Badass and the Beast: 10

by Shrum, Kory M.

  “Momma!” she called with the trace of air left in her lungs. The weight departed and she could breathe again. The beast moved away, harried by the birds. “Sand! Smoke! Come.” The birds broke off their attack as she sat up, wincing from the pains of being knocked over and the pains of landing and the pains of everything else. “Momma! I’m sorry!”

  “I’m not your momma,” the leopard said, its voice a growl in the darkness. “I’m Falain. Damn that hurt.”

  “I’m sorry. I thought—I thought you were going to kill me.”

  “Obviously. And obviously you were wrong, weren’t you? Oh no, it’s happening.”

  Zoe stood and approached the dark shape that crouched and licked its upper forelimb. “I’m sorry!”

  “I heard you, child. Be still. I’m not angry with you. By Far, I hate this shape.”

  Before Zoe’s eyes, the beast’s form began to flow, shifting from feline to something else—to a creature both beautiful and regal. Zoe gasped. “How? What are you?”

  “I told you, I’m a púca.”

  “You’re beautiful.”

  “This would have been so much easier if I’d been able to come to you in my native form, but time isn’t our ally. I forgive you, Zoe, for your fear. Goodbye.”

  “What? No! Don’t leave!”

  The noble head lifted and the eyes shone. “Find the door,” Falain said, “and the road beyond.” From somewhere above, a bright light shone down on the púca.. “Like this one. Come!” But even as the words rang the air, the beast and the light disappeared.

  “No! Come back!” Zoe lunged at the spot, but found it truly empty. She looked around and saw Sand and Smoke perched on the ground beside her. “What have I done?”

  Tchak.

  “Oh, Smoke! What have I done?”

  Shivering awoke her. Raising her head from tingling arms, Zoe gasped at the sparkling substance that covered the ground around her. Frost. She had learned about it when her mother taught her what snow was. But, like the white mantle on the mountains, frost had always been an abstraction until she saw it with her own eyes. She sat and beheld the world, gripped in a layer of icy water. It was beautiful, but she understood that it was also deadly. Another concept, winter, now entered her thoughts, and seeing it for the first time was unsettling. Winter had come to the land, and Zoe no longer doubted Falain’s words. Airzots was dying.

  While the moonlight lasted, Zoe had dug. Now, she turned back to that endeavor and appraised her progress. The metal strip had proven to be a panel. A panel that now stood taller than she. It was flat and smooth except for a thin, perfectly straight seam that outlined a smaller rectangle within the larger. Around the panel, the excavation was nearly vertical as the sand at these depths was damp and well-packed, but she worried that continuing to dig would cause a collapse that would bury her alive.

  Find the door…that’s what she said. “Sand to guide her feet, and Smoke the doors defeat.”

  Tchak.

  “Is this a door? It looks like it could be.” But there was no handle and no hinges. A frown creased her brow, and it occurred to her that the hinges must be on the inside. “It’s meant to be pushed!” She laughed and leaned into it, the metal cold even through her fraying leather mitts.

  Nothing happened, and she kicked herself for her excitement. How many times did I end up bumping, pushing, and leaning against this thing last night while I dug? She shook her head. Stupid.

  “How do you defeat the door?” she asked Smoke.

  He looked up from where he huddled with Sand. Tchak.

  “Yeah, thanks.” Maybe the handle was deeper underground or off to the side. She glanced up. Or maybe it was the writing? Do I need to do something to it? The symbols were now twice her height up the wall. How awful would that be? Her gaze continued upward, to the cliff top, and she blinked. This isn’t a real cliff, it’s a wall.

  “Smoke!” She squatted and picked him up. “This is a door.” She thumped it. “Fly up and over and open the door.” It can’t be this easy.

  Tchak!

  Smoke flapped away, and she watched until he disappeared over the top of the cliff. From a young age, Smoke had figured out how to open all sorts of things, including the latch on the door of their house. Her mother knew that,so she must also know that he could open this door.

  She ran up the slope to retrieve her pack. “You want some breakfast?” she called back to Sand. The pack and bow were where they had fallen the night before. Zoe stared at the scuff marks in the sand and the spots of frozen, dried blood that glistened like jewels. The knife was over by the wall, exactly where she had thrown it. “I’m sorry, Falain.” She retrieved it and wiped the blade clean before stowing it.

  Back in the pit, Sand stared intently at the door. “Do you hear something?”

  Kak.

  “Good.” She sat and waited, eating the last of the jerky and feeding pieces to Sand. Minutes went by. She drank some water and shared it with Sand. They had plenty to drink, but were almost out of food.

  Tchak!

  She looked up. Smoke dropped like a stone along the wall. He pulled up at the last minute and glided in to land next to the pack. Zoe glanced from him to the still-closed door and back again. I was too hopeful. She hung her head for a moment. Back to digging.

  Tchak! Smoke fussed with the pack.

  “What are you doing?”

  Tchak. He pulled at a strap with his beak.

  “You want it open?” She lifted the flap, and Smoke dove inside, pulling out the near-empty bag of jerky. “Oh, you’re hungry.”

  Tchak!

  She untied the thong at the neck and opened the bag. Smoke grabbed the bottom edge and bolted into the sky, spilling the last few pieces of meat onto the ground. “Hey! What’s gotten in to you?” He flapped away, straight up, obviously struggling with the weight of the leather.

  Sand took off, overtaking him in seconds. Kak! She snatched the far edge of the bag and muscled into the sky, pulling Smoke along until he let go. Again, Zoe watched until they disappeared.

  “What are you two doing?”

  She stared at the door until it threatened to make her mad. Out in the desert, the patter of meaty-ores had become nearly constant and the half-sky had taken on a dull, washed-out appearance. The sunlight that shone on her skin gave no warmth. “Were you right? Is my world dying?”

  Something scuffed the ground above her, and she glanced up, expecting to see Sand or Smoke. Instead, several long faces stared at her from the rim of the pit. Coyotes. Her father had pointed them out once, warning her to stay away from them.

  “Hyah!” she yelled and waved her arms. “Go away!”

  They shied off and disappeared. Climbing to the lowest edge of the pit, she caught sight of them again and watched as they ran off to join some others. And others—cats, deer, elephants, and other creatures were pouring out of the desert plain toward the cliffs. It was the last safe place.

  Everything changed color. “What?” The half-sky was green and the sun was orange. Together, they flickered, and went out.

  The darkness was absolute.

  “Oh.” Looking around, she panicked, smothered in black. She backed down the slope and found her belongings. She packed them by touch, finally tying the bow into place. As she did, she heard a sound above her again.

  “Hyah!”

  The sound continued and seemed to move around the rim, down to the lowest point, the place she had been standing only minutes earlier. She heard snuffing sounds and the remembered voice of her father, telling her that some animals hunt by smell, so they’re active at night.

  “Great. Hey! I’m bigger than you, so go away!” she yelled into the darkness. She held the pack out in front of her in her left hand and gripped the knife in her right. She thought, for a moment, that she could see her hands, but she knew that it was impossible to see in the dark. She pressed her back against the cold metal of the door and did not feel quite so vulnerable. The snuffing grew louder. “Go away,
go away, go away!”

  The skin of her back felt the click even when her ears did not hear it, and the door started to move behind her, shedding pale light that grew as the crack widened. A startled pig looked up and joined Zoe in blinking before it turned and trotted off.

  “A pig!”

  She laughed and turned to the door, glancing through the opening. A drop of greater than her height confronted her, so she sat on the rim of packed sand and slipped down into the space vacated by the door. Praying it would not close, she hit the ground and stumbled, but quickly stepped around the door and into a tunnel. It stretched above her to at least three times her body length, and she marveled for a moment at the height of it and of the door. On the ceiling, a panel glowed like the scraped hide windows her father had made for the house.

  Tchak!

  Kak!

  The birds swooped out of the darkness. “Hey, you two! Great job!” Sand landed on Zoe’s shoulder and accepted a feather rub, but Smoke landed on something by the door.

  Tchak.

  “What is it?”

  His perch was a thick, metal handle hanging out of the wall above her head. The food bag, bulging now, hung from one end by its stout loop. Grabbing the bottom of the bag, she managed to pull it from the handle, which then folded back into a cavity in the wall. The thick door stopped moving. She peered inside the heavy bag and found hundreds of small rocks. She laughed again and glanced at Smoke. “You clever bird!”

  Tchak! He made the short hop to her shoulder.

  Hefting the bag, she appreciated why it had taken so long to open the door. Each rock had been found and flown into the tunnel to be deposited in the bag until it had been heavy enough to operate the lever, which apparently controlled the door somehow.

  “Thank you!” She rubbed Smoke’s feathers with her free hand. “What’s down here?” She faced the dark tunnel, able to make out a few details as it stretched away. Taking several steps, she was startled when a panel on the ceiling glowed, joining the one over the door. “How does that work?”

  Tchak.

  “Yes, of course you don’t know.”

  The tunnel ran one-hundred-and-four steps and was arrow straight. It led to an open space, unilluminated by the feeble glow from the tunnel. However, she had a sense of its size from the dark purple lights evenly distributed throughout the space. Whether stars or magic candles, she could not tell, but they blinked in unison, and in both directions, they led off into the distance until they appeared to become a solid line that dimmed to non-existence. The space evidently ran behind the entire wall.

  Distantly, a calm voice spoke words that she could not understand, repeating some message. She walked toward the sound, but jumped back when glowing purple letters and symbols appeared on the ground in front of her. She looked at them and felt the radiant green intensity of the key awaken. The symbols did not change, but they now seemed to vary in importance. As she watched, the symbols flowed, appearing and disappearing in a folding, twisting manner that made her eyes hurt after a few moments. She focused only on the ones in the middle, which seemed to help. Finally, she saw one that the key made known was important. “This,” it seemed to say in her mind.

  “Okay, what now?”

  The symbol flowed aside, so she followed it to the going-aways and the flow reversed, popping the symbol back into existence. “That one!” she yelled and reached for it with her foot. The flow stopped, the symbol expanded, and slid forth across the ground. It slowed and stopped. “Follow,” the key said.

  Zoe took a step and the symbol resumed moving. She followed it across the smooth ground until it ran into a large, broken rock. Even here the sky was falling. The symbol winked out, but instantly reappeared on the far side of the obstruction. It led her to a covered walkway and then a door. Again, the scale was huge, being three times her height. And again, there was no handle on the door. She stared at it, waiting for the key to do something, but it was silent.

  Smoke took off into the darkness overhead and hovered for a moment, pushing against the wall with his talons. Zoe frowned. She could not tell what he was trying to do, but Sand also flew up and looped around. She could not hover as well as he could, but she did for a few moments and then took off.

  Kak!

  She returned, flying fast, turned her body sideways, and dove into the wall as if she was attacking a bird. She hit and sprang away, and the door slid into the wall, allowing weak light to spill out. “Wow, you two!” She peered up at the wall, looking for a handle, but could see nothing.

  The symbol waited on the other side of the door, so Zoe stepped inside and her birds fluttered down to take their usual roosts. They were in a room scaled for giants. Seating surfaces were above her waist and table tops sat at just above eye level. The space appeared to be a dining room, comfortable and efficiently laid out. She saw a few things that she recognized as dishes, but no evidence of food or recent activity. Gawking at everything had wasted several moments, and when she looked at the symbol on the floor it was noticeably dimmer than before. Moving toward it caused it to return to full brightness and begin flowing across the floor again. It led her into a broad corridor and past several doorways, most of which were closed, but a few were tantalizingly open, revealing rooms beyond, populated with giant furniture and other things she wished to explore. She turned away from the symbol and it immediately dimmed.

  “What? No! Can’t you just sit there for a while and let me explore?” She took a half-step forward and the symbol dimmed further. When she stepped back to it, it brightened to full strength. I could always go back to the open area and pick up the symbol again. “And if something should happen? What’s more important, curiosity or Momma and Papa?” Without hesitation, she stepped toward the symbol.

  It led them along several more corridors, and they were approaching a door emblazoned with the same symbol when there was a distant roar. The symbol on the floor changed from purple to bright blue and a wailing noise assaulted their ears, causing Sand to squawk. The symbol became a hundred or a thousand, flashing up from the floor in sequence, leading up to the door. Zoe ran to it and pushed, but nothing happened. Backing up, she could make out a rectangular spot on the wall. “Is that what you pushed?”

  Tchak!

  “Sand, go!”

  Sand did not move. Zoe glanced at her and found her frozen, her eyes wide and beak open. “I know it’s loud. Let’s get in there. Maybe it’s quieter.” Sand did not move. “Sand! Go push the thing!”

  Bright blue symbols began flashing on the walls, and the key in her mind whispered, “Danger. Atmosphere compromised.”

  “I don’t know what that means!”

  “The air is going bad,” said the key.

  “Sand, please!”

  She flew, but onto the floor and into the corner. Smoke flapped up the wall and pushed against the rectangle, but he could not activate the door. The floor vibrated under Zoe’s feet, and the corridor lights went out. The symbols pulsed faster, and new ones mixed in with the previous ones. “Back-up power only,” the key said. “Evacuate.”

  “I’m trying! Open the stupid door!” She jumped as high as she could and slapped at the rectangle, but she missed by inches. Her ears popped. She jumped again and missed. “My bow!”

  Unslinging her pack, she threw it to the floor and tore at the thongs binding the bow in place. The wailing was growing quieter, and she panted. At last, the second thong released and she stood up, and nearly fell. Her ears now hurt. The corridor slewed sideways and dark spangles appeared across her sight. Leaning against the wall, she stretched upwards with the bow and pushed it against the rectangle. The door slid open and a blast of air hit her. She let the bow slide down her arm, where it wedged against her chest, and leaned down to scoop Sand up off the floor. She struggled, so Zoe gently squeezed.

  “Smoke!” she called and stooped again to grab the pack and toss it through the door.

  Tchak!

  She saw him hop over the little bit of wa
ll that stuck up from the floor, so she dove in after him. A voice spoke, and the door started to slide shut. “Close!” She could barely hear her own words.

  The door finally sealed with a faint thud, and Zoe heard hissing. The voice spoke again. I wish I knew what he was saying. The key remained silent. After a while, the hissing subsided, her ears stopped hurting, and the lights on the wall changed from bright blue to dark purple. “Pressure stable. Proceed to evacuation area,” the key whispered.

  She gazed at her birds. Smoke had hopped onto her chest and was nudging his companion. Sand was still in Zoe’s hand, unmoving, eyes and beak wide open. “Hey, sweetbeak.” She ran her fingers over Sand’s dark head and back. “We’ll get you out of here soon and back under the sun and you’ll be fine, all right?”

  Tchak.

  “See? Smoke says so, too.” She stood up and looked at the room she was in. It resembled a tubular hallway with a water-filled door at each end. “Whoa…that’s a window!” She stared at the clear material that looked like water but held its shape like stone or wood. She finally tore her gaze from it and looked at the bright blue symbols that winked across the white surface. “Danger,” the key said. “Compr—”

  Zoe looked away. The other door was unblemished with symbols except the one that she had been following on the floor. “Emergency egress,” the key finally said.

  “I don’t know what that means.”

  “Last chance exit,” the key said.

  She grunted and peered through the window in the door. The room beyond was the largest she had seen yet. There were several plain white doors along the walls and even more blank white circles surrounded by colored hoops. About a third of the hoops were bright blue, while the remaining ones were purple. As she watched, one of the purple hoops began to blink and changed to blue, rising in intensity until it shone bright. According to what she had observed here so far, purple was good and bright blue was bad. “Oh no.” She reached for her bow to cycle the door, but it was not on her shoulder.