The
fire was sending sparks into the night air, the crackling of the logs mixed
with the rushing sounds of the rapids beside them. Enderi picked at the stump
he was sitting on as Junipa drew a large, flat stone from the edge of the
rapids.
“That’s
it. I’m not waiting for her any more. Enderi, sweetie, have you ever skinned a
deer before?”
Enderi
looked at her. “No.”
“It’s
not hard,” she smiled, leaning the stone against the fire to dry it, “It’s
about cutting away the fur and skin away from the meat, before chopping up the
meat into strips and laying them across the hot stones to cook.”
Enderi
perked up slightly. “That sounds nice.”
“It
does, right? We can start now, while Manda gets the spit for the rest of the
animal.”
Junipa sat down expectantly.
A
couple of seconds passed in silence.
“Don’t
you have a knife on you?” Junipa said.
“No.”
Enderi said, “I’m only eight.”
Junipa
sagged. “Ugh. Now we have to wait for
Manda to come back.”
Suddenly,
Manda burst through the trees. She was pale, and sweat clung to her forehead.
Manda
jumped up. “Finally! Where’s the spit?”
“Come
with me. Now!”
“What?”
Junipa said, crossing her arms. “What’s going on?”
“Look,
we don’t have time for questions!”
Manda
grabbed Enderi’s hand, and pulled him up. The boy looked surprised, but allowed
himself to be dragged along behind her. Junipa hesitated, her eyes lingering on
the deer foal, but with a sound of resignement hurriedly followed behind.
They
moved away from the campsite, upstream for several metres before Manda stopped
them. The dim firelight lit up a large, open tree, the inside a web of sturdy
branches while the outside a wall of leaves and twigs. Manda lifted Enderi into
the trees, and the boy clung to one of the branches, confused. He glanced down
at Manda, frightened.
Manda
gestured upwards. “Climb into the branches! Quickly!”
Enderi
made a face of determination, and began slowly climbing into the dark branches.
Manda turned to Junipa.
“Come
on!”
Junipa
crossed her arms, “We’ve been through this. As you’ve pointed out before, you’re
the better climber.”
“Why do
you think I picked a tree with such low branches?” Manda said, grabbing her
shoulder and pulling her towards the branches, “You still need me to give you a
leg up?”
Manda leant
in, and whispered into her ear. “There’s a Fenrir Wolf in the woods. I think it
followed me back here.”
Junipa’s
face went white.
“Fine,” she said, fighting to
keep her voice level, “give me a boost, then.”
Manda made a platform with her
hands, and Junipa stepped into the tree, grabbing one of the branches and
pulling herself upwards. Enderi stopped, and began to climb down, trying to
give Junipa a hand as she struggled her way upwards.
“Enderi, just focus on climbing.”
Manda warned, taking few steps back and preparing to climb.
By the campsite, the leaves were
shivering, and she could see a shadow in the undergrowth.
Manda fought the fear inside her,
and with the short run-up vaulted up the trunk and pulled herself into the branches.
Enderi was frozen in place, his
eyes staring through the branches. Beside him, Junipa was clumsily pulling
herelf into place, sitting atop one of the larger branches.
“Not high enough,” Manda hissed,
gesturing upwards. “We need to be completely out of sight.”
Junipa sighed exasperatedly, and
continued pulling herself higher into the tree. Enderi remained frozen, his
eyes glued to the rustle by the campsite. Manda climbed beside him, and
hesitated, before placing her hand on his shoulder.
“Come on. We still aren’t high
enough.”
“Manda,” the boy whispered fearfully,
“What is that?”
The leaves parted, and a huge
creature emerged, sniffing around the shores of the rapids. The Fenrir Wolf
looked similar to the smaller, lither wolves that hunted in packs north of the
forests, but it was a solitary creature. It had Wolf-like features, padded
feet, a long furry tail and large ears framing a protruding, fanged snout, but its
size and girth suggested something closer to a bear. The huge, stubby muscular
limbs plodded against the ground, supporting a barrel-like torso, wrapped in waves
of gray and black fur. Large, yellowish eyes scanned the darkness, while its
black lips pulled back to reveal rough, serrated teeth. It took deep, draughty
sniffs of the air, looking around for its lost quarry.
“It’s a Fenrir Wolf,” Manda said
quietly, “but don’t worry, it’s all right. It’s not very fast, or very bright. Its
sense of smell isn’t great, as long as we stay quiet, and out of sight, it’ll
wander off before long.”
Manda felt Enderi’s arm wrap
around hers, and tighten. Despite the situation, Manda felt a wave of surprise,
mixed with a little happiness.
The Fenrir Wolf wandered
around the campsite, almost lazily scanning the shoreline. It plodded up to the
deer foal, and grabbed it in its jaws. Above her, Manda could hear a small
whimper of disappointment. The Wolf finished the carcass in two bites, its huge
jaws smashing through the skeleton with little resistance. The dull crunching
abated, and the Wolf looked up again, giving the area a final cursory glance. Seemingly
satisfied with the small offering, it lumbered back into the undergrowth.
Manda
let out a sigh of relief. “It’s gone.”
Enderi’s arm stayed wrapped
tightly around hers. “No, it’s still wandering around the trees. It’ll see us, I
know it will.”
“What are you talking about?”
Manda said.
“I can feel it.”
Manda looked at him. Enderi’s
body was that of a frightened little boy, and he clung to her arm in support,
but his face was drawn back, determined. It was an expression that didn’t seem
to suit him, it was the face of someone far older. Looking at him Manda felt
all the other senses were fading away, even the fear of the Wolf below.
She felt something in his arm, a pulse.
Every second, the pulse beat into her, its rhythm almost hypnotic. Manda felt
like her sense of place was falling away, the situation around her not fading,
but seeming... less relevant, like she was imagining someone else’s situation. The
pulse rippled through her from his arm, spreading through her body like a wave.
Only it wasn’t directionless; the pulse seemed to go beyond her, every beat
moving a little further out of her skin and into the world. She could feel the
shiver in the trees as the wind moved across the rapids; feel the water
slamming into each plateau of rock as it careered downhill, as if she was
sitting beneath it herself. And, below, behind the spiralling energy curling
upwards from the campfire, a rough pulse as huge padded feet slammed into the
undergrowth, so powerful and vivid it was like she was huddled beneath the
beast, just waiting for it to notice her, just waiting for it to open its maw
and clamp its teeth into her flesh…
With a small cry, she pulled
herself away from Enderi. She was instantly back, slammed into her own body,
and the sudden rush of lucidity was jarring. Enderi looked shocked as well,
pulling away from her.
“How did you do that?” she
whispered.
“I, I don’t…” Enderi said, still
moving away from her, “you were inside my head… how did you do that?”
There was a snapping sound, and
suddenly the branch under Enderi, thinner away from the trunk, gave way. Manda
lunged forwards, grabbing him and pulling him into her chest. She curled into a
ball, feeling the rough scratches of leaves come past, branches slamming into
her at all sides as she fell. Then the branches were gone, and her back hit the
ground so hard she felt all the breath in her body forced out at once.
“Manda!” Junipa cried above them.
Enderi pulled himself upright, kneeling
next to her. “Thank you for saving me… Are you okay?”
Manda tried to sit up, but couldn’t.
As she lifted her head, she felt dizzy, and every breath she pulled into her
body was difficult, and painful. Her limbs buzzed with pain, she could feel
blood trickling down her legs in places, and across her fingertips.
“Manda?” Enderi said worriedly, “Are
you okay?”
The
trees by the campfire rustled, and the Fenrir Wolf was lumbering slowly towards
them, alerted by the sound of Manda falling.
“Enderi,”
Manda croaked, “climb back into the tree…”
“I don’t
want to just leave you!” he cried.
His
face seemed to change, the grim visage of determination coming back.
“I won’t leave you.” He whispered, standing up.
The Wolf seemed to pick up speed
a little, into a slow gallop. Enderi planted his right foot on the ground in a
combat-like stance and Manda felt a wave through the earth, like a ripple in
reverse, towards him that made her shiver. The Wolf seemed to falter as well,
slowing to a halt curiously.
Enderi swung his left hand from
below, upwards in a clawed fist in an upward swipe, and as he did, he shouted
something. The world seemed to freeze for a second, and strange words, echoed
against the beat of the world seemed to resonate against nothing, so powerfully
the syllables became incomprehensible.
The earth and rock in front of
him blew upwards, massive clumps of earth metres wide and shards of rock
smashing upwards in a cruel wave. The Wolf stumbled as the earth beneath it
crumbled away, and with a yelp of shock it was pulled into the earth. The earth
and rock at the crest of the wave rose into the sky, before plunging downwards,
like a waterfall smashing into rock. There was no sound of the Wolf’s cries. Suddenly,
the wind was back, the rushing water beside them. Where the Fenrir Wolf had
stood, only a small cairn of rough stones, encircled by an uneven wound of
upset earth remained.
Junipa dropped out of the lower
branches, clumsily landing on her feet. She rushed over to Manda, propping her
head up.
“Try and lean up,” she said, “It’ll
help relax your body.”
Manda felt the restricted feeling
in her chest begin to relax as Junipa lifted her. She turned her head to
Enderi, still frozen in place.
“What… what was… that?” she
gasped.
Enderi relaxed, before sitting
heavily on the ground. In the light of the fire, she could see his face, drawn
and tired, was covered in sweat.
“It’s called…” Enderi said,
staring at the dirt, “Raustra: Earth
Grave.”
Junipa looked at him in amazement,
before resting Manda’s head against her shoulder. “Here, sweetie. Help me carry
Manda back to the campfire.”
***
The moon was high in the sky as
Enderi sullenly coaxed the fire back into life. It had been half an hour since
the Wolf was buried alive, and even as Manda applied small bandages to the last
of the cuts and bruises covering her limbs, she couldn’t stop glancing at the
small mound of earth, or imagining the feeling of being roughly crushed under
rock, the last thing she’d see, a tidal wave of earth barrelling towards her…
She shivered, before rinsing the
blood from a large cut on her thigh and wrapping it in thin cloth. Junipa returned
from the rapids, carrying several more gourds filled with water. She passed one
to Manda, before handing one to Enderi, giving him a reassuring pat on the
head. Enderi looked up, smiling a little.
Manda sighed. “Thank you.”
Junipa sat down on a stump. “You’re
welcome.”
“Not you… well, yeah, thanks for
the water, but…” Manda looked at Enderi, “thank you for saving me.”
Enderi smiled hesitantly at her. “It’s
okay. But I shouldn't have. I got too scared, I was always warned not to use
Pulse when I was scared. I was only supposed to fire some rocks at it, to, you
know, chase it off. Not cast a Tribal God Spell.”
Junipa, about to take a drink,
let her hand fall to her lap. She looked at Manda. “Did you understand any of
that?”
Manda shook her head. “This is
what we were talking about in that tent, Enderi. You, me and Suleiha. What is
going on, who are you?”
Enderi clutched his head in
frustration, “It’s… ugh, it’s really complicated. And I don’t really understood
much of what I was told… but, before I came here, I was being trained in a huge
building, with all my friends.”
“What?” Manda said, leaning
forwards, “What does that mean?”
“I was…” Enderi made a noise of
frustration, “I don’t know! Ever since I came here, I feel like less and less
is coming back…”
“It’s okay, sweetie.” Junipa
said, walking round the fire and giving him a comforting squeeze. “Can you
remember what this place was called? Where it is?”
“I don’t know where it is. I was…
doing something I shouldn’t. Someone dared me to do it. And then, I was falling
through burning light, and I was… I was here.”
“What was the place called?”
Manda asked.
“Merai.”
No comments:
Post a Comment