"This is just nasty," Kenna mumbled.
Brook shrugged and took another step. The mud underfoot squished and squirted.
"Really, really nasty," she repeated. Her legs were covered in the brown goo. She took another step and suctioned her shoe off.
Brook rolled her eyes and helped Kenna retie the shoe.
"Think of it this way," she said, "mud will make your skin soft."
Kenna pointed to the bandages peaking out from under her shirt, then to the ones on her arm, then to the left side of her head. "Yes, because I have so much skin left."
"Do you think we're almost there?" she asked after a while.
|We are very close. Apologies for the long walk| the Muyl's voice echoed in her mind. She winced at the suffocating presence of the being inside her brain.
"Get the hell out of my head," she snarled.
"Is that the Muyl?" Brook asked.
Kenna nodded, hating how only she could hear this conversation, but hating more the fact that the Muyl was evidently talking to at least five others. It was an ability of the Muyl to be able to communicate different things to different people simultaneously.
|I shall in a moment| it said. |But I have something to say first. Will you listen?|
Kenna set her jaw and continued on through the mud.
It sighed. |I just wished to offer my sincerest apologies about your unfortunate accident. I did not mean for anyone to get hurt.|
"Sure you didn't."
|I had hoped that by tossing you into the center of the camp, I would be able to avoid a fight and thus any casualties. All I want is to rid this planet of the Lii and get you home.|
"Alright, sure," Kenna spat. "Now get out of my head."
The Muyl's presence faded.
"I don't trust it," Brook said lowly.
Kenna shook her head. "I don't know. The leaders seem to."
"I think they've made a bad decision."
"Brook, they spent practically a whole day discussing this alliance. Plus, when have they ever failed us?"
"If you trust it, then why do you hate it?" she asked.
"I trust Banner and Rina. Not really RJ, but no one trusts him. I'm just doing what will keep me alive."
Brook pursed her lips and continued walking.
Eventually, Rina raised an arm, signaling the group to stop. Banner turned to face them, waited for complete silence, then began to speak.
"The Muyl says that the shuttle is a mile from here. Since we are on a cliff, we can look down and see it without the Lii seeing us."
"A cliff?" someone behind Kenna whispered.
There was no way they were on a cliff, Kenna thought, looking at the thick wall of plant life around them. Sure, there had been a few steep inclines they traveled up.... Well, a lot of steep inclines, actually. But a cliff?
Banner gestured to Rina who weaved her way through the trees in front of them and disappeared. A moment later she came back, turned to Banner and RJ, and nodded. RJ swore gleefully.
"This way," Banner told the rest of the group.
They marched through the trees until the trees suddenly stopped growing. Mud was replaced with rock and the stuffy smell of the forest disappeared.
