by Lizzy Ford
Speaking to him would require Tiana to enter the cabin, when she intended to enjoy her first day of freedom. She moved out of the way of another of the Natives and sat on the porch. Two horses were loose in a small paddock to the side, and wires providing electricity were strung up in the nearby trees. Once, long ago, Tiana had toured the lower levels of the great pyramid with Matilda and seen the room where an older man with wild hair made electricity. The outer city relied on an underground river, and she could not help but wonder what the Natives used.
The midday had grown too warm for her cloak, though a chilly breeze prevented her from doing more than unfastening the top button. Melting snow dripped into puddles or formed a muddy slush. Trees creaked in the breeze, and the forest was otherwise quiet.
Two Natives joined Warner, and she heard them speaking through the open doorway. The other Natives who escorted them this far had melted into the forest, leaving her alone on the porch to admire the world around her.
One of the horses whinnied, and Tiana became curious of the elegant animals once more. Would the Natives’ horses react differently to her? She pushed herself off the porch and walked around the side of the cabin, slowing when she neared the paddock.
The horses shifted to the far side of the paddock and began pacing, their ears flipping forward and back, and their nostrils wide. While she knew little about horses, she understood their agitated behavior to be born of discomfort, if not fear. Disappointed once more, Tiana gave the paddock a wide berth and went toward a dirt road much wider than the trails they had taken through the forest. She recalled the map she had created out of years of eavesdropping and collecting tidbits of information from her brother and books. The road probably led to a village, though she was finding it harder than she expected to understand with certainty where she stood relative to the map.
She started to turn away when movement caught her attention. Tiana squinted into the forest, trying to make out what she saw. Brush shifted, and a sapling waved, as if someone or something had bumped it.
She glanced around then pushed her hood back and started forward, towards the movement. One of her few books had been on forest animals, and she was excited to see which one hid in the trees and brush around the cabin.
Entering the forest again, she made her way through sludge and bramble in the direction where she had seen the brush move. When she arrived to the spot, she saw no animals at all. Gazing around, she spotted more movement and started forward again.
For ten minutes, she followed the tantalizing clues left by an unknown animal deeper into the forest. At long last, she reached a clearing filled with small piles of snow and large puddles.
A low growl reached her ears, and she sought the source without finding it at first. The swishing of a tail came from her peripheral, and she spun, awed by the great cat crouching no more than five meters from her. With a coat as golden as the sun and eyes a shade darker, the great cat resembled the illustration in her book so perfectly, it could have been the very animal the author drew!
“You are beautiful,” she whispered. “I believe you are called a cougar, are you not?”
The cougar growled again and glared at her. She studied it, admiring its thick coat and the smooth musculature beneath it. Its paws were larger than her hand, and wide, fuzzy ears pointed in her direction.
“I am a visitor in your beautiful forest,” she told it. “I mean no harm.” She smiled, knowing it could not possibly understand. Never in all her dreams had she believed she would ever be here, in the forest, confronting an animal she had read about in books. “This is the best day of my life!” she said, tears in her eyes.
After a long moment, the cougar rose from its crouch. Its lips uncurled, and it stood, relaxed.
Swallowing hard to keep from crying, Tiana took a cautious step forward, towards the animal. From what she read, cougars were not friendly. But she had also read that wild animals often did not view humans as dangerous, especially those who had a symbiotic relationship with the Natives who shared their territories. She wanted to see if it ran from her, as the horses wanted to, or if it would allow her to approach it.
The cougar showed no sign of fleeing. Neither did it crouch threateningly again or bare its teeth at her. Encouraged, Tiana crept closer and closer, until she was within arm’s reach.
The cougar eyed her and then sat on its haunches, panting.
She stretched out a hand cautiously. The animal remained. When Tiana’s fingertips met the thick, downy fur of its head, she grinned. She ran her fingers over its wide head to an ear and then to its neck. Shifting to its side, she buried both hands into the fur ringing its neck.
The cougar made a strange sound she took to be non-threatening. It rubbed up against her insistently. She scratched its neck.
How was it that horses ran from her but a cougar did not? Tiana stood with the great cat in the quiet clearing, scratching its neck and occasionally stroking its head, listening to the forest around her.
The cougar stood abruptly and tensed, staring into the forest. She followed its gaze and saw the Native half hidden behind a tree. A flare of panic lit within her, and she yanked up her hood, hoping he had not been there long enough to notice her deformity. The cougar shook itself out and slinked away, headed the opposite direction of the Native. It loped into the forest and vanished among the shadows.
Tiana stood, hunched and tense, and waiting for the Native to react as Matilda did, whenever she looked too long at her late stepmother with her deformed eyes.
“Are you … hurt?” the Native asked in halting English.
She peeked towards him. He had ventured from the forest and stopped two meters from her.
“No,” she replied.
“You … know this … cat?”
“No.”
He was silent long enough for her to glance towards him again. The Native with dark hair and eyes was studying her. He appeared around her brother’s age and wore layers of wool and fur.
A whistle came from the forest. The Native turned and placed two fingers to his lips, blowing a sharp response. He motioned for her to follow and led her back to the woods, towards the direction she had come.
Thankful he had said nothing about her eyes, Tiana followed him back to the cabin, where Warner was pacing.
Relief crossed his features as he spotted her. “Did I not tell you not to wander off?” he demanded.
“I am fine,” she reassured him. “How do you feel?” Already, there was color in his features again.
He glanced towards three Natives, who spoke in hushed tones. One of them was the young man who found her in the clearing. “Better. The Natives have turned penicillin into tea. She gave me enough for a week.” He lifted a canteen that he had strapped across his chest. “I see you met our tracker. His cousin was a friend of Arthur’s and our guide for the Winter Hunt. He was with us in the encampment when …” He drifted off, and a shadow crossed his features.
“When what?” she asked. She had been too absorbed in her quest, and surroundings, to ask him what happened.
“I cannot discuss it,” he said in a clipped tone.
“Because my father forbids it?”
“Because it makes no sense, even to me, and I was there.”
She opened her mouth to prod him into describing what had attacked her brother’s camp, when the Native tracker spoke.
“No horses?” he asked quizzically, addressing Warner.
Warner shook his head. He responded in the Native’s tongue, and the tracker glanced towards her. He nodded and pointed towards the road leading further west.
“We start there,” he said.
“But we need to go east, do we not?” Tiana asked.
“Village … death.” The tracker stopped and spoke to Warner in his tongue.
“He says a village was wiped out, and they think the danger remains in the woods,” Warner translated. He had tensed and was frowning.
She tilted her head, sensing he was not tell
ing her everything the tracker said. Was it another tribe or an animal that wiped out the village?
“Trust me. We don’t want to run into whatever it is,” Warner said. “Are you well? Hungry?”
“I am well, thank you. We must find Arthur soon.”
“I know that,” Warner said impatiently. He motioned to the tracker, who began walking to the road leading the opposite direction Tiana wished to go. Trusting those around her, she nonetheless followed without objection.
The tracker stayed ahead of them about ten meters. Tiana made every effort possible to be normal and not to let the beautiful forest distract her and cause her magic to act out. The day grew even warmer, until it resembled spring rather than late winter, and the men with her shed their outer garments. She kept her cloak in place and the hood up, in case the Native looked back and saw her eyes or they met other travelers walking the road.
By evening, all signs of the recent snow had vanished beneath the heat wave, leaving a soggy forest. Their guide led them off the road at twilight and onto a muddy path through the forest, this time headed west.
They ate on their feet and continued walking after dark fell. Tiana’s heels were blistered and her body beginning to ache from exertion and lack of rest, but she was too anxious to find her brother to consider slowing down or complaining. The moonless sky and shadowy forest conspired to prevent her from seeing more than a yard or two ahead of her, and the temperature dropped until her breath was visible once more.
She trailed the tracker and occasionally glanced over her shoulder towards Warner to ensure he was still present. Unable to make out his features, she hoped he was well enough to continue as long as they had to walk this night. Her focus turned from the forest to placing her feet the best she could. Mud clung to her boots and caused her to slide off the trail more than once.
A couple of hours after leaving the road, a high-pitched shriek rang out from nearby.
Tiana froze. The sound was followed by a wail, this one farther away. Soon, a chorus of eerie screams sounded.
Warner uttered curses she had only heard Aveline use before.
“This is why horses,” the tracker said sternly.
“Horses are not an option!” Warner snapped in a whisper. “Are they close?”
The shrieks came from all around them, and Tiana struggled to match the frightening sounds with descriptions from her animal book. What kind of animal made such a horrifying sound? Not bears, or wolves, or cougars. Were these nocturnal birds of some kind?
Very large birds, she thought and flinched as another shriek sounded.
“Too close,” the tracker answered. “This way. Run.” He spun and darted forward.
“Warner, what –” Tiana asked, perplexed.
“Not now!” Warner snatched her hand and followed the Native.
Their guide plunged off the path into brush. Tiana allowed Warner to pull her along without making much sense of the darkness around her. Branches smacked into her face, and brush tangled with her cloak. More than once, she was brought to a standstill when she tripped over a fallen log or low branch. Warner hauled her back to her feet with sheer strength and carried her until she had her footing again.
She stole looks back when she could manage to but saw and heard no animal pursuing them. The strange cries remained at a steady distance from them. Whatever the men feared, it was not gaining on them.
The tracker led them to another trail, and the forest stopped impeding their escape. Tiana was soon breathless from the pace that showed no sign of slowing. Her hood fell away as she ran. Once or twice, she glimpsed flashes of white from her peripheral but when she tried to look directly at whatever it was, nothing was present.
They raced through the forest, across a wooden bridge straddling a half-frozen narrow creek, and back into the forest. She lost all sense of direction in the mad dash away from an invisible pursuer.
At long last, when she felt as if her lungs were going to explode in her chest, and her thighs were on fire, she careened into Warner, who stopped too suddenly for her to avoid him. He was panting, as was the Native, who stood near the mouth of a gaping cave.
The shrieks had kept pace with them and were circling closer.
“Go,” the tracker breathed and gesticulated towards the cave. “Empty.”
Warner led her into the darkness, and the Native followed.
“Warner, what –” she tried again.
“Hush!” he snapped. “Go as far back as you can.” He released her hand and gave her a push towards the back of the cave. “No matter what, stay out of sight!”
Tiana tripped over a rock and steadied herself against the rough stone wall. The cave was tall enough for her to stand up straight, without her head reaching the ceiling, and too low for the men to do the same. She navigated the uneven floor and boulders of all sizes scattered along the floor. Focused on her task, she went as fast as possible, understanding the men’s urgency without knowing what it was they feared.
She fell hard on her knees and hands. Tiana sat back with a grimace. She wiped her hands on her cloak and peered around her into the darkness. The silence struck her as odd, and she twisted to face the mouth of the cave.
“Warner?” she whispered. She heard no sounds and sensed no movement indicating the others had followed her.
No answer.
Another shriek ricocheted off the walls of the cave, becoming creepier and higher pitched as it bounced around her. She covered her ears until the sound faded.
“Warner?” she called again, lowering her hands.
Her heart racing, Tiana climbed to her feet and turned around, heading back towards the front of the cave. Flashes of white filled the mouth of the cave, and she frowned. What were these creatures? Nothing in her book on forest animals remotely resembled what she glimpsed.
“Warner!”
No response.
Tiana neared the front of the cave, immersed in identifying what manner of animals had them surrounded. A flurry of movement, white fur and hair …
Someone grabbed her around her arm and yanked her from the center of the cave to its edge. Pain fluttered through her as he gripped her forearm in the last place she had cut herself. She gasped, and a hand crossed her mouth.
Ghouls. She heard his thought in her mind.
They’re real. Part of her had always known this to be true, based on how many different people had spoken of them, despite her brother’s attempt to convince her the human predators were wives tales.
The tracker released her, and she shifted to face the mouth of the cave. Leaning around him and the wall jutting out from the side of the cave, she tried once again to make out what a Ghoul really was.
A sudden chorus of wailing left her covering her ears again, and she shifted back. Movement came directly across from them, from an alcove. Warner was staring out at the Ghouls, gripping his knives.
Just as suddenly as the wailing began, it stopped. She held her breath and lifted her hands from her ears without lowering them completely, in case the Ghouls started again. Silence came from the front of the cave. For a solid five minutes, no one moved, and Tiana barely dared to breathe, in case her breaths broke the quiet.
Finally, the tracker shifted past her, blocking her view, and motioned to Warner.
“No move,” he whispered to her.
The two of them moved stealthily to the center of the cave. Neither spoke. Instead, they communicated through a quick set of hand signals. The two waited another few minutes. The tracker drew a firearm and knife, while Warner slid a sword free of its place at his back. The two were tense.
Tiana twisted her hands together beneath her cloak. She watched as they moved at last and approached the front of the cave with silent steps. They paused at the entrance of the cave before exiting. She started to relax, happy the threat was gone.
A flash of white moved with inhuman speed across the front of the cave. Deafening screams drove her to her knees and resounded off the walls. Pain shot t
hrough one ear, and it began to ring as loudly as the shrieking. She gasped and squeezed her hands over her ears. Dizziness fluttered through her, enough so, she struggled to stay balanced on her knees. A shout came from outside the cave, this one very human, along with what sounded like a small explosion.
Tiana hunkered down where she was. The silence outside of the cave was lost on her, until she recovered from the pain and ringing of her ears. Dazed, Tiana climbed to her feet, one hand over her hurting ear, and the other bracing her against the wall. She made her way to the mouth of the cave, concerned for Warner, and not about to remain in the cave if the creatures screamed again.
She stared at the tall creatures possessing a kind of ethereal elegance she did not know existed. They were more human than beast, with similar body structures, though their features left her no doubt as to how inhuman they also were. From skin white as snow, to eyes blacker than the sky, and fangs like the cougar’s … the Ghouls defied any idea she had ever formed of what one would look like. In her mind’s eye, she had always believed them to resemble the great white bears of the north rather than a person.
A groan came from her right. Two of them knelt over the still form Warner, their faces and hands splashed with brilliant red blood, while three others crowded over them. The tracker’s rigid, unmoving body was to her left.
Fear and horror shot through her, and she recalled the night Matilda had tried to murder Aveline. Adrenaline and energy coursed through her as she saw another friend in danger.
“Warner,” the choked word left her mouth before she could stop it.
Two creatures slid between her and him, and she looked up, oblivious to the hot tears on her cheeks. Suddenly, she understood why Matilda had insisted Tiana’s mother was a Ghoul. Their eyes were like hers – inky blackness that swallowed the whites of their eyes. They were peering into her soul, and she was viewing the emptiness of eternity in theirs.
The ringing in one ear became a buzzing. It filled her skull and trickled down into her body, where it met the uncontrolled magic responding to her emotions.