Little One

by Nate Philbrick

  Daniel tested the backpack’s weight. “This would slow me down a lot.”

  Ram shrugged. “Fine. I’ll carry it.”

  “Wait…you’re coming with me?”

  “Yeah. I am. You’ve already proven you’re going to do some pretty stupid stuff. Frankly, I’m worried you won’t make it half a mile if I don’t go with you.” He took a peek outside. “Besides, this place is boring, and we’re not leaving anytime soon. May as well stay busy.”

  Daniel let out a sigh. He wasn’t going to convince Ram otherwise. “When do we leave?”

  “Tonight, when it’s dark.” He started out of the tent, but stuck his head back in. “Find a way to wash up and get some rest. I’ve seen folks with less blood on their head.” He winked, and left.

  Daniel watched Ram go until his strong frame was lost among the tents. He should have thought to ask him what tent he had ended up in, but it was too late for that. He sat there, thinking. He couldn’t figure Ram out. Why was he offering to help? Strangers just didn’t do that sort of thing. Still, Ram hadn’t given him any reason not to trust him yet, so Daniel pushed these thoughts out of his mind and forced himself to focus on the task at hand—getting cleaned up.

  He knelt on the cold stone by one of the pools of water that dotted the cavern system. Moisture seeped through his pants at the knee, but it felt good. Dipping his hands into the cold water, Daniel felt all the day’s exhaustion crash down on him. The evacuation, the shock of seeing little Litty alone on the platform, his mad attempt at getting off the train, the ambush……the adrenaline that had kept him on his feet until now rushed out of him like air from an open balloon.

  Ram was right. Litty was going to be fine. Tonight he would find her, and everything would be okay again. All he needed to do was to wait until dark.

  Daniel scooped the cold mountain water from the stream with cupped hands and gently washed the caked blood out of his matted hair. The water stung the scratch that ran from his right temple to just above his ear, but it was soothing at the same time. Once his hair felt relatively clean, he took off his shirt and rinsed off as much grime as he could.

  He was wringing it out when he noticed the boots walking towards him. He looked up and found the face of Preceptor Tess Kerrigan returning his gaze. Had she come to stop him already? He scrambled to get to his feet, but she waved a hand.

  “You don’t have to get up,” she said. “I just wanted to see how you were doing. I understand if you’re upset with me. I may be in charge here, but I’m following orders just like everyone else.”

  Daniel tried to not let his relief be too obvious. He stared at the dripping shirt in his hands. “I understand. I’m sorry about earlier.”

  “Don’t worry about it. You were separated from someone you love. Your frustration is justifiable.” She shifted her feet. “I do have good news. Reinforcements from the outpost in Galaratheas are being dispatched as we speak. They’ll bring food for us and equipment to repair the railway. They should be here by morning.”

  Daniel looked down at his feet. Tomorrow morning wasn’t soon enough.

  “In the meantime,” Kerrigan went on, “Is there anything you need? Obviously, our own resources are scarce, but…” She trailed off.

  He shook his head. “I’m fine.”

  She dipped her chin. “Very well. Should you change your mind, you can find me in that tent.” She pointed towards the large one in the center of the encampment. She briskly walked towards another knot of people, then stopped and said over her shoulder. “I almost forgot. All twelve of us will be on guard duty tonight.”

  Daniel watched her go. He wasn’t sure if her last statement was meant to make him feel safe or threatened. Either way, it didn’t matter. Tonight, he and Ram were leaving, and nothing was going to stop that.

  He finished wringing out his shirt, kicked off his shoes, and let his aching feet soak in the pool. His toes brushed against a layer of smooth, thumb-sized stones at the bottom. He bent down and picked several of them up. They looked just like the ones Litty always stacked by the stream near their home in Obenon. The memory brought a faint smile to his lips, and yet something in his chest knotted up. He missed her.

  * * *

  Daniel woke up just as Ram ducked into the tent. Sometime during the early night he had rolled off the cot onto the floor. He didn’t know how long he’d been asleep, but looking through the tent flaps, he could tell it was well past nightfall.

  Ram stared down at him, both eyebrows raised. “Rough snooze?”

  Daniel jumped to his feet and shook himself awake. “Dreams.” He grabbed his shirt, which was still damp but not unbearably so, and slipped it over his head, concealing a yawn. “How late is it?”

  Ram crossed the tent and hoisted the backpack over his shoulder. “Late enough. I did a couple rounds through the camp—everyone’s asleep, or at least there’s no one else wandering around. Should be pretty easy.”

  “Maybe not,” Daniel said. “Preceptor Kerrigan talked to me again while I was washing up last night. She told me all the Preceptors would be guarding the camp tonight.”

  Ram didn’t seem bothered. “It makes sense. We’re smack in the middle of Akorite territory, after all.”

  “I think she was trying to get a point across.”

  “Now whose fault is that?” Ram winked, but when Daniel didn’t accept the joke, his grin faded. “Sorry,” he said, “Just trying to lighten the mood.”

  Daniel let it go. He shivered at the cold touch of his damp shirt on his chest and back. Maybe it had been a mistake to rinse it out in the stream.

  “Well, no matter,” said Ram. “We’ll find a way. They’ll have to be spread out if they’re keeping watch all around the camp. We’ll just have to sneak through.”

  “Right.” Daniel took a deep breath. “Ready?”

  “Let’s go!” Ram slapped him on the shoulder. “Your sister’s waiting. I’ll have you know, this is going to be an adventure!”

  “We have to get past the guards first.”

  The two of them slipped from the tent. Taking the lead, Daniel backed around the corner and crouched by the gray tent wall. Crickets and other insects, as well as the occasional night bird, brought the forest beyond the caves to its nocturnal life with their chatter. The moonlight, wherever it found a gap in the forest canopy to filter in, cast just enough light on the encampment that he could tell Ram was right—no one was around. The moonlight would be helpful for navigating their way through the forest towards the tracks, but it also meant that, should they lower their guard, they’d be easy to spot. They didn’t have a choice; it was a risk they would have to take.

  He pulled Ram close to him by the arm. “The guard might be heavier down the slope,” he whispered, “since that’s where the Akorites first came from. Let’s go up and sneak past the guards on the other side of camp, and then double back and make a wide berth to the tracks.”

  “Right. That’ll work.”

  Making slow progress so as to minimize the noise, they crept along the edge of the encampment. The gray tents felt threatening. It was probably due to the nerves he felt, but it almost seemed like they were watching him. He shook his head. The real threat was that someone might come out and ask what they were doing. He doubted his ability to come up with a plausible excuse for their late-night conspiring.

  Once they reached the edge of the camp without incident, they again concealed themselves in the shadows beyond the edge of the caves. A thin strip of bare land separated them from the edge of the trees.

  “See anything?” Ram said, keeping his voice low.

  Daniel peered out into the night forest, looking for any signs of movement. He saw nothing, and shook his head. “Let’s head farther out before doubling back.”

  The two of them dodged from tree to tree, putting the campsite in the caves to their backs. The inclined terrain added another difficulty to the combined tasks of watching their every step so as to not snap a dead branch underfoot and keepin
g an eye on the forest around them, constantly wary of the Preceptors.

  Daniel was surprised by how much ground they covered without sighting any guards. They must have been spread out over a wide perimeter. He looked over his shoulder—the camp was far from view. He was about to signal to Ram that they could start circling around towards the tracks when Ram grabbed his elbow.

  “Look. There.” He pointed further up the hill to a spot about twenty feet out and a little to the right.

  It took Daniel a moment to see what Ram was pointing at, but eventually, his eyes stumbled across a lone silhouette standing as still as the trees. The Preceptor, located between two towering pines, was facing the opposite direction. He wasn’t moving a muscle.

  Daniel motioned to Ram for them to lower themselves to the ground. He scooted closer to him. “Did you spot anybody else?”

  “No. Just the one. I was kind of hoping that any guards we came across would be asleep.”

  Daniel cast a glance at the silhouette. “Not them. They’re too good for that.”

  “So what’s the plan?”

  “We’ve come uphill far enough,” Daniel said. “At this point we may as well avoid the guard and head over—”

  Ram gave his elbow a hard squeeze before he could finish his sentence. He gave a quick hiss and pointed to their left.

  A second figure was slowly stalking through the trees towards the Preceptor. It was too far away for Daniel to make out much more than the general body shape, but the figure was large, although he moved quite stealthily for his size. The man would stop every few steps, disappearing momentarily into the dark night before renewing his progress. He was now within a stone’s throw from Preceptor, who had either not seen him or had not taken action.

  “He’s got a gun,” Ram exclaimed, barely containing his voice to a whisper.

  Daniel nudged him to be quiet, but saw that he was right. The approaching figure definitely had a firearm of some sort in his hands. He kept the barrel pointed at the ground. At this point, the man was at such an angle that the Preceptor would have to turn halfway around in order to see him. Still, he made no noises whatsoever.

  “He’s going to sneak up on him, isn’t he?” Ram said. “That’s got to be one of the Akorites. What should we do?”

  Daniel didn’t answer him right away, but he couldn’t deny the situation’s urgency. Unless he deviated, the intruder’s current path would lead him safely past the two of them lying on the ground, but the Preceptor was in a much more dangerous situation. “Maybe this is just the distraction we need to get away for good.”

  “Are you crazy?” Ram said. “We can’t do that. What if there are more of them out there? What about him?” He gestured at the Preceptor.

  “Preceptors are trained for this, Ram. We’re not. He can take care of himself.”

  “Not if he gets stabbed in the back first.”

  Daniel bit back a retort. “Fine. Get me something to throw. But the first chance we get, I’m running, with or without you.” He felt around with his hands, fumbling in the dark for a rock or a branch.

  Ram handed him a heavy pinecone.

  Daniel took it and poked his head up. The approaching figure had made it past their hiding spot while they had been talking, and was now a mere fifteen feet from the Preceptor. Still, the guard hadn’t turned around. Daniel rose to his knees and chucked the pinecone as close to the intruder as he could without actually hitting him.

  The pinecone landed right of the intruder. It crashed through a bush and bounced back down the hill a couple times before knocking into a tree trunk and stopping. The Preceptor whirled around, drawing a handgun from his belt. “What the—”

  The intruder froze for a split second, swiveling his head from side to side, before leveling his weapon at the Preceptor. The shot shattered the peaceful mountain silence, echoing in the valleys bellow and silencing a thousand insects all at once.

  The Preceptor was already diving to the side. The bullet ripped off chunks of bark from a tree directly behind him. The Preceptor ducked around a tree and fired three shots at his assailant. None of them found their mark.

  More shouts now came from the camp. Surely the other Preceptors had heard the gunshots and were on their way to help. Daniel took advantage of the commotion to break into a full run to the left and back down the hill. “Time to get out of here.”

  “Right behind you,” said Ram. His footsteps pounded on the ground.

  Behind them, the gunshots multiplied. Several harsh voices shouted back and forth in the language of the Akorites—Ram was right. They were attacking again.

  “Don’t stop,” Daniel said, his breath already getting labored.

  “Wasn’t planning on it,” said Ram. He sounded just as winded.

  They continued down the slope. The encampment was somewhere to their left, but they had skirted wide enough to avoid it altogether. Even with an attack going on up the mountain, he wouldn’t put it past Preceptor Kerrigan to find a way to put a stop to his return to Obenon before it had even started.

  Daniel heard new voices now, and he latched onto a tree to stop himself. The bark skinned the palm of his hands, but he ignored the pain. Ram slammed into him, driving the breath out of his lungs.

  “Sorry,” Ram said. “Why’d you stop?”

  Daniel whipped up a hand. “Listen.”

  The voices weren’t coming from behind them—they were coming from straight below, and they weren’t far away, either. “There’s more of them coming up the mountain.”

  A gunshot rang out from the direction of the voices. Someone ran past them from the camp—a Preceptor, his weapon out. More shots.

  “Great,” Ram said, “Now the bullets are going to by flying everywhere. We should hide.”

  “No,” Daniel said firmly. “This is our best chance at getting away unseen. We have to risk it. Just stay clear of the fighting, and we’ll be okay.”

  Ram sighed. “After you, then. I’ll have you know, if I get shot because of—”

  Daniel didn’t give him a chance to finish. He took off once more, speeding down the hill as fast as he dared go without tripping on a log or root and rolling the rest of the way.

  Before long, the trees began to thin out, and Daniel thought he could make out the moonlight bouncing off the iron tracks. He turned to see if Ram was still behind him. The larger man was right on his heel, keeping his eyes locked on the ground in front of them. Daniel saw something else as well, and he slowed his pace to a walk. This time, Ram was able to stop before barging into him.

  “What now?” Ram said, leaning his hands on his knees, his chest heaving in and out.

  Daniel took a moment to catch his breath, and then pointed.

  Two Preceptors stood less than thirty yards away, just inside the tree line, talking in hushed voices. Daniel recognized one of them as Tess Kerrigan. She held a long, scoped rifle in her arms. The other, a man, was doing most of the listening. Daniel figured he was receiving orders. The two of them kept pointing at a ridge across a valley on the other side of the tracks—the same place the Akorites had shot at the train from earlier that morning.

  Shortly, Preceptor Kerrigan gave a final word, and the other Preceptor nodded and started back up the hill, away from Daniel and Ram. Kerrigan knelt by a stump and used it to support her rifle. She put an eye to the scope and trained it on the ridge they’d been pointing at. She looked like she was sighting for something, or someone.

  Then something happened that Daniel couldn’t have foreseen. The second Preceptor stopped, and quietly turned around. Ram squeezed Daniel’s elbow a second time—the man had a long hunting knife in his hand, and he was noiselessly approaching Kerrigan with it. Focusing on her weapon, she was oblivious to him.

  Daniel had no idea why this was happening, but it was obvious the man was going to kill her. He had to do something. Shaking his arm loose from Ram’s vice grip, he grabbed the nearest object he could find—a fallen branch from one of the pine trees.

&n
bsp; “What are you doing?” Ram whispered. “I thought you said to stay clear of the fighting.”

  Daniel gripped the branch with both hands. “This isn’t fighting, Ram. This is murder.”

  Without waiting for a response, he crept towards the stalker. The man was closing in on the unsuspecting Kerrigan, who was still staring through her scope. A thought crossed his mind momentarily: these Preceptors were uncannily stealthy. Why was this one betraying Kerrigan? What cause did he have to want her dead?

  He shoved these thoughts out of his mind. The man raised his knife, only a few yards behind Kerrigan. Tunnel vision half-blinded Daniel as he abandoned his attempts at silence and rushed forward, brandishing his makeshift weapon.

  The man stopped right behind Kerrigan, and just as he was about to plunge the knife down, Daniel swung the branch.

  It connected with the base of the man’s skull with a sickening crunch. The man dropped without a word. The knife bounced out of his hand. Daniel instinctively snatched it off the ground before the Preceptor could recuperate. To his surprise, the man didn’t move at all.

  Daniel glanced up and came face to face with Preceptor Kerrigan. She stared at him, her mouth open in shock. The rifle was on the ground beside her.

  Daniel felt a sickening twist in his stomach. He opened his mouth, desperate for words to come out, but nothing did, and he could only stand there, the branch in his right hand and the knife in his left; the only thing between him and Kerrigan was a dead Preceptor.

  Kerrigan dropped to her knees by the Preceptor, checking him for a pulse. She looked up at him, confusion and fear in her eyes. “What have you done?”

  Daniel backed away slowly, shaking his head, his mouth still open. His throat tightened. He couldn’t force any words out. “I…”

  He turned and ran, still holding the branch and the knife. He didn’t look back.

  Ram was at his side, matching his speed. “What just happened?”

  Daniel couldn’t answer. Tears stung his eyes. He could only run.

  Chapter Four