From Across the Clouded Range

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  Dasen and Teth ran as hard as they could over the slick ground with rain blurring their vision and wind buffeting them from four directions at once. The rain slowed but remained a downpour. The ground beneath their feet was slicks of mud and puddles of water. It grabbed at their shoes and slid beneath their steps. Running across it, they looked like deer caught on a frozen pond, slipping falling, rising, sliding, and falling again.

  No pursuit came from the invaders’ camp, and though they continued to see bursts of flame in the sky, they were concentrated to the north. Yet their progress was slow, and it was only a matter of time before the creatures found them.

  Lightning flashed behind them. Dasen used it to judge the distance to Thoren. They were halfway at best. He looked for the creatures and did a quick calculation. They would never make it. They had another half-mile, at the most, before the creatures were on them. His foot slipped on a patch of mud. He splayed to the ground, sliding face first through the muck.

  Teth’s hand slipped from his, and she reached back for him, nearly falling herself as she came to a stop. She looked desperately tired. Her chest heaved, her arms shook, and her head hung in exhaustion. She held out a quivering hand. Dasen tried to stand, but there was no power left in his legs. Teth's footing was no better. Her feet slid away. She landed in the puddle next to him and slapped the ground in frustration.

  “We have keep going,” she panted as she came to her knees. “We have to get to the city before those things find us. We have to keep running.”

  Dasen shook his head, speaking through gasps. “It doesn’t matter, Teth. The only way we'll make it to the city is with wings. We're both exhausted, and even you can barely run over this.” He considered for a second. “Our only chance is to hide.”

  Teth looked at him as if he were crazy. “Where do you suggest we hide? It is perfectly flat. There is no cover anywhere.”

  “But I don’t think the creatures can see much better than we can. That’s why they keep releasing those fireballs.” Dasen stopped and looked down at his hand. It had disappeared under a rip in the sod, had slid right under the grass. “We can cover ourselves with grass,” he exclaimed. “Look it comes up in clumps.” He pulled out a great tuft to emphasize his point. “Those things will never see through it, not in all this rain.”

  Teth eyed him skeptically, looked up at bursts of fire, then nodded. “It’s worth a try. Let’s get started.”

  They found a thick clump of tall prairie grass and hunched down beside it to give themselves some cover. Dasen was correct about the grass coming up in chunks, and where it resisted, Teth used her knife to cut through it. In only a few minutes, they created a hole large enough for both of them. They lay in the hole, covered their feet with the wet sod they had piled to the sides, and patted it in place to ensure that nothing was exposed. When they were covered to their chests, they tucked their arms to their sides, and Dasen used his free hand to cover Teth’s face. He folded the sod back to leave space for his own head, lay back in the hole, and pulled the grass over his face before wriggling his arm in beside him.

  The dirt covered him. It cut off access to light, sound, and, to Dasen’s surprise, air. He had cut a hole for his mouth and nose, but he could not find it. Panic stuck him.

  He squirmed until he found the hole, but mud poured into his mouth where air should have been. He sputtered and coughed. Teth grabbed his hand and squeezed hard. He spit to clear his mouth, but water just filled the gap. He coughed again. He could not do it. He was suffocating. Teth crushed his hand. He could not hold back any longer. He was going to sit up and ruin it all, but he had to breathe.

  Air came. It was wet. He could taste the soil in his mouth, the minerals and grit, but it was air. The next breath came easier. With it, he settled in. His breathing slowed. Panic fled. He tried to stay calm, to keep his needs to a minimum because the air did not come easy. He felt Teth lying beside him, felt her chest rising and falling. He concentrated on matching her until his breathing came into line, and he began to feel comfortable in his bed of earth.

  A flash of light appeared above them, filtering through the gaps in the sod, bright enough to play orange before their closed eyes. He felt the heat of it warming him even through the sod. He could imagine the gaps in the sod, the places where the rain had washed it away, exposing shoes, pants, hands, chests. He could imagine the creature looking down at those anomalies, could almost see it putting the pieces together, assembling them into its goal. He waited for the thing to dive down and claim them from the earth, to feel it teeth ripping through his flesh. His breath caught at the thought, and he held it. Teth squeezed his hand – it felt like she was going to break it. The heat dissipated. Teth whispered a familiar prayer, but he could not draw the breath to join her. He strained his senses for some indication of the creature. Nothing. Pounding hearts. Burning lungs. Clenched hands.

  Another burst of light flashed through the sod. This one was fainter. The air warmed again, but it was less and concentrated to the left. The creature had passed.

  Dasen’s diaphragm loosened. He brought in a long breath. Beside him, Teth’s prayer ended, but she did not release his hand. He squeezed hers in return and felt the mud squishing between their fingers. He laid there for some time holding her hand, feeling her breathing. Eventually, his own breaths became measured and regular. He felt the rain coming in lighter drops, farther apart, and allowed them to wash him off to sleep.

  Chapter 38