by Jacinta Jade
Relief flooded her as she made her way through the darkness, and her breathing slowed again as she became surer of her path. As she moved through the tunnel, picking up her feet and feeling her way quietly, she became aware that the darkness had developed a grey tinge.
She moved forwards faster now, and as the passage twisted once more, she saw that, up ahead, the cave ended in a narrow slit through which a pale light fell. Letting her hand fall from the wall, Siray walked briskly towards the opening. As she drew closer, she could see the opening was wide enough for a small person to walk through front on, but people with larger proportions would have no choice but to move through it sideways.
Standing before it, Siray placed a hand on either side of the slit and leaned through to peer out.
The soft light came from the three moons, all of which were in their half forms on this night. By their light, Siray could see the forest spread out below her. Far to the right, she saw mountains rising in the distance. She realised the cavern itself must be inside a hollow ridge, set high on a rocky shelf.
Bracing her hands more strongly now on the edges of that slit, Siray raised a foot to step through the gap.
‘So, you are leaving.’
Siray gasped in surprise and, trying to spin around with her foot in the air, fell awkwardly against the side of the cavern entrance. Steadying herself against the wall after a moment, she peered back into the dimness to locate who had spoken. The light of the moons behind her made it difficult to pierce the darkness, but farther down the tunnel, she thought she could just make out the silhouette of someone leaning lazily against the tunnel wall.
Siray got her breathing under control as she kept an eye on the figure.
‘I have to leave—don’t try to stop me,’ she said, pushing herself fully upright and rubbing her elbows where they had struck the walls.
The person didn’t leave that spot but only shifted slightly. ‘Do you know that it’s only after seasons of living in your various animal forms that you really begin to realise just how limited our senses are in these forms?’
It was Baindan. Siray was sure of it now. Although why he was telling her this, she had no idea. She watched as he righted himself and shifted his head, looking around the tunnel in the dim light.
‘And it’s only after long periods of living under persecution that you develop the ability to sleep lightly enough in this form that the slightest sounds wake you.’ He waved a hand at Siray. ‘For example, the sound of someone’s shallow breathing as they try to slip out in the night.’ He moved towards her, and she stiffened, but he only went to the other side of the entrance slit and once more took up a leaning position. ‘I won’t stop you from leaving. But you need to know something.’
His grey eyes looked into hers, and for a moment, Siray was struck by how his eyes almost seemed to exude the same brightness as the light filtering in before he looked away from her and to the vista outside.
‘You should know that we—’ He broke off abruptly.
Siray frowned despite herself and leaned forwards to prompt him. ‘I should know … what?’
Instead of answering, Baindan stepped to her side of the entrance, causing her to step back automatically. But Baindan wasn’t even looking at her anymore. He was intent on something outside the cavern.
Intrigued, Siray stepped closer. ‘Baindan?’ she murmured softly.
He didn’t turn to face her but kept looking out through the gap. ‘They’ve found us,’ he said, sounding stunned.
Curious, Siray moved right up next to Baindan and, stretching a little, looked around his shoulder.
Down in the forest below, she could see dark shapes moving in the dimness. Many dark shapes. If it hadn’t been for the light of the moons, the shapes wouldn’t have been visible at all.
And she couldn’t say why, but something about those shapes in the darkness sent the hairs rising along the top of her arms and the back of her neck. Baindan stepped back from the slit and grabbed her arm. ‘We’ve got to go. Now.’
Keeping his grip on her arm, he began running back down the passage and away from that slit, pulling her with him.
Siray didn’t fight him. Without knowing why, she knew she would rather face the uncertainty of Baindan, Roalger, and the rest of the Resistance than be found here by those shapes creeping through the night.
Away from the opening to the caverns and the light of the moons, darkness filled Siray’s sight once more, and she stumbled over her feet as she half followed and was half pulled along by Baindan. His grip firm on her arm, he led her through the tunnel’s twists and turns, catching her when she tripped over a rise or dip in the floor that he had no time to warn her about.
As they burst back into the main cavern, Siray could already hear other members of the Resistance stirring. Someone had lit a torch, which was creating a small pool of light in one corner.
Letting go of her arm but waving her forwards after him, Baindan led her at a jog in the direction of the lit torch around which males from the cavern were starting to gather.
Siray spied Roalger’s large silhouette at the centre of the group and heard him call out to Baindan as they drew closer. ‘What is it?’
Baindan moved forwards with urgency. ‘The Faction—soldiers at the foot of the ridge.’
Baindan reached Roalger and the group of males standing around him, who began to mutter amongst themselves at the news.
Siray noted that, despite the tense situation, none of the group were panicking. It appeared they were a tightly disciplined group.
She stood nervously to the side as Baindan bent his head together with Roalger. Once, Baindan looked back at her while the two of them spoke before turning back to focus on Roalger again and nod. They quickly finished their deliberations, and Roalger stepped forwards to address his men.
‘We have an enemy party moving in the vicinity of the cavern entrance. We estimate forty to fifty men. As soon as their scouts confirm we are here, they will send for more reinforcements and storm this cavern. We will evacuate and head for the mountains where we’ll have the advantage.’ Roalger looked to three of the males before him. ‘Sortol, Gardef, and Havers. I need you to take out their forward scouts and then monitor the situation while we use the cascade exit.’
Three of the males in the group nodded and moved off at a jog towards the cavern’s entrance tunnel.
Siray watched as they departed and felt her eyes grow wide as she saw them each begin to shift. Running at full speed now for the exit, their growing hair streamed behind them before it turned to fur and spread over their bodies. Their faces elongated, and their shoulders and upper bodies drooped, until they were running swiftly on all fours.
A cripwof pack.
The whole Change had taken only heartbeats, and a moment later, the pack had disappeared around the first bend in the tunnel.
Siray twisted to face Roalger with her eyebrows raised, impressed, but Roalger was already turning back to the remainder of his group.
‘The rest of you, usual formation. Let’s move!’
The group of males wheeled as one and began running towards the back of the cavern, Roalger moving up to take the lead. Siray sprang into a run alongside the group, despite the instantaneous protest of her weary muscles.
When she looked to her left, she found Baindan running beside her.
‘What’s the cascade exit?’
The group was pushing forwards, and Baindan answered her as they sprinted across the cavern in the direction of a tunnel Siray hadn’t seen yet.
‘It’s an alternate exit from the cavern—useful at times like this!’ he said, sprinting easily along, his breathing even.
Siray pushed her legs harder in order to keep up with him, her leg muscles burning at the effort, and, a moment later, the light of a torch they passed confirmed why. They were running up an increasing incline.
Siray took great gulps of air in as she pushed herself harder still, not wanting to be left behind.
> When she reached the top of the incline, she was relieved to see the ground flatten out as they sprinted around another curve in the tunnel.
Emerging onto the new straight stretch of tunnel, Siray heard a whispering sound. As they ran on, the sound seemed to grow, and she listened intently in order to try to identify it.
It wasn’t until the very last turn of the tunnel that the sound came at her in full force—a roar of noise that almost drowned out the efforts of the group as they ran. Yet she still couldn’t place it.
As the group sped along the tunnel, the light from the moons outside outlining the exit ahead, Siray tried to see past the bobbing heads in front of her but found that the light was diffused in a weird way that didn’t allow her to see much.
Then she realised why.
‘That’s a waterfall!’ she shouted, panicking.
Baindan kept matching her step for step. ‘Yep! It’s fed by an underground river!’ he shouted back, sounding a lot calmer than Siray felt.
Siray’s heart pounded intensely as the group continued at pace towards the white wall of water rushing down past the opening in the cave ahead of them. Surely they were going to slow down? Branch off into another tunnel that would take them farther along and start winding downwards?
Yet, incredibly, as Roalger and the leading fringe of his group drew closer to the edge of the cave and the sheets of water pounding down, they sped up even more.
And Siray felt her legs weaken as she watched their next moves in disbelief.
As each male reached the outer limit of the cave, they launched themselves clear off the tunnel floor and right into the sheet of thundering water.
Siray stumbled in shock and felt Baindan grab at her arm to keep her moving.
‘Are they crazy?’ she yelled. ‘They just jumped!’
Baindan didn’t reply, but his grip on her arm became tighter as he slipped ahead, pulling her along.
Realising in fear what he was intending to do, she tried to yank her arm away, and when she wasn’t successful, yelled at him, ‘Baindan!’
He didn’t slow but he did yell back at her, ‘Whatever you do, don’t stop!’
Siray looked back at the wall of rushing water growing larger in front of her, her eyes widening further. She looked back at Baindan again, her mouth open but unable to say anything else.
It didn’t matter, as Baindan’s attention seemed to be focused solely on the wall of water ahead, his fingers digging into her arm as he pulled her along faster still.
He yelled at her again, and she could just make out his words over the noise of the falls.
‘Get ready to jump! Ready … now!’
Together they pushed off from the brink of the cave floor and leapt into the roaring wall of water.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
SOAKED THE INSTANT she hit the water, Siray found herself trying to gasp for breath as a moving torrent of water slammed her downwards. Water was in her eyes, ears, and nose, and when she tried to take in snatches of air, more water poured into her mouth.
The roar of the water as it hit the surface of the pool below rose up through the night, making her deaf in addition to being blinded by the water around her. She had never been so scared, as there was nothing she could do about any of it but remain aware that she was drowning even as she fell towards the churning pool of water many body lengths below.
Yet as she and Baindan fell, the momentum of their jump finally pushed them through to the other side of that wall of water. Her lungs finally able to draw air, and her eyes finally able to see the long drop below her, Siray let out a scream that no one but Baindan could possibly hear over the roar of the falling water.
To Siray, the fall seemed to happen almost in slow motion, and her arms worked in the air as she instinctively tried to grab something to stop her from falling.
And she did find something.
Baindan.
As she grabbed him, she saw him turn to look at her, and as they fell, he grabbed back at her, each holding tight to the other. Below them, the pool was growing bigger as she and Baindan dropped towards it, but Siray’s instincts were telling her that this was a height from which even moving water wouldn’t be forgiving. Faster and faster they fell together, the time speeding up again as they came closer to the surface of the pool.
A moment before impact, Baindan yelled, ‘Point your toes!’
Surprised, adrenaline in her system allowing her to follow his directive immediately, Siray pointed her toes and sucked in a deep breath as her body tensed automatically against Baindan’s, his legs also outstretched.
Then, they hit.
To Siray, entering the water felt like running into a tree at speed—a gigantic punch to her whole body. Such was the intensity of the impact that her breath was pressed from her in a shower of bubbles as she dropped down and down below the roiling surface of the pool.
Her body numb from the pain, Siray was startled into motion when Baindan’s arms unwrapped from around her and began both pushing and pulling upwards to the surface. Or, at least, that’s where she thought the surface might be.
Shaking her head a little, she reached out and began working hard to propel herself upwards through the water. Her lungs were straining and begging for air, and that one thought kept repeating in her mind. Breathe … she had to breathe. The impulse was strong, but she continued to fight against it even as she fought her way closer to the surface of the deep pool, Baindan occasionally tugging hard at her.
Siray had just started thinking she wasn’t going to be able to resist the impulse to breathe any longer when her head broke through the surface of the water. Throwing back her head, she took in great gulps of air, then began to flail as she was forced to fight a current that tried to push her under the falling water and back into the depths of the pool.
When she felt something grab her from behind, she screamed, instinctively lashing out.
Baindan yelled at her over the crashing water. ‘It’s okay, I’ll get you to shore!’
Siray stopped fighting immediately and tried to work with Baindan to resist the current, one of his arms wrapped securely around her back and holding tightly to her. As they got through the worst of it, she saw males from his group waiting in the shallows to help them out of the water.
As soon as they could be reached, one of the male’s pulled her closer in, then grabbed her up and half carried her out of the water.
Another male lent Baindan a hand, and once they were both on dry land, Roalger gave his soldiers their next order.
‘Alright, let’s keep moving!”
Siray gasped as she was pushed forwards by one of the males behind her, surprised and angry at this treatment. Her clothing was wet and heavy, and she was exhausted from days of minimal rest and food.
For a brief moment, she considered just letting her legs give way and sinking to the ground to rest. But then the memory of the shadowy figures she had seen drawing close to the ridge filled her mind, and a coldness that had nothing to do with her soaking clothes spread through her. Resting now, she realised, would mean capture.
Siray’s body responded rapidly to her fear, and she straightened as she awkwardly began to put one foot in front of the other, following after the others. Then, as they began moving faster, she ran with them, her clothes dripping and the cold air biting. When they began climbing a hill, her efforts were hampered by the wet clothes that clung to her and weighed her down. Siray’s breathing was laboured, and it was all she could do not to collapse into a wet pile when Roalger suddenly called a halt near the summit of the hill. The only good thing about this moment was that her muscles were now warming up again.
Glancing back, Siray saw they had only come a relatively short distance from the waterfall and its pool, the river sprinting on their right around the base of the hill they had just climbed.
Breathing hard, Siray wondered why they had stopped so soon and, turning towards Roalger, spied three animals running directly at them through the night.
Tensed at first as the animals’ speed rapidly brought them closer, Siray then recognised the dark forms of the three cripwofs that had bolted from the cave moments before she and the others had taken off running for the other exit. The three cripwofs were almost upon them when they Changed, resuming their normal forms.
The one called Sortol reaching Roalger first.
‘We dealt with the scouts, but part of the main group is splitting off to come around the mountain in a pincer movement. They’re moving fast. We’ll need to Change to outrun them to make the pass,’ he said, speaking fast with just the barest pause to catch his breath after the Changing.
The male’s eyes flicked to Siray as he spoke, and it wasn’t hard for Siray to figure out what it was that the scout wasn’t saying.
The group needed to Change to make it. Only she couldn’t Change.
She saw Roalger glance at her before he whirled to the group to give his orders.
‘You heard Sortol—Change and let’s make that mountain!’
Around Siray, it suddenly became a world of rippling muscle, expanding fur, and growling as the soldiers Changed into their animal form. Some became cripwofs, some of them wild steeds, and some smaller but quick-footed animals that she was less familiar with.
But not all of the males Changed. Two of them approached another pair of soldiers who had taken the form of yeibons, and now sprang up onto their backs, holding tight as the steeds wheeled about and began sprinting away with the rest of the group of Changed males. Relief flooded through Siray as she realised that she could so the same—she would be safe.
She was thinking that she would have to learn how ride fairly fast when she felt someone step to her side—Baindan.
Roalger approached them both. ‘The only way we get through this is to make that mountain,’ he said in his deep voice. ‘All of us.’
Siray opened her mouth, but Roalger held up his hand to stop her before she could say anything. In the distance, the other males were already disappearing over the small hills.