by BC Powell
I slap her hand with mine. “What was his count?”
“Three-ninety-two,” she answers. “He had the fastest time ever.”
“Do me a favor, “I say. “We traveled two thousand miles in three hundred and eighty-one seconds. Divide thirty-six hundred by three-eighty-one and tell me what it is.”
“What are those numbers?” she asks.
“It’s the number of seconds in what we call an hour on Earth divided by the number of seconds we traveled.”
“Nine-point-four-four-eight-eight,” she says without even thinking about it.
“You can just round it off.”
“I did,” she replies evenly.
I shake my head, once again in awe at how fast people’s minds in Krymzyn can calculate things. “Anyway, multiply that times two thousand.”
“Eighteen thousand eight hundred and ninety-seven-point-six.”
“Unbelievable,” I say. “Almost nineteen thousand miles per hour.”
“What does that number mean?” she asks.
“Distance compared to time in my world. We use it to calculate speed.”
Tela cocks her head to the side. “The people in your world are obsessed with measuring things, aren’t they?”
“Yeah, I guess we are. It’s mind-boggling how fast we were going.”
“The fastest ever,” she says. “Except probably for Sash.”
“I know she’s faster than us, but she’s not a Traveler. Her count doesn’t matter. She even said so.”
“Larn will be proud of us,” Tela remarks.
“I’m sure he will,” I say, knowing that he’ll share the same belief that many great athletes on Earth have—records are made to be broken. “You said that’s about thirty percent faster than we’d normally travel?”
“Approximately,” she replies.
“Wow,” I say. “Even when we’re not on the flats, you and I are killing it with our speed.”
“Killing what?” she asks.
“Just another one of my stupid expressions,” I answer. “It means that you and I go really, really fast.”
“Awesome fast!” she exclaims.
“You got that right,” I laugh.
After I raise my hand, we slap another high-five with so much force that we fall against each other. Without even thinking about it, I loop one arm around her and pull Tela into a friendly hug.
“I’m thrilled we did this,” I say. “I can’t tell you how much fun I’m having.”
She awkwardly puts her arms around my waist and squeezes me. “Me too. It’s much more enjoyable doing this with you than it is alone.”
“And now you’ve had your first hug,” I say as we take a step back from each. “It’s a custom between friends and family on Earth. I think I explained it to you once.”
“I remember,” she says thoughtfully. “You told me about hugs and kisses.”
I smile at her. “Before you know it, you’ll know all the Earth customs.”
“I like learning about them,” she replies.
“We should do this again sometime.”
“We definitely will,” she says.
We each take one of the two flasks from our belts and drain the contents. Even though our travel time across the plain was relatively short, it took us about six hours to get to the starting point. I definitely feel how much energy I’ve expended, especially from reaching the speeds we did across the flats.
After we return the flasks to our belts, we run past the Fist of Stone and travel towards the plateau. Our pace on the return over the empty plain is about half of what it was during our race. We reach the area where we rested before to find our spears and empty canisters right where we left them.
“Instead of going back to the Stone Crossing,” Tela says, “we’ll travel to the north and use the bridge above the Delta. It’s faster from here, and you can learn your way back from this part of the Barrens.”
“Sure,” I reply, not at all disappointed at missing out on another frenzied dash over the Stone Crossing. “Lead the way.”
Chapter 15
Less than an hour into our return trip to the Delta, Tela swerves sharply to the west. She disappears inside a narrow valley as I continue to the north. I glance in her direction several times, but she doesn’t reappear. I whip through a u-turn and follow her trail.
Slowing my speed to search for her, I enter the same valley that she did. In a flat area surrounded by low hills at the end, I spot her standing in front of a black-barked tree. I come out of my blend and run up behind her. She looks over her shoulder to make sure it’s me.
“What’s going on?” I ask, stopping by her side.
“I saw a bright reflection,” she says, returning her attention to the tree. “That’s why I stopped. Look at that.”
I focus my eyes on the tree twenty feet in front of us. The lower branches have all been cut off the trunk. A web of black rope secures the upper limbs in place. In the lower half of the trunk, six steel stakes like the Hunters use are anchored in the bark. Parked at the base of the tree is a sap transport that seems to be brand new. Steel tubes lead from the ends of the stakes to a small opening in the top of the transport.
“Have you ever seen anything like this?” I ask.
“No,” she replies, shaking her head. “I’ve seen a stake stabbed in a tree, but never tubes and a transport.”
After Tela scans the hills around us, she walks to the transport. I follow close behind her with my eyes peeled to our sides. When we stop in front of the transport, Tela bangs the tip of her spear against its side. Based on the dull thud and slight echo, it seems to be about half full.
“Where would they get all this?” I ask.
“Raids on Travelers. Hundreds of old transports stolen by Murkovin over thousands of Eras are scattered across the Barrens. Constructs use the tubes for a variety of tasks, and those are Hunters’ stakes. They probably cut off the ends to feed the tubes. All of this could have come from the attack that killed Miel.”
“It seems kind of elaborate for Murkovin,” I say.
“They’re not stupid,” she replies. “They just lack purpose.”
I whirl to a grunt behind me. Jerking up my spear, I knock a steel tip away from my face. A Murkovin elbow slams to my jaw and knocks me to the ground. Before Tela or I can react, another beast pounds into her back. She staggers forward and falls on her knees beside the transport.
I start to swing my spear up, but the Murkovin stomps his foot down on the shaft. A third beast roars in from my side and thrusts his lance at me. Releasing my grip on my weapon, I try to roll out his reach, but his spear gouges my shoulder.
The Murkovin behind Tela jabs a weapon at her skull. Dipping her head under the point, Tela blindly rams her spear backwards. The point slices into the creature’s stomach, releasing a stream of blood. As Tela jumps to her feet, she yanks her spear out of the collapsing beast.
The other two Murkovin snap their heads to Tela. Lowering her body in a crouch, Tela grips the shaft of her weapon with both hands. When the two Murkovin lunge their spears at her, I spin my body on the ground. My fists hammer against the back of one’s knees while my feet strike the other one’s shins. As they stumble from the blows, Tela catapults out of her coiled position. She smacks the shaft of her weapon into the gut of one and then batters the steel to the other one’s face.
“Run!” she shouts.
Tela grabs the back of my shirt and drags me to my feet. A surge of pain from the wound in my shoulder shoots down my left arm. Leaving my spear behind, I sprint away from the tree with one hand clamped over the gash. Directly in front of us, three more Murkovin charge over a hill.
“This way!” Tela yells, slashing to our left.
As I try to follow her, I slip in the dirt. I crash to the ground and glance at the tree. Two of the three Murkovin we fought are in pursuit. The one Tela wounded is still writhing on the ground behind them. The three who came over the hill are bearing down on me but still
thirty yards away. I leap to my feet, churn my legs, and gallop behind Tela up a steep hill. She slows her pace to check over her shoulder.
“Keep going!” I shout. “I’m right behind you.”
As soon as she crosses over the crest, she incinerates into the beams. Desperate for the light rays to appear in my vision, I fly over the top of the hill. The moment I hit the downslope, I jam on my brakes. Less than ten feet in front of me is the edge of a cliff.
I slide across the dirt until stopping just a few inches from the ledge. A sheer face of rock plummets below me to a ravine that’s twenty feet deep and twice as wide. Tela’s body is sprawled face down at the bottom with her mangled limbs at her sides. On the far wall of the canyon, fresh blood is splattered on the rocks. Since she went into her blend going over the crest, she never would have had time to stop and must have slammed into the far wall.
The ravine is too deep for me to jump into, so I frantically look up and down the canyon. Far in the distance to the north, the gorge shallows while gradually rising to the hilly terrain. I rifle in that direction at the same time the five Murkovin storm over the top of the hill. Zeroing in on the blooms of light, I blow forward into the beams.
Skimming along the edge of the ravine, I keep an eye on the height of the sides. After less than thirty seconds of traveling, I decide they’re low enough for me to jump over. I suck my particles out of the light and leap over the edge.
When my feet hit the ground, I lose control and tumble across the dirt. Another bolt of pain seers through my shoulder. Rolling to a stop, I look back at where I just came from. Two shapes of light torpedo along the ledge of the ravine. I spring from the ground and fire into my blend in the direction of Tela.
In the dirt ahead of me, I spot her body and pull my particles out of the light. While running towards her, I glance at the top of the cliff. Three Murkovin are standing near the ledge with their eyes fixed on me. As I begin to slow, two of them heave their spears in my direction. I duck under one and spin away from the other.
After throwing myself to the ground beside Tela, I check the ravine behind us. Two apparitions are sailing straight in my direction. I scoop Tela’s limp body from the ground and clutch her against my chest. Sprinting away from the beasts, I look up at the top of the cliff again.
The three Murkovin are running along the ledge above me, but I assume they can’t travel since they didn’t follow the other two who can. As I stream into the light to the south, two smears appear on my sides.
Angling in front of me, the Murkovin try to cut off my path. I intensify my focus on the beams and tighten my hold on Tela. Flooring my internal accelerator, I blast ahead between the two beasts. They fall out of my peripheral vision as I streak farther along the winding ravine.
Through the particles of my body pressed to her, I can feel Tela’s heartbeat. It’s rapid but weak, and her breathing is erratic. I don’t know if I should have moved her with all the injuries she has, but it was my only option. Her best hope for survival now is if I can find a place to stop. Her life depends upon me getting sap on her wounds, and I have to figure out a way to get some inside her.
The sides of the canyon tower increasingly higher as the ravine cuts deeper into the landscape. At least five hundred miles go by before the sides begin to lower and the ground under my feet starts to rise. When I look behind me, the Murkovin aren’t in sight. Although I doubt it’s much, I’ve been able to put some distance between us.
They should anticipate that I’ll head northeast to the Delta. If I was wrong about the others not being able to blend their light, they could already be blocking my route. Even if I can navigate around them, I’m not sure Tela will live through the hours needed to reach the Delta. I glance up at the sky to check the direction of the light rays from the clouds. Since they always point to the north, I’m able to confirm my bearings.
The sheer ravine wall on my right gradually dissipates until it’s a smooth slope. I shoot up the side and curve around the bottom of a hill. Hoping they won’t expect me to double back on the opposite side of the canyon from where they first saw us, I snake between the hills to the northwest. Although I check in every direction, I don’t spot the Murkovin in pursuit.
Staying on low ground and using the hills to hide me, I slow my speed to look for a place to stop. As I arc around a slope, I descend into a shallow gully at the bottom of a hill. With the base of the hill on one side of me and a low, steep wall on the other, I should be out of sight from the ground above. Attempting to put as little stress as possible on Tela, I slowly and carefully grind to a stop.
After laying Tela’s body on the ground, I press my fingers to her neck. Although her pulse is still there, it’s nothing but a faint blip against my skin.
“Tela,” I say, gently patting her cheek. “Can you hear me?”
Still unconscious, she doesn’t respond. I unclip a flask from my belt and dab a little sap on my fingertips. Hoping that some of it will be absorbed into her bloodstream, I rub the sap on her gums and under her tongue. I only use a tiny amount because I don’t want the liquid to choke her.
Scanning her body, I assess her injuries. Her left shin is broken with a sharp point of bone sticking out through her blood-soaked pants. Obviously fractured as well, the ankle of her other leg is twisted so that the foot is at a forty-five-degree angle to her leg. Cuts, abrasions, and blood cover her face and arms, but I’m even more worried about the lump sticking out of the back of her neck. I don’t need to be a doctor to know that her neck is broken.
“Stay with me, Tela,” I whisper. “I’ll figure something out.”
Chapter 16
I need to work on Tela’s injuries right away, but I don’t want to do it in the open. Looking up the ravine to the north, I notice a mound of boulders piled against one side of the gully wall. The rocks seem to have rolled down the slope of the hill over time and accumulated at its base. As I study the boulders, I think I see a crease wide enough for a body to fit through. I return the flask to my belt and run to the pile of rocks.
Between the boulders and the side of the ravine lies a narrow crevice no more than three feet wide and five feet tall. I climb over a few rocks to get to the opening and lean my head inside the gap. Although it’s too dark to see very far, there’s a small, natural tunnel inside. The faint sound of dripping water echoes off the walls.
“A cavern,” I say to myself.
I climb out of the opening and run back to Tela. After sliding my arms underneath her neck and legs, I gingerly lift her in my arms. As I walk to the pile of rocks, I search the terrain around us again. I don’t see any Murkovin by the time I reach the entrance, so I decide this is our best hope for a place to hide.
To fit us both through the small opening, I have to drop Tela’s feet to the ground. Gripping under her arms, I stabilize her head against my chest and then step backwards into the tunnel. As I drag her through the passage, I have to duck at times because the ceiling is so low. At several points, the walls on the sides are tight enough that they scrape against my arms. After maybe thirty feet, I reach a small cavern.
“Awaken,” I say.
When no light appears, I peer around the inside of the cave. It’s too dark for me to make out any detail. I can’t blindly work on Tela’s wounds.
“Where can I get light?” I mumble.
As my last word bounces off the cavern walls, a purple glow spreads across the cavern. I look up to see hundreds of tiny holes in the black shale ceiling. The light seems to come from deep within the rock and radiate from a hollow maze that’s woven throughout the top of the cave.
Light, I think in my head. That’s the trigger.
The entire cavern is no bigger than a small bedroom. The floor has a slight downward slant from the tunnel entrance to the back wall. A few rocks are scattered around the edges of the oval cave, but the center is bare. At the far end of the cavern from the tunnel, a foot-wide trickle of water drizzles over the uneven rock wall. The water forms a
tiny pool at the base, no more than a puddle really, and then drips into a long, thin crack in the ground.
I lay Tela down in the center of the cavern with her head pointing towards the tunnel and her feet towards the water. The eerie purple light casts a deathly pallor on her face. Resting on my knees beside her, I take her two flasks off her belt and set the one that’s empty aside. I have one almost-full flask left that I remove from my belt as well.
Since blood is still running down my arm from the wound in my shoulder, I decide that I better deal with that before trying to help Tela. I won’t be much good to her if I pass out from losing too much blood. After sparingly pouring sap on my palm, I rub it on the wound. The burning pain recedes and the bleeding soon stops.
Wanting to save all I can for Tela, I take two small sips from the flask. We used a lot of energy traveling to the flats and racing over them, but we also drank a considerable amount of sap. That’s probably the only thing keeping Tela alive right now.
Beginning on the leg with the bone sticking out of her shin, I rip her pant leg off at the knee. Trying to remember everything Larn did when he set the compound fracture I had in my arm, I start by pouring sap over the wound and softly rubbing it on the bloody skin around the gash. Bracing the back of her leg with one of my hands, I apply steady pressure with my other hand to push the bone back into place. The crackling sound turns my stomach, but Tela doesn’t move.
Based on what Larn did to me, if I can get the bone close to where it belongs, the sap will do the rest of the repair. Once her leg is as straight as I can get it, I pour a little more sap over the shredded skin. The bleeding stops as I rub my hand over the wound, and a thick scab begins to form on her leg.
Since her broken right ankle didn’t pop through the skin, it should be a little easier to set. After removing the boots from both her feet, I slide her pant leg up to the top of her calf. While pressing one hand to her ankle, I slowly straighten her foot. It’s impossible for me to determine exactly where the fracture is with her ankle swollen to the size of a grapefruit. All I can do is spread sap over the puffy area, push the bone to where I think it should be, and hope for the best.
