Storms of the Forest

by Dele Daniel

  He sneered at Sentana but made no attempts to say anything. Once I finished tying Dolly’s and Max’s ropes, I took hold of Tonabi once again so that Sentana could tie up her own horse. Plus, I felt better keeping hold of Tonabi myself; under no circumstances did I want him getting away.

  Though it was tougher to maneuver with only one available hand, I managed to pull some carrots from my bag and then passed them around to the girls, making sure there was enough to go around for them to feed each horse.

  “All right. Now, we’re going to head toward that big rock over there,” I said, pointing it out. They all followed the direction of my finger. “I know it’s high up, but it’s best to be off the ground because it will keep us out of reach from any wild animals that might be lurking around.”

  “Wild animals?” Sentana said, raising her eyebrows. “What about our horses then?”

  “That’s why we’re leaving them here. They can’t climb up the rock, so this is the next safest place for them. I’ve been out this way plenty of times before. This is where I always left Dolly while I was hunting.” I turned around to pat Dolly’s muzzle again. “She’s never had any issues being left here. That’s why she’s so at ease. Trust me, they’ll all be safe here,” I reassured.

  Most of the girls looked convinced, while a few still looked apprehensive. They made no objections, though, knowing that they really had no other choice. After coming this far, there was no turning back, especially in the middle of an environment they didn’t know very well.

  Not before long, the girls were all gazing up at the rock. Deducing it was going to be a rather arduous climb, they began stretching legs and arms, loosening their muscles in preparation.

  “Well, let’s hurry. The quicker we make it up, the better,” I said.

  Resuming my position in the lead and pulling Tonabi alongside, I reviewed the plan in my mind, hoping with all my heart that it worked unscathed.

  So lost in my thoughts, I hadn’t even realized how quickly I’d been moving. My heart skipped a beat, seeing how much distance I had already covered. I looked behind me. The other girls were all there but just barely keeping up.

  “Everybody, stop and move to the edge right now! Don’t come out any farther before moving to the edge!” I yelled.

  “What’s wrong?” Nasheeda asked, panicking over the tone of my voice.

  “Because . . .” I said, my voice trailing off as I began having second thoughts about telling them what was wrong. Some of them looked nervous enough already, so I didn’t want to cause more fear. “Because it’s safer,” I finished. “Just please—only walk near the edges of the rock as we move higher up. Whatever you do, don’t walk on the . . . solid ground.”

  I swallowed. Even Tonabi gave me a suspicious and startled sideways glance. Nevertheless, he stayed at the edge, moving slowly and carefully since his hands were still tied behind his back.

  We continued to tiptoe forward. All the while, everyone kept glancing at the inner ground, wondering why I was so adamant about none of them walking on it. Every time I noticed someone looking at it, I felt tempted to yell out, “Don’t even think about it.” The last thing I needed was for someone to feel rebellious and decide they wanted to test sticking their foot beyond the edge to see what all the fuss was about it.

  Fortunately, the girls weren’t stupid. They all stayed on the edge, careful to go nowhere near the middle.

  I would explain myself after we safely made it to the top.

  I could remember all too well coming into this jungle during my early hunting days. Remington had told me upfront why to never walk in the middle, and it had frightened me so badly that it practically paralyzed me. My imagination had kept running away with me, and I’d been scared out of my mind that I would accidentally slip or get blown off course by a strong wind.

  Needless to say, he had regretted telling me and had wished he’d kept his mouth shut until we were done. And so had I, for that matter.

  “Genesis, come on! I said be careful, not stop moving completely! We don’t have all day, you know?” Remington had kept saying, annoyed.

  The memory inevitably made me start wondering where he was, whether he had made it back to the hideout safely, and whether he’d had any luck getting through to Prince. My stomach gave an uncomfortable twist, hoping that things were going right on his end because I couldn’t even put into words how much I was counting on him . . .

  “What was that?” Sentana suddenly asked.

  I glanced back, seeing that she had stopped walking, as had several of the other girls.

  Nasheeda looked at me, her eyebrows raised. “Genesis, we trust you, but what are you leading us into? Enough with the secrecy. Haven’t we proven ourselves loyal enough by now?”

  “Shh!” Sentana said, unmistakably terrified.

  Not keen on wasting unnecessary time, I came close to asking Sentana what her problem was, but then I heard the sound too.

  It was something we most certainly weren’t supposed to be hearing, that was for sure.

  A cold chill ran down my spine. I glanced around confused. “What in the . . . ?” I said, in utter disbelief over what I was hearing. It distinctly sounded like a growl. But there wasn’t supposed to be any wildlife this high up. That was the whole point of climbing the rock.

  “Genesis,” Shiva said, her voice quivering, “I thought you said we would be safe from wild animals up here?”

  “Because we should be . . .” I said slowly.

  We all fell deadly silent, listening as the growl echoed around us again. Seconds later, the source of it finally made its appearance.

  A tiger. Large and majestic, its thick black stripes somehow simultaneously stood out boldly and blended in against the jungle background. There was no telling how long it had been stalking us outside of our awareness. Now that we could see it, though, it seemed impossible that we hadn’t noticed it sooner.

  But that’s how master predators were, I suppose.

  While the initial sight of the tiger seized me with fear, just like it had everyone else, I began to relax once I noted that it was a considerable distance away and still on the other side of the rock. Deducing we had nothing to be afraid of, my speeding heartbeat slowed back to normal. “It must have gotten lost. Animals usually never come to this side of the jungle,” I said.

  “Well, since it’s lost, I’m thinking we need to get lost too,” Shiva said. “You know, rather than standing here in its path, staring at it.”

  “Don’t move,” I said sternly. “Whatever you do, don’t move make any quick movements. Don’t accidentally step out onto the ground, off the edge.”

  “But Genesis—”

  “I’m serious. Stay at the edge.”

  The tiger let out another low growl and turned its predatory eyes toward us. We could almost see it calculating which one of us it would be easiest to strike first.

  Shiva swore. From the corner of my eye, I saw her reach behind me—or for my backpack rather. Before I could figure out what she was doing, she had rummaged around and pulled out my bow and arrow.

  The tiger lowered its head, growling and snarling some more as it slowly stalked toward us.

  “Shiva,” I said, watching her prepare to take aim at the tiger. I reached out and pulled her hand down. “You don’t need to do that.”

  Several girls abruptly gasped and Tonabi whimpered beside me. I turned around just in time to see the tiger take a leap, ready to pounce and move in for the kill. It practically seemed to soar through the air, and when it landed, it was just mere yards away from us.

  And then its growls quickly turned into loud and panicked wails. Its massive body squirmed, unable to regain its footing as it began to sink into the ground. Had the creature not been trying to kill us just moments beforehand, the sight of it sinking would have been tragic.

  “What’s happening?” one of the girls asked. “Q-Quicksand?” Nasheeda said, breathlessly.

  I nodded. This wasn’t exactly how I’
d wanted them to find out about it, but there was no use denying it or beating around the bush now. “Yeah. That’s why I said stay toward the edge. And that’s why animals never come out this way.”

  “Why didn’t you just tell us we were walking past quicksand?!”

  “Because I didn’t want any of you to panic,” I said. “I was going to tell you afterward, but . . . well, it doesn’t matter anymore. Anyway, now you can see firsthand why you must never walk out toward that ground.” I cast a meaningful gaze at each one of them. Since the secret was out, I figured I might as well let the rest of my intentions be known. “A lot of our forefathers’ enemies met their deaths here. And if the Eagle-Headed Thunder God favors us, so will the king’s army.”

  CHAPTER 25

  I knew there was a cave at the top of the rock; I would never forget it. The first time I’d come been in the jungle, I’d retreated into that cave to hide from Remington because I hadn’t wanted him to see that I’d been close to tears. It had taken him a while to find me. The whole time, I’d been trying to give myself a pep talk so that I could muster the courage to walk past the quicksand again on the way home.

  “So—do you plan on living in here then? Should I just tell your parents that you let a little quicksand shatter your confidence?” Remington had said when he finally found me.

  I brought the girls to that cave.

  “Is it safe?” Shiva had asked when the first got there.

  “Of course it is,” Nasheeda retorted. “Do you think she would purposely put us in danger at this point?”

  I smile. Nasheeda and I had certainly come a long way from the time we first met.

  Regardless, I felt obligated to check out the cave first, just to ensure there weren’t any unexpected or potentially dangerous surprises lurking inside. When the coast was clear, the girls all began to settle into the cave, desperate to get some rest after such an eventful day. The trek up the rock had been long and exhausting, as evident by the fact that everyone almost instantly fell asleep.

  Everyone except me, that was.

  Long after everyone else had fallen asleep, including Tonabi, I left the cave. I stood at the top of the rock, looking out over the expanse of jungle before me. On some level, I was exhausted, but I was restless and knew there was no chance of me getting any sleep. I was far too preoccupied with obsessively reviewing my plan in my head, carefully reflecting on every detail and trying to make sure it was all foolproof.

  I couldn’t kid myself though—my apprehension extended beyond just worrying about the plan I was brewing; I was also worried about Remington and Adey even though I tried so hard not to think too much about them.

  Hours had gone passed now, and they still hadn’t shown up. I’d been hoping Remington would have met up with us way before now. Yet, I knew I couldn’t delay my plans on his behalf, especially since there was no doubt in my mind that Tonabi’s absence had been noticed by now. With him being so important to the king, guards would have been sent out immediately, and it was imperative that they attempted crossing the grounds to get up to this rock. So we couldn’t have waited for Remington on the lower ground. That would have been pressing our luck too much.

  Plus, at the end of the day, I just had to keep faith in Remington. He was smart, and hopefully, whenever he arrived, he would know that if we weren’t at the previous location, then he needed to come to this rock where I had once hidden in the cave.

  “You don’t sleep much, do you?”

  Startled by the unexpected voice, I jumped and turned around to find Nasheeda coming toward me. I offered a small smile. “Neither do you, apparently.”

  She shook her head. “No. I still have nightmares. You know, about my brother . . . Makes it hard for me to sleep sometimes, and whenever I do fall asleep, it’s not for long. I never seem to make it through a whole night these days.”

  “Oh,” I said, and then fell silent, not knowing what else to say. I knew all too well how she felt, though. The image of the dead Arnazuri bodies littering the ground was something I would never forget as long as I lived. I occasionally still saw flashes of the sickening scene in my own sleep.

  “I’m not bothering you, am I?” Nasheeda asked, misinterpreting my silence as annoyance.

  I quickly shook my head. “No, not at all. I’m just keeping watch.”

  “Mind if I stay out here with you? I can help you keep watch. We can take turns, just in case you want to rest your eyes for a little while. I’ve gotten my rest for the night and doubt I’ll be getting any more sleep any time soon.”

  I smiled again. “I’d like that. Thank you, Nasheeda.”

  I headed back to the cave, peering in briefly just to see that the other girls and Tonabi were still sleeping. For a moment, I surveyed the area, trying to find a space to occupy. But I quickly changed my mind and settled myself right at the cave’s entrance so that I could still see outside into the surrounding jungle.

  Apparently, I’d been far more tired than I realized, for I found myself waking up from what had been a pretty deep slumber. Hearing commotion around me, my eyes fluttered open and I realized the other girls were waking as well.

  With a yawn, I sat up, stretched, and made my way out of the cave.

  Nasheeda sat a short distance away, still wide awake. “Good morning,” she said. “Good morning. Thanks for keeping watch.”

  She nodded. “No problem.” “You didn’t see anything, right?”

  “Nope. Nothing but some dragonflies, but they were harmless.”

  Not before long, the rest of the girls had emerged from the cave to peer out at the jungle below us.

  “You know, it’s actually kind of pretty,” Shiva observed. “From this level, I mean—when we’re not surrounded by quicksand and tigers and tree vines waiting to trip us at every step.”

  I laughed. “I shared the exact same sentiments the first time I came out here.”

  “Somehow, I find it hard to believe that much scares you, Genesis,” one of the girls teased.

  “You’d be surprised then,” I said, smirking. “Anyway, you can all see how being up here gives us a clear advantage, right?”

  “Yeah. Because we’ll be able to see what direction the king’s guards come from,” Shiva said.

  “Exactly. I stayed up late last night thinking about it. I’m pretty sure they’ll most likely come from the west, past the cacao trees,” I said, pointing. “So that means we need to watch for them emerging from over that way.”

  “How much longer do you think it’ll be before they get here?” asked one of the others.

  I glanced at Tonabi, who was seated at the entrance of the cave, his hands still tied, his expression still annoyed, and his stomach still growling.

  “Well, King Henry is bound to want him back immediately,” I said, “so I doubt it will be much longer. That’s why we just have to stay watchful. At the first signs of their arrival, we’ll see them from here, but they won’t be able to see us. So when they show up, we need to shoot at them from up here, on this side. Basically, the idea is to shoot from a direction that will force them to run straight into the quicksand.”

  A low rumbling laugh drifted toward us. We all turned around to see Tonabi sneering. His shoulders shook up and down with his laughter, and his hateful eyes locked with mine. “You think shooting arrows at the king’s guards will do anything? You think something so mundane will actually make guards with their kind of training panic?” He rolled his eyes. “Then you really are just as stupid as I always thought, and your dumb little plan is going to fail miserably.” He spat. “As if a few little girls armed with bows and arrows will mean anything to the royal guards. Pathetic! I can’t wait to see the bloodbath they unleash on you.”

  I stared after him, my fists balled so tightly at my sides that they hurt. Anger coursed through my veins and I felt the overwhelming urge to punch him in the mouth, hopefully knocking a few teeth out in the process.

  My lips snarled, but no words came out.

&
nbsp; Because deep down, I feared he may have had a point. “It’s a good thing we brought guns then.”

  I froze, the voice that had spoken catching me completely off guard but sounding like music to my ears.

  I turned around and saw Remington emerging, having reached the top of the rock. He looked at me and smirked.

  I felt like a ton of bricks that I hadn’t even known I’d been carrying had been lifted off my shoulders.

  “Sounds like an excellent plan to me, Genesis.” Remington then looked behind him. “What about you guys? Do you all agree?”

  A chorus of cheering voices erupted, and shortly thereafter, Hawk members began to make their way up the rock behind Remington. All of them were armed with some kind of weapon or other, including ten of them who were carrying guns.

  A cursory glance at them all showed that there were about fifty of them in total. Most notably, however, was the fact that the majority of them were girls and women. Only the ten carrying guns were male.

  Remington came to my side, and just stared at me for a moment, his gaze intense. “Are you all right?”

  I looked into his eyes and smiled. “Yes. Never better.”

  CHAPTER 26

  I continued eyeing the Hawk members that had shown up, and the more I did, the more some of my initial jubilance started to subside. Thinking about the king’s army and how enormous it was suddenly made it really sink in how few we were in number. Additionally, the fact that there were so few men was even more upsetting, particularly since they were the only ones among us who’d had any gun training.

  Tonabi’s taunting words echoed through my head. I suppressed a shudder.

  Remington stared at me, undoubtedly reading my mind as he was always so prone to doing. He moved closer. “I tried my best, Genesis,” he said softly. “I wanted to round up as many Hawk members as I could, but this was all I could manage.” He gestured to the Hawks grouped together, standing several feet behind him. “I explained to Prince what we were doing and tried to get him on our side, but he wouldn’t go for it.” He frowned and shook his head. “He just flat out refused to help. And most of the men didn’t want to go against his orders. I think we underestimated how many of them already feel loyal to him. They feel that since he was the one chosen by the gods to lead the Arnazuri people, going against his wishes is the same as going against their wishes.” Remington sighed again and a deep frown formed on his face. “I mean—not that I don’t see their point, because I do. It’s just that—I believe the gods lead people through a process. We don’t always automatically know exactly what we’re supposed to do straight from the start. The gods aren’t that blunt with their instructions. I can’t pretend to know how they work.” He paused and looked upward to the sky. “I just feel that if we believe in what we’re doing and have the power to do it—well, that strength comes from the gods too. Prince isn’t using the strength he’s been given yet, but he’ll come around one day.”