The Elders

by Inbali Iserles

  “This way!” hissed Tao. He was crouching behind the trunk of a tree. Together we sprinted in the darkness.

  Haiki and Simmi were hiding in some shrubs. When they saw us, they started to run. The ground sloped uphill and the tree cover grew denser. I struggled to keep up with the others, my legs shorter than theirs. The wind picked up, blowing back my fur. Panic thrummed at the base of my ears. The Taken were downwind of us. They would smell us, could easily track us. I found myself wondering what Siffrin would do. But of course, he had wa’akkir—the precious foxcraft he wouldn’t share.

  I am the fur that ruffles your back. I am the twist and shake of your tail …

  I willed my paws to change into those of a mighty dog. I watched for slanted claws rising from the small pads.

  The chant did nothing.

  Rage welled inside me, giving me speed that I didn’t know I had. I surged forward, keeping pace with Tao. My forepaws tingled as they thumped the ground. Was it malinta, calling to me? The tree cover parted. The clouds webbed and split, revealing a velvety sky. An icy white moon glowed overhead. Beyond it I caught the twinkle of stars. It gave me the strength to go on.

  But as we wheeled around a tree trunk the earth fell away, pitching down to a ravine.

  “Careful!” yelped Simmi, slamming to a halt. We piled up behind her, gasping for breath. The drop was steep—too far, too dark, to see what lay below. Pines clung to the tumbling soil, bunching in a cluster down below. We would have to edge our way along their arching roots.

  Simmi was the first to launch herself over the top of the ravine. She spread out her paws, sliding down to the next tree trunk and smacking into it awkwardly. Catching her breath, she stepped out from behind the tree and started sliding again. Her foreleg tripped on a loose root.

  “Simmi!” Tao was darting toward her, his tail flying behind him.

  “I’m all right!” She was hugging the next tree with her forepaws as he came crashing after her.

  Haiki stood in a pool of moonlight between the trees. He turned to me, his brown eyes glinting. “This is dangerous, Isla—I don’t think we should go that way.”

  I could hear the Taken striding through the forest. What else could we do? “We’ll be careful,” I told him, though I wasn’t sure how. Ears flat, I pounced downhill. I smacked onto my belly, tumbling faster than I’d expected. Swinging my flank around and digging my paws into the soil, I managed to steady my pace and regain some control. A moment later, I hit a tree, yelping with pain as the hard trunk bit into my leg. I looked up at Haiki, who was frozen at the top of the ravine.

  His gray fur was fuzzy against the light. His anxious gaze was fixed on me. He couldn’t have seen the looming shadow.

  “Haiki, look out!”

  Two red-eyed foxes rose behind him, a bony vixen and a short-haired male. Haiki started and cowered from their path. The pleached foxes were moving so quickly that they tumbled over the edge of the ravine. The bony vixen pounced past Haiki with outstretched paws. The short-haired male lurched between two trees and started rolling. I heard the crack of bones as they fell into the darkness of the clustering pines.

  My stomach flipped as I strained to see what had happened. Simmi and Tao were clinging to a lower trunk. Remembering the other Taken, I looked up to the top of the ravine. A series of pointed ears rose in silhouette. Their eyes pulsed red. Together, they lifted their forelegs and started forward.

  The Mage is telling them what to do!

  Where was Haiki?

  It was at that moment I heard his voice, gekkering from further in the forest.

  “This way!” he yelped. “Catch me if you can!”

  The Taken’s heads swung around in unison.

  My jaw dropped. I expected recklessness from Siffrin, but not from the fearful gray-furred fox. I wanted to call him, to beg him to stop, but he was already too far away. I could hear his gekkers over the forest as the Taken charged after him.

  “This way,” hissed Tao. “There are rocks, and what looks like a passage.”

  I followed his gaze. At the edge of the ravine was a series of boulders. Silvery flecks in the stone glittered under moonlight. “But Haiki is up there alone,” I gasped.

  Simmi raised her muzzle but didn’t meet my eye. “We couldn’t get back there if we tried.”

  I couldn’t believe they were ready to give up on him so quickly. I pressed against the trunk of the pine and pushed myself back up the incline. I’d only managed half a brush-length when I slipped in a tumble of earth, smacking my bruised leg. I nipped the trunk angrily. Simmi was right. At this angle, it was impossible to climb.

  “Over here.” Tao was edging very carefully across the incline, his paws splayed for balance. His brush swung back and forth, helping him stay upright. He crept through the darkness, resting beneath me at the next tree. As he pushed away from the trunk, out onto the steep ravine once more, Simmi started after him. She reached the trunk he had left behind, just as he paused at the next one. Stalking low, they crossed beneath me toward the glittering rocks.

  I strained my ears. I could no longer hear Haiki’s gekkers or the footfall of the Taken. They must have retreated into the wood. How fast was Haiki? I remembered how he’d cowered on the deathway. Could he really outrun the Taken?

  I tried to hang on to this thought as I edged beyond the tree, shifting gradually paw by paw over the crumbling ground. My ears flipped back. Had I heard a distant yelp from the wood? Or was it only the hoot of a bird?

  “Isla?”

  Simmi and Tao had reached the rocks and were waiting for me.

  I started to move again. For a moment I lost my footing and tottered as dirt toppled between my paws. My teeth snapped at an exposed root. I clamped down on it, catching my breath. More slowly, I reached out a forepaw and carefully shifted my weight. Step by step, tail juddering behind me, I managed to make it to the rocks.

  Simmi and Tao met me with whines, licking my whiskers and washing my ears. I greeted them back.

  It wasn’t a yelp, I told myself sharply. Just the call of a bird.

  The rocks sprang out of the edge of the ravine in sharp disks. The gaps between them were just about large enough for a fox to edge through, but we had to move with care. Darkness skirted the rock formation, deep and foreboding. Beneath it lay a depthless fall.

  Tao shuffled forward, keeping his body low.

  Simmi paused to look back at me. “Aren’t you coming?” Her eyes were shiny globes.

  I peered along the rock wall, but couldn’t see beyond to the top of the ravine. “What about Haiki?”

  An explosion of gekkers rose in the distance. Simmi was firm. “We can’t wait.”

  We slipped along the path between the rocks, careful not to stray too close to the edge. In time, the sound of running water filled the air, though all I could see before me was the sweep of Simmi’s brush and the expanding blackness of the night. We crawled up over jagged mounts and padded warily downhill. The layered rocks seemed to run forever along the outside track of the woodland, rising into ragged cliffs.

  Tao turned back to me and Simmi. “I can hear a stream up ahead, or maybe it’s a few streams. It’s hard to tell. I don’t know where the sound’s coming from.”

  My ears twisted. Tao was right, there seemed to be more than one source of water, but as I tried to fix on the spluttering fizz, I grew confused. Was the water up ahead, or trickling behind us? It bubbled in my ears, above, below … I gave my head a shake. The sensation reminded me of how I’d felt when Siffrin had slimmered and karakked at the same time, turning himself invisible and throwing his voice in a tumbling cascade. I felt giddy and light on my paws.

  “It’s strange,” Simmi murmured.

  My paw was tingling against the rock. I gave it a shake and flicked back my ears, trying to dull the sound of water. It was as though the stream was in my mind.

  “We may be safer waiting until dawn.” I squinted over the edge of the rocks but saw no sign of the moon, no hint of d
aybreak over the horizon. “One wrong move …”

  Simmi dipped her head. “I don’t want to go any further until we can see where we are.”

  “And if we wait awhile, Haiki might catch up.”

  Simmi and Tao didn’t respond to this, letting my words hang against the fizz of the invisible water.

  Simmi’s ears pricked up. “Isla, what were you doing earlier … when you wanted us to go on ahead?”

  “I … Oh, nothing.” I didn’t want to talk about gerra-sharm. My moments with Pirie were private.

  “It’s only …” Simmi glanced at her brother. “Those pleached foxes arrived just after.”

  I stiffened. What was she trying to say? “I didn’t call them! Do you think I’m crazy?”

  Tao’s voice was soft. “But they came. They seem to follow you around. I’m not accusing you of anything, I just wondered.”

  I growled defensively. “They probably stalk the woodland.” My whiskers twitched as I remembered what Pirie had murmured as he’d drifted beyond my reach.

  I can’t say more. I’m scared for you.

  The power of gerra-sharm had unraveled, leaving me alone in the forest. But I hadn’t been alone for long.

  My mind wound back to the Ghost Valley. I’d paused to call to Pirie as we’d rounded the base of the mountain. Again, his warning rang in my ears.

  Turn back. Don’t look. It isn’t safe.

  Moments later, the Taken had arrived.

  Simmi and Tao were staring at me. “What is it?”

  My jaw fell slack. “The Taken came after I was lost in thought … lost in foxcraft.”

  Tao cocked his head. “What type of foxcraft?”

  “Gerra-sharm,” I said. “The most private meeting of minds.” But what if someone else could hear our thoughts? I was horrified by the possibilities. Were the Mage’s forces spying on us?

  It isn’t safe.

  Pirie’s warning hung in the air, sinking beyond the bewildering fizz of water.

  The bite of the dark crept under my fur and I drew my tail around me. “I think you’re right,” I said at last. “I used gerra-sharm in the forest.” My throat was dry as dust. “I never meant to summon the Taken. I didn’t think they would come. I don’t know anything about the Elders, and hardly any foxcraft. Why would they look for me?” But Karka had looked, hadn’t she? Her eerie skulk had stalked the Graylands. Using me to find Pirie. Had I endangered him too?

  Simmi’s eyes were hard. “Did you try this … this gerra-sharm in our meadow? Did you use it last night?”

  Her meaning struck me. “No!” I yelped. “Not since the Ghost Valley.” My voice quivered with shame. “Though I tried once or twice.”

  Simmi and Tao exchanged wary glances.

  My ears were flat against my head. “Please believe me. I didn’t call the Taken last night!”

  Tao let out a long breath. “It’s too dark to go any further. We’ll have to wait it out till dawn and work out what to do then.”

  I dropped my muzzle, feeling sick to my stomach. “I’ve been such a fool.”

  Simmi looked away. “You’re a cub from the Graylands. You may have lots of maa, but you’ve never been taught how to use it safely. I guess you didn’t think about what you were doing.”

  Tao was more forgiving. “She didn’t mean any harm.”

  “It doesn’t matter what I meant,” I whined bitterly. “I brought the Taken close to your den. I led them through the wood. Siffrin warned me about foxcraft but I never guessed it could be used against me … Haiki tried to protect us, and now he’s gone.”

  Shame crept along my fur. Siffrin was right, I lacked the maturity for the higher arts. I didn’t understand foxcraft and had wielded it without a second thought. The full realization of what I’d done began to dawn on me. I had brought disaster upon my friends. I had allowed the Mage’s forces to trail us through my thoughts. I had endangered Pirie.

  It’s all my fault.

  My head sank onto my paws. Against the hush of falling water, Tao and Simmi curled next to each other, slowly drifting to sleep. I stared out into the darkness. I didn’t think I would ever sleep again. But in time, my thoughts unraveled and I pictured waterfalls falling around me. Rainbow colors danced in their tiny bubbles. A fox dived in and out of them, his mottled coat growing dappled with water.

  When I opened my eyes, the fox had disappeared. I didn’t dare to call for him anymore. My brother felt close, but more out of reach than ever.

  Light hung over a slate horizon. We must have been exhausted; we had slept through the sunrise. Giddily, I rose to my paws. Simmi and Tao were fast asleep by my side, their tails crossed. The rocks were touched by silver flecks that sparkled as I moved. I crept to the edge and peered over. Cliffs surrounded us, so steep that the land below was a smudge of green from the tops of distant pines. Waterfalls tumbled at angles to the rockshafts, crashing and bubbling and gushing along the drop.

  My eyes widened in wonder. We had reached the entrance to the Elders’ realms, the place of waterfalls and burnished stone.

  I turned back to gaze over the path we had taken. Slightly above us, across a craggy rock, a slim sheath of water slipped down in soft waves. Through its gossamer light I caught a flicker of movement. Someone was creeping over the rocks, light on his paws, a mass of dark fur. I opened my jaws to raise the alarm but no sound emerged from my throat. The fizz of water was tumbling around me, seizing my tongue, drowning my thoughts.

  I hissed, rising onto my paws. My back arched instinctively, smacking against the low roof of rock. As the figure emerged through the waterfall I took a step back, then gasped in amazement. His fur was slick and darkened with water. It made him look older and leaner, somehow tougher, not the shy and youthful fox that I knew him to be.

  “Haiki … is it really you?”

  His tail lashed as he hurried toward me.

  “Careful!” I warned. The rock path was narrow, ending in steep drops and further waterfalls.

  Simmi and Tao yelped, wide-awake. The four of us touched noses, nipping and growling playfully.

  My eyes trailed over Haiki’s sodden coat. There was no sign of injury. “I can’t believe you’re safe!”

  “What happened?” asked Tao. “How did you escape the pleached foxes?”

  Haiki shook out his fur. “At first, I wanted them to follow me so they’d leave you alone.” He met my gaze. “I didn’t expect them to run as fast as they did. There were so many of them! I raced back through the forest, almost to where it began. I hid behind trees and rolled in dirt to disguise my scent. I knew I had to wait it out. At the first hint of dawn, they gave up and retreated … I don’t know where, or why they suddenly appeared like that. I ran flat out until I reached the cliffs.”

  I hung my head. “I called them. I’m to blame.”

  “That can’t be right.” Haiki spoke with assurance. “You would never call the Taken!”

  “Not on purpose … it has something to do with gerra-sharm.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Foxcraft,” I murmured. “A way to connect with another fox through your thoughts. I was trying to speak to my brother. But the Mage must have heard me. I never imagined …”

  Haiki let out a slow breath. “Is that what you were doing before the Ghost Valley? I heard you talking to yourself.”

  “I was talking to Pirie. Then the Taken came.”

  “They stalk that valley,” Simmi pointed out graciously. “They might have been there anyway.”

  I turned back to her. “But they appeared all at once. They knew we were there.”

  Haiki padded closer and nuzzled my shoulder. “You couldn’t have realized. It isn’t your fault. None of this is your fault.”

  * * *

  We picked our way through the narrow shafts of rock. This drew us near to the edge, where waterfalls streaked over the ashen cliffs, lighting them with rainbows. The air was sweet and tinkled gently from the many small streams. Colors sparkled through the wat
er. Butterflies wove patterns under their arches, their bright wings glittering against the watery light.

  The rocks morphed in the sun, turning translucent, as though we were stepping on colored air. We passed under an arch of stone, where a spider had spun a web. Tiny dewdrops dangled off its delicate frame, each a bead of red, yellow, orange, and green. Each lit with purple and blue. I blinked, seeing rainbows wherever I looked.

  The sounds and colors made me sleepy. I paused, my paw pads tingling.

  “When is malinta?” I asked.

  “Soon,” said Tao vaguely.

  I plodded behind him.

  “I’m tired,” yawned Haiki. “Maybe we should have a nap.”

  A waterfall tumbled ahead of us. The rainbow colors dazzled my eyes and I squeezed them shut. A thought sharpened in my mind. “Malinta … It must be a time of great maa.”

  “Yes,” said Simmi, ambling up ahead. “Enough to make the flowers bloom. Though not as much as the gloaming.”

  A memory was nagging at me, something about malinta, but the whispering waterfalls washed it away. “The Elders,” I murmured, opening my eyes. “How do they live?”

  Simmi gave me a strange look. “What do you mean?”

  “They must eat, sleep … Do they share the kill?”

  “They aren’t a skulk,” said Haiki, padding up behind me.

  “What does it matter?” muttered Tao.

  We strayed deeper through the rocks. They rose and descended like stepping-stones. The staggering drop was hidden behind the waterfalls. Only the occasional flash of greenery hinted at the land below.

  The tingling in my paws grew stronger. A strange beat rose from the rocks.

  It does matter, I thought. But why?

  Ahead of me, Tao reached toward a butterfly with his forepaw, angling dangerously close to the edge.

  “Be careful,” I hissed, and he shrank back. He gave his head a quick shake. “You’re right, that was too close.”

  We fell into silence, treading a narrow path as the sun rose higher in the sky. The air tinkled with the song of the waterfalls. I sank into daydreams, remembering my patch back in the Graylands. I pictured it as I’d never seen it, bursting with the buds and flowers of malinta. Memory blurred with reality and I sighed happily.