Reapers -- The First Familiar (Reapers Chronicles Book II)

13 - The Triangle

With my skirt gathered in one hand, I winded through the stalagmites. The path was slippery, given that there was a path to begin with. Draughting with this much obstacle would be too tricky for me so I resorted to do it the hard way—walk.

Water constantly trickled from the ceiling. It made my hair damp. As I got farther into the cave’s other end, it got darker, the air dank. I listened closely for any sign of danger. So far, fruit bats posed the most threat in the cave and even they were asleep, hanging upside down from the cave’s ceiling.

I quickened my pace. Soon, it would get light outside.

As I reached the mouth of the cave, I glanced back quickly at Vincent. He was still sleeping in the corner where I had left him, which was a good thing because he would be more of a threat to himself and to others when he’s awake.

With a deep breath, I pushed the wispy mesh of vines that draped the mouth of the cave. The opening led to a drop about ten feet high. Gasping for air, I took two steps back.

“That was close,” I murmured, chuckling uneasily.

Small irregular stones jutted out from the rock face, seemingly strong enough to carry my weight. Or I could just jump down. I had survived taller heights than this. So I did, smiling to myself and thinking how lucky I was to be immortal. In seconds, I was flying.

How wrong was I?

For starters, I hit the ground face down. Good thing it was grass-covered. Still knocked the wind out of me though. It didn’t feel like I broke anything but everything hurt terribly. It took me a while to gather enough strength to roll flat on my back. The next several minutes were spent coughing and shaking off the dizziness.

Groaning, I pushed myself up trying not to pay attention to the scratches all over my arms and palms. I was still a bit woozy so I leaned on a nearby tree for support. My knees were shaking. They hurt a bit too. Perhaps it was just the bad landing. My skills were getting rusty.

I had fell from places ten times as high as that cave before. So far, I had (almost) always managed to land without a scratch. Maybe I just need to let myself recharge. Helping Vincent recover last night took a lot out of me.

I limped my way through the thick forest, taking extreme caution. All I could hear were the bird songs and the waves. As the smell of the sea slowly faded, the sky could barely be seen through the thick branches of the redwoods. Like giant towers looming over me, most of them had trunks the size of minivans. The others were a lot bigger. Everywhere I looked, there was nothing but grass and redwood. No fruit-trees. No nuts.

So there goes plan A. I grumbled silently, closing my eyes at the thought of having to hunt and kill animals for food. Just thinking about it made my insides lurch.

Tiredly, I decided on finding water first. Good news. I learned in school that in a forest this big it was sure that there would be a place to get fresh water. The bad news was they didn’t teach you how to find it. So that brought everything down to my instincts.

“My instincts… My instincts? That’s it!” I hissed hysterically to myself. “We’re both gonna die.”

That was when I thought I heard a voice. Not just one. There were several voices. I could hear wobbly wheels being dragged against a rough pavement. The voices seemed to be arguing. And cows. I could hear cows.

Closing my eyes, I tried to listen harder. Enemies? Or not? Enemies wouldn’t bring cows with them, would they?

Concentrating harder, I followed the source of the noise downhill where the redwoods were younger, thinner. My feet mechanically moved ahead of each other until I found a narrow dirt road on the side of the hill that further led down to a valley. It was surrounded by three crags that leaned against each other, making the clearing look like a huge triangle. If a chopper was to hover above the crag, there would be a great probability that the valley would not be spotted.