by Mara Duryea
He walked up the wall until he was horizontal enough to hook his leg over the rafter. One of the hinges on the door clanked to the floor. Fear endowed Rezh with strength, and he hauled himself onto the beam. He crawled to the platform by the window, rushed up the ladder, and pushed through the frosted glass. He entered a black stone walkway inside the ceiling. Mirilite glowed dimly along the walls. Rezh’s window was on a raised dais.
As he lowered the window to close, his room door broke down. Three evergrins barreled into the room, led by Tandorin, who bled from a puncture wound in his neck. His eyes were clouded over, dead. Beside him were Olana and a man Rezh had never seen before. The stench of rotten lanadin wafted up to the ceiling. Was it the mortician Hezlin? All three were freshly killed with minimal damage.
Rezh closed the window as softly as possible and climbed off the platform onto the walkway. Where were Laugher and Flighty? Did they get out before this happened? What of Coolaya, Cook, and the others? How was he going to get out of here? The evergrins could climb up here.
Baby burst into tears, and Rezh stuffed the bottle into his mouth. Baby didn’t want it at first, but he had no choice, so he started drinking.
“Rezh!” It was Cook. Rezh had never been so grateful to hear his unstable voice. He turned and spotted Coolaya, an ancient woman, and four others following him. Rezh searched for Laugher and Flighty, but didn’t see them.
“I have my own entrance from the vozhar’s,” said Cook. “Follow me.”
He led them through the dark halls and pressed a panel so well hidden in the stone that nobody would have found it. A door cracked open and Cook pushed through. He ushered everyone into a deep stairwell lit with yellow mirilite.
“Watch your step,” said Cook as he flitted down the steps. He had traversed this stairway for years and could run down it blindfolded. Everyone else stumbled and held onto the wall for dear life.
They came upon a rickety elevator, so old and rotten it could have been abandoned for all anyone knew. A yellow mirilite glowed beside it at eye height. The walls around the elevator only reached halfway up.
“Watch your hands and hair,” said Cook as they crowded inside. “The walls are rough and can rip anything off when the elevator’s moving.” He pulled a lever and pressed one of the many buttons along a panel. The elevator jolted and screeched downward. The only light gleamed from the yellow mirilites on the passing floors.
“Won’t anybody else want to use this elevator?” said Coolaya.
“No,” said Cook. “The evergrins are attacking from the bottom up. Everybody below us is dead.”
“Are we the only ones left from the fiftieth floor?”
“Maybe in the whole vozhrith. You notice I didn’t have to call the elevator? I was the last to use it this morning.”
Whimpers and sobs sounded around Rezh as he clutched Baby closer. Suppose he hadn’t gotten to the ceiling? What if Cook hadn’t seen him?
The elevator boomed to a stop inside a small, stone room. Cook shoved the door open and everyone followed him out. He opened another door onto a cold hallway made of nothing but dismal stone. The reptilian odor of kiderrins tainted the corridor.
“The kiderrin stables are at the end,” said Cook. “Don’t fall down the stairs at the end.”
Everyone sprinted down the hall and a short flight of steps. They reached the stables, a steel chamber lighted by white mirilite orbs. The kiderrins rested in straw, which looked strange in the industrial setting. Their wooden frames and blankets hung on the metal doors. A half dozen kiderrins were missing, but the rest remained in their stalls.
Cook pointed to a twenty-foot steel door in the center of the room. “There’s the main elevator. We’re going down that big hall behind it to get out.”
Setting Baby in a pile of straw, Rezh began harnessing a kiderrin. Distant howls echoed through the thick stone overhead. Rezh’s heart skipped several beats, but he refused to panic. He flung the kiderrin blanket onto the beast’s back and hauled the frame over it. The kiderrin whined as its ears twitched nervously. Its tail swished in the straw.
“Gutless awiks.” Rezh tightened the straps under the stomach, which kept the frame from falling off. The wails grew louder.
Rezh sucked in air as his hands shook. It was snowing. He needed another blanket. As he took one from an adjoining stable door, the big elevator came to life and clickety steps sounded in the hall leading to Cook’s elevator. They weren’t human feet.
“They’re here!” Coolaya shrieked, falling into the straw.
Glowing eyes appeared in the cook’s corridor. Rezh’s companions screamed in terror. Some collapsed like Coolaya. Others sprang onto their kiderrins and thundered into the big corridor leading out. Cook dragged Coolaya and the old woman onto his kiderrin and shot into the tunnel.
Snatching Baby out of the straw, Rezh scrambled up the kiderrin’s tail, toppled into the frame and shouted at the beast. It lurched into the tunnel where the others had gone.
The evergrins crowded into the stable and stabbed the three remaining survivors through the heart or throat. Their cries bombarded the hall and then cut off.
The kiderrin spurred towards a wall of swirling snow. Rezh flung the blanket around Baby and him, and the kiderrin plunged into the storm. Heavy waves of snow smothered them. Rezh’s arms tightened around Baby, trying to keep every vestige of cold away from him.
The kiderrin plowed through the eight-foot drifts like a ship through the sea. The buildings of the town were frozen statues without a speck of light peeking through them. Rezh became aware of people screaming and fleeing around him. He nearly plowed into another kiderrin who had cut across his way.
As he passed a screaming woman, she was yanked beneath the snow. Rezh’s heart skipped a beat. The evergrins had entered the town. The protective walls trapped them inside.
10
Beygar!
The buildings never seemed to end. The screams melted with the ceaseless dirge of the Evergrin Bells. A single mirilite glowed fuzzily through the storm on the protective wall. The gates were closed, and skeletal forms patrolled the top.
Rezh and Baby wouldn’t survive if they stayed in the town. His hands seemed to think on their own as he forced the kiderrin towards the wall. The kiderrin was quick enough to escape the evergrins up there. It cut a straight line to the barrier and clawed up the wall. Smashing three evergrins out of its way, the kiderrin dashed across the top to the edge.
There was nothing left for the kiderrin to do but jump. It filled Rezh with horror, but it was like he was plunging to the edge of a waterfall. He could only fall down it. He gripped the frame for dear life. The beast dove into the snow on the other side. Rezh’s stomach switched places with his heart, but the kiderrin safely landed and dashed into the forest.
The drifts were deeper, and the snow buried them. Rezh’s only clue he was still in the frame was the feel of the wood gripped in his claws. Baby’s squishy body was huddled against him.
The sound of the bells gonged far away. Would evergrins follow him? He wouldn’t be able to hear them. The wind howled in the pitch darkness. He fled through a sea of snow. For all he knew, the ceiling to the surface was miles above him.
The kiderrin loped blindly through it, unwilling to stop. It had spent its life in sheltered comfort, and its senses were like mush. Thank goodness his rib had healed. This would have been a nightmare ride had it not. Just the same, his side felt too delicate for this madness. Suppose his bone decided to slide apart and stab him through the lungs?
The howl of the wind died down and only the kiderrin sifting through powdery snow disturbed the quiet night air. Golden moonlight veiled the forest. Rezh poked his head out of the blanket and beheld the golden Morning Moon sailing in the sky. Multi-colored ice rings circled it like gauzy tresses. He surveyed his surroundings.
Moonlight caught the snow crystals, and they shined like gold dust. The curving trunks of the snow-caked trees bent like flower stems. Their branches, dow
n to the smallest twigs, grew in downward arcs. It told him he was among black telarin trees. They were enchanting in the summer. Right now, they reminded him of hunched skeletons dressed in yellow cloaks.
Rezh had to find a bunker, but those were located on the roads. Was he even on a road? Great Cubons, what was out here at night?
Something on the wind passed his nose. Campfire smoke. Rezh jerked the kiderrin to a halt. Where was it coming from? He sniffed the air and backed the kiderrin up foot by foot. He caught the scent again. It had to be issuing from a bunker.
As he steered the kiderrin towards the smoke, it whined and glanced behind them. The hairs on the back of Rezh’s neck stood on end. Had an evergrin followed them? But the kiderrin’s head wasn’t turned towards the town.
Rezh shook the reins, and the kiderrin sped up. The scent of smoke strengthened. Rezh peered over his shoulder. Every shadow possessed the shape of a predator. What kinds were out here? M’kriths? Keesans? Retsinists? He didn’t hear their telltale clicking. It was too dense for flying predators.
A dark hole appeared under the snow. Someone had cleared it out. The smoke was definitely issuing from there. Relief filled Rezh’s breast. He wouldn’t have to discover the hard way what lurked in telarin forests.
No sooner did he think it than an awful roar shook the snow from the trees. It powdered the frame and Rezh’s head. The kiderrin sat down, whimpering. Baby burst into tears. Rezh spun around, expecting to see the shadow of a charging monster, but nothing. The forest was golden and open.
No, no, something was wrong. Unseen eyes were watching him. Rezh’s heart thudded in his ears as his eyes skirted the sleeping trees, and then he looked up. A pair of glowing orbs on a colossal shaggy form gazed at him. It leaped with outstretched claws! Gasping in horror, Rezh dove off the kiderrin’s back, leaving the blanket behind.
A great feline landed on the kiderrin. Curved claws gouged into the flesh as massive jaws ripped into the neck. The kiderrin appeared slender and delicate next to the muscled bulk. Its screams mixed with the cat’s snarls until its neck snapped.
Beygar!
Rezh charged through the snow as cracking bones, slurping blood, and ripping flesh trailed after him. The beygar wouldn’t come after him as long as it had the kiderrin. Bursting into the tunnel, he stumbled for the bunker door. He yanked on the metal slab out of habit, but of course it was locked. He pounded on the door.
“Let me in! Let me in!”
The door slid open a crack and he barreled into the bunker’s warm embrace.
“Close it, close it!” a woman squeaked.
“I can hear the beygar!” a man shouted.
The door grated shut and a bolt boomed into place. Rezh stumbled against the wall and sat down. He was too relieved to look around him.
The first thing he noticed was a minty scent mixed with the odor of smoke. It wasn’t the same minty scent that wafted from star trees. It reminded him of the color blue, icy blue. Only one thing possessed that scent: the Blue Bush. And only one group of people used the Blue Bush to clean themselves.
Rezh’s head snapped up in alarm, and he found himself in a den of four wanderers. They were dressed in soft skins, for they had been rudely awakened. Their bedding was made of animal fur and their kiderrins slept in a corner.
Horror stories about the wanderers lambasted Rezh’s memory, and he pressed against the wall. The four wanderers stared at him. There were two women and two men. The biggest of the two men had let him in and now stood over him. His green eyes were fierce and intense, as if danger tailed him wherever he went. He was a Miricor, for his large build set him apart from a Rykori, and he hadn’t dyed himself anything weird. His hair and fur were dark, but Rezh couldn’t tell exactly what color in the orange fire light.
“What were you doing out there?” said the Miricor. His wild voice, threaded with kindness, eased Rezh’s nerves some. The wanderers didn’t pounce on him, either. The man crouched before him, keeping enough space between them to calm Rezh down more.
“I was recovering in a vozhrith,” said Rezh. “And evergrins attacked it.”
“You were in Sormin?”
“Yeah. They attacked the entire town, too. They came up from the bottom of the vozhrith.”
The man turned to the others. “That’s a hundred miles from here.”
“You think the evergrins come this far?” said an older woman with white and black hair. She had the laid-back Vaylanian accent, where her consonants were almost non-existant.
“They might. If they attacked the whole town, they might expand from there.”
“What should we do?” said the other woman. “Will they get here tonight?”
“I don’t think so. They’ll be picking out who’ll belong to their hoard and then expand, but who knows in which direction.”
“We better leave in the morning,” said the other man. He had a messy-sounding accent. The last letter of each word clung to the beginning of his next word.
The Miricor turned back to Rezh. “My name is Terros.” He indicated the woman with black and white hair. “This is our mother, Vaylee. The other two are Potesac and Selly. They’re husband and wife.”
Vaylee approached Rezh and crouched beside her son. “We not hurt you, Berivor. We not like other wanderers. What’s your name?”
“Rezh.”
“And the baby?”
“Zhin.”
Baby smiled as Vaylee poked his cheek.
“Was your family in Sormin?” she asked.
“No.”
“Where are they? We can take you to them.”
Sizhirin crossed his mind, his mad mother and the man Sizhirin had said was his real father. “I…I don’t have any family. Not anymore.”
Vaylee and Terros glanced at one another.
“Where do you want to go?” said Terros.
“I don’t know. I have nowhere to go.” Rezh didn’t know what else to say or do. He expected them to toss him out come morning.
“We can’t just leave you,” said Terros. “You’re wounded, and you have a baby to take care of.”
Selly piped up. “Why can’t we just keep him? He’s nice to look at and the baby is cute.”
Potesac turned to her, devastated. “What do you mean he’s nice to look at?”
Selly straightened up. “Just as I said.”
“He looks starved. How can you even tell if he’s nice to look at?”
“Have you ever seen a Rykori who hasn’t colored himself all up? They’re pretty.”
Rezh frowned. “I’m not a Rykori. I’m a Berivor.”
“He doesn’t have a tail, Selly,” said Terros.
“He’s still pretty,” said Selly, as if being a Berivor made one ugly.
Potesac pouted. “But what about me?” He was a Berivor, and Selly was a Hatrin.
“What about you?” she said.
“You didn’t steal that doll for me, and now I have to have this one.”
“That’s enough out of you two,” said Vaylee, struggling not to smile. “Go sleep.”
“What did I do?” said Selly.
“Anyat! You like one baby!”
Rezh realized Vaylee was a Veerin. Her feathery hair blended into her aerial tail. Jetty lashes ringed bright green eyes. Her brows were long and elegant.
“Rezh,” she said, “you know if you have nowhere to go, you gonna have to stay with us. Tomorrow, we fit you out in wandering clothes—and the baby, too. You can’t walk around in vozhrith robes. Everything see you.” She looked at Terros. “We keeping him.”
11
The Memory
Seven years later…
The years were spent in learning the ways of the wanderer in the only way possible: the hard way. The little band had been attacked by other bands over and over again. Rezh became battle-hardened. His own eyes reflected Terros’s: fierce and watchful. Nobody who knew him would have recognized him if they saw him.
He never found out who lived or who died in
the vozhrith. He never remembered how I came to be, until the summer before I turned seven years old.
It was evening, and time to go inside. I had found a patch of mushrooms to smash and had forgotten the time. Rezh came looking for me and found me in the mushroom patch.
As he approached, he stopped dead in his tracks, for sitting above me in a tree was a female orilas. She was hairy all over, and her eyes glowed in the dying sun. Her ears curved over her head and almost touched. She grinned at Rezh. He recognized it, and it opened the floodgates to his memory.
He was taken back to the moment when the bloodhearts were marching him out of his room in the Grid. Taken back to the moment before Sizhirin would transform him into a bloodheart. Taken back to the moment his memory had gone dark.
***
“My!” a rough voice hissed.
The bloodheart behind Rezh shrieked, but it cut off in the wake of a sickening crunch. Warm liquid spattered across Rezh’s back. He covered his head as the bloodhearts dropped him to the floor.
“Orilas!” the one who had been holding the Berivor’s right arm screamed. Crunch! Blood drenched Rezh’s right side. The remaining bloodhearts bolted; the sound of their racing feet split in different directions.
Rezh opened his eyes. Two bloodhearts lay in a heap, heads crushed into nothing, but they still moved. They felt the mess at their necks and touched the smashed bones and steaming brains.
“Rezh!” Sizhirin’s voice cried from the direction of the dining room. “Rezh!”
“My,” a voice above his head whispered.
Rezh peered to his left. Berivor feet stood next to him, but the toes were too long, and the claws stuck out like talons. The feet were bigger than his head, and the fur extended past the calf, covering the whole leg. His eyes traveled up the distorted female body to the grinning face. The ears curved high over its head and almost touched. The eyes were black with slim crimson lines running down the middle of them. The nose was flat, with wide, flaring nostrils.
