Spirit Animals: The Evertree Part 5

They had spent the entire day chopping their way through dry, brittle underbrush and a dying forest. Now, as they finally emerged on the other side, they saw a desolate, yellow expanse of plains spread out before them, with a small village situated at the bottom of bare foothills.

Conor had to admit Stetriol didn't look like a country that anyone would visit voluntarily.

"Hide your cloaks," Finn said to all of them. "Greencloaks will not be welcome here."

Conor and Abeke removed theirs, but Rollan hesitated. His fingers fiddled with the clasp of his cloak. Conor remembered that it was not Rollan's cloak, but Tarik's.

"Tarik once told us never to take our cloaks off to win favor," Rollan mumbled. "In Boulder City."

Finn walked over to where Rollan stood. He gave him a sympathetic nod. "Wise words," he said gently. "But he will be with you now, cloak or not, just as you will always be a Greencloak."

Rollan nodded. Still, his eyes stayed down. "Yeah, you're right." Finally he unhooked the clasp. The cloak fell to the ground in a heap, sending up a shower of dirt. Rollan immediately bent down, picked it up, and started shaking dust from it. Conor looked on as Rollan folded the cloak carefully. He packed it tightly into his bag.

As the first town came into view, Conor was struck by how gray and brown everything looked. A long, low wall surrounded the cl.u.s.ter of homes, but the wall's rocks were chipped and crumbling. Some parts of it had collapsed entirely. The land around the town was dry and spa.r.s.ely dotted with weeds. A couple of mules pulling carts of supplies waited at the wall's rusted entrance gates. The animals' hides were dull and dappled with sores, and Conor could see their ribs.

They entered the town quietly after the mules and their carts. The two guards stationed at the gates didn't look like guards at all, Conor thought, but merely poor peasant farmers in tattered tunics and shoes. As the Greencloaks walked in, he thought the two farmers cast them sidelong glances.

Conor looked away and instinctively scanned the sky for birds. He hadn't forgotten Balanhara yet.

"Don't worry," Rollan said, pointing up at Essix. "If any bird looks suspicious, Essix will make a lunch out of it."

"Lucky, being allowed to keep Essix out," Abeke muttered at Rollan. "I wish I could let Uraza prowl around, but Finn said it's too dangerous for her to be seen here. People might pa.s.s the word to the Conquerors that the Four Fallen have arrived."

Conor wished he could let Briggan out from his dormant state too he missed the silent comfort of his presence.

Rollan just shrugged. "Now that you mention it, where are the Conquerors? I figured this place would be swarming with them."

"Maybe Shane is already gathering their entire army near Kovo's prison," Conor whispered.

Faded tavern signs with the town's name swung in the breeze. "Gray Hills," read Abeke. As their small group wandered through the marketplace or what Conor could only a.s.sume was a marketplace the people walking past them averted their gazes, keeping their hats pulled low and mouths tight in thin lines. Once, Conor accidentally brushed the arm of a pa.s.sing woman. The woman cringed as if he'd burned her, then hunched her shoulders and walked away as fast as she could.

Abeke stopped to smile at a little boy with dirty cheeks who stooped at the entrance of an alley, quietly watching them pa.s.s. As she did, the boy sneered at her, then spit in her direction before running off. She watched him go with her mouth open.

"With my remarkable powers of perception," Rollan said beside her, "I'm getting the very subtle hint that people might ... possibly ... not like us here. But it's hard to tell."

Abeke raised an eyebrow at Rollan's sarcasm, then returned to looking around the nearly deserted marketplace. "Why does everyone look so hostile? Like they think we're going to hurt them?" A few yards away, Finn and several other Greencloaks stopped at a corral to haggle over the prices of horses. "I'd understand if Uraza was prowling around, but it's not as if our spirit animals are out."

"I wonder if they can tell that we're Greencloaks," Conor whispered back.

The three made their way over to the corral. The owner, a man in ragged clothes, showed Finn his meager stable of horses. Even here, right in the middle of a business transaction, Conor could tell that the horse dealer was trying his best to not meet Finn's eyes.

The elder Greencloak handed over a small pouch of coins and came back with several horses. None looked healthy. They seemed to Conor not unlike the mules they'd seen entering the town earlier. He patted one horse's muzzle sympathetically, and it grunted in return.

As they led the horses away, Finn leaned down to them and said in a low, gruff voice, "Keep your wits about you. We're not staying long. The people fear us, because they think we might be Conquerors in disguise, spying on them."

"Conquerors in disguise?" Conor said.

"Apparently some Conquerors have been doing that to the border towns, to make sure the people stay meek and obedient. The towns are afraid of anyone they don't recognize."

Abeke exchanged a look with Rollan. "They keep their own people in a state of fear?" she said in a low voice. Then she glanced around. Conor followed her gaze, wondering with an uneasy feeling whether any of these townspeople were Conquerors in disguise, watching them.

Finn nodded. "Some have been whispering that a patrol of Conquerors came through here less than a week ago. We aren't far behind them." He sighed. "They took a great deal of the town's few food stores with them, as well as precious water supplies. There's not much left for us to purchase from anyone."

The thought unsettled Conor. Without water, they would run into trouble in the Stetriolan deserts in no time. "Do we have any?"

"Some," Finn replied. He looked across the marketplace, where two Greencloaks were tying provisions to the backs of their horses. "Not much. We'll need to make good time. They say this village is the only one for miles."

Miles ... with nothing but desert surrounding them. Conor could feel his throat turning dry at the very thought. If this mission failed, and they all perished in the wastelands of Stetriol, it would be his vision that led them out here.

Finn saw Conor's expression and put a gentle hand on his shoulder. "We all chose this," he said in a lowered voice. "And we're going to follow you, Abeke, and Rollan to the end."

Conor straightened as much as he could. He lifted his chin. "Thank you," he replied.

They stayed in Gray Hills for the night, renting rooms in a small, cramped inn near the edge of the town. Conor shared a room with Abeke, Rollan, Maya, and Kalani. Despite the fact that the five of them were all squeezed into the cramped s.p.a.ce, the real reason Conor couldn't sleep was because of the s.h.i.+fting colors in the night sky.

Sometimes it would be pure black, like a night sky should be. Other times, it would blaze scarlet, the tint of blood. As he looked on, the colors faded into blue, then an ominous brown. Conor wondered if they were visions something only he could see. The sky didn't seem to wake the others. Briggan, out of his dormant state for the night in order to keep watch over Conor, kept his head turned up to the sky too, silently observing.

In the morning, the bodies of red-crested birds littered the streets.

No one opened their doors to greet them as the team checked their horses and left. The entire place had turned into an eerie ghost town. Conor s.h.i.+vered as they filed out through the town's exit gate and into the desert. Even though the land beyond was dry and desolate, he was still glad to leave Gray Hills.

As they rode, the land around them gradually changed from parched yellow plains to sandy red rock dotted with shrubs, the stone carved into rivulets where ancient water used to flow. Off in the distance, they could see the faint silhouette of the Red Mountains, a thin line of jagged rock running along the horizon. Their progress was sporadic, slowed down by the fact that Finn was constantly searching the maps for recognizable landmarks.

"Did your visions show you anything specific?" Abeke asked him as they rode side by side. "Nothing about the Conquerors chasing us, or the birds falling from the sky? The weird villagers?"

Conor shook his head. "The most specific thing I saw was a barren land and the trunk of some enormous tree. I know that Tellun, Kovo, and Gerathon were there. And all of us." He paused there. "Tellun was fighting on our side. I hope that means we'll encounter him soon."

Abeke's jaw tightened. "Some just prefer to stand by," she said quietly, "until they can't stand by anymore. Maybe Tellun's like that too."

"Did your visions ever tell us anything about oases in the desert?" Rollan muttered as his horse finally caught up to theirs. Sweat beaded on his brow. That's a good sign, Conor thought. At least he's still sweating. If he stops, that's when he'll be in trouble.

"Come on, Rollan," Abeke said, rolling her eyes. "We all had a drink of water a few hours ago."

"I know," Rollan whined. As if in answer, Essix called out to him from high in the sky, where she was on the hunt for mice and other rodents. "Easy for you to say!" he muttered up at her.

Abeke shook her head and smiled. She looked back and forth between the two boys. "In Nilo," she said, taking something small and smooth out of her pocket, "we suck on pebbles when the water's scarce. Try it out. It'll stave off some of your thirst."

Rollan hopped off his horse, grabbed a couple of gray pebbles from the ground, then jumped back up and polished them on his tunic. He shoved them in his mouth.

"Don't eat them," Abeke said with a laugh. Conor sucked on a pebble and watched their antics, grateful to Rollan for bringing a smile to Abeke's face.

"Hey," Abeke called to where Kalani and Maya were trailing them. "You guys want some pebbles?"

Maya shook her head. Her fire salamander was out on her shoulder now, hiding in the shade that her hair created. Its gold-and-black-patterned scales gleamed in the sun. Maya usually kept Tini in his dormant state, but sometimes she'd let him out to feed. Tini would scamper down to the ground to hunt for a few insects and worms, then dart back to her and happily turn dormant again. Desert heat was no place for a fire salamander.

But it was Kalani who looked absolutely miserable this far from the ocean. Her shoulders were hunched, as if she'd wilted in the sun, and she rode on with a blank, downcast expression. Conor watched her closely. Unlike Rollan, she had no sheen of sweat dotting her brow. She looked entirely parched. And listless.

"Kalani?" Rollan asked hesitantly.

"She's going to faint!" Conor shouted.

Right on cue, Kalani's head lolled to one side and she swayed in her saddle. Abeke jumped down and rushed over right as Conor called out. When Kalani started to fall, Abeke caught her. Her legs buckled, and the two girls crumpled into a heap on the ground.

Their entire procession paused. Finn came hurrying up from the rear as Conor and Rollan gathered at Kalani's side. Conor opened his canteen and poured some water into Kalani's mouth. Her eyes still looked dazed.

"Everyone take a few minutes," Finn called out, then frowned down at Kalani in concern. She took another drink of water. Suddenly the spark of life came back to her eyes, and she broke out in a sweat.

"Thanks," she said weakly to everyone gathered around her. "I'm not made for this kind of heat."

"None of us really are," Finn replied with a sigh. He squinted up at the low sun. "We should stop for the day, anyway. Sunset's approaching and we need to set up camp."

Conor looked toward the waning sun too. He felt how light his canteen was now and wondered how long they could all keep this up.

THEY TRAVELED RELENTLESSLY FOR TWO DAYS.

On the third night, Abeke slept curled on her side in one corner of her tent, while Uraza lay nearby, close enough for Abeke to keep one hand in the leopard's velvet fur. She was exhausted from the day's journey, and so very thirsty. Her parched throat kept her from falling completely asleep, and she would constantly wake up from half-conscious dreams about waterfalls and cold streams. When they first pitched their tents, Rollan had helped Finn set up a trap of pots and pans around their meager group provisions, and situated it in the center of all their tents. Abeke wished she could have a canteen of water from that pile.

Still, sleeping on the ground in the desert felt like its own form of relief, giving her a nostalgic reminder of village life.

Her thoughts wandered to Meilin. Was she still being kept in the hold in Nilo, or on one of the Conqueror s.h.i.+ps or had they brought her to Stetriol by now? If they ran across Conquerors soon, Abeke hoped that Meilin would be with them even if she were commanded to fight with the enemy. Did she know about what Shane did? She must, by now. Beside Abeke, Uraza s.h.i.+fted closer and swished her tail, letting a low purr vibrate through her hand.

Aside from thirst, night sounds kept her constantly awake. Unlike those in Nilo, these sounds were unfamiliar to her. There were hoots and calls that she didn't recognize, yips and yowls, the slither of something scaly on the ground. Sometimes she stirred, looking around. Then she would settle back down.

Suddenly Uraza turned alert. Her head pointed toward the tent flap, and her purring changed to a low growl. Her tail swished faster. Abeke stiffened. She rolled into a quiet crouch, listening intently.

There. A scratching sound, and then footsteps. Something was outside.

"Uraza," she whispered urgently. But the leopard was already on the move she sprang out of the tent in one bound. Abeke leaped up and followed close behind.

They charged out into the open night, completely lit by the moon.

Abeke stopped abruptly, panting, her eyes darting around the camp. She didn't see anything. Everyone still slept, and not a person was in sight. She stooped back down beside Uraza, who was still growling.

"What is it?" she whispered.

Uraza led the way. They cut a quiet path through the smattering of tents before finally reaching the center, where some of their provisions had been stacked, protected by a circle of pots and pans that were supposed to clank if anyone broke through.

But the provisions were gone.

The sacks were ripped open, their insides empty. The paper-wrapped dried meats lay strewn along the ground, and the canteens were open, some still spilling water into the dirt. Abeke gasped out loud.

"Thief!" she called out.

Immediately, Greencloaks stirred from their tents. Finn was the first beside her, while others murmured and muttered in confusion, swords drawn. "Abeke?" he exclaimed when he saw her out there. He paused at the sight of a growling Uraza. "What's going on?"

"Look," Abeke said, pointing at the ruined provisions. "Somebody took our supplies."

Finn's gaze fell on the scattered remnants. He cursed under his breath, then motioned for the others to gather. Abeke tried to temper her anger, but her own thirst made it hard for her to see all that wasted water. Who would do this? She studied the trap closely but found that nothing had tripped it.

"Huh," Rollan grunted as he and Conor came hurrying over from their tents.

They all paused when Uraza suddenly tensed and lunged for something in the darkness. The charge was followed by a piercing yelp. Abeke blinked in surprise, then found herself chasing instinctively after her spirit animal. "Uraza!" she called out.

But Uraza's attention had fixed on another creature. She chased after a blurry figure that made a mad dash in front of her, zigzagging in an attempt to shake her off its tail. Uraza pounced this time, she caught the creature and pinned it to the ground. Another piteous series of yelps punctuated the night.

Abeke ran over to her. She arrived to see her leopard snarling at what looked like a skinny little tan-colored wolf.

Conor and Rollan came skidding to a halt beside her. So did Finn. He was the first to speak. "Well," he said. "I think we found our culprit. A dingo."

"A what?" Rollan blurted out.

"They're like wild dogs," Finn said. "But native to Stetriol."

The animal struggled in vain under Uraza's mighty paws, but she refused to let it up. The telltale signs of its thievery were on its face crumbs of bread still dotted its muzzle. Abeke shook her head. She hadn't even bothered to check if the canteens had holes bitten in them, which they most certainly did.

"Uraza," Abeke said to the leopard. "We should let it go. It's as hungry and thirsty as we are."

Uraza reluctantly lifted her paws and let the creature scamper to its feet. It loped across the landscape for a while, then paused to look back at them. In the night, its eyes shone like two metallic discs. Then it ran off and disappeared into the shadows.

They made their way back to the provisions. The dingo had eaten almost everything. Now the only supplies they had were the small packs they'd each kept with them in their tents. It wouldn't be enough for another three days through the desert. And they were already short on water.

Abeke sank down onto her blanket. She tried not to think about the inevitable, but the thought refused to go away. If they couldn't reach Muttering Rock in the next few days, they would die out here.

The next morning, they all packed up what little they had and set out again. Abeke allowed herself a few meager sips of water. It took all of her willpower to not drink every last drop in her canteen. The desert had taken on a s.h.i.+mmer of light that hovered just above the dry vegetation, rippling under the sun. Sometimes, she saw things in the ripples.

The others did too.

"Are those Conquerors headed in our direction?" Maya once said, startled, her finger pointed toward the horizon.

They all paused to look. As the ground continued to s.h.i.+mmer, Conor finally said, "No. It's an illusion. Let's keep going."

Rollan swore he saw a giant elephant in the distance, as big as Dinesh, and wondered aloud how he'd gotten there. Twice, Abeke made the mistake of seeing a small stream babbling up ahead. It seemed like she could even hear it. But every time they neared, the stream would vanish and all they would see was more parched land.

Abeke kept her attention focused on the nearing expanse of mountains. Just a little farther, she thought. If they ever made it out of this desert, she would drink an entire keg of water.

The fifth day.

One of the horses perished from the harsh conditions. They all looked helplessly on when the poor creature suddenly stumbled in its steps, fell to its front knees, and collapsed onto its side with a groan. Kalani reached the horse first. But even before she could put a hand on the animal's neck, she was shaking her head. The horse shuddered, foaming at the mouth. Then, slowly, its body settled against the earth, until it used up its last breath.

They rode in silence for a long time after that. Abeke couldn't stop playing the horse's death over and over in her head.

The other horses weren't doing too well either, and the entire group had resorted to chewing on the last strips of dried jerky. Abeke traveled with Uraza in her dormant state now. The sun baked her hair and skin until they felt hot to the touch. Her canteen had already run dry. She'd sucked on so many pebbles that they no longer helped anymore. Her eyes constantly swept the shrubbery around them, searching for plants that looked like they contained water. She hadn't seen anything yet.

Wait.

As if the mere thought had given her a clue, Abeke's eyes fell on a small, nondescript plant a few yards away. It reminded her immediately of a plant she knew from back home in Nilo.

Conor saw her pause. "What is it?" he asked. He sounded half-delirious from thirst himself.