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"Anameis!"
The larger of her mismatched ears swivelled at the sound of her name, but Anameis barely looked up. Trudging across the cavern floor, head low and tail brushing the smooth stone, she made her way to where her friends would be waiting. "What's happening?" she made herself say. Maybe it was orders. Oh, how she hoped not. There'd been enough of those for one day.
She looked up.
Kirro and Iskome were gone.
Perhaps they were elsewhere? But no, they were always in this spot, and instead, the nicheling who called to her was watching her. It was Norokir, the green nicheling who had been her partner on her first patrol. He hunched like a rabbil, ears flat, and his tension brought a dense knot to Anameis' stomach. The presence of so many nichelings crammed together, awaiting the few safe times they could leave the caves, led to the inevitable nerves and frayed tempers. It wasn't rare to see friends snapping at one another, though usually a guard stepped in before things got too heated. The Taimerans had enough enemies without each other, they always said. Things wouldn't be like this forever, they said. But right now Anameis could smell that tension in the air, as strongly as food or water. Yet by now, it was another piece of the background to the cave's inhabitants. Most of them were talking, eating, or swapping stories to pass the time. Here and there a few cubs played amongst their elder's feet. Normal had turned itself upside down, and yet normal this was.
It would have been any other day, if not for Norokir.
Fear gripped her chest. Wherever Kirro and Iskome had gone, it wasn't the bushes.
"Ki-Relare has spoken." Norokir glanced around, but despite the close confines, nobody was paying them any attention. Everyone tended to split off into their own little groups, preserving what remained of their boundaries. "Your friends are to be executed tomorrow."
"-What?-" The grip became a stabbing claw. Anameis' legs trembled, forcing her to sit despite every instinct screaming at her to run, hide, find out more, -anything- but lie still. She tried to speak, to ask why, but her words emerged as no more than strangled gasps.
They'd beaten her, worn her down with days of patrol. Her body had adjusted to the stiffness brought on by long days stalking through the forest, but her mind, trapped on constant high alert, could not. She'd accepted her role in Laana's amendment-making journey reluctantly, but with more than a little pride in the knowledge that she was trusted to keep them safe. Relare's offer, meanwhile, had been a thinly disguised demand, obvious to both of them, but still she had entertained images of leading her friends out of danger just as Laana had trusted her to do, pulling trickery from the inside worthy of Tata himself. But she was no Tata, dancing before danger on three paws, just one of the children of his curse.
Norokir shuffled his wide digger's paws on the cave floor, snapping her thoughts back to the cave. Opening her eyes, she looked up at the green nicheling. Her tailtip twitched. Why them, and not her? What sort of mercy was this? Relare wouldn't stop at her friends, she was sure. She was valuable alive, perhaps, but she wouldn't leave this forest alive any more than they would. -Should have come up with a plan when you had the chance-, snarled a bitter voice at the back of her mind.
She growled at the thought, a tiny, exhausted sound. No, it was not yet tomorrow. There was still time. "What do you know?" she said, pushing herself back up to her feet. Her ears were still lowered, her tail still hanging limp on the ground, but still she met Norokir's eyes.
Norokir turned away, looking back over his shoulder. Only the close confines prevented him from backing away. Anameis could practically smell his hesitation, but, at last, he spoke, nervously treading his paws upon the ground. "The vines... the twin plants..."
The plants her patrol found yesterday.
Anameis fought to stay on her feet, to not fall back and lie there, useless, all over again. She'd led her friends to their deaths, shown Relare the perfect way to get rid of anyone she deemed a threat. -No, you didn't-, she told herself. -If it wasn't you, someone else would have found them-. But there could be no doubt Relare chose those plants for a reason. Why else use two plants to dispose of four nichelings? Better to feed Laana and Rara - the seer and the alleged war-beast - to the vines, and cut down the other two with poison fangs. In that way, Relare would use her own enemies against one another, and Anameis would have a stern warning over her head.
-Poison, or apes-, chimed in another unbidden thought. -We're all going to die to one of those things-.
And at once, like the light that shone through hole in the cave's ceiling, the plan formed.
She kept her ears flattened. Norokir couldn't know. She couldn't even thank him for the information - how much would he tell? But if this worked - and it was all as clear as a cavern pool now - she could save her friends. After that... no, she would think of that later.
"Thank you," she said, and hoped he wouldn't catch the meaning of those words.
---
The next day found Anameis full of second thoughts. She'd already known she would be on patrol that day, and had counted on it for the sake of her plan. But she never knew her assignment or partner until the day, and today was no different. She crouched in line as she waited, that misty morning, for Lurro's commands. An assignment too far away could scupper everything.
Even when she was assigned to a patch she could work with, all she could think of were the many ways her plans could go wrong. Her partner noticing her agitation, her target having moved on, her friends not reacting in the right way to a rescue they couldn't know about.
It was ridiculous. It was outlandish.
It was exactly the sort of plan Tata would hatch.
-Never been one to ask for help-, she thought, lifting her gaze to the morning sun filtering through the leaves. -But if any of you lot is listening, I wouldn't mind a little luck-.
As usual, she'd never met her assigned partner before today. Elta was a lean, dark spotted nicheling who slunk through the shadows, ears twitching and eyes wide and alert. She might once have been a berry gatherer, from the shape of her long and slender forepaws, but as one did not become a skilled gatherer in the Taimera tribe without a little understanding of stealth, she had taken to the patrols as a rabbil to burrowing.
Anameis split her attention to her partner and the sun's path. Nichelings do not, as a rule, have any need for fine-scale divisions of time. Day is day, and night is night. To time herself on a schedule felt like claws digging into her body, dragging her away from the normal world and into some artificial construct that made her skin prickle. But time herself she must. "You hear that?" she said, rearing up.
Elta mirrored her position. "I don't."
No wonder. There was no sound, at least not one that should be cause for alarm. But Anameis began to lope in an southerly direction all the same, following her imagination. "I do. Something moving. Better take a look."
"Why? I still don't hear anything."
-Suspicious, are you?- Anameis looked back over her shoulder, teeth slightly bared. "You mean to tell Ki-Relare you didn't report something you should have heard?"
That was enough to convince Elta to follow. They carried on in this manner as the morning wore on, Anameis' imaginary trail leading them to the southernmost part of their patch, for as far as she dared pretend. Growing up on the Taimeran's outskirts had blessed her with a sharp mental map of their territory, and the patrols had honed it further still. Close by - not within their patch, but within running distance - were the twin plants, where at noon Laana and Rara would be led to meet their fate. Perhaps the procession had already begun, for it was a long walk this far, even without having to stop every so often to pretend you'd heard something in the undergrowth.
But the plants were not Anameis' goal.
Noon crept steadily closer as the two nichelings pressed on. The land rose gently as they climbed further out of the shallow, broad river valley. Steeling herself, Anameis pushed away the thought of what came next. She hadn't gotten this far by thinking too hard about the plan. -If I did-, she thought, -I'd realise how stupid it was and give up-.
Presently they came to a ridge where the ground rose up a nicheling's length in height to form a bluff of bare red earth, trailed here and there by vines and tufts of hardy grass. With a bit of determination, even Anameis could scramble up its side, if it didn't mark the southern boundary of her and Elta's assigned patrol. "Looks like we've gone as far as we can," her partner commented. "It's a problem for those on the other side, now." The relief in her voice was clear. Anameis was certain she'd succeeded in getting Elta to almost believe she could hear the imaginary noises too, but her ears twitched with the anticipation that, unable to find it, she'd be forced to go back with an incomplete report.
-Sorry it's going to be worse than that-, Anameis thought, rearing up to peer over the crest of the rise. "Wait a moment..."
"You know we can't go any further!" Elta protested.
Anameis flattened her ears. As the moment drew closer, she'd entertained the idea that she might persuade the other nicheling to come with her. All wistful thinking, she knew. She turned her gaze from Elta, shuffling her paws, turning her back in a submissive posture with her head and tail low. "Sorry."
"What-"
Anameis raised her tail.
The spray hit Elta square in the face. Coughing and gasping through the foul, rotten stench, she stumbled and rolled in the mud. A shot of panicked energy stabbed through Anameis' chest, spurring her to scramble over the ridge, claws carving gouges into the dirt as she forced herself away from the choking nicheling. Again and again she slipped, until at last she pulled herself over the edge.
Not daring to look back, she slipped away into the undergrowth, Elta's gasps still ringing in her ears.
---
The insects' hum grew into a wall of sound, relentless even in the wake of the procession that passed them by. A row of nichelings trailed through the forest, wary yet never breaking formation. From above, they appeared as a colourful stream - dappled pelts to blend in, bright pelts to warn of poison, surrounding black, white, and grey, and led by blue.
The rainforest's chirps and cries did little to drown out the sounds reaching Relare's ears. Half imagined growls, the rake of claws through dirt... and the silence, worst of them all. The war-beast, weakened though she was, made no effort to hide her rage. But the seer...
The seer said nothing. Even her paws, though not as soft as Relare's, made no sound. She passed through the world like a ghost.
Relare resisted the urge to shake her paws, as though she had touched cold water, at the memories of last night. Cold, like the seer's body when Relare found her at the bottom of that forgotten cave. Relare had gathered all her courage to journey back to her deepest caverns, to face Laana in that world dark world of scene and air currents. There she had found the seer laid out upon the stone, with not a trace of breath or heartbeat.
Warily, Relare had circled the body. Had she been lucky? Hope had risen in her, hope that the cave had done her difficult work. Perhaps now she could leave and forget it all. Relare never stayed long in the lower caves. Above the rushing water, at the threshold of hearing, nichelings long departed still called to her...
And then Laana awoke.
"What -are- you?" Relare had said. And despite the perfect darkness, she imagined Laana's eyes fixed upon her.
"You're not Yuki..." the seer had murmured, in the dazed tones of one awakening from deep sleep.
She said no more in way of explanation. The cave had failed to kill her, but it shattered something deep within. Relare could have walked away, and let the cave finish its work. A few more days, and it would be done for good.
But Laana had been dead when she walked in...
The plants, that was where it had all begin. That was where it had to end. Like a reflection in water, one must mirror the other. Give the seer to the plant, return what had been taken, and all would be well. Would it not?
Yuki, though... she knew that name, but not from where. "Old stories, perhaps," Lurro had said, when she brought it up. But Lurro cared little for stories, and if any Taimeran storyteller had spoken of a Yuki, Relare hadn't heard it. The question revolved through her mind while she tried to sleep, forcing her awake. She told herself that the depths played tricks upon her, that she only imagined half of what she heard in the dark. That was the way that place worked - after a day or two, nichelings would be crying out for the silence to stop, or rather, the things that came in the wake of silence. Why should she be immune? But there was no mistaking Laana's voice, just as Relare turned to leave.
"I am sorry, Ki-Relare. I am so deeply sorry."
Relare did not wait to hear why.
A sweet scent, upon the very edge of notability, began to float downhill toward the little procession. Her tail lashed, sweeping aside the curl grass. It would not be long, now. Soon, she could forget it all.
---
Anameis ran as fast as she dared. Not too fast now, she told herself, not too frantic. Had to save energy for later. Couldn't burn herself out, running like this... couldn't delay, either. Noon crept ever closer, and she imagined patrols on her tail, unseen in the undergrowth. Occasionally she would stop and rear up, ears and nose twitching, as on edge as a rabbil crossing open ground. She saw and heard no sign of other nichelings, but it was no comfort. Taimerans had been stealthy even before the patrols. In her barely controlled panic, she was starkly aware of how easily she might run directly into their path.
A lashing tail and flattened ears betrayed her agitation. Worse, she had used up most of her scent on Elta. Without her reserves, she felt vulnerable and unprotected, and what she was about to do did not help matters.
She crept and ducked through curl-grass and under giant roots, keeping as low a profile as possible. Had the news spread? Were the patrols on her tail at this very moment? So many things could go wrong, so many things she hadn't even thought of before now. What if Norokir had been planted to lure her into this very plan? What if Relare herself now knew, and at this very moment stalked her on silent paws?
Fear threatened to freeze Anameis to the spot, yet it also drove her onward. Though her breath caught in her tightening throat, she pressed on, loping through the forest until she stopped once more to sniff the air, only to catch a new, musty scent above the earthy forest tones. Pressing her body to the ground she crept forward, on higher alert than ever. Her good forepaw touched against a footprint, deep and massive in the red earth, big enough she could have curled up inside. Shifting, fearful of her pounding hear giving her away, she followed the tracks.
A distant rumble drew her closer, the heavy breathing of a sleeping animal. Anameis slunk through the last thicket of undergrowth, peering out from a gap in the bushes. A subdued gasp left her mouth as she finally let herself exhale.
The ape - of the big eared variety, as Anameis guessed from the tracks she'd spotted on her last patrol here - lay sleeping in a roughed-out hollow between two buttress-roots. Its chest rose and fell as it breathed deeply, its breath the low, raspy tones of a creature unafraid to make any noise, for what other beast, even a bearyena, could harm it? Shaggy, murky green fur, dappled in ochre and speckled with dust and dirt, exuded the musky scent Anameis had caught on the wind. At this meagre distance, its hot, pungent breath sent Anameis' whiskers shaking.
-No time to go rabbil-, she chided herself, feeling her body seize up. -You used to think this was sport-. And then a second thought chimed in: -Yes, but that was when I didn't have anything to lose-.
Poising herself to turn and flee, she stamped a back leg. Time passed in rapid heartbeats and shallow breaths. The ape flicked one long ear, and Anameis tensed, yet it slept on. She allowed herself a quick glance over her shoulder, images of hidden patrols flashing through her imagination. Forcing her focus back to the present, she stamped again, louder, faster, like a rabbil sending warning to its warren.
The ape's ear turned again toward the sound, and she paused, hindleg poised to stomp again. The ape let out a grunt that shook the ground and rumbled through Anameis' feet and through her bones, Frozen, she watched as the creature stirred and arose, pushing itself to its feet, steadying itself on massive knuckles. It swung its head around, seeking the disturbance. From her vantage point it appeared akin to a monstrous, grounded and wingless bat, its eyes beady and vestigial, but its tall, ribbed ears scanning for every sound and missing none. She had been this close to apes before, but never more than an instant before she let loose her spray and fled. Never before had she looked upon one of their number so closely, and for a heartbeat she found herself overcome by a strange sort of awe at the beast, as a prey animal might stare, captivated, at the predator before it lunges.
She wrenched herself away, crashing through the undergrowth with no more regard for stealth, but that was not her priority any more. Sensing an easy meal, or at least to lash out at whatever had awoken it, the ape lumbered after her as she tore away. -Not too fast-, she told herself. She could outrun an ape even on her three legs, in the short term, but this was a longer game. She paused, panting, ears straining to listen for the beast catching up. Every instinct screamed at her to run, every nerve tensed and firing. Her threat strained to let her breathe. Closer it came, closer, and she sped off again, stepping on twigs, crashing through the undergrowth, anything to keep the thing on her trail.
-Not long now-, she thought, as she fled. Down the slope, veering a little away from her previous path, were the twin plants. If Tata were in her place, he would arrive on time, but those were stories, and in stories, you were always right on time.
All Anameis could do was hope some of his luck might rub off onto his cursed child.
---
The light was everywhere, bright and blinding even in the deepest undergrowth. Birds called out to one another in the treetops, their cries blending together into complex harmonies. Half-seen, half-imagined points of light scintillated across Laana's vision. Her paws carried her forward of their own volition. The world swept her up as though she were once more caught in the ocean's whims, drawing her ever closer to what must be.
Her thoughts were still, her being centred in this moment, for what more was there but the overwhelming beauty of the world? It blinded and deafened her in an onslaught of sensation, yet this was not the reason she did not struggle. Nor was it the guards either side of her, ready to bite if she tried to flee. They had come for her long after Relare returned, and she had surprised them by going willingly. Up through the dark they walked together, to the first glimpses of light. Nichelings had shrank away as she passed them by, watching, wary, as if they expected her to scream some premonition of doom. Rumours spread fast, and faster still in a world that tried to silence them. But she walked on by, past stares and frightened whispers, and, for the second time in her life, emerged from the dark.
Outside, the rainforest sang. A chorus of birds and frogs and insects, of wind rustling in the canopy, of every leaf and blade of curl-grass pushed aside as the procession passed on by. It was the song of the world, a song few listened to for long, though the notes rang out for all to hear. It was the song that seers caught glimpses of at the edge of their thoughts, the song that haunted the dreams of nichelings in the deepest of nights. To those who passed through the abyss, to return, stunned, to a world both unchanged and torn apart, it rang out clear as spring water.
-There is nothing to fear-.
Trusting the song, she walked on.
---
Deep, crushing pain squeezed Anameis' chest as she ran on. She gasped and snorted for breath through her crooked snout, panting in the heavy, humid air to no avail. She may have been born in these forests, but she was a creature of stealth. Never before had she been forced to run so far, for so long.
The ape hadn't lost track of her yet. She made all the noise she could, crashing through undergrowth, stepping on twigs and dead leaves, stamping her feet to attract attention. It was a delicate balance - make herself too difficult to find and the beast would lose interest, too easy and... she wasn't going to think of that. Letting out a low growl, she darted on - no time to check for vines or other predators - trusting her memory to guide her back.
-Too early's better than too late, isn't it?- she asked herself. -And what are you going to do when you get there?- another part of her fired back. -Ask the ape to wait nicely?-
Half stumbling, she nevertheless had to force herself to slow down as she approached the right spot. The ape trailed far behind, stopping to listen, but always on her tail. She sniffed the air, ears pricked for hidden guards. By now, surely, news of her escape must have spread. In her imagination, Relare prowled the undergrowth, or Lurro, or that sister of his. Her larger ear swivelled backwards, facing the ape's distant footsteps, and she bolted, half panicked, before catching herself and slinking low to the ground. There was the tree, there were the plants. Her chest ached for air, her body felt buried in stifling hot earth. She clenched her teeth until they hurt, forcing herself not to gasp for breath or pant to take the edge off the heat.
The grass rustled, in two directions.
Was she too late? In the dim understory light, were those vines trailing through the leaf litter, or roots, or shadows and tricks? From her vantage point, crouched in the tangled undergrowth where her dappled pelt merged with the interplay of light and dark, she could not tell. She peered upward, but could only guess at the sun's position. -Midday!- she inwardly spat. What nicheling knew when midday came, especially down here in the jungle depths? She sniffed the air, seeking the sweet-rotten scent of a recently fed plant. No, it was not here. They had not fed, yet.
The grass parted, and Relare stepped out before her.
Anameis froze, still as she could manage. Even as she walked through the leaf litter, Relare's paws were as silent as in the cave. She did not see Anameis - at least, she gave no visible indication that she had. With fluid, graceful steps, she moved closer to the vines, studying the trail they made across the ground. Anameis' breath caught in her throat at the sight of the blue nicheling, barely a tail's length away, sniffing at the snakelike forms. She tensed, waiting for them to snatch her up and draw her in. But not a whisker of Relare's touched the sensitive plants, and they remained still.
Behind her, the procession followed.
Laana was first, flanked by two fanged guards. Anameis had barely enough time to spot the dazed nicheling's broken antler before Rara came thundering in, her feet unsteady but her ears flat and teeth bared, kept in check only by another set of guards ready to bite at a moment's notice. Behind them came Kirro and Iskome. They warranted no special guard, but followed on, heads low. At last there came the siblings, Lurro and Mimi, both on high alert. Claws and paws scratched at fallen leaves a whisker from where Anameis hid. The smell of churned earth and the heavy scent of the caves clung to their pelts.
Relare, now standing proud in the face of the trailing vine, breathed in, ready to speak.
Ears held back, straining to listen to the ape - had it given up the chase? - Anameis drummed a hindpaw on the ground.
Relare flinched back from the vines, the other assembled nichelings backing off in her wake. Lurro let out a hiss and whirled around, and Relare's head snapped up as she pinpointed Anameis' position so swiftly hat Anameis had only a heartbeat to question if she'd known all along, before Relare's paw slammed over her head, her jaw cracking against the ground. Pain bloomed as her tongue caught on jagged teeth. She glared upwards. Relare's gaze was cool, soft, sorrowful.
"Who is there, Ki-Relare?" said Lurro.
"A guest," Relare said. Her paw, soft but firm, pressed harder on Anameis' skull, pushing her face into the leaf litter. Scents of decay filled her nose as she snorted for breath. Where was the ape? Surely it must have heard all of them by now!
Lurro walked closer, studying her with cold eyes. "The rogue-born does not know her place after all."
"Anameis?" That was Iskome's voice, and though Anameis could not see it, a gasp and the sound of a paw cuffing her friend across the face told her all she needed to know.
"There are only two plants, rogue-born," Relare said. "You will find us another." She dipped her head close enough to Anameis' face that her whiskers trembled at the touch. Behind her, Lurro watched, all sleek, hard lines. His fangs could not poison her, but their sharpness gleamed in the faint light, and sharpness was all he needed.
Anameis let out a growl in her throat, a growl that sputtered and shook and transformed, bursting forth as a laugh, wild and out of control. Powerless to stop, she stamped her hindleg again and again, drumming like a warren of rabbils - but she didn't need to do that any more, not when that manic, barking laugh held her in its grip and echoed through the trees.
The assembled nichelings shrank back. Only Relare remained steady, her paw still firm on Anameis' head. Lurro's lips pulled back over shining teeth. As the laughter held her in its grip, Anameis managed to peer upwards, and for an instant, time slowed down. Every detail stood out in stark contrast as her mind drank it all in. -I'm going to die here-, said a cold, sharp thought. -This is the last thing I'll ever see-. Light and shadow, leaf and tree trunk, the bewildered faces of nichelings...
...and in the middle of it all Laana, whose eyes met Anameis' with quiet understanding, as though this heartbeat in time belonged only to the two of them.
The ground trembled.
Time returned.
With a crash of snapping branches and splintering wood, the ape came thundering into the clearing. In an instant halt the Taimeran guards scattered, fleeing into the woods, instinct and survival overcoming orders. Mimi, the tiny guard who was no older than Anameis herself, tried to stand her ground, snarling at the great creature. With a startled cry, Lurro darted to her side, just in time to catch a swipe from the monster's paw and go flying, landing with a crunch upon the forest floor. The pressure on Anameis' head lifted. Relare was the only Taimeran left standing, and she stared, motionless, speechless at the ape, while Anameis made good her escape and rolled away.
The ape lumbered across the clearing, its eyes of little use, but its ears tuned to panicked nichelings in all directions. With a snarl it jerked backwards as one of the trailing vines lashed around its ankle - and with one tug, it tore the offending plant clean from the ground, leaving it lying beside a gaping hole, like a limb pulled clean from its socket.
"Run, now!" Anameis yelled. There was another crash of splintering wood, and a nicheling's scream cut the air. Which one? Anameis forced herself to obey her own order, as a roar shook the clearing and Rara, on unsteady legs yet still standing, called her tribemates close.
Relare was still standing still, stunned into silence. Whatever else happened today, Anameis was going to enjoy remembering the look on her face.
It was unfamiliarity that saved the Meadow Tribe. Every single Taimeran had grown up with stories of the apes. You could not fight an ape, only run and hide and hope that today it would not be you. The Meadow Tribe had no such fears, and, for once, it worked out in their favour. Anameis stumbled through the undergrowth, the others by her side. Rara, Kirro, Iskome... and Laana, following in swift silence. -Don't stop-, she urged herself. She had nothing left to give after her dash to throw Elta off her trail and lead the ape here, yet she dug deep down, for every drop of energy left. She ran heedless of vines, of nichelings, of anything but the cries and alarm calls at her back.
-Someone's dead-, cut in the cold thoughts. That scream... no, she wouldn't think of it. Just run. It wasn't one of hers, right? They were all here, weren't they? -Just run-. A flock of colourful jungle fowl scattered in their wake. She paid them no attention. Which nichelings -were- hers? -Just run-.
They were together again, and the Taimeran borders close. What good would thinking do now?
-Just run, rogue-born. Run-.
-- Response ended
-- Page fetched on Sat May 4 08:52:21 2024