“Birdie,” Otto shouted. “You in here?”
It made her jump and she cursed herself under her breath for being startled over something so stupid. She came around the side of some beast of a machine and found the older boys had arrived and were coming into the ship as well. “You said these were the people who taught you how to sing the way you do?”
Otto nodded and explained, “The little ones weren’t here yet. They had a ship malfunction and landed on the lake. It wasn’t too long until other ships came to look for them.”
Bernadette didn’t know there were others outside their planet. She wondered if her people knew anything about it. If they did, they probably wouldn’t have told her. It was likely locked away in the restricted zone, guarded away from her.
If they didn’t like the jungle boys, what would they make of people who didn’t possess the ability to speak their language without a group effort? Bernadette looked to the sky with its full moons and wondered where they had come from. There was so much she didn’t know. She wanted to understand it all so much, but she felt as though she’d never reach those distant moons.
The boys were running up and down a set of stairs from inside the body of the ship, some of them laughing and playing a game. Bernadette followed them up, nearly tripping on Adam as he chased Gabe. It made her smile to see that Gabe was forming bonds with the rest of his brothers. Tom and Jon were circling the deck.
“Did it break when it landed?” Bernadette asked.
“Naw, this happened when the lake dried up,” Cal said.
Otto was pacing where the ship had broken apart and looking below. Most of it was intact except for the very front. Looking down, she could still see the middle of the vessel jutting out where the lake had once been. It was highly defensible. All they had to do was lock the door.
“The wolves won’t be able to open a door,” she said.
“And when they come,” Tom said, holding up his bow, “I’ll be ready.”
Jon nodded with all seriousness. They all knew this was a test of survival as well as new skills for the future. It was Adam that didn’t understand the tension at the moment. “What? You going to hit him with that bent stick?”
“Never mind.” Cal laughed. “Just watch and you’ll see.”
#
That night, the makeshift wooden bridge was drawn, and the door locked from the inside. They made a fire beside the stairway so that the smoke could clear through the only opening in the cabin. None of the boys seemed comfortable within the confines, and she couldn’t blame them. As far as she could tell, nothing could be switched on, but the metallic tang of the iron from the machinery only heightened the anxieties.
“Why can’t we sleep up top?” Adam asked.
“It’s warmer in here. We don’t have to worry as much about a fire,” Bernadette reminded.
“But we still had to build one to cook rabbits anyway.”
“Yes, but if it dies out in the night, no one will need to stack it with wood.”
Adam threw a piece of meat into the fire. “Someone’s going to be awake all night anyway.”
Bernadette hated to admit he had a point. The cabin seemed safer to her, but to the boys, this was a cage. They slept there for her sake or for the novelty of staying indoors, perhaps. She looked around the cabin. It wasn’t quite home, but it would do. They had plenty of food and clean water nearby. It was a safe shelter from animals or the elements. It would be hard to have a baby without a place of residence. Like it or not, they had to find a more permanent place to stay and raise the baby.
The boys took turns patrolling the top deck at night. They fought over who was doing to climb the ladder of the center pillar and sit in the man-sized basket up top. They finally agreed that younger ones like Tom would take the first watch, followed by Jon, then Bernadette, Cal, and lastly, Otto. Bernadette had no desire to climb into the high nest, but it seemed that adventure dictated she at least tries it once.
She dreamt that night of trees and the fields outside the Mármaros. It was mostly images and nonsensical things until she felt her body rocking back and forth. She was suddenly in the rolling hills during a quake. Bernadette was running and falling over from the movement underfoot, grasping at anything to keep upright. No matter how hard she tried, Bernadette was unable to stand and was forced to crawl as the wolves howled nearby.
“Birdie, Birdie,” Cal said as he shook her awake.
Bernadette rolled over to find the plump boy kneeling over her.
“Birdie, something’s going on outside.”
The fire had been put out with dirt while she was sleeping, but she could still smell the lingering smoke. Cal must have extinguished it recently. Quietly, she slipped from the bed, leaving Gabe and Adam fast asleep as she followed Cal to the deck of the ship.
He was ducking down to stay out of sight, so Bernadette did the same. They joined Otto, Jon, and Tom at the railing and looked out into the distance. “Look there,” Tom said. “She’s been out there for an hour now.”
A dust storm had kicked up below them, so it was difficult to see, but from the storm, a tall, lean woman emerged. She had her dark hair pulled back tightly and wore loomed clothing. With her were three domesticated wolves Bernadette’s people used for hunting. It was not a wild pack. Her people had sent a hunter after them. Bernadette’s heart thumped loudly in her chest. She fought the urge to run and hide.
“It’s one of the Mármaros servants,” she told the boys, confirming her fears that her people would continue to pursue her to the ends of their world. “They sent her to find me.”
“There’s only one of them, though,” Tom pointed out.
That was right. This one hunter couldn’t possibly bring Bernadette back on her own. Even with three wolves, there was no way. The wolves were massive and searched with hungry eyes. They were all a scruffy grey and had enormous paws. They appeared muzzled, probably for the hunter’s safety, as wolves could never be fully domesticated.
Bernadette calmed her trembling breath. She had an idea. “I’m going down there to talk to her. I need for all of you to stay here,” she whispered.
The boys shouted protests, but Bernadette wouldn’t let up. “She can’t take me by herself. Tom, do you have arrows ready?”
Tom nodded. “But I haven’t practiced since Adam broke the bow Alexi gave me a long time ago.”
“If I raise my hands and wave, shoot.”
Looking at their worried faces broke Bernadette’s heart, but she couldn’t risk them going down there with her. The hunter could set her wolves loose on the boys if Bernadette refused to go with her, assuming that was what she was here for. If the boys stayed up here, they would be safe no matter what.
She went down the stairs to look at Adam and Gabe, who cuddled together. She kissed them each on the forehead gently before opening the door. “Lock it behind me,” she told Otto. “Remember, she won’t kill me. If she acts as if she will hurt me, go below deck and hideout. If she takes me, I’ll come back,” Bernadette promised.
Even in the dark, she could see Otto was crying. Bernadette wanted to tell him she was sorry and that everything would be okay, but how could she make such a claim?
Bernadette helped Otto slide the plank down to the ground and, once it was steady, she turned to nod at him. He reluctantly closed the door, and Bernadette marched down to the hunter with as much courage as she could muster.
She walked around the ship and towards the hunter. The wolves growled and poised to strike, but the woman made a clicking noise and the wolves moved behind her. They were well-trained. She must have been a high-ranking hunter to come this far.
Bernadette could see that the woman was older than she looked from a distance—near the middle of her life. Bernadette could see the lines and sun damage on her skin. “You came for me.”
The woman nodded and gestured in the direction of the Mármaros.
“You can speak to me. I can understand your language.”
The woman looked apprehensive. Perhaps she no longer remembered her native tongue. It seemed difficult for her to speak the words. Her jaw shifted around in her mouth behind closed lips before she said, “You must go.”
Bernadette shook her head. “I can’t go back. They are wrong about the jungle people. They are lying to me and I don’t know what about.”
“I must take you back.”
“Tell them you found me dead. My body is too heavy for you to carry back.”
The woman pondered this as her wolves licked their lips. “They will die without you.”
“They will die no matter what.”
That was the truth of it. Bernadette could no more save the Mármaros people any more than she could provide their legacy. Even if she did give birth to another of her kind, it was not a promise that their lives would carry on. They were stone, rigid, and unyielding. Unable to survive in the lush and exotic world around them, they enslaved those who could and shaped their servants into believing they were lesser beings.
Bernadette put her hands on her stomach as a way to prevent the servant from seeing her hands shaking. The woman’s eye drawn to the bump and her eyes went wide. “You have a baby inside you.”
“They won’t accept the baby,” she said. “You know that.”
The woman nodded. Something went through her mind then, but Bernadette couldn’t make out what it was. Was it remorse? She pulled out a dagger. “Give me some of your hair. I tell them you are dead.”
Bernadette gave a quick thumbs up for the boys to see when the woman reached for her dagger to hand it to her. The woman made two clicks and the wolves sat and waited obediently while the hunter approached Bernadette. She handed the knife to Bernadette handle first and Bernadette gladly sawed off a fistful of locks and gave them to her.
She took the blade and the hair back before eyeing Bernadette. “It is hard to live out here. Even with guides.”
It seemed she was aware that Bernadette wasn’t alone. For a moment, Bernadette thought about snapping the woman’s neck like the twig it was before breaking the backs of each of her dogs. She was stunned by her thoughts and couldn’t help but wonder if it weren’t something to do with the baby. Maybe she felt differently about violence now that she was a mother.
“Here, take these,” the woman said, handing Bernadette a bag.
“What is it?”
“Supplies. I go now. Good luck.”
“Thank you.”
Bernadette made her way back to the ship. The moon glowed behind the vessel, giving the illusion that the boat was sailing in the moonlight. She paused to admire it while she investigated the contents of the bag. There were some dried fruits and meats, some cheese, and a waterskin. When she returned to the porthole, Otto was waiting. He opened the door and looked around before locking it once she entered.
“She just left?” Otto whispered as the moved past the sleeping children and onto the top deck.
“I think they just wanted confirmation that I was dead. There’s no way one servant could carry me back.”
“Well done,” a developed male voice said from the top of the pole.
#
It was Alexi. Bernadette pinched her arm to make sure she wasn’t dreaming. He was indeed there. Bernadette could only stare as Alexi slid down the ladder and approached her. It felt so surreal when he embraced her and nuzzled her face with his own.
“I’ve tried my best to confuse them, but that woman was cunning,” Alexi said, looking in the direction of the hunter.
“Is that where you’ve been this entire time?” she asked.
The boys said he usually stayed with them on most nights but hadn’t since she arrived. Was that what he was doing this entire time? Was he steering the hunters away from them? She felt guilty for ever thinking anything negative about Alexi. He was doing the best he could to keep them all safe.
He gave a slight nod. “You’re not safe here.” He turned and braced Otto’s shoulders. “You must head for the great cliffs. I know it’s further than you’ve ever traveled, Otto, but you’re a man now. You know the way?”
“Follow the second moon’s path,” Otto replied.
Alexi smiled his pirate smile. “Pack up and wake the babies.”
“Tonight?” Bernadette asked. She was disappointed that they couldn’t spend time together alone.
“She will tell others. More will come. We must get you out of here. I’m going to cover your tracks while creating the illusion of your tracks returning to the jungle. Just a little bit longer and this will be over for good.”
Alexi’s words were disappointing, but she couldn’t deny their accuracy. More hunters would come, and it soothed her nerves to know he was looking out for them even when he was not present. She kissed him and grabbed the sack the hunter gave her. She looked at Alexi one last time before going down the stairs to collect the two confused and tired little boys.
#
The pack set out in the direction of the second moon. They set a faster pace than usual, but they didn’t want to run in the night with everyone so tired. That and they didn’t want to make their tracks too hard to hide as Alexi stayed behind to do his work.
She could hear wolves howling and looked back to see Alexi standing on the ship’s deck. It made her stop for a moment, wondering what he would do and how he would do it. He turned to smile at her. In a blink, he was gone. Bernadette gasped and looked around in shock.
Otto took her arm and led her on. “He’ll be all right, Birdie.”
Bernadette was having great difficulty believing her own eyes. She kept looking back and pointing at the place where Alexi was no longer. “Did you see what he did?”
“We told you, he’s not like us,” Otto said.
“I should say not,” she said with indignity.
The group fled away from the ship and towards the second moon. Bernadette had no idea where that was in terms of where she once was. She was growing quite tired of being shuffled around now that she understood that the Mármaros people were chasing her. They knew she was running away yet still insisted on coming after her.
She wondered if the boys had known and if Alexi had been telling them where to go. They had left the camp in precaution of this very situation. The waterfalls seemed more for her entertainment and sense of adventure than anything, but maybe that was the goal—to make her feel like they were in charge and not running away.
As the smaller moon broke away from the larger, Bernadette began to puzzle together what she knew of Alexi. His presence always seemed to coincide with the size of the alpha moon. Her dreams with him came when the moon was out. According to the boys, he could only come out at night. He had eyes that helped him see in the dark and could disappear. Alexi entered dreams and made illusions.
The boys said he wasn’t like them, and Bernadette finally understood why.
Alexi was a god.
Chapter Thirteen
They finally stopped mid-afternoon. Tom and Jon fell to their knees with exhaustion. Cal was panting and out of breath as he plopped to the ground. Otto was pale with fatigue. His hands weakly dredged rocks into a circle and tried to start a fire but just didn’t have the strength in his arms to do it.
Bernadette kneeled and put her hands on his. “Go to sleep. I’ll take care of things.”
If he hadn’t been so tired, he probably would have argued with her, but Otto curled up into a ball before falling asleep. Bernadette knew this was an act of trust, relinquishing his responsibilities for his brothers to her. She gathered debris and small sticks for the fire before striking the blade against the magnesium.
Sparks shot out from the darkness and smoke plumed from the dried grass pile. Bernadette nursed a fire to life for the first time. She unwrapped the furs and covered up the collection of sleeping boys before pulling out the ropes and tied slipknots in them the way she had seen Tom do many times before.
She wandered about setting traps wherever she thought Tom would place them, though she doub
ted any of them would catch rabbits. Bernadette didn’t know if anything lived out here. It was still hot and dry, but the cracks in the ground had healed and the plant life was once again showing signs of green.
Bernadette saw a line of trees and thought they would be suitable for tying off traps as well. On closer inspection, she saw that they were, in fact, apple trees like the ones that grew near the Mármaros. Bernadette rushed to the tree and picked low-hanging fruit until she couldn’t hold anymore. She made a bowl out of the lower half of her dress to keep the apples as she ran back to the camp.
#
The boys were all still asleep at the camp when she returned. Bernadette arranged the apples in a pile off to the side before helping herself to the last two. They were red with yellow spots and tasted sweet. Juice dripped down her face before polishing off the second apple, resisting the urge to eat more. She wanted to save them for the boys. Bernadette trusted that Alexi had the hunters turned around, but she didn’t want to leave the boys more than necessary.
Tom was the first to wake up, naturally energetic as he was. His brown hair curled out on one side but lay flat on the side of his head where he slept. He let out a yawn and looked around before his eyes caught the apples. “Oh!”
Bernadette tossed him one and he caught it with his dirty fingernailed hands. She was still terribly hungry, so she grabbed the bag the hunter gave her and looked inside. She sniffed the dried meats and fruits. They seemed fine. She nibbled a little and found them to taste good. Once she was confident they were okay, she took more generous bites before finishing up every morsel.
All that was left was the waterskin. Bernadette was thirsty from all the salty meats and they didn’t have time to collect water before they ran away from the ship the night before. It smelled like water. She gave it a small taste. It was a bit stale, but that would be normal. It wasn’t just staleness she tasted. There was something mixed in with the water.
Daughter of the Mármaros Page 10