Journey North

 

“Brother,” Alpen said softly as he stroked the top of Mellen’s head. Even in sleep Mellen’s breathing sounded less ragged. Alpen looked up to Sisseku in the dim light of the hut. “I could come back for you in a few days.”

Sisseku reached out her hand to Alpen. “Thank you, we’ll be fine. We’ll return home as soon as he is strong enough to travel.”

Alpen put aside the arguments crowding his head. He had said them and there was no need to belabor them. He squeezed Mellen’s hand, then stood up and embraced Sisseku.

“Thank you for rescuing him,” she said, her voice breaking.

“Sister,” he said before embracing her again. It was the first time he had recognized her as family. He had hated her for taking Mellen away from him but seeing how much she cared for his brother had earned her a place in his heart. He turned and emerged into the daylight.

Bebe waited outside with the others. “You have rain on your face,” she said in a playful tone. He didn’t understand what she meant until she reached up with a cloth to wipe his cheek. He took her hand, then looked to the others and smiled.

“Lead the way,” Fallon said, gesturing with his arm to the north. “You took us on this journey to begin with. We are tik-tik chicks,” referring to the young birds who waddled behind their mother to the river.

Mileku had let them have two travois. Alpen stepped into a harness then looked at the sky. “We have enough day left. We may make the cave by nightfall.” This was the cave where they had been captured. He leaned forward into the harness, then paused to look back at the bundles on the travois. “What do we have here?”

Alithea said, “Bebe’s library and my medicines.” Alpen didn’t understand but he nodded, turned to the north and began to pull.

Fallon was a bit surprised when Alpen led them east toward the desert, but he did not question the older warrior’s experience or direction. When they came to the edge of forest where the sandy grassland began, and Alpen turned toward the north, Fallon understood the protective strategy. Any threat or meal that approached them from three side would be visible. They had skins of water and some food but no weapons. Alpen had adopted the safest route. 

A bit of color waving in the shimmering heat of the desert sands puzzled Fallon. He was pulling one of the travois and stepped up his pace to come alongside Alpen. “Soldiers ahead? Should we move into the forest?”

Alpen shood his head. “Drindl’s cloth,” he said.

Fallon glanced sideways to Drindl pulling the other travois at the moment and asked, “Did you say Drindl?”

“We tied a cloth for Drindl when we emerged from the desert,” Alpen said. “Before we were taken prisoner.”

“You remembered that?” His respect for Alpen doubled.

“The light will be fading but we will retrace the steps we took earlier,” Alpen said. “Less chance of getting lost.” Alpen had taken a longer path but a surer route to the cave. “I want to stay a safe distance from the beach.”

When they arrived at the torn cloth, they rested. Untying the faded cloth from the tall reed, Bebe asked, “Drindl, did you see this? We left it for you to show you where we were going.”

Drindl took the cloth from her, then pointed east across the desert. “I was walking this way but was surprised by several Cawthingi soldiers. They dragged me to the coastline on a travois.”

“Dragged you?” Bebe asked.

“Tied me to a travois behind a wolfbear and a Fae rider. Rough ground. At the end of the trip, I hurt so bad that the Fae put her tendrils into my ears and shut off the pain.”

“They can do that?” Bebe asked. Alithea turned to listen.

“It only lasted a few hours, but I was grateful for the compassion,” Drindl said.

Fallon made a sharp grunt. “Compassion and Fae in the same sentence.”

Bebe interrupted. “The Fae was not with the Cawthingi?”

“No, they met later,” Drindl said.

Alpen turned to Bebe. “I see where you’re going. The Fae are patrolling on wolfbear along this forest strip.” He pointed to the travois with the tablets. “Can we bury these somewhere? We need to lighten our load.”

Bebe looked distraught. “This is our history.”

“I know. I’m more concerned about our survival than our history right now,” Alpen said. He took her hand. “We’ll keep them safe but we need to keep us safe.”

They dug several deep holes, placing a tablet in each hole. If someone dug up one tablet, they might not look for the others. They carefully smoothed over the dig. Bebe took several sightings in the dimming light. “We have maybe an hour of light left. Do you think we can make the cave tonight?”

“We’ll make it. I remember the path,” Alpen said.