She pulled her shawl over her head, and turned 360 degrees, noting a darker smear that could indicate a small ridge of hills over to her right. In every other direction, scattered boulders studded the seared landscape, each donating a pool of shadow to the desert. The rising heat continued to voraciously leach life-giving moisture from their bodies.
Rishi wrapped the rope around his waist, and, hand in hand, they started out across the roasting desert as the sun hammered down, and the scorching sand sent waves of heat up through their boots.
Rishi, always the strongest, suddenly staggered a few steps before collapsing.
“Rishi!” She tugged at his shoulder, “Come on. The hills aren’t far, and we might find caves where we can shelter.”
Rishi attempted to stand but keeled over, shaking and weak. “It’s the inikfi. It’s still in my bloodstream.”
She put her hand under his arm, and managed to get him back on his feet. His face was gray, and he leaned heavily on her as they started walking. After a while, her mind cut out, and she felt nothing as they continued their slow creeping passage across the desert plain. Once she tripped on a small skittering of stones and fell on her side. Rishi landed on top of her, grinding her hip and shoulder further into the hard sand.
She lay there for a second as the blinding desert sun slammed into her eyeballs, ran up her neural pathways and short circuited her brain, but she refused to die out here. Rishi had disregarded the poison’s effects and gotten them out of the well; she would finish the job and get them to safety. She heaved Rishi off her, then lurching to her feet, she hauled him up and got him moving. His eyes kept rolling up in his head and he was barely conscious, yet he moved with her, automatically putting one foot in front of the other.
By the time the sun was driving toward the horizon, the smear had grown into a series of low hills. Beyond the hills, rows of jagged toothed mountains rose into the distance. Thank the universe their captors hadn’t taken them too far into the desert. How far from Ikeya and the tribe were they?
One good result of dragging themselves across the burning plain was that Rishi’s body eliminated the last of the poison. His color had returned to normal and he walked under his own steam, though the dark hollows under his eyes remained and he kept his arm around Kara’s shoulders.
“I can see a dark patch near the bottom of the hills. Maybe it’s a cave.” Kara’s speech was slurred.
Rishi didn’t answer.
Kara swerved, guiding them toward the dark opening she’d spotted.
The distance was farther than she first thought. Night had fallen by the time they reached what turned out to be the mouth of a cave, and they were drawing on the final dregs of their energy, barely on their feet. The entrance was guarded with a thornbush barrier—a good sign they’d find supplies inside.
Kara stood swaying as Rishi kicked an opening big enough for them to squeeze through without having their skin ripped to pieces. The second she was inside the cave her legs buckled and she sank to the ground, unable to move any further. She stared out at the night through the jagged silhouette of thornbush branches, grateful they’d made it here. The well would have become their coffin if they hadn’t escaped.
She stretched out in blessed if exhausted relief, rolled over, and curled up on her side. “I need to sleep.”
Rishi settled himself behind her. “Rest, gradhaig, rest. You have saved us both. Here,” he lifted her head and placed his arm underneath as a pillow.
She shifted to get comfortable, grateful for his warmth as he snuggled up close behind her. Soon the day’s heat would evaporate, and the temperature would drop. Her anger at him for kissing and making love to her knowing that if anyone caught them she’d be forced to partner with him still smoldered, but between exhaustion, thirst and hunger, the need to close her eyes and sleep was taking over.
“Wake up, Kara.”
She didn’t want to move; didn’t want to do anything but continue sleeping. She was dreaming of home, sitting with her father, eating cakes and drinking hot soothing caj tea. His deep familiar voice was telling her the story of how he’d carried her mother all the way home one time when she fell and broke her ankle. She felt water being dribbled into her mouth, her lips licked automatically and she came awake with a start.
“Here, drink this, but drink slowly.” Rishi held a leather bottle to her mouth.
She drank greedily, reaching for the container.
He jerked the water skin away.
“More,” she demanded, reaching out once more.
He slapped her hands away. “No, stop. You’ll be sick if you guzzle to your heart’s content.” He held the bottle to her mouth, she sucked hard till he removed it.
“I’m not a baby. Don’t treat me like one.”
“Here,” he ignored her jibe and thrust a piece of dried flatbread into her hand. “Eat this. Slowly.”
It was still dark, and she bit into the bread, although its resemblance to rock soon had her worried about losing a tooth or two.
“Moisten well and chew slowly,” Rishi advised.
She nodded. She wasn’t sure which would break first, her teeth or the bread, but once moistened with her saliva, the dried flatbread released the most wonderful flavors.
“This place doesn’t belong to my people.”
“Is that a problem?” she asked, heeding the warning in his voice. “Don’t tribes share with each other?”
He gazed out over the darkened landscape beyond the cave. The sky was sprinkled with tiny twinkling jewels. “Not exactly.”
“Rishi! Don’t be obtuse. Spell it out for me. If you’d done that in the past, we’d not be in this situation.”
He flinched at the barb.
Good, she thought observing his reaction. For the present they were stuck with each other. If—no, not if—when they returned to the tribe and Ikeya fulfilled his promise, then she’d leave him. The reality was there wasn’t much she could do about changing her standing in the eyes of the tribe—if they ever saw them again—but she could, and would, remind him as often as possible this entire situation was his fault.
“Other than I’ve never been here, I know this isn’t ours, because you see those black specks?” He pointed at the tiny black dots on the surface of the flatbread. “That spice is only used by the mountain Maruts. This site must be on their route to the Summer Meet. Every tribe is on the move right now, but they’ve not reached here yet.”
The anthropologists would be in bliss. When she returned to base she’d be able to write an encyclopedia. She would become the colony expert on the Maruts as they had lumped the indigenous species into one primitive group without any kind of differentiation. Judging by what Rishi was telling her, this wasn’t true. It appeared they lived in a super organized if somewhat rigid society with many groups, and, apparently, a rule for every aspect of their lives and every breath they took.
“And,” she prompted, warned by his hesitance, “I’m eager to hear the down side.”
“It is forbidden to take from another tribe’s provisions without permission being granted.”
“What? Even if you’re dying?”
He nodded. “When asked, a tribe must share. They cannot refuse. But if provisions and precious water are taken without permission, the sentence is death.”
She shivered and looked at the entrance. A moment ago finding shelter here was life-saving, but it seemed their deliverance came with a built-in death sentence. She kept chewing, after all, she’d already committed the crime. “That makes no sense. If your own tribe hasn’t managed to kill us, it means another tribe can have a go. Do you have a death wish?” She was about to ask him if he was cursed, but held her tongue. With their superstitious attitudes, that idea might not be easy to remove.
“We leave.”
“You consider it a positive move to go back into the desert? We’re dead without food or water.”
“Learn to listen, Kara. I said leave. I didn’t say head toward certain deat
h. The kidnappers are still out there, and they and the Maruts would follow our trail across the sand with no problem. Besides, there is only one route for each tribe, and even a child can see, they haven’t arrived yet. Though I fear we may not have long before they do.”
She pursed her lips, watching Rishi as he ran through several scenarios in his mind. Ostara was setting, and she studied the cave, shivering in the cold desert night air. The rough gritty walls narrowed as the cave extended back into the mountain. Farther back she spotted some familiar sized supply trunks.
“Finish eating and we’ll explore the rest of the cave.”
“I’m ready now.” She mumbled at him, stuffing the last crumbs into her mouth. “Tribesmen about to arrive at any minute who’ll kill us for eating their precious supplies, and kidnappers who might return and finish us off. What are we waiting for? Let’s go.”
Rishi’s eyes flashed but he didn’t argue. Instead he moved off, muttering something about the disappearance of the scared maus they’d rescued from a kallin bear. He led the way to the rear, and she bumped into him as he stopped abruptly. “We’ll have plenty of warning of their arrival. A tribe on its way to the Summer Meet isn’t silent.”
Point taken, but Kara would have preferred a safer place, and this spot wasn’t secure. “Don’t get any ideas, but I’m going to hold onto you ’cause I can’t see a thing, and having gotten this far without dying, I don’t want to break my neck tripping over something I can’t see.” She grabbed onto Rishi’s arm. He’d turned his face away, but she knew he smiled. He liked it when she granted him superiority. “Wouldn’t they forgive us, you know, taking their stuff? We are desperate.”
“Our society has survived because we understand the consequences of breaking the rules,” he responded.
“No exceptions allowed? Ever?” She understood the rations they’d eaten meant less for the tribe. But still... death? Wasn’t that somewhat of an extreme reaction?
“No. Never.”
If the Maruts mingled with colonists, change was inevitable. Change that might result in more compassionate rules. Why couldn’t they appreciate the advantages that could enhance their lives? Terraforming the land would provide more agriculture, they’d be able to grow enough to eat, have pasture for their herds, plus education and medicine for their people. She felt frustrated with the wall of resistance he represented.
Rishi led her straight past the tribes stash of large trunks, not once bumping into anything. She was glad she was holding tightly.
“Stay,” he said, prising her fingers off his arm as he groped his way to the final trunk. Lifting the lid, he helped himself to a good number of packets.
“I thought you said they’d kill us for taking their supplies?” she hissed at him. The gloomy silence made her feel as if someone was watching.
“We should eat a big meal before we die then,” he hissed back, stuffing them into the pockets of his loose trews. He opened another box and brought out two of the satyr skin water bottles. “Carry these,” he said thrusting them at her.
Using the straps at their necks, she strung one on each side through the loops on her pants.
“How are these supplies organized?” This was something that had niggled her from the time she saw the first cave. This was as good a time as any to get an answer, especially as Rishi might be a bit off guard.
“Three months before we leave for the Summer Meet teams come out with supplies. Very simple.”
Yes, it was, but Kara was intrigued by how the whole arrangement came into being in the first place, though she doubted Rishi had the answer to that question.
He closed the trunks, took her hand and led her farther into the cave’s dark interior. “Bend down, or you’ll crack your head on the ceiling,” he said. They ended up bent double as the roof tapered down toward the floor.
“I explored earlier when you were sleeping, and there’s something different back here,” he whispered.
She started as his words echoed around the cave eerily amplified. “You brought me back here to listen to an echo?” she asked then stopped as her voice joined his, reverberating and fading to a whisper. The sound spooked her, and she jumped each time it resonated around the empty space.
His teeth gleamed. He was grinning at her. “No, this is where the difference is.”
“Where?” She stared into the gloom. “I don’t see anything.”
He grabbed her wrist. “Hold this,” he ordered and thrust one end of their rescue rope into her hand. Turning, he walked forward, the rope stretched, and from one moment to the next, he disappeared.
Chapter Fourteen: A Surprise
Marut Proverb:
Never be surprised at what life throws your way.
Kara was so shocked at Rishi's vanishing act—one minute he was there, the next he was gone—she let go of the rope. The slithering of the rope across the floor startled her into action. She dropped to her knees, and groped around, frantic to find the end. After a few desperate minutes, her fingers touched the rope. She grabbed it, wrapped it twice around her wrist and held on for dear life.
"Kara, walk forward." Rishi's voice sounded muted, far away.
She did as instructed and smacked her forehead into the back wall of the cave.
"Get on your hands and knees." His voice floated up to her.
"You could have told me before I practically knocked myself unconscious." She rubbed her forehead. Once on her knees, she noticed a darker area in front of her. Extending her hand, she found an opening large enough to crawl through.
Rishi jerked the rope. "Get a move on," he whispered impatiently.
She crawled through the gap with ease.
Rishi kept pulling on the rope.
"I'm coming," she hissed back crawling as fast as she could along an ever-narrowing space, tugged forward by Rishi’s pulling on the rope. Just before the ceiling and sides had shrunk to the extent she'd have to shuffle forward on her belly, the direction changed. The bend was too sharp and smooth to be natural. As she turned the corner, standing in the exact spot where the ceiling and walls widened, was Rishi, a grin on his face, reeling her in as if she were a tame satyr.
As soon as she reached him, she dropped the rope, leaving him to wind up the rest. If they were anywhere else other than in some subterranean tunnel, she'd have had a hard time resisting the urge to gratify her itching hands and slap the smug expression off his face. Instead, she stalked straight past him without speaking.
Unlike the cave, these walls emitted a dim suffused light, enabling them to easily see where they were going. She touched the walls, and, as she suspected, they appeared to be made of the same substance as the wells.
Rishi took the lead as the passage took them steadily down further inside the mountain.
Kara forced herself to keep moving, but exhaustion from the kidnapping, the drug she'd been given, the escape, and lack of sleep left her dragging her feet. Every step was an effort, despite the downward slope. She kept her eyes on Rishi's powerful shoulders and long legs, envying his economy of movement. Other than initially taking longer to throw off the poison’s effects, the traumas of the last couple of days hadn't reduced his stamina. How long had they been away from the tribe? It seemed an eternity since she'd sat next to him on a cart rolling through a burnt ochre desert.
After a while, Rishi noticed her lagging behind and insisted they rest.
Kara dropped to the floor. The metal felt warm and they curled up together. Utterly exhausted she fell into a deep dreamless sleep, comforted by his closeness, and the knowledge he would do his best to protect her.
Rishi shook her. "Wake up, Kara."
She opened her eyes. "What?"
He pressed her head to the warm floor. "Listen. What do you hear."
She was still mired in sleep, but the thud thud of running feet was hard to miss. "Is that what I think it is?"
He was up and dragging her with him. "Yes. Drink a little water." He thrust a water container at her.
He kept them moving at a slow jogging pace, and soon Kara's heart was knocking against her ribs. "Who do you think it is," she panted, her lungs wheezing in and out. "The kidnappers?" She tried not to remember a stinking cloth pressing into her face, breathing in a putrid smell.
"No." Rishi wasn't even out of breath. "More likely it's one or more angry mountain tribesman. Don't talk, you need your breath." After a while, Rishi stopped and put his ear to the floor. "We have gained on them." He pulled out a piece of the dried flatbread, tore off a chunk and gave it to her. "Eat as we walk."
Kara remembered what he'd said about taking supplies without permission. The mountain tribe must have arrived soon after they'd left. The break in the thornbushes and the way they’d disturbed dust and sand on the floor of the cave were easy signs for a Marut tracker to read. And, of course, as it was their cave they would know of the tunnel. They'd probably estimated to the nanosec how far ahead their quarry was. The flatbread stuck in her throat.
Rishi refused to stop. "I don't want to alarm you, but they're gaining on us."
She didn't think it was possible for her heart to thump harder than it already did but she was wrong.
Rshi's hand gripped her upper arm, dragging her with him as he increased the pace. They continued to descend otherwise she couldn't have managed with her lungs on fire, her legs jelly, and her heart hammering in her chest fit to burst. Rishi didn't talk, his focus on keeping them moving, his warning of the outcome if the tribesmen caught them a strong incentive.
The passageway leveled out, and Rishi kept checking behind, but there was nothing to see—only the empty dimly lit metal subway stretching back behind them. The passageway came to an end suddenly and they were taken by surprise. One minute they were fleeing with no thought other than the next step, then a right-angled turn, and a few steps away the tunnel ended.
Veiled Planet (Hidden World Trilogy Book 1) Page 12
