Layla

  Chapter 6

  I stood in front of Sweenlah, who was weeping over a pile of bones. Then I realized? they were her horse's bones.

  "What ate it?" I asked her.

  "A Faash," she whimpered. "And? and it had only one shoe."

  I looked at her thoughtfully for a moment, then burst out in an uncontrollable giggle. I had to clutch my sides to keep them from aching. Tears of laughter sought for me to wipe them off by dripping down my wrinkled nose. "One shoe, huh?" I pulled the other shoe out of the bag. "Did the other one happen to look like this?" She just gasped, and put her hand to her mouth.

  "So? my Faash ate your horse. But? why didn't he eat you, too?" I inquired.

  She pointed to the tree.

  "You hid? Up there?" She wouldn't talk. It was an irritating game of guessing.

  She just nodded.

  "Did you sleep up there?" I asked. Again she bobbed her stone face up and down.

  "TALK!!!" I lost my temper. Her face filled with fear, all the way up her short forehead and over her hairline. "I'm sorry," I apologized. "Please forgive my horrid temper." I cracked a playful smile. "It's okay, Sweenlah. Would you go get some firewood, some kindling? We'll be needing a fire soon." I rubbed my chilled arms. She nodded, and made a strenuous attempt to travel five feet from the tree. I sighed, shook my head, and gathered some rocks to make boundaries for a fire pit.

  That night we ate what was left of the horse. It made Sweenlah gag and me wonder. Was I right to have let her come? She definitely was not cut out for this kind of work. I told her my thoughts, and she explained.

  "None of the Beatiez are very brave. All of my friends would have passed out at the sight of a Faash! I am considered a heroine among my circle."

  I gnawed at the bone, trying to get every last bit of meat off. "So your just staying conscious was a wonderfully brave thing?" She nodded.

  On our trip to the edge of the forest, we were both jittery. "What was that?" A fly would buzz in our ears. Then we would realize how silly we were being, and laugh.

  "Whoa," Sweenlah and I stopped short. We had made it, to the forest. "Take a deep breath, Sweenlah. It may be your last chance." We both inhaled deeply, and I struggled to control myself. My ankles started to shake, and it traveled all the way to my mouth. I already knew what it was like in there. And in one word, it was nothing!

  "I am going to leave Clupint out here." Sweenlah nodded in agreement.

  With our hands on our scabbards, we entered total darkness. Then I remembered what the Peddler had said about Beatiez and humans being visible to each other! I looked at her, but all I saw was a blur of fear: a mass of weak knees and a pounding heart. I gave a weak smirk to try and encourage her, but her eyes seemed to be focused somewhere else. A delirious stare. I wanted to talk to her, to tell her that she couldn't freeze up. Not now. I laid my hand on her, in a gesture of comfort, but she jumped a foot in the air. I decided to let her be.

  My eye twitched nervously as I rummaged through my bag, trying to find the spotters, but I felt no cold, hard metal.

  They weren't in there!

  I screamed, for no one could hear me. But I vibrated in fear, and Sweenlah noticed. She started to run the other way, but I grabbed hold of her arm. I shook my head violently, for neither of us knew what lay ahead that way. It could be the way out; yet it could be a nesting ground full of Colies. And that made me remember? Without my spotters, we couldn't know what was there! Sweenlah sensed my nervousness and started panicking even more. I knew if she kept on like that, she was bound to get eaten!

  Then something brushed the top of my head. All my thoughts melted away, and my chest started rising and falling rigidly. Could it be Sweenlah? I tried hard to make myself think it was, but I looked over and saw her huddled on the ground with her hands over her head. I hoped she would stay like that.

  The Colie started to breathe on my head. Its slowly flitting wings made a breeze that brushed all the hair from my face, revealing my truthfully horrified appearance. My eyes were as big as the Colie's, and my dry, cracked lips stood out in terror. They couldn't even tremble. I was frozen in fear. I tried to get my sword out of the scabbard, but I knocked it out. I lifted it up and dusted it off. As my trembling hands felt along the edges of the small, cold object, I got as excited as my nerves would let me. They were my spotters! I shoved them on my face, but in the process I bent my nose backwards. It started to throb, but I pushed the pain aside. I had more important things to think about.

  But pain decided otherwise. The spotters quickly revealed a flashing green dot, which bashed me to the ground. I was lying on my back, head throbbing. I tried to sit up, but I settled myself back on the dirt in agony. My left shoulder had been slashed open. I clamped my teeth together in anguish. The nothingness of hell overwhelmed me as I lay there, wondering if this were the end for me. In peril I waited for another strike from the creature, but he left me in suspense. Terrifying suspense. Not one inch of my shaken body wasn't trembling.

  I struggled to take the sword from Sweenlah's scabbard and handed it to her. She was about to put it back, but I took her hand and laid it on my wound. She slowly drew it back; I felt a teardrop land on my hand. She was crying. Hurriedly, and with a covetous look in her eyes, she balled herself up on the ground.

  I stood and turned back around, readying myself to face the creature. I felt soft wings on my face, and it sent a shiver down my spine. It was trying to torment me. The pain from my shoulder was throbbing. And despite the noiselessness, I could almost hear it. Then out of nowhere, the dot knocked me down again. I fell sideways in the dirt, and looked for Sweenlah. But she was gone!

  I hopped to my feet. It hurt like words could not describe, but I had to look for her. I tore a strip of skirt off my shift and pressed it to my wound. I tripped over a piece of skirt that had been left hanging, and I fell again. I spit the dirt from my mouth and rolled over just in time to see a Colie hovering over my head. I dropped the bloodied cloth and pulled out my sword. My lips shaped words of agony, yet no sound emerged from my quaking body. Nonetheless I pushed my sword into its belly. I cried, terrified. Angry tears streamed down my face. Another Colie appeared, and I jabbed it in just the same way. Then at least twenty more came into view. I stood up, still crying my heart out. But I hadn't as much fear as before.

  My back began to bleed. I was thrust against a tree, and it scraped me in torment. I was being dashed against the tree, again and again, by an invisible Colie. My spotters were knocked from my face. I gave up, and my body was limply crushed between the tree and a round furry body.

  But was this the time to give up? Certainly not. I had to take revenge for Sweenlah. Sweet Sweenlah. I grabbed my sword and swung it violently. I thrashed the Colies, killing each one with burning passion. When I presumed there were no more, I reached down for my spotters. I shoved them on, avoiding my nose, and slowly turned. A flashing dot! Nervousness took over. I dropped my sword. I had no time to find it, so I braced my self to fight with my fists.

  But when I looked again, I saw what the flashing dot was! It wasn't a Colie at all. It was? Brye! But how did he know where to find me?

  I was overjoyed to see him. I wrapped him in a hug. I tried to motion to him what had happened to Sweenlah, my Beatiez companion, and he sent his men to search for her. But nothing was found. Sadly I was led to the exit of the forest, where we braced ourselves for the blinding light. Something I hadn't done before. I closed my hands over my head, in hopes of it decreasing the headache I was about to get.

  We all stepped through the wall of nothingness and into the light. The blinding sun. We all stumbled backwards, even the horses, yet my headache was not as bad as last time, when it hurt so bad I thought I would never recover.

  My wounds pounded a little more fiercely than they had in the cold dreariness of the forest, but I was glad to be out all the same. My knees wobbled as the sun beat fast upon my aching back. I hadn't thought I would have had to endure these awful feelings
so soon. Then I thought of Sweenlah. I bit my lip to keep from crying, but my head began to spin and my steps were swerving noticeably. Everybody looked down at me.

  "Are you all right?" Brye grabbed my arm, just in time, and kept me from falling over.

  The tears that had welled up in my eyes could stay put no longer. Our two months of friendship poured out from my miserable eyes. With Brye still holding my arm, I couldn't run away. But I wanted to. I wanted to run off and cry until my insides felt as if they needed to be heaved and thrown overboard on a ship, to be eaten by the creatures of the deep and mysterious.

  I looked up at Brye, trying to speak to him without words. It worked. He pulled me up, completely to my feet, and led me by the hand away from everybody. He calmly told them that we would be right back.

  "What's wrong?" he asked after we were alone, away from all the scrutinizing eyes.

  I looked up at him, but the only thing I could get out was a waterfall of tears. More tears. When one thinks she has cried all her poor heart will let her, she always has an ocean left.

  Brye lifted my chin, and our eyes met. Then I felt I could tell my story. At the end of my tale, I choked on wails of sorrow.

  "So far I've killed-" sniffle, "-two?" I trailed off.

  Quickly Brye stopped my thoughts. "No, no you haven't," he forced a laugh. "You just happened to be around."

  I shook my head and squeezed his hand. "Thanks for being such a good friend." The look in his eyes changed.

  "I think we can go back now," I stood up and dusted myself off. I waited for Brye to get up, but he just sat there, gazing. Then he nodded.