CHAPTER THIRTY: AN ODD REQUEST

The only sound in the vicinity was the wind brushing past his ears. The sting in his cheek from his teeth biting into the soft flesh didn’t distract him from the turmoil of emotions that tore through him, hope and fear was at the utmost in his mind, but it was more complicated than that, especially with Evany and Jerry. A way back...

He wanted to go back, but couldn’t. Would they go back without me?

He opened his mouth to speak, “I—“

“I think Kara is right,” Tyas said with a firm voice, his face full of calculations. “If and I heavily emphasize if here, if there is a way back. It would give us options. But nevertheless, the men from the fort would be on the hunt for us, and anything we can find to keep them from locating us is a plus at the moment. Are we agreed then?”

Calin was taken by surprise, but nodded.

“Then good,” Tyas said. “I’ll get the map we got from the fort. So get ready to leave.”

With that, Tyas left and slipped back into the cave. Calin was still reeling from the possible chaos that could come from the course of action that was just set in motion. The hope of it excited him, but the moment he would reveal that he was going to stay with Tyas and Kara on this side, what would happen then? But he decided to see it play out. He would deal with the chilli pepper in the room if it explodes.

He wiped the sweat from his forehead and moved towards the cave. But a hand grabbed his arm. Kara was standing there, clear conflict written over her face. Then fear flashed over her. It made him pause.

The girl seemed to take in a deep breath and in a quivering voice she asked,

“Calin, why did Tyas talk to you like you came from somewhere in this strange place?”

The question caught him off guard and he recoiled and stammered, “Kara—”

“He is wrong right?” the girl blurted out, her eyes searching.

Shocked, Calin tried to think of something to say, or how to explain the complex things that had happened to him. Not to mention the mystery of his life before Lamb’s Crest that still continued to elude him. But the way she looked at him, made it clear that it would shatter the foundation she was holding onto throughout all the madness. And considering the strong mind of the girl, it got to him that this was shaking her.

His shoulders drooped as he sighed. “Kara, in a way I wish I could just say he is wrong. But I—” He stopped and shook his head. “No, never mind. Let’s go back into the cave. We have to pack our gear.”

But Kara’s body started trembling as she pleaded. “Calin, please... I need to know.”

He was taken aback. But before he could say anything, Tyas came through the opening of the cave and said, “Guys I’m sorry, but we need to get going.”

But when Kara didn’t move, Calin stayed as well.

“Now!” Tyas growled. His face was an impatient mask.

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In defeat, Calin slipped his hand over Kara’s shoulder and she looked at him, her eyes brimming with questions. He shrugged. It would have to wait. He motioned with his head to the cave and she nodded slightly and pulled away from his hand. Her figure disappeared into the cave.

He gave Tyas a firm stare, but the man just silently followed the girl in to get everything ready.

***

At the fire, Calin sat with his backpack under his arm. Kara was studying the map but stayed silent. Her frown was contorting her face and it was certain she was not in a good mood.

After a minute, she threw her hands up and said,

“Agh! This map doesn’t help me. The way my group left Mesa Versee was through a tunnel. But I don’t know where it is on the map.”

Tyas moved closer to the map, pointed to a place and said,

“That is Needlewood Village... the place where you were held prisoner. And that over there is my estimate of where Mesa Versee possibly could be. But how we get there through the mountains is the problem.”

Kara puffed up her cheeks and blew it out to one side. “As I said, there’s a tunnel that’s easy to follow from the Ruins themselves, but I’ll have to go there to see if I can find the place where we dropped our rope.”

“So that’s decided,” Tyas said and shouldered his backpack. Then we leave right away.”

Jerry played with a smooth little stone, flipping it in his hand. He squeezed it as Tyas moved and asked, “What I can’t understand is your hurry in all this? Why do we have to leave now? The sun is not even up yet.”

The rustling stopped as everyone stared at Tyas. Calin just waited, curious himself. A flash of anger passed over Tyas’ face as he said,

“Don’t you get anything? Everything we did at the fort just painted a big bull’s eye on us. On top of that, with Calin insisting on not killing those two guards, we left witnesses. One of which recognized me and Calin. Is it not clear that staying is dangerous?”

Other than the fire crackling, silence filled the cave. As one, everybody got their travelling gear and moved to the cave exit. The sudden wordless action clearly caught Tyas by surprise, but Calin patted him on the shoulder and said,

“Everybody is scared, you know? Heck, I am terrified. But that aside, this cave was our first safe haven in the last few days. They get what you are saying, trust me. But ease up on them a little.”

A small frown settled on Tyas, but a moment later the tension just ebbed away off of his features. A little wry smile replaced it as the man said,

“For someone who is terrified, you sure are holding up well.”

“Ha ha... Funny,” Calin said, not holding back the sarcasm from the comment. “But I guess I don’t really have a choice in the matter.”

Tyas only chuckled and bumped him on the shoulder before slipping out of the cave.

***

With the rain having stopped, the dark forest seemed all the more gloomy, setting Calin on edge. He followed Tyas and Kara, but kept his focus on the surroundings. The bare minimum light that was filtering through the openings in the forest canopy, accentuated the huge roots of the strange big trees that seemed a bit out of place in the forest that was far more normal sized.

As the hour passed, it was clear some areas had many of the huge trees. Then again, there came stretches that contained none.

But the deep shadows in the many thick arms of those trees made him swallow his saliva with difficulty. He couldn’t imagine being hunted by the Nighthounds through that forest. Fair enough, with Jerry and his substantial climbing skills there would be options, but the rest of the party he wasn’t so sure.

He was suddenly exceedingly glad that he had, had the courage to go back to defeat that young Nighthound at Needlewood village.

Up ahead, the mountains started twisting to the right. Kara leaped up onto one of the big roots of a tree and dashed up to its starting point. Calin was unsure what she was doing and immediately unsheathed his sword. But seeing Tyas unhurried attitude, he relaxed and slipped his weapon back into place.

“It’s too dark to be sure,” Kara called down from her vantage point. “But I think this was the place where we came out two weeks ago. Bring a flashlight.”

Without pause, Jerry ran past him and clambered up to where Kara was. And with that, a light beamed into the darkness and illuminated the side of the cliff.

But certain enough, where the major bend in the mountain was, twenty metres up, there was an oval hole in the rock. A modern rope hanged from it to the ground.