Warning Cry

by Kris Humphrey

  Daan narrowed his eyes, surprised, and, Nara thought, perhaps impressed.

  “She was chosen by the raven, yes,” he said, “but she cannot banish demons. Here we don’t send our young girls away to be trained as Whisperers. We must keep the tribe together, especially those who are so skilled at hunting and tracking.”

  Nara could see how every person would be needed by the tribe, but she felt anger towards this man. How could he go against the wishes of the earth itself? How could he keep a young Whisperer from the life she was born to lead?

  Daan seemed to sense her feeling. “We humbly request your help,” he said, bowing his head.

  Nara glanced at Flame. If there are Narlaw here, she whispered, then we should do something. Without their cattle these people will starve.

  And if he’s lying? said Flame.

  Nara studied the stocky, sun-ravaged tribe-leader.

  “It will not just be the Red Sands who are ruined by the demons,” said Daan. “Soon enough they will attack the farms, the towns – your people will suffer as we do now.”

  He’s right, we can’t ignore this, said Nara.

  What if you’re wrong? said Flame, snorting. What if this is some kind of trick? We’d be disobeying a direct order from the Palace Whisperer and we’ll both be in serious trouble if we miss the council of war.

  But Nara had to act. Despite the summons, she couldn’t leave these people to battle the Narlaw alone.

  She looked at Daan. “We’ll help you,” she said, ignoring the spike of anger that she felt from Flame. “But we can’t stay long. We’ve been summoned to Meridar for a council of war.”

  Daan fixed her with a look of deep gratitude and began ushering them outside into the blinding daylight.

  “You have my thanks,” he said. “And the thanks of the whole tribe. You must have some food while we prepare a tracking party.”

  Nara was taken to a cooking fire and handed a plate of stew. The ash-streaked warriors of the Red Sands tribe moved around her and Flame, staring openly at this strange farm girl and her friend, the leopard.

  Flame gnawed sulkily on a raw chunk of beef that had been cast at her feet.

  At least the eating is good, she said.

  But Nara had no appetite. She had hoped for more time before facing the Narlaw. She was expecting her first confrontation to come in the north, surrounded by other Whisperers, not here, alone, in the savannah.

  It appeared she had been very wrong.

  Nara and Flame left the camp as part of a small group of hunters. The sun blazed at its midday peak. There was no wind to ruffle the grass or the trees, only the relentless buzz and click of insects, as if the earth itself were agitated by the heat.

  There were just six people in the hunting party, including Nara and Flame, and, much to Nara’s dislike, the group was led by the scout with the short sword who had ordered her about like a prisoner. This woman’s name was Kalte, the lightning symbol drawn in ash on her right cheek signifying that she was a warrior of the highest prestige.

  Behind Kalte walked the girl Nara had spotted as she’d entered the camp – the Whisperer. Her name was Tuanne and she was Kalte’s daughter. She had no companion that Nara could see, but was constantly glancing out into the bush.

  Nara reached out once or twice and felt a shy, wary animal presence there. She strode alongside Flame, watching the girl as much as she watched the surrounding trees and grasses for signs of danger. This girl’s very existence was fascinating to Nara – a Whisperer who had never been trained, who seemed to be keeping her companion hidden from the rest of the tribe. Nara couldn’t imagine being separated from Flame in that way. Although she didn’t know her at all, she felt sorry for Tuanne, and Nara’s own family problems seemed much smaller all of a sudden.

  The trail quickly drew them in the direction of the Rift. To Nara this was no surprise. It was such a secluded, sinister place.

  We should have come this way to start with, Flame said, as they moved ever closer to the vast cliffs and gorges. We would have avoided these people and been halfway to the river towns by now.

  And we would have run into the Narlaw on our own, said Nara. They’ve taken the form of lions. At least now we are with people who know this place.

  Flame didn’t answer and they continued along the path in silence.

  Nara squinted at the cracked and foreboding landscape ahead. Those cliffs and ravines were a haven for predators. And now they had been inhabited by the worst creatures of all. She had been told so much about the Narlaw that to be seeking them out in the flesh seemed unreal.

  The moment they left the camp it was clear to Nara that her help was not needed in tracking. The nomads were true experts, studying the ground, tasting the wind and immediately spotting the tiniest signs that a creature had passed that way. Kalte strode ahead, tracking the movements of the Narlaw almost as quickly as Nara could walk.

  When Nara spotted her first lion-print she gasped at its size and stopped in shock. She had never seen a lion, only ever sensed them out beyond the protective wards she placed around her family farm.

  She felt Flame’s soft fur brush against her hand and it brought her back to the present. Several of the hunters had stopped to stare at her, Tuanne included.

  Come, said Flame. We have warriors on our side now.

  Nara forced a smile and bent to adjust her sandal strap as if that was why she had stopped. She slid her hand across Flame’s back and walked with the warmth of her companion against her palm.

  She had wanted so badly to leave the stifling atmosphere of her home that she had failed to grasp the reality of what she was heading into. The pawprints they were following through the dust were real, made by demons in the most deadly form they could possibly have taken. Nara was flooded by doubt. Who was she to promise her services to the Red Sands tribe? She had never seen – let alone banished – a demon. She had been taught the theory, that by channelling the earth’s power you could send a demon to the Darklands, leaving only a shadow of ash in this world. But could she really do that now? On her own?

  Look, said Flame.

  Nara peered off to the left of the trail. Most of the hunters had pushed ahead, leaving Nara and Flame to catch up. But Tuanne had lagged behind, too, and she had strayed from the track, off into a patchy thicket of thorn bushes.

  Nara shielded her eyes from the sun and saw a small, light-coloured shape rising on its hind legs in front of Tuanne. She saw the curl of a tail and twitching movements. Tuanne bent and held out her hand. The animal ate whatever was offered. The girl looked pleased, but tense. She clearly didn’t know she was being watched.

  What is it? asked Nara.

  Flame squinted. A monkey, she said. A red-back.

  I knew she was hiding a companion somewhere, said Nara.

  She glanced ahead to where the rest of the band were. No one was watching so she ducked into the thorn thicket, closely followed by Flame.

  Tuanne turned with a gasp. The monkey dropped on to all fours and bared a line of very sharp teeth. Her fur was mostly white, with a stripe of deep red running vertically up her spine. She hissed and danced anxiously around Tuanne’s feet, finally clambering up on to her shoulder.

  “Don’t worry,” said Nara. “I won’t tell anyone.”

  Flame kept her distance. The red-back was small, but underestimating such a fierce little creature was a good way to receive a nasty bite.

  “What do you want?” said Tuanne. “Did my mother send you to spy?”

  “No,” said Nara. “I saw you in the camp. If you’re a Whisperer, why do you keep your companion a secret?”

  “I’m not a Whisperer,” said Tuanne, narrowing her eyes. “I am a hunter of the Red Sands tribe.”

  It was true she looked every bit the hunter, from her tough leather boots to her bow and quiver.

  “Just because you weren’t sent to train, it doesn’t mean you aren’t a Whisperer. You were chosen at birth just like me. A white feather was dropped at
your door, wasn’t it?”

  Tuanne ignored Nara, turning her head to her companion. “Nimbus, calm down. It’s time to go.”

  Nara watched them for a moment. She was used to being ignored by her parents and sister, but this was different – Tuanne was like her. They could help each other.

  “Did the raven come?” asked Nara. Tuanne became very still. She didn’t answer. “Were you summoned to Meridar for the Whisperer council?” Nara continued.

  Tuanne looked up at Nara. Her scowl was softened by doubt. “Yes, the raven came,” she replied. “It delivered its message, and then it left and life went on as normal. I’m not a Whisperer and I can’t leave my people.”

  At that she turned her back on Nara and muttered something to Nimbus that Nara couldn’t catch.

  Nimbus crouched on Tuanne’s shoulder for a moment before leaping down and darting away into the bush.

  Nara watched the thorns shake as the monkey vanished.

  “You can’t whisper?” she asked Tuanne. “You can’t speak your thoughts to each other?”

  “I understand Nimbus perfectly well,” said Tuanne, starting back towards the trail.

  “But without words, how do you speak? How do you even know her name?”

  Tuanne turned, glaring at Nara. “She showed me her name on our first meeting – an image of clouds rolling above the plains, the cloud that brings rain. It’s called the nimbus cloud, the bringer of great gifts.”

  She tramped back on to the trail.

  “I can teach you to whisper properly, if you want?” said Nara, following her. “You have the skill already inside you, you can—”

  “Please,” hissed Tuanne. “Don’t speak about this. I’ll be punished. They’ll drive Nimbus away.”

  “Your mother?” asked Nara.

  Tuanne glared at her, but the edges of her eyes glistened. She nodded.

  Nara touched the girl’s shoulder and walked on beside her. “I won’t reveal your secret,” she said. “I promise.”

  To speak, share and play with her companion was the greatest joy of Nara’s life – for a Whisperer to be denied that seemed terrible to her. She quickened her pace to match Tuanne’s so that they caught up with the rest of the group.

  The ground dipped into a shallow valley and beyond that reared a great, shadowed cliff face. It was as if the earth had been torn apart and dragged up into the sky by an angry god.

  The Demons’ Door, said Flame.

  Yes, said Nara. And the Narlaw’s hunting ground.

  At the head of the group Kalte stopped, turning for a moment and regarding Nara with a scornful look in her eyes.

  “Whisperer!” she called. “Are you ready to enter the Rift?”

  CHAPTER 5

  The quickening rite had been passed down through generations of Whisperers in the savannah. It was a way of annointing weapons with the power of the earth and it was a skill that Nara had learned from Lucille. Once an arrowhead or a sword had been quickened it would become stronger and fly straighter. A quickened arrow could only be used by a Whisperer, but it was also one of the few things that could truly harm a demon.

  Nara crouched a short distance from the rest of the group, beside a small fire that she had built. Her pack lay open on the rocky ground and Flame sat by her side, alert and on guard. The vast outer cliff face of the Rift rose at Nara’s back, casting an oppressive shade over everything. The closeness of the Rift carried something else with it, too – an unpleasant thickening of the air that only a Whisperer could feel.

  The fire crackled and Nara closed her eyes to begin the ritual. She lowered her first arrowhead into the flames and the words spilled from her mouth. She felt the arrow grow heavy in her hand and she knew that it was ready.

  She placed this arrow carefully to one side and began on the next, glad to have Flame watching over her. As she raised her final arrow from the fire Nara sensed a new tension through her bond with Flame. Someone was approaching from the group.

  Nara placed the last arrow with the rest and looked up to see Tuanne standing shyly, a few paces from the fire.

  “Does the magic work for all arrows?” Tuanne asked.

  “It’s not magic,” said Nara. “It’s Whisperer craft. The quickening doesn’t last forever, and only a Whisperer can carry quickened steel.”

  Tuanne nodded, turning to the rest of the group and shaking her head.

  “Wait,” said Nara. “Bring your arrows.”

  Tuanne peered at her through suspicious eyes. She looked back to her mother for guidance, but her mother was too far away to have heard them.

  “You want to banish the Narlaw?” said Nara.

  “Of course I do.”

  “Well, these arrows can stop a demon in its tracks,” said Nara. “No other weapon can do this. We stand a better chance with two of us carrying them.”

  Tuanne looked down at her feet for a moment. Then she slipped the quiver of arrows from her back and came to kneel beside the fire.

  “Now close your eyes,” said Nara. “We’ll quicken them together.”

  Nara sent the ancient words into Tuanne’s mind through the Whisperer bond and spoke them aloud at the same time. She could sense the girl’s fear, but still Tuanne was receptive, mirroring Nara’s speech as best she could. When all of Tuanne’s arrows were ready, Tuanne returned to her mother and the rest of the hunters. Nara watched her go as she gathered her own arrows together and began smothering the fire with dirt.

  The girl is too afraid of her mother, said Flame. She’s not ready for this – to fight as a Whisperer.

  Perhaps, said Nara. But you can see how curious she is. She might even come north with us if we ask.

  You want to challenge Kalte for her own daughter? Flame snorted and began licking her paw.

  Nara folded her pack and swung her quiver and bow on to her shoulder. Maybe the tribe will understand, she said, once they’ve seen the Narlaw up close. Anyway, we’ll need all the Whisperers we can get.

  As they rejoined the waiting hunters, Nara noticed how close Kalte was keeping her daughter. She fell in step with the group.

  Ahead, a dark path awaited them.

  The cliff face was cracked all over with fissures, some narrow and high up, sprouting with plant life, others at ground level like arched tunnels into the rock. It was into one of these tunnels that the lion tracks led them.

  The four nomad hunters instantly spread out into a wary defensive formation. Kalte took the lead with Tuanne close behind. The girl looked worried and she peered behind her regularly. It would be hard for her companion, Nimbus, to follow her in here.

  Two tall spearmen named Roho and Toum took the right and left flanks, and Nara and Flame brought up the rear. Nara drew her bow and nocked an arrow as she entered the cool, echoing dark.

  The tunnel was several paces wide and, although it was utterly dark to begin with, there were pillars of sunlight ahead. Nara glanced up as they reached the first of them. The fissure they were passing through reached all the way to the summit of the Rift. Everywhere, cracks and tunnels branched off – it was a labyrinth. A place that could turn you around in an instant and trap you inside forever.

  Nara reached out to Flame. Tell me if you smell anything, she said.

  Many animals have passed this way, said Flame. There’s a foul odour, too. Not human or animal.

  Yes, I can feel it, too, said Nara.

  Already the unnatural presence of the Narlaw was everywhere, just as her mentor had described it. It had settled like a stain on the rocks around them. Nara felt it like a physical sickness and she steeled herself against it. As they continued on their hunt, the demon taint would only grow worse.

  Their footsteps echoed through the winding rock path, in and out of shafts of light, through tall caverns and sections of tunnel so low that Nara was only just able to stand upright. They moved swiftly, and Nara observed that the nomads seemed to know their way, moving confidently through the passageways.

  They were deep ins
ide the sprawling Rift when Kalte stopped abruptly and raised a clenched hand. Toum and Roho stopped in their tracks and Nara did the same. The tunnel was high-ceilinged, but covered over with vegetation at the top so that the light was dim and suffused with green. At the head of the group Kalte had unsheathed her sword. She crept forwards silently in a half crouch, which reminded Nara of Flame on the hunt.

  Jackals, said Flame. Lots of them.

  Nara raised her bow. It must be the same dog pack they had seen last night. She shuddered, remembering their hungry, desperate look.

  Nara closed her eyes and reached out with her senses. She could feel the dogs creeping forward, but scattering pebbles and grit with their clawed paws. They were near, in an opening high on the left wall of the main tunnel. But the jackals’ thoughts seemed skewed – scared and aggressive at the same time. They must have seen the demons. The whole pack was crazed and ready to attack anything.

  Snarls of blind rage came echoing through from the side tunnel.

  Nara opened her eyes. “Jackals are coming!” she called out. “Up high on the left!”

  “Move!” cried Kalte, and together the group sprinted past the tunnel.

  Toum dropped back behind Nara and Flame, watching over his shoulder as the first of the wild dogs emerged. They leaped and tumbled down on to the trail floor. Nara turned and caught the eye of one snarling jackal. The creature’s fear was obvious – this was the Narlaw’s doing.

  “Run!” bellowed Toum.

  Nara didn’t argue with him, charging ahead with Flame’s paws thumping the rock beside her. They swept past Roho, who had fallen back to help Toum with the rear guard.

  The manic sounds of combat bounced around the tunnel as Nara tried to catch up with Tuanne and Kalte. One of the spearmen cried out. Nara glanced behind, but a bend in the path had obscured everything.

  “They need help!” she shouted to Kalte.

  “Keep going,” Kalte ordered. “We have larger prey to hunt.”

  “But—”

  “I said keep going, Whisperer! We’re here to banish demons not scrap with dogs.”