by P. L. Smith
"So what happened to her?"
Lethan stared high up into the sky, trying to recall the memories without the pain.
"She was killed."
Lethan pushed himself up from the rock and looked up at their mountain.
"By Yumans?"
"Yeah. But it was my fault. Come on, let's get going."
****
Lethan scrambled up, swinging his leg over the next massive boulder. Once he was up, he leaned back over holding out his hand to Jak. She had to jump to reach it. As soon as he felt the grasp of her small hand, he heaved her up onto the rock. They collapsed on the large boulder. Despite the cold, they were both covered in sweat.
They had repeated the process more times than Lethan cared to count. The smooth granite boulders seemed to go on forever. The passing clouds of mist seemed to only add to the endlessness.
"We've got to find water today. I can barely swallow," said Jak.
Lethan lay there on the rock, not wanting to move. The rock was almost warm, and it felt good. He squinted up through the mist. The light that did pierce the veil made his eyes hurt, but then everything hurt. His calves were still a charred mess, his thighs ever sore and trembling from the climb, and his arms and stomach felt as though he wouldn't be able to lift himself from the rock.
"What are we doing out here Jak?"
"We are going to find the Maji, Lethan."
"We don't even know if we are going the right direction. For that matter, we don't even know the Maji exists! We're out here in these frigid mountains with no water, no food, and no idea of where we are."
"We keep moving east. When I see the right mountain, I'll know it, and he does exist. We'll find water today and we can start dropping down to see if we can find some game closer to the tree line. We're going to be fine. Just please don't lose it on me Lethan. I'm having enough trouble keeping it together myself."
Lethan sat up, wincing from the pain in his abdomen. He glanced over at Jak with one eye closed, the sunlight brighter on the mist now. Jak looked exhausted, and Lethan saw a hint of hopelessness.
"All right. Let's do it. Let's find water and drop down and find some food to keep going until we find this Maji of yours. Then we can get back, and kill the damn queen and her Firejacks."
Lethan pushed himself up and grabbed Jak's arm, dragging her to her feet. He looked at her again, and it looked like some color had returned to her face, a bit of life. He was about to say so, when he spotted something behind her.
"Look water!"
He turned and dropped to all fours next to a small pocket of water on top of the rock, not much bigger than the size of his fist.
"I doubt it's safe to drink. Look at all the bird crap. We're not that desperate yet," said Jak.
Lethan sat back on his haunches, his excitement deflated. A bee buzzed next to his ear, and then around his head. He swatted at it but missed. The bee flew around and landed on the tip of Lethan's nose. He cocked his hand back to smash it with his fist.
"You'll break your nose!" said Jak, laughing.
Before Lethan could strike, the bee left his nose and half flew, half fell into the small puddle of water.
"It's awful high for bees isn't it? I wouldn't think they could survive the cold up here," said Jak.
"No... neither would I."
Lethan watched as the bee walked itself out of the water staggering around on the rock, leaving a small wet trail behind.
"It must have gotten lost or caught in a storm and blown up here," said Jak.
"No. Bees don't get lost. They can... look at that!"
Lethan pointed to the fading trail of moisture the bee had left. The zig-zag trail was not random; it was letters. Lethan and Jak leaned in close as they read the first word.
FIREJAKS
"Firejacks? Are they here? Are they coming?" asked Jak.
The bee moved back to the water and continued the next word under its first.
TOOK
"Firejacks took? What do you think that means Jak?"
"I don't know, let it finish."
The bee completed three more letters before the trail dried up.
QUE
"Que? Question?" asked Jak.
"Queen?" guessed Lethan.
The bee buzzed its wings excitedly.
"Firejacks took the queen? Where would they take their queen?"
The bee dropped back to the water and began walking again.
MY
"My. Is that the name of a Yuman village or something?"
"Not that I know of. Lethan, I think he means my queen."
Again the bee buzzed wildly, and then returned to the puddle.
"The Firejacks took his queen? Why would they do that?"
They waited as the bee spelled out the last word.
BREEDING
"They're breeding bees and Firejacks," said Jak.
"But why?"
"More drones means a bigger army."
"The queen really is crazy."
"We've got to stop the Firejacks before there's too many to fight."
"Ahuh and just how are we going..."
The bee buzzed around wildly again, and they both looked down at the drying letters.
MAJI
Lethan and Jak read the word, and then looked at each other to make sure they weren't seeing things.
"Well. I guess it wasn't just a dream," said Lethan.
"Bee, do you know where the Maji is?"
The bee buzzed around their heads, and then dove down to wet its legs once again. This time all it drew was an arrow pointing east, the way they were heading.
"Gee thanks, that helps a lot," said Lethan.
The bee flew up and landed right between Lethan's eyes. He thought he could almost see a glare on the insect's tiny face.
"Well at least we know we're on the right track," said Jak.
"Yes, yes. You're right. Of course, we're very appreciative. Thank you."
The bee hesitated a moment, then flew off. Lethan let out a breath, and his brow relaxed.
"Whoever would have thought bees could communicate in the first place?" said Jak.
"All animals can communicate, remember? Maybe bees have just never needed to communicate with us before," said Lethan.
"Desperate times?"
"Exactly. Well, now that our little friend has confirmed our direction, I suppose we should continue. I'm still thirsty."
"Yeah, let's start making our way down to the tree line. We should be able to find water and maybe a little more protected spot to make camp for the night. There's not even anything to start a fire with up here."
"After you, Jak."
Lethan winked, and held out his hand to help her down to the next rock.
CHAPTER XI
Dagan winced as Awney tugged on the leather strap beneath his armpit, cinching the front plate and the back plate of his armor tight.
"Easy boy. You'll crush my ribcage."
"I haven't even got it tight yet. I think I'm going to have to make some more adjustments around your chest. Needs more curve, your sides are still too exposed."
"How's a fighter supposed to move in one of these. I'll be lucky if I can walk to the battlefield without falling over."
"It'll be better once I get it fitted right. You'll hardly even notice it's there. Just think of it as an extra layer of skin."
"An extra layer of skin that I can't scratch," said Dagan trying to wedge two fingers beneath the plate to scratch a spot somewhere unreachable on his chest.
"Yes, well, you'll just have to suffer through that, unless you'd rather be bare-skinned when the Firejacks decide to use your back as a pincushion."
"At least it wouldn't itch."
Awney shook his head, as he removed the plates and hauled them back to his forge. He unthreaded the leather thongs before returning the plates to the coals to be heated again. Dagan looked down the row to the next forge where Tiny was having similar struggles with the Centaur's plating. He thought it look
ed rather comical as Tiny, the big Yuman, attempted to dress Calypso, the leader of the Centaurs with plates of steel.
"Hey Calypso! Just think how elegant you'll look once it's finished!" said Dagan.
He laughed heartily, but Calypso just glared, his arms held up in the air as Tiny fidgeted with the straps at his side. Dagan was nearly wheezing when he heard Awney clear his throat. He stood and turned, and was met with a face full of antlers. Dagan staggered back against Awney's anvil, and bawled in pain as his palm rested on the hot piece of plate. He held his hand tight to his chest, and his pain turned to fury. Dagan glared down at the scared looking young Elapi.
"What's the big idea stag? I should butt you senseless!"
"I'm sorry sir. I didn't mean to... I came to tell you..."
"What? Spit it out."
"There's been an attack. The lumber camp."
All down the line fell silent. Everyone took a step closer to hear.
"Mo-Na! The lumber camp? That means the Firejacks are only a day away! How many survivors?"
The young Elapi shook his head, his forest of antlers swaying in the air.
"There was one Yuman that made it back here to alert us, but he... died, not long after delivering his message. He was... stung many times."
Dagan growled in frustration.
"All right. We have a day before they're on us. I want everyone armored by tonight."
"We've got the armor made, but each piece still has to be fitted to each individual. There's no way we can do it that soon," said Awney.
Dagan strode over, and put his hand on Awney's shoulder.
"You can do it. I know you can. Get each piece of armor fitted enough that it will stay on, and that will have to do. We have to be ready by morning. Our lives are in your hands."
Awney set his jaw and nodded.
"We'll be ready."
****
Mo-Na I hate the snow.
For two days they had been pushing their way through the snow laden mountain pass. The pads of Lethan's feet were raw from the jagged layer of frozen snow. With each step he left small red dots of blood upon the ice. The hard crust of snow easily supported the weight of Jak as she nimbly crossed the great expanses of the blinding landscape. Lethan on the other hand, simply broke through, sinking nearly to his knees with each step. His feet and his legs ached, but eventually the numbness from the cold overtook the pain. Lethan knew that wasn't a good sign.
"Jak!"
The howling wind nearly carried away his voice before it could reach her not ten paces ahead.
"I've got to stop. I can't feel my feet."
Jak turned and made her way back to him. She helped him over to a rock. Lethan's entire body shivered uncontrollably.
"Lift your feet so I can see them."
He did so, and Jak winced at the sight of his pads.
"Lethan, why didn't you say anything? This is bad."
"Not much I could do about it."
"I could have wrapped them, which I'm going to do now, but the damage would have been much less."
Jak retrieved three bundles of cloth from her small pack. She threw one to him.
"Wrap this around your neck. It'll keep you warmer."
"I don't need this. I've got fur."
"Yeah you've got fur, fur that keeps you warm down in the forest, not up here in the mountains. You're shaking like a leaf. Put it on."
Lethan sighed and clumsily wrapped the small scarf around his neck. Jak began wrapping his feet with one of the other scarves and tried tucking it into itself, but as Lethan flexed his ankle, the wrapping came undone. Jak dove back inside her pack and produced the coil of hivelace.
"You're not putting that nasty stuff on me are you?"
"Of course I am. It will keep the scarf on your feet so they don't get cut up anymore."
"I don't think so. I will be fine. See?"
Lethan stood quickly, but as soon as the pads of his feet took his weight, his knees buckled, and he sank back to the rock.
"Quit being a baby. It's not going to hurt you."
"You don't know that. It could poison me!"
"Hardly, I've touched it lots of times, and it hasn't poisoned me."
"Maybe."
Jak huffed and sawed through the yellowish cord with her knife. She wrapped it around Lethan's foot, and tied it around his calf repeating the process on his other foot.
"There. Good as new. They'll be soaking wet before too long, but they'll keep you walking. We'll have to find a dry spot to stop and build a fire soon, or else you're gonna have frostbite."
Lethan looked down at the cord wrapping his legs in disgust. He stood and tested his feet. It did feel better despite getting an occasional whiff of the foul cord.
"I suppose I'll survive."
"You think so?" said Jak with a sarcastic grin.
"Come on. Let's get going. We've only got a couple more hours of light to find someplace dry and out of the wind, if that's even possible."
Jak reached up, standing on her tip-toes and tied a knot in the flapping arms of Lethan's scarf. She grinned, and threw her pack over her shoulder as she set out. Lethan sighed and limped after her.
****
It was still daytime, but the sun had long disappeared behind the dark clouds and the walls of blowing snow. They still had not found any kind of a shelter. Lethan was moving so slowly that Jak was able to zig-zag in front of him searching for a place to hold up. The hair on Lethan's neck refused to go down. He had had the feeling that they were being watched for some time now, more or less since they had stopped to mend his feet.
Now and then he had caught a scent, something foul and not the hivelace. It was more something filthy and decayed and old. He couldn't place it. Twice he thought he heard the crunch of snow behind him, but each time he had spun around and had seen nothing besides the frigid icy dust blowing in the wind.
Jak was beginning to get far ahead of him, too far. He could only occasionally see her through the blowing ice.
"Jak!"
Lethan waited, but he could barely hear his own voice over the howl of the wind.
"Jak!"
She still didn't seem to hear him. He was beginning to get worried. Something was definitely close. He hobbled forward as fast as he could. He saw her, and then he saw a flash of something moving towards her. The wind bit at his skin, and the ice stung at his eyes as he strained to see. He heard her scream and he ran; his feet be damned. The wind whipped around him as he pushed through a wall of blowing ice and slid to a halt just before he crashed into Jak. She was sitting on the ground, rubbing her ankle.
"Jak, are you all right? Where did it..."
Lethan was hit by a wall of stench. He turned and jumped when he saw the source. It's weathered and knobby horns nearly reached the height of Lethan's head. At the base of the horns was an old, wire-hair covered face of a goat, a Yali.
"Get back! Leave her alone!"
The Yali moved back looking rather fearful. Jak reached up and grabbed Lethan's wrist.
"Wait. No, it's okay. He didn't hurt me. I slipped on a rock and twisted my ankle. He just startled me is all."
"Didn't mean harm. Bah! Been following you. Bah! You can't stay out. Too cold. Bah! You come."
The Yali turned and leaped away a few paces, then stopped and waited for them to follow.
"Jak I don't think this is a good idea."
"Why? He seems friendly enough. A little strange, but he's right, we can't stay out here tonight. We won't live to see the sunrise."
"Still, I think we should try to find our own spot."
"I've been looking for hours, Lethan. I can't go on like this. We don't have much of a choice."
Jak pulled at Lethan's arm, and he helped her up to her feet.
"I suppose you're right. Can you walk?"
"I think so. How are your feet?"
"They're all right, I think. Been numb for a while."
"Lethan!"
Lethan managed a small smile, a
nd Jak sighed.
"Quite the pair, aren't we?"
"Quite the pair," echoed Lethan.
Lethan helped support Jak's weight as she stepped forward on her bad ankle. The Yali waited for them to reach him, and then hopped forward another ten paces and turned to patiently watch them catch up.
****
Jak and Lethan immediately felt warmer as they entered the cave, escaping the biting wind. They waited inside the entrance so their eyes could adjust before following the strange Yali further into the darkness.
As he led them deeper and deeper into the heart of the mountain, Lethan's tension, and the stench, intensified. He kept his fingers outstretched, his claws at the ready. Every dark alcove and blind corner was a trap where Lethan was sure a hungry creature was waiting to pounce on them.
Lethan felt Jak's hand touch his arm, and he turned expecting an attack, but she was merely using him to steady herself. He could see she was having more difficulty navigating through the darkened cave, her own eyes not as adept as his. He patted her hand reassuringly.
"How deep do you think it goes?" asked Jak.
"I don't know, but I don't think I'm crazy about going much further."
"No, me either. I wish I would have lit a torch..."
"Not worry! Bah! It's close. Very close."
Jak and Lethan both jumped not realizing the Yali had come back. Their ears rang from the echo of the goat's bleating.
"Lethan, I think I see something."
Jak was right. Lethan could see a faint glow ahead. As they got closer, they could see the tunnel made a turn. Whatever was casting the light wasn't far around the corner. They were about to turn when the Yali hopped in front of them.