Stone Heart

by Pauline Creeden

“What was that?” I asked, fear clawing at my throat.

  “I’m not sure,” Kane whispered. “Let’s try out your rope suggestion.”

  He tied a rope around my waist and then propped me up against the wall of the cave.

  “I’ll be right back,” he said. “Stay there.”

  I snorted. Where was I going to go?

  He chuckled, and I realized he was trying to calm me down.

  He crawled away, the cave silent except for his movements. So, whatever had fallen was either dead when it fell or hadn’t moved yet. I did not envy him checking what it was. I did not want to touch some dead animal with my hands, blind to anything else.

  “I think your friend heard you,” Kane said from wherever the heck he was in the cave.

  “What?” I asked.

  He shuffled back toward me and set something on my lap.

  “It’s another of those fruits,” he said.

  “How can you be sure? You can’t see it.” I didn’t want to eat something that could be poisonous.

  “They have telltale ridges around the stems. They’re the only plant with them.” His hand felt warm in mine as he took hold of my fingers and showed me. “Can you feel them?”

  “Yes.”

  “Even if you can’t move yet, at least you can feel things. That’s good.” His voice sounded happy about that at least.

  Even though I still couldn’t move, I was happy altogether. Our monkey friend was actually helping us. I hoped that he would stick around and keep us from starving at least for now. “Thank you!” I yelled.

  “Ah!” Kane said. “Warn me before you yell.”

  “Sorry,” I mumbled. One of my fingers ticked. “My fingertip moved!”

  “Well, it’s definitely an improvement.” I could hear the smile in his voice as he moved around a bit more. Every now and then I would feel the slightest tug on the rope before it would go slack again. More sliding sounds and several more plops came.

  “Is he stocking us up?” My heart swelled. Why would the monkey even bother with us? I was so happy that he cared--more than most of the people in my hometown did for me, even.

  Kane continued to make shuffling sounds, but there was no response from him. Just when it started to worry me, there was a strange sound and then a flash of light.

  “Ah!” I yelled, closing my eyes. Had my arms worked, I would have thrown them up to shield my eyes.

  “He sent us flint.” Pure shock filled his voice.

  Slowly, I opened one eye and then the other. The small stick Kane had used the flint on gave us a point of light. It cast a glow around Kane and the cave from wall to wall and let us see a small section. Kane brought over a few more pieces of fruit, setting them beside me and then untied the small rope that attached him to me.

  “I won’t need this so much, now that I can see. I’m going to go explore the cave and see where it ends and if there’s a way out.”

  “Okay. I hope you find something.”

  “Me, too.” He walked through the darkness, his small bit of light casting about the cave in front of him. I watched until I was in pitch blackness again and longed to see at least some shred of the light again.

  “Anything?” I asked, after the silence went on too long.

  “I still don’t see an exit.” His voice echoed from not as far away as I thought he would be.

  “Wonderful. So, we’re just delaying the inevitable?” I whispered lower than he could possibly hear me. If there was no way out of this cave, we would die here. The monkey had bought us some time with the fruit he’d sent down, but when would he quit providing for us? In frustration, I tensed my jaw. My finger flicked again, but I couldn’t get anything else to budge, not even one of my other fingers. This was all too much. There had to be something we could do. I didn’t want to die here in a cave where I couldn’t even see my hand in front of my face... I couldn’t even move my hand in front of my face. My eyes teared up.

  Slowly, the point of light came into view again, and Kane’s face glowed in the midst of it. He carried an armful of sticks with him. I wanted to swipe the tears from my face, but I couldn’t. When he got closer, Kane studied my face, and I glared at him, threatening him with my gaze to ask. But he didn’t say a word. Instead, he set down the sticks and shoved the fruit I’d taken a bite of earlier back into my mouth. “Eat another bite.”

  What else was I going to do? I obeyed, chewing on the sweet fruit slowly. The sadness and frustration I’d felt began to slip away as I swallowed. It was hard to be angry long when I thought about how grateful I was to be with Kane in the dark. How much worse would it be if I were alone? And then there was Monkey. I had no idea why the monkey had decided we were friends, but I was grateful for him, too.

  Two of my fingers twitched.

  “Two fingers,” I whispered, twitching them as much as I could.

  “Progress.” He nodded and shoved the fruit toward my mouth for another bite. While I chewed, he took the armful of sticks he’d brought from his exploration and split it into two piles, one of which he used his small torch to light. Slowly a small campfire grew and I watched the flames. They gave me hope even though things felt so hopeless. Kane came and sat beside me.

  “Find anything interesting in the cave?” I asked.

  “A few animal bones and these sticks, but nothing super interesting.”

  “Boring,” I moaned.

  Kane smirked, and it was slightly unnerving in the low light with shadows playing across his face. “Sorry, but at least there aren’t any monsters.”

  “True,” I agreed. “I’d rather be bored than eaten.”

  “Being eaten does sound troublesome.” He nodded, his eyes wide as he watched the flames in front of us. The fire had a hypnotic quality, it drew my gaze to it as well, and soon we just sat there staring at the flames for a while.

  Then finally I broke my hypnosis and said, “Kane, since we’re bored and possibly dying, tell me about yourself.”

  He sighed. “There really isn’t much to tell.”

  “Why don’t you agree with the other mages?” I asked. “Why are you against the way they teach everyone?”

  “Because, we can do more. We could do much more than hide in our caves. They’re just scared. They don’t know what it’s like outside, since none of the elders ever venture outside of the cave.”

  “Because they’re scared?”

  He nodded.

  “So, if we make it back, what are you going to do about it?” I asked.

  “What?”

  “You’ll return a hero. What are you going to do to fix things? To make life better for your fellow mages.”

  “The stone supposedly fixes everything,” he mumbled. “I shouldn’t need to do anything.”

  “Mindsets don’t change overnight,” I reminded him.

  “True,” he grumbled. The fire had already snuffed to embers reducing the glow around us. “I’m going to wait to use more until we absolutely need to.”

  The stubborn mindsets I’d had to deal with were the main cause of my doubts for returning home, as well. They would still consider me a screw-up, even if I managed to find the stone. They would never accept me. Kane got up and began to stoke the flames, adding the rest of the sticks he’d gathered to the campfire.

  “What about you?” he asked as he returned to his place beside me.

  “Hm?”

  “Are you still considering that deserted island?”

  “Maybe not an island, but I want to find someplace on land to live.” I kept moving the same two fingers over and over again, hoping to get something more than just a flick out of therm. “Somewhere quiet and isolated. So, I don’t have to deal with people would be good.”

  “People do suck,” he grumbled. He repositioned me, so he sat behind me again, and I leaned against his chest. I could move four fingers now, but I didn’t announce it to him. When I could move my hand, then I would celebrate.

  “You’re okay,” I said. “You could live in
my town if you wanted.”

  “Oh? How kind of you,” he said. I didn’t need to see him to know he was smiling, or at least smirking.

  “I try to be kind on occasion.” Now I was smirking, too.

  “I like the idea of being isolated,” he whispered, his lips right next to my ear. “Living in an area with you sounds... nice.”

  My heartbeat thundered in my chest, and I was glad I couldn’t move for once.

  He brushed some of my hair behind my ear, and whispered, “Will you still be such a danger magnet once the stone is found?”

  I chuckled. “Probably. I seem danger-prone.”

  “But you do hold your own,” he said. “It was pretty awesome how you took down that wolfcupine with just your tiny knife.”

  “I enjoy you using my names for the animals,” I said, smiling like a fool.

  “They’re cute.”

  “And, I was terrified fighting that thing, but I really didn’t want to die.” I let out a long, slow breath. “I really don’t want to die here in this cave, either.”

  He wrapped his arms around me, hugging me softly. “We aren’t going to die here. If anything, we may end up living here for a few years, or at least until your monkey friend stops feeding us.”

  “Not comforting,” I grumbled.

  “We’ll figure something out.” He rested his chin on my shoulder, and I could just see the side of his face from the corner of my eye.

  “What’s our next move? Once we get out of here?”

  “Bask in the sun for an hour,” he said.

  I snorted.

  “I keep forgetting that you haven’t spent much time in the sun,” he whispered.

  “No, but it is growing on me.” I could feel each breath he took as his chest moved against my back. Kane was becoming my main source of warmth and comfort.

  “Sadly, no matter how much time you spend in the sun, you’ll never be as dark as me.”

  “What? Why not?” I asked.

  “It’s part of my genetics.” Each word he intoned made his jaw work against my shoulder. “If you noticed, not everyone in my village has the same color skin. Some are similar to your color, while others are closer to my color. It’s about pigments.”

  “Pigments?”

  “I read about it in a book that I found. For humans, there is a pigment called melanin in our skin that determines our skin color. It’s passed on genetically, between mother, father, and child.” He pulled back and positioned himself, so he was leaning more against the wall, and I was slouching more with him.

  “So, I could get darker, but never have skin as dark as yours?” This really disappointed me. I stuck out my lip in a pout, even though he couldn’t see it.

  “Right,” he said.

  “Does that bother you?” I whispered.

  “What? No. Why would it?” The light faded again as the fire dissolved to embers again. We were cast in shadows once more, but it wasn’t quite pitch black yet.

  “I don’t know. Just, if we live in the same town, I might always be pale like this. All of the sirens I knew are pale like me,” I whispered, my cheeks blazing with heat. I was glad he couldn’t see me now.

  He rubbed his thumb across my cheek and said, “I think you’re beautiful exactly as you are.”

  “You do?” I asked, my breath hitching a moment.

  He gently turned my head and pressed a light kiss to my lips. “I do.”

  “This isn’t fair,” I whispered between a second and third kiss from him.

  “Why is that?” he stopped and asked.

  “I can’t move.”

  “Do you not want me to kiss you?” he asked, pulling his face away from mine.

  “That’s not it. I do want you to. I just can’t move, and I wish I could, so I could at least feel your face, so I know what your facial expressions are.”

  He turned me sideways, draping my legs across one of his, wrapped an arm around my waist to keep me upright, and then took one of my hands and placed it on his face. He dragged my fingers to his lips, which were turned up in a smile.

  “You should smile more,” I whispered.

  “I’ve smiled more in the past few days than most of my life,” he said, and kissed the tip of my fingers. They twitched, and he said, “How much movement do you have?”

  “I can wiggle these four,” I answered, and wiggled my fingers against his face.

  “That’s better than it was before,” he said, kissing my fingertips again.

  A small thrill ran through me at the touch like a jolt of electricity. Then my heart sunk. What if this was all because he was trying to comfort me, again? “Kane, are we going to die?”

  “What? Why would you ask that?”

  “Well, you’re acting different. I was just worried you were treating me this way because we aren’t going to make it out of here,” I mumbled.

  He laughed, and it echoed around the cave. The sound made me smile, even as the last bit of light from the embers died out and we were cast in complete darkness again.

  “No, we aren’t going to die. I’m not kissing you because we aren’t going to make it out.”

  “That’s good,” I said and exhaled loudly.

  He kissed me again, and I could feel his smile on his lips.

  “Can I have another bite of the fruit?” I said when he pulled back again.

  He pressed the fruit against my mouth, and I took a big bite. I could totally live off just this fruit. It was sweet but not overwhelming, the flesh was really filling, too.

  “We need to plant these in our town,” I said around the food in my mouth.

  “They would be good to have on hand.” His mouth was full as he talked, too.

  “Is there anyone else you’d like to invite to our town?” I asked. Since we were indulging in our fantasy world, I figured I might as well go all in.

  “Nope. Just you and me,” he said and pressed the fruit to my lips for me to get another bite.

  “It’s bound to be rather loud with you there anyway,” I said, smirking.

  “Right. Because I’m the loud one of the two of us,” he scoffed and then took another bite of the fruit.

  “Totally!” I said and nodded. “Hey! I nodded.”

  “Can you move your legs or arms yet?” he asked and poked one of my arms.

  I tried moving my legs, but they still wouldn’t budge. I focused on my right arm and was able to lift it a few inches off the ground. “Just a little bit,” I said.

  “That’s still good. Do you want another bite?”

  “Yes, please.”

  After two more bites, we returned to sitting with him against the wall, and me against his chest.

  We sat in silence for what felt like hours, but I wasn’t sure how long it actually was. Still, it was nice to sit with him. Even if we were stuck in a cool, dark cave that could very well end up being our tomb.

  I raised my arm and set it across my chest and squeaked. “I can move my right arm.”

  “Mm,” he said groggily.

  “How can you sleep so much?” I asked.

  “Lots of practice,” he mumbled and then wrapped his arm around me and rested his chin on my shoulder. “Naps are wonderful.”

  “I don’t nap often,” I admitted.

  “Start now,” he whispered. “Maybe when you wake up, you’ll be able to use your arms.”

  “I’ll try.” I settled against him and rested my arm across his. It felt good to touch him of my own accord now. I closed my eyes and breathed the scent of him slowly, feeling his warmth against my back. He was right. I needed to sleep so that I could recover faster. There was no better way to hurry time along than to sleep. Easier said than done, as I stayed still with my eyes closed for several minutes feeling the even cadence of Kane’s breaths before they lulled me to sleep.

  Chapter Eight

  It was hard to tell how much time passed before I was able to move all of my body again. It felt like days, but who could tell? Once I could stand and walk,
I took to pacing. And it wasn’t long before we ran out of things to burn in the small cave. We were in pitch black again, eating only what the monkey dropped down. I ran my hands through my knotted hair since there was no way to wash down here, and screamed, “Monkey!”

  “Gah!” Kane exclaimed from not too far away. I only paced while he was sitting, so we wouldn’t run into each other. “Why are you yelling?”

  “I want out of here. I’m done pacing in the dark. I don’t want to die in the cave.” My words ran together in my hurry to spit them out. “Monkey!”

  A monkey hoot echoed to my left, in the approximate position of the hole.

  I felt my way along the cool damp earthen wall to the spot where the hole was. “Monkey, can’t you get us out? Is there some way to get out of here?”

  The monkey hooted again, and then there was silence. Kane came over to me, and I felt his hand over mine. His body heat warmed my side.

  “Maybe he went to get help,” I whispered, turning to lean against Kane sideways, resting my head on his chest.

  He stroked the side of my face. “I’m sure he’s getting help.”

  What kind of help could the monkey offer us? I had no idea. It was hard to bend my mind around the fact that he could understand me, much less find a way to get us out of this hole. But at this point, the monkey was our only hope. He’d saved my life once already by helping us find the plant that kept me from dying, and he even warned us of the danger when the panther was nearby. Then he saved us both for however long we’d been down in this hole by providing us with the fruit. It may have been too much to ask for him to save us again, but what choice did we have? “This darkness is really getting to me. It was almost easier when I was paralyzed to stay down here because I couldn’t do anything anyway, but now—”

  A monkey’s echoing hoots caught our attention, making us go silent again.

  “Monkey?” I called up.

  Hoots returned in response. If I could tell emotions from the sound of the monkey’s voice, I’d say he was excited and proud of himself.

  I strained my eyes as I peered up in the darkness of the hole, willing myself to even see the smallest bit of daylight. “Can you get us out of here, monkey? I don’t want to live in the hole.”