Wings of Boden (28 page)

“No, I don’t think so.”

A few minutes later, we touched down into
clearing of sparse bushes, twigs, layers of pine needles and cones.
Drenched in shadow, the surrounding forest slept in musty
silence—no birdsong, none of the usual squirrel chatter. Sharp
beams of sunlight managed to cut through the treetops here and
there. A cone falling through some branches caught my attention.
Then some weird
chicka-chicka
sound came from deep within
the dim.

I scrunched my face. “This is kinda weird,
isn’t it? It’s so quiet.”

“I told you. Do you wanna leave?”

“No, it’s fine”—tracking my eyes through the
forest—“Let’s just look around.”

“All right, but if you change your mind
...”

We hiked around bushes, boulders half buried
in the dirt, and a mash of pines, our steps pressing the spongy
ground and snapping twigs. One of the trees was lightning struck,
broken in half and scorched black, the top half hanging and caught
in another tree. An eerie feeling lingered through the forest, so
silent, peaceful, in a creepy sort of way.

“Ang”—weaving around a tree—“did you know
about Mom?”

“What do you mean?”

“She was a warrior, sis. Did you know
that?”

“Oh, I guess Dad had the talk with you, huh?”
She stepped over a rotting log that held clumps of green moss.
“Yeah, I knew, sort of, but I didn’t really believe it until Mom
picked up your bow and showed us a few things. Brings a whole new
meaning to Mom, doesn’t it?”

“Sheesh, I guess. It blows my mind. Mom is
like a—” I stopped, peered through the shadowed forest. “Look at
that.” A shaft of sunlight like a spotlight beam through the
treetops revealed a lush vertical embankment. “Let’s go check it
out.”

We stood on a patch of scrabble and dirt,
observing a veil of roots tangled and twisted over an earthen cave
mouth, thick green sod all around.

“Wow,” Angie said. “Guess what?”

“What?”

“There’s no flappin way you’re getting
me
to go in
there
.”

“What do you suppose it is?”

She glanced around. “Probably a bear cave or
something, I don’t know. I read somewhere they like to live in
these dark places. And look around, those are berry bushes. They
love berries.”

“Yeah, maybe.” Taking a moment to observe, I
scanned the surroundings. Blueberry bushes. Sparse weeds with
little yellow buds. All the pine trees were bare up to maybe
fifteen feet before the branches began to spread. Shafts of
sunlight spattered the ground here and there. To my left, a patch
of sunlight sparkled in a natural spring that trickled down the
mountain on a meager streambed of pebbles. The
chicka-chicka
sound came from the shadows around us. Probably a squirrel, I
figured …

“Ellie, what are you doing?”

“What do you mean? The same thing you
are.”

“Not exactly. I haven’t been in a trance for
five minutes. You weren’t listening to me. It was beginning to
creep me out.”

“Really? I’m sorry.”

“You’re not thinking about going in there,
are you? Because you—”

“No, no.” I stole a glance at her. And the
movie cliché voice in my head returned, screaming at me from the
audience,
Don’t go in the cave you idiot!
I couldn’t help
it, my gaze went back to the mouth, and my curiosity squelched the
voice. “Well, maybe just a peek.”

“What’s gotten into you? I’m usually the one
talking you into something like this. And you know if I don’t wanna
go in there, it must be off-the-charts creepy.”

I pushed some hair off my face. “Let’s just
go in a little ways. Take a look around. You can wait here if you
want.”

“
Ugh
,” she said on a sigh. “Okay, just
a peek, that’s
all
.”

Two steps before I reached out and parted the
veil with my bow-free hand. Leaning my head closer I squinted into
the darkness. After a moment of indecision, I angled through the
web and stepped into an earthy smell, stale, a mixture of dirt and
wet dog. My heart should have been racing, yet it had slowed to a
crawl. The slow rhythm of blood
thump flubbed
in my ears.
Then a racing sound caught my awareness:
Thup thup thup thup
thup
, fast and even, like a windmill blade in a windstorm, and
I realized it was Angie’s heartbeat behind me.

“Are you okay back there?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Are you almost done? Um, I
think I’m ready to go now.”

“Hey!” a drek voice yapped.

With one hop, Angie was next to me,
trembling. I felt the same—for a moment. The cave was lit bright
and I couldn’t understand why. Until I realized it was my body glow
lighting the space, revealing subterranean earth walls, roots
jutting out and bugs skittering to hide. The smirking drek stood on
our side of the veil, blocking our exit. Bald head. Bulged
eyes.

My bow arm eased up.

“Whattaya doin, Elle?” whined the drek. “Come
for some, have ya?”

Oh, Source! It’s Mawlkon
.

“You shouldn’t’ve come in here, Mawlk,” I
said, attempting to throw a threatening voice, though it quivered
in my throat.

Angie started to hyperventilate so I stepped
in front of her.

“No,” Mawlkon said, “you have that backwards.
You
shouldn’t be in here. The war is on, pretty one,
remember. We don’t have to hold back anymore, nope, no more. So,
why dontcha show me what ya got under those clothes there, eh? And
maybe I’ll let ya live. Maybe.”

I hissed, “We don’t have to hold back either,
you pig.”

A ghoulish chuckle dripped. “How many arrows
you got there, eh?”

“Enough to take you out.”

“Well, good luck with that.” His smirk showed
teeth tips as he pulled a coiled whip out from behind his back and
lifted it to his face. “I got something for you, Elle. And don’t
worry, Angie, I’ll save some for you. Let’s make those faces even
prettier, whattaya say? This should be delicious. I can almost
taste it already.” He lifted his chin, sniffed. “And what’s that I
smell? Oh, yes. Fear. My favorite perfume. They should invent that,
yes. Name it,
Angel Fear
, a scent to tempt your taste
buds.”

The sight of the whip rushed memories through
my mind. In the whiteness of my vision, Mawlkon became a dark spot,
a target. I lifted the bow with swift purpose, trained motions.

The whip cracked a yelp out of me, “Ah!” My
cheek burned like fire, but it was too late for him. Mawlkon was a
pool of melted muck on the cave floor and my arrow was outside. I
felt a trickle of blood run down my cheek, searing pain behind it.
Seconds later, my breathing pulled back measured and calm.

All the years of Mawlkon torment—snuffed with
one simple arrow.

My gaze went down to Angie; she had huddled
up on the ground behind me, trembling.

“It’s okay now, Ang.” I laid a palm on her
back. “Let’s get outta here. You’re usually tougher than this,
what’s going on? Are you okay?”

Hugging her knees, eyes on the cave floor,
Angie gave a light headshake, then lifted and pointed a shaky
finger toward the entrance.

Aiming my eyes through the veil, movement was
evident—Shadows. Dozens.

Liquid knees struggled to hold my weight, a
whimper slipped out … before a switch in my mind flicked on,
Angie
. I grabbed her shoulders and pulled her up to stand,
stared into her vacant eyes. “You have to pull yourself together,
sis, now.” My sister was not home. I had no choice but to bring her
back with a face
slap
. “Angie, I need your help!”

She shook her head, and again …“Yeah. Okay,
yeah. What should we do?”

“Follow me. We’ll shoot through the
roots.”

We didn’t make it two steps when a tall drek
parted the veil with a coiled whip. It leaned its long neck under
the cave opening, cocked its hairless head. A ghoulish sneer
revealed rows of needle teeth, pointed tongue flicking over them.
Black orb eyes peered in at us.

We shuffled back deeper into the cave.

Angie drew her bow and terminated the drek
before he could take another step.

“Yeah, good shot,” I said, readying my bow.
“We’ll just stay here and pick ‘em off.”

Another drek stepped in. I ended him. “See,
Ang, this isn’t that hard.”

Realization dawned.

“Angie, cover me.”

“Where are you going?”

Before she could say another desperate word,
I’d already returned with a whip in my hand. “We’re gonna run out
of arrows. You
don’t
wanna know how ma—”

“What? Let’s run!”

“Where?” Another drek parted the veil,
stepped in. I dropped the whip, pulled my bow and finished him.
Dad’s previous words entered my mind,
Bring a sword with
you
.

One after another, they came until we were
out of arrows. I replaced the bow with the whip and snaked it out
across the dirt floor. A drek stepped in. I lifted, swung and
cracked the whip to its head, stunning it for a second.

Another swing.
Wha-tish!

Nothing.

One more time. Please.
Wha-tish!

The drek was gone. Another stepped in,
another. And another. Fear pounced on me. I snatched my bow off the
ground, turned to Angie. “We need to run, now!”

The tunnel lit with my glow as we sprinted
down the cave in a half-crouch, my bow in one hand and whip in the
other, lungs tearing oxygen from the dank air in heaving breaths.
Angie squealed out frantic whimpers as she ran. My hair snagged on
a root, or something, a sting of pain in my scalp as it ripped
free. I ignored it.

We ran.

“Where are we going?” Angie pleaded in
mid-stride.

My eyes swept the tunnel. “Just, look for
light, an exit.”

Nothing.

We ran.

One at a time, we found fingers of tunnels
branching off into dead-end rooms. Even as we descended into the
bowels of the mountain, horrific cackles of laughter and sounds of
cracking whips followed us …

We ran.

The end came into view. A solid wall.
Attempting to stop my run, I stumbled into it, collapsed to the
floor. Angie caught her balance and stood above, looking down at
me, as I noticed her inner thighs, long areas of darkened jean
fabric, urine stained.

“What are we gonna do, Ellie?” Her desperate
voice shuddered in a traumatic whisper, eyes wide, tear- and
dirt-stained face contorted with fear.

I pulled myself up on a reply, “I-I don’t
know.”

Oh, Source, I got her into this. I have to
protect her. Studying my terrified sister, I pushed out the words,
“The only thing. I
can
do. I guess.” Pressure built behind
my eyes. Sweat ran. Nerves fired fear through my body. I turned to
peer up the tunnel, rolled out the whip. And waited.

Through watery eyes, I saw gray spots
approaching like moving apparitions, snapping and cackling, pushing
roots out of their way. I lifted the whip. “Get. Behind. Me.”

The first drek stood just across the way. I
swung.
Wha-tish!
Missed.

Other dreks appeared, cracking nightmares,
the cave awash with the din of death. A precise drek snap tore my
whip from my hand and sent it tumbling across the dirt ground. I
shot my eyes to it, and stared at my last choice …
Wha-tish
,
came from the distance. I cowered down and curled up with Angie
against the wall, pulled her into a tight embrace.

Smothered sounds of hopeless weeping came
from Angie. She hiccup sobbed in my ear. “Ellie, I’m so, scared. I.
Can’t. Breathe.”

With my arms around her, even as whips
cracked behind us, I managed a whisper, “I love you, Angie.”

Fire cut into my back and my body convulsed
on a yelp, “Owe, NO!”
Wha-tish!
“Ah, NO! Please, leave us
alone!”
Wha-tish!
“Owe, NO!”

My bladder emptied, heat soaked my jeans.

Wha-tish! … Wha-tish! … Wha-tish! …

With my body canopying Angie, my back to the
dreks and my head bowed … the whipping continued … and continued
…

Visions of my life appeared out of the dark:
Laughter. Friends. Family. Vyn’s smile …

Wha-tish!

Skin aflame with searing pain, I whimpered,
“Daddy.”

****

Endless minutes later, numbness set in. The
shock of realization began to slow my breaths. I had become a mere
rock against the wall, covering my sister as she wept.

****

Peace began to emerge, sounds muffled beyond
clarity. The whips were still there, nicking my clothes and popping
new cuts to my skin. Wing feathers dropping to the dirt.

Warmth radiated off Angie.

She squeezed. I pulled her in.

In unison, the dreks began:

The yowling siren filled the space, seeping
into every pore and vibrating the walls, dirt sifting off the
ceiling and onto my back and wings. Angie wilted in my arms, beaten
into submission by a sound.

My eyes slid shut. I whispered, “Goodnight,
my sweet sister. You were always there for me. I love you, so
much.” …

The yell drifted away like horns sounding
through a distant fog.…

Until all was quiet.

What is that?
Something tugged at my
jeans as if—

Owe!
Something pricked my arm like
needles, like … Teeth.
Source, No!

BLACKNESS

…
Am I dead? It’s so dark. I don’t
understand. But my mind is still going. Is it supposed to be this
way? It’s—

What is that?

Is that my heartbeat? Is that my breath?

It’s so peaceful and quiet.

But … I’m alone.

Vyn, where are you?