Page 20 of Spirit Rites
“She is.”
He glances back at me. “You know that after just a few hours?” There’s a slight smirk on his lips.
“I knew it right away.”
He turns back, but I catch the smile tugging at lips as he does. Conversation becomes difficult after that, because of the effort it takes to make even a little bit of progress through the thick undergrowth. My stomach growls at some point, and I think he must hear it because he glances my way. “Let’s try to find a place to rest a little and regroup.”
“Okay.” It’s a great idea in theory, but we’re completely surrounded by underbrush and trees. I’m not sure thereisa place to rest and regroup. But I push on, cutting down everything I can as we go. My feet ache, but I don’t complain. He has it harder than I do with the muscle it takes to cut down everything in our path. In fact, it’s getting harder and harder to look away from “said muscle” when it’s been in my face all day. I feel my face heat, more than it already is from the heat of the day, and I look behind us. I go still and reach out blindly for Kaldar. My hand slides off his sweaty arm, but I grab it again and don’t let go. I feel his presence behind me.
“Stay completely still,” he says right against my ear.
Chapter 9
I don’t respond in any way. I only keep an eye on the creature that is hunting us. That’s the only reason I can imagine it hasn’t made a sound. It’s huge with two pointed horns sticking out of its head. The horns alone look like they could probably skewer us. But then there’s the sort of scales that cover its body. They look like they’re made of a material that could slice a finger clean off. I have no idea how the animal doesn’t make a sound when it moves, but it doesn’t. Kaldar and I never heard it. I watch as it takes a single step towards us, and I realize why it doesn’t make a sound. The scale-like things on its sides move as if they’re a second skin. The animal is so light on its feet; it’s shocking. Kaldar slowly pulls me back, and before I realize what’s happening, I’m standing behind him. I frown because he did that so quietly and easily. I can see his muscles tense in front of me. But then he does something that shocks me. I watch as he lowers the hand holding his sword and takes a step to the side. When I don’t move with him, he grabs my hand and gently and slowly pulls me back to stand next to him. I turn to look at him, but he’s watching the animal closely. I have no idea what’s at play here, but I’m not ready to become dinner for a wild animal. I tighten my grip on my knife, but he puts his hand over mine and gently pushes it down. My eyes widen because I’m pretty sure he’s lost his mind.
The animal takes a step towards us, and my entire body tenses. “Easy,” Kaldar says in the quietest voice. The animal takes another step forward, and every muscle in my body locks up. He’s going to skewer the two of us. When it lifts its head and locks eyes with us, I try to raise my knife. Kaldar tightens his gripon my hand. And then his arm slides around my body and locks me tight against his side. The absolute shock of his actions keeps me from moving a muscle. The animal walks over to us, and my body stiffens. I can’t even breathe; my heart is racing so fast. And then the animal turns and starts walking away from us. By this point, I realize it’s a good thing Kaldar has his arm around me, holding me up. Otherwise, I’m pretty sure my legs would just give out. Several long minutes pass before Kaldar finally removes his arm.
I whirl on him. “How did you know he wasn’t going to skewer us.”
“I didn’t.”
“What?” my voice is nearly a shriek at this point. “Then why did you make us lower our weapons and just stand there and wait for him to kill us.”
“I was hoping it would just pass if we weren’t aggressive, and it did.”
I stare at him. “It could have gone so different.”
“But it didn’t.” He must see how exasperated I am because he continues. “It was on us too fast, we didn’t have time to try to take it down. It was too close to us with those horns and too big to fight from that close. I did the only thing I thought would work and that was to just let it pass.”
“Well, next time you decide to offer yourself up as a human sacrifice, don’t take me with you.”
“Got it.”
He starts forward again, and I follow on shaky legs. We don’t make it very far before there’s a loud buzzing sound. Suddenly, a dark cloud descends on us. Tiny black-winged bugs fly at us, biting us where they can. There are too many of them, and I run, trying to get away from them. I try to slap them when I feel their bites, but there are too many of them. Finally, they die down, and then it’s only a few left. I kill the ones that are left on my skinand jog a little further. I finally bend over and catch my breath and then take in the damage. I have little red bumps all over my body. They’re tender, but they don’t itch or burn, thankfully. It takes a moment for the stillness to hit me. I turn back in the direction I came from. “Kaldar?” I don’t yell because I don’t want to attract any other scary creatures; I’ve had enough of those today. When I don’t hear anything, I start back. I call his name several times, but I hear nothing in return. I try to keep my panic at bay, but the longer I go without seeing or hearing him starts messing with me. I stop several times, wondering if I’m even going in the right direction. I have no idea. I was running without looking where I was going when I was trying to escape those bugs. I think this is the direction I came from, but I honestly have no idea. “Kaldar?” Something rustles in the bushes, and I slowly back away. I make a mental note not to call out again; it’s too dangerous. He's not answering anyway. I look around, trying to see if I recognize anything and frown. It’s hard to see. I glance up at the sky.Is it getting darker? It’s not even midday. I keep moving forward, determined to find Kaldar. And yet, every few steps, it gets darker. Wondering if it’s because I’m heading deeper into the trees, I turn around and backtrack. But it’s just as dark this way too. I glance up, but I can no longer see the sun, nor the tops of the trees. The darkness continues to grow, and a chill runs down my spine. This darkness is not natural. Seconds later, the darkness is so thick, I feel like I can touch it. “Kaldar,” I try, but it’s like the sound waves just bounce back at me. Fear grips me, and I try not to panic. The darkness closes in around me until I feel like I can’t breathe. I no longer hear a single sound in this forest. There are no bushes rustling, no leaves blowing, no twigs crackling. There's just an unnatural stillness. Paralyzing fear grips me, and I don’t know what to do. I’ve known loneliness because of growing up in the banished community, but that pales in comparison now. I’ve never felt soutterly alone. The darkness seems to seep into me until it feels like it’s reached my very soul. I squeeze my fingernails into my palms, trying to feel something.Anything. There’s something about this darkness that seems like it’s going to destroy me from the inside out. I can’t focus on anything outside this tiny bubble of darkness. I sit down and curl my arms around my legs and pull myself into the smallest ball possible.
I have no idea how long I stay that way. There is no knowledge of time passing or anything outside of this cloying darkness. When it’s at its worst, I feel like it’s trying to penetrate my mind. I’m worried I might actually lose my mind.Fight back, Kinsley.I squeeze my fists again, and the pain of my fingernails digging into my palms helps ease the most extreme panic. Somehow, I know if I don’t fight back, this darkness is going to destroy me. I fight back the only way I know how. “Sunrise.” I pause and take in a breath; it feels like I don’t get enough oxygen. But I push on. “The trees.” I push the words out through grit teeth. “Farrah. Harper.” I get another sweet breath of oxygen. “Veyra. Lox. Jamik. Hector. Rysden.” It’s a little easier to breathe now. As soon as I stop, the darkness pushes in on me again. So I rush to continue. “Kaldar. Jespar. Warm blankets. Good food. Fire.” The words come even easier. “Sunsets. Snow. Spirit animals. Fresh bread. Hector's stew. A soft bed. My senses. Health. A weapon.” It seems like the darkness is weakening. I wonder if Kaldar is dealing with this. Fear for him fills my chest, and the darkness comes rushing back at me. It threatens to consume me, and I have to force my lungs to keep working. I start my list again. “Flowers. Fresh berries. Farrah’s family. Rysden becoming king.” As long as I keep up my list, the darkness stays at bay. Whenever I stop, it closes in. If I let fear in, it creeps in even quicker. I have no idea how long I keep my list going. It’s long enough that I lose my voice; still, I continue. I refuse to let the darkness win. And then finally, atlast, it begins to recede completely. I fall completely silent and watch as the world around me comes back into the light. I close my eyes and tip my head up to the sky. Through the trees, I can still feel the warmth of the sun on my face. I’m not sure if I’ve ever felt anything better. And then I hear the most blessed thing.
“Kinsley!” I blink at the precious sound of Kaldar’s voice. I try to answer him, but my voice is shot. So, I move toward him instead, hoping he’ll hear me coming. His voice gets closer, and then suddenly, there he is. I watch as stark relief fills his face, and I blink against the tears threatening to fall. He frowns. “Where have you been? I’ve been searching for you for hours?”
I frown. “You weren’t stuck in darkness?” My voice sounds like sandpaper.
It’s his turn to frown. “What darkness? What happened to your voice?” He walks right up to me and stops as his frown turns into a full-on scowl. “Why are there red bumps all over you. Kinsley, what happened?”
In the midst of everything, I’d forgotten about the bug attack. “I was following you when a cloud of angry bugs of some kind came at me. They kept biting me, leaving these red marks.” It hurts to talk, but I push on. “After that, I lost you. I tried to find you but couldn’t. And then it started getting darker and darker. Eventually, I couldn’t see anything. It wasn’t a normal darkness. It was like a living entity; it felt like it was penetrating my very soul. I couldn’t think, couldn’t breathe.”
His eyes never leave my face. “What did you do?”
“I started making a list of things I’m grateful for.”
He seems to be holding his breath. “And did that work?”
I nod. “It kept the darkness at bay, so at least I didn’t lose my mind. Every time I stopped, the darkness pressed in, which is why I have this.” I lift my hand to my throat.
“The bugs must have been to get us separated.”
I nod, agreeing with him. “What happened to you?”
He runs a hand through his hair. “I spent the entire time looking for you. It’s like you just disappeared.” I nod unsurprised.
