by BC Powell
“That sounds like it should work,” I say.
“Two more Murkovin are on guard, but you can’t see them from here. One is on the far eastern side of the camp and the other on the south.”
After she tugs on my shirt, we scoot back down to the others.
“Jeni,” Sash says, “if you go a hundred miles north and then come back down on the northeast side of the camp, crash the cart about half a mile from the guards. As soon as they head towards you, leave everything behind and get back to the Delta.”
Jeni nods her head in reply.
“You do the same,” Sash says to Roen, “only on the southwest side of camp. That should draw the western and southern guards away.”
“What if they don’t come after us?” Roen asks.
“Pretend like you don’t see them, put everything back in the transport, and walk towards them. They’ll eventually come after you, but they might also call for help. Once they’re after you, don’t wait for us. Leave everything behind and go to the Delta.”
Roen glances at Larn and then at me. “Bring Tela back safely.”
“We will,” I say.
Sash keeps watch from the top of the hill while the rest of us return to the gully to wait out of sight. The time that ticks away is agonizingly slow. We’re all pretty amped-up and ready to get the rescue underway, but we have to wait until Sash is certain that all the Murkovin other than the guards have gone to sleep.
While Jeni and Roen pace up and down the gully together, I skip stones across the dirt. Larn sharpens the tip of his spear on a large rock. After a couple of hours pass, Sash climbs down to the hill and tells us that it’s time to go. Wanting to fuel ourselves with one last dose of fresh, potent energy, we all guzzle sap.
Just as Sash is about to say something to the group, she tilts her face up to the sky. “Darkness is coming.”
“We’ll have better cover,” I say.
She lowers her eyes to mine. “The other Murkovin in camp could wake up for sap during Darkness.”
“It doesn’t matter. We’ll be fine.”
“Why do you think that?” she asks.
“During Darkness, the craving for sap is so strong that it’s hard to think about anything else. Believe me. I’ve been through it. If they wake up, all they’ll think about is sap.”
“But they’re more violent during Darkness,” she counters. “If they see us, we can’t fight them all.”
“They do become more violent,” I reply, “but also more irrational. The guards will go after Jeni and Roen because they’ll be angry and won’t be able to control it. The ones who can blend their light can’t go very fast during Darkness. It’s hard to concentrate. We’ll have the cover of dark to get in and won’t have any trouble getting away once we have Tela.”
Sash looks down at the ground while thinking about what I told her. “We’ll have to trust Chase on this,” she eventually says, raising her face to the group. “He’s right that Darkness will help us get to the camp unseen.”
“What if Tela leaves her cavern?” Larn asks.
“Then we’ll wait for her inside,” she answers.
As the last word exits her mouth, the clouds covering the Barrens tumble into motion and the light fades away. With almost pitch black surrounding us, rain descends from the sky. The dark soil of the wasteland is soon drenched in water.
“Is everybody ready?” Sash asks.
“Now’s as good a time as any,” Jeni answers in a quiet, monotone voice that’s barely audible over the rain.
Chapter 36
“You two go now,” Sash says to Jeni and Roen. “Stop roughly one hundred miles away from the camp so they don’t see you. After you stop, give us to the count of two thousand to get in position. Then crash the transports as close to the guards as you can, but make sure you have space to get away. Larn and Chase, follow me.”
“Everyone stay safe and stick to the plan,” Larn says.
Jeni and Roen step to the transports and grip the handles. They briefly struggle to get their footing in the slippery ravine, but soon sail away in opposite directions.
Sash guides Larn and me up the gully to the east. As we run through a newborn stream, it quickly rises to our ankles. The gully eventually ends at the first of the smaller hills that lie between us and the Murkovin camp. After climbing out of the ravine, we jog around the hill until we reach a pile of large boulders. Sash halts us by raising one hand.
“We’ll have some cover along the way,” she says. “Much of the time, we’ll be out in the open and in view of at least one of the guards. Stay behind me and do what I do.”
“Wouldn’t it be better to just travel to the camp?” I ask.
“No. It’s easier for them to see us if we’re in a blend. A few large rocks are in the open spaces. We can stop behind those if we need to. I’ll keep an eye on the guards, so watch me for any signals.”
“What do we do if they see us?” I ask.
“I don’t know,” she answers. “That isn’t part of the plan, so let’s not be seen.”
“I like your optimism.”
“It may be our best weapon,” she says. “When we reach the last of the low hills, we’ll wait there until the guards go after Jeni and Roen.”
“How far is that from Tela’s cavern?” Larn asks.
“A few hundred yards. When we get to her cavern, I’ll stay outside to keep watch. You and Chase go inside to get her. Do whatever you have to and do it fast.”
“We will,” Larn says.
“If she’s not there, come out and get me. Are you ready?”
Larn nods his head.
“I’m ready,” I tell her.
“One more thing,” she says. “Let’s try to blend in with the ground.”
She drops to her knees and rolls her spear in the wet dirt. Once it’s coated with mud, she leaves it on the ground and scoops up as much muck as she can with her hands. As she smears it over the top of her head and down the length of her hair, the scarlet streaks are gradually hidden.
“Hide the color in your hair,” she says to Larn and me.
Larn and I both sink to the ground and coat our hair with mud. We also roll our spears around in the wet dirt like Sash did to hide the shiny steel as much as possible. The torrents of rain will soon wash it away from our spears and heads, but the mud gives us some kind of camouflage to begin with. If we need to, we can always add more along the way.
Sash grabs her spear and crawls to the edge of the pile of boulders. Arching her neck, she peeks around the rocks at the northern guard. I don’t know how she can spot him through the blanket of Darkness over the wasteland. The hills around us are nothing but almost imperceptible outlines against dark, swirling clouds. Sash suddenly looks in the direction of the Murkovin on the westernmost hill.
“Get ready,” she says, tensing her muscles.
Larn and I both coil, waiting for Sash’s command.
“Now!”
Staying low to the ground, Sash bolts across the flat area between us and the next tiny hill. With the wind shrieking past our ears, Larn and I follow close behind her. Keeping watch on the guards, Sash turns her head from side to side as she runs, but Larn and I stay focused on Sash. Although we all slip in the mud several times, we make it across the quarter-mile of open space without being seen. When we reach the hill, we hide behind the cover of a steep bluff.
After we catch our breath, Sash leads us around the side of the hill. She immediately decides that neither of the guards can see us, so we sprint across the next span of open ground. Over and over, we repeat the process, zigzagging our way across the flats and hiding behind small hills and large boulders.
While crossing the last of the open spaces, Sash suddenly dives to the mud. Larn and I both throw our bodies to the ground and slide across the wet, mushy dirt. When we come to a stop, we raise our heads to check on the guards. They’re both less than half a mile away from us now. I can make out their pale shapes on the hilltops, which means th
ey could see us as well. The northern guard is looking away from us, but the western guard seems to be staring straight in our direction.
Lying in the mud for close to a minute, none of us makes a move. The rain pounds down on our bodies while puddles of water grow by our sides. Dull reflections occasionally shimmer in the wet flats, which is what I hope the guard believes he saw. He finally turns his back to us.
Sash scoops another handful of mud and spreads it over her hair. After Larn and I do the same, we check to make sure the guards aren’t looking in our direction. Slithering on our bellies across the black sludge, we pull our bodies with our hands and push with our feet. By the time we reach the last of the low hills, the muscles in my arms are numb.
Sash leads us around the hill to a semi-secluded spot with a clear view of the guards. They’re no more than a few hundred yards away from us.
“Be ready,” Sash says quietly. “The moment they head towards Jeni and Roen, follow me to Tela’s cavern.”
While Sash spies on the guard to the north, I focus on the Murkovin standing watch on the western hill. He takes a few gulps from what appears to be a Traveler’s canister. After he finishes his drink, he jerks his head to the south. The beast takes two steps forward, studies something in the distance, and then runs down the hill away from us.
“One guard just left,” I say to Sash.
“The other one is looking at something,” she replies. “It has to be Jeni.”
“We’re ready,” Larn says.
“There he goes!” Sash exclaims.
She zips into the open towards the valley that leads to Tela’s cavern. Trying to keep our footing through the slippery dirt, Larn and I stay right on her tail. When we reach the narrow valley, we continue towards a sheer face of rock on the side of a steep hill.
At the base of that hill, the valley forks around the bluff. We veer to the south, but three silhouettes cross our path about fifty yards away. Glimmers of white shine from their black hair. Slipping and sliding in the mud, Sash cuts hard to her left. With a dull thud, she flattens her body against the side of the bluff.
I lose my footing while trying to follow her and splatter to the wet ground. After Larn slams into the wall of rock beside Sash, they both arch their necks to see if the Murkovin spotted us. Lying face down in the mud, I stay as still as a corpse, afraid to even breathe.
“They kept going,” Sash says. “I don’t think they saw us.”
I spring from the ground and scramble to the cover of the cliff. Sash and Larn step away from the rocks to scan the land around us.
“We’re almost there,” Sash says. “Let’s go slower to be safe.”
At a much more cautious pace, we jog the final hundred yards to Tela’s cavern. Although we continue to scour the terrain for Murkovin, we don’t spot any along the way. The vertical wall of rock beside us gradually angles down until forming the steep slope of a hill. When we reach a cavern entrance in the bottom of the hill, we come to a stop and check around us one last time. Sash raises a finger to her lips to keep Larn and me quiet.
“You two go in,” she whispers. “I’ll go up this hill to keep watch.”
Sputtering through streams of water that flow down the slope, Sash fights her way up the hill. Larn and I wait for her to get halfway to the top before squeezing into the tunnel that leads to Tela’s cavern. With me in the lead, we feel our way through the dark passage. The gurgling of a waterfall in front of us becomes louder with each step we take.
I come to a standstill when I feel the wall of the tunnel curve into what seems to be an open space. Reaching out a hand behind me, I stop Larn with a palm to his chest. If Tela is asleep inside the cavern, we can catch her off guard.
“Be ready,” I whisper to Larn.
Priming my muscles to leap inside, I wait a few seconds while listening for any movement. It’s impossible to hear anything over the spill of the waterfall.
“Light,” I say.
The purple glow that I became so familiar with while trapped in the Barrens gradually illuminates a small cave. My eyes dart around the room in search of Tela, but there’s nobody inside.
A crude, wooden table is pushed up against a wall on one side of the cave with a wooden stool underneath it. On the other side, a mattress lies on the ground. A small waterfall pours over the uneven rocks at the far end of the cavern. After slowly leaning my head through the entrance, I snap it to the left and right to make sure no one is hiding on the sides.
“It’s empty,” I say to Larn. “Keep watch on the tunnel in case she comes in.”
I take a few steps inside the cavern and then stop to look around. I don’t know what to expect in a typical Murkovin habitat, but the room seems bare to me. There’s no pillow on the mattress and nothing on the table. Although there’s a couple of steel spikes driven into the wall near the bed, no clothes are hanging from them. The only other item that indicates a person might dwell here is a small bundle of black fabric near the foot of the bed.
I walk to the ball of fabric and lift it from the ground. It’s a pair of black pants with the legs cut off around the knees. I’m positive they’re the same pants that Tela had on the last time I saw her. I toss them to the ground and hurry back to Larn.
“This is definitely Tela’s cavern,” I say, “but she’s not here.”
“Let’s get Sash and come back inside to wait,” he replies.
“Dark,” I call out to extinguish the grubs.
Running my hand along the wall, I follow Larn through the tunnel. When we reach the end, the relentless storm is still in full force outside. Larn leans his head out the entrance and looks back and forth a few times. Confident that no Murkovin are nearby, he steps outside. After facing the slope that Sash climbed up, he squints at the top of the hill.
“Sash is gone,” he says to me.
Chapter 37
I fly out of the tunnel and look up the hill. Scouring the slope, I search for any sign of Sash in the shallow washes or behind boulders. Through the shroud of dark, I don’t spot her anywhere.
“Let’s go to the top,” I say to Larn. “Maybe she’s on the other side.”
After a quick check of the valley around us, Larn and I slosh up the steep slope. In the continuing onslaught of rain, we both lose our footing and slip to our knees. Using our hands to claw through the mud, we grapple our way towards the top.
“Sash,” I call out in a loud whisper when we near the crest.
We pause for a moment to see if she appears from the other side. Larn glances over his shoulder to make sure no one is behind us and then we scurry the rest of the way up the hill. Trying to find Sash, I immediately aim my eyes down the slope on the other side.
“Chase,” Larn says. “Look over there.”
I focus my eyes in the direction that Larn points. The backside of the hill we’re on slants down to a narrow valley. On the far side of the basin, the ground rises again to another small hill. On top of that knoll, under ominous churning clouds, Sash and a Murkovin woman are locked in furious combat. Each time their spears clash, a sharp clang rings out through the rain. I’ve seen Sash butcher three Murkovin in a matter of seconds, but in this battle, she can’t seem to get the upper hand.
The woman is a little taller than Sash. Other than that, they’re built almost exactly the same. The only distinct difference between them is that the woman’s long hair is laced with the ivory of a Murkovin instead of the scarlet that highlights Sash’s mane. It’s hard to tell for sure in the dark, but their facial features seem eerily similar. Every move they make, every attack and block, contains the same strength and agility. They could easily be mistaken for sisters.
“She needs help!” I blurt out.
“Let’s go!” Larn says.
We jump to our feet and storm down the backside of the hill. Swinging his head back and forth, Larn watches out for Murkovin while I keep my eyes trained on Sash. She thrusts her spear at the woman’s stomach, but the woman bounds backwards and avoi
ds the tip. The woman counter-attacks with a jab of her weapon at Sash’s head.
As Sash catapults her spear up to block, she karate kicks one foot at the woman’s knees. The woman leaps over Sash’s foot, lands firmly in the mud, and fires a fist at Sash’s jaw. Sash catches the hand in hers, but a knee to Sash’s groin sends her stumbling backwards.
Off-balance on the slick dirt, Sash smacks the shaft of her spear against the side of the woman’s head. The woman staggers a few steps to her side while Sash regains her footing. Larn and I reach the small valley below them and race across the open space towards the hill they’re on.
Plotting their next moves, Sash and the woman crouch and stare at one another. At the exact same moment, they both lean forward and flare into light. A split-second later, Sash and the woman reappear on the opposite sides of each other.
With our mouths dropping open, Larn and I slide to a stop halfway through the valley. It’s almost beyond my comprehension that they blended their light from a virtual standstill. Even more amazing, they instantly came out of the beams after traveling only a few yards.
Now ten feet apart, Sash and the woman whirl towards one another. Although they both coil again, neither one attacks. They’re gasping for breath, obviously exhausted from a fight that seems unwinnable for either one.
“Look out!” Larn yells.
He grabs my shirt and hurls me to the ground. When I splash to the mud, Larn pivots his body to avoid a spear that was aimed at my back. As the attacking Murkovin tries to stop, he skims across the wet ground. Larn rivets his weapon into the creature’s back. After driving him to the dirt, Larn rips his spear out of the body and then drills it back down into the Murkovin’s skull. Out of the dark, a second beast speeds at Larn from behind.
Popping to my knees, I lunge my weapon at the second Murkovin. He arcs his spear over his head and swats the shaft of mine down to the ground. As Larn spins in the direction of the brute, the Murkovin plows his shoulder into Larn’s gut. With the Murkovin on top, they both topple to the wet ground beside me.