by Anna Hub
If Tara could find her way back here then it should be an easy task for Matt too. Surely his army training had prepared him for that kind of thing.
The flames were long gone and the simmering ash wasn't enough to create smoke. I added small pieces of wood to the pile and asked Brayden for the plough.
Tara helped me start a new fire while Brayden sat on a log nearby and worked on sharpening his arrows once more.
"Maybe we can use the trees as a lookout," I suggested.
I climbed high and broke through the canopy, using the sunlight to bring out my shadow before securing it around a branch as a safety rope. Everything looked still and beautiful. It was hard to imagine the danger lurking beneath the trees.
The trunk shook as Tara climbed up after me. "Can you see anything?"
"Just forest and the inward slope of the Valley."
She parted the branches with outstretched hands. The smoke from our small fire smelt strong as it wafted between the leaves.
“Can I call his name?” she asked.
It seemed strange she should ask me for permission to do something. But in the Valley of the Hunters, she obviously valued my experience. "I guess so."
Tara's voice echoed as she called Matt's name but only the wind answered her call. I expected Brayden to say something at any moment but when I looked down, there was no sign of him.
“Tara, can you see Brayden?”
“No.”
“Where did he go?” I lowered myself a little, using the shadow to keep steady.
“Maybe he’s gone to look for Matt,” she sounded hopeful.
“Not likely," my voice came out hoarse.
Tara stared at me and although I tried to wave away her concern, she didn't let it slip by. "What's wrong?"
I shook my head. "It's nothing."
"Did Brayden say something about Matt?"
I swallowed. "No."
I didn't know if I could talk about it objectively, and I didn't want to show emotion in front of Tara. It was bad enough that Matt was missing; she didn't need to hear about my doubts too.
She grabbed my arm. "Tell me."
I shouldn't have said anything, but perhaps saying nothing was worse than admitting the truth. "Being in here is worth than I thought."
She frowned. "Well, what did you expect?"
"He tried to warn me, but I figured his Instinct would be the same as the last time we were here. But it's not."
"What did he do?"
Had she been so distracted she hadn't even noticed? "It's like you weren't even there last night."
“What do you mean?”
I took a breath and thought through my words before I spoke again, “Last night when the reptile came, Brayden couldn’t see what you were going through. It was like you weren’t even with us.”
“The Instinct is more complicated than I ever imagined,” she admitted.
"I begged him to help you, but he didn't even hear me."
Her grip on my arm softened. “We knew what we were getting ourselves into when we came here.”
“It’s not just that he didn’t protect you, he actively stopped me from helping you too.”
“It’s great that you tried to help me, Selena, but in truth, I doubt there was anything you could have done.”
I wanted her to be enraged, to shout or rant or at least give me the chance to apologise and relieve some guilt. “Tara, don’t you get it? I can’t do anything to help you, and I can’t do anything to help the people from the Origin either. He'll force me to stand back and watch while other people are killed.”
“I thought you already knew it would be like that.”
“You nearly died! Matt’s missing. I don’t even know what he thinks we're doing here.”
Tara shook her head. “You made the choice to come here against everyone else’s advice. We pointed out the flaws in your plan and you had all the answers.”
I glared at her. The words I was wrong, wouldn’t come out my mouth.
She shook her head in irritation. “From the moment I met you, I underestimated you. The way you took on the rebels, your determination for this mission, when you went after that hunter ... and now twenty four hours into it, you’re thinking of giving up?”
I tried to think of a reasonable come back, something that wouldn’t make me sound pathetic. “How am I supposed to save shadows if he won’t even let me save you?”
“Okay, maybe you can’t save new shadows, but what about me? There’s no reason I can’t do it.”
I stared at the back of her head until she looked at me again.
“We’ll travel together, Brayden can distract the hunters while you find the shadows and when the time is right, I’ll collect them.”
At first I was too stunned to speak. “What about Matt?”
“We’ll find him.”
How could she be so logical right now? “Why would you offer something like that?”
“Maybe I’m starting to believe this is actually achievable. You might be afraid of what he’s becoming, but I’ve never seen anything so amazing.”
I couldn't form a clear thought. Was she really saying she wanted to continue?
“If you’re going to run a mission, the first thing you need to do is utilise all resources. Focus on strengths, not weaknesses. You have me here now. You might as well use me. We both know I’m capable of grabbing shadows. You’re better off teaching me how to navigate through this place.”
Tara may have had a secret motive for following me here but how could I refuse an offer like that? "What do we do next?” I asked.
“You tell me.”
I climbed down to the ground and tried to think rationally. What would be the smart thing to do?
“We need to find Matt.” It almost sounded like a question. I didn’t know if that was really the priority Tara expected from me.
“He knows what he’s doing,” she said. “I’ll leave as many clues as I can, and he’ll find us. Where are we most likely to find new shadows?”
I thought carefully. “I guess the heart of the city is where more people would pass.” I pointed in the direction of my initial passing place. “The cats are more prominent at the edges of the Valley but as we get deeper there should be more hunters.”
“According to your theory there will also be more new shadows there?”
I nodded as she collected rocks and arranged them in an arrow by the fire then scratched her name in the dirt. I shook my hair away from my face, flinching as the sunlight burnt the web on my face once more.
A crack in the forest made me jump and I expected to see Brayden returning, but another man stood in the clearing with us instead. He was naked. Could a person really have fallen from the Origin right in front of us?
A rush of thoughts filled my head. What should I say? How could I stop him running from us? The man’s knees bent and his head cocked to the side as though he listened for danger. Suddenly he spun around to face us and I forced a smile to my lips, hoping it would allay his fear.
“Don’t be afraid,” I said.
Tara instantly hushed me. I looked to her briefly, before turning back to the man and in that short time, he'd jumped into the sunlight and had a shadow stretched in his hand. He let go and the shadow shot forward, stopping just before it hit me. Grey eyes blazed at me as he took aim and tried again. I jumped back, searching desperately for a weapon. I backed into Tara and before I could make sense of things, an arrow struck him in the chest.
It was right on target, forcing him to the ground before he could release his weapon on me again. My heart pounded but he didn’t get up.
Brayden stood behind him, perfectly calm, only his eyes weren’t on the hunter, they were on Tara. I turned to the woman beside me as she lowered her bow.
“You killed him?”
She swallowed. It was the only sign she was disturbed by her actions. “He was a hunter.”
“But you killed him?”
She nodded and hung her
bow on her shoulder once more. "Let's get out of here."
Chapter Eleven
The web burn on the side of my face became a background irritation. In the Origin, I would have been able to grab a mirror and see the damage for myself but in this world, I would never know exactly what it looked like.
Afternoon set in and as the sky turned overcast, it was easier to keep the sun from my cheek. Tara stamped footprints into the ground and snapped branches while we trekked.
“I hope it doesn’t rain,” she said.
It already seemed inevitable. The air had a damp smell and the birds had cleared the forest. I didn’t say anything because I knew it would erase the clues she'd left behind for Matt.
Most of the time, we walked without talking. Tara looked the same as she always did; strong, confident and void of any fear. It was too much to comprehend she had just killed someone. I kept waiting for her to break down and admit her horror. And surprisingly, Brayden watched her too.
“Maybe we should stop and eat,” Tara suggested.
Brayden had been about to push his way through tangled vines but he paused as she spoke. He turned back slowly and instead of the thick grey I expected to see, his eyes were mostly brown. It was the first time he'd held her gaze for longer than a few minutes.
Tara looked to the sky. “It’s going to rain soon.”
Brayden walked back and pulled a fallen branch from a tree as he passed it. He snapped the wood into smaller pieces and pulled out his tinder.
As Tara looked at me, I felt the confusion reach my face. Had she somehow found a way to use her Manipulation on Brayden?
I mouthed the words to her, did you do that?
She shook her head and we both watched as Brayden sat down and pulled out some of the dried meat. Why he had he obliged Tara's request? It didn't make sense.
We ate in silence. Tara stared at her lap and I wondered if she was thinking about Matt or the hunter she'd just killed?
"Have you killed hunters before?" I asked.
She lifted her head, her gaze confident. "When they've broken through to the village, yes."
I shifted in my seat. "How many?"
"Three. But never on my own."
She didn't seem perturbed at all. "How do you come to terms with it so easily?"
She shrugged. "It's my life or theirs."
I didn't think I'd ever get used to death in that form. My gaze drifted to Brayden. Once again, he watched Tara. What was he looking for? Or could he see something I couldn't?
A rain drop ran down my cheek and settled in the groove of my lips. I checked the leaves above as the irregular beats of water fell over the forest. Brayden stood up and I quickly followed. When I looked back to Tara, her eyes were downcast as the rain dripped down her face. She pulled a broken arrow from her pack and dropped it on the ground before following us through the trees.
It didn’t rain for long but it was heavy. It would easily wash away our footprints. I didn’t look at Tara because I felt as though it would have been an invasion of her privacy while she was mourning Matt's absence. If she'd announced that she wanted to go back, I wouldn't have argued. Instead, she continued to move deeper into the Valley with us as the afternoon grew later.
Insects nipped at my ankles and arms as we moved. The damp air brought them from hiding. Tara slapped her skin. She was suffering just as I was, but somehow Brayden seemed untouched.
A cat stared between the plants. Its eyes were unmistakable; too deep, too knowing. Tara's grip tightened on her bow as I squeezed Brayden’s shoulder. But his eyes already proved he wasn't threatened by their presence.
“Why are they following us?” Tara whispered.
“They’re not going to hurt us," I replied.
“Then why are they here?”
I didn't have an answer to that question. They didn't seem to be herding us like they once had, they were just following.
Movement in a tree above caught my attention and a bat screeched as it swooped over us. More of them followed and Tara motioned for me to duck.
"Watch out for their claws," she warned, and I glanced at the scars on her neck she usually hid with her shadow.
The beating of wings descended through the trees as a swarm spun above us. Whips cracked the air and bats dropped to the ground, squealing under the attack of the cats.
We took flight until the swarm was left behind.
"They come out for the insects after it rains," Tara caught her breath as we settled back into a walk.
"You're good at dodging them."
"They raid the village in autumn too."
"There are seasons here?” I wondered.
"Yes. Of sorts anyway. They're not exactly the same as the seasons in the Origin, in that they don't seem to follow the same pattern every year. But we do get periods of warmth and periods of rain. We still call them seasons, but they're unpredictable."
I had a lot to learn about this world.
We trekked through the rest of the afternoon, pausing for breaks until dusk set in and we had to find somewhere to settle for the night.
Tara drained the last of her water bag. “How far is the river from here?"
"Five minutes west," Brayden answered.
I stared at him. How had it suddenly become so easy for him to talk to Tara?
She stood. "I’m going to fill my water bag. Do you want me to take yours?”
"Yes, please." I grabbed Brayden’s and handed them both to her.
She pushed a branch aside and stumbled back when a cat jumped out of hiding. It paused in front of her for a moment before it shrunk back into the forest. It was enough to put her off, and she turned in a different direction.
I turned to Brayden. “The cats are still here.” I’d been hoping to coerce some conversation from him, instead he only nodded. “What do you think they want?”
"I'm not sure."
I turned to check Tara was out of sight before I continued. "What's happening with Tara? You've been able to talk to her lately."
He shrugged half heartedly.
“Is it because she killed the hunter while you were gone?”
“I don’t remember what happened before I saw the hunter.”
“I thought maybe you could see her differently now. Because she's proved herself."
"I don't know, Selena."
I hated the way my name sounded like a bad taste.
He stared at me. "I would have sensed that hunter was near. I may not remember it, but I know I would have come back for you."
"I wasn't questioning that, I—"
"When the Instinct is gone, I can usually piece things together. Don't tell me you haven't questioned me, when I know you have.”
“It was hard for me to watch my friends get attacked by that reptile," I snapped. "Even once the attack was over, you were colder than you've ever been before. How am I supposed to feel about that?"
Tara returned before he could respond, dropping the water bags in our laps. I looked at Brayden but he turned away before our eyes could meet again.
Maybe it was a conversation we were better off having once we left this place anyway.
In the morning, we found dead bats scattered around our campsite. Some punctured with dried blood around them—all of them whole.
Tara circled the clearing. "Where did the bats come from?"
"It looks like the whip cats killed them," I guessed.
“But I didn't hear them swarming in the night," she said. "And surely Brayden's Instinct would have woken him."
"So the cats have just dropped their dead bodies here?" Why would they do that?
Tara kicked a couple of bats out of her path. “I don’t have as much experience with the cats as you but I don’t understand why they’re not attacking us. Whenever they've come to the village, they’ve been merciless.”
“They seem more interested in all the other creatures,” I noted.
“What do you think, Brayden?” Tara asked.
We bo
th watched his back as he carried on through the forest. “I think they’re defending their territory.”
I still couldn't believe he was talking to her.
“But we’re in their territory and they haven’t attacked us,” Tara said.
“They’re defending their ownership of us.”
Maybe he was right. Perhaps they were asserting their authority whenever other creatures came close. But there was still another question. Why were the other creatures challenging them now, when they hadn’t in the past?
Tara continued to leave clues for Matt but I wondered if too much time had passed for him to find us. Surely if he'd been able to track our movement, he would have joined us by now.
But she carried on as though she had complete faith, ignoring the fact that the rain left a significant gap in our trail.
We continued through the forest, Tara and Brayden taking the lead while I walked at the back. I had the distinct impression someone was following, but whenever I turned back, the forest remained exactly as it should be. And Brayden didn't sense any danger.
Out of habit, I lifted my head at regular intervals and checked the forest, then my watch would fall on Tara’s legs again as the marker to follow. Whenever a streak of sunlight shone through the trees, she manoeuvred around it so she didn’t have to deal with her shadow.
Brayden, on the other hand, kicked his away as he moved. The sun wasn’t present long enough for him to bother catching it and it didn’t interrupt his stride at all. It occurred to me then how unnatural Tara seemed with hers.
“You haven’t had much practice with your shadow?” I asked her.
She turned back. “In the village we don’t have shade like this, we’re either in the sun or we aren’t, there isn’t much in between.”
“When we first travelled through the Valley we used our shadows for so many things. I can’t imagine what things would have been like without them.”
She didn’t say anything.
“I know they're directly related to our transfer, but do you know how all of that works? What causes them to become that way?” I asked.
