Trail of Flames

by Marlow York

  “Do you think it’s safe to sleep out in the open like this?” I asked.

  “I’ll protect you.” Saven moved to wrap himself around me.

  “But who will protect you?” I asked him aloud.

  “I can camouflage us,” Cypress said. “Just stay still.”

  I watched as Cypress pressed his hands to the ground. Vines sprouted from the earth and weaved through each other to form a sort of barrier around Saven and me. I watched as moss crawled across the vines, blending into the trees and rocks behind us.

  “I hope you aren’t claustrophobic,” Cypress said.

  There was just enough room for me to lie down. Saven seemed content to stay curled up. “No, we’re fine.”

  Through the small gaps between the vines, I watched as Cypress created the same moss-covered barrier for himself. Though I could see a little of the world from inside the barrier, I couldn’t see him at all.

  “Sleep well.” His voice was muffled behind the greenery.

  “You too.” I lay down as best I could, resting my head on my backpack with Saven pressed up against my back.

  Chapter 6

  Iwasn’t sure if it was the heat or the chirping of birds that woke me. Somehow, I had managed to sleep until the sun glowed in the sky.

  When I realized how late in the morning it must be, I bolted upright. I looked outside the vine-barrier and saw that Cypress’s barricade had been torn open.

  “Saven, wake up!”

  Saven shuddered awake as I broke through the foliage. I quickly drew my war axe and looked around. There was no sign of a struggle, but Cypress was nowhere to be seen.

  “You don’t think he abandoned us, do you?” Saven asked, emerging from behind the barrier.

  A branch snapped behind us and I whipped around, axe poised to kill the first thing that moved.

  “Whoa! It’s just me!” Cypress’s hands flew up defensively and he dropped the bundle that was in his arms, spilling what looked like berries and roots all over the ground.

  “Where did you go?” I demanded, lowering my axe.

  “To find some food.” Cypress bent down and gathered up the mess. “For a moment there, you actually looked like a Grakkir Warrior. Who knew it would rub off on a Fiero?”

  I furrowed my brows, and Cypress looked up suddenly when he realized what he’d said. Not only had he insulted the Fiero clan, he’d also presumed I wasn’t a “real” Grakkir Warrior, as though my weeks of training meant nothing. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I didn’t mean it like that.”

  “Then don’t say it like that,” I retorted. I turned and busied myself with my pack, making sure everything was in order and assessing my empty canteen.

  The silence between us was as thick as the humid air, but I didn’t care. Though Cypress had assured me he didn’t think negatively about my people, it was clear the thought processes of the Secara were ingrained into his mind.

  “Valieri.” I felt Cypress step behind me.

  I whirled around. “Did you see a stream while you were out?” I interrupted him before he could try to apologize again. I didn’t want his pity. If he believed the Fiero were weak, then I had no choice but to remind him that I had lived with the Grakkir and the Warrior’s Shield on my chest was not a mistake.

  Cypress stopped. “Uh, yeah, I did. Not far from here, just that way.” He pointed towards the way he came.

  “Give me your canteen. I’ll fill it up too.” I made my voice softer, but it was no warmer than it had been before.

  Without another word, Cypress passed his canteen to me, and I headed towards the stream with Saven quick on my heels.

  “I don’t think he believes you are weak.” Saven slithered hurriedly to match my pace.

  “Just my people.” It shouldn’t matter what he thought of the Fiero, but it did. “I can’t help but be prideful of my clan. Maybe more so now that they are all dead.”

  “You don’t know that for certain,” Saven said quietly.

  I sighed. He was right, but I couldn’t make assumptions. Searching for my sister and any other living members of the Fiero clan could be a pointless task, but sometimes it was the only thing keeping me going. Aside from revenge.

  The stream wasn’t far from our camp, Cypress was right about that. I dipped the canteens into the meandering water. When they were full, I reached down and took a few gulps with my hand. When I caught my reflection in the water, I noticed trails of sweat wriggled down my face through dirt smudges.

  “Very attractive,” I muttered. “You could have mentioned something, Saven.”

  He hissed a chuckle and tried to dip his body into the stream, only he was much too big. “I miss the stream near Tarek’s house.”

  I splashed water on my face and down the back of my neck, savoring the refreshing coolness. Many evenings had been spent down by the stream that flowed near Tarek’s home, bathing or washing dishes with Sarrenke. They were just chores at the time, things I did because I was forced to, but now I deeply missed it.

  “Perhaps the road she travels will one day cross paths with ours,” Saven said reassuringly.

  I smiled at him. “I sincerely hope so.”

  I wetted my brunette hair and wove my bangs into a tidy braid to keep them out of my face. With my axe in one hand and the canteens in the other, the two of us headed back to camp.

  Cypress looked up as we approached. He had divided the food into two even portions, piling them on wide leaves that made decent makeshift plates. We ate a quick breakfast of berries, fruit, and dried venison before donning our backpacks and turning eastward once again. Just before we left, Cypress neatly dismantled our shelters, directing the vines back into the ground and releasing the trees into their natural positions. It was like no one had ever been there in the first place.

  We chatted while we walked, my anger towards him forgiven. We focused on not tripping over rocks or getting smacked with branches between conversation. With each hour that passed, I wondered if there was an end to this huge forest.

  “You seem to know the way very well,” I observed. “Have you been on this route before?”

  “Not in many, many years,” Cypress admitted.

  “Then how do you know we’re heading in the right direction?”

  “The plants tell me.” I heard the amusement in his voice.

  I paused. The plants told him? He said it so naturally, as though it should have been obvious.

  “You…actually talk to the plants?” I remembered Canoga saying he’d spoken to the Belian tree, but for some reason I pictured it more like meditation than a genuine conversation.

  Cypress paused to look at me. “You talk to a massive snake with your mind. How is this any different?”

  Saven hissed a snicker. “He has a point.”

  “Don’t side with him!” I cried aloud, more joking than serious.

  Cypress laughed, an infectious sound. “Am I right, though?”

  “When you say it like that, it makes sense. It’s just…” I paused. “Every day I discover something I never knew about the world we live in. I’m not sure if I should be fascinated or worried about that.”

  Cypress thought for a moment. “You can be both and I think anyone would understand.” His eyes followed the path ahead of us as he took another step. “You can acknowledge it for what it is—a learning experience. As a trader, I was always taught not to be afraid of the new and unusual things I’d discover in the world. Instead, I needed to accept and embrace them.”

  “I wonder,” Saven mused. “Perhaps if the City had that mindset all those centuries ago, your people would still be alive and your village intact.”

  “Maybe.” I looked up at him. “But, if that were the case, I never would have met you. You realize that, right?”

  Saven paused. He hadn’t realized that.

  “Not that anything the City has done should be construed in a positive way,” I added quickly. “But it’s something worth noticing.”

  “We’ll shave a
few miles off when we head underground,” Cypress said suddenly.

  “Underground?” I asked. “Like in a tunnel?”

  “Yes.” He looked at us. “Remember the waterfall? There’s an underground river that flows towards the Secara village, which created a cavern. A few miles from here is a cave path our traders have taken in the past. I haven’t been down there myself, but I know some people who have. They say it’s quite safe.”

  “How will it be faster?” I asked. “It’s the same distance out of the forest, isn’t it?”

  Cypress shook his head. “See those mountains over there?” He pointed through the foliage and I nodded. “They’re actually cliffs, like the ones we carved into caves near our village. The rock goes north and south for miles, as in, the five hundred miles I was telling you about. Unless you have some climbing gear in your bag, and if you can fly,” he nodded to Saven, “we won’t be able to climb it. Going around could take days. Our best bet is to go underground and follow the river.”

  “What are the risks?” I asked.

  Cypress swallowed hard. “Ventilation isn’t good, so if we take too long, we could suffocate. There aren’t many food sources, so that also doesn’t give us much time. Plus, there’s always the chance parts of the cave could collapse.”

  I stared at him, slack-jawed.

  “I promise you, my people have used the tunnel for years and nothing like that has ever happened,” Cypress added hastily. “I’m just telling you what I’ve been told.”

  I sighed heavily. “You should have told us about this from the beginning.”

  Cypress frowned guiltily at my obvious irritation. “You’re right. I’m sorry, but it’s the best course of action.” He stared at me stubbornly.

  I glanced at Saven. “What do you think?”

  “I think both ways would be dangerous,” he said. “We must decide which danger we’d rather face: potential sightings from patrolling airships, or unknown dangers underground.”

  “Or getting lost.” I turned to Cypress. “You think you can find the way even though you’ve never been down there?”

  “From what I’ve been told, it’s pretty straightforward. Besides,” he grinned, “the plants will tell me the way.”

  I couldn’t return his smile, but the thought of avoiding airships was more appealing than anything else. Saven agreed with me. “Alright,” I finally said. “We’ll head underground.”

  ✽ ✽ ✽

  The rocky wall spanned hundreds, maybe even thousands of feet above our heads, traveling for miles in either direction. I saw why it would take so long to walk around it. We followed Cypress at a distance as he searched for some hidden opening. Water trickled down the rocks, disappearing into the earth. After years of slow persistence, moisture had cut deep grooves into the side of the cliff, masked by thick leafy growth. How was a cavern cut into such an impenetrable wall?

  “There.” Cypress pointed. If he hadn’t been there to show it to us, I would have walked right by the dark, moss-covered hole in the ground.

  “That little burrow?” I asked. “It looks like a squirrel could barely fit in there.”

  Cypress chuckled. “Watch.”

  He knelt over to the hole and pressed his hands against the ground. The moss shivered and wiggled like a small animal. It peeled away, revealing a man-sized hole in the ground. Its size made me shiver nervously.

  “Ladies first?” Cypress asked.

  I glared at him. “There is no way I’m going down there first.”

  “Fair enough. Follow me.”

  He shoved his backpack down into the hole. The soft whoosh of fabric was punctuated by a soft thump. At least the drop wasn’t too far. Cypress hopped, feet first, wiggling until his dark hair disappeared into the ground.

  I waited several moments and glanced at Saven. “You don’t think it’s a trap, do you?”

  “The thought has crossed my mind,” Saven admitted. “But I don’t sense animosity from him. Do you?”

  “No,” I said. “We should still be cautious though.”

  “Yes,” he agreed.

  I stepped toward the opening and looked down. All I saw was darkness. “Cypress?”

  “It’s fine!” His voice sounded distant. “Throw your bag down and let’s get going!”

  I looked at Saven one more time before tossing my bag into the tunnel.

  “I’ll be right behind you,” Saven said.

  I nodded and slung my feet over the edge of the hole. Slowly, I slid downward, urging my descent by wiggling my arms and legs. The damp earth pressed against me on all sides, and I wondered suddenly if I might get stuck in the small passageway. There was barely enough space to move, but I shimmied as quickly as I could, forcing what little momentum I had to keep me going. The tunnel curved, and I used my hands to claw against the dirt. Then, suddenly, the tunnel stopped.

  Was I stuck? I felt like I was lying on my back, but I had no light to tell me which way was up. I tried to push myself with my hands, but there wasn’t enough room to open my elbows. When I lifted my head to look downward, my forehead struck the cold dirt. I couldn’t move any farther. My heart raced as the cold seeped into my skin. My breath came out in ragged puffs, which blew dirt into my eyes. I squeezed them shut, unable to lift my hands and rub away the painful stinging. Tears pooled in my eyes, barely loosening the dust.

  “Cypress?” My voice was shaky and muffled.

  Two hands suddenly grabbed my ankles and pulled.

  I gasped as the tunnel walls disappeared. I was out in the open. Even after I rubbed the dirt out of my eyes, it was so dark I couldn’t see anything. In panic, I called the Ancient Fire to my palms and thrust them out in front of me.

  “Whoa, watch it!” Cypress cried, ducking away from my flaming hands.

  I panted and stared at him. Why had I expected him to attack me? Suddenly I wondered if this would be an ambush, or if Cypress had been sent by the City to lead me into this awful tunnel. I sat on the cave floor and hugged my knees to my chest, trying desperately to catch my breath.

  Cypress knelt beside me and placed his hand carefully on my shoulder. “Are you okay?”

  I forced a deep breath, held it for a second, and released it. The time for panicking was over; I needed to control myself. “Y-yeah, I’m fine. Just…not used to tight spaces.” I lit a small flame in my palm, just enough to illuminate the space around us. Water was dripping somewhere nearby and I focused on the sound to ground myself.

  “It’s all right now, that was the smallest part of the cave.” Cypress glanced behind me. I turned to watch Saven emerge from the passageway. Dirt and rocks tumbled behind him.

  “Maybe I should’ve gone before you. I widened the tunnel.” He inhaled deeply, flexing the tense muscles that constricted his flexible bones.

  Cypress hefted his backpack onto his shoulders and held out his hand. I looked at it for a second, then grasped it and let him help me rise. I quickly grabbed my bag and slipped my arms through the straps. “Thank you,” I said weakly, embarrassed by my fearful episode. He smiled in return.

  “Here.” Cypress lifted a torch from the ground. I held the damp wood to my hand, and after a few seconds of stubborn smoking, the moisture sizzled away and the wood caught fire. Cypress took the torch. “There. Now you won’t spend all your energy making sure we don’t trip over any bodies.”

  I gaped at him, and he laughed at my expression. “I’m kidding! There are no bodies down here.”

  “How does he know that?” Saven said.

  I glared at Saven and then at Cypress. “Let’s just get moving.”

  I heard running water, but it didn’t sound like the thunderous river I expected. I pictured the waterfall near the Secara village and the way it cut through the rocks over the centuries until it flowed wildly at its own pace.

  “I don’t hear much of a river,” I said.

  “That’s the funny thing about water.” Cypress walked in step with me. “Sometimes its greatest power doesn’t come
from crashing waves or devastating floods. It can create huge changes by slow perseverance. Just like this cave, and the caverns near my village.”

  I looked down where the sound of water was coming from. The dark surface glinted in the firelight. With each passing minute, the water would slowly wear away the rocks around it. As stones fell apart, they’d break more rocks as they traveled downstream. Maybe in a thousand years, the river would be so large that it would take up the entire space we walked on.

  Cypress frowned and watched the water with me, his eyes distant. Perhaps it made him sad to realize his home and all the friends and family he’d left behind were at the other end of the river. Once we stepped out the other side of this cave, we wouldn’t be in Secaran territory anymore. He would be like me, out in the vast, unknown world where there were no safe places, only the threat of death and the persistence of hope. This wasn’t like his trading trips. The risks were so much higher.

  Cypress caught me watching him and softened his expression. The faraway look in his eyes disappeared, hiding whatever thoughts troubled him. “Follow me.”

  The narrow path along the river forced us to walk single file. Cypress led the way with the torch, I was in the middle, and Saven took up the rear. The cool, unmoving air was thick with the rich scent of dirt. The only sounds were the river, water dripping from the ceiling, and our footsteps.

  “Do you think we’ll make it to the other side before the sun goes down?” I asked.

  “Considering I don’t know where the sun is right now, I can’t accurately answer your question,” Cypress said over his shoulder.

  “Okay, smart guy. I think you know what I mean.”

  “Sorry,” Cypress chuckled. “From what other traders have told me, if we keep up a quick pace and only rest once or twice, we should make it through to the other side within a few hours. If we take our time, we’ll have to sleep down here.”

  “Then let’s not take our time, okay?” I said. I remembered his list of risks: suffocation, cave-ins, running out of food. I swallowed hard and glanced up at the dark ceiling, trying not to envision it collapsing on us. Essentially, we were walking in a potential grave.