by J. A. Marlow
Ayden shifted, pulling off his backpack. He said quietly, "That means we're safe. Bunts have a good self-preservation instinct. If they're out in the open, then the Shadow Creatures have moved on. Lucky for us the fog moved in when it did."
"Lucky?"
"It destroyed our scent trails."
Kate let out a long breath. "I can't believe we survived that. How many of them did you get with your axe?"
"Maybe two. It's hard to tell." He looked up at the tree above them, "I'd like to know what happened back there."
"So would I. I thought the bunts always hid. They didn't do that tonight."
Ayden studied the trees around them. "I wonder if they called them."
Kate turned her anger on him. She didn't need help thinking things up. She had a great imagination all on her own. "Oh great. Now you are suggesting talking trees?"
"The group out there was pretty big. The bigger they are the more intelligent they are. So, the trees could have communicated with them." At her expression he rolled his eyes at her. "Bunts can translate. They can act as one in a group. Haven't you noticed?"
Bunbun poked his head out Ayden's coat. She reached out and scratched him between the ears. "Just how smart are you saying those things are?"
"Individually, not very smart. Together? Who knows the limit. Think a group mind." He handed her a small package holding a thin folded blanket. "That's why they can translate. The group mind can understand what is going on around them and adjust for it. To hide or to fight. To locate food and water. To pass on to the individuals what the others know."
"I've never heard anything like that about them," Kate said, settling against the tree, keeping vigilant for any movement past the protective veil of leaves.
"If one isn't in the forest it wouldn't be noticed. The Gatherers live here." Ayden said, setting aside a blanket for himself. "There is an entire social dynamic in the forest those in the city know nothing about. The bunt groups would make great universal translators."
"Social dynamic," Kate whispered, her eyes darting out to the fog. "They knew how to kill him."
"What?"
"The Shadow Creatures. They boasted how they took off the mark of the Watcher before the trees could react. I think they meant the patch of red on his fur." She fingered her cape. "The trees didn't start reacting until I had my hand back on my cape."
"Diasis made sure you had it off before attacking," Ayden said slowly. He exhaled sharply, reaching out to touch the material. "I don't know what that cape is, but don't take it off again."
Kate nodded, "You don't have to tell me that twice. Grandma always told me to wear it anytime I left the city. Stupid thing is that Grandma made it. I watched her. Why did Diasis say it was theirs?"
"Never trust a Shadow Creature. It could be they simply recognized it as a protection for you." He pulled a small pack of food out of his pack as he settled his back against the trunk, his shoulder brushing hers. "Eat and then rest. Once this fog lifts we'll have to move fast."
Kate gratefully accepted the package, finding it filled with small chunks of dried fruit. She managed a few pieces, but her stomach didn't want food.
Leaves rustled above their heads. Limbs extended or retreated from the fog. Low creaks and soft pops accompanied the movements. A forest in movement, some active and feeding, others withdrawn and sleeping.
The sounds and movements should feel soothing. After all, it was just the forest being the forests. Much better than the noises the Shadow Creatures made. Yet the sounds went right through her head.
Kate moved her back, trying to get comfortable. It was going to be a long night.
CHAPTER TEN
The meal at the restaurant appeared delicious. It smelled exquisite, the presentation perfect.
But it tasted like dust, laying heavily in Mary's stomach.
Travis sat across from her, intent on keeping up the bland conversation to distract her. Not one word about Kate or her mother.
And it wasn't helping. Not at all. Instead of feeling soothed and the center of attention, she felt annoyed and angry. The emotions confused her.
"I would feel a part of the family. My late brother and I are a direct reason for its success the last few years."
Mary snapped her attention back to him. "What?"
Travis smiled, his eyes soft, "You've said the same thing yourself many times. I'm willing to buy the partnership. It would be nice to be a true part of this company and family. Truly a part of it."
Mary's mind flew to catch up. She set down her fork after an unsatisfying bite of the fish, "First a partnership with a company on Sirius 7 and now you?"
"It's only fair."
"This was not the time to bring this up," Mary snapped. She rose from the chair, nearly causing it to fall over. "My daughter is missing, my Mother is not answering, and you keep pushing? What is wrong with you?"
She pushed her way out of the restaurant, her face burning from the stares following her.
She found her way outside to a balcony running the full length of the building. A part of her felt relief Travis didn't follow her, another part angry he didn't try.
The line of trees at the edge of the settlement glowed in the moonlight, making her realize she'd come out on the forest side. The glowing movements of the trees mocked her.
The forest. Sitting there, so innocent looking, the hills covered in fog.
But she knew better. She knew how it moved, how it could change people. How it changed her mother.
The moment she had her daughter safely in her arms she planned to take them both as far from it as possible.
#
Kate checked the ties of her cape. Good, all tight.
At some point in the night she'd fallen into a deep sleep. As a result she felt much better to handle the day. The trees looked like trees should, moving only in the breeze.
Or were they? If she really looked closely she could see them moving against any breeze that might be pushing at them. The sounds continued, but she didn't mind so much this morning.
The radiating emotions was what bothered her.
She didn't even try to convince herself that her over-active imagination might be the blame. She could feel it everywhere. Each tree she looked at had a slightly different variation.
The Trailing Willow held itself tight, weary despite the good feeding of the night before. The trees with the halo of branches slashed the air with the tips of their branches, frustrated.
But all the trees felt one thing similar.
Sadness.
Ayden clipped on his backpack, pulling off the staff and extending it to its full length. He stepped out of the veil of leaves.
Bunts ran in and out from under the trees. Bunbun played for a short time and then limped back to Ayden. Ayden picked him up and pulled a few small leaves out of his fur.
Dappled sunlight illuminated his face as he turned towards her, "We don't dare head back towards the city. Who knows how many Shadow Creatures are in that direction. That means we head towards the mountains."
"We have two problems. Warning the city and the death of the Watcher," Kate said, moving out from the protection of the Trailing Willow.
"First the warning. Then we can see if we can find out what to do about the Watcher." He stepped forward with the walking staff. "That means Delta Camp. It's the farthest one out and won't be easy to get to, but they have a high-powered communications relay."
Which meant more hiking. Her feet were going to be so unhappy with her.
Ayden set out at a fast pace, but she didn't complain. She wanted out of the area as fast as possible, just in case any Shadow Creatures decided to come back.
Kate found no remnants of fog in the clear air of morning. Through the trees she could see the tips of the mountains. Heading towards them felt right, for some reason, and it didn't have anything to do with the Shadow Creatures. Or the fog that might build on their slopes the coming night.
She was supposed to do something up
there.
All of it bothered her. Why didn't Grandma pick someone else to do all this? She didn't like the idea of anything or anyone playing around with her mind. Not even Grandma.
They hiked up a small incline where Ayden stopped. Kate sighed with relief.
Ayden grinned at her, "I just wanted to get out of the grove as fast as possible."
"And kill my feet in the process. Hungry feet, I might add. The dried fruit didn't last long."
He plucked a small pod off a nearby bush and handed it to her. "The nuts inside are edible."
Ayden pulled off a few more and put them in his pockets. Kate followed his lead. Then they were off again. Kate peeled open one seed pod and devoured the small dry nuts inside.
But by the end of the second seed pod she found herself with a different problem. A thirst that built with each nut.
"Thirsty?" Ayden asked as he climbed over a log.
"How did you know?"
"The pods do that to a person. And there is the solution," Ayden said pointing ahead of him.
Kate caught up with him and looked where he pointed. At the base of the hill a sliver of blue and silver cut through the forest floor.
She smiled, "A stream? Is it safe to drink?"
"It is with a filter, which I have."
As they grew closer she heard the sound of moving water. The air cooled, giving welcome relief from the blanket of warm moist air of the forest.
Ayden swung the backpack to the ground and opened it up. He pulled out a short tube. "Here, suck through this like a straw."
Kate knelt next to the slow moving water. Cool fresh water filled her mouth. Bunbun appeared on the ground next to her, lapping up the water. She drank a long time, when she realized Ayden was standing patiently next to her.
Feeling guilty, she stood up and handed the tube over to him. "I'm much better now. Thank you."
"Wow, a thank you. I might faint in shock," he said with a grin.
He took his time drinking. Trees across the stream had their boughs dipped in the water as if sucking it up through a straw, as well. Maybe they were.
Kate pulled another nut pod out of her pocket, munching while Ayden finished drinking and put the filter away. A soft whistling filtered through the scrub upstream. Ayden turned towards the sound but didn't tense.
Kate frowned, "What is that?"
A wicked smile crossed his face. "Something very good."
He swung the backpack onto his back and tucked BunBun into his coat. He pulled Kate after him. Through a line of bushes she could see a group of barrel chested four-legged creatures drinking from the stream and grazing nearby.
Ayden pulled a small length of cord out of a pocket and slowly approached one of the animals.
"No way," Kate said, looking at the large animals and then back at him. No way was a piece of string going to help them with something that big. "You aren't thinking? Seriously."
Ayden threw a grin back at her, "Prepare to jump."
He surged forward before she could say anything else. The animals closest to the water ignored his approach. The two closest trotted across to another group of bushes to continue their grazing. Ayden followed, doing his best to get close to one. Each time he got close, the animals would calmly move away.
With a sudden jump he was on the back of one, the string wrapped around the two small horns on top of its head. With a tug, Ayden swung the head towards Kate.
"Time to jump!" Ayden shouted to her. The creature veered off to a nearby shrub to take a big bite of the leaves. Ayden extended a hand down to her, "It's an Oburos steer, not a Shadow Creature. You want to walk the rest of the way, or what?"
Kate groaned. No, her feet definitely did not want to walk the rest of the way. She crept up, grabbed his hand, and let him pull her up behind him. With a tug of the string, the steer moved towards the water. It splashed through the water to the forest on the other side.
The rest of the herd followed. In a short time they led a strange caravan through the forest. The steer picked up its pace, moving in a fast smooth trot through the narrow paths between the trees.
Thankfully Kate found it easier to stay on top than the creature the night before. As she found the rhythm, she let herself relax. Her feet swung easily back and forth, the pressure gone from her soles.
Time melded together as the steer moved down the path. Through breaks in the trees the mountains slowly grew closer. No sight of the fog, either, which thrilled Kate to no end.
They moved through a rough area of big rocks and uneven ground, but the steer picked his way nimbly through the area. The sun peaked in the sky. Still the creature moved forward at a steady pace.
The occasional wind blew along the tops of the trees, causing some of the tree dwellers to protest. But other than that, Kate didn't see any other creatures except a few bunts. In fact, she couldn't recall seeing so few animals around. Even in Grandma's orchard, there was always a creature or two about.
A seed husk hit the top of her head, bouncing off to hit the back of Ayden's arm.
"Oh no, not again," Kate muttered.
Sure enough, the thin limbed tree lemurs had taken up position along the high branches. A flurry of seed husks rained down.
One of the husks bounced off the middle of the forehead of the steer they were riding. The head came up with an alarmed snort. She felt its legs kick underneath. The forest raced by as the steers trumpeted and bawled.
"Hang on!" Ayden warned.
The forest blurred as the steer took off in a full run. The nice easy gait she'd found so easy to ride disappeared into a thrashing, bucking, jerking terrifying ride. She strangled Ayden's middle trying to hang on.
Why didn't the trees stop the annoying attackers? They'd reacted with the Shadow Creatures the night before.
"How do we get off?" Kate shouted.
"Don't jump or you'll be trampled by the ones behind us!"
The thought of that was enough to give her the added strength to hold on. Too bad the cape couldn't help in this situation.
The steers continued, showing no sign of exhaustion. Ayden shouted a warning just before it ran under a low branch. Kate ducked. The branch caught her shoulder, and only her tight hold on Ayden kept her from being swept off the back.
They crashed through a small stream, throwing water over them.
"No, not there!" Ayden shouted, pulling so hard on the string that it snapped.
She could only see trees along another stream. "What is it?"
The image of the trees wavered. Kate closed her eyes and shook her head.
She opened them, finding herself in the middle of setting the dinner table. Her eyes flew to the clock. Dinner was late. Maybe he wouldn't notice.
"I work hard for this family and this is the thanks I get?" her father's voice roared from the kitchen.
Kate groaned. She set down the last of the silverware and flew back to the kitchen.
Mother stood by the oven, mitts on her hands, holding a steaming hot casserole. She had her head down, looking down at the casserole.
And doing nothing. Saying nothing.
Her father, still in the precisely pressed dark suit towered over her, yelling, "I ask for so little. A clean house. Dinner set by the time I get home. What have you been doing all day?"
Kate grabbed one of the baskets of bread, stepping between him and Mom, using it as a buffer, "Mom didn't feel well today."
"Then you should have finished dinner. We're fifteen minutes late dining!"
"Because I was taking care of Mother! Like a good daughter should!" Kate said right back.
Her stomach twisted at the sight of a tear rolling down her mother's face. Why did Father do this? He'd known the night before that she wasn't well. Some perverse part of it hoped her father would come down with it, but then it would mean he would be home from work. No, she didn't wish that on her mother.
"Katherine, I will not have you talking back to me in such a way," her father said. Kate cringed at the
full version of her name. A version she hated with a passion. "This isn't the way to run a household. Mary, aren't you teaching her anything?"
Helplessness welled up in her. There was no way to win the verbal battle, and she knew it.
But with it came fury. How dare he do this to them. Why couldn't they have peace in the house?
The angry face of her father shifted, growing blurry. Green, red, and brown appeared, taking the shape of a forest. A forest they were still running through at top speed.
She brushed away the tears on her face, the other hand still having a death grip on Ayden's belt. Where did that memory come from? She hated the memories, hated to even think of him.
Ayden rode with his body low on the steer, his shoulders shaking as he hung onto the neck. He wrenched Kate's hand off his belt. "Go away! Leave me alone!"
Kate grabbed the backpack instead, but the fury in her made her reach up and slug him in the arm. "What do you mean leave you alone? You're the one who insisted we ride this crazy thing!"
A twig snapping her in the face didn't help her mood any. Ayden turned his head towards her, his face confused. "What?"
"The thing we're riding on! How do we stop it?"
A tree twisted, moving a wall of branches into the trail in front of them. The steer bawled, turning off the path. Another wall of limbs appeared.
Kate did her best to hang on, swaying first one direction and then the next. They crashed into a circle of trees, the center filled with bushes reaching nearly to her waist. The steer suddenly slowed, its noises relaxing into sharp puffs. The rest of the herd bunched around them.
Their mad race ended when the steer abruptly stopped to stick its head into one of the bushes.The sudden stop threw her into Ayden's backpack. The lack of movement and relative silence made her wonder if she was in another waking dream.
The herd broke up to start feeding on the surrounding bushes. Ayden sat up straight, swinging a leg over the neck. "Quick, while they're distracted."
Kate scrambled to follow, not wanting to be on top of the steer if it decided to stampede again. Her feet touched the ground.