They continued walking, Jin in front, Yun and Zen on either side, and Mon behind them. The four other Hunters were nowhere to be seen. Balsa knew they were probably shadowing them through the forest on all four sides, an extremely difficult feat in this rugged terrain. The cicadas’ chorus beat down upon them, a constant buzzing in their ears. Chagum was still in a daze. Although he was aware that he was moving along the mountain path with Balsa’s hand gripping his arm, at times the scenery of Sagu vanished so completely that all he could see was Nayugu. His body reeked so strongly of shigu salua it was almost nauseating, but the scent could only be detected in Nayugu; not even Balsa, who was right beside him, was aware of it. It lingered on the ground with every step he took, leaving a clear trail behind him. Suddenly Balsa felt her flesh crawl, the hair rising on the nape of her neck as if she’d been doused in cold water. She braced herself, thinking at first that Mon was about to attack her, but she immediately knew she was wrong: Everyone had come to a stop. While the Hunters, Torogai, and Tanda clearly sensed something as well — a presence that seemed to seep like vapor from the ground — none of them could pinpoint its source. The thunderous racket of the cicadas hushed instantly, and the sudden silence was unbearably shrill. Chagum’s heart constricted with terror. Something in Nayugu was watching him. He knew he should look into that other world with a steady gaze, but his fear was so great that he shut it out instinctively. “Ba-Balsa!” He cowered, clinging to her. She pointed her spear at the ground. Malice seethed beneath her, not from just one place, but many! Yet she could see nothing. Something gleamed at Chagum’s feet — there! — and Balsa stabbed it with her spear. The point struck something hard, but whatever it was vanished instantly. Her spear stuck in the ground, and she had to stop to pull it out again. Suddenly, claws as tall as a man appeared around them. Slicing through vines, shrubs, even tree roots, they rushed straight for Chagum. At once, Balsa grabbed him by his belt and threw him up into the air. One of the claws barely missed him as he flew through space. His outstretched hands caught a thick branch overhead and he clung to it desperately, but it bent under his weight as if it would break. Balsa’s speed astounded the Hunters. One moment she drove her spear into the ground, and the next she vaulted into the air. Stepping on the spear’s hilt, she leapt onto a limb above Chagum’s head, then reached down and grabbed him by the collar, hauling him up into the top of the tree. Beneath them the claws closed in on all sides, clumps of earth flying through the air toward the trunk. Then they suddenly disappeared. They did not sink back into the earth, but simply vanished, leaving an ominous emptiness behind. Yun lay screaming and writhing on the ground, his right leg ripped open. His sword had shattered from its impact with the claws. Tanda and Torogai chanted under their breath. When they opened their eyes to Nayugu, they saw a soft, muddy swamp that stretched as far as they could see. A creature resembling a giant spider scuttled toward them on six legs. On its back, a ring of six claws surrounded a mouth from which thin tentacles waved like whips, making a hissing sound. This was Rarunga, and it was far more horrible than either of the magic weavers had imagined. Returning their consciousness to Sagu, they shouted, “Get up into the trees! Hurry!” But Jin stood rooted to the ground, uncomprehending, his sword still held at the ready. As Tanda ran toward him, the claws suddenly reappeared. Just before one of them could slice Jin in two, Tanda shoved him out of the way.
Blood spurted from Tanda’s side. Balsa’s face paled as she watched. “Chagum, hold on tight to this branch and don’t move, all right?” She leapt to the ground and ran over to Tanda. Sticking her arms under his, she hauled him up to a standing position. He groaned and looked back at her. “I’m all right! I’m all right! Leave me alone! You should be guarding Chagum!” He tried to push her away, but she ignored him. From her perch in the tree, she had watched Rarunga’s movements and seen that its claws always appeared in a circle with Chagum at its center. Guessing that it would not bother to pursue anyone besides Chagum, she hoisted Tanda over her shoulder and ran. But in those few minutes, a third and drastic change had come over Chagum. Nurtured by the nectar of the shigu salua, the egg was almost ready to hatch. For Chagum, this transformation was far quicker and more terrifying than anything before. He noticed with surprise that all sensation was receding from his hands and feet; soon he could no longer feel the bark where his hands gripped the tree. He tried to scream, but no noise came out. The sounds around him grew distant and his vision darkened; the five senses that linked him to the outer world faded away until he lost touch with them completely. His consciousness shrank into an endless expanse of darkness, and in its place, some other will began to move his hands, his feet, his body. At first, he was so terrified he thought he would go insane, but gradually he even lost the sensation of fear, until his mind fell into a state closely resembling sleep. Still he struggled to keep his own consciousness as though fighting off drowsiness. His efforts were rewarded, for he seemed to reach some form of understanding with this other will. Although his perception was disjointed, he glimpsed snatches of what was happening around him, like someone bobbing to the surface from deep underwater. He saw the ground below him sway as it flashed out of sight behind him. He glimpsed his right hand grasping a vine-covered branch, then it vanished and the river rushed up at him, the rocks jutting out of the low water. Water sprayed into the air. In response to its smell, hot power rose from the depths of his being, and Chagum’s mind entered a strange world in which he was destined to wander for some time. Balsa laid Tanda down where she thought he would be safe. When she finally looked back, she saw Chagum receding rapidly into the distance as he swung through the trees like a monkey, flying from branch to branch with incredible agility. For a brief moment, she stood there stunned. His movements were not human; even she could never have swung so lightly through the forest. And he was hurtling away … She pulled herself back to her senses and raced off in the direction in which he had disappeared. Without warning, a huge claw towered above her, blocking her way and raining clods of earth down upon her. Holding her hand before her face to protect her eyes from the dirt, she nimbly dodged to one side and ran past it. Behind her, she heard the Hunters’ screams. Even such seasoned warriors stood little chance against a monster that could vanish at will, and Rarunga seemed to have recognized that it must kill them all before it could eat. Balsa followed doggedly after Chagum, but as she had to watch out for claws that attacked unexpectedly and tentacles that tried to entangle her, the distance between them rapidly widened. She clenched her teeth and kept running. Suddenly she noticed that dirt no longer flew through the air. She seemed to have escaped beyond the circle of the claws. Behind her, the monster was still thrashing about wildly. Rarunga doesn’t know Chagum has escaped, she suddenly realized. Maybe it can’t follow someone who has left the ground. She peered through the gaps between the trees, searching for Chagum, but he was nowhere to be seen. She calmed her breathing and probed for him using all her senses. Far in the distance, she thought she heard something splash into water. Of course! He must have been running toward the river! She raced through the trees until she burst out onto its banks. There she stopped in surprise. A veil of mist, as thick as smoke, rose above the river, hiding everything under a white fog all the way upstream. It obscured her view so completely that she could see nothing at all, let alone Chagum. “Chagum!” She shouted his name until she was hoarse, but the mist absorbed the sound and no answer came. She had only taken her eyes off him for a minute. That was all. How could she have known it would have such consequences as this? She stood motionless, stricken with remorse.
No Comments Yet
Post a new comment
Register or Login