Colony

by Lori Beery

  “His ankle is pretty messed up. If he hadn’t been wearing his hiking boots, he would have lost the foot. John and Carl have gotten the bleeding under control, but Doc Hawthorn should check it over. The scientists are trying to figure out how to get Joshua taken care of and continue the expedition.” He indicated the larger group sitting to the far right of the porch. They were deep in conversation.

  “What happened to Paul?” Marta asked.

  “He wrenched his shoulder while helping Joshua,” replied X-tee. “How did you get all banged up?” He directed his question to me.

  “We found a passage to another chamber,” I told him. “We had to jump to make it to the passage opening, but I put in a little too much ‘umpf’ and ended up smacking into the wall.” I looked down embarrassedly. “No serious injuries to report, though.”

  “What did you find in the chamber?” he asked, thankfully deigning to ignore my lame story.

  “Three young tree-dwellers,” answered Marta brightly.

  “Were they the three we saw yesterday?”

  “I think so,” I said. “The trio seemed to have escaped the lizards without injuries. – Umm, have we just learned that the lizards can climb cliffs?”

  “No, he replied. “It turns out the chasm doesn’t have sheer walls. It was one of the things Joshua and Paul noticed right before the attack occurred.”

  Both Marta and I released a held breath in relief. I was afraid we had lost our one safe place out here in the wilds.

  “Ky, you should have John or Carl take a look at you,” X-tee suggested. “I’m sure Marta checked you out already, but I want to be sure, and they are our medics.”

  “Ok, I’m going,” I groaned as I started towards John and Carl. Marta trailed behind me.

  When I reached them, John was checking Joshua’s vitals. He was wearing a very concerned face. He looked up at me when he had finished, his eyes opening wide.

  “What happened to you?” he blurted.

  “I introduced myself rather forcefully to a cavern wall,” I explained. “X-tee thought you should take a look.”

  “Ok, I’m going to need you to remove your backpack and shirt,” he said seriously.

  I gave my bow to Marta to hold. The quiver and backpack I placed on the ground next to me. Then I knelt to give myself a little privacy from most of the camp and removed my shirt. I happily noticed that Marta shifted behind me to shield me from the chefs. It wasn’t that I was topless. I still wore my sports bra. Even so, I was uncomfortable.

  I shouldn’t have been so nervous because John was very professional. He poked and prodded my discolored skin and asked me if his actions hurt. They did, and I told him so. He cleaned my scrapes and applied an ointment to them. It stung, but not as badly as the initial scraping.

  “You’ll be turning all sorts of colors soon, but you’ll be fine,” he told me.

  “Thanks,” I said, pulling on my shirt again.

  Feeling more comfortable, I picked up my backpack and quiver. I shouldered my gear and turned to Marta. She stood there with two heaping plates of delicious smelling food.

  “This one’s for you,” she said, holding one of the dishes out to me. “Lloyd just handed the plates to me.”

  “Thanks,” I responded, too grateful to be anxious about my modesty. I was unsure how much Lloyd had seen when he gave Marta the plates. Pushing the thought away, I took the plate, inhaling the aroma appreciatively.

  Marta and I walked over to some rocks near the scientists. We sat and ate our food while the group discussed their situation. It appeared they had decided to send Joshua back to the settlement. They were deciding how many were needed to take him and the identity of those people. Most thought four people must go with him. There was, after all, no way Joshua could put any weight on his foot. That immediately implied he would have to be carried, so two people were needed for that. One of the medics should go along to care for the patient. And, lastly, they would need a guard. Since both medics were guards, there would be two in the entourage.

  Feeling satisfied with the number, they started to consider who should be in the party. Long after Marta and I had finished our meal, Derrick ran their final choices by X-tee. Those selected to be in the group with the captain’s blessings were John as the medic, Marc as the guard, and Tim and Zach as the haulers.

  Fifteen minutes before we needed to leave to get to our camp on the cliff, the small party was provisioned and ready to head out. They would have five hours of daylight. I was pretty sure they would not get to the settlement in that time. They had a wounded person who would draw any of the swarming lizards in the vicinity to them. I hated the implications.

  “Sir, I volunteer to go with them,” I announced. “They will have to camp overnight before they get home. If there are lizards around, Joshua’s injury will draw them.”

  “I did consider that,” he told me. “I had a team sent out from the settlement to meet them and provide additional cover.”

  “Ah – good, Sir,” I murmured, feeling my anxiety drain away.

  He cracked a smile before saying, “Get geared up. We need to be moving out as well.”

  “Yes, Sir,” I responded and moved to do just that.

  Right at the four-hour mark, we began our trek back to the cliff. X-tee took the lead while I brought up the rear.

  We made good time. The late afternoon was still warm with a continuous cool breeze blowing south along the spine. If anything, the breeze got stronger and a little brisker the later it got.

  Just like this morning, I saw nothing that caused me alarm. I witnessed no other creatures venturing among the rocks. There were no plants for herbivores and therefore no herbivores for carnivores. Well, it was possible Amerzan drifted above, beyond my sight. But based on what I could see, the twelve of us had the mountainscape to ourselves.

  I was still quite glad when we reached our camp, though. I wanted nothing more than to eat some chow, relax a bit, and learn what the scientists had gleaned from the disaster in the cave. To help facilitate my first two desires, I joined the other youngsters in preparing the evening meal.

  Ross, the expedition’s cook, assigned us our tasks. I became the group’s ‘gopher’. I hauled myself up to the ‘kitchen ledge’ to fetch various items numerous times. It seemed the cooks had not gathered any supplies before they began, so I was sent for various ingredients, pans, and utensils. When Ross was finally satisfied that the cooks had all they needed, I felt like I’d had a total body workout. I leaned wearily against the base of the cliff. Almost instantly, I found myself sliding down to sit on my backside instead. I sat there with my feet straight out in front of me, my back and head resting against the wall, and my tummy rumbling its hunger in my ears.

  “Food’s ready,” Marta called, insistently shaking my shoulder.

  “What?” I asked as my eyes snapped open, taking in her graceful form crouched before me with her hand on my shoulder. I guess my stomach had not been enough to keep me awake.

  “Food’s ready,” she repeated. “Let me help you to your feet.”

  I gratefully took her hand and let her help me up. I steadied myself for a second then gestured for her to lead the way to the chow line.

  “Thanks for coming to get me,” I told her gratefully.

  “You’re welcome,” she said, turning one of her shining smiles on me. As quickly as it came, it faded into concern. “Ky, your face is purple. Does it hurt?”

  “Only when it’s touched,” I answered. Marta smiled again and took my arm in hers as we walked together to get some food.

  Not surprisingly, we were the last ones in line. The aroma of the food set my stomach rumbling again. The line moved quickly, and soon Derrick was handing me a heaping plate of food. As I took it, his eyes widened. Clearly he was just now taking in the state of my face. Before he could say anything, I held my finger to my lips and whispered, “Later.” I added a fork to my plate and joined Marta on a nearby rock. We sat cross-legged adjacent to one another
. I devoured my meal ravenously. When it was gone, I set my plate aside and leaned back against the rock behind me to leisurely sip my cup of drahl.

  Presently, Derrick, Ezra, Paul, and Raymond approached us. Raymond took the lead.

  “Ladies, may we join you?” he asked politely.

  “Sure, pull up a rock,” I invited with a smile. Derrick stepped up onto the rock we were on and sat cross-legged beside me. Ezra and Paul perched themselves on the edge with their outside legs dangling over the far side. Raymond stood between Ezra and Paul. “What can we do for you?” I asked, looking at Raymond.

  “You can start by telling us why your face is all bruised,” suggested Derrick.

  “I forcibly introduced myself to the cavern wall,” I told him, repeating the explanation I’d given to John earlier because it seemed easiest.

  He frowned. “Why?” he asked, clearly indicating that my words made no sense to him.

  Before I could answer, Marta took over. “She had more momentum than she needed to leap to a higher ledge. She smacked into the wall hard enough to knock the air out of her lungs.”

  “Oh, are you OK?” asked Paul concerned.

  “Yeah,” I answered. “It hurts when it's touched, but I can and will do my job.”

  “That’s good to know,” commented Paul.

  “How’s your arm?” I asked him.

  “Aches when I move it,” he answered. “I’m trying to keep it still.” I nodded with an understanding smile.

  “Why don’t you start at the beginning and tell us what happened?” Raymond suggested.

  Marta and I took turns telling them about our adventure. They paid special attention to our encounter with the three young tree-dwellers.

  “You fed them chocolate?” exclaimed Derrick.

  “Yea,” I told him. “It was the only food I had with me.”

  “They really seemed to like it,” remarked Marta. “They seem to be pretty good imitators as well. The oldest one shared the chocolate with the other two and returned Ky’s wave when we left.”

  “I see,” responded Raymond. “Thank you, ladies, for your observations.”

  Before either of us could reply, all of them except Ezra got up to leave.

  “Wait, what did you learn from your analysis of the cavern?” I asked.

  “We are still going over our observations,” Raymond told us as he, Paul, and Derrick started for the cliff.

  Marta and I looked at each other. I felt like we had been dismissed, and I was disappointed that we heard nothing about their findings in the cave.

  “Don’t feel bad,” Ezra told us, reading my expression. “Raymond is a bit abrupt. He wants everything to be precise with all the ‘t’s crossed and ‘i’s dotted.” He fixed both of us with a kind gaze. “Your observations are very insightful. They are good imitators, but I think they are smarter than we first thought.”

  “What makes you say that?” I asked, intrigued.

  “Remember the wood in the entrance tunnel?” he inquired. We nodded. “I think they used the branches to form a barrier across the tunnel at three separate places.”

  “They were trying to make the cave safer?”

  “I believe so,” agreed Ezra. “If you will excuse me, I shall seek my ledge.”

  “Thanks, and goodnight,” I said.

  “You’re welcome,” he replied. “Sleep well.”

  Not much later, I was up on the front edge of my platform on first watch. I sat with my right leg dangling into empty air. My bow rested beside me within easy reach, and my quiver was slung over my shoulder, so the arrows were conveniently at hand. In this position, I had the best view of the sky that I could get. The setting sun still bathed the ridge in light. The dark sky behind made the ridge pop in stark relief.

  Movement on the ridge to my right drew my attention. Humanoid shadows crept over the rock into the light. When they did, the shadows resolved into seven adult tree-dwellers. They crouched in a knot. They seemed to be searching the landscape, a feat that would be difficult since the light would be in their eyes.

  I kept my eyes riveted on them. No sound came to me from them despite the constant breeze into my face. I knew the sinking sun would allow them to be lost in shadow. When that happened, what would they do?

  Chapter 19

  I awakened X-tee and showed him the knot of tree-dwellers. I estimated the light would be gone in fifteen minutes.

  “Let’s scatter some spinners on that plateau below them,” he suggested.

  I replied by readying an arrow with a spring-loaded container filled with spinners. When the arrow hit its target, the container would pop open, launching the spinners into the air to scatter them.

  “Won’t the sound scare them away?” I asked in a whisper, while my fingers made the final adjustments.

  He shrugged and signaled me to proceed. I drew to anchor, shifting my aim upward a little more than I would if the arrow was unburdened. I released. My arrow sprang away from me. It flew true to impact the center of the plateau. At the sharp thunk of the arrow, the tree-dwellers cried out and drew backward from their crouching-place. The container snapped open, launching the spinners into the air. The devices screamed to life as they soared, and the creatures beat a hasty retreat over the ridge. In the dying light, the rock was bare once more.

  Most of the spinners quickly landed on the plateau and stopped making noise, but a few must have fallen off. We could hear their distinct alarm-call fade out like an echo as they made their descent. Soon, only the breeze whispered over the rock.

  I shared a look with X-tee. His eyes twinkled with mirth. “Yes, the sound did scare them away,” he told me with a chuckle.

  “Yes, it did,” I replied, smiling slightly. “Now I don’t have to worry about keeping track of them in the dark.”

  “True, and now, we have spinners to help us locate them,” he remarked. “Tomorrow evening we will be more intentional in scattering spinners.” I nodded in agreement. Until tonight, nothing but wind and light had moved over the rock. Whether the company we’d almost had were foes or not, we would never know. “That was an excellent shot, by the way,” he praised me.

  “Thanks.”

  “I’m going to get some more shut-eye,” he said, stretching out and pulling a blanket over himself. “Wake me at the end of your shift.”

  “Sure thing, Sir,” I responded.

  I returned to my vigil. The stars shone brightly in the sky. Their radiance lit the stone face near the ridge. As the rock sloped towards our camp, the shadows flooded in. Looking down, I could make out the lower sleeping ledges. Beyond that, the cliff face lay lost in shadow.

  I listened to the night. Nothing but the sleeping sounds of our camp broke the silence. – Well, there were the unidentified sounds that had me envisioning stones dislodged by something. Like the previous night, the sounds were faint and never got nearer or louder. The infrequency kept me constantly startled, setting me on edge.

  I wished we already had the net of spinners established. That way, their sound would chase away the creatures my imagination conjured at every sound. I was glad the expedition had been amply supplied with the devices. We made the things out of a biodegradable substance that we could easily replicate from kitchen waste. I doubted we would need to make any more.

  A thought suddenly popped into my head. The shrill voice of a spinner would replace my imagined creature with a real one. I wasn’t sure the replacement would be better. I gave my head a hard shake and returned to listening to the night.

  Then, late in my shift, something altered. I laid my hand on my bow and tried to ascertain what had changed. My eyes told me that nothing had, but I felt the hairs at the back of my neck rise. Something nasty was nearby.

  I froze, listening hard. A sound like wind through the leaves seemed to come from above. Wait – these crags have no vegetation. There are no leaves for the wind to blow through.

  ‘Kyrah, do you hear me?’ a voice whispered through my mind.

 
“Amerzan?” I spoke in a quiet voice. “Is that you?”

  ‘It is,’ he replied with a touch of joy in his tone. ‘I have landed on the roof above you.’

  “Hmm, that would account for the rush of wind I heard,” I mumbled. I smiled at his use of the word ‘roof’ for the top of the mountain.

  ‘Kyrah, please try to think to me,’ he stressed. ‘It is important you are silent.’

  ‘Is something wrong?’ I thought.

  ‘Yes, a shadow-less imitator hunts nearby,’ his voice sighed in my mind.

  “A what?” I cried aloud. I belatedly clamped a hand over my mouth while my mind let loose a string of self-deprecating curses. I struggled to clear my mind. Focusing on my breathing, I calmed myself. ‘Sorry,’ I thought self-consciously. ‘What do you mean by ‘shadow-less imitator’?’

  ‘It is hard to picture,’ he said in my head. ‘It is a fierce hunter that takes on the look of its surroundings.’

  I immediately knew what he meant. ‘An invisocat,’ I thought, picturing the creature after I had killed it.

  ‘You killed one?’ he asked incredulously.

  ‘I got very lucky,’ I responded. ‘Do you know where it is?’

  ‘Yes, it has heard you and is coming this way along the base of this rock,’ he told me. ‘Listen!’

  I closed my eyes to shut out the darkness and listened. At first, all I noticed were the sounds of the expedition members sleeping. I continued to listen, moving my focus down the tunnel to the south. After a time, I began to notice a loud, sniffing noise. It came closer. It paused directly below me.

  ‘Is it right under the bottom ledge, the middle of this rock?’ I directed to Amerzan to see if I actually heard the invisocat.

  ‘It is directly below the middle of this rock,’ he confirmed.

  I was pleased I had been able to track its progress along the base of the cliff. I continued to listen. The snuffling got closer. I wasn’t sure how that could be. I hoped the creature couldn’t climb the cliff face or jump and snag the kitchen ledge. What is it doing? I wondered.