by test
Both moons hid behind the clouds high in the night sky when the female stopped to rest.
She curled into the side of a tree, panting and moaning in turn. Was her discomfort from the beatings or was it the child coming?
Cara and Brady searched along the cliff until they found a trio of small pines fighting for light and life between their towering parents. He leaned close to her and spoke with a voice as quiet as the wind sighing through the evergreen boughs.
“Let’s take turns getting some sleep.”
“You first.” Her fears would never let her sleep.
Brady set the bag of bullets and the pack with the food between them. She handed him the rolled blankets and watched him settle on the bed of pine needles with the roll as a pillow.
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She took up a post a short distance from him but still in the black shadows of the trees. If the Savages caught up to them this night, they would likely go straight to the female who continued to make a lot of noise. Though now snores mixed in with the Savage’s moans.
Cara fingered her sword hilt as she stood watch. She knew she hadn’t the courage to survive captivity again. It would destroy her. This time, she would fight until they killed her.
She looked toward Brady’s resting spot. Her man, even if only for one day. The Savages would not touch him. Their foulness must never darken his bright spirit. Somehow she would protect him.
* * * *
The Savage increased her pace with the morning light. Her limp seemed much improved after her brief rest of only four hours. She still paused and panted at regular intervals giving more reason to believe she was in labor.
At each pause in her hurried trek, Brady used the time to watch Cara. He was worried about her. Her face was pale, her body tense and that haunted, wild look was back in her eyes.
Damn inconvenient timing by this Savage. This incident could only set back their relationship as it stirred up her nightmares.
The poor female Savage looked like someone had stomped on her face though the big males had probably done it with their thick fists. They stayed back when she took off again. It seemed obvious she was going to join the other female in its cave not far from the falls. They could easily take up her trail again.
They lingered for half of an hour, listening and watching the back trail. Nothing yet though the wind whipped up so many old leaves and needles they could hear little else. They traveled another mile or so before the wind distracted Brady. It now moved through the trees with a steady but gentle growl. What the hell? He gestured for Cara to follow him.
They approached the beach warily, trying to avoid soft drifts of sand that would mark their passage. Bits of sand stung their faces before they even cleared the trees. They paused where a break in the tree line gave them an unobstructed view of the sea.
The wind batted at them with unfettered force. The sun shone on the beach, but far out over the sea, a thick, dark band of clouds stretched as far as they could see. Gray, black and violet puffs of storm towered over the water and swirled in angry agitation. Bolts of lightning danced among the layers of clouds.
“What is that?” Cara asked.
She’d probably never seen such a monstrous sea storm. The dangerous weather phenomenon didn’t travel inland to the mountains of Solonia. “Zeke Oman calls them typhoons.
They form out there over the wild water, gather up rain and wind and then hit the shore.
Sometimes they pass by out to sea or just the edge of them touches the land. We see them sometimes in the Realm but their main force usually strikes north of us and we only get a lot of rain and wind.”
“But now we’re north of the Realm.”
He shrugged. “There’s no way for us to know if it’s going to land or not.”
“And if it does?”
Brady looked over his shoulder at the mountain. There was less than half a mile from the base of the cliff to the sea. “When I was little, a typhoon hit the Realm. The entire settlement was flooded and the wind knocked down everything not built of stone. Lots of people died, many drowned. It took years to clean up and rebuild. These storms push the sea inland. I would guess a big enough wind would push the sea all the way to the cliff-side.”
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“I guess that’s why that Savage village is set back in that little valley,” Cara said.
“They probably have learned to live with the storms. They would know how far the storm surge can go. And maybe this female realizes the storm is coming.”
“That little cave isn’t going to protect them.” Cara stepped out of the open and behind a tree. The blown sand stung with its growing fierceness.
Brady joined her. If the wind picked up its intensity any more, it might blow her over.
And he did fear it would get much stronger. “Let’s go. I don’t know how fast that thing might move inland. We’re going to have to find some shelter. Some of these trees could go down, and there might be hail and lots of lightning.”
They jogged for a while and then slowed down when they judged they might be getting close to the female Savage. Even beat up and in labor, she was a dangerous creature. There was no sense in listening for trackers. They had to shout to each other to be heard.
“I think we’re getting close to that cave,” Cara said when they finally glimpsed the Savage between the trees ahead of them.
Though the sun still shone from the west, the air itself had taken on a purple cast. The stiff wind bit at their exposed skin with flying debris and cold.
“Wait.” Brady pulled Cara down beside him to crouch behind a stand of holly bushes.
The Savage staggered in a small circle, her thick hands clutching at her belly. Her mouth worked, but whatever sounds of distress she made were lost to the storm. After stomping a dozen or more circles, she dropped to her knees and then flopped back to sit on her behind. She lifted her knees and spread her legs.
“Holy hell, she’s going to sit down and give birth with a damned killer storm beating down on her,” he shouted to Cara.
She shook her head and lifted her hands in a questioning gesture. He shook his head back. What were they to do?
“I’m going to take a look at the beach. Keep an eye on her.” He turned away before she could argue. He bent his head and struggled into the teeth of the gale.
Even standing in the lee of a large, cherry tree, he had to hold on to the trunk to keep his feet. The maelstrom wrecked the beach. Sand swirled and spun, mixing into mini-cyclones with leaves and small branches torn from the trees. Waves crashed high on the beach, already pushing one quarter of the way to the tree line. And the storm was still far out to sea.
The wind pushed him back to Cara, its voice now a high-pitched howl through the tree tops. Cara didn’t hear his approach until he touched her. She spun toward him with her knife in her hand. They stared at the bare blade and then each other for a moment. She grimaced in apology and turned back toward the Savage female.
Brady shouted near her ear. “It’s going to get worse. We have to find shelter. That cave where the other female is might be our best chance.”
Cara gestured toward the other female sprawled a short distance away. “We can’t leave this one to die.”
Something moved in Brady’s chest. He’d known it wasn’t in her to be cruel or heartless, but he wasn’t sure she realized it. “Let’s see if we can get her up and take her along.”
Cara’s lips curved into a humorless smile, but she pulled her sword free and led the way to the female. Brady touched her Cara’s arm and gestured that he would circle around and approach the female from the other side. Even in her distress they must not forget how strong and dangerous she could be.
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The Savage had her back to the wind and her eyes closed. Her bare chest rose and fell with short, uneven breaths. Despite the increasingly cold wind, her broad face gleamed with sweat. She didn’t notice Cara until
the sword was at her throat.
Brady stepped into the Savage’s view as her mouth opened in a scream. Her dark brown eyes, so human in the not quiet human face, widened. Her gaze swung back and forth between them.
Then her expression crumbled into agony. Her entire body stiffened with a contraction.
After what seemed a long time, she went limp and took deep breaths.
Cara backed up a step, but she didn’t lower her sword. “Why are you out here alone?”
The Savage looked even more terrified to hear Cara speak. Her stare darted to Brady but bounced quickly away. Sobs burst from between her bruised and swollen lips.
“Do you have a name?” he shouted.
The Savage nodded and mumbled an answer he couldn’t hear. He stepped closer but the Savage cringed away.
Cara slid her sword into its sheath and knelt down out of reach. “I’m Cara. This is Brady.”
The Savage whimpered but she had no place to retreat. She pointed to her naked breasts.
“Rena.”
“Why are you out here, Rena?” Cara edged closer, and Brady put his hand on his gun.
“There’s a dangerous storm coming.”
Rena sobbed through another contraction before she answered. She touched the leather pack trapped beneath her body. “Food for Bab and Angel.”
“The other female in the cave?” Brady asked.
Rena dared a glance at him. She seemed particularly frightened of him and no wonder.
Up close the damage fists had done to her was even more terrible. Dark bruises, some still fresh-looking, covered her exposed breasts and one eye was swollen and black. She also stank. How could Cara stand being so close to her?
The Savage sat up. “You’ve seen Angel and Bab? I can’t find her. She was supposed to be here waiting for me.”
“She’s not far,” Cara shouted above the wail of the wind. Somewhere behind her, a tree groaned, shrieked and then crashed with a terrible sound of rending. “We have to get there, Rena, before the storm hits. You can’t have your baby out in this.”
Rena looked at Brady and then leaned toward Cara.
“He won’t hurt you.” Cara touched her lightly on the arm. “It might flood here. This sea is going to rise. Bab’s cave sits back from the sea like your village does. We have to go there.”
Rena rolled to her knees and paused in the vulnerable position to wait out another contraction. After it passed, she clamored awkwardly to her feet.
Standing next to her, Brady was surprised at how short she was. Most male Savages were near his height though much more muscular and broad. Rena was only a bit taller than Cara’s petite form though the Savage was built along sturdy lines. She probably outweighed Brady even when she wasn’t pregnant.
He took the lead and Cara walked a few steps behind Rena. Fat drops of rain, widely-spaced but as cold as snow, started to fall through the chaotic canopy. He walked faster. Rena hurried to match his pace but had to stop each time a contraction overtook her.
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Cara exchanged anxious glances with him each time they stopped. They couldn’t abandon Rena though the incongruity of saving her wasn’t lost on him. Savages were the worst enemy of the Realm and Solonia yet here they were helping one to live.
Thunder rumbled and boomed above the howl of the wind soon after the rain started. He led them close to the cliff, hoping if a tree did fall it would snag on the mountainside and not crush them. Large branches, wrenched from the trees above them, crashed down about them.
One knocked Brady hard on his side before tearing off in front of the gale.
Cara shouted a question at him but he shook his head and plodded forward. As long as they kept moving, he could hope they might live.
* * * *
Bab cringed back into the deep alcove and away from the cave opening. Earlier she’d left Angel alone long enough to drag in a sizable stack of wood, but there was no way to light a fire or keep one burning with wind whipping into her hiding place and driving rain before it. Its monstrous voice wailed through the trees until she could no longer hear Angel’s cries. The poor child was hungry, but there was little to be done for it.
Bab had first spotted the incoming thunder boomer when her hunger drove her to search the sea’s edge for the edible, disgusting little creatures. Even cooked, their obscene taste sickened her, but she had to feed herself to make milk for Angel. Where was Rena? Had Jak and Hop started keeping a closer watch on their mates after Bab’s loss? Or had Rena had her infant sooner than expected? The storm could ruin everything.
Rena would know better than to sneak off on the eve of the great storm, and Jak would herd everyone into the protective cave in the mountainside. The cave was large enough to shield their entire tribe when the vicious storms came from the other side of the world. If Rena gave birth in the midst of all of them, she would never escape. And she would never bring more food to Bab.
A loud crash from outside startled Bab from her worries of food and friend. It had to be one the grandfather trees near her cave falling away from the winds. What if she became trapped inside? She thought her cave was far enough from the beach to avoid the sea floods that came from such storms. If it wasn’t, she and her child were doomed. She could not swim, not even a bit. Hop was the only one who’d learned and had skill in the water. Someday Angel would learn. Bab would figure out how to teach her. Angel would be the smartest girl ever.
The storm brought the darkness of night with it though it was not yet sunset. The killer flashes of lightning brightened the interior of the cave with alarming frequency. Each bolt or brilliance was followed closely by deafening claps of thunder.
Angel dropped into a fitful sleep as if to escape the terror of the storm. Bab held her close to keep up her own dwindling courage and to keep the baby warm. The bitter winds were more like the cold season than the season of growing. She never been this frightened in the village refuge surrounded by the others. Being alone took more courage than she’d ever thought.
The next flash of light revealed a long shadow stretching into her cave. She squeaked and shrunk back against the stone wall.
A tall, slender shadow moved into her cave and turned toward her as if it had heard her over the chaos of the storm. A thick, short form followed the first and then a being even skinnier than the first came in last.
The lightning burst into the cave again. Bab screamed when she saw the first invader though it was only for the blink of an eye. It was the lovely, spirit man from the picture book.
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His eyes were the same color as a clear, cloudless sky, and his face as perfect as Angel’s. His skin was free of the bristling, dirty hair that grew on men’s faces.
She sensed movement around her, but her shock held her frozen in place. Did this mean she was dead and the spirit come to take her soul from her body? What of poor Angel? She couldn’t leave her daughter.
The next revealing brilliance revealed the other two intruders. Rena? Rena!
The unnatural dark came again, but the spirit man moved about the sheltered part of the cave. She couldn’t tell what he did until the next lightning bolt revealed him kneeling beside her stack of wood. A tiny flame appeared below his long, thin hands as they fed some bits of dry grass to the sputtering tongues of fire. He must have carried it with him. She hadn’t thought to bring in any grass and keep it dry to help her light a stubborn fire.
Something touched her leg. She screamed but then she smelled Rena. Her friend’s strong hand found hers in the dark. But it wasn’t quite so dark. The spirit man had added some wood to the fire. He wore clothing different than he had in the book. She couldn’t even tell the color of it as it was completely wet. It clung to him and outlined his slim body. He wore a type of hide clothing on his feet. The fire light gleamed on his strange dark hair.
The next stroke of lightning caught the glimmer of the something beyond the tiny circle of firelight. The third s
hadow, the small one.
The small one moved closer to the spirit man. Its coloring was as a person should be with dark eyes and light-colored hair. It appeared to be a starved female and wore clothing similar to the spirit man. It even covered its tiny breasts with the thin hides.
Rena squeezed Bab’s hand, squeezed it hard. Despite the chill air, Rena’s hand was hot and sweaty. With the better light, she could now see her friend’s agonized expression. Rena was having her child.
Bab didn’t know if the spirit man was there for her soul or not, but she had to help her friend. She carefully tucked Angel into the pile of hides she’d pushed against the wall to keep them dry. Keeping her eye on the strangers, and feeling quite brave, she stood up and pushed Rena into her spot.
