Chapter

Trouble

Unpredictable. They sweep over the land like a plague. Those goblins, sick goblins. They bring only desolation and death. They can sense us, they can smell us, they will always find us.

Their presence of mind grows, and with it their cleverness. All they devote their thoughts to is more ways to destroy us, kill us, trap us like animals. Will the savagery ever end? Can it?

The twisted beasts have ruined this world, infested it. They hide behind every tree, upon every branch, they are always watching and there is no escaping them.

-“Doc” Vorran Date: 10 years post poisoning end of Anolbee.

Long swaying grass brushes against my ankles and lays under my bare feet. My eyes are shifty, my heart’s racing and my stomach is fluttering, I’m nervous. Why am I nervous? Is it what Wren said? I don’t know, maybe I don’t want to face that everyone thinks I am, including myself, selfish. That’s Talea, selfish, only thinking of what she wants and to the void with anyone else. A pit forms inside my chest that tells me I’m going to get them killed. I try to start idle conversation to take my mind off it.

I bite my lip for a second then a topic comes to mind. “Lesedi, refresh my memory. How does the whole bond mate thing work?”

Lesedi rolls her eyes. “Talea I’ve explained this to you a dozen times already.”

My shoulders shrug as grass swishes against my bare toes. “I’m not good at listening.” I glance over at Alaric and elbow him. He glares at me.

Lesedi gathers her patience. “During adolescence our brains are maturing. It prunes itself to specify our minds to what we’re best at. It’s why we’re so proficient at the skills we gain mastery over. But after adulthood we have a hard time learning anything new.”

Alaric is looking up at the puffy white clouds contrasting the blue sky. “Like how Father can carve better and faster than anyone else. But no matter how hard Mother tries she can’t teach him to cook.”

Lesedi laughs. “Well, I think that’s also partly due to Uncle Trigan’s stubbornness but yes. During this process our brains send out a psionic signal that radiates from us. It’s called the beacon. Its purpose is to seek out a compatible neurological profile. When a congruent mind is found the two gravitate towards each other. Other factors come into play to establish genetic compatibility. Amazingly, all this happens within blinks of an eye.”

My face scrunches together. “Your neuro what now?”

Lesedi takes another deep breath to control her frustration. “Our brains find our ideal mate and draws them to us.”

I jerk my hands into the air. “See why couldn’t you just say that to begin with?”

Lesedi rubs her temples. “Talea, when you’re an adult in twenty years what will you be skilled at? You can’t make a life out of sarcasm and snark.”

I gesture my pointer finger towards her. “Sarcasm, snark, and rope juggling thank you very much."

Lesedi rolls her eyes. “Are you going to be a festival performer and make a living twirling rope and hurling insults?" Her voice strains with exercising patience. “I’m trying to teach you. If you would only listen.”

I cross my arms. “Hmm.” I looked forwards to the tree line. “So, what? There’s one other person in the world that’s perfectly compatible for us and us for them and that’s it? No do-overs?”

Lesedi’s voice raises an octave with frustration. “It’s not like we’re doomed to be alone if we don’t find one. People fall in love and get married and live happy lives without a bond mate all the time. It depends on the singularity of their neural pattern and brain chemistry. A person can have just one bond mate or many of them. Logically it makes sense. If you’re an average person you have more potential bond mates. It’s all about finding a person who is compatible with you specifically. I call it the science of true love.”

My face contorts into an image of disgust as I stuck my finger in my mouth to mimic vomiting.

Lesedi shakes her head and her voice changes to a monotone. “I shudder at the thought of who might be your bondmate.”

I smile and cock my head to the side. “Meh, I probably don’t have one.”

I kick a rock with the toe of my boot. The more unique you are, the more unique your bondmate needs to be. I guess that makes a sort of sense, a calm, quiet, well-mannered boy wouldn’t be compatible with a person like me. I wouldn’t be happy with him either. I try to picture in my mind the kind of man for me, but I can’t picture anything. Everyone around here is too sensible, too safe, content to keep their heads down and just find a place to live safe. That’s not what I want, I want someone wild, untamable, a little dangerous. Like I said, he’s not out there, and I’m ok with that.

Lesedi mutters under her voice. “That’s for the best.”

✽✽✽

We reach the tree line of the vast towers of purple bark. They’re so beautiful and majestic. Off to our left we see a figure, a person. They stomp towards us until close enough in view to identify.

It’s a man dressed in indigo armor. His hair, which might have been blue, is shaved to the scalp. All that we cam see is a small shade of color on his dark skin. He holds a vast array of weaponry strapped to his person. His eyes are narrow and grim as he approaches us with caution.

“What are you children doing here?” His voice is harsh and strong.

I look him in the eye with seething indignation. “I’m twenty years old, I’m no child.”

The man laughs. “Miss, I’m thirty-two and my commander still calls me sprout. You’re a child. Now leave the area before you get hurt.”

I cross my arms and fix a hard glare on him. “Who do you think you are to tell me what to do?”

The strange man has a sword strapped to his hip as large as Lesedi’s leg. Of course, you can do that with numinium. “I am Captain Bin Gerggs I carry in company the twenty third regiment of The Sky Legion’s twelfth brigade. My squad and I were separated.”

Alaric’s eyes gloss over with worry now. The Sky Legion; they never come around unless there’s trouble. The last time we had seen one was when Echo was eight. She had only been with us for a few months. Despite years of relatively peaceful days, a group of nightstalkers were attacking the trade roads in the day. They tore apart caravans and the outlands almost starved. We couldn’t even leave our homes to trade among the other farms. A lot of people died in Gerafar that year. We were fortunate Wren always insists on growing and storing more food than we need. Not everyone had the benefit of that kind of foresight.

After two long months the Sky Legion had arrived and took care of it. We heard screams for days as a battle raged in the outlands. After killing the raging nightstalkers the Sky Legion burned some of the forest in their territory to send a message. The ground soaked with blood and by year’s end the moon grass had consumed the bodies. The nightstalkers have respected our agreement ever since, for the most part.

Down by a small town like Gerafar in the south of the world a few deaths now and again go unnoticed. They only send the Legion if nightstalker attacks are enough to threaten the balance as a whole. This is a fact that has always itched at my temper. Deaths don’t matter until they unbalance a spread sheet.

Alaric stays calm, I feel Lesedi fill with fear and clutch my hand. It’s never a good sign to see a man in armor. “Why are you in our neck of the woods?” Alaric asks as casual as he can manage.

The man stays serious and alert. His face is hard and cold but I can see fear behind his eyes. He debates with himself as to whether to say anything, but the panic in him is too strong. “Arinos has fallen.”

I gasp and look to Lesedi, she has a hand over her mouth, her eyes are glistening. Alaric remains as stoic as he can, his throat muscles gulp with anxiety. They look like they’re both paralyzed with fear.

I keep my voice steady. “How could that happen?”

Gerggs stays alert and on task. “We aren’t sure yet. All we know is somehow it was compromised. No survivors. We suspect the culprit fled here. Go home. This is no place for children.” With his eyebrows forcefully crinkled he marches away.

Lesedi’s eyes water but she puts on her mask. “We have to go home.”

I narrow my eyes. “And do what? Arinos has fallen. Ok, then what? There’s nothing we can do.”

Lesedi takes a step back. “Talea, he just told us the butcher could have fled to these very woods. We should go home. This is too dangerous.”

I cross my arms in front of my chest. “How is it one nightstalker could be any more dangerous than all the other monsters that live in the woods?”

Alaric’s cheeks flush red and he points an angry finger at me. “For one, this one is smart enough to breach the impenetrable city of Arinos. That’s never happened before. An ordinary nightstalker is bad enough, but one with a brain in its skull? That’s disastrous.”

I sigh. “You’re right. It’s too dangerous out here.” Lesedi’s face relaxes with relief. “You two should go home.”

She clenches her hands into fists planted at her sides. “What about you?”

I shrug. “I’ll be fine. I always am, remember? Now, go home and tell Wren I was being unreasonable. She’ll understand. You won’t get in trouble. Now go.” I turn around and resume walking into the tree line.

Lesedi grabs my shoulder and spins me around with surprising force. “What is wrong with you? A stupid walk in the woods isn’t worth this! Why is this so important to you?”

I laugh and shake my head. “Honestly, I don’t know. It’s just a feeling.”

Lesedi sighs. “A feeling. You’ve never been a planner."

I puff my cheeks and breathe out clueless air. Lesedi’s gaze shifts away in thought. Her chest sinks, she comes to a decision she knows to be the wrong one, but is choosing to go ahead with it anyways. I’ve seen that look dozens of times; it almost always ends with me getting her into trouble.

Her shoulders slump and her head drops. “Fine. Let’s go. We’re burning daylight.” She marches off into the woods with purpose.

I follow after her. “I told you to go home!”

Lesedi waves away my protest. “Bah! I’m learning to be disobedient.”

A weight starts crushing down on my chest, a foreboding awareness comes over me like a dark cloud. Guilt looms over me, but it doesn’t matter. I work hard to shake the feeling away; everything will be fine.

Alaric enters the wooded border with us now clutching his bow in hand. “If you two get us killed out here I will be especially furious.”

I smirk. “You could go home.”

Alaric raises his eyebrows. “And face my mother’s wrath when I come home alone but leave you two out here? No thank you, I’d rather face the nightstalkers.”

The woods are still with silence. Not even a breeze gusts through the trees, no birds chirp in the canopy. The quiet is deafening. Our bodies stiffen with tension. Every twig that cracks under foot elicits a knee jerk reaction.

I try my best to start some conversation in hopes of distracting us, but I’m terrible at it. “So Lesedi, you’re our resident genius. How do you think the nightstalkers got to Arinos?” There we go Talea, talk about a massacre, that’ll lighten the mood.

Lesedi shakes her head with wide eyes of disbelief. “I have no idea. It’s supposed to be impossible. It’s a valley completely encircled by unbreakable walls Like a bowl. There’s no way in or out, all vulnerabilities were sealed a century ago.”

“Hmmm.” I purse my lips in thought. I’m looking for something. What am I looking for? It itches at the back of my neck. “Maybe there was a traitor. You know, somebody got crazy and let nightstalkers in.”

Lesedi glares at me. “Really?” Her tone is flat and humorless. “Suns Talea. Why in the world would anyone help nightstalkers? Especially since they would have killed everyone including the supposed traitor.”

I step over a fallen log and my feet squish into some cold muck. “I don’t know. People do weird things.”

Lesedi shakes her head. “Aside from the fact that there is no way in, this would not happen in Arinos. Arinos was our symbol. Our salvation. The valley was discovered by a survey team trying to scope out new resources. It was perfect.”

I look off into the distance not paying attention. Where is it? What is it? I see something flick past a tree, but when focusing harder nothing is there. “Huh? What?”

Lesedi sighs with irritation. “Arinos was our assurance that regardless of what happens to us skysingers will live on. Our history, our knowledge, our culture, all of it will live on in Arinos. Nightstalkers could raze the world to the ground. Arinos would still stand amidst the ashes. No matter what happens, ultimately the nightstalkers would lose. But, but-“ Her voice catches in her throat.

I stop and put an arm around her shoulder. “But now that Arinos is gone, anything could happen. The nightstalkers took the last thing from us we thought they could.”

Lesedi nods.

I reach that inevitable moment where consolation becomes awkward. I pull my arms away and shove my hands in my pants pockets. ”It’s not so bad. They didn’t take our hope away. We still have the other cities. We’re still here.”

Lesedi shakes her head and whispers “Change begets change. When the first leaf falls from the first tree the swing into anolbee is inevitable.”

I scrunch my nose, more riddles. I know there was supposed to be something profound in it if I cared enough to figure it out. But my mind has bigger things to focus on. Where is it? Among the trees I feel comfortable, I feel free. I take deep breaths of fresh forest air taking the dangerous serenity into my lungs.

Bright lime green grass grows in patches along the ground with bright yellow mushrooms poking out now and again. In the dark moongrass glows, I tested this once. I took a clump of it and brought it home and turned off all the lights. It was a bright shining pale green in my closet.

I remember being sad when I discovered moongrass really did glow. Nearly the entire land of hills and plains surrounding our home is covered with it. I felt despondent that I will never get to see that beautiful glowing hillside. After that I chipped bark off trees, captured bugs, and all sorts of other plants and small animals. I secretly stowed them in my closet, most the time I didn’t forget about them.

Several bugs lit up bright as any light. One flying insect I remember was the most beautiful. In day light it looked like any normal flyer, it had big round wings and small antennae that curved backwards. But in darkness the wings, just the wings, glowed. I once snuck up to the door after bedtime and peeked through the eye hole. I couldn’t see much; my field of vision was only a small part of hillside. I remember seeing so much darkness and yet so much light. My aunt and uncle soon put an end to my experiments. They were afraid I would develop too much of a fascination with nightlife.

They were too late; I had created a fascination that has stuck with me for a decade. It’s sat on my heart making me sick with longing. I try to push it back with everything else, but that gets harder to do with every passing year.

I look around and identify all the things I tested earlier in life. There are so many plants and insects that I know light up in darkness. This place must be breathtaking at night.

Lesedi looks around. “It’s a little dark here. Don’t you think we should go home now?”

I shake my head. “Don’t worry so much. It’s only dark because the tree canopy blocks out the light. We’re hours away from sunset. Besides, I haven’t seen anything except plants.”

Lesedi leans down and plucks a white starflower, it glitters in the dark like stars are supposed to. Not that I’ve ever seen any. “What are you looking for Talea?”

I step forward with my head craned upward at the tree canopy. The leaves glow too. “I don’t know. I’ll know it when I see it.” I can hear her disapproving sigh.

We continue our trek into the forest keeping a careful eye on the canopy light. Lesedi gasps with shock, I whip around feeling like my heart will pop from my chest. “What is it?” My eyes dart every way looking for danger.

Lesedi skips towards a large plant sticking from the mulched ground alone. Rays of golden light stream from breaks in the canopy that make it shimmer. It grows upright like a jar made of petals that towers over me by two feet. It’s a bright purple color with a bold white stripe down the middle. Thick roots make the ground bulge in place. It looks familiar but I can’t quite place the beautiful sight.

My sister dances in place with awe. “Don’t you see what this is?”

I raise one eyebrow. “A big purple plant?”

Lesedi shakes her head with eyes bulging. “It’s an oovak Talea! They’re usually green and brown. I’ve never even heard of one with this coloring!”

Alaric whistles. “I’ve never seen that before. But I harvest oovak from the forest edges, not this deep.”

Lesedi can’t break her eyes away. She’s memorizing the sight of it. “They’re native to the north. Over the generations they’ve slowly spread down here but it’s nothing like the northern forests.”

Alaric scratches his head. “How do you know?”

I sigh. “She read a book. I know, because I had to hear her tell me about the book.”

Lesedi smacks me with a playful hand. Her eyes fall upon a bush speckled with purple dust. She squeals, once more making me flinch. “Purple pollen!” She pulls a white handkerchief from a pocket on her not-a-dress veya, and wipes the bush clean. “Oovak pollen is blue. Not purple. This plant must be a mutation of some sort!”

I frown. “Why do oovak only grow in forests?”

She answers without looking away from the fascinating plant. “Oovak are shade plants. They wither and die in bright sunlight.”

I pinch my chin in thought. “Ok, then how did oovak get here? Between here and the northern forest is plains and rivers, right? There’s no forest out there, just a lot of shrubs and short plants. Nothing that can shade an oovak.”

She pauses and looks at me with genuine surprise. “I don’t know. That’s quite an intelligent question Talea.” She thinks for a moment and shrugs. “I really don’t know. Perhaps someone brought it here, but who and why?” She pauses again and smiles at me. “I knew you were smarter than you let on.”

I pat Lesedi on back and smile. “Don’t let word get around.”

Lesedi goes back to inspecting the plant. “We may have just discovered a new species Talea! This is amazing! If an oovak can even change the color of its pollen there could be so many possibilities of what it might do!”

“That’s a conversation for another day.” Alaric coughs with obvious discomfort. “Talea, I see barkweed in that tree right there. Why don’t you go catch some? Lesedi and I will go get green geckle. I think there’s some up ahead. We’ll meet back at the base of that tree when we’re all done. While you’re up there, check on the suns for us.”

I nod, Alaric and Lesedi saunter off to find the green geckle, I can see my twin bouncing with glee the entire way. I look over to the enormous rohedan tree, high up I see a large mossy blue mass wrapped around the trunk. The tendrils cling to the bark and squiggle while feasting on the nutrients in the sap.

I approach the bottom of the tree and reach my hand out to press my palm against the rough surface. The bark is an electric purple, in the cracks aqua blue sap seeps through. The rohedan trees are unique, they bleed blue. The sap is the ultimate medicine, it cures almost any disease. It also unfortunately is exclusive to nightstalker territory.

It’s a long way up to even the first branch. In hindsight I should have brought rope or something, but thinking ahead is not my strong suit. At least I can dig my fingers into the gaps in the bark and get a hand hold. I reach high above my head and grip the thick tree bark. Then I pull my bare feet up and dig my toes into the cracks. It’s a good day to be barefoot. I’ll be sure to point it out the next time Lesedi ridicules me for not wearing shoes. I make my way up the bark with focus, choosing handholds and foot holds with caution as I scale the enormous tree.

At least once I reach the first branch others will be much closer together. It will get easier. So long as that barkweed doesn’t scurry around too much. Though I can already see it detaching its tendrils and moving on to another spot. I curse under my breath and hoped it won’t decide to jump.

✽✽✽

LESEDI:

A wind howls through the tree canopy high above us and I shudder. A chill hangs in the air. Lune is getting close now; soon the world will go dark and cold. I look around, the floor of the forest is surprisingly alive for a place so devoid of sunlight. The moongrass grows in symmetrical swooping shapes following the rays that break through the canopy. Crimson ferns hug the perimeter of trees, indigo moss creeps low and wispy in the shadow of the woods, it looks like a mat made of tiny feathers. I can see the blue of barkweed high on the tree trunks, not to mention the sprigs of green geckle that spread out like a carpet in large circular patches.

Wait. Green geckle is everywhere. Why are we still walking?

Alaric strides next to me with his bow gripped firm in his hands. He looks around with a face full of anxiety at the rays of light managing to break through the canopy in sparse streaks. His fingers drum against the wood of the grip. With his free hand he rubs the back of his neck. My eyes widen. A telltale sign that Alaric is feeling guilty. Something is wrong.

I stop in my tracks. My long braid swishes against my back. “What’s going on?”

Alaric pauses. The corners of his mouth turn down. Shame. “What? Uh, nothing. We’re getting green geckle remember?”

I cross my arms and raise one eyebrow. “The truth Alaric. You know I can tell when you’re lying.”

Alaric’s chest falls. “I can’t tell you. Let’s just keep moving.”

I plant my feet in place mimicking Talea’s stubbornness. “I’m not moving until you tell me what’s happening.”

Alaric lets out a half-hearted chuckle. “Nothing. Don’t be so paranoid. Come on.”

I tilt my head and raise one eyebrow. “Lie.”

Alaric swallows. Fear. His voice comes out quiet and timid. “I had to Lesedi. I had to.”

I look around trying to see what I had missed while absorbed in my thoughts. I push aside the swirling hive of observations in my mind and focus, and then I see it. It isn’t quite as dark here as where we came from. The tree canopy is thinner, more sunlight is streaming through the trees. We’re near the border of the woods.

I gasp with shock and hurt. “You’re taking us home! You’re abandoning Talea!”

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Alaric’s face flushes with red as he shouts up into the trees. “I had to Lesedi!”

I begin stomping back towards Talea. “What is wrong with you?!”

Alaric grabs my arm. I spin into the force and face him with rage boiling under my skin. He flinches but shouts. “Mother told me to!” My eyes widen. Alaric’s face calms but his jaw is still clenched with anger. “Talea is reckless. Mother told me if she began acting irrationally to get you and I out of here and back home.”

My chest feels heavy like a weight is crushing me. “She told you to leave Talea?” Alaric nods. “How? Why? Why would she do that? Talea could die out here!”

Alaric’s temperament softens. He swings his bow around his torso and claspes both my hands in his. “You could die out here. You don’t get it yet do you Lesedi? You’re brilliant, intuitive, kind, and can learn faster than anyone we’ve ever heard of. You will change the world someday. Of all people that have the potential to fix our problems, it’s you. I’m sorry, I love Talea. But none of us can allow you to be harmed for her sake. You’re too important.”

I rip my hands from Alaric’s and break into a run back to my sister. Alaric comes charging after me. I shake my head as if to shake the storm of emotions from my mind. Tears rush my eyes obscuring my view. I push one foot after another pushing back into the depths of the woods, brush and twigs scratch my face but I don’t notice.

“She’s gifted.” They always said. “Destined for great things.” “Someone like her only comes around once every ten lifetimes.” The old voices ring around in my mind with flashing memories.

I learned to read at age two, at once I was addicted to learning. That’s all I ever wanted, to learn something new, as I grew older my hunger for more knowledge became ravenous. But that’s all I want, to learn. That spark when something new sits in front of my eyes and the whole world looks a little different because of it.

I don’t want fame, glory, or to save the world somehow like all those people think I should. Inventing some magical solution that will end a thousand years of oppression and conflict. It’s ludicrous. My ambition is to join the Safehaven Scholars Guild, they study within the largest library in the world. I’m not like Talea, I don’t want adventure or excitement, I just want to learn.

Talea keeps pushing me for us to make our way to Safehaven, pick up and go. Next year I tell her, I’ve told her that for three years running. There’s something about embarking into the real world that terrifies me, besides the nightstalkers. I keep trying to summon the courage to go, but I’m not ready yet. I like our little home in the ground, I like our family, our little bubble of the world. I don’t know if I’ll ever be ready to leave it, but I can’t tell Talea that.

I trip over a tree root and squish into some mud. Sitting up I see Alaric standing over me. I slam fists down into the muck spattering it across my face and my cousin’s clothes. “I make my own decisions!” Pausing to take a deep breath I pull myself up from the mud and conjure a stoic face. “The ends don’t justify the means. Perhaps I will change the world, perhaps not. Regardless, I will not compromise who I am. Come or don’t, I’m helping my sister.”

I turn around, my veya panels are heavy with mud, my pants are wet and stick to my legs. I march off in the direction we had gone in the first place. Alaric pulls his bow into alert position, gives an audible sigh, and follows me.

He looks side to side taking in watchful observations of our surroundings. “Fine. But you will listen to everything I say. Understand?”

I nod. “Only if it doesn’t involve abandoning Talea.”

He rolls his eyes. “Fine. That girl will be the death of you.”

I wave my hand at him and push on. “You’re so mellow dramatic.” Though the pit in my stomach disagrees with my levity.

✽✽✽

TALEA:

Finally! Stupid barkweed. I stuff the rebellious blue moss into my sack and tie it shut. Suns those are such a pain to catch. They squirm away and once you grab them, if you don’t have a good hold and immediately sack them, they slip away. It’s like trying to grab Zoey once she’s all soaped up and escaped her bath.

I look around before starting my descent, I don’t see Alaric or Lesedi anywhere. How far away did they go for that green geckle? How much time has passed? I realize I should climb a bit higher to check on the sky. I can hardly see any light below the canopy, but forests are like that, especially with how far in we are. I can’t believe I still haven’t found it, whatever it is.

I tied the sack to my belt; it twitches and moves with the feisty tendrils trying to escape. I pull myself up one branch after another until I reach the flat tree canopy. Pushing the leaves aside and standing on the branch I pull myself up to prop my head above the canopy. It’s a spectacular sight. The leaves seem to go on forever in an endless ocean of purple in every shade. The colors from the sky cause the canopy to explode with glistening patterns. I had no idea the leaves were so waxy and reflective.

I fall from my admiration with an abrupt realization. Colors in the sky. Oh no. I look to the horizon, the suns are beginning to set. No. No. No. How? Already? Sure, the days are getting shorter but I didn’t think we’d been here that long. A sea of red and orange spreads across the sky with some mingling strands of pink. Violet clouds streak across the sky like a brush of paint.

I wish I could stay in this canopy admiring the sunset, I could sit and watch the colors fall away and the stars come out. I long to see stars, I saw an illustration in one of Lesedi’s books but it isn’t the same. It takes all the willpower I have but I fight the need. With my heart pounding in my chest I climb down the tree as quick as I can scale the enormous branches. It nags at me the whole way down that no matter how fast I go it won’t be enough.

✽✽✽

My feet land in the dirt with a crack of small twigs beneath my toes. I look around but I can’t see Alaric or Lesedi anywhere. Why aren’t they back yet? I can’t just leave, not without knowing they’re safe. A flicker of something appears in the corner of my eye again, I turn to catch it, nothing is there. I have a feeling this time though, whatever it was it’s what I’m looking for.

“Aaaah ooo oh eh ah ooo.” It’s the high-pitched melody of a young oovak. They only “sing” when a creature steps on a part of their root system buried just under the top soil. The song draws in stupid prey, I see why, it’s beautiful in a disturbing haunting way. It’s almost hypnotic, and means something is out here. Deep down I knew it wasn’t Lesedi and Alaric.

Another sound bellows from behind me. I turn around. “Kaaaaa. Go kaaaaaa. oo kaaaaaaa.” It’s the deep throaty song of a fully grown oovak. Another one has been triggered.

My heart pounds in wild thumps against my chest, sweat beads on my brow. The bushes rustle to the right of me, my body tenses waiting for the threat to appear. Alaric and Lesedi burst through them. I breath out a sigh of relief, but the anxiety stays. Lesedi has lost her stoic expression and shudders with an internal explosion of blind fear.

Her voice bursts out as a high-pitched shriek. “Oovak are going off everywhere! We’ve got to go Talea!”

My heart pounds with the adrenaline and I smile. “Let’s move.”

Excitement shoots through my body igniting every nerve, my muscles burn with the movement as if they’ve been wanting to do this for so long. I hold Lesedi’s hand as we bolt through the brush and the forest comes alive. Oovak songs harmonize and echo around us like a chorus warning. My body jolts as I come to an abrupt stop and yank Lesedi with me, Alaric kicks up dirt behind us following suit. She opens her mouth but I shake my head and put a finger to my lips. Pointing forwards, I show her the blurs of white moving among the trees, nightstalkers. If we continue going back the way we came they’d ambush us for sure.

I tap Lesedi on the shoulder with a silent motion, nightstalkers have pristine hearing. I point to the rays of light coming from the tree canopy. Lesedi follows my finger for a minute, her eyes widen as she gets what I’m trying to say. In a graceful quiet motion, she kneels down on the ground and sticks her fingers in the dirt. She starts drawing little lines that I’m sure mean something. Though I didn’t really know what.

Lesedi stands back up after her problem solving and points in a new direction. It’s impressive but not surprising, she’s memorized every map that’s been in every book. I never doubted her for a second. Without hesitation we change course following Lesedis directions.

We run as fast as we can carry ourselves, through bush and mud we push forwards. Wispy low branches smack us in the face, huge ferns pull across our faces with their big spiked leaves, something with thorns tears at our clothing. We keep running because it’s all we can do. No one really stands a chance against a group of nightstalkers. If we have to fight, we will die. I cut the sack of barkweed loose to lighten my load, it isn’t much but every bit counts. I even consider with all seriousness ditching the clothes but it isn’t worth the time it would take. My fingers trail down to pat my rope stone. No. I’d sooner be running naked than unarmed.

Lesedi speaks in breathless whispers while she runs. “I don’t understand. It’s not night yet. I can still see sunlight.”

I shake my head. “It doesn’t matter. This is their territory. They can come out if they want to.”

Alaric turns his eyes on me. Angry, hateful eyes. “Where were the suns when you checked?”

I look around checking for more threats, but just because we don’t see them doesn’t mean they aren’t there. “High above horizon. The sky was red. Beginning of sunset.”

Lesedi’s cheeks are turning pink. The most exertion she usually has is for her brain. She huffs. “Notice the angle and length of the shadows. My approximation suggests one hour until complete darkness.”

Alaric’s voice fills with contempt for me. “There’s no way these monsters will let us leave once the world goes blue. That’s more than dark enough for them. We need to get out of here.”

“We’re going to die.” Lesedi whispers with a voice detached from herself.

I shake my head as determination fills me. “No, we’re not. I got you two into this. I’m going to get you out.”

The forest seems to shoot past me and the trees blur together. My thighs burn with the exertion, but it feels good. Sweat dampens my palm but I keep my grip on Lesedi’s hand. I will not let her go. I stay focused on the steps in front of me and the forest around me. The foliage is becoming easier to see, more light is getting through the canopy now. That’s good, it means we were getting closer to a border.

I look up towards the tree canopy and choke on my breath as well as my optimism. Crouching in the trees is an uncountable number of nightstalkers. I can see the soft glow of bright red eyes speckling across the shadows. It shakes my nerves to see their large sickly-looking bodies. Their long black claws and dead white hair creates a heinous image. They are the embodiment of our nightmares and as we run more of them appear along our path. We’re surrounded.

My voice trembles. “Lesedi, whatever you do, don’t look up.”

Lesedi’s eyes focus on the ground. “It’s too late Talea. I already did. Are there more of them now?”

I gulp and my voice raises its pitch. “No. We’re fine.”

She’s weakening from all the running. Lesedi lets out a raspy shallow breath. “Liar.”

A figure appears in front of us as if from nowhere and dirt flies towards it as we halt in our tracks. Before us stands an almost eight-foot-tall gray skinned behemoth; a sick, thin-lipped grin creeps up the face. It cranks its head back with the movement of a chuckle in its neck. It pauses and lets out a deafening scream so sharp it feels like our ears will bleed. The scream echoes in the forest barraging us, vibrating through our bodies to the core; a howl of vicious hate.

We’ve heard the blood screams before, underground in our beds. The screams fill the air at night while they hunt. The hideous sounds reverberate down into our home sometimes. In person, it’s so much more terrifying.

The scream stops with sudden silence, a whisper of a cackle follows. It’s toying with us. They all are. Why? This is sadistic, unsurprising for nightstalkers. The creature stands its ground staring at us with a smirk pasted on its lips. In a panic we look to our left and see no nightstalkers, so we run.

It’s all we can do. We know the blood scream means more will come. We have no options. Lesedi falls into a state of cold shock from the fear she’s drowning in. Her face becomes expressionless as she runs along with me like a doll being dragged. Tears fall from her cold eyes and move back towards her ears while she runs. Alaric’s brow lowers with determination as he clutches his bow so tight his knuckles pale.

I look towards Alaric. “Why aren’t you shooting any of them?!”

He has to yell to be heard over the wild hunter’s screams and chorus of oovk singing in the background. It’s deafening. “There are a lot more of them than I have arrows! I need to wait for when they actually start attacking us!”

We run towards the only direction that’s clear, it’s a trap, we all know it. No choice. There has to be something I can do, there has to be a choice. Galloping through bushes, twigs smacking our faces, dirt kicking up into our eyes, with every second it feels more hopeless. Red bulging cuts and scratches form up our arms and across our cheeks. Our muscles ache and burn, our chests are heaving our lungs searing. We can’t run forever. Eventually our bodies will give out and they will strike when we can’t even fight back.

I move my right hand to the loop of my belt and snap it open. The studded ball falls into my hand. I grip it with firm grasp of my life depending on it while I wrap the rope around my hands. Soon it will be time to dance.

The trees flash by us in a blur and my head feels light and disoriented. The wind picks up and beats against our faces. It’s getting colder, the light is getting lower, the forest floor looks red and purple from the sunset filtering through the canopy. The first sun is sinking to the ground. Try as we might; running as our lives depend on it, we still can’t find an exit from these woods. Every time we think we’re getting close we have to divert. It’s like they know exactly which way to steer us to keep us trapped.

More screams and screeches emanate from the canopy as the onlookers above are no longer silent observers. Their excitement is reaching new peaks, something is coming, this will all be over soon, and they know it.

We push on with Alaric at my right, glancing at him I can see sweat flooding from his flushed, red face. To my left I hear a scream, a skysinger scream. I squeeze my left hand and notice her fingers have slipped away. Lesedi is gone. I jerk to a stop again looking around, the excitement is gone from me and has been replaced by sickening fear.

“Where’s Lesedi?!” I scream with my eyes wide in panic. Sweat drips from my nose.

“She’s gone?!” Alaric halts looking around with wild eyes, defeat settles into him. If we go back for her, we lose precious time. If we go back for her, we will die. Without a second thought I rush back, she would do the same for me.

We have to trace back our steps while looking for her. I can feel the minutes ticking by and with every second that passes I feel our inevitable future closing in. It all happened so fast, how can she be so far away from us? My heart races as the trees fade into darkness. The colors of the sunset that were so vibrant a few minutes ago are now weakening into dark blue. We run with our eyes scanning the woods. She has to be here, somewhere.

“Help me!” We hear Lesedi scream with terror.

We charge through the brush not even bothering to push plants out of our way. Without noticing the thorns, the branches, the rocks, we plow through everything in our path. After minutes of panic we find her, in a trap. We find a deep hole that had been covered over with a thin layer of twigs, it mimicks the pitcher of an oocak. Clever. Unsettlingly clever. We stand over the edge peering down on her.

“Talea, Alaric, please…help me.” Lesedi begs in a pitiful state that breaks my heart. Her eyes are red and swollen from her frightful tears. Her chest heaves in short shallow breaths. I don’t think she can take anymore. She put everything she had in keeping a calm front, and now it’s all breaking apart.

“Don’t worry Les, we’ll get you out of there.” I force a smile into my voice and onto my face for her. I’ve given up hope of leaving this place, these horrific woods that appealed to me, they still do despite it all. My only goal now is to help Lesedi, we live in a hole she should not die in one. Words sift through my mind. If you make a mistake like this again, someone will die for it. The words of my aunt. Because of me Lesedi will die. But this is no time for self-recrimination. I have to focus on a solution not the problem.

I try to lie on my stomach and reach my hand down to my sister but the hole is too deep. I unwind my rope stone and lower it to her; she can’t keep a grip on it. Unsurprising, the entire purpose of the rope is for it to slide easily along the hands and body. Another scream pierces the forest air, and then another. The horde is closing in on us, there are so many. The light is now a wispy gray blue. The first sun has set, time is up. I pause and turn in a slow motion and look at the bushes to my left. I can sense something behind them, Lesedi can too.

“Wh…what is it Talea?” Lesedi’s lower lip trembles beyond her control. Her tears stop, but I think it’s because she has no more to shed.

“N…nothing…you’re gonna be ok.” I force an obvious fake smile onto my face and pat the side of the hole in reassurance.

“You’re lying!” Lesedi shrieks. She screams with an intensity I’ve never heard from her before. It echoes through the trees and almost matches the power of the nightstakers. “It’s one of them isn’t it? It’s, it’s a Nightstalker! I know it!”

Lesedi goes hysterical. Her fingers contort into claws and she grabs at the walls of the hole in chaotic movements. She throws herself against the hard walls of the hole in desperate attempts to scrape her way out. All she manages to do is harm herself. She pushes herself against the back wall of the hole, runs towards it, and jumps. Her body flies through the air with a jumping ability I didn’t know she had, but crashes into the wall three feet short of the surface. Her body falls to the ground and her head bashes into a rock. A bleeding gash breaks open on her forehead spilling a stream of blood down her face. She doesn’t even notice it, she continues to scream and kick and claw at anything and everything in the hole.

It reminds me of the wild animals that get caught, I watched a hort fall into an oovak pitcher once. They reach that point where they’re so afraid they lose all sense. My dear, brilliant, collected sister has now become one of these pitiful panicked animals.

“Get me out of here!” Lesedi screams so hard and so loud her entire face and neck flushes. Her eyes, no time. Must find a solution.

“Calm down Les.” I try consoling her but it doesn’t work. I doubt she even hears me. I turn to Alaric. “I’ll be right back.”

“Where are you going?” He grabs my arm afraid I’m about to do something stupid. He’s not wrong.

“I’m going to find something to pull her out of there.” I motion my head to point at Lesedi in the hole.

“Are you serious?! We don’t have time for you to run deeper into the woods!” Alaric shouts with so much frustration his cheeks are red.

I grip at my hair. “We don’t have a choice! We need to get her out of there! Now watch my sister and shoot any grayskin that comes near her or I swear on their graves I’ll push you in that hole when I get back!”

Alaric stops arguing and gives me a firm nod before setting up a defensive position by Lesedi. I shoot him a smile of gratitude and leap into the brush. Pushing brush aside I can hear Lesedi’s screams following me and mingling with the calls of the nightstalkers. I don’t have much time.

I keep my eyes open while I run, there has to be something nearby. A thick vine, a long branch, something. I push my way through this grisly timberland forcing myself into the walls of shrubs and prickly plants. My hands are bleeding but so is everything else. I propel through another thorny bush feeling nothing but raging desperation and find myself in a small clearing with part of a fallen tree.

A thin but long branch lies along the forest floor springing from the thick log. It could work if I can break it free. I unleashed my angry, terrified energy onto it, but as much as I pull and twist it won’t move. My thoughts scatter and panic. I pull out my weapon and grip the studded ball in my hand weaving my fingers along the smooth surface as best I can. Holding it high above my head, I bring it down with my full force onto the branch. All I manage to do is crush the exterior bark into stringy pulp.

I wrap the rope around my hands and swing it in tight circles above my head careful to not hit the brush. The ball twirls picking up speed. It spins around me in a metallic blue until I release my grip and tug it at the right moment sending the ball crashing down onto the branch. I hear a loud crack sound through the air. My hopes are dashed when I look closer and see all I did was form a small crack. That move would crash in the skull of a zigon. Why is the bark so tough?!

Tears stream from my eyes mixing with the dirt and grime on my cheeks. My chest heaves with anxiety, not for myself, but for Lesedi. I can’t let her die here, not in that hole. Behind me the shrubs rattle, I pause looking up, it’s here. The thing I’ve been looking for, it’s here? I turn around towards the noise, from inside the bush two blood red eyes stare back at me.

My lungs seize up afraid to make a single sound, my heart clatters with violent pumps in my chest. For what feels like an enduring eternity I stand motionless staring into those red eyes. I feel terrified but at the same time entranced by them, intimidated but enchanted. The eyes don’t move from the pervasive gaze.

Against all good sense I lean in towards the eyes, my ears twitch with its shallow breathing. The bush shivers and the eyes disappear. Disappointment washes over me when it should have been relief, maybe I am dumb.

Without warning from the scrub emerges the owner of those eyes. Moving with unnatural grace as if the bush melts from him like butter the nightstalker reveals himself. He towers over me by a whole head, I estimate he’s just under seven feet. His body is skinny, almost skeletal in structure, but he’s covered in lean muscle that smoothly coats him under light gray skin. It reminds me of ice flows in lune.

I gasp looking up at him. “You’re what I’ve been looking for.”

He nods with his shaggy white hair rustling above his shoulders. He looks like any other nightstalker down to the near nakedness, but he feels different. He seems like, almost, a person. Is that why he’s not attacking me? Why was I looking for a nightstalker? How did I even know he’s here?

It hits me like a wave slamming against my body knocking the air from my lungs. My entire body fills with a euphoric pain like I’m burning, but not with fire. The world around me begins to spin and howl. My heart races so hard I’m afraid it might stop altogether. My stomach lurches like I’m falling from a tree.

My vision explodes in a rainbow of colors. There’s no order to them, no pattern, just detonations of color filling the world around me. The spectrum leaps high into the sky like free flying birds, as if nothing can tie them down. It swirls around me with bright glowing dust sprinkling to the ground and disappearing. I look towards the nightstalker who has an expression of awe and wonder on his face. The chroma whirls around him and shatters one last time forming a circle above our heads. Then the hues disintegrate and everything goes still. All noise is gone. All vision is gone. Except for him. He and his red eyes alone in the stillness.

Everything snaps back to normal and I shake it from my head, no time. He stands before me looking as disoriented as I am. Before I can make sense of what just happened, I turn my attention back to the log. Lesedi.

My vigor renews as does my intensity, I pick up my weapon and swing it bringing the ball down with all the power I can muster onto the branch. All my smashing, cutting, and bludgeoning only gets me half way through. Splinters of wood fray out from the chopped-up dent I put in it. The bark is hard as stone, but once I reach the actual wood of the tree it’s much softer. The branch starts falling away but I lose hope again when I realize I have another layer of hard bark to smash through on the other side of it. Minutes are ticking by; I’ve already wasted too much time.

The nightstalker looks down at the branch then back up at me. He has no expression, no anger, murder, or frustration, neither is there any sort of elation or joy. He glances to his left then back at me, thinking for a moment he picks up the drooping branch and hands it to me. Trusting him for reasons I can’t understand I hold the branch. He takes a few steps and picks up a large heavy stone, one I wouldn’t be able to lift. He focuses on the halfway destroyed branch and lets out a slow breath. Then he heaves the stone down with unfathomable raw power. A loud crack sounds and it finally breaks away from the tree.

“Th…thank you.” I’m at a loss for words. He helped me. Why would he help me? What just happened? “Do you know how to get out? Without seeing more of your friends?”

The Nightstalker raises his claw-like hand and points in a direction. It’s North East, good, that’s in the direction of Lesedi. He still doesn’t speak. I wonder why but I have no time to dwell on the strange experience. I thank him while running away and leap back into the bush.

✽✽✽

LESEDI:

“I should have left her.” My voice is an exhausted whisper.

Alaric peeks over the hole. “Did you say something?”

The morbid inevitability of death binds me to the wall of this forsaken hole. I’m ensconced in a dark pit looking up at a blackening tree canopy. It’s dusk now. The blue tint from Onay covers the world sealing my fate.

I rock back and forth trying and failing to regain my composure. Wren was right. No. She couldn’t have been. Talea will save me, she always saves me. It’s how this works. It’s how this always has worked.

My mind drifts to when we were ten. I was obsessed with botany and had consumed the book Biology and Behavior of Carnivorous Flora that Wren bought me. I clutched the book tight to my chest while curiously wandering outside. Not that I needed it. I had memorized all the plant species within, but I loved showing Talea the pictures and comparing them to the specimens we found. She grumbled but always indulged me.

We were wandering by the creek and I found snapvines. The river dwelling plant digs itself into the rock bed. It has sweeping tendrils that spread out ready to catch anything that swims by. I was paying close attention to it; being sure to not step near its extensive web of fibers. I was so absorbed I didn’t notice a second one nearby.

With one swift motion the snapvine grabbed my ankle and dragged me under the water. Sure, I was in no danger of it eating me, I was far too large. But people aren’t eaten by snapvines, they’re drowned by them.

I was pulled under. The current rolled over me while the plant pushed me to the river bed. My air blew from my nose in dozens of violent bubbles. I reached for the surface but couldn’t get to it. My head was feeling dizzy, my lungs were filling with water, and I panicked.

Then leaping from the surface like a graceful seabird Talea dove into the mass of vines. With her knife in hand she chopped the mass of tendrils with fast efficiency. The plant became distracted by the greater threat, it let go of me and swarmed Talea. But unlike me, she could handle it.

I pushed my feet against the river bed gravel and propelled myself to the surface gasping for breath. I swam to the shore coughing up river water. Before I could begin to worry Talea emerged from the river bed dragging the enormous wet body of the snapvine. She had killed it.

I’ll never forget the smirk on her face when she saved me. Regardless of whom the aggressor has been; bullies, plants, nightstalkers, venomous reptiles, even blizzards. Talea has always saved me. How could I ever leave her? Now I realize what an idealistic fool I have been. I would die here and Talea would survive. Somehow. She always does.

I keep looking up at the dark canopy mocking me with the red eyes enjoying the show. This isn’t a pit to them, it’s a stage. Watch the skysinger break and crumble, then soon enough after Alaric is dead, they’ll send someone into the hole to tear me apart. With that thought I’m tempted to go back to clawing at the walls.

Talea will get me out. Talea will save me. I have to keep telling myself that. She is my sister; she won’t let me die. Not on purpose anyway. She will fight with powerful ferocity to save me. When Talea is determined to get something done she does it. Everything will be fine. Everything will be fine.

I should have gone back and let Talea go in alone. No, that’s nonsense. If I had she would be dead. Wouldn’t she? Probably not. I feel my mind slipping away as the screams grow louder. I can see the monstrous forms of nightstalkers standing above my hole staring at me covered in blood, I shake my head and the forms vanish, stress induced hallucinations.

Alaric, bless his heart, tries his best to soothe me. He tries to keep me calm and console me, but that simply isn’t possible. Talea is taking so long. Where is she? Minutes drag by and the screams grow louder. I curl up tighter against the wall of the hole. My chin tucks to my knees.

I am going to die. I am. It keeps ebbing at my core. But I know, even if I were to die, I would do it again. Of course, I would have kept Talea from going into the woods if at all I could. But I would not leave her. It doesn't matter what Aunt Wren says. I cannot abandon her and then die old and in bed writhing with regret. I cannot leave my sister. My sister will not leave me.

✽✽✽

TALEA:

I haul the branch back to the hole, it’s easier going back since I tore up a path in my frantic run out here. Breaking through the bushes I see Alaric with an arrow nocked in my direction. I leap out and drop the branch by the trap.

He lets out a breath and lowers the bow. “Suns Talea! What took you so long?!”

I step towards the hole dragging the branch over. “It took a while to get the branch loose. Was there any trouble?”

He keeps a grip on his bow checking for enemies. “Suspiciously, no. We saw some in the bushes, and we heard some screams, but nobody has come at us yet. I don’t know what they’re waiting for.”

I shake my head. “It doesn’t matter, we’re gonna get out of here.”

I feed the branch down into the hole, it’s plenty long enough. I notice there are more nail marks in the packed dirt than before I left. Lesedi is curled up in the bottom of the hole, she doesn’t respond. Her eyes stare off into nothing as her body sits still as stone.

I let out a breath. “She broke didn’t she?”

Alaric nods and points up. “While you were gone, they kept taunting her. She couldn’t take it.”

I look up and see the horde of nightstalkers perched in the trees above us, closer to the ground now, ready to rain down on us. They hiss and shriek at us, smiling with their jagged horrible teeth, some of them are even drooling. They get louder with every minute as they get more excited for what comes next. I didn’t know nightstalkers were like this. In my experience they go for the kill and they’re done, this is different.

Alaric shakes the branch to test it. “Once we get her out of that hole, they’ll tear us apart. You pull her out and it starts their amusement while we fight for our lives.”

I clench my jaw and grunt. “Then let the games begin.” I push from the balls of my feet and leap into the air.

Alaric reaches for me, but he misses. As I soar down into the hole, I hear him yell “No!”

My feet land flat and firm on the packed dirt floor with my knuckles bracing me. I look up as I pull out of my crouch and I can see why Lesedi was so afraid. It’s a daunting hole, the perception from the bottom makes it seem a lot more impossibly tall than it is. The only view I can see above me is the jeering monsters that look like they’ll fall in on us at any moment. I block it out and grab Lesedi by the shoulders.

“Lesedi we have to go!” Nothing. “Lesedi! We have to go now!” She still says nothing. I need a solution, something to snap her out of it. Lesedi would think of something psychological, something smart, something to fix this. I steady her head with a gentle touch and hoping not to cause too much damage, I punch her in the face.

That wakes her. “Ow!” Lesedi snaps back to the world of the living and rubs her cheek.

Without explanation or comfort, I take the handle of my knife and stick it in Lesedi’s mouth. I grab her hands and grip her fingers around the branch. I call up to Alaric. “Bring her up!” Pushing up on Lesedi while Alaric pulls on the branch speeds up the process, in no time she disappears from view as he takes her by the hand.

I shout up to the top. “Alaric get her out of here! Now!”

The branch drops back into the hole and I hear screams, both skysinger and nightstalker. Lesedi tries to protest and screams, but Alaric forces her to run. White wispy hair flashes by the surface of the hole. Hunter screams ravage the air.

I grab the branch to pull myself up, before I can take hold it flies from my finger tips and gets yanked from the hole. My eyes follow it and stop staring into the frowning red eyes of a nightstalker standing above me. The nightstalker points down at me with a burning fury. White hair flows above and the monsters leaps down into the hole. Now I’m trapped, in a hole, with a nightstalker.

The nightstalker stares me down seething with more hatred than I can process. Not just loathing in general, but an unflinching need to kill me in particular. The beast feels familiar in some way, I’ve seen him before. He takes steps towards me but I’m backed against the dirt wall and have nowhere to run.

Stringy white hair swings in the air as he leans down to look me in the eye. I gasp. As he blinks, I see the flesh of his left eye shudder and pull apart. He smiles and speaks with a deep raspy voice. “Found you.”

I’m dead. I know that here and now, he’s not letting me out of this alive. I take a deep breath and my arms flail in wild gestures. “You attacked me! I fought for myself! You’ve gotta be able to understand that!”

He shakes his head in slow stern motions. “Trespasser.” I flinch. Oh no. He holds up his hand of sharp claws and traces them across my throat. “Trespasser dies.”

It’s me, I’m the reason they dug the trap. I’m the reason they waited and taunted, I’m the reason Lesedi might die. All because something was calling me, relentless and annoying, I couldn’t turn away from it. So, I went after it and to the void with the consequences. Now we’ll all die.

I screwed up, again, but I’m not letting this spiteful gray-skin kill me. I hear another scream; I have to get to her. I have to help Lesedi, I’m not letting these monsters get me. Even if I did bring it on myself.

I pull my rope stone into my hands ready for battle. I need to be quick but smart, it’s a shame I don’t know how to fight smart, so I’ll be relying on blind luck and skill. I swing the rope above my head, the nightstalker darts towards me and delivers a punch to the gut at lightning speed. He could have stabbed me in the stomach and been done with it, boy is he pissed.

I pull in the rope, grip the ball in my hand, and throw it crashing into his side. He screams and slashes at me with his claws, I take a hit to the ribs. I’m going to lose this; I need a plan. I need to think. I don’t need to win this, I don’t need to kill him, I need to get out of this hole. That’s it.

An idea strikes me, it’s stupid and dangerous but it’s the only kind I can come up with. The creature swings at me with another slash, I duck down and leap forwards between his legs into the dirt behind him. Before he can turn around, I reach up and grab his long hair and yank it down towards the ball in my hand smashing it into his head. The force isn’t strong enough to kill him, or even knock him out. But it’s enough to disorient him.

I move around and kick him in the stomach shoving him up against the wall. He glares but I can see from his eyes his head is spinning. I take a risk, a big one, but I hope that clunk on the head did the trick. Leaping into the air I land on his torso, pull at his head to get a footing on his shoulders, then jump again. My hands land on the tree roots at the top of the hole. I pull myself up digging my studded ball into the dirt for grip. My hand bleeds from the studs digging into the flesh.

Groaning as I roll into the dirt next to the trap, I make it out. I glance over the side and see a furious nightstalker raging, he won’t stay there for long. He can make that jump without help. I don’t have time to relish in success, but I do anyways. “Thanks for the boost!” I taunt as I run away.

I run towards Lesedi, towards the screams. My gut instinct is saying not to look behind me. But my brain doesn’t listen so I glance. Six huge nightstalkers are nipping at my heels chasing me through the brush. As much as I “trespassed” here, they know this forest better than I ever can. It’s their home. While I run blind through shoulder high bush that smacks and cuts me, they weave in and out like it’s nothing.

I come to a clearing with a particularly large rohedan tree in the middle. With their backs against the wide trunk Lesedi and Alaric stand their ground, they’re both covered in blood. I’m not sure how much of it is their own. Alaric loads his bow with one arrow after another, he’s an amazing shot and gets either an eye or a throat every time. Bodies litter the ground around them. It doesn’t matter how many Alaric takes down, there will always be more. Eventually he will run out of arrows.

I need to dispense of these nightstalkers or all I’m doing is bringing more death to the party. But how? One nightstalker alone is a challenging task. I’m not even sure how we’d survived this far. My hand grips the silky fibers of my rope. I need to do something. The nightstalkers are right behind me, it’s hard to kill nightstalkers en masse, but I can cripple them.

I swing the rope wrapping it around my shoulders and neck. I twirl into the air releasing the rope, it flies from my body in an arc. I drop to the ground in a crouch and pull on the rope again. The crack of bones and cries of pain ring out as the ball crashes into the spine of one. It smashes the knee of another and on its way back to me takes out a pair of ankles.

I glance over my shoulder breaking back into my run with my trusted weapon in hand. Three are down but it’s not enough. An arrow soars through the air and hits one in the throat. Now four. I’ve almost reached them at the tree now. I screamed over the noise. “Run!”

Alaric looks terrified, there’s too many emotions in the air to pin down just one. Bolting from blind fear onto a random path I notice why their backs were to the tree. Beyond the tree is another horde of nightstalkers. I had told them to run. But run where? I remember the direction that one bizarre nightstalker had pointed in, I turn that way trusting a creature I met once.

We turn into the guided direction and keep up our pace. The trees are getting thinner, we’re getting closer to the forest edge. But what do we do then? They’re not going to stop since we left the forest, it’s night now, everything is their territory. We’re not going to make it somewhere safe, but at least we’ll die under the stars.

Another arrow sails over my head taking down a giant behind me. I yell to Lesedi. “Throw the knife at one!”

She shakes her head. Frustration claws to the surface and I scream. “Les! Just do it!”

Lesedi holds the knife by its handle and hurls it by me toward the nightstalkers behind. It sticks into the thin stomach of a monster with ravaging eyes. I spin around and leap straight at it. A swift kick to the chest knocks it to the ground, I rush forward and grab the knife from the bleeding stomach and bash my ball into its forehead.

With a final spin I turn and slice the knife across the throat of another beside me. I get to my feet and let go of the ball wrapping the rope around my leg then releasing it into the air. This sends it shattering the shoulder of another. They aren’t all dead, but they aren’t going to chase me either.

I barrel through nightstalkers cutting with my knife and smashing with my rope stone at random letting instinct guide me. Gray body after gray body. Arrows flying overhead and screeching enemies falling. My mind fills with a blinding passionate rage towards these monsters. No thoughts can stick to my mind. No feelings. Just cut, slash, smash. Cut, slash, smash. Like a raging dance of slaughter.

Enough bodies fall to the ground to make a path for us. But no matter how many we fell more are taking their place behind us. Our legs are beyond aching. Our bodies are far past exhaustion. Yet somehow, we run on. While we run, we hear more screams echoing from the trees. I see nightstalkers hanging from the branches and swinging around like animals. Regardless of what they’re doing the ones in the trees seem to be cheering on the ones chasing us.

All of them chant in unison. “Daypeople die! Daypeople die!” Those baleful voices.

We make one more dash and at last we’re out of the woods. But, as soon as our feet touch the fields, we look at the horizon, stars. Of course, my only opportunity to see stars and I’m being hunted. I hope I’ll remember what they looked like later, if there is a later.

Into the big grassy field, we run. Into the field nightstalkers follow us. We keep running hoping for someone to save us, anyone to save us; or in the very least a shelter to protect us. I look behind, I shouldn’t have looked. Behind us is a horde of about four dozen nightstalkers following from the woods. The ones that had been content in the trees joined the chase. We’re mid-way through the field, it’s so dark and we’re so tired.

I have little feeling in my body now, I want to give up and let them have me. But then I look at Lesedi; despite it all she’s still hurrying through the grass running to nowhere. She’s soaked in blood; I’m scared how much of it is hers. As long as she runs, I’ll run. I won’t give up on her. On a hill too far away we spot a building, as we get closer, we see it’s a home. Not ours, but it’s a home nonetheless.

I look behind me. Are there less nighstalkers? Confusion distracts me from the pain in my legs. There are, there’s about half now. Where had they gone? Nightstalkers don’t give up.

About fifty feet away now when I look back again. There’s even less now. What’s happening to them? It doesn’t matter, surviving is what matters. It doesn’t matter what or who is making them disappear. We reach our potential salvation; Alaric and I slam our bodies against the door and pound with the last of our strength. Then I hear my sister scream.

I turn around and see Lesedi swarmed by gray killers. It can happen so fast. One moment she was running and the next a nightstalker leaps onto her pushing her to the ground. A dozen Nightstalkers are piled on her, they rip at her skin tearing her apart. My sister is still alive, I can hear her. I can hear her screams.

I run to her; they can’t have her. She will not die like this. I hear Alaric’s voice but it’s far away and distorted to me. I vault onto the nearest nightstalker and tear the knife across its throat. Blood spurts along my arm while I push the dying enemy away. I feel a cut on my ear, an arrow whips past my head piercing another nightstalker by me. I thought Alaric was out of arrows. Without further question I push the body aside.

A nightstalker grabs me by my hair and slashes me across the stomach with its claws. I’m so tired and enraged I don’t even feel the pain. But I looked down checking to see if my insides are still inside. They are, always a good sign. I turn and push my treasured rope stone up in full force into the lower jaw of another. The jaw shatters tearing away flesh that was once a face. I push the hunter aside and continue to dig down deep into the pile of blood and viscera trying to find my sister. Under a glimpse of moonlight, I see her copper hand covered in blood. I pull on it. There are too many of them.

I pulled up the head of another nighstalker and smash into its eyes. It screams and turns away. I feel one claw my back, my body is warm with blood. After frantic kicking, punching, clawing, I pull Lesedi into view. Blood spurts from her mouth.

“T…Tal…Talea…” Lesedi whispers “I lo-”

A nightstalker brings its claw down piercing straight through her chest. Lesedi gasps in pain. Another one picks me up about to break me in half. But instead it drops me. Through fuzzy vision I see a nighstalker break the neck of the one that picked me up. I hear screams. I feel Lesedi’s hand slack and everything goes black.