The following day, the Mariyah and Cal sat by a fallen tree. The two of them wasted no time in beginning their hunts to prepare for her departure. Mariyah had been up all night dreaming of her new life overseas. Despite nighttimes being the most difficult for her while she mourned, imagining the things she would do did aid in distracting her from the pain.
She imagined the new food she’d try, being able to walk around in towns as any of her shifts. She wondered if she’d have a hard time making friends or if it’d be easy. She found herself smiling as she envisioned it all, and couldn’t wait to begin her journey.
Mariyah was watching as Cal slid his knife against an arrowhead, sharpening it.
She tried her best to mimic his motions, making her own arrowhead as well. She grinned and held it to him. “How’s this?”
Her smile disappeared when she compared it to his, but he laughed a bit. “That’s fine. Just sharpen the edges a little more.”
She did as he said, and finally, her arrowhead was perfect.
He handed her a bow he made for her, and then held his own in his hand as he stood up.
She stood up after him. “You know, we could probably just chase these animals down, couldn't we?”
He looked at her for a moment. “We could.” He almost laughed. “But that would get…messy. You don’t think so?”
“I don’t know...it sounds a lot faster than tracking and waiting,” she said with a tilt of her head. “Kinda weird though. Eating something you can become.” She made a face.
He let out a small smirk and nodded his head. “I try not to think about it, but thank you for reminding me.”
She giggled. “You’re welcome.”
-
A small deer crept behind some trees while Cal and Mariyah stood watching from afar. “Keep pulling. Just a bit more,” he whispered from beside her. She tried desperately to remember the tips Kindrick, Oliver, and Kai had given her, and soon her form was adequate.
She had her bow drawn, waiting for the right moment. She had landed most arrows on the targets earlier when she and Cal were practicing. It seems like the shooting in the village finally paid off. Olly would be happy. She pushed away the thoughts before they could form.
Finally, she let go. The arrow shot an inch from the neck of the doe, startling it and causing it to sprint away. “No!” Mariyah groaned, throwing her head back, and looked at Cal, defeated. “I’m sorry, I was so close!”
He nodded. “That was good for your first time.”
She shrugged and sat back down, propping her chin on her hand. “Time to wait another three hours.” She couldn’t wait to be on her flight towards the free countries. Any arrow miss felt like added time to her escape from this place. And leaving her people behind. She pushed that thought away as best she could as fast as it popped in.
He puffed out a sigh and shrugged his shoulders. There was a long silence. “Not if we try your idea.”
She looked at him with wide eyes and a suppressed giggle. “You would?”
“I mean, I suppose it’ll be faster, even if it's messy. And I guess we are in a bit of a rush.” He looked through the trees around them.
She grinned and shifted into a lion. “Let’s see who catches her first then!” She took off after the deer immediately, Cal shifting instantly after and running behind her.
His bear shift was faster than she thought. She gasped as he sped up to her, but grinned as she shifted into a cheetah and zoomed ahead.
“Not fair,” she heard him grumble from behind.
She laughed to herself and closed her eyes for a brief second as she felt the dirt under her paws and her muscles being pumped in ways she had never felt before. The breeze brushing against her fur as she ran, the warm feeling of being covered…she loved it.
She twitched her nose at a surprising scent. I can smell it? She followed the direction where the deer ran off to, using her nose. Finally, seeing it up ahead, she caught up to it. Despite the poor animal's attempt to sprint away, she tackled it and bit into its neck deeply, and then set it down as Cal jogged up to her. He shifted and pulled a knife from his belt, ending the deer's suffering.
Shaking her head and spitting into the dirt, she winced. “That was disgusting…”
He laughed a bit. “Was it?”
She shifted into a human and hunched over, her hands on her knees. She spit the blood from her mouth as she gagged. She frowned at the sight of the dead deer and held her elbows as she sat up. "Never again," she said with a grimace. "Let’s stick to the bow and arrow…” She hunched over again at the taste of more blood in her mouth.
He set a hand on her back. “Are you good?”
She nodded, holding a finger up. “I’m good. Just..” She coughed and wiped her face. “Just needed a second.”
Cal blinked and shook his head, holding back a laugh as she sat up again. “Maybe the knife would be best.”
She gave him a look at his almost laugh but smiled at herself. “Knife?”
He nodded his head. “Throwing knives. I’ve got a few back at camp.”
“That sounds much more difficult than a bow…”
He smiled a bit and looked at her. “Practice with me and you’ll get the hang of it quickly. Maybe we can use our shifts to get close and once we approach, shift back and use the knife. I’ve never tried that but, your idea of catching up to them was helpful.”
She lifted her chin. “See, it wasn’t-”
A loud shriek.
Mariyah’s head spun around as she looked in the direction of the sound. She stepped closer to Cal. “What was that?” she asked in a suddenly mousey voice.
Cal stood up, immediately, his face growing serious as he stared into the forest. “We should go back to camp.”
“What was that, Cal?” Mariyah asked again, moving closer beside him.
“Something we don’t need to worry about.” He grabbed the dead deer and slung it over his shoulder.
“Or someone who needs help,” she said, looking at him with wide and worried eyes.
He shook his head, eyeing her carefully. “We have no way to help them, Mariyah.”
“Well- we should just see? Please, it could be bad?”
“It most definitely is bad, Mariyah-”
Another loud scream along with shouts of a deep voice.
Cal's tone grew deeper. “You’re not in a place to be wandering around following screams you hear in a forest. No one is. It’s not safe, and we need to get back.” He turned his head to the repeated screams and squinted as he looked through the trees. His face grew stone and he quickly but gently took Mariyah by the arm. “We’re leaving.”
“What is it??” She turned her neck towards the direction he had been staring in. She could barely make out anything through the trees, but she finally pieced together what looked like a collection of huts with a group of people walking around and some commotion.
Cal shook his head. “Another reason to stick to the usual hunting. We don’t get off track. Come on, Mariyah.”
The worry in her eyes only grew as she had to tear her eyes away and look towards the direction back home. She hugged herself as she continued to hear the screams of a poor woman. “Sounds like she’s getting killed,” she whispered to Cal with glistening eyes and a shaky voice.
“If we tried to stop them, it won’t just be whoever’s screaming they kill. We don't know how many other soldiers are in that camp.” He stared ahead as they quickly walked.
She furrowed her brow. “Camp?”
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Cal lifted an eyebrow at her returned confused stare.
"What do you mean 'camp'?"
“You don’t know?” He stopped in his tracks for a moment. "A slave camp?"
She shook her head as they stood there.
“I thought you were friends with a village of Shifters?”
“I…” She shook her head. “I don’t know. I was never told about sla-slave camps.”
He sighed quietly. “It doesn’t matter. We need to get back to our camp.”
She opened her mouth to protest, but the seriousness in his eyes silenced her. She looked once more towards the commotion before tearing her gaze away. Hugging her arms, she stared at the soil as they walked through the forest, beginning their trek home.
Mariyah frowned as guilt began to creep up her toes and into her throat as she heard the screams suddenly come to a stop. She stopped in her tracks for a short moment, Cal turning to look at her before they continued walking again. “How many slave camps are there? What do they do to the Shifters there?”
He stayed quiet for some time, pushing branches out of the way and stepping over logs. “Not sure how many there are, but there’s gotta be more than the few I’ve seen in this area. They use us for work. Horses, dogs, even small animals. You name it. Just to keep us weak and bound, and to benefit themselves.”
Mariyah stared at the ground as she followed him, her heart pulling into her stomach. Enslaving Shifters? “The citizens of the kingdom…they-we-didn’t know about this. I’d never heard…such a thing…” She stared at the ground in disbelief before bumping into Cal’s stopped body. She looked up, confused at his sudden halt, before he turned around and gently put his hands on her shoulders in efforts of leading her away before she could look.
But it was too late. The blood drained from her face and her heart froze. She observed the limp feet that slowly dangled in the breeze. Her eyes trailed up the legs to the dress that draped over them, and soon to the face.
The woman's face was swollen and gray, and her puffy eyelids were closed. The rope around her neck dug into her skin, and her arms dangled beside her. Mariyah’s eyes stopped and stared at the two arms that only led to bloodied stubs. Above the corpse’s marked forehead head was a post that read: “Thief.”
Mariyah's soft eyes wandered back to the dangling feet as she stood in silence. A small exhale slipped from her mouth as she stared at the corpse’s bare feet. With a small whimper, she collapsed onto her knees, tears filling her eyes as she forced down the urge to puke.
Cal stood in front of her with a twisted feeling as he looked at the hanging body. His heart sympathized as he saw Mariyah’s reaction. He knelt down and put a hand on her back to try and calm her.
She closed her eyes as a tear slipped down her cheek. She didn’t speak for a few minutes, until she finally was able to grasp onto her thoughts. “This has to stop,” she said so quietly that Cal almost didn’t hear her.
“I know,” he agreed, standing up.
Mariyah spoke as she stared at the sky. “Something. Anything has to be done,” she told him. “We just allow the king to banish us and kill us, and we do nothing. There has to be an end.”
Cal listened as she spoke. “What do you expect us to do?”
“Fight,” she answered, looking at him, and then up at the body again.
He inhaled tiredly, pulling out his knife. “We don’t have an army." He ran a hand through his thick hair briefly. "Shifters do not have an army to fight for us, and definitely not one to go against the king’s army.” He set the handle of the knife in his mouth and began to climb up the back of the tree carefully.
She watched as he took the knife out of his mouth. “Well, I suppose we don’t really need an army. We just need people who are willing to fight back…even if it’s against his army.” Like Oliver’s father. “But that’s a very dangerous idea. I know it is.”
Cal stayed quiet as he began to saw his blade against the rope holding up the body until the rope snapped and the body fell.
She shuddered and took a step back before continuing. “And we can show the people that we aren’t who Soliath says we are.” She shook her head. “They don’t know. The kingdom doesn’t know. They think we’re monsters, we just have to show them- we just have to explain the truth to them, and-...” Her voice trailed off as he jumped down onto the ground, and she could feel his doubt. “But I know it’s not that easy...I know.”
He shook his head as he laid the corpse on its back and folded its hands together on its lap. “There’s no teaching them that we’re humans too, no teaching them not to hate us. You’re thinking hopefully, and I don’t think it’s a bad thing.” He looked at her. “I admire it. But it isn’t that easy. Not when we're this far gone”
Her eyes softened. “I don’t think it will be easy. I’m just saying it’s possible. I lived with them. I know their thoughts, and I know why they think them. It can go back to how it was…I know it can. It’d just take time… and explaining. Not turning our backs and giving up.”
“Explaining…” he repeated, his voice was tense. “I don’t plan on sitting down and trying to convince a Natural that I deserve to live. You won't catch me begging at the knees of one of them. And I doubt that’s an unpopular opinion.”
“That's fine that you wouldn’t, and it’s fine that no other Shifter would. But I would. I’d sit and convince them as long as it took.” She looked at him closely.
His eyes were more serious now. “And why do they deserve your time? They’ve allowed us to be treated this way for so long, they made their decision-”
“They didn’t see it as a decision, Cal. These people, the citizens, do not see it the way we see it. There was not a day where they collectively decided to hate Shifters now. It’s been embedded into them over time, slowly and carefully. They are results of the king’s manipulation. Why can’t you see that?”
He took a long moment before responding. “You’re okay with having to convince people that you deserve to be alive? The same people who killed your parents?”
“The king killed my parents.” Her eyes went sharp. “And I am more than okay with being the first to show a Natural the truth.”
“And if you did manage that? You’d accept apologies from Naturals? You think any of us would want to return to the kingdom after what they’ve done to us?”
Mariyah tilted her head for a moment. She’d never thought of that. “Well…I think if we are able to explain and come to an understanding, we could move forward and past this all. Somehow...I'm just saying it isn't possible.”
His eyes looked as if they had begun to search hers as he took in her every answer. “Why are you so patient with people who hate us?”
Her face saddened, but her bright and determined eyes stayed locked on his. “Because I want peace.”
He shook his head. “Then if you find someone willing to take this on, let me know.”
Mariyah looked at him silently. She pondered the idea in her head, but dropped her shoulders in defeat.
He looked at her carefully before finally changing the subject. “Ready?” he asked her. “I’ll take you back.” He set the deer on his back and shifted into a bear. He nodded his head. “Climb on.”
Mariyah looked at him hesitantly, but held onto his fur, pulling herself up. “Thank you,” she said as he carried her and the deer back to their shelter, though she wasn’t sure if she still had an appetite. “Thank you for everything you’ve done for me.” She rested her hand on the side of his neck gently. “You’re very kind.”
Cal continued to walk through the forest. “It’s nothing.”
When they arrived back at their camp, she climbed off his back, pulling off the deer, and sat on the ground quietly. She watched as he shifted back and began to skin and gut the animal in front of her, tossing thoughts around in her head and hoping to find an answer that never came. “I don’t really know what I’m doing here.” She looked at him, unsure. “I don’t know where to go. I don’t know what to do.”
He looked at her as she sat across from him, the fire in between them. “You’re going overseas, right?”
She nodded, looking into the fire. “That’s the plan." She rubbed her arms. "But sometimes, I wonder if I should stay.”
“Why would you stay? I didn't think you had family here?”
“Not that I know of." Aunt Twine must be long gone...if only she knew what happened. "And any friends I had most definitely think I’m a monster now.” She tucked her knees under her chin as the images of Petrah, Siloh, and Equevo filled her mind. Their wide smiles turning into stone faces and terrified expressions. She could only imagine how Siloh and Equevo reacted at the news. Her heart sank inside her for a moment at the images, and she was reminded of the love she felt for them. She wondered where they were now, what they were doing, what they thought of her…but she could imagine the last one far too well. Thinking of the kingdom only led her to the heart wrenching thoughts of her parents, and she hunched her head over as the tears began to form.
Cal tilted his head. “Why would you stay then?”
She lifted her head and blinked quickly. She shrugged at his question. “I don’t know.” She didn’t want to bother explaining the increasingly indecisive thoughts forming in her mind.
She looked at the ground again as he went back to cutting, and found herself pondering the possibilities of her staying in Seenparay again. But the idea was so foolish, and it was a death sentence. She needed to leave, she had no choice. She’d be leaving her friends in the village, and she knew that, but what other choice did she have? This kingdom was nothing but dangerous.
She looked at Cal. She hardly knew him, but he really had been more than kind to her. She’d be leaving him behind too. He seemed to have his life figured out, but still, it was dangerous to stay here. Anywhere in this kingdom was dangerous for a Shifter, no matter how often he moved.
Her heart sank at the thought. Maybe he’d… Cal began opening his mouth to probably speak about tomorrow’s hunting plans, but she cut him off. “Would you leave with me?”
He lifted his head from the deer. “What?”
She looked at him closely, her eyes wide. “When I fly to Chaiaysa, or Gyamon, would you want to come too? Would you come with me?”
He bit the inside of his cheek for a long moment before answering her. “You mean like you’d carry me with you?”
She nodded. “I know you have no reason to join me, we haven’t known each other long and you barely know me, but…” She breathed out. “I don’t know. You’re one person I can at least save from all of this.” She shrugged her shoulders. “And I think it’d be fun. We’d have each other, at least, despite being in a foreign country.” She gave him a small smile.
He stayed silent for a moment, looking into the fire. “I’ve lived here my whole life.”
She rubbed her arm. “Me too. But. We have the option to leave. Neither of us have anything left here…” She watched him nervously. “I think we get along well enough to be travel partners,” she added quietly before letting out a soft giggle.
He stayed quiet.
“I don't know." She bit her lip and tilted her head. "Just an idea.”
After more silence, he replied. “I would. I’d stay with you.”
She smiled a much wider smile with lifted brows, almost surprised. “You would?”
He looked at her, the two locking eyes for a brief moment. “I would.”
She nodded and exhaled slowly, trying to hide her excitement. The thought of him joining her comforted her in a way she wasn't expecting. She looked up at him again with eager eyes and then back down at the fire, thinking of all of the countries they would travel to. Chaiaysa first, then Gyamon, then Athreta and wherever else their desires took them.
But still, the thoughts of those new adventures did little to put out the growing pain she felt for her people in her heart. She couldn't stop herself from silently questioning her departure, and questioning abandoning her people. But again, she did her best to brush the seemingly irrational thoughts away. She needed to leave.