Under Fragile Stone

by Oisin McGann

  ‘We need that fish you were going to eat,’ she said.

  ‘Now she gets hungry.’

  ‘No, for the smell, you idiot!’

  His eyes widened and he slipped the leaf package from his pack. They each took a piece of the fish and rubbed the stinking flesh all over themselves.

  ‘It’s bound to work,’ Lorkrin grimaced. ‘You could fart right now and I wouldn’t smell it.’

  ‘Don’t ever, ever tell anyone back home about this,’ Taya said, with her nose wrinkled in disgust as she rubbed the fish over her face.

  The hunnud was working its way around in a circle, searching around the last place it had seen its quarry. The two Myunans waited until it was far enough out that they couldn’t hear it moving, and then they started climbing again. If the hunnud were anything like a dog or a wolf, it would depend mainly on its sense of smell to find its prey. They were counting on the fact that the fish would hide their scent long enough to put some distance between them and their hunter, and that their camouflage would hide them from its sight.

  Taya and Lorkrin continued their climb, hauling themselves up quietly towards the roof of the forest. Lorkrin suddenly froze and put a hand on Taya’s arm. She went still and listened. There was something breathing close by. They were stretched out on a bushy limb, Taya reaching for the next branch up. Slowly, she got down low and hugged the branch she had been standing on.

  Lorkrin was about to look up when he felt the branch sink slightly beneath him as something landed further out along it. He heard the breathing of another animal. Taya, who was closer, felt something creep towards her and the bough giving under its weight told her it was big. A wet nose snuffled near her ear, then made its way over to her neck, then the small of her back. A heavy foot stood on her back and pushed the air out of her, then another stood on her and it was all she could do not to cry out. The heavy, four-legged animal walked over her and back onto the branch beyond her feet. With her head turned down, she was now able to get a look at it and her heart went into her throat. It was a hunnud – a huge one.

  It sniffed around Lorkrin’s head. Taya clenched her teeth together to stop them chattering. It didn’t recognise their scent. It was just curious about the fish smell. She hoped Lorkrin kept calm. If he moved, it might mistake him for prey, and then the creature would tear him apart.

  Lorkrin was trying not to breathe. He hugged the branch, his hands locked tight to each other on its underside. His face was pressed hard against the bark, his eyes squeezed shut. He felt the moist nose on the bare skin of his neck, drawing in his scent to try and identify it. A warm, rough, wet surface ran up the back of his head and he felt sharp teeth brush his scalp. It was tasting him with its tongue. Its breath was hot on his skin and it smelled of rotten meat and bile. Lorkrin stifled a shudder that threatened to run through his body.

  The animal took one more sniff and then planted its feet on Lorkrin’s back and bounded over him and on to the trunk, where it started to climb. But its weight had dislodged Lorkrin’s legs and the Myunan felt himself slipping sideways. He tried to get a grip with his prehensile toes, but the bark was damp and smooth. He let out a gasp as the lower half of his body slipped off the branch. The hunnud looked back sharply and growled. Lorkrin hung where he was, still with his arms wrapped around the branch. The predator dropped back down and made its way out to where Lorkrin’s hands were clasped over the top of the branch. Taya watched in terror as it bent its head down close to her brother’s fingers and opened its mouth to sink its teeth into them to get a proper taste.

  ‘No!’ she screamed.

  The hunnud looked up and bared its teeth at her with a ragged snarl. It crept towards her, haunches lowered in readiness to pounce. With the beast distracted, Lorkrin got his foot back up over the bough and pulled himself up. Swallowing his fear, he edged forward after the creature, unsure what he was going to do to help his sister, but determined to try. Taya got up on her hands and knees and crawled backwards, looking down either side of the branch to see if there was anywhere to drop to. The hunnud was advancing faster than she could go backwards and she found herself looking out into misty darkness. The branch was protruding out over the hole in the foliage caused by the falling grunchegs.

  The tree limb was very thin towards the end, and it started to bend under her weight. She was running out of branch. The hunnud kept coming, more cautiously now, its claws gripping the slender bough. Its weight was making it bend even further and Taya could hear the fibres of wood tearing at the middle of the bend. She yelped as the hunnud leaned forward and gnashed its teeth at her, but it seemed reluctant to come any closer. The branch dipped even further downwards and a split appeared at the centre of the bend. Taya gripped tightly with fingers, toes and tail. The split grew, the end of the branch dropping steadily lower. Taya looked around desperately for a means of escape, but there was nothing. She looked back again into the grey chasm below her. Lorkrin was squatting behind the hunnud, watching helplessly.

  ‘Lorkrin,’ she gasped. ‘I can’t get …’

  The branch snapped at the split, her weight pulling the last piece loose. The hunnud hurled itself at her. Lorkrin sprang after the hunnud, seizing its tail. Taya let go of the branch with her hands, reaching up to fend off the animal. She caught hold of its ears and its own momentum pushed her body clear of its teeth. They were all falling together and the beast spread its legs to catch the air under its wings, but the extra weight was too much for it and they landed hard on the ground below. Taya and Lorkrin slunched and absorbed most of the impact through their soft bodies. The animal came down harder and was winded; it wheezed out a pained whine, and struggled to its feet. Lorkrin stood up first, adrenaline coursing through his body and infecting him with a fighting rage. He lifted the creature’s tail and delivered a kick to its groin with all his might. The beast yelped and leapt away, limping into the dark forest as quickly as its injuries would allow.

  ‘That’s it!’ Lorkrin bellowed. ‘That’s it ya louse. Run! And tell your friends!’

  He collapsed in a shaking heap on the carpet of leaves and twigs.

  ‘Well,’ Taya panted. ‘We’re back … at the bottom … again.’

  ‘I’m sick of trees,’ Lorkrin mumbled.

  They lay there, resting as long as they dared, utterly exhausted.

  ‘We have to go,’ Taya said eventually.

  ‘I’m not doing any more bloody climbing.’

  ‘I don’t think we would have found Draegar anyway. I think we need to fly.’

  Lorkrin nodded, but he could barely muster the energy to walk, let alone sculpt himself wings and take to the air. But it was the only thing they could do.

  Draegar had not let them fly before, because they could be seen in the open sky and Reisenicks were skilled at hunting birds, but that did not matter now – not with the hunnuds after them. If those hunters were still up on the forest roof, the two Myunans would just have to take their chances. With the adrenaline gone, fear started to seep back in again. What had happened to Draegar? Would they ever see him again? And what about Rug? Cold began to seep into their weary limbs.

  Moving sluggishly, they slunched out of their climbing shapes and reworked their bodies, increasing the bulk around their chests and backs, shortening their legs and helping each other sculpt the flesh of their arms, backs and shoulders into wings.

  ‘Draegar’s probably up there looking for us,’ Taya said, trying to convince herself.

  ‘Right,’ Lorkrin nodded.

  They worked gingerly around their respective wounds, wincing as they moulded injured flesh. They gave themselves bat’s wings. The ability to sculpt feathers that actually worked was still a little beyond them. To go with the wings, each worked their face and head into the likeness of a bat too.

  ‘And Rug will be safe with Trankelfrith; he’s as tough as old boots,’ Taya added.

  ‘Right.’

  ‘Let’s go,’ said his sister.

  Beating their wings s
tiffly, they managed to lift themselves off the ground. Flying was an advanced skill in the Myunan art of amorphing, and Lorkrin and Taya had taught themselves, but they were still far from experts. Circling unsteadily, they rose up through the trees and out into the night. There was no sign of the hunters, the grunchegs, of Rug or Draegar or Trankelfrith. The forest roof stretched out of sight into the gloom in every direction. They were all alone.

  * * * *

  The hunnud struck in a flash of fur and teeth, landing on Rug’s back and knocking him off the branch where he had been waiting to follow Draegar over to another tree. He fell hard, bouncing off one tree limb, then another, his neck held firmly in the hunnud’s jaws. The creature controlled the fall and then dragged him in towards the trunk, pinning him against the bole. Rug cried out, reaching behind and slapping at the animal’s head. It was not trying to kill him, just hold him, and Rug heard the cries of more of the predators getting closer. He felt panic rising in him and thrashed harder. The jaws closed tighter and pain lanced up into the back of his head, making him wail.

  ‘Hold still,’ Draegar said from behind him and Rug felt the Parsinor wrap an arm around the creature’s neck, closing its throat. The hunnud opened its mouth to gag and Rug was free. Draegar broke the animal’s neck with a sharp twist and tossed the corpse into the fog below.

  ‘There’s more on the way,’ the Parsinor told him. ‘We can’t fight them all. Let’s pick up the pace.’

  They continued climbing. Time after time, they were forced to stop as they heard the hunnuds scuttle past nearby in the darkness. Scaling the trunk of the tree with renewed vigour, they soon saw starlight and, not long after, were above the mist and crouching in the thin boughs near the top of the tree. They could not go any higher, neither of them light enough to get safely to the top.

  ‘By the gods!’ Draegar swore. ‘We’re too late!’

  Off to the northwest, two winged shapes circled in the bright, night sky.

  ‘I know what they are,’ Rug said, distantly. ‘Bats. Those are bats.’

  ‘No,’ Draegar muttered through gritted teeth. ‘Those are Myunans.’

  Rug and Draegar watched them for as long as they could, but the two children soon disappeared from sight.

  ‘How are you so sure?’ Rug asked. ‘They looked like bats.’

  ‘They had backpacks, and they weren’t flying very well,’ Draegar said bluntly. ‘At least they’re out of the woods. Seeing as they haven’t found me, they’ll go looking for Emos. Where did Trankelfrith get to?’

  ‘He’s gone to rescue his gruncheg,’ Rug replied.

  ‘If I ever get my hands on that Gutsnape, I’ll wring his scruffy neck. Right, well, we’re up here now. We need to find a path that’ll take our weight. Preferably before the hunnuds find our trail and come after us in a pack.’

  Finding a safe path in the darkness was not easy and when they did finally manage to pull themselves back onto the roof of the forest, they had to stay on their hands and knees to avoid putting too much weight on one spot and falling through. They were back near the edge of the hole through the trees, which helped them get their bearings.

  ‘We need to head northwest,’ Draegar told his companion.

  Even as he looked up in that direction, they heard the drumming rustle of feet and soon a shape rose out of the blackness of the horizon and approached them. Rug and Draegar threw themselves flat, the Parsinor drawing his sword.

  Two grunchegs drew up to them, one behind the other, the second animal without a rider, its bridle tied to the one in front. The lead one sniffed carefully and the silhouette of the man in the saddle leaned forward over the animal’s head, chewing noisily and then spitting a lump of well-used hajam weed out into the trees.

  ‘If you boys could use a ride, I could use some reinforcements. These puss-filled, mangy, dog-eaten bladder mouths’ve got theirselves some friends.’

  * * * *

  Emos woke slowly, opening his eyes and staring up at the night sky. He was under a blanket on the flatbed of Jube’s wagon. There was some kind of commotion over at the house and he sat up to look out over the side and see what it was. In the lantern light from the porch, he could see that the three grunchegs were back. He looked again; there were three animals, but one of them was different, a female. Shindles was up on the porch, arguing with Pobe and his friend Macob. Vuntz was nowhere to be seen. Emos got stiffly to his feet and stretched, trying to rouse his senses – he was still feeling very tired.

  Jube was asleep on the other side of the truck, snoring softly; Khassiel was sitting on the tailgate, her legs dangling over the end, her ever-present crossbow nestled in her arms. She glanced back at Emos, but seemed intent on listening to the dispute. Cullum was up on the porch, dozing in the rocking chair, oblivious to the whole affair. Emos looked up at the sky, judging the time.

  ‘You should have woken me earlier,’ he told her.

  ‘You looked like you needed the sleep,’ she replied. ‘Our friends here have lost their mate, and they say the woods are full of hunnuds, but they don’t know whose.’

  Emos jumped down off the truck and walked over to the porch.

  ‘You can’t just’ve lost ’im,’ Shindles was saying. ‘Where did you last see ’im?’

  ‘He’d caught that other gruncheg,’ Pobe explained. ‘We had this one so we came on back. We thought he was followin’ us.’

  ‘Well clearly he wasn’t!’ the healer snapped. ‘And if you two half-wits had been born with more intellect than the gods saw fit to give an aukluk, you’d ’ave had a look behind yuh and seen that for yourselves. Now you go on back out there and you find your cousin. And when you find ’im, you go and find out who’s huntin’ on my land without my say so. What you standin’ dawdlin’ for? Get!’

  The two humiliated young men led the female gruncheg they had captured into the corral and were about to get on their own mounts when a voice called down to them from high in the trees overlooking the yard.

  ‘Hello there at the house! We mean no harm, we’re coming down!’

  Emos’s face burst into an uncharacteristic smile. There came the sound of dozens of feet and two grunchegs wound down through the trees and into the yard. Draegar was riding the first, and behind him were two strangers. Emos’s smile slipped as he realised Taya and Lorkrin were not with the Parsinor. He strode up to his friend, taking his hand as Draegar dismounted, the two touching foreheads in the Parsinor manner of greeting.

  ‘I found them. We got away from the Reisenicks,’ Draegar told him. ‘But we got separated when we were attacked.’

  He aimed a hard stare at Pobe and Macob. Emos’s eyes turned cold as he looked towards them.

  ‘They’ve taken to the wing,’ Draegar continued, the pain written on his face. ‘They’re up there somewhere now. Trankelfrith here was helping us catch up with you when those two and another one jumped us. I’m sorry Emos,’

  ‘That’s my animal,’ Trankelfrith was saying to Macob and Pobe. ‘And I’ll be takin’ her back.’

  ‘I don’t know what you’re talkin’ about,’ Macob sneered. ‘I’ve owned that gruncheg for years. But I recognise that other one you’ve got there. Belongs to my kin.’

  ‘Your kin left it to me when he died,’ the Gutsnape told him.

  Macob’s face went purple and he pulled his knife from its scabbard. Trankelfrith drew his and held it loosely by his side. He was weedy and old compared to the stout Reisenick, but looked completely undaunted by the younger man.

  ‘Macob!’ Shindles shouted. ‘There’ll be no knife-fightin’ in the yard. The Gutsnape’s got a fair grievance and if Vuntz is dead, then there’s a body to be found and brought home.’

  She came down the steps and faced Trankelfrith. Cullum woke as she passed him. He stood up and limped to the top of the steps to see what was happening.

  ‘You killed him to protect yourself an’ your property an’ that’s life,’ the healer said. ‘If Macob wants to even the score, then that’s life
too. But the boy you killed is kin and I want to find that body, so I say you can take your gruncheg away from here if you’ll lead us to where you left Vuntz. After that, you and Macob can go at it all yuh like. But not in my yard. I demand peace and quiet around my home. So, are you agreeable?’

  Trankelfrith returned her even gaze.

  ‘I am.’

  ‘I’m not!’ Macob snarled. ‘I’m droppin’ this runt right here. No one kills my kin and bargains with his remains.’

  ‘Macob,’ Shindles hissed, keeping her eyes fixed on the Gutsnape. ‘If you don’t put that knife away, I’m goin’ to take it off yuh and trim your ears with it myself.’

  The big Reisenick ground his teeth, but one steely glance from the old woman wiped the defiance from his face and he sullenly sheathed his knife. Trankelfrith did the same, and then made his way over to the corral, clicking his tongue at his beloved gruncheg, who squealed with delight at seeing him again. Muttering under his breath, Macob stamped up the steps and as he came up onto the porch, he accidentally stood on Cullum’s swollen foot. The Noranian let out a bellow and swung a fist into the woodsman’s jaw. Macob’s head was rocked back and he flipped backwards over the porch railing. He landed in a heap by the side of the steps, a stunned groan drifting from his lips.

  ‘Boy always had a hard mouth and a glass jaw.’ Shindles shook her head in disappointment.

  Emos was leaning against the posts of the porch, the blue brand on his face standing out strongly against his now pale skin. While he had believed Taya and Lorkrin were with Draegar, he had been able to focus on getting to the cave and helping his sister and brother-in-law. But with his nephew and niece lost over Ainslidge, he was torn between looking for them and continuing on. And with the roads being watched, their chances of reaching the cave safely seemed all the more remote.