by Scott Moore
“Going in there and dying won’t help us,” Malik argued.
He felt like he would lose before he even started, but he at least wanted to voice his concerns.
“Khris didn’t die when he went.”
She was right. How Khris had survived that fateful night was a mystery.
“It was closer than I would have liked,” Khris added.
“See it is not safe,” Malik piggy backed off the statement.
“But I think there is a safe way to get in and out without being caught,” Khris said before Mollie could answer.
Malik thought about strangling Khris. Mollie jumped on the string.
“What do we need to do?”
“All we have to do is smash the fruit onto our skins. The only reason I got free the last time is because I threw one of the yama fruits at the monster. It balked at the smell and cowered long enough for me to slip out into the night.”
“You were going to let us go in there without telling us that?” Malik accused.
Khris did him the favor of looking abashed. “I wasn’t thinking about it. I am sure I would have thought about it before we got too far into the crack though.”
Malik was positive he tried to convince himself and not Malik and Mollie.
Khris had them double back to the fruit bearing trees. There he instructed them on how to remove every seed from fruit the best they could. He reassured Malik and Mollie, both, that the seeds would not seep in through the skin, even if a few made it through.
Bathed in the juices of the yama fruit, Malik felt a sticky mess. He also thought it absurd that he was about to head into a dark cave, in search of a beast who could rip him apart.
Mollie, who stood right beside him, didn’t share those reservations. the same orange, sticky sap of the fruit covered her, but her disposition looked much more inquisitive than afraid. Her eyes roved over everything. She didn’t linger long on any one object. Malik knew she remembered everything, trying to find some common element that would bring the beast.
“I have a question,” Malik said. He had been wondering about the question the entire time he had been bathing in the fruit’s nectar.
Khris and Mollie both glanced at him.
“What is it?” Khris said, as if he grew tired of Malik’s questions.
Malik ignored his tone. “I was thinking about something. The first time you saw the monster you were in the fruit trees, were you not?”
Khris answered by shaking his head.
“I thought I remembered at least that much,” Malik said.
“Your point being?” Mollie said.
Malik turned to her. “If he was in the trees and the beasts hate the trees, why were they near them?”
It was a logical question that made Malik wonder if this foolish plan would even work. Maybe the monster had been confused why a scrawny, young man would enter its cave and even more confused when the boy only had a small fruit for a weapon.
Mollie turned to Khris. Malik chalked that one as a point for him. Maybe there was still time to talk Mollie out of this.
“I think the trees act as a wall keeping our village safe. It would explain why the monsters don’t come into our town. Almost everyone eats the yama fruit daily. That coupled with all the trees, I think they hate us.”
Mollie nodded. “Makes perfect sense to me.”
Malik tucked his head to his chest. There was no way he would get out of this. He had to accept his fate.
“Anything else before we enter the cave?” Khris asked.
Malik could tell he had no desire to answer more questions. The earlier glimmer of fear was gone. Malik was alone in his thoughts of gloom.
“I guess not,” Malik answered.
Khris guided them across the small patch of open ground. He again stopped at the crack in the wall.
Mollie peered in. Malik doubted she saw anything in the blackness. Malik blocked the sun from his eyes, trying to adjust to the lack of light inside the lip of the cave. There was nothing in there but more darkness. It was impenetrable without some source of light.
“How are we supposed to see in this thing?” Malik asked.
Khris smiled, reaching into his trousers. “I have just the thing.”
Khris opened his hand to reveal three fat sticks of wax. Each stick had a wick in the middle, ready to be lit by flame to produce light and smells. Malik had seen them used all over the country of Luberg to light homes and to also chase away the musty smells.
“Oh, how convenient that you happened to have candles in your pocket,” Malik said.
Khris pulled a flint from his pocket, striking it and lighting the three sources of light.
“My mother is a candle maker. That is what her store is. They are always laying around.”
Malik wondered how much of the story in the tavern had been leading to this moment. Had Khris planned to sucker them in the entire time? Even before they feigned interest in his stories?
Mollie didn’t seem to share his wonder. She took one of the offered candles into her hand. Khris offered the last one to Malik, who took it with some unease. The only thing he wanted less than that candle was to be trapped in the dark with those monsters.
Even with the light from the candles, it was almost impossible to see. Malik felt like someone thumped him in the chest, but realized it was his own heart trying to break free from the inside. Malik had done some stupid things in his life. Abrie had once told him he was the king of stupid decisions. This was the dumbest thing he had ever done by far. There was nothing even close to this stupid.
“This had better be worth it.”
He couldn’t see the facial expression of Mollie, but she sounded confident. “It will be worth it. Anything that helps us understand the Tempre and their wants is important,” she said.
Malik wished he believed that. Sweet Tongue may want power, but would he trudge through a pitch-black cave to achieve it? Malik knew that had been a silly question. Sweet Tongue was scarred more than any other man that Malik had ever seen. Sweet Tongue would have walked through fire at the end of the Earth to achieve power.
Malik was the last of the three to enter the crack. Pushing through he held his breath, sucking in his stomach to get past the opening. Mollie and Khris’ flames disappeared just ahead of him. His heart fluttered, but he kept pushing forward, telling himself that it was just an illusion of the caves turns. Malik soon saw the flames again, as the cave opened up into a large chamber. There was no clear pathway in the room to get through the cave. All Malik could see in their lit-up area was hundreds of banded rock spirals coming up from the ground like the fingers of some gigantic creature. Malik swallowed hard, holding the nausea down, as he thought they could have been the fingers of those monsters.
“Be careful,” Khris said as a warning, before he stepped forward into the small crevices between pointed rocks.
Mollie followed slowly behind him, holding her candle out before her. Malik followed in the rear, finding that he wished he and Mollie could switch places. Then he felt shame for being such a coward.
The further they pressed forward through the rocks, the colder the air became. At some point, it became cold. Malik shivered, not having dressed for the sudden weather change. Even further on, the spirals from the floor were joined by overhanging spirals. They were just high enough that Malik did not have to duck, but he could reach up and touch them if he had wanted to. He did not want to. He feared that with any momentum they would fall and impale him into the ground. Malik wondered at how the monsters moved freely through this cave, or maybe that was the point. If no one could move easily, then it was easier to hide, and the monsters did not strike him as a social kind of creature.
“What possessed you to want to come into this damn cave?” Malik asked, pulling his leg from between two rocks. A few times he had barely escaped without snapping his ankle in half.
“Just a hunch,” Khris answered.
“That is the most unsatisfying answer ever. Are you a mythical palm
reader? Just a feeling?” Malik poked.
Khris did not answer.
Malik was glad when the rocks stopped jutting from the ground and the chamber opened up to a flat surface. Khris pointed with his light toward the edge of the room. “Over there is where I saw it the second time,” he said.
Mollie was already walking that way. Malik could see that she was walking directly toward a small mound of built up dirt. Something had been pushing the dirt together to make some type of barrier. The closer Malik got, the more he could tell that this was some type of nest. Malik instantly slowed down, not wanting to come upon the nest of some animal that would tear him to shreds.
Mollie did not share that reservation. Khris followed Mollie like a puppy chasing its mother.
“This is it,” Mollie said, making her way to the edge of the nest wall.
“What exactly do you think it is?” Malik said.
Mollie bent over caressing something that Malik could not see from his vantage point.
Malik took another step closer. He was still tentative about being this close to a nest, but he pushed back the fear long enough to glance over the edge. That was when he saw four deep, black eggs. Each egg was the size of a human head and on the top of each was a stark white circle. Protruding from one of the circles was a singular claw, Malik jumped back.
“We need to go,” he said. He looked around the cave ready for the monster to jump out at him from every angle.
Mollie did not move away from the nest. Instead, she reached in for the cracked egg.
“I think we have to take it,” she said.
Malik felt like she had just smashed him in the knees with the hilt of her sword.
“Take it?” he mumbled. “Why in the Saint’s Hell would we take it?” he questioned.
Mollie turned to Khris who was silent during all of this.
“We have to study it, don’t we?” she asked.
Khris did have the decency to look nervous but his answer was expected. “People will believe me in the village if I show them this,” he said.
Mollie held the egg, with the single claw, closer to her chest, “I don’t know if that is the greatest idea,” she was holding the egg like she was the proud mother.
“Just put it back, we can still get out of here alive,” Malik was still looking for the monster to jump from any of the hundreds of shadows that surrounded them. So far, he had heard nothing coming from around them, but that could change in an instant.
“I am taking it,” Mollie was defiant.
“Fine, let’s just get out of this cave,” Malik said. He was beginning to lose control of his body. Soon he felt that it would be impossible for him not to curl into a ball.
“We can discuss what to do with it outside,” Malik said, before Khris could lay out his case.
“Fine,” Khris said.
Malik turned to head back toward the entrance. Just one step at a time and they would be able to make it. He convinced himself not to run, knowing he would only hurt himself. He took the first step, shakily; then the second followed. He took a deep breath, letting it out through his nose. They were going to make it, he thought.
Then he heard the roar from somewhere off in the cave.
Chapter 19
Egg
Malik could not stop himself from running. What little reserve he had mustered from his inner depths was gone. There was no bravery left for him to tap into. So, he ran, candle bobbing in front of him. The light it provided barely had any use at all. He was just running without any direction or thought. He had to get out of the cave and that was all his mind was set to do.
When he reached the edge of the clear path, he ran on his tip toes, trying to land in only open areas. He stumbled twice, almost impaling himself on the upward spikes. He did not stop to check if Mollie and Khris had followed him. If they had, he would be happy to see them on the outside of the cave. If they had stayed to fight the creature over an egg, then there was nothing he could do to save them from their own stupidity.
Malik heard the roar again. He had no way of knowing where it was coming from and the echoes of the cave made it difficult to judge distance. He just focused on running away. If he could just get to the outside of the cave, with the sunlight, he knew that everything would be just fine.
He stumbled again and behind him he heard a grunt. He paused, knowing that the noise had come from Mollie. He cursed himself for his stupid sense of empathy. He should have just continued to run, but he righted himself, with the help of a jutting rock and turned to see Khris helping Mollie to her feet.
“We have to keep going,” Malik said, as if anyone were really planning on having a picnic with the creature behind them.
“You just run, don’t worry about us,” Khris said with sarcasm.
Malik opened his mouth to argue and tell Khris that he had stopped to see if Mollie had been alright, but Mollie spoke first. “We can argue if we make it out of here alive,” she said.
Malik focused on her a moment, seeing that she was still carrying the egg in the crook of her arm. He wished she would drop it, maybe that had a small chance to save them. He did not argue with her though. He knew from experience that he would not win, and it would only take up precious time.
He turned back toward the cave entrance and started off again, as quickly as the crowded path would allow him. From time to time, Malik glanced back over his shoulder to see if the other two were still following. Each time he saw the determined eyes of Mollie and the look of hope on Khris’ face. He thought they were both pushing forward for dramatically different reasons, but they were both pushing forward.
Malik heard the roar three more times before he finally saw the light to the entrance of the chamber. He did not slow with the prospect of escape so close to him. With only minor scrapes, bruises, and sore calves, Malik pushed through the small crevice in the ravine wall. When he felt the warmth of the sun on his skin, he thanked every Saint he could remember and fell to the ground, taking big gulps of air.
Mollie was the second to exit the cave, egg still in tow. Khris pushed himself out last, dropping to the ground beside Malik. Only Mollie stayed on her feet, looking at the crack in the wall.
“I think we should keep going,” she said, panic finally coating her voice.
“Now that we are free from the cave you are ready to be scared?” Malik threw the words at her like ice.
She did not take the time to reprimand him. “Let’s just at least get to the trees,” she said, starting off towards them.
Khris pushed himself to one knee and was ready to follow. Malik tried to force his body to follow his commands, but he was tired, scared, and stressed. He did not see the problem of sitting here a moment longer.
At least until he saw the claw poke from the crevice’s lip. That was enough to make his body listen. He was on his feet and racing for the trees in less than a breath. Khris fell off behind him and he pulled even with a running Mollie. She started to trail back behind him, clearly laboring under the added weight she had carried all through the cave. Malik hated himself for this and if he would have thought further, he would have just thrown the egg away, but he reached out grabbing it and tucking it into his chest. Mollie looked relieved. Malik felt the actual weight of the egg and knew that the creature took up every inch of it.
Without the extra weight, Mollie got to the trees shortly before Malik, followed by Khris. She instantly turned to Malik, taking the egg from his hands. Malik wondered if she could tell he was thinking about tossing it back to the beast.
Malik turned toward the clearing, wondering how close the beast had come. It was standing in the middle of the clearing, roaring toward the trees, but not coming any closer. Its claws dug into the earth, ripping up large divots, tossing the dirt through the air in their direction. Nothing came even close to hitting them. Malik was not sure how long they sat there watching the creature, but finally Mollie put her hand on his shoulder.
“Let’s get out of this ravin
e,” she said.
Malik agreed with her. There was no use standing here, waiting for the creature to gather up its nerve to attack them even in the fruit trees.
Khris guided them back to the stairway that led to the top of the ravine. It was much harder going up than it was going down. It did not help that Malik’s body was sore from head to toe. Malik was not out of shape and he was used to walking, even through terrain, but he was not used to climbing, cave exploring, and running for his life. All of that combined had a way of wearing a person down.
At the top of the ravine, Malik paused to take one more glance back toward the valley. There, still in the clearing, was the monster staring up at them. He could not see its face from this distance, but he imagined it was grimacing with anger.
Mollie moved off the ledge a little and then took a seat under a small tree. She was clearly breathing just as heavy as Malik was. Khris was fairing no better. All of them took a seat, saying nothing for several minutes.
Malik could not grasp a thought to express to the others. He had a lot to say but did not know how to say any of it without sounding like a whining child, or a scared fool. So, he stayed quiet, waiting for his nerves to calm.
It was Khris who, after several more minutes, broke the silence between them. “Can I see the egg?” he asked.
Mollie had been running her fingers over the shell since they had sat down. Malik could not tell exactly what she was thinking, but the egg fascinated her. She looked up at Khris with questioning eyes.
“I don’t know if we can show this to your village,” she answered the unspoken question.
Khris let his hands drop back into his lap. “If they could just see the egg, then they would believe me. They would not call me crazy or think I was making things up anymore,” he said.
Mollie was chewing on her bottom lip. “I just don’t think they would give it back if they saw it. They would want it and I can’t let them have it,” Mollie said.
Malik saw in her the mother hen again. She was caressing the egg as if it were a child she had reared.
“Is the creature even still alive?” Malik asked, pointing toward the unmoving claw at the top of the egg.
