by BC Powell
Larn grabs the Murkovin’s arms, but the brute hammers his forehead into Larn’s face. As blood spews from Larn’s nose, I rifle my spear at the side of the Murkovin’s head. Ducking under it, he shoves his weapon backwards at me. A fire ignites in my thigh when he bores the point through the muscle and all the way to the bone.
Cringing from pain, I clutch the shaft of his spear in both hands. Larn bashes a fist to the Murkovin’s face, knocking him towards me. I yank the spear out of my thigh and throw an arm around the beast’s neck. Clenching his throat, I twist my body to the side and pull him off Larn.
As we fall to the mud, he latches his hands to my arm. He must outweigh me by at least forty pounds, but I fasten my free hand to my wrist and secure him in a stranglehold. Wriggling in the mud, the brute begins to pry my arm away from his neck. Larn gropes for his spear, finally cinches his fingers around the shaft, and hops to his feet. Just as the Murkovin breaks free from my grip, Larn plunges his spear into the beast’s head.
“Can you run?” Larn asks, glancing at my leg and wiping blood from his face.
“I can try.”
He reaches a hand down and takes hold of my arm. When he pulls me to my feet, pain sizzles through my wounded leg. I desperately pour sap from my canister onto my palm and spread it over the hole in my thigh. The rain quickly washes the sap away, and blood continues to flow from the wound.
“Sash!” Larn shouts. “We need to get out of here!”
I fix my eyes on the top of the hill again. With rain splattering on them, Sash and the woman are still immersed in an unending duel. After a flurry of spears clacking against one another, they both take a few steps backwards. Their chests heave as they try to suck in air.
Sash doesn’t take her eyes off the woman or acknowledge that she heard Larn in any way, but she abruptly rams her weapon at the woman. As the woman whisks her spear up in defense, Sash wheels away in our direction. Like the head of a snake striking out of nowhere, the tip of the woman’s spear flashes towards Sash.
Trying to dodge the point, Sash flings her hips back. As the steel slices into her stomach, Sash drops her spear and grips the shaft of the woman’s weapon in both hands. The woman powers forward, trying to drive her spear deeper into Sash’s gut. Larn charges towards the hill.
Using my spear as a crutch, I hobble behind Larn. With her hands locked to the shaft of the woman’s spear, Sash digs her feet into the mud. Countering strength with strength, Sash inches the woman’s weapon out of her belly. When the woman bulldozes forward, Sash wrenches her stomach to the side. She frees the tip from her stomach, but it rips an even larger gash.
As blood gushes from her wound, Sash keeps her grip on the woman’s spear with one hand and whips her other hand behind her back. The moment it slaps to the handle of the knife, she tugs the woman’s spear by her side. Still hanging on to the weapon, the woman pitches forward. With a fierce roundhouse motion, Sash slashes the knife blade across the woman’s face. The blow stands the woman upright.
Leaping straight up in the air, Sash cocks her knees to her chest. Exploding out of her tuck, she batters both feet against the woman’s chest. The woman tumbles backwards and falls behind the crest of the hill. After rolling her body in the air, Sash lands on all fours.
Larn halts in his tracks about halfway up the hill. Barely at the edge of the upslope, I stop and lean on my weapon to support my weight. Sash sheaths the knife and snatches her spear from the mud. With one hand pressed over the wound in her stomach, she makes a mad dash down the hill.
“Tela left the camp!” she shouts. “The tall Murkovin went after her!”
When Sash reaches Larn, he turns and runs down the hill beside her. I look up and down the valley to see if any Murkovin are nearby. Other than the endless torrent of rain, I don’t spot anything moving. Larn and Sash grind to a stop in front of me. Sash immediately notices the blood all over my thigh.
“Give me the rope,” she says. “I’m going after Tela.”
I glance at her stomach. Blood leaks from between the fingers of her hand covering the wound.
“You can’t,” I argue. “You’re injured.”
She hands her spear to Larn, tears a flask from her belt, and pours sap all over the laceration in her gut. “The tall Murkovin could kill her,” she says. “We’re wasting time.”
“We don’t have time to argue!” Larn yells.
“Give me the rope!” Sash orders.
I clench my jaw, knowing that she’s not about to back down. “I’m going with you.”
“You can barely walk with that wound,” Larn says to me.
Sash grabs the coil of rope hanging around my neck, but as she tries to pull it over my head, she winces from pain and locks her hand to her belly.
“It won’t scab in the rain,” I tell her. “The water is washing the sap away.”
“I’ll be fine!” she blares.
“You’re the most stubborn person alive!”
“Stop your bickering!” Larn intervenes. “We need to get out of here. Give her the rope or I’ll take it from you.”
Glaring at Sash, I remove the coil of rope from my neck and hold it out to her. She hangs it over her shoulder and then takes her spear from Larn.
“You might need this, too,” Larn says.
He hands her his canister. She takes it from him, twists off the top, and gulps down a big swig. After pouring more on her palm, she holds her hand in place over the wound.
“Get Chase back to the Delta,” Sash says to Larn. “I’ll stay with you until we’re clear of the camp.”
“Hop on,” Larn says, turning his back to me. “I don’t think you can run.”
Ignoring Larn, I keep my eyes focused on Sash. “Don’t do this.”
“This may be our only chance to get her,” she replies, surprising me with the calm tone of her voice. “She went to the northeast. I can catch up to her if I go now. I’ll deal with my wound when Darkness ends.”
Knowing all too well that she won’t change her mind, I grit my teeth. “Make sure you come back alive.”
“I will, but we need to get out of here right now.”
I hand my spear to Larn and then clamp my arms across his chest. After he loops one arm under my uninjured leg, he lopes up the valley to the north. With the muddy ground and my added weight, he has trouble getting any traction or gaining speed. Still nursing her stomach with one hand, Sash runs by our side.
“Get going!” she yells at Larn.
“I don’t have enough speed to travel yet!”
Directly in front of us, four Murkovin round the base of a hill.
Chapter 38
As the Murkovin trample towards us, Larn and Sash skid to a stop. After Larn drops me to the mud, I swipe my spear from his hand. Bracing for the attack, Larn and Sash crouch with their weapons at the ready in front of them. On the hill to our left, two shapes of light rocket over the crest and down the slope.
“Two more on our left!” I shout.
Hopping on one foot, I move to the left of Larn and Sash and balance on my good leg. If I can at least slow down the two Murkovin coming down the slope when they come out of their blends, maybe I can buy enough time for Larn and Sash to take out the others. The first four are only a few yards away from us when the two on the side of the hill exit the light. As one shape morphs into the body of a woman, blue glimmers from her hair.
“Yes!” I cheer at the top of my lungs.
Slightly ahead of Jeni, Roen sprints out of the beams. Never slowing his pace, he steamrolls into the first Murkovin he reaches. The beast ricochets off Roen and hits the brute beside him. Both Murkovin sprawl to the ground.
The two Murkovin that are still on their feet screech to a standstill. Jenny immediately crashes into one. As he flops to the mud, he twists and ramrods the point of his spear into Jeni’s arm. Using only one hand, Jeni viciously spikes her weapon into the Murkovin’s chest. When she yanks the tip from his body, the eruption of blood leaves no doubt that
she impaled his heart.
Larn zeroes in on one of the two Murkovin flattened by Roen. Before the creature can push himself out of the mud, Larn’s weapon pierces deep into his skull. The other beast on the ground shuffles to his feet, but Roen blindsides him with a spear through the side of his head.
Trapped in the middle of Jeni, Sash, and me, the lone Murkovin still on his feet eyeballs the blood all over my leg. When he bursts in my direction, Sash springs forward and drives her spear into his back. Sash recoils from the impact, doubles over, and cradles her gut in her hands.
The Murkovin flails in my direction. I strong-arm my weapon through his throat and whip him to the ground. Unable to keep my footing with the wound in my leg, I careen off-balance towards the mud. Jeni leaps to my side, catches me mid-fall, and hoists me back up. As I slide my spear out of the Murkovin at my feet, Sash stands upright with a fresh flow of blood from her wound.
“Chase can’t travel,” Larn yells to Roen and Jeni while squatting with his back to me. “Sash is wounded.”
“We need to go now!” Roen shouts, pointing his spear down the valley behind us.
A football field away, a dozen Murkovin thunder towards us. As Jeni heaves me onto Larn’s back, I toss one arm around his chest. He loops an arm under my good leg, but we both keep our spears in our other hands in case we can’t escape.
“Stay with Sash!” I holler at Roen. “She’s going after Tela!”
“No!” Sash wails. “He’ll slow me down.”
With one arm crossed over her stomach, Sash takes off running to the north. Jeni drags Larn by the arm until we’re fleeing up the valley behind her. After sprinting past us, Roen catches up to Sash. He reaches out his canister to her as they run. She grabs it and loops the rope around her neck. Roen glances over his shoulder at the Murkovin.
“They’re gaining on us!” he yells.
“Be ready to travel!” Larn shouts at me.
I scrunch a handful of Larn’s shirt in my hand. The tromping of feet in the mud behind us grows louder and louder. Grunting while he churns his legs, Larn spurts forward a few times but doesn’t have enough momentum to get into his blend. Slowing their pace until they’re beside us, Roen and Sash prepare to thwart off a Murkovin assault. On our other flank, Jeni checks behind us.
“Now or never!” she screams.
“Now!” Larn bellows.
With a force that almost throws me off his back, we jettison into the beams. As the wind lashes across my face, I cling to Larn’s shirt like a rider on a bucking bronc. Jeni streams to our side, but there’s no sign of Sash and Roen. I twist my neck to the rear to make sure they’re with us. Already in their blends, they’re on our tail.
“No way,” I whisper.
One by one, every Murkovin in sight scorches into light.
“They’re all traveling!” I shout.
Larn soars past a hill and banks hard to the west. Jeni stays right by our side. As we cross a broad flat area, luminescent figures crisscross in the stormy dark behind us. It’s impossible to tell who’s who with so many bodies traveling in such a close range.
When two shapes pull away from the horde, I assume they’re Sash and Roen. As they close in on us, one veers sharply to the north. The wisps of light gain so much speed in a matter of seconds that it has to be Sash.
As she vanishes in the distance, one of the Murkovin splits away from the pack and follows her trail. Sending a shiver down my spine, the shape torpedoes through the dark with more velocity than any Murkovin I’ve ever seen. Whoever it is would need to match Sash’s traveling speed to cover so much ground in so little time. My first guess—my only guess—it’s the woman who Sash fought.
After the long, flat ground gives way to more hills, Larn arcs into a narrow valley. Roen and Jeni stay on either side of us as we weave between the series of uneven hills. Larn aims up the slope of one and slows a little as we near the top of the hill.
“Look behind us!” he yells.
When I check over my shoulder, I see that the Murkovin are still in pursuit. We’ve put half a mile between us, but they’re not willing to give up the chase.
“Still on us!”
Larn sails over the peak and uses the downslope to open up his throttle. With Jeni and Roen close on either side, we forge a path straight towards the Delta. The sting of rain begins to recede and murky rays peek through the edges of the slowing clouds. As Darkness ends, Larn surges forward in a new bloom of light.
After an hour of wasteland falls behind us, Larn navigates towards a high, steep hill. He slows up the slope and comes out of his blend. As soon as we reach the top, he slams to a halt and spins to look behind us. Jeni and Roen exit the beams halfway up the hill. Thankfully, they’re the only living creatures in sight. Larn and I continue to search the wasteland until Jeni and Roen stop on the crest.
“I think they gave up,” Larn says between huge gulps of air.
“I’ll keep watch,” Roen replies. “You need a rest.”
“Any wounds?” Larn asks him.
“I’m fine.”
I slide off Larn’s back and land on my good leg. Exhausted from carrying me, Larn drops to all fours and then rolls to his back. While Jeni rubs sap on the slash in her arm, I limp to a large stone and sit down.
“How could you let her go?” I angrily ask Larn and then direct my fury at Roen. “And why didn’t you stay with her?”
Roen doesn’t say anything, but Larn bolts upright and answers me with the same incensed tone that I used. “Tell me one person who can stop her when her mind is made up.”
“Calm down,” Jeni says to both of us.
I hate to admit it, but Larn is right. Better than anyone alive, I know how bullheaded Sash can be. I shouldn’t have taken my frustration out on Larn and Roen, but I’m so concerned about Sash right now that I’d saw both of my legs off if it would bring her back safely.
“I’m sorry, Roen,” I say. “I’m sorry, Larn. That was uncalled for. I’d be a corpse right now if it weren’t for all of you.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Roen replies.
“Thanks for giving Sash your canister on the way out,” I say to him.
“There wasn’t much left,” he tells me, “but it was something.”
My eyes wander to the drab terrain to the north. “I can’t believe she took off alone.”
“She’s doing what she thinks is right,” Larn says evenly. “Roen couldn’t have kept up with her. You know that as well as he does.”
I look down and examine my leg. Blood is still oozing from the divot in my thigh. After I pour what little sap I have left on it, the wound finally begins to scab. Since the rain has ended, it gives me at least a little hope that Sash will be able to stop her bleeding.
“It’s the Murkovin woman that’s bothering me so much,” I say to Larn. “You saw them fight. Sash couldn’t kill her. That woman is every bit as good with a spear as Sash is. When Sash headed north, one of the Murkovin followed her and was just as fast. It had to have been that woman.”
“You need to trust Sash’s judgment,” Larn replies.
“Maybe we should go after her. She was heading north.”
He shakes his head. “You know better than anyone how difficult it is to find someone in the Barrens. We’re almost out of sap, you can’t travel, and Jeni is wounded. Even if we could find her, I’m not sure we’d be much help.”
“How’s your leg?” Jeni asks me.
“It’ll heal,” I answer. “How’s your arm?”
“It’ll heal,” she says.
Larn stands from the ground. “Do you see anything?” he asks Roen.
“Not a thing,” he answers.
“I never thought I’d be so grateful for two people disobeying an order.”
Jeni stabs her spear in the dirt. “You didn’t really expect us to go back to the Delta until we knew you were safe, did you?”
“I expected everyone to stick to the plan,” Larn tells her.
“Th
e plan fell apart,” Roen says. “Jeni and I had a back-up plan.”
“And it was well devised,” Larn replies. “You caught the Murkovin completely off guard. Sash, Chase, and I would all be face down in the mud right now if it weren’t for the two of you.”
“We’re honored to lend a hand,” Roen says.
Jeni takes a swig from her canister and then hands it to Larn. After a couple of sips, Larn holds it out to me.
“None for me,” I say. “You three need it more than I do.”
Larn, Jeni, and Roen finish the last of the sap. After helping me stand up again, Roen takes my spear from me and lifts me onto Larn’s back. The four of us sail across the Barrens in the direction of the Delta.
As hours of wasteland go by, all I can think about is Sash. When we were trying to get away, the wound in her stomach had an obvious impact on her ability to fight, and she was losing a lot of blood. Even with sap, if she has internal bleeding or damaged organs, she’ll need a morrow or two to heal. At best, she’s at about sixty percent right now. Even worse, a Murkovin version of Sash is stalking her.
After we finally reach the Delta and make it safely inside the gate, Roen helps me off Larn’s back. Jeni grabs several canisters from the hooks in the wall and passes them out. We all take several long drinks and then Jeni and Roen say their goodbyes. As they leave for their habitats, I rub more sap on my thigh.
“Do you want me to carry you to your habitat?” Larn asks.
“No,” I answer, “but will you to please do me a favor.”
“What’s that?”
“Go to Home and find Aven. Tell her that I made it back safely but hurt my leg. I need her to stay at Home until it heals. I’ll come see her soon.”
“What should I tell her about Sash?”
“Tell her the truth,” I answer. “Sash went after Tela. But I don’t think Aven needs to know that Sash is wounded.”
Larn nods his agreement. “What are you planning to do?”
I glance at the gate and then back at Larn. “I’ll wait by the bridge until she comes back. If she’s not back by the time I can run on this leg and travel, I’m going to the northern Barrens.”
