells of cinder, as if a perpetual fire burns in this desert. With nothing growing, our movements are easily noticeable. We are exposed, vulnerable to attack, and I find myself longing to run. My eyes keep searching the sky, my hand constantly landing on the handle of my knife. Something is watching us, I know it. There are eyes everywhere on us. I try to shake off my paranoia, but my skin crawls with my fear.
After two hours of walking, a giant gaping maw opens suddenly in the earth before us. Its wide mouth spans at least twenty feet from our location on either side. Dusty, tan colored sand sifts into its empty expanse with the gentlest whisper of the wind. “I think I am a little disappointed,” I snipe to my companion. “I was expecting…more.”
“You’ve really not come here before?” Panther asks, seemingly shocked at my revelation. “I thought you were lying.”
“There’s never been any reason to investigate this place.” I creep up to the edge of the hole, seeing only the vast, unknown depths shrouded in darkness. Shuddering, I find my feet are frozen at the lip of the cavern. “Is it what you expected?” I question, genuinely wondering what Panther and the rest of Déchets believe.
Surprisingly, he explains that it is exactly what he had pictured. “My people have sent many spies into this land to map out its vastness. Only a handful have ever returned, and those that do have spoken of a hole in the Pith. None have ever gone down into its depths and lived to share what they found. We need to go down into the hole to find out what lies inside it.”
“Great plan, kid,” I mutter sarcastically. “Go see what’s in the dark, scary hole. ‘Cause that’s worked so well for your spies, hasn’t it?” The idea of exploring this place sends ice water shooting through my blood, my knees threatening to buckle with my terror.
“Do you have a better idea?” Antero growls as he paces along the cave’s mouth.
I bite my tongue to keep from shouting at him to stay still. Fool’s going to fall in soon, I surmise with a shudder. The cavern where Wolf made his home was mostly above ground, as was the place where we had hidden Panther when I first found him. But this—exploring this part of the Pith requires going under the earth completely. �
�I’ve always felt more comfortable in the open air and sky,” I whisper, hearing how the tremor in my limbs makes my voice waver. The idea of willingly going underground into a hole that could so easily be filled with sand does not appeal to me at all. I can already feel my blood pressure rising.
This time Panther gets to be in charge, not through our bond but through his own strength of will. “It’s the only way to truly know what is down there.” He tugs my petrified body forward until I stand at the lip of the cave once more. My legs lock in place, and fear sweat drips down my spine. “Lower me down first, Mynah. I will catch you when you jump.”
I chuckle hollowly at the thought of tumbling down that hole and landing on him. “I’d squash you, Panther. You are too small and dainty to catch me.” It felt strange to be saying such things to him; I’ve always been dwarfed in size and stature by my male counterparts. In truth my slim body is the more muscled and powerful one from my years of trying to survive in these lands.
“I’m tougher and older than you think, Mynah.” Panther truly sounds affronted by my insinuation that he is weak.
“Really? And just how old are you exactly?” I snicker as I patronize him, trying to take my mind off the darkness waiting before me. However, his response wipes the smirk off my face.
“I’m twenty-eight, and I may have lived as a priest, but I’ve done many chores that require muscle. Chopping wood, hauling hay, harvesting corn and other crops, laying cobblestones….”
His list continues, but my mind cannot focus. In truth, I cannot focus on anything but his childlike height. “Seriously? But you are so light, so small—even Wolf thought you were a boy barely past twelve.”
“Our people age slower in Déchets, but I speak the truth. Now, are you going to help me into that hole or are you jumping in without a cushion?”
I am speechless as I lower myself to the ground in preparation for Panther’s descent. He throws his feet into the expanse first, easing his body over the edge until he dangles by his hands. “What do you see below me?” He grunts, the weight of his body quickly fatiguing his arms.
“Nothing! It is too dark. You could drop to a solid ground immediately or fall for hundreds of feet. Let me pull you up, Panther. This is lunacy!”
“Drop something down there.” Panther grits his teeth as his arms begin to tremble. “Oh, yes, don’t hurry or anything. I’ve got all day,” he mouths when I search my pockets for something to sacrifice to the darkness.
“You’re the one coming up with bright ideas only after you’re already hanging in midair, so don’t go smarting off to me! Headlong fool,” I mumble as I toss a stray copper coin from my shirt pocket. It strikes the cavern floor quickly, and I watch Panther nod to himself as if deciding his next move.
“Don’t jump until I call you, okay?” are his last words before he drops into the maw of the Pith. A scream tears at my throat like a ravenous beast clawing its way to a feast. The only thing that staves its hunger is when I hear Panther’s voice bellow. “Anytime now, Mynah!”
“Were you hurt?” I inquire as I peer into the shadows below me.
“If I was, do you think I’d be telling you to jump?” Panther barks back at me, his voice radiating off the walls so that the sound reaching my ears sounds like a shrieking ghost warding off intruders.
You have to do this, so pull yourself together! My breath quickens as my feet dangle over the edge. My eyes clench tight as I prepare to hurl myself into the unknown. I will not scream, I promise myself. One short fall and it’s over. I can do this. With a deep breath, I roll off into the dark. The air lodges in my throat, unable to expel and at the same time, unable to fully reach my lungs. I am in suspension. The only thing moving is my hair as I hurtle toward the rocks. My mouth is frozen in a tight grimace.
I am astonished even more when Panther catches me without trouble. He snags me out of the air as easily as if he’s catching the last blooming flower cascading down from the highest tree branches on a breeze. Panther sets me nimbly onto the stony floor of the cave, and only then does my voice return.
“Why didn’t you say something about your age sooner? We’ve spent all this time treating you like a child!” What other things have you kept from me? I wonder as my eyes adjust to the shadows.
Panther does not get the chance to answer as a terrifying rumble echoes through the cave, reverberating so strongly against the walls that sand drifts down from the top side of the Pith with the vibration.
“What do we do? How do we get out of this hole?” I search the ground fruitlessly for a weapon. Nothing seems sturdy enough to attack whatever beast can make that noise.
“Hide!” Panther rasps as he drags me into the wall. A huge shape lumbers toward us, pausing at the edge of a tunnel across the expanse of the cavern. I can see its giant head swivel as it surveys the room before it disappears back down the way that it had come.
“What is that?” I eke out through chattering teeth after the creature has long disappeared.
“A sign that my people are right,” Panther mutters grimly, turning on me with a kick to my ribs. The sudden attack startles me, the force of the blow knocking me flat against the ground floor. Panther lands with a knee to my chest, a hand tightly grasping my throat. “What do you know about this place really, Mynah? Tell me everything!”
I choke as I fail to speak, my cheeks growing hot as I sputter. Get off me, I scream through my mind, but his hand clings to my neck. The bond I had believed could not be broken between our thoughts disappears as easily as the breaking of a tiny tree branch.
Panther chuckles, twisting his head from side to side as if he is finally free of a noose around his neck. “Your little mind connection is amateur. My people have long mastered mind control and learned to overcome it.”
“Why?” Spots leave their dark prints on my line of sight. I cannot finish my thought out loud as my lack of air steals my voice.
“Why make you think that you had control?” Panther whispers with a gleam in his eye. “To get you to lower your guard. I didn’t tell you my age because I wanted you to think I was a child. I wanted you to treat me as if I was helpless, all to get you to feel comfortable around me. I wanted to learn about your people and find your weaknesses. To gain your trust until I could get what I truly want.”
In his rant, Panther rolls slightly onto his heels, freeing my chest long enough for a full breath of air to alleviate my choking. “I saved you,” I manage to grunt as I gargle on the spit that I cannot swallow.
“Hardly! I purposefully stepped into that trap, hoping that whoever found me would spare my life. You took one look at me, assumed I was a child, and played exactly into my hand. So, do not try to guilt me.” He slams my head once into the stone floor, and I feel my neck creak at the awkward angle.
“Priest,” I attempt one more argument, feeling my stomach plummet to my toes when he scoffs at me.
“Priests in my land are the most cutthroat of them all. We’re not afraid of pain, even our own. What’s a little suffering if it brings you closer to what you truly desire? Everything you assumed about me is wrong, and for your blindness, you will die. Who’s naïve now, little fool?”
A roar radiates right above our heads, and it’s the only thing that gets Panther to loosen his grip on me. He scrambles to the wall while I gasp and choke for air, writhing on the floor as I recover.
“I thought I smelled your kind. What are you doing here?” The voice is deep and distinctly female. Tilting my head skyward, I gaze into a silver, shimmering eye about the size of a dinner plate. The creature’s nostrils flare in anger at my silence, smoke wisping around its head as it snorts loudly.
Panther steps out of the shadows, hand raised in surrender. “We’re here to—”
“I do not speak to you!” The creature screeches as its face whips toward Panther. “I care nothing for those who would hurt another to gain what they want.”
I almost laugh as Panther struggles with the beast’s answer, but I notice t
hose silver eyes glowing at me, and I find the sound has dried up on my tongue. “You, however, I would like to know,” the creature declares before she catches my coat in her teeth and raises me to dangle off the ground. I am helpless as the beast jumps through the hole of the Pith, back into the sunlight.
And flies.
***
“Where is the girl, Bittern?” Condor asks calmly, his fingers steepled together as he paces around her body. Bound backwards to a chair, the only thing holding Bittern upright is the rope tied around her wrists. Her mouth hangs open, blood pouring from a missing tooth as she heaves. One side of her face is purple with bruises, and her back is latticed with whiplashes. “You could make this so much easier if you would just tell me….”
A soft laugh escapes the broken women as she answers, her swollen tongue making her words sound chewed. “I’ve got nothing, Condor. Do what you need to do, but I have nothing to tell you.”
“Do you know where she went?” Falcon interrupts with a crack of a whip across Bittern’s thigh. Bittern does not react to the attack, her body so numbed to pain that she barely feels it anymore. She watches with fascination as the stiff leather bites into her skin, coldly observing the way her flesh splits in tattered lines, blood seeping from the fresh wounds.
“Where is Wolf’s hideout?” Condor asks, unwilling to call off Falcon’s attack.
Sweat and muck soaks through Bittern’s ratty clothes. The woman’s only response is one of anger, spitting bloody saliva at Condor’s face. Falcon unleashes her fury once more.
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