Jenna took the rock. David slipped away into the darkness, hiding himself behind a boulder nearby.
Jenna set the rock down next to her. She knelt and called for Bobby. After a few moments, he appeared before her.
“Who is that man?” he asked.
“A friend of ours. He’s here to help us.”
“Help us what?”
“Help us leave. Don’t you want to leave, Bobby?”
“No, I want to stay.”
“Bobby, you don’t belong here. You belong with me, don’t you know that?”
He shook his head.
“Stay here, Mommy.”
“I can’t. I don’t belong here, and neither do you. Please, Bobby, come with me. It will be okay.”
“No.”
Jenna hung her head. She wanted to do it without hurting him, but she could see that it wouldn’t work. He wasn’t going to make it easy. David was right. She trusted David. She had to do what he said.
“Come give me a hug, baby.”
She held out her arms for Bobby. He went to her. She held him against her, hugged him tightly, and he hugged her back. Things had to be set right, Jenna knew. They were wrong. For the past two years everything was wrong; she had felt that deep down inside her. Now it all had to be set right. There was no other way.
She picked up the rock from the ground with her right hand, pushed Bobby away from herself slightly, and struck him on the temple solidly. One blow was all it took. The boy crumpled to the ground. Jenna looked down at Bobby, stunned at what she had done.
David was next to her immediately. He took off his shirt and wrapped it around Bobby, and then he picked up the limp boy.
“Let’s go,” he said, and he started toward the far end of the cavern. But Jenna didn’t follow him. She stayed where she was, on her knees, holding her rock. David looked back over his shoulder and paused. Jenna didn’t move. David took a few steps back to her.
“Jenna, you had to do it.”
Jenna looked up at David. Relentless David. Tireless David. The little man with the long hair who wouldn’t let her stop. She had to follow him. There was no other way to go.
They moved quickly and silently through the cavern, following the river. At a certain point, David noted that the river widened into a pool with still water. The water was clear, but the bottom of the pool was dark, so the effect was that of a mirror. There was no way of knowing how deep the pool was or what was beneath its surface.
Eventually the cavern narrowed and split in two. One leg followed the river down into darkness. The other leg slanted up sharply toward the light. That would lead to the surface. From where they were, twenty yards from the fork, they could see two adult kushtaka near the cave that led to the surface.
“How will we get by them?” Jenna asked.
“We’re going to walk,” David answered. “Now, listen, Jenna. Keep your mind clear. Don’t think any thoughts. Don’t say anything. If you do, they’ll be on us in a second. We have to be blank. We have to walk right by them as if we’re kushtaka going for some fresh air.”
“How do you know it will work?”
“I don’t.”
They walked toward the mouth of the cave. Out in plain sight, they felt naked and exposed. David especially, because he was carrying Bobby. They got closer to the kushtaka. So far, so good. No alarms. Nobody chasing them. The kushtaka guards didn’t even seem to notice them. The kushtaka were talking. Or, rather, communicating in some way. It wasn’t with words; it was with some strange sounds. They were large and intimidating. But David didn’t want to judge them. That would surely be a thought they could read. He hoped that Jenna would be cool through this, but then he stopped his thoughts. Clear mind. No thoughts about Jenna, about Bobby, about the kushtaka. No thoughts at all.
As they passed into the cave, one of the guards looked up. It looked right up at Jenna and David. And it did nothing. David and Jenna continued walking.
Once past the guards, David quickened the pace. They were close now, close to the mouth of the cave. They could see the daylight outside. The leaves of trees swaying in the breeze. The surface was only a few yards away.
Jenna moved close to David.
“Why didn’t they stop us?” Jenna asked.
David snapped his head around and glared at Jenna. She realized immediately what she had done. They both glanced back over their shoulders and saw the guards stand up and look at them. One of the kushtaka turned away, toward the cavern and let out a series of shrieks. The other kushtaka started coming toward David and Jenna, fast.
“Run,” David yelled, and they took off toward the surface. When they reached the mouth of the cave, David thrust Bobby’s limp body at Jenna.
“Take him. You have to run.”
“Where?”
“Keep your mind clear and concentrate. Look for a path through the woods. It’ll be a definite path. You’ll know it when you see it.”
The kushtaka guard was closing on them.
“Where does it lead?”
“To the Land of Dead Souls, where Bobby belongs.”
“No.”
“Jenna—”
“I want him to stay with me.”
David looked down into the cave. The kushtaka guard was almost on top of them.
“Jenna, you came here to rescue Bobby. You can’t rescue his body, but you can rescue his soul. Go. Please.”
“What about you?”
David didn’t answer. He turned and ran into the cave at full speed, tackling the kushtaka that was coming at him. They struggled. The kushtaka threw David to the ground. It straddled David and was about to strike him with its claw when David grabbed the knife from his belt and thrust it into the kushtaka under its arm. The kushtaka let out a piercing scream and fell over onto the dirt, writhing in pain. David called back to Jenna.
“Trust the woods, Jenna. Now, go. Run!”
She turned, and, with Bobby in her arms, she ran as fast as she could away from the cave. She ran through the forest without looking back, without thinking a thought. She didn’t need to think. Her body was on autopilot. She ran and ran until she was exhausted and had to stop to get her breath. She laid Bobby on the ground near the trunk of a fallen tree and then she sat down next to him. She had to rest. David would hold them off, she knew. At least for a little while. Long enough for her to collect herself. Questions kept surging through her head. Why? Where? But she fought them back. Now wasn’t the time for questions. She pulled her knees up to her chest and looked down at Bobby’s peaceful face. Whose world was she in, and would she ever get out? It all seemed like some kind of dream. Some kind of nightmare. But her thoughts didn’t matter. It was happening, and that was all. That was the only thing that mattered now.
DAVID RAN DOWN the cave and into the cavern. Adult kushtaka were coming from everywhere, but they seemed confused, undisciplined. They climbed out of holes in the walls and ran around scooping up their young and rushing them to safety. Everything seemed a little frantic, and that surprised David. He had expected them to be more like one cohesive unit. A group that had its standing orders and all thought alike. But it wasn’t so. They were much more like people than David had imagined.
That is, until the kushtaka shaman arrived. He was large, very much like a bear, and he commanded the attention of the others. They gathered around him and took on his sense of direction. A direction that led to David, standing in the mouth of the cave.
There were at least twenty man-sized kushtaka in a pack with the kushtaka shaman at the point. They stopped a few feet from David, and the kushtaka shaman stepped forward.
“Where are the woman and the boy?” he demanded. His voice was deep and heavy. It had weight, his voice, and seemed to press on David.
“Let them go and I will stay with you,” David answered.
The kushtaka shaman smiled.
“You will stay with us anyway.”
Then the kushtaka shaman barked at the others. Several of them attempte
d to move past David, but David held out his knife and blocked the way. They were going to chase after Jenna and Bobby, and David had to stop them or at least delay them.
The kushtaka hesitated. Their shaman barked again, this time more sternly. And suddenly all the kushtaka who stood before David transformed. They shrank in size, into otter form, and they shot past David so quickly he could do nothing to stop them.
“Shit,” David muttered, watching the kushtaka speed by him. They were far too fast for him. David was done for. How could he prevent the whole pack from chasing Jenna? Not by standing in their way with a knife, that was for sure. He would have to take more drastic action, have to really make a sacrifice. And so that’s what he did. With a yell, David charged the kushtaka shaman with his knife outstretched.
It was a ridiculous idea, David realized, as he was easily batted down by the kushtaka shaman. Brute force was not the way with these creatures. They had brute force on their side. He gathered himself from the ground and looked up at the kushtaka who were surrounding him. Another prison tube for David, no doubt. Darker and damper and, of course, deeper. They would probably keep him there until his mind snapped and his will was broken, and then they would begin the conversion. He would be eating raw fish for the rest of eternity. Not very appealing. But then David thought back to how he had gotten away from the kushtaka a little while ago. By being nothing. By not registering on their radar. Maybe there was still a chance. David jumped up and swung his knife around, forcing the kushtaka who encircled him back a few steps. If they wanted him, they were going to have to catch him.
David charged through the ring of kushtaka and took off into the cavern. As he ran, he had an idea. He knew that his shaman pouch, the source of his power and energy, would attract the attention of the kushtaka. It would have to. After all, it had a kushtaka tongue in it. They would be able to find his pouch even if they couldn’t find him. If he took off his pouch, maybe they would follow it. David would lose his powers, he knew. He would no longer be a shaman. But as a regular person, he could reduce his energy to practically nothing. Maybe his pouch would be enough of a distraction.
Running full speed, David jerked his pouch off his neck. He held it for a moment and tried to infuse it with energy. He concentrated on it and sent it his power. Then, as he reached the pool in the river that he had seen earlier, he threw his pouch ahead of him as far as he could and dove into the water.
It was cold, icy water. David swam under the surface to the far edge of the pool, which was quite deep. There was a rock that projected out from the edge of the pool, and David could remain submerged while holding himself in place next to the rock. Then, with his breath running out, he took the flashlight from his belt, unscrewed the lens mount on the front and the battery lid on the back, and emptied the tube. It wasn’t a flashlight anymore. It was a snorkel. He put one end in his mouth, extended the other above the surface of the pool, and then he breathed.
He tried to neutralize his thoughts as he waited. Would they find him? From under the water, he couldn’t see or hear anything. He had no idea what was happening. He just had to wait.
Above the surface of the water was confusion. The kushtaka scrambled around the cavern looking for their prey, but they turned up nothing. The kushtaka shaman was furious, a fury that was only intensified when one of the kushtaka presented the shaman with David’s pouch. David was in the cavern, the kushtaka shaman knew, it was just a matter of finding him. The kushtaka shaman positioned himself near the mouth of the cave while the other kushtaka continued searching.
David had no idea how much time had passed. His body temperature was dropping. He had no idea how much longer he could survive in the cold water. It was all about meditation and self-control. He thought it was slightly funny that one of the shaman’s rituals was to bathe in ice water every morning. It was to build strength of character, he was taught. But was that the real reason? Or was it because on any given day one might have to hide in an icy stream from the kushtaka?
He realized his mind had been wandering when he saw the kushtaka on the shore above him. It hadn’t noticed him, but it had obviously been drawn to David’s thoughts. The kushtaka stood above David, within reach, but didn’t look down at all. It scanned the area at eye level and then moved away.
David relaxed with relief. A close call. Then, suddenly, the kushtaka reappeared, this time looking straight down into the water at David. David’s heart jumped. But the kushtaka still hadn’t seen David. It was looking at the surface of the water. It was drawn to something else. What? The flashlight. Of course. It could see the top of the flashlight sticking out of the water. It was too late to pull it under the surface. David would have to take his chances.
The kushtaka reached for the flashlight, and David didn’t know what to do. If the kushtaka touched the metal tube, it would be burned and then all hell would break loose. David had to stop the kushtaka now. He would have to preempt his discovery. As the kushtaka reached for the flashlight in David’s mouth, David reached out of the water and grabbed the creature around the neck, pulling it into the pool. Then, swiftly, before the kushtaka could struggle, David stabbed the kushtaka with his knife, plunging the blade deep into the kushtaka’s chest and puncturing its heart, killing it instantly.
Now what? The flashlight was gone, somewhere on the bottom of the pool. David lifted his head out of the water and looked around. Had he made much noise? Did they notice the splashing? Apparently not. No one was running toward him. He looked to the mouth of the cave. The kushtaka shaman was still there. The room was still alive with other kushtaka searching. David had to get out now, while he still had the element of surprise. And there was only one way he could do it.
He dragged the dead kushtaka onto the bank of the pool. It was a large one. Maybe large enough. There was no way to know until he had done it. So David began to skin the kushtaka.
It didn’t take long. The coat of fur easily detached itself from the flesh below. There was a lot of blood, but who could see it in the darkness? Within a few minutes, the kushtaka’s hide was separated from its body.
David let the dead kushtaka slip back into the pool, where it sank to the bottom. No more fatty waterproof shield to keep it afloat. David stripped off his boots and jeans and quickly wrapped himself in the bloody hide, covering his arms and head as best as he could. Then, hunched over, he started to make his way toward the cave entrance.
Without a thought in his head, David got lucky. Some other kushtaka were leaving the cave at that moment, and David slipped in with them without attracting any attention. Then, hiding himself in the group of kushtaka, David made his way past the kushtaka shaman. The shaman looked them over briefly but didn’t bother to check each individual kushtaka. He didn’t see that keeping to the back, positioning himself behind the others, was David, wrapped in a kushtaka shell. And off they went, up the cave entrance, up to the world again.
Once on the surface, David split off from the others and made his way to the beach. It was evening and the woods were growing darker. David kept the hide on him. Not for disguise but for warmth. The kushtaka hide was the only thing he had to wear.
As he followed the shore, David thought of his home. He wanted to be safe inside, sitting before the warm fire as the chilly night fell. He wanted hot food and coffee and to fall asleep to the crackling music of burning wood. Buoyed by his thoughts, which at last he was free to have at will, David picked up speed until he was jogging down the beach. He may have lost his shaman powers, he noted, but at least he was still a man.
JENNA LOOKED AT BOBBY lying on the ground, David’s shirt wrapped around him like a shawl. So pretty. He had fur on him. A thin coat of fine hair all over his face. She opened the shirt a little. The hair was all over his body. And then she noticed some fine hair on her arms, too. She shivered. It reminded her of being in the tunnels with those things. Those ugly animals. They told her she would grow to like it. Soon, she would see them as beautiful and humans as ugly. God forbi
d.
She scanned the area for an idea of which direction to go, and she saw something. Not a path. Not a sign. No. Something much more frightening. It was a person. There was someone there. A dark figure watching her, who quickly disappeared behind a tree. Jenna stood perfectly still and listened carefully. She heard it. Movement. Sounds. They were out there. They were back.
She had failed. She had stopped for a minute, but it was a minute too long. She had blown her head start, and now the forest was alive with movement. What could she do? She felt like giving up. Turning herself over to the kushtaka authorities and asking for mercy.
But she couldn’t give up without trying. She had to make an effort. For Bobby. She had to muster her energies. David’s words ran through her head. Trust the woods. Clear your mind and trust the woods. She quickly climbed to her feet and hoisted Bobby to her hip. She took several deep breaths and chased all the thoughts out of her head. Then she suddenly took off, bursting through the woods in the opposite direction of the figure she had seen. She ran, carrying Bobby, as fast as she could. She could hear them after her. She could see them around her. Above in the trees, behind the bushes, but she didn’t stop. She had outrun one of them before; she could do it again. She had no idea where she was, but she had faith in David. She had to. There was no other choice. The path would be clear, she said to herself; it would be made clear to her.
But it wasn’t clear at all. The forest got denser as she ran. Moving through the branches carrying Bobby was more and more difficult. She was tired and spent, but she had to keep going. She had to find the way, had to take Bobby to the place that David told her about.
So she ran and ran, even though the forest was impassable. The branches beat at her arms and legs. She couldn’t see where she was going and the woods seemed to get darker. She couldn’t tell if the kushtaka were still after her; all she could hear was her own panting. So she stopped to get her bearings. To find a way out. The forest was still moving around her. But they weren’t closing in. Why weren’t they attacking her? She could hear them out there—what kept them away?