Wilderness Untamed

by Butler, J. M.

  She swallowed hard as she shook her head. "There was something I could have done." She put her hand to her forehead. "And I need to go find Proteus and Tacky."

  "They'll come back on their own. And I'd rather you rested a couple hours or perhaps the rest of the day."

  She raised an eyebrow at him. "I'll stay down until my heart rate goes back to normal."

  "Is that your way of saying you'd like me to give you privacy? I know how hard it is for you to contain yourself around me."

  Her cheeks and neck flared with heat again. Oh good. At least finally vestoving didn't get rid of that. Still she struggled not to smile. "Just go on. The sooner this passes, the sooner I'll be up."

  Leaning down, he kissed her. The touch of his lips against hers was light, a gentle stirring of the threads between them. She returned the kiss and was a little disappointed when he pulled away.

  The morass of thoughts pulled her back almost at once. She didn't fall as far away this time though. Improvement maybe?

  She stared up at the grey-brown stone ceiling, studying the swirls and patterns of the coarse rock and the way that the faint shades interacted with one another. Especially with the light of the torch playing on it. More vague memories from Tai surged up. Had she opened another door? What happened to these memories? Would she have to carry them forever?

  Whatever happened, she wasn't going to sleep. Not right now. Not until they learned whether Naatos could stay with her as she dreamed. There was something very wrong. Not that she could put her finger on what exactly. But it was. And she wasn't entirely certain the issue wasn't with her.

  * * *

  Naatos set to work with his brothers assessing the damage and making what repairs were needed to their gear as well as foraging fresh supplies. Most of the harm had come to the little room which Amelia had set apart for them. A large hole gaped in the roof, so they removed the hides and stopped it up entirely to prevent any intruders from breaking in.

  The river itself flowed strong and clear, but a portion of the backwall had caved in. No additional openings. Just more stone.

  The damage to the main room was mostly in dislodged stones and rubble. A few items had been destroyed. The one bag that was crushed held mostly food and some of the rels. They needed to hunt anyway. Something had dragged off the carcass of the first strange creature, but hunting was the one thing they all could do and well. The rels were more of a problem.

  He checked in on Amelia more than once. She remained surprisingly still, staring at the ceiling. Occasionally he thought he saw a hint of iridescence in the white of her eyes. It wasn't there each time he looked closer. But that dead look he'd seen many times as a Para. Usually among young Neyeb or those who had had their first encounters with the traumatized. Too much at once. Too many memories. Too much trauma.

  She was strong. She'd pull through this time. But how many more times was it going to happen? And how would she withstand that?

  His brothers filled him in on the events of the night. The presence of unformed ones troubled him. The fact that this was the third they had dealt with in the past twelve hours. More would be coming. And she'd responded like a veldrok wolf who caught a blood scent. Too many encounters with them could put her in a coma if she didn't learn to filter through it fast enough.

  Ordinarily this situation would be sorted by another Neyeb, usually a caretaker or a healer who would guide the overwhelmed individual back to their own mind. As it was, she'd probably shake out on her own. Hopefully.

  Why was it that she kept encountering the problems he couldn't solve?

  It was frustrating. For her and him.

  Despite his concerns, the euphoria left him loose and limber, more at ease and comfortable than he had been for a very long time. The only thing dimming that mood was Amelia now being on the verge of a coma thanks to the arrival of the unformed ones. Knowing her she'd recover fast. Four hours and she'd be up again. Maybe less. Probably less. They'd change their defenses. Perhaps they could keep any of the unformed ones from reaching her.

  The hunt went swiftly. He slew a lone bull besred and brought it back. No sign of the new creatures they had encountered. Not the armored dragons, not the bellowing beast, and not the bizarre and enormous lizard. It had somewhat resembled a plesiotaur, but those lived only in Dry Deep. Even so there were key distinctions.

  AaQar came to help him as he broke down the carcass. "You know it is almost a given that that wasn't the only blood portal. We need to leave here as soon as possible."

  "And risk walking into a trap?" Naatos wiped his face with his sleeve. "This cave is as good as any shelter we're going to find until we reach Darmoste. Once there, we can build something more secure. And we need to find out what the threats are here. Those dragons are going to be a problem. Especially if their whole pack ever coordinated on us."

  "If that's the extent of their pack, we have a chance. Otherwise… did those designs—did they remind you of Crulac and his plans?"

  "They certainly weren't natural." There had been a lot of that lately. For there being no cities or civilizations left, there were many signs that someone had tampered with Ecekom itself on a large scale. And whatever it was had removed every city thus far: Vawtrian, Shivennan, Bealorn, Tiablo, Machat, Awdawm. They hadn't even found scraps of trash or remnants of farming. The onions AaQar had found earlier this morning were wild, growing in irregular clumps. And many of the herbs, especially the ones they needed for Amelia and for general healing, were scarcer than usual.

  "Nor are the unformed ones," AaQar remarked dryly. "I am having a hard time finding any of our enemies who are capable of all the skills that this Okalu has shown." He folded his arms. "There's a reason they're accelerating, Naatos. In enacting the darikov against us, they must murder all of our wives and children. If they know that Amelia is incapable of having children, then they may have advanced their plans. There's no reason to wait for children to be brought into this world if there will never be any children. Assuming they are going to be pedantic and require that the children be of both your blood and hers rather than adopted."

  "That raises the question of how they know. They might not. This might only be intended to frighten her. The one that attacked her only went for her arm."

  "Truly, I'm surprised you took her with you."

  "If I hadn't, she would have run after it." Naatos stepped back from the hanging carcass again and set his arms akimbo. "It called her and played her heartstrings and awareness like a harp. She was sweating, and it wasn't from the heat or exertion. She wanted to go to it. And she didn't pull back when it grabbed her. She didn't act like she felt the pain. And, well, you saw the rest."

  AaQar scoffed. "We are so far out of our spheres of knowledge, brother. This is dangerous territory. The Okalu is targeting her, and it is far easier to break someone than it is to heal them. Will this awaken the Ki Valo Nakar? That's a dangerously basic question, and we don't even know that. The only thing we can know for certain is this place is not safe."

  "Wherever we build, we will use granite, and we will make sure that they can never get close enough for her to hear them call." He refused to let the weakness or fear that now cut at him into his voice. He would protect her. Of course he would. They had not finally vestoved only for her to—had they been waiting until he and she finally consummated their marriage to do this? That suggested a terrifyingly aware consciousness observing them.

  "What?" AaQar's eyebrow raised.

  "You think we should leave."

  "If I had my way, we'd leave now."

  Naatos sighed. He despised wasting food and resources. He loathed walking unprepared into dangerous situations when he could not control sufficient variables. "Which path are you thinking?"

  "The fastest course to Darmoste may be our only option."

  Naatos stared out over the grasslands to the mountains that rose beyond the trees, dark, ominous, brutal. "The fastest way to Darmoste from here is through Dry Deep."

  AaQ
ar nodded slowly. "The unformed ones won't follow us there, and it is faster. If they are coming for her, they will increase in numbers. We have no way of knowing how many they will send. And my gut tells me we will have to take this course."

  "The Dry Deep will have expanded in the past twenty thousand years." That creeping sense of dread had returned. Dry Deep was not a good place for anyone despite having fewer predators. There had been expeditions and attempts at creating livable communities, but all had failed. Sometimes from sabotage, sometimes just from the cruelty of the bizarre environment. Vawtrians could live there, could theoretically adapt and be none the worse for wear if they took it steadily and made the necessary adjustments. But Neyeb…

  "I've calculated it as best I can. Assuming no more than two cataclysmic events, it shouldn't have expanded much beyond fourteen miles in any direction. We could be to the edge within five days. Prepare for two. Perhaps even condense that to one. And then it would take us twelve days. From there, another ten days to Darmoste. Or whatever remains. But even if there are no ruins, even if they found the Hold, even if there is nothing other than the granite and the forest and the wild, we will be safer there because there we can build a shelter that the unformed ones will not be able to get through and which we may be able to defend."

  "How many more of the rels do we have?"

  "Some of the rels were in the bag with that food the stones crushed. If we use them sparingly and avoid separating, we can last another five weeks. Of course we still have the colrum serum. I had to transfer it to another vessel. It is becoming quite toxic."

  He rested his hands on the top of his head, weighing the times and their resources. "I don't want to take her through Dry Deep. If it was just the four of us, I'd risk flying it. Or running it. But she's suffered enough. And taking it at speed would kill her."

  "She should at least receive the choice while there is a choice to be made. It doesn't have to happen today. And yes, it will be hell for her. She'll probably be craving oblivion before the end. But craving oblivion and being on the brink of insanity is better than death or driven fully mad because the unformed ones push her beyond."

  There had often been times when AaQar hadn't seemed to really believe that. He wouldn't take Dry Deep unless there was no other choice, but that didn't mean they should remain here. "We go today. If the bavril is back, he can eat this."

  "Oh, he's back. And you won't be getting rid of him easily. He'll be fine going through Dry Deep. Him and the dolmath if it comes back."

  Naatos scoffed.

  AaQar chuckled at his reaction. "At this point, I think the bavril is attached to her. She was tending some scratches, plucking out burrs, and combing his fur when I left. Giant blood sucker is quite the big baby when he can be detangled and scratched behind the ears and told he's beautiful. But that might work to our advantage. He did fine in the cave. He's shown no aggression toward her even when he's hungry."

  If the number of attacks they had endured were any indication, the bavril wasn't likely to get even slightly peckish in these next days. They could be loyal. It irked him to have to rely on the bavril, but he lacked the sensory capacity for detecting the unformed ones. And there was no guarantee Amelia would wake when they were near; it was just as likely they'd plunge her into nightmares. The bavril was perhaps the lesser of evils and risks. "It doesn't seem like there are many options available to us. I'm surprised the bavril came back."

  "I'm not," AaQar said. "Get them started for the journey. I'm going to get the heart. We can at least harvest the valves in the event we find living steel or kor."

  Simple ingredients to obtain most of the time. But not any longer. They'd adapt. They always did. But it was getting harder.

  As he drew closer, he heard WroOth and Amelia squabbling.

  "It's not about the taste, it's about health. Why are you giving me that face? You put sticks in soup."

  "You and AaQar have far too broad a definition of what tea is. Just because you put hot water on it doesn't make it tea."

  "Fine! It's onion broth. Just give me back the onions so I can finish making it."

  "Vile onion broth. At least put some bones in it."

  "I don't want bones, and I don't want meat. I want the onion skins to make tea—broth. No, WroOth! Stop that."

  "You pull leaves off trees and eat them. You chew on bark. And now you want to drink hot onion skin water? I don't know what you're doing, but it can't be healthy, dear heart. No wonder you aren't healing fast enough. I'll make you liver tea."

  "Liver tea? That's better than onion tea?"

  "Of course it is. Now I'm assuming you don't want it completely raw."

  "I don't want it period."

  "Drink it."

  "Just, wait. How is liver tea actually tea and onion skin tea isn't?"

  "I'm just using your definition in the hopes it will make you drink it."

  "Just—you can't fit that—oh, no, no."

  "Trust me. This works."

  "I trust you for flying but not your cooking."

  "My cooking gets results. Now drink this."

  "Like you said, just because you put hot water on something doesn't make it tea. And that is still raw."

  "Fine, but we can't let it steep too long. You need to get your strength up, little sister."

  "Oh my strength is fine. We're just going to put that liver back in the soup. Oh crespa, it won't come out."

  "That means it isn't done yet. Did you—did you just drop the whole kettle into the soup?"

  "It seemed like the best solution. I'll eat liver in soup. But I don't drink it in my tea."

  "That wasn't tea."

  "Fine! I don't want raw liver in my vile onion skin water."

  "You shouldn't want vile onion skin water to begin with. Now stay away from my soup if you don't want it raw."

  "Just—WroOth, we have a big spoon here."

  "Why do sticks bother you? You ate bark. I swear you must be a rabbit or maybe a very small bear without any claws or teeth."

  "A deformed bear or a rabbit? That's how you see me?"

  "Well if you're going to eat bark and leaves, dear heart."

  He rounded the trio of pines. Amelia was brandishing a large spoon at WroOth who appeared to be guarding the large cauldron. The kettle was sinking down into the bubbling soup. He really shouldn't have let WroOth oversee that. QueQoa sat on a log as he mended the leather bag that had been crushed and torn in the rocks.

  "Enough," Naatos said. We're going. Get packing."

  66

  Searching for Answers

  Naatos's return startled Amelia, but his tone left little room for disagreement. Had she had any reasons to fight him on this, she would have. But truth was, she'd felt fairly unbalanced since the encounter with the unformed one. An unnecessary fight wasn't something she wanted. There was nothing in the darkness to fear, but it unnerved her now. Especially when she'd been bathing in the river in the cave. The light hadn't reached far enough. Something was waiting for her. Not here but in some other dark place.

  Everyone moved quickly now.

  The last thing they did before leaving was eat the soup WroOth had made. An adventure in itself really. Flavor aside—at once overly salty and bland—it amazed her at how much all of them could eat. One and a half bowls were all she could manage. They on the other hand managed to clear out all of the soup in the cauldron. Cleaning that up took even less time than eating.

  AaQar cleaned out the kettle, muttering about how WroOth should have learned his lesson the last time. "We don't put raw liver in the kettle, WroOth. You cook it first and then you add it in pieces."

  WroOth waved him away. "You have your methods, I have mine."

  Amelia didn't care for either method.

  They were ready to go before the heat of the day. And though it felt good to move, it brought with it the same difficulties as before. The first attack occurred less than twenty minutes out. Not from the pack hunting dragons, thank Elonumato. Winged s
erpents and mantises.

  They hugged the treeline, using the expansive branches to shield them from the larger aerial predators. Of course, that meant that the arboreal predators came to visit far more frequently. No sarsqueches at least. She was happy to see those go.

  "What are the chances we run into an ilma pack?" Amelia asked, panting after the latest attack.

  "Not likely," QueQoa said. "They've probably gone back to the lowlands. They prefer it there. The lorakas are some of their favorite prey, and there are far more of them there. You get enough of them hunting, and they'll try to take down some much larger prey. Like the mountain garoks."

  "This whole world is full of meat, and everything here eats meat. It just eats itself," she said, holding her head. She adjusted her gun. She needed to count how many bullets she had left at some point. The number escaped her at the moment. A lot of things had been, really. All of those added memories from Tai had left her memory bloated. They were continuing to recede. Yet they tainted part of her. A dreadful way to think of someone who had suffered so much. And there were more.

  So many more.

  That was probably what had them all worried. Amidst everything else.

  It was worth worrying about though.

  That and her left foot. She winced, finding its insistent ache harder to ignore.

  After they cleaned up the aftermath of yet another attack, the sun high in the sky, she removed her boot and pretended to empty it out. Before she slid it back on, she peeled back her sock and checked her heel.

  The pictures she'd taken had charted a slow progression. But now—now there were five veins that moved out from the heel in separate directions, moving up her leg. It had changed significantly between last night and now. The pain remained focused in the areas untouched by the veins like the radius of a bruise. In the center of that dead patch and in the middle of the veins was nothing.

  "You're all right?" WroOth asked, approaching her.

  She slid her boot on before he could see her foot. "Just getting the rocks out." When he continued to look at her, she forced a smile. "Rocks in boots don't bother Vawtrians?"