by Paul Kidd
“She’s quality and she’s staying, so don’t get no ideas!”
“Well I don’t like it!”
“You don’t have to, you mad old crone. Just tend the fire while I go out. I’m off to find someone who knows these jiteng players the wee girl was on about.”
Pekaka gathered up her shoulder bag and made to leave.
“I’m not of a suspicious mind, Ma. Still, if I even hear a hint that you’ve spread word that these two are here, I’ll send you to my sister. We’ll see how well you fare with that bitch actin’ as your host!”
The old woman seemed to shrink. She grumbled and bent down to turn the tubers in the fire.
“Aaah be off with you! I’ll guard yer two precious little vagabonds, never fear.”
“Just see that you do, old hag. I’m sure m’ sister’s just itchin’ for your company.”
“Shadarii?”
Shadarii twitched, snuggling deeper down beneath her sleeping robe, but the voice came back to croon sweetly in her ear.
“Shadarii. Wakey wakey!”
Mmmmmm - wake up time. Kotaru’s scent still lingering in her nostrils. The stiffness of newly discovered muscles in her thighs. Shadarii snuggled down in bed and gave a little sigh.
Kotaru…
“Come along then! Rise and shine!”
Shadarii’s eyes flickered open. Sunlight danced across her fur, dazzling her vision. She ran a hand down through her pelt and tried to make sense out of it all. Just to make matters worse, someone ruffled up her fur and boisterously kissed her on the cheek.
“Good morning your ladyship! And what a great pleasure it is to have you join us at last. I never knew the dead could walk until I saw your face!”
Shadarii was kissed soundly on the mouth. The girl pushed away and stared up at a grinning face, trying to force the world into some sort of sense.
Mrrimïmei!
The Vakïdurii girl grinned down at her, laughing as she saw recognition finally dawn. Shadarii flung her arms about the other girl and crushed her in a hug. She looked about herself with joy as she saw all her friends beside her once again; Mrrimïmei, Totoru, Tingtraka the scholar girl…
“Ha haaaa! Shadarii! So finally you’re here! Better late than never, eh? You’ve had us worried sick. We almost went out on the rescue operation of the century!” The girl ran fingers through Shadarii’s fur. “So where is he? Where have you hidden him, you silly girl? Is Kotaru safe and well?”
Something cold slithered through Shadarii’s heart. She let Mrrimïmei’s hands drop from her grasp, and the Vakïdurii girl slowly lost her smile.
“He-he’s not with you, is he.”
Shadarii simply stared; it was impossible! Kotaru must be here - he had to be! She had escaped, she had come to him! It was alright now. It was all going to be alright.
“Shadarii listen to me! Where is Kotaru?” Mrrimïmei angrily shook Shadarii by the shoulders. “Shadarii! Tell me! Damn you, what’s happened to him!”
Totoru gently forced his fiancé back.
“Ssssh. Can’t you see? She thought that he was here. Something’s happened. Something bad.”
“She did it!” Mrrimïmei slammed her fist against a tree. “I told him to leave her alone…!”
“Quiet!”
Shadarii desperately tried to think. Kotaru wasn’t here, and he wasn’t back at the Katakanii village; she had to go back to the cave and trace his trail. Shadarii leapt up, heedless of her lack of clothes, and began to dress back into her filthy leathers. Kïtashii silently joined her, hastily snatching up their paltry belongings.
“Kïtashii, wait! Where are you going?”
The little girl hastened to tie back Shadarii’s hair.
“She knows. Where she goes, I follow. I’ll not leave her ever again!”
“But - but you’re only twelve years old!”
“Shadarii needs me.”
Kïtashii bowed deeply to their hosts, and Pekaka bowed back in bewilderment. Shadarii took her friend by the hand and scrabbled for the door with the jiteng players stumbling in her wake.
“Stop! Shadarii…”
Shadarii swiftly took her bearings and spread out her shining wings. Mrrimïmei quickly leapt in her way.
“No. I’m comin’ with you!
Shadarii waved the girl aside; Mrrimïmei hissed and stood her ground.
“I’m coming! He’s more ours than yours! You’ll not find a way of stopping me!”
Kïtashii narrowed her eyes and glared at the Wrens. Finally she snapped her fingers at the milling adults.
“We’ll wait an hour, no more. Get your equipment.”
Shadarii whirled, but Kïtashii folded up her arms and stared the dancer in the eye.
“I said that I will never fail you. That includes letting you rush off like a fool. I will serve you despite yourself.”
The Wrens had all flown off to fetch their gear. Shadarii gave a snort. She bit back a thudding headache and signed curtly to the little girl.
<
“Because you need me.”
Shadarii turned away and irritably shook her wings. Kïtashii sat down to bide her time and wait.
“Is there a route Zhukora’s men won’t expect?”
Shadarii irritably screwed shut her eyes.
<
“Can we take the battering?”
<>
“Very nice. We love you too.”
Kïtashii cast an eye towards the hearth hut and scratched beneath her scrawny ribs.
“Ah well, at least this way we get some breakfast. Let’s see if there’s any of those roots left over from last night.” The little girl scratched again, wondering if she might have fleas.
“Might not be such a bad idea after all. Pekaka’s mother might be a vile old witch, but she can certainly brew a cup of tea.”
Chapter Fourteen
The little band of hunters flew through a screaming maelstrom. Shadarii plunged ahead of them, swooping down cataracts and riding shockwaves along the gorge. Kïtashii grimly drove the Vakïdurii on, darting back and forth behind the hunters like an angry little gnat.
Spray flashed; Shadarii banked beneath a spur of rock, diving with the river as it plunged straight down a waterfall. The Wrens pulled up in alarm, eyes fixed in panic on a sheer drop of two hundred spans.
Kïtashii shot past them and tumbled in Shadarii’s wake. The Wrens all followed, eyes staring wide as they hurtled themselves straight down towards destruction. Someone gave a yell as they struck a wall of mist.
One by one the Wrens all shot out from the spray - eleven frightened faces taking stock and counting limbs. Shadarii skimmed above the surface far downstream, her ïsha wake splitting the water behind her like a knife.
They had flown like maniacs for two whole days. Shadarii never tired; she pushed herself to impossible speeds, hardly caring whether anybody followed. The girl now circled high onto a cliff and went to ground, and the other Kashra followed her in an exhausted blur of wings.
Hunters collapsed on the grass while Mrrimïmei folded over, almost vomiting with fatigue. Shadarii ignored it all; she saw a familiar cliff face across the river and reeled for joy. The cave was only a hundred spans away! The girl spread her wings and blundered towards her goal.
Kïtashii lunged into Shadarii’s path and instantly brought her teacher to a halt.
“Stop! We don’t know what’s down there. Zhukora might have come looking for us!”
Shadarii whirled, antennae twitching as she searched for ïsha trace. She stiffened as she sensed subtle currents hidden in the shade.
There were Kashra in concealment near the cavemouth. They were extremely skilled; the Wrens had noticed nothing. Shadarii picked out her enemies one by one and sank down into cover.
“Kïtashii, what is it? What can she see?”
“Hunters.” The little girl crept back across the ridge. “There’s twenty of them hiding down below.”
Tingtraka hunched in the dust, her chest heaving as she tried to catch her breath.
“Hunters? You mean Skull-Wings? So what the skreg do we do now?”
Kïtashii ran fingers through her tangled hair. Her arms trembled with fatigue, and the river sounded cool and soothing at her back.
“I don’t know. Let… let’s wait and rest for an hour. Maybe we’ll think of something by then.”
The Wrens collapsed. Here and there a hunter groped for a drinking gourd while Kïtashii closed her eyes and sighed.
They had until sunset. Somehow she had to find a plan. Something to draw the guards away. Now what would make a Skull-Wing want to leave his post?
The little girl rose and tottered towards the stream to drink. Behind her, Shadarii lay on a rock and stared down towards her enemies.
“It’s never going to work! Mrrimïmei, don’t be ridiculous!”
Tingtraka wrung her face up in distaste as she watched her team mate stepping into Shadarii’s clothing. Mrrimïmei rammed grass into the halter top and tried to mould herself into Shadarii’s shape.
“Mrrimïmei, don’t go!”
“Ha! You’re just jealous!”
“It was my idea! I have red fur too!”
“You’re not fast enough. No one flies faster than me! Kotaru’s in trouble, so I’m damned-well going!” The girl shoved more grass beneath the waistbelt of her borrowed skirt. “Anyway, you have black hair. They’d spot you a mile away!” Mrrimïmei tightened up her belts and straps. “There we are, all ready to go! Now let’s get this over and done with.”
Mrrimïmei jittered with excitement, having difficulty even sitting still. Shadarii delicately dabbed the girl’s wings with bright orange ochre dust. They would soon shed their colour, but for a brief while they should fool the waiting enemy.
Mrrimïmei rose and gazed through the trees.
“Right! We all ready? We all set?” No one seemed to have anything further to say. “Alright then! I’ll be off. Give me a fist of seconds and then move out.”
The girl spared a warm kiss for her fiancé and then rose high into the air. She glared down at Shadarii before disappearing in the shadows.
Shadarii checked the set of her knives and paced back and forth in silence, scowling as she slowly counted off the seconds.
Eight. Nine. Ten…
Tingtraka dug her speartip in the ground.
“I still say I should have gone! I’m fast too! What if the Skull-Wings catch her?”
Totoru whirled and looked at her; the girl saw his eyes and wisely shut her trap.
Thirteen. Fourteen…
“What if they don’t all follow her? What if some of them stay by the cave site?”
Rotïka tugged nervously at his mask straps. The tiny little man had spoken for them all, and the ten remaining Wrens all swapped nervous glances, slowly fingering their weapons.
Eighteen. Nineteen.
Kïtashii flexed a borrowed spear.
“Does anybody have another spear? I think I can throw one just a little way.”
Totoru coldly folded up his arms.
“Oh no, not you! You’re stayin’ right where you are.”
Shadarii glared up at the huge hunter and gave a sharp snap of her hands.
She comes. She has the right.
It was time to go. Shadarii tugged at her borrowed hunting leathers and took to the air, and the other Kashra swiftly leapt to join her. They clattered off into the shadows, following the gleam of Mrrimïmei’s ïsha trail.
A hunter gripped Daimïru’s arm, and the girl went stiff, her breath hissing as she saw a stir of motion in the clearing. A figure wandered out into the open, walking cautiously across the broken stones, and the sunlight shone from a pair of startling orange wings.
Shadarii!
Damn! She stood in the only place where Daimïru’s men were out of reach; the open rockface had offered them no place to hide. Shadarii stood well and truly out of spear cast. She was surrounded by clumps of mountain ash; small trees surrounded by great mats of resin, leaves and crackling bark. It would be impossible to even creep up on her by foot. Daimïru chafed, casting a quick glance all along the waiting line of hunters.
Down on the rocks, the prey’s antennae swivelled, then froze as one hunter let a twig snap beneath his heel. Suddenly Shadarii shot into the sky and raced downstream. Daimïru cursed and burst out of the trees.
“Don’t let her get away! Kill her! Kill Shadarii!”
Daimïru hurtled herself up into the pursuit, and twenty hunters thundered on Shadarii’s trail. Mrrimïmei swept out to hover high above the riverbanks, staying just long enough to be seen before dashing through the ferns. The Skull-Wings took the bait and shrieked out for her blood. Mrrimïmei gave a snort and whirled off through the trees, leaving her pursuers far behind.
“OK they’ve gone! Fan out and look for trails!”
Kïtashii and her friends sped out of cover then spread out across the clearing to comb for ïsha spoor.
Shadarii dashed up the slopes and plunged into the deserted cave. Her fur shivered as a thousand memories whirled into her mind; Kotaru’s smile, Kotaru’s laugh - the pain, the joy, the ecstasy! The girl squandered ïsha as she wildly searched for clues.
“Shadarii! Be careful, someone will see the light!”
Shadarii never even heard; she thrust past Kïtashii and scrabbled up across the rocks. They had only minutes before Zhukora’s hunters returned; Shadarii chewed her fist and tried to think just what to do.
Tingtraka carefully sifted through the ïsha auras of the cave, then followed the trail back to the little alcove where Shadarii and Kotaru had made love. After long minutes, the girl finally drew back in defeat.
“It’s too faint for me. I just don’t know where to find his trail. If he’d only left a mark - just a clue!”
Kïtashii began pacing swiftly back and forth with her face drawn into its customary frown.
“We must find where he left the clearing. Shadarii, where did you last see him? Retrace those steps. Relive the moment.”
Shadarii closed her eyes and tried to remember. The-the sun had shone; there had been cool, fresh water. She had smiled and waved. Something had smashed against her skull, the teapot shattering in her hand as she fell…
The waterhole!
Shadarii whirled and dashed down amongst the boulders. The girl thrilled as she retraced her actions move for move. She had stood right here in this spot, she had turned and looked straight back towards…
Kotaru…
Icy scorpions scuttled up her spine. Shadarii’s whole world narrowed as her gaze settled on a single darker patch of shadow. She found herself moving towards it, staring without any comprehension.
Shadarii gazed down, unable to make any sense out of the horror at her feet. A strange, light-hearted trance seemed to settle in her mind, and the girl fell slowly to her knees, her head cocked as she peered at the weird thing in the grass.
It lay like a burnt, dead log; foul, rotten and violated, like-like meat left too long upon a fire. Shadarii reached out to run her fingertips across the ashes. She slowly sank across the corpse, clutching the stinking thing against her breast. It fractured as she clawed at it in incoherent agony.
Kotaru! No! Not my Kotaru!
Tingtraka sank down into the dust, her eyes lost and drained of hope. Kïtashii hung back, terrified of intruding on either woman’s grief. The little girl tried not to weep, stifling back the tears. She mustn’t cry! They needed her. Someone had to be strong! Someone had to be strong! Someone had to…
Shadarii slammed herself against the corpse, willing it to break and stab her through the heart. She tried to rip her dao from its sheath, but someone wrapped their arms about her. Kïtashii dragged her back from the corpse and crushed Shadarii tight.
“Hold me! Hold onto me! Don’t let go.”
“We-We have to go now. We’re going to have to run.”
Kïtashii hung her head.
“Not yet. She can’t go yet.”
The Vakïdurii hunters stared down in disbelief at Kotaru’s corpse, while Shadarii threw back her head and tried to shriek Kotaru’s name.
Why! Why can’t I scream? Oh my love, I can’t even scream for thee!
“Shadarii, look out!”
Shadarii’s head snapped around in time to see a figure framed against the rocks above. The creature stared down at her and staggered back in shock.
“Daimïru! Leader, she’s here! Shadarii is here!”
The Skull-Wing shot into the air to find reinforcements. Kïtashii hurtled a spear with all her might; it arced up and somehow struck the hunter, just managing to jab beneath his wing. The Skull-Wing fell into an ash tree, whirling around to fix his blazing eyes upon Kïtashii. His woomera flashed forward, and Kïtashii could only gape as a spear streaked straight towards her breast.
Shadarii flung herself in the way. The spear tore to splinters as she blasted it from the air, and with a silent scream of rage Shadarii lunged for the Skull-Wing’s throat.
“Shadarii, stop!”
