Chariots of Heaven by R.T. Edwins
The Black Wood was dark and ominous and the undergrowth was thicker than either girl had anticipated, making it difficult to move without making noise. The storm clouds had not gotten close enough to interrupt their progress, but that seemed to be changing and rather quickly. The once-grey clouds and dim light were now being replaced with nearly black clouds, and increasing darkness. It was going to be next to impossible to find the flowers, Kira was realizing.
A drop of rain landed on Kira’s outstretched hand as she was pulling aside a branch to make her way through a clump of particularly dense trees. She stopped walking and examined the droplet.
“What is it?” Kaya whispered from behind, hoping her sister had found a flower.
“Rain…” Kira replied quietly. She looked up towards the canopy of the trees and could see more droplets falling. They were increasing in number by the second and the sound of rain colliding with leaves could be heard all around them. Letting out a sigh, she turned back to her sister and asked, “Do you want to keep searching, or would you rather find a dry spot to see if the rain stops?”
Kaya frowned as she held her hand out, catching a few drops in her palm she shook her head. “I don’t want to wander around in the rain, but I don’t think we have enough time to sit and wait either.” She paused for a moment to consider it again. Deciding, she said, “No, we should keep looking. Dad’s not going to get better on his own.”
Kira nodded and started walking again. Several missteps on the uneven forest floor had caused her to re-twist her ankle and it was throbbing in pain. Each step made her wince in discomfort but she pressed on. What made things worse was that they hadn’t found anything that even resembled the flowers; they hadn’t even found a fallen tree. The impossibility of the task was starting to nag at Kira’s mind, but she wouldn’t give up.
The sparse droplets of rain quickly became a fierce downpour and it wasn’t long before each girl was completely drenched. The ground beneath their feet became slippery as the dirt turned to mud, forcing them to slow their movement. As bad as the wet conditions were, it was nothing compared to the cold which seemed to drain both girls of their spirit.
After several minutes of slow progress, Kira announced over the dull roar of the rain, “That’s it! We’re stopping.” She looked around and noticed a large rock overhang several yards to their left. She pointed and said, “There! We’ll wait there until the rains dies down.”
Kaya nodded in agreement, shivering and trying to rub warmth back into her freezing arms. They made their way to the overhang and crawled under it. It was only a few feet above the ground but there was enough space for both of them to sit. Removing their satchels, the two sat as close to each other as possible but there wasn’t much warmth to be had. Shivering, Kira whispered, “At least it’s dry.”
Kaya did not reply but nodded in agreement as her teeth chattered. Together they sat there for a long time as the rain seemed to never end. It was almost an hour before the downpour started to let up and just as one problem was lessening, another was becoming worse. It was now nearly pitch black in the woods and neither girl could see further than a few yards ahead.
“Should we light a fire?” asked Kaya hopefully, still shivering in the wet cold.
“No,” Kira replied through chattering teeth. “We can’t risk drawing the attention. Not when the most dangerous predators are the ones that come out at night.”
“Then what should we do? I can hardly see anything!” Kaya snapped more loudly than she meant to.
“Shh…” Kira hissed back. “We must be quiet!”
“Sorry,” Kaya replied as both girls examined their surroundings for any movement or sound. Just when they had decided that nothing was nearby, a bright flash of light erupted, followed almost immediately by a roar of thunder. The sudden sound startled Kira and caused her to jump, smashing the top of her head into the rock overhang. She grimaced with pain and began to softly rub the injured area of her scalp with her right hand. “Ow,” she whispered, frowning.
Kaya nearly burst into laughter, but was able to stifle her outburst before she made any noise. She giggled under her breath and let out a snort, but it wasn’t heard because as she did so there was another flash of lighting, followed immediately by roar of thunder. This time neither girl jumped, but Kira shifted her weight in an odd manner. Kaya looked at her; another flash of light and another roar of thunder.
Still nursing her tender scalp, Kira whispered loudly, “We can use the flashes from the lighting to keep searching!” Immediately there was another bright flash and loud roar. Each lightning strike illuminated the entire area around the girls for a few seconds. “Quick! Before the storm moves too far off!”
Kira crawled out from under the overhang and pulled her satchel over her shoulder again. The rush from the idea seemed to drive the cold away and she was able to stop shivering. Gripping her spear tightly in one hand, she used her other to pull Kaya to her feet. It was still raining but the downpour had ended and was now just a slow drizzle of cold rain. Kira stood there for a moment looking around, trying to figure out the best direction to go. She had a decent idea of where they had come from, and decided that it would be best to keep heading towards the center of the wood, rather than risk getting turned around. She pointed to her right and said, “This way.”
Both girls set out, walking slowly in the near dark forest, trying their hardest to move as quietly as possible. They slowly but surely made their way through the woods, using the lightning to guide their way. With the lightning only lighting their path every thirty seconds or so, Kira knew that it was a fool’s hope that they’d be able to spot the flowers under such conditions, but something inside of her told her to keep moving.
After another thirty minutes of searching, they finally came across a fallen log, inside of which grew a solitary Night’s Widow. Kaya was the first to see it, having nearly tripped over the end of the log it grew in. With excitement and a renewed sense of hope Kira cut the flower from its stem and placed it in her satchel. She looked at her sister and with a smile patted her on the head, saying, “Good going, brat! I guess it’s a good thing I brought you along, huh?”
“Oh like it was your idea!” Kaya retorted, giving Kira a gentle shove. She opened her mouth to level another jeer, but, just as she started to speak, something behind Kira caught her eye. “What’s that?” she asked, pointing over Kira’s shoulder.
Kira turned to look, worried at what she might discover as she did. It took a moment of searching for her eyes to see what her sister was pointing at. It was a small glimmering object, lying in the leaves about twenty feet away; Kira walked over to it and picked it up. It was partially covered in mud, but as she cleaned it off in the drizzling rain she discovered a thick metallic cylinder about the size of her hand. On one side of the cylinder was a row of five small, round protrusions sticking out of the metal.
“What is it?” Kaya asked with a puzzled look on her face. She had never seen anything like it, but was certain it didn’t belong in the woods.
“I’m not sure…” Kira replied vaguely, entranced by the object in her hand. The drizzling rain had washed it almost completely clean and in the dim light Kira could see that the five protrusions had symbols on them. She held the object close to her face as she tried to make out the inscriptions, but they were unlike anything she’d seen before. They did not resemble the markings that her village used to account for their grain supplies or livestock numbers. Instead they had a strange, almost otherworldly pattern. Handing the object to her sister, Kira asked, “Have you ever seen markings like these?”
Kaya took the cylinder and examined it. Frowning, she shook her head and replied, “No. What do you think they mean?” She quickly handed the object back to Kira, as something about it made her feel uneasy.
Just as Kira took it, the cylinder started to buzz with a low humming noise. Taken aback by the sudden movement she dropped the object and took a few steps back. Is it alive, she thought wildly to herself. Surel
y it couldn’t be an animal!
After a moment or two the humming stopped and the object fell silent as it lay in the mud. “Should we bring it back with us? Do you think Felmar knows what it is?” Kaya offered, eyeing the object with renewed suspicion.
“I have serious doubts that Felmar knows much of anything, let alone what this thing is,” Kira replied, more harshly than she had meant to. She didn’t want to think about that wretched man right now, not when there were more important things to deal with, like this mysterious object.
Confident that it wasn’t going to jump to life, Kira approached the object again and tried to pick it up, but the wet metal slipped between her fingers and she dropped it again. This time something strange happened; the humming sound returned and bright green lights started emitting from the symbols on the side.
Neither girl moved as both stared in silent awe at the peculiar object. The grove of trees around them was illuminated by the light coming from the device, and it gave everything a surreal feeling. Kira started towards the object again but stopped when it suddenly went dark. The humming sound stopped and the green lights faded. Blinking rapidly to adjust her eyes to the sudden darkness, Kira tried to feel for the device but couldn’t find it in the mud and leaves. “Be careful,” Kaya whispered in the dark, also unable to see anything.
After a few moments her sight returned and she could just make out the metallic object a few inches away from her hand. She picked it up a third time, this time dropping her spear and handling the cylinder with both hands. She didn’t know what drove her to do it, and in the days that would come she would wonder why she had, but something inside of her told her to press down on one of the symbols. When she did, the object burst to life once again, this time erupting into a large projection in the air. The projection flooded the grove of trees with blinding green light, revealing everything for several yards as if it were daylight.
Kira recognized the projection, or at least she thought she did. She had seen something similar once before, long ago, when the village had been attacked by a raiding party. Felmar had called it a map, only his had been drawn on the hide of a deer and not nearly in such detail as the projection before her.
“What… what is it?” Kaya wondered aloud as she gaped at the image.
“I think it’s called a map…” Kira replied slowly, still examining the details of the projection.
“What’s a map?” Kaya asked, still unable to take her eyes off of the green spectacle.
“It shows you where things are. Here, look,” Kira waved her sister over. Pointing at the projection Kira continued, “You see this marking right here, in the center?” Kaya nodded. “Unless I’m mistaken, I think that’s us. All of this stuff around that marking is the land around us. See that blue line there, that’s the creek we just passed by. Actually, I wonder…” Kira’s voice trailed off as she started to walk in the direction they had been heading. After several yards she stopped and smiled at her sister. “I don’t know how, but this map seems to be moving with us. As if it knows exactly where we are and which direction we are heading.”
Kaya didn’t seem to be as happy about this as Kira was. With a frown she said, “Maybe we should just leave this thing alone. It might be dangerous.” But Kira wasn’t paying attention, as she had noticed something on the map.
“What do you suppose that is?” she asked, pointing to a triangular object near the edge of the map.
“Didn’t you hear me? We shouldn’t be playing with this thing. We don’t know what it is or how it’s making this map. We should just forget we found it and keep looking for the flowers,” Kaya pleaded.
Frowning, Kira nodded. She knew that her sister was right and that the time for exploring would have to wait, although she supposed there wouldn’t be any harm in continuing to look for the flowers in the direction of the triangular object.
“All right, let’s keep looking then. Now how do I…” Kira pressed down on the same protrusion that had projected the map. Immediately the device shut down and the woods around them went dark again. They both stood there for a moment, allowing their eyes to adjust to the change before continuing on. Luckily the storm was still near enough that they could continue to use the lightning for guidance.
The drizzling rain continued but was barely noticeable anymore, especially with Kira’s mind buzzing over the object they just discovered. What was it? Where did it come from and how did it emit light? How could it show a map in the air without something for it to draw on? She wanted to look at it more; wanted to press the other symbols to see what they did, but she knew it would have to wait. Placing the cylinder in her satchel, she walked back to where she had left her spear. Picking it up, she looked at her sister and gestured to her right, “This way. Let’s hurry, in case something noticed the light.” Kaya nodded in agreement and followed after her.
As the two girls jogged in the dark woods, trying their best not to trip over the undergrowth, Kaya couldn’t help but feel like something was watching them. Several times she could have sworn she saw a shadow moving or a person standing off in the distance, but whenever she looked again there would be nothing. She wanted to say something to Kira, but was afraid that her sister would just make fun of her, so she did her best to ignore it.
As before, they scoured the ground for any sign of Night’s Widow; stopping occasionally to more closely examine fallen trees and rotting logs. After jogging for quite some time Kaya asked to stop, wishing to rest a minute and catch her breath. Kira couldn’t be sure how far they’d run, but she suspected they had to be getting close to the area where the triangular object was. She looked at her sister and said, “Just rest a minute, I’m going to look around a bit. Call out if you see or hear something.”
Kaya gave her a reproachful glare, but Kira ignored her and continued to walk away. The dark made it difficult to make anything out and there hadn’t been a lightning strike in several minutes. Kira looked up through the canopy of leaves and could see that the cloud cover was thinning out; she could even make out a few stars.
Not paying attention to where she was walking, Kira stubbed her toe on something hard and fell to the ground, nearly landing on top of a large rock. Rubbing her toe, she looked at the object she had tripped on. It was a long flat stone, protruding a few inches out of the ground, sitting just in front of a large rock. Turning her attention to the rock she realized that it had a very peculiar shape. Instead of being rounded or jagged like most boulders, it was almost perfectly squared off with smooth faces.
In the distance lightning struck, illuminating the woods around Kira. In the flickering light she noticed that the faces of the stone had symbols carved into them, like the ones on the cylinder. She pulled open her satchel and retrieved the cylinder. Holding it up to the stone, she compared the two; they were not identical but there was no mistaking the similarity. Kira knew that whoever or whatever had made the cylinder had also carved this stone.
She stood and made her way back to where Kaya was. Still sitting on the ground, Kaya watched Kira approach, and with a worried look she asked, “What is it? Did you find a flower?”
“No, but I’ve found something interesting. Come look.” Kira said with excitement, pulling Kaya to her feet and dragging her in the direction of the stone. Kaya followed without a word, bemused. When they arrived at the stone Kira pointed to the symbols and said, “Look! They are just like the ones on the cylinder!”
Kaya did not seem amused; if anything she seemed frightened by the discovery. She looked around wondering if there were any other stones like this one and almost immediately noticed another several yards away. Without speaking she pointed towards it.
Kira followed her sister’s gaze and immediately recognized what she was pointing at. Still dragging Kaya along behind her, she jogged over to the other stone. Again it was squared off, forming a large rectangular shape with symbols etched into the flat sides. This time it was Kira who looked around, wondering if there would be a third
stone but what she discovered instead took her breath away. Standing in the distance, was what appeared to be a mountain of the rectangular stones, stacked on top of each other, climbing high in the air and disappearing into the canopy. Kira squeezed Kaya’s hand and breathlessly pointed at the monument with her spear. Kaya gaped at the massive structure and both her and her sister stood there in awe for a several seconds.
Eventually mustering their senses, the two girls headed towards the huge object, their disbelief growing as they approached it. Most of the bottom was covered in undergrowth, but they could make out enough to see that the structure stretched hundreds of feet to either side of them and rose up above them at least two hundred feet. It was a huge triangular building, larger than anything either of them had seen.
Stunned, Kaya whispered, “What is it?”
Kira didn’t know how to respond; it was so unlike anything she had seen. “I don’t know. But look at how large it is! I wonder if anyone has ever seen it before.”
Kaya’s stomach did a flip as the feeling of being watched crept back into her mind. “I don’t like it. I think we should leave,” she said, pulling hard on Kira’s hand. She opened her mouth to explain but froze when a shadow in the distance moved.
Kira looked at her, expecting to have to console her, but instead found her frozen with a terrified look on her face. Realizing that she was staring at something behind her, she turned to see what it was. At first she didn’t see anything, but when she did, her heart plummeted into her stomach. There was movement in the underbrush to their right, near the end of the structure. Kira froze and, holding her breath, slowly crouched behind another engraved stone. She pulled Kaya down with her and gestured for her to be quiet. Together they watched as the moving shadow made its way towards them.
Far in the distance lighting struck and dim white light flooded the woods around the girls. It hadn’t been bright, but it had been enough for Kira to make out what the shadow was. As her mind processed what she had seen, the air around her seemed to evaporate and all she could hear was the beating of her racing heart. In the distance stood a massive sabercat with long, razor sharp teeth that hung well below its jaw, and spotted grey fur. Its tail swung from side to side in the air as it walked and its bright yellow eyes gazed lazily around while it sniffed the air.
Frantically, Kira tried to think of what to do. If they moved, they would almost guarantee that it would spot them, but if they stood still it might just walk right into them. Kira let go of Kaya’s hand, and as quietly as she could, she pulled out her shale knife. There was no time to come up with a plan, which meant there was only one option. If she was going to protect Kaya she would have to fight the cat, knife and spear. Even if it couldn’t see them, it would eventually smell them, and then there would be no hiding. Luckily, the cat was upwind from them, meaning there was a chance to surprise it. If Kira could catch it off guard, she might be able to kill it before it had a chance to fight back. Kira gripped her spear and knife tightly, waiting for the right moment as the cat approached.
The sabercat, however, stopped walking and laid down in the undergrowth, letting out a loud groan. A feeling of relief swept over the girls as they realized the cat was unaware of them, but Kira still wasn’t sure that they’d be able to escape without drawing attention. She looked around at their surroundings, trying to evaluate the best direction to escape. Ideally, they would flee in the direction that had the highest density of undergrowth between them and the cat, thereby minimizing its ability to sense their movement, but the woods were too dark to really discern what the best route was. Kira looked back at the sabercat, who let out a large yawn and lazily rolled over on its side. In the distance lightning struck again and lit the area with dim white light. That’s when she saw them.
Just behind the sabercat, were two Night’s Widows, growing out of a rotting log that she hadn’t noticed before. Again Kira’s heart sank. What cruel trickery was this? She wondered to herself. She didn’t know what to do; the solution to their father’s illness was right there, thirty feet away, but was guarded by one of the most dangerous creatures known to man. Did she dare fight the cat in hopes of winning the flowers? Or did they flee, trying not to draw attention and then hope to come across another one of the flowers? It was possible that they’d never find another as they had already been searching for hours and had only by sheer luck come across the one they had. She closed her eyes and shook her head in disbelief. There was no time to hope for more flowers, not when they were already so far behind. She looked at Kaya, who had also noticed the flowers and gave a halfhearted smile. Hoping it wouldn’t be her last, she started to move towards the sabercat, readying her weapons.
CHAPTER 5
A drop of rain landed on Kira’s outstretched hand as she was pulling aside a branch to make her way through a clump of particularly dense trees. She stopped walking and examined the droplet.
“What is it?” Kaya whispered from behind, hoping her sister had found a flower.
“Rain…” Kira replied quietly. She looked up towards the canopy of the trees and could see more droplets falling. They were increasing in number by the second and the sound of rain colliding with leaves could be heard all around them. Letting out a sigh, she turned back to her sister and asked, “Do you want to keep searching, or would you rather find a dry spot to see if the rain stops?”
Kaya frowned as she held her hand out, catching a few drops in her palm she shook her head. “I don’t want to wander around in the rain, but I don’t think we have enough time to sit and wait either.” She paused for a moment to consider it again. Deciding, she said, “No, we should keep looking. Dad’s not going to get better on his own.”
Kira nodded and started walking again. Several missteps on the uneven forest floor had caused her to re-twist her ankle and it was throbbing in pain. Each step made her wince in discomfort but she pressed on. What made things worse was that they hadn’t found anything that even resembled the flowers; they hadn’t even found a fallen tree. The impossibility of the task was starting to nag at Kira’s mind, but she wouldn’t give up.
The sparse droplets of rain quickly became a fierce downpour and it wasn’t long before each girl was completely drenched. The ground beneath their feet became slippery as the dirt turned to mud, forcing them to slow their movement. As bad as the wet conditions were, it was nothing compared to the cold which seemed to drain both girls of their spirit.
After several minutes of slow progress, Kira announced over the dull roar of the rain, “That’s it! We’re stopping.” She looked around and noticed a large rock overhang several yards to their left. She pointed and said, “There! We’ll wait there until the rains dies down.”
Kaya nodded in agreement, shivering and trying to rub warmth back into her freezing arms. They made their way to the overhang and crawled under it. It was only a few feet above the ground but there was enough space for both of them to sit. Removing their satchels, the two sat as close to each other as possible but there wasn’t much warmth to be had. Shivering, Kira whispered, “At least it’s dry.”
Kaya did not reply but nodded in agreement as her teeth chattered. Together they sat there for a long time as the rain seemed to never end. It was almost an hour before the downpour started to let up and just as one problem was lessening, another was becoming worse. It was now nearly pitch black in the woods and neither girl could see further than a few yards ahead.
“Should we light a fire?” asked Kaya hopefully, still shivering in the wet cold.
“No,” Kira replied through chattering teeth. “We can’t risk drawing the attention. Not when the most dangerous predators are the ones that come out at night.”
“Then what should we do? I can hardly see anything!” Kaya snapped more loudly than she meant to.
“Shh…” Kira hissed back. “We must be quiet!”
“Sorry,” Kaya replied as both girls examined their surroundings for any movement or sound. Just when they had decided that nothing was nearby, a bright flash of light erupted, followed almost immediately by a roar of thunder. The sudden sound startled Kira and caused her to jump, smashing the top of her head into the rock overhang. She grimaced with pain and began to softly rub the injured area of her scalp with her right hand. “Ow,” she whispered, frowning.
Kaya nearly burst into laughter, but was able to stifle her outburst before she made any noise. She giggled under her breath and let out a snort, but it wasn’t heard because as she did so there was another flash of lighting, followed immediately by roar of thunder. This time neither girl jumped, but Kira shifted her weight in an odd manner. Kaya looked at her; another flash of light and another roar of thunder.
Still nursing her tender scalp, Kira whispered loudly, “We can use the flashes from the lighting to keep searching!” Immediately there was another bright flash and loud roar. Each lightning strike illuminated the entire area around the girls for a few seconds. “Quick! Before the storm moves too far off!”
Kira crawled out from under the overhang and pulled her satchel over her shoulder again. The rush from the idea seemed to drive the cold away and she was able to stop shivering. Gripping her spear tightly in one hand, she used her other to pull Kaya to her feet. It was still raining but the downpour had ended and was now just a slow drizzle of cold rain. Kira stood there for a moment looking around, trying to figure out the best direction to go. She had a decent idea of where they had come from, and decided that it would be best to keep heading towards the center of the wood, rather than risk getting turned around. She pointed to her right and said, “This way.”
Both girls set out, walking slowly in the near dark forest, trying their hardest to move as quietly as possible. They slowly but surely made their way through the woods, using the lightning to guide their way. With the lightning only lighting their path every thirty seconds or so, Kira knew that it was a fool’s hope that they’d be able to spot the flowers under such conditions, but something inside of her told her to keep moving.
After another thirty minutes of searching, they finally came across a fallen log, inside of which grew a solitary Night’s Widow. Kaya was the first to see it, having nearly tripped over the end of the log it grew in. With excitement and a renewed sense of hope Kira cut the flower from its stem and placed it in her satchel. She looked at her sister and with a smile patted her on the head, saying, “Good going, brat! I guess it’s a good thing I brought you along, huh?”
“Oh like it was your idea!” Kaya retorted, giving Kira a gentle shove. She opened her mouth to level another jeer, but, just as she started to speak, something behind Kira caught her eye. “What’s that?” she asked, pointing over Kira’s shoulder.
Kira turned to look, worried at what she might discover as she did. It took a moment of searching for her eyes to see what her sister was pointing at. It was a small glimmering object, lying in the leaves about twenty feet away; Kira walked over to it and picked it up. It was partially covered in mud, but as she cleaned it off in the drizzling rain she discovered a thick metallic cylinder about the size of her hand. On one side of the cylinder was a row of five small, round protrusions sticking out of the metal.
“What is it?” Kaya asked with a puzzled look on her face. She had never seen anything like it, but was certain it didn’t belong in the woods.
“I’m not sure…” Kira replied vaguely, entranced by the object in her hand. The drizzling rain had washed it almost completely clean and in the dim light Kira could see that the five protrusions had symbols on them. She held the object close to her face as she tried to make out the inscriptions, but they were unlike anything she’d seen before. They did not resemble the markings that her village used to account for their grain supplies or livestock numbers. Instead they had a strange, almost otherworldly pattern. Handing the object to her sister, Kira asked, “Have you ever seen markings like these?”
Kaya took the cylinder and examined it. Frowning, she shook her head and replied, “No. What do you think they mean?” She quickly handed the object back to Kira, as something about it made her feel uneasy.
Just as Kira took it, the cylinder started to buzz with a low humming noise. Taken aback by the sudden movement she dropped the object and took a few steps back. Is it alive, she thought wildly to herself. Surel
After a moment or two the humming stopped and the object fell silent as it lay in the mud. “Should we bring it back with us? Do you think Felmar knows what it is?” Kaya offered, eyeing the object with renewed suspicion.
“I have serious doubts that Felmar knows much of anything, let alone what this thing is,” Kira replied, more harshly than she had meant to. She didn’t want to think about that wretched man right now, not when there were more important things to deal with, like this mysterious object.
Confident that it wasn’t going to jump to life, Kira approached the object again and tried to pick it up, but the wet metal slipped between her fingers and she dropped it again. This time something strange happened; the humming sound returned and bright green lights started emitting from the symbols on the side.
Neither girl moved as both stared in silent awe at the peculiar object. The grove of trees around them was illuminated by the light coming from the device, and it gave everything a surreal feeling. Kira started towards the object again but stopped when it suddenly went dark. The humming sound stopped and the green lights faded. Blinking rapidly to adjust her eyes to the sudden darkness, Kira tried to feel for the device but couldn’t find it in the mud and leaves. “Be careful,” Kaya whispered in the dark, also unable to see anything.
After a few moments her sight returned and she could just make out the metallic object a few inches away from her hand. She picked it up a third time, this time dropping her spear and handling the cylinder with both hands. She didn’t know what drove her to do it, and in the days that would come she would wonder why she had, but something inside of her told her to press down on one of the symbols. When she did, the object burst to life once again, this time erupting into a large projection in the air. The projection flooded the grove of trees with blinding green light, revealing everything for several yards as if it were daylight.
Kira recognized the projection, or at least she thought she did. She had seen something similar once before, long ago, when the village had been attacked by a raiding party. Felmar had called it a map, only his had been drawn on the hide of a deer and not nearly in such detail as the projection before her.
“What… what is it?” Kaya wondered aloud as she gaped at the image.
“I think it’s called a map…” Kira replied slowly, still examining the details of the projection.
“What’s a map?” Kaya asked, still unable to take her eyes off of the green spectacle.
“It shows you where things are. Here, look,” Kira waved her sister over. Pointing at the projection Kira continued, “You see this marking right here, in the center?” Kaya nodded. “Unless I’m mistaken, I think that’s us. All of this stuff around that marking is the land around us. See that blue line there, that’s the creek we just passed by. Actually, I wonder…” Kira’s voice trailed off as she started to walk in the direction they had been heading. After several yards she stopped and smiled at her sister. “I don’t know how, but this map seems to be moving with us. As if it knows exactly where we are and which direction we are heading.”
Kaya didn’t seem to be as happy about this as Kira was. With a frown she said, “Maybe we should just leave this thing alone. It might be dangerous.” But Kira wasn’t paying attention, as she had noticed something on the map.
“What do you suppose that is?” she asked, pointing to a triangular object near the edge of the map.
“Didn’t you hear me? We shouldn’t be playing with this thing. We don’t know what it is or how it’s making this map. We should just forget we found it and keep looking for the flowers,” Kaya pleaded.
Frowning, Kira nodded. She knew that her sister was right and that the time for exploring would have to wait, although she supposed there wouldn’t be any harm in continuing to look for the flowers in the direction of the triangular object.
“All right, let’s keep looking then. Now how do I…” Kira pressed down on the same protrusion that had projected the map. Immediately the device shut down and the woods around them went dark again. They both stood there for a moment, allowing their eyes to adjust to the change before continuing on. Luckily the storm was still near enough that they could continue to use the lightning for guidance.
The drizzling rain continued but was barely noticeable anymore, especially with Kira’s mind buzzing over the object they just discovered. What was it? Where did it come from and how did it emit light? How could it show a map in the air without something for it to draw on? She wanted to look at it more; wanted to press the other symbols to see what they did, but she knew it would have to wait. Placing the cylinder in her satchel, she walked back to where she had left her spear. Picking it up, she looked at her sister and gestured to her right, “This way. Let’s hurry, in case something noticed the light.” Kaya nodded in agreement and followed after her.
As the two girls jogged in the dark woods, trying their best not to trip over the undergrowth, Kaya couldn’t help but feel like something was watching them. Several times she could have sworn she saw a shadow moving or a person standing off in the distance, but whenever she looked again there would be nothing. She wanted to say something to Kira, but was afraid that her sister would just make fun of her, so she did her best to ignore it.
As before, they scoured the ground for any sign of Night’s Widow; stopping occasionally to more closely examine fallen trees and rotting logs. After jogging for quite some time Kaya asked to stop, wishing to rest a minute and catch her breath. Kira couldn’t be sure how far they’d run, but she suspected they had to be getting close to the area where the triangular object was. She looked at her sister and said, “Just rest a minute, I’m going to look around a bit. Call out if you see or hear something.”
Kaya gave her a reproachful glare, but Kira ignored her and continued to walk away. The dark made it difficult to make anything out and there hadn’t been a lightning strike in several minutes. Kira looked up through the canopy of leaves and could see that the cloud cover was thinning out; she could even make out a few stars.
Not paying attention to where she was walking, Kira stubbed her toe on something hard and fell to the ground, nearly landing on top of a large rock. Rubbing her toe, she looked at the object she had tripped on. It was a long flat stone, protruding a few inches out of the ground, sitting just in front of a large rock. Turning her attention to the rock she realized that it had a very peculiar shape. Instead of being rounded or jagged like most boulders, it was almost perfectly squared off with smooth faces.
In the distance lightning struck, illuminating the woods around Kira. In the flickering light she noticed that the faces of the stone had symbols carved into them, like the ones on the cylinder. She pulled open her satchel and retrieved the cylinder. Holding it up to the stone, she compared the two; they were not identical but there was no mistaking the similarity. Kira knew that whoever or whatever had made the cylinder had also carved this stone.
She stood and made her way back to where Kaya was. Still sitting on the ground, Kaya watched Kira approach, and with a worried look she asked, “What is it? Did you find a flower?”
“No, but I’ve found something interesting. Come look.” Kira said with excitement, pulling Kaya to her feet and dragging her in the direction of the stone. Kaya followed without a word, bemused. When they arrived at the stone Kira pointed to the symbols and said, “Look! They are just like the ones on the cylinder!”
Kaya did not seem amused; if anything she seemed frightened by the discovery. She looked around wondering if there were any other stones like this one and almost immediately noticed another several yards away. Without speaking she pointed towards it.
Kira followed her sister’s gaze and immediately recognized what she was pointing at. Still dragging Kaya along behind her, she jogged over to the other stone. Again it was squared off, forming a large rectangular shape with symbols etched into the flat sides. This time it was Kira who looked around, wondering if there would be a third
Eventually mustering their senses, the two girls headed towards the huge object, their disbelief growing as they approached it. Most of the bottom was covered in undergrowth, but they could make out enough to see that the structure stretched hundreds of feet to either side of them and rose up above them at least two hundred feet. It was a huge triangular building, larger than anything either of them had seen.
Stunned, Kaya whispered, “What is it?”
Kira didn’t know how to respond; it was so unlike anything she had seen. “I don’t know. But look at how large it is! I wonder if anyone has ever seen it before.”
Kaya’s stomach did a flip as the feeling of being watched crept back into her mind. “I don’t like it. I think we should leave,” she said, pulling hard on Kira’s hand. She opened her mouth to explain but froze when a shadow in the distance moved.
Kira looked at her, expecting to have to console her, but instead found her frozen with a terrified look on her face. Realizing that she was staring at something behind her, she turned to see what it was. At first she didn’t see anything, but when she did, her heart plummeted into her stomach. There was movement in the underbrush to their right, near the end of the structure. Kira froze and, holding her breath, slowly crouched behind another engraved stone. She pulled Kaya down with her and gestured for her to be quiet. Together they watched as the moving shadow made its way towards them.
Far in the distance lighting struck and dim white light flooded the woods around the girls. It hadn’t been bright, but it had been enough for Kira to make out what the shadow was. As her mind processed what she had seen, the air around her seemed to evaporate and all she could hear was the beating of her racing heart. In the distance stood a massive sabercat with long, razor sharp teeth that hung well below its jaw, and spotted grey fur. Its tail swung from side to side in the air as it walked and its bright yellow eyes gazed lazily around while it sniffed the air.
Frantically, Kira tried to think of what to do. If they moved, they would almost guarantee that it would spot them, but if they stood still it might just walk right into them. Kira let go of Kaya’s hand, and as quietly as she could, she pulled out her shale knife. There was no time to come up with a plan, which meant there was only one option. If she was going to protect Kaya she would have to fight the cat, knife and spear. Even if it couldn’t see them, it would eventually smell them, and then there would be no hiding. Luckily, the cat was upwind from them, meaning there was a chance to surprise it. If Kira could catch it off guard, she might be able to kill it before it had a chance to fight back. Kira gripped her spear and knife tightly, waiting for the right moment as the cat approached.
The sabercat, however, stopped walking and laid down in the undergrowth, letting out a loud groan. A feeling of relief swept over the girls as they realized the cat was unaware of them, but Kira still wasn’t sure that they’d be able to escape without drawing attention. She looked around at their surroundings, trying to evaluate the best direction to escape. Ideally, they would flee in the direction that had the highest density of undergrowth between them and the cat, thereby minimizing its ability to sense their movement, but the woods were too dark to really discern what the best route was. Kira looked back at the sabercat, who let out a large yawn and lazily rolled over on its side. In the distance lightning struck again and lit the area with dim white light. That’s when she saw them.
Just behind the sabercat, were two Night’s Widows, growing out of a rotting log that she hadn’t noticed before. Again Kira’s heart sank. What cruel trickery was this? She wondered to herself. She didn’t know what to do; the solution to their father’s illness was right there, thirty feet away, but was guarded by one of the most dangerous creatures known to man. Did she dare fight the cat in hopes of winning the flowers? Or did they flee, trying not to draw attention and then hope to come across another one of the flowers? It was possible that they’d never find another as they had already been searching for hours and had only by sheer luck come across the one they had. She closed her eyes and shook her head in disbelief. There was no time to hope for more flowers, not when they were already so far behind. She looked at Kaya, who had also noticed the flowers and gave a halfhearted smile. Hoping it wouldn’t be her last, she started to move towards the sabercat, readying her weapons.
CHAPTER 5