by Mara Duryea
“There,” I said, and shoved the sliding door open. It rammed against the bar’s end, still lying in the track, but there was space enough to admit a small Berivor into the tunnel. As I squeezed through, frigid air shocked my warm face and expanded my lungs with excitement. I hastened down the passage and out into the snow.
Morning light beaming through heavy-laden trees scintillated on winter dust. Bands of blue shadow cut through blinding snow as a frozen breeze clamored vainly against my long jacket and warm hat. As I bypassed the furrows of my romping grounds, the ice cave flitted to mind, but the tug blotted it out.
In a few minutes, the underground house with its surreal aura was lost among the trees. It never occurred to me what I’d do if I got cold and hungry. Great Cubons, I didn’t expect night to fall either, because daylight would last as long as I needed it. Surely the tug waited over the distant hill I’d explored last week with Karijin.
The sun was almost at zenith by the time I reached the intended hill. Laboring to the peak, I surveyed my surroundings for the rider. My heart dropped. Only beylias and rodent trails spread into the endless distance.
“Great Cubons,” I growled under my breath, and trudged down the hill. I’d reach the tug even if it murdered my baby legs. This called for some running. I hadn’t gone three steps before my feet tangled on themselves and I belly-flopped into the snow. With an exasperated sigh, I rolled on my back and stared at the cold blue sky through the snow-laden trees. I could almost hear them breathing.
A plupkin bird twittered with a high-pitch twaleep-twaleep! Another answered, and soon two puffy birds in the shape and color of snowballs darted overhead. Their wings were almost too short to see, but their tails fluttered like outstretched scarves. Karijin said where there were plupkins, there were riliths. As cute as plupkins were, they scavenged on whatever riliths left behind. I saw no riliths, though. Where did they sleep in daytime?
Cold seeped through the jacket and interrupted my musings. Rising, I resumed the journey. My trail resembled a line of bombs that had detonated under the snow. Clouds moved in and enclosed the forest with a dirty white ceiling. Fat snowflakes swallowed the beylias in pale mist. I noticed an exploded spot in the snow. Footprints leading from the wreck curved behind a large rock formation.
Something peeked at me from behind it. Dead skin stretched over a grinning skull. Bits of stringy black hair lined a cracked head. Its cloudy eyes held my gaze before slinking out of sight.
Backing up, I retraced my steps. How far had I gone from the underground house? As I glanced over my shoulder, the monster winked from the rise of a drift. My breath stuck in my throat and I bolted. My gaze swept the landscape in search of the ridge, but the heavy snowfall shrouded my vision and covered the trail.
Snow clogged between my legs and I toppled over. Whimpering in terror, I struggled to regain my feet, but they sank deeper into the snow. Every moment I expected to feel bony fingers dig into my arms. I threw a peek over my shoulder and my muscles froze.
The thing leered from behind a young beylia. It didn’t pull back this time, but stepped into full view. Tendons and rotting muscle stuck to a towering, skeletal frame. It sank into the ground feet first.
“Daddy,” I choked out.
A bony hand clamped on my ankle as the monster’s grinning head broke through the snow. It dragged me down. The ground swallowed my stomach and torso. The snow formed a high wall around me. The ground smothered my screams as my head sank under.
Just before my arms followed, great callused hands closed on my wrists and jerked me upward. The bony fingers that were clamped around my ankles yanked me back down. My body stretched as if it would tear in half. The grips on both wrists and ankles threatened to snap my bones under the pressure.
“Karijin, hurry!” It was Dad.
Another pair of hands caught one of my arms, and Karijin’s Iskerkin aura enveloped me. Dad changed his grip to hold my other arm with both hands. They wrenched me up, dragging the skeleton’s torso from the ground.
Karijin released one hand from my arm for a fraction of a second and cut his wrist before grasping me again. Blood snaked from the open wound, down my body, and onto the snow. The blood coiled around the skeleton, searing its dried flesh and bones. The soulless monster’s grinning jaw clacked open and sank beneath the snow. Its bony hands released my ankles. My rescuers stumbled backward with me on top. Before I could wipe the dirt and snow from my face, Dad half suffocated me in his arms.
“Do not ever wander away again,” he cried. “Do you understand me?” He shook me by the shoulders. “Stay by me! Cubons, it could have killed you!” He pinned me to his breast again, one hand tangled into my hair.
“I wanna go home,” I whimpered.
“We shall, little one,” said Dad. “Sheh, sheh, do not cry. We will go home.” Cleaning my face with his sleeve, he carried me to the kiderrin waiting not far off. The beast slept under a beylia near the underground house. Dad had fashioned it into a stable.
“That was an evergrin,” said Dad. “They are soulless. You must be more careful.” He mounted the beast and wrapped a furry pelt around me, making certain my feet were warm.
When anybody with fur on their legs and feet grew up, they didn’t need snowboots in the winter like N’hai and Siriliths. When they were still small, they chilled after long periods of time.
Karijin took the reins and began driving the kiderrin back to the underground house.
“Why did you wander off?” said Dad. “Do you not know the pain you have caused me, child?” He lifted my face to his. “What are you doing so far from home? Look to me, my little one. Do you see how I love you?” He felt my forehead. “You are not well.”
Despite these tender overtures, my agitation flared the further I got from the tug. A frustrated scream threatened to let loose.
The underground house came into view. Only the cage of Dad’s arms prevented me from springing into the snow. In a moment, we arrived. Karijin led the kiderrin to its beylia stable, and Dad bore me down the tunnel. I watched the long corridor block off the bright daytime.
Where are you going? pleaded the tug.
Back in my room, Dad fed me breakfast in bed, but I tasted nothing, like a dream where all is right and yet nothing is.
Karijin entered. “Is he any better?”
“I may have to fetch medicine. Will you watch him, Karijin?”
“Of course.”
Dad squeezed my hand. “I will have to leave for a few hours, little one, but I will return. I promise. In a few days, you will be set to rights.”
I nodded absently.
Dad’s phantom arms embraced me longer than usual, and he planted a kiss on my head. “I love you so much, K’lar.” He tore himself from the room.
Karijin lay on the floor and rested his head in his hands. “What were you doing out there?”
“I was trying to find something.”
“Next time, tell me, and I’ll come with you.” He cleared his throat. “You have a tiny room. When you grow, we’ll have to move.”
I imagined myself as big as Dad. “Why do you change the way you talk when Daddy isn’t here?”
“Do I?”
“Yup.”
“I didn’t think I did.” He shifted on the floor. “How do I change?”
“I don’t know.”
I could hear the smile in his voice. “Do I sound like him?”
That was it. “Yup.”
“I guess I just want to be like him.”
I scratched my nose. “I don’t think I can ever talk like him.”
“You don’t have to. It’s kind of hard.”
I rolled on my side and peered at him. “Karijin?”
“Yeah?”
“Where’s Daddy?”
Karijin propped an ankle on his knee. “He’s getting you medicine, remember?”
That wasn’t the right answer.
“You better go to sleep,” said Karijin.
I scratched my t
emple. “Can you stay with me?”
“For as long as you need, Zh...” Pinching his lips together, my brother jumped to his feet. “I forgot I have to do something.”
“But you said you’d stay!”
Karijin swept out the door and shut it behind him, taking his aura with him.
“Big liar,” I grumbled, and lay on my stomach. There were a lot of Cubons in the world, and Karijin was one of them. Yeah, I forgot he’d saved me less than an hour ago. I was an abandoned baby.
I fell asleep fuming, and a nightmare pounced.
Darkness and airless heat smothered me. I thrashed against a slimy surface, which swallowed my limbs until I couldn’t move. I screamed at the top of my lungs.
The next thing I knew, I toppled off the bed and bumped into the wall. Something was wrong. It was like I still hadn’t awakened. My soul fought against the barrier, and I shook my head like a beygar knocking water from its fur. I swung my fist back into the wall and the barrier shattered.
The wall of roots and dirt changed to wood. My fingers brushed across a wooden floor, instead of stone. The warm air chilled. Great Cubons, where was I?
6
Predators and Prey
A horizontal line of light shined across the floor. The door opened and firelight brightened the room. A Hatrin held a flickering fire stick in his powerful hand. The tight weave of pallid fibers was three feet long, giving the stick the appearance of a torch.
The man’s black hair had been neatly pulled back into a braid. His pointed ears, shaggy tail, and the fur on his legs and feet were gray. Strange light played in his blue eyes. He was almost as pale as his loose-fitting shirt. I knew I called him ‘Dad,’ like I knew this was my bedroom, but both were strange.
“K’lar,” he said, “what are you doing on the floor?” His voice chilled my blood. Rubbing the mirilite, he puffed out the weave of pale fibers, sat on the bed and hefted me onto his knee. “Child, did you have a nightmare?” He rocked me back and forth. “Look how the tiny limbs tremble and the dark eyes start from their sockets! One would think soulless prowled at the door with not a being to save him! You are safe here, my little son.”
“What’s your name?” I said.
The Hatrin’s brows knit. “My name? Have you not heard your mother speak it?”
“No.” I couldn’t think of the pink-eyed woman as my mother. She was inferior to…I didn’t know who.
The man touched my cheek. “Sizhirin.”
“Oh.”
Sizhirin felt my head. “You are still warm, child. I have brought you medicine.” He fished a red bottle from his pocket. “Now I need my little one to take this. No fussing.”
I opened my mouth, and he poured bitter liquid on my tongue. Shudders rippled through my frame as I downed the nasty mess. It stuck to everything and left an oily bitterness in my throat. My stomach felt sick, like I’d gorged on candy.
Smiling, Sizhirin tucked me back in. “Know that I am here for you. Know that you are safe. You are precious to me.” He kissed my cheek. “Karijin was remiss for turning your light off. It shall be with you all night. Good night, my child.”
Sizhirin departed, and I stared at the silent shadows on the wall. My heart wrenched with sorrow, and soft sobs touched my ears. A painful bulge choked my throat. The tug needed me.
Swinging my legs off the bed, I cracked the door open and peered into the corridor. Firelight at the end bestowed the roots with the illusion of two-toned worms. I pressed my fists into my stomach and commenced to the living room.
Silence reigned like death, and the evergrin crossed my mind. I almost retreated to my room, but the tug rendered me brave. Edging to the light, I peeked around the corner.
This was no underground house, but a massive bunker. The cozy living room was no longer occupied by the soft chairs circling the fire in the iron cage. Wooden ones and backless benches took their place. Roots stretched from the ceiling to the dirt floor like gnarled fingers. The front door landing was hardened earth instead of stone. The metal sliding door was dented in from an animal attack. Only the creepy tunnel leading to the kitchen and dining room remained unchanged.
A man hunched beside the fire, peering at it. My fingers gripped the wall until the knuckles turned white. Had he seen me? Would he chase me if I moved? I stared at him like a frozen awik for several minutes before I noticed he never moved. Gutless awiks, it was the jacket rack. With a deep breath, I marched up to it and grabbed the jackets. Yes, this was definitely not some creepy man.
I glanced into the tunnel, half-expecting to meet the glare of red eyes. The darkness seemed alive. Jerking my face away, I threw on my jacket and hat. I didn’t forget my boots this time.
Removing the wooden beam, I slid the door open. Moonlight shone on the snow-dusted floor at the end of the tunnel. Cold air pinched my cheeks. Without considering the Safety Periods, I hurried up the passageway.
Stepping across the thin layer of snow at the end of the corridor, I plunged into the snowy blue forest. The planet-like Midnight Moon gilded the edges of shredded clouds in silver and transformed the snow into scintillating ice crystals.
Making sure I didn’t walk in the same direction where I’d encountered the evergrin, I traveled a good distance. I was still convinced I could reach the tug in less than a few Periods.
Clouds gathered, but left a hole for the moon to gaze through. Silver snowflakes caught on my hood and shoulders. A gentle but freezing wind danced across my face and fluttered the brim of my hat. The snow rose to my thighs, and then up to my chest. I waded through it like I was swimming.
A warbling howl echoed through the trees. The last echo sounded as if it were right in front of me. I’d never heard that sound, and I halted. The darkness stood out from among the pale trees like the iron bars of a cage.
Through the falling snow glided a silent, feathery ghost. Large red eyes on an enormous box-shaped head scanned the forest floor. With no discerable neck, the head melded into the shapeless body. Where the neck should have been was an open red sliver, like a cut that didn’t bleed. It opened and closed, for it was a mouth. Each wing spanned fifteen to twenty feet.
It swerved towards me, eyes hypnotizing me to the spot. Its furry talons opened. The curved claws glinted in the moonlight, and something inside me snapped. A feral rage broiled my veins, and I extended my small claws. I was going to charge it because I was out of my mind.
The crunch of snow cut the dead silence and a spherical spinning blade shot overhead, silver blades winking. They crunched into the winged predator, and blood spat from the wounds. As the bird faltered in midair, I turned just as Sizhirin reached my side on kiderrin back. He swept me up by the arm and threw me in his lap. Veering the kiderrin around, he shouted, and it dashed back to the underground house.
Sizhirin lifted a hammer nestled against the frame as the giant bird rallied and shot towards us. Shoving me flat on the blanket, Sizhirin swung the hammer into its face.
The slit in the bird’s neck burst open, revealing rows of pointed teeth and a snaking forked tongue. With an awful squawk, it tumbled into the snow, but the monster was too powerful to be defeated by a mere hammer. It would regain its equilibrium in a few seconds and be after us again.
What took me hours to travel, the kiderrin covered in a few minutes. A winged shadow blocked the moon, and I looked up at a pair of fiery eyes.
Sizhirin plunged the kiderrin into the tunnel as he lay flat on the kiderrin’s back to keep from getting his head knocked off. The great bird ripped at the top of the passage, circled around, and landed before the entrance. If a kiderrin could fit inside, so could it. The creature stooped inside.
Dragging me from the kiderrin, Sizhirin yanked the door open and dashed inside. He slammed it shut and dropped the wooden beam into its track.
He turned on me, those lights in his eyes sparking like distant lightning. “The rilith could have eaten you. What possessed you to go out there?” His voice had taken on the tone of an animal
. With a savage snarl, he backhanded me across the face. He caught my arm before I fell and jerked me to my room. Flinging me onto the bed, he slammed his hands on either side of my head. “You will answer me, K’lar.”
“I was following it,” I sobbed, unable to name the tug.
Sizhirin punched the bed next to my ear. “You never follow them!” He stood and paced the room. The muscles in his jaw twitched. I didn’t dare move, lest he strike me again. He grew still and stood with his back to me as he spoke in a softer tone. “K’lar does not know I am his protector. I shall keep him safe from every predator and danger lurking on the surface.” He turned to me, and I flinched. “Child, do not fear. You are safe.” He knelt by the bed and took my shaking hands. “Forgive me, but the strike to your face was one of passion, for I had feared I had lost you. Do you not realize how precious you are to me?”
Smoothing the hair from my forehead, he sat me up and removed my winter things. He dressed me in my sleeping pants and baggy shirt. That strange light had gone from his eyes, but it didn’t matter. I knew I didn’t belong here.
Tucking me in, Sizhirin kissed the bruise forming on my cheek. “I will always be here.” He folded my clothes over his arm and departed. The door closed and then locked with a click.
I crumbled in tears of pain and fear. This place was a prison and I couldn’t escape. The tug gnawed at my innards from somewhere out in the snow. It wept, too.
7
…and killed the fire
My tongue stuck to the roof of my mouth. Sharp pains stabbed my empty stomach as I struggled to open the door. Cold had seeped into the room until my breath puffed like little clouds. Nobody had come to see me. I had no idea how much time had passed, but I wasn’t giving up until I escaped.
I sat on the floor, enduring the tug’s incessant jerk. My claws extended as I stared at the door. I’d cut my way out if need be. If I were the first Iskerkin, what would I do? I glanced at the bookshelf, as if my hero would be standing there to give me advice.