Wilderness Untamed

by Butler, J. M.

  WroOth rolled his eyes dramatically. "Some things are not meant to be joked about," he muttered. Reaching back, he grabbed Amelia by the shoulder as well. "Come along then. You don't need to be falling back and making problems of your own."

  "Are you sure you don't need any more time to rest?" She indicated his nose. "The nose bleed is starting again."

  "Sweet falona," he muttered. "Did I really shift that much?" He wiped the blood away on his sleeve and then resumed walking.

  Amelia kept AaQar's staff firmly in hand. It was comforting to hold something so strong, and she had a new appreciation for it after it had held the sarsquech's mouth open. She kept her steps swift and light.

  To her left, about thirty feet away, half shrouded by moss, was a large reptilian head. It blinked its grey eye, then disappeared.

  The path through the wilderness was not one that she found easy to recognize. There were no footprints, and none of the landmarks which she had noted on their way there appeared now. Granted, in a forest like this, it was very easy to not only get turned around but to miss such things. There was no guarantee that they were even going the same way.

  On and on they went as the sun slid farther down its trajectory in the sky. Sweat dripped down her face and neck and collected beneath her arms. The dress caught and pulled on all manner of weeds, grass, and brambles. Their pace was not particularly swift, but it was most certainly steady.

  Neither WroOth nor AaQar seemed much in the mood for conversation, a fact which was far more unusual for WroOth than for AaQar. But Amelia didn't want to talk much herself. There was an odd tension in this forest, something made all the more intense by the creatures which watched their every step.

  They started to go uphill after another mile or so. This convinced Amelia that they were taking a different course. She rubbed her aching arm. Up above, the branches trembled. Something large moved through the canopy. A few leaves floated down.

  WroOth guided her forward when she tipped her head back. "Don't waste time looking, dear heart," he said grimly. "You won't find anything good looking back at you."

  They carried on for at least another hour. Amelia's stomach grumbled with hunger. Hopefully they would reach the camp soon. Roast besred for lunch most likely. That as well as fresh water would be welcome.

  WroOth coughed again, harder this time. He did not slow his pace until the cough forced him to.

  AaQar stopped beside him, placing his hand on his shoulder. "Perhaps you need me to carry you now?"

  WroOth's breath rattled as he drew it in, but he forced a smile. A smile that was now much more macabre with its red stain. "No. My own two legs will carry me just fine."

  "Will the suphrite help you with that?" Amelia asked.

  "The suphrite will help to nourish natural healing abilities," AaQar said. "But it won't make him immune or help him to gain immunity. Indeed, it will only help to a point. And soon we will all be beyond it. We are all in for a rough week of it. Perhaps longer."

  "Naatos is not going to be happy about this." WroOth accepted the canteen Amelia offered him once more. After he took a long swig, he swished it through his teeth and then spat it out. The water was red and foamy. It soaked into the dark earth swiftly. There was a lot more now.

  She resisted the urge to fuss over him. He was an adult. He knew more what was happening to him than she did. But it troubled her nonetheless. "But you're going to be all right?"

  "I'm always all right," WroOth said.

  "Then why are you in such bad shape right now?" Amelia demanded.

  "Someone was showing off with his shifting I think," AaQar said. "Doing somewhat more than was needed."

  WroOth's wan smile was almost sheepish. "This atmosphere rather sneaks up on one. It seemed like it was in hand yesterday. Even this morning. It wasn't until this afternoon that I really noticed it." He sneezed again, then coughed more. "It'll be fine. It looks worse than it is, little sister." He swallowed hard. "I swear."

  He did swear, but he was also afraid. Amelia squeezed his shoulder. "I know you'll be all right."

  "It won't be that much worse than the Awdawm flu," AaQar said. "After two weeks, perhaps two and a half, we'll all have adapted. It may be challenging and uncomfortable, but we will make it through."

  "Unless there's something else that's wrong or different," WroOth interjected. "We keep learning new things. Things that shouldn't be this way. Things that should not have developed even with twenty thousand years of time away."

  That anger stirred him and empowered him. It stung Amelia's mind vaguely. But there was something to it which she found invigorating as well. She kept pace with him easily. "So you think someone did something intentionally to move this along? Guided mutations maybe?"

  "Someone became very powerful," AaQar said. He ducked as a long trail of moss grazed the left side of his head. A few of the strands remained stuck in his black hair. "That much we know. Someone became powerful, and someone became angry. There were either geo Shivennans involved or Tiablos with their elimination tech."

  "What hate is so strong to require the entire removal of a city and its roots?" WroOth asked.

  There was no good answer. Amelia kept her grip on the satchel and staff tight and carried on. For now, they just needed to make it back to the camp. Then perhaps they could sort this out.

  18

  The Long Walk

  The ground rose and fell beneath their feet in gradual inclines and depressions. The trees grew thicker with more oak-like and maple-like trees than the mangrove-like trees from before. The slower pace was almost pleasant. The throaty cackles and calls of reptiles and birds were similar to what she would have expected from a jurassic or cretaceous realm.

  Something heavy struck the tree above them.

  Amelia peered up as the branches cracked and rocked. A shower of leaves rained down on them. She stepped back, holding up her arm to shield her head. No alarm coursed through her. No question of who it was either. She'd recognize that intense masculine presence anywhere.

  WroOth and AaQar had apparently reached the same conclusion. WroOth reached for AaQar's staff. "If you let me have that, I can give him a good jab."

  "WroOth." AaQar pushed his arm away. "That would not be helpful."

  "Wasn't trying to be helpful." WroOth picked up a stick and flung it up into the branches. "Why did you come back, Naatos? It's not as if we couldn't make it on our own."

  A large curved branch cracked and collapsed as Naatos, still in his black storm drake form with the six spikes on his tail, crashed down. He landed on all four feet like a cat dropped from a great height, his eyes hooded and bright. Then he drew back and reverted to his state of rest. It practically fell away before he fully straightened.

  "Subtle." WroOth grinned.

  AaQar shook his head, his expression less amused. "Why, Naatos?"

  "You hadn't returned yet. QueQoa is safe." Naatos scowled as he looked at WroOth. "You're bleeding at the nose and mouth."

  "Minor inflammation, but I can still shift." WroOth grinned at him. "And if you try to carry me back, I shall have to fight you."

  "No one is fighting," AaQar said. "It isn't going to come to that. We are less than half a mile from the camp." He sighed, then smiled faintly. "You are not so smooth as you think, brother. I know the real reason you returned. You want us to go on ahead, I'm certain."

  "Oh." WroOth gave Naatos a knowing look. "Well, if you cause my sister to be harmed, I will kuvaste you." As he walked by Naatos, he flicked his ear. "Make sure you listen."

  Naatos grunted at his brother, but he made no move to chastise him. He adjusted the collapsed spear that now hung at his side. "Your club is back at the camp, little brother. I cleaned it for you. Stop bringing it if you have no intention of using it."

  "You never know when it will be useful," WroOth countered.

  "You can't always expect us to clean up after you," Naatos responded.

  Amelia watched the interaction play out, eyebrows rais
ed. It seemed oddly sentimental and less pragmatic that he had come back. If he had come back to check on his brothers, that made sense. But their decision to walk on ahead and his failure to tell them to remain made it even clearer he had other motives. Motives she wasn't sure how she felt about at the moment. Obviously if he wanted to vestov, the answer was no. Not until the end of the eight weeks. She couldn't risk it.

  But if he simply wanted to be close… no!

  What was she even thinking? She clamped her elmis against her torso, furious with herself.

  AaQar continued walking until he reached Naatos, his pace little more than an amble. "WroOth can walk her back. We need to talk."

  Naatos scowled, his shoulders tensing. "About?"

  AaQar had already taken hold of Naatos's arm. "Much. You two continue. We'll be right behind. If you run into trouble, shout."

  Amelia expected Naatos to protest or at least raise some word of frustrated disagreement. But Naatos's entire manner had transformed, his shoulders straightened and his muscles tensed as if he was prepared for a fight or bad news. He gestured toward WroOth. "Make sure she gets back safely."

  "Must I?" WroOth heaved a dramatic sigh. "I was planning on feeding her to something ghastly. How else is she going to learn to survive in this place except through experiencing the horrors firsthand?"

  Naatos and AaQar both glared at him. She shook her head. "Let's skip that part, shall we?" She continued walking, hoping he hadn't noticed her hesitation.

  "Well don't walk ahead alone." WroOth sprinted ahead to catch up with her. "This isn't the place for you to go trailblazing."

  Amelia did not slow her pace. She pushed a branch away from her face.

  "You seem more relieved than you should be." WroOth smirked as he walked alongside her.

  "Wouldn't you be?"

  "Well in my case, time alone with Naatos simply means the opportunity to antagonize him. And he expects nothing more and nothing less."

  "Your antagonism doesn't lead to other activities." She folded her arms. "That bleeding though… are you sure you're all right?"

  "Just the ilzinium, little sister." WroOth draped his arm around her shoulders. "We've all been through such like this before. You visit a new world or a world you haven't been to in quite a long time, and sometimes something in the atmosphere doesn't agree with you completely. You've experienced it before, I'm certain. Especially if you ever traveled into the mountains."

  "So why do you feel so uneasy about this?"

  He grunted, his mood souring momentarily. "It is annoying that you can't take things at face value."

  "Your face may say you're fine, but you're also bleeding at the mouth and nose. I know it must not be too serious at the moment because you don't feel as worried. But it's more than you've let on. It's not just the flu."

  "It will be long and grueling and unpleasant for all of us." He wiped his hand over his mouth again. "But we will come out of it."

  "How long before you are out of it?"

  "Hmmm. Hard to say. So far as how long before we collapse, I probably have a day or two. QueQoa and AaQar, not much time at all. Maybe until tomorrow evening."

  "Because QueQoa was wounded."

  He nodded. "He has the roughest path of any of us if he is already feeling the effects. But he's stronger. He'll make it through. With a lot of sleeping and vomiting and nightmares."

  "Nightmares?" Amelia frowned. "From fever?"

  "Fever and processing." He offered a faint shrug. "But it is what it is, dear heart. Naatos may or may not fall to it. He's managed to avoid it on more than one occasion in similar situations. Although there are some confounding variables this time."

  "And you'll be down for… how long? Do you have any sort of estimate?"

  "Two weeks most likely if I were to guess."

  Her stomach twinged. "How long do I have before I fall then?"

  "Oh you won't fall. At least not from this. Neyeb don't process ilzinium. At least not in any meaningful way. At most you might get a minor headache, but since you don't have it yet, you probably won't. No. I'm afraid that all of this means we'll have to rely on you and Naatos to get us through."

  That wasn't a particularly pleasant thought. Alone with Naatos and playing nurse?

  WroOth continued, his manner easier than he felt. Those jagged bits of emotion prickled against Amelia's consciousness like barbs on a cactus. "The one good side in all this is Naatos won't have any energy to even think about seducing you. For anywhere from eight to sixteen days, there won't be much of anything except caring for your family. Aren't you happy to be here?"

  "What can I do?"

  "It'll be about like what you did when we were imprisoned, with a little more feeding." WroOth shuddered ever so slightly as he spoke. The lightness was fading. Even the pretense.

  She slid her hand over his, glancing up at him. "I know that there probably isn't much that I can do except the basics. And I know how to take care of people who are sick. So whether this makes any difference, I promise, I won't let you go through this alone."

  WroOth kissed her forehead. He smiled crookedly. "Of course it makes a difference, little sister. No one should be alone. Especially not when they have a family."

  * * *

  Naatos waited until WroOth and Amelia had vanished among the foliage. He then turned his gaze to AaQar. "You're getting paler again."

  "The ilzinium is worse than we think." AaQar resumed walking, but his pace was slow, little more than an amble. "I haven't even finalized the tests yet, but I can tell you that. You aren't going to escape it this time."

  "You interrupted my wooing to tell me our situation is worse than we thought?" Naatos raised an eyebrow, his arms still folded over his chest. He knew there was more. There had to be. "We're going to take this night, and we will prepare—"

  "Our cities are gone, brother."

  Naatos raised an eyebrow at the matter-of-fact manner in which AaQar announced this. A somber finality underscored his words.

  "They are gone. All of them. As are our people. We are alone on this world, and there is no help for us except what help we make. I do not even know how we can escape this place or whether it is possible. But we are alone."

  Naatos mulled these words over. He matched his pace to his brother's, folding his arms over his chest. "And how have you come by such knowledge and with such surety?"

  "I am not ready to disclose how I came by this."

  "It happened while you were unconscious," Naatos said flatly.

  AaQar smiled a little, his head dipping forward. "Perhaps."

  "Why would you wish to hide how you came by this information?"

  "I have my reasons." AaQar continued on, his voice and pace even. "I will tell you in time."

  "Very well." He did not like this, but AaQar did nothing without purpose. His even mentioning that he had gained this information while also clarifying that he would tell him of the details later meant that it was someone of whom Naatos would not approve. He frowned, pondering who this might be. The thought that whoever had provided this information was more contentious than the knowledge itself was troubling indeed. A sharp chill cut through him. "Were you speaking with Killoth?"

  AaQar chuckled. "Even with no natural end to their days, I doubt Killoth has survived this long. No. You can rest your mind on that point. Besides, it is unlikely he would want to speak with me. I'm not the one who married his daughter after promising to kill her."

  His shoulders tightened. "You did not oppose me at the time."

  "I didn't realize you were going to marry her then," AaQar responded. He shook his head. "Though I suppose it had not occurred to you at the time either. Still… if he was still alive, that would complicate things. He likely knew as well I suppose. And it makes far more sense now than it did. How do you think he would respond?"

  "He would kill her. At least he would try. Which would mean I would have to kill him."

  "You know, of all the things that you could do to con
vince her that you are on her side, telling her the truth about that might be wise. Telling her the truth about everything."

  Naatos pressed his lips in a tight line. AaQar was trying to distract him. He was delaying. For some reason. Perhaps because he himself was uncomfortable with the news. There was an odd mixture of light and dark in AaQar's manner, a burden and a hope.

  "You should think about it. Especially given what is coming. She deserves to know the truth. If I were in her place, I would want to know."

  "You wish to know everything."

  "And you get the impression Amelia is someone who doesn't?"

  "She would not benefit from such knowledge at this time." It annoyed him that his brother wanted to talk about this yet again.

  "So you say, but on the off chance that Killoth survived, she should be warned. She needs to be warned about everything. She says that the nightmares are getting worse. But returning to my previous point, we are alone on this world. If we are alone, then the Second Nalenth will not be here. And if that is the case, then there is no way off this world unless one of us uses the Para band. But even then, there are risks."

  Yes. They might never see one another again for one. With the Tue-Rah being forced forward in time, there was no guarantee that the Para band would be able to bring them back to this Ecekom or even to the same place.

  "More importantly, the ilzinium is far too strong. QueQoa and I will be incapacitated in two days at the latest. WroOth is already bleeding at the nose, and it is not simply from strain. The huanna may have made all of this worse. But regardless… it seems as if it has been ages since the last Grey Season. It burns inside me already. And you absolutely will not escape."

  Naatos mulled this over. He had experienced the uncomfortable prickling and ache along the back of his neck and shoulders. It had been centuries since he had had to deal with an ilzinium overload or anything even close to it. It was more than he wanted it to be. Were it only him, that would be one thing. But with AaQar's health weakened as it was and QueQoa having taken that full bite, he could not imagine risking it.