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?? CHAPTER 5 ??
Ryle
This planet has blessed me again! I am holding my mate in my arms! This is a miracle that was never supposed to happen. Something I’ve never even dared to dream of.
Granted, we are tumbling along in a mudslide.
But I trust this planet. It saved my life, brought me to my mate. It will not let us die now.
I clutch her to my chest and protect her as best I can with my own body, shielding her from the ground as we’re tossed and thrown every which way. I lift her high so she can take a breath, then hold her close again as a broken tree trunk sweeps past us, dangerously close. This river of mud is violent, thrashing us in every direction, battering us with debris. I’m absorbing many blows and slashes myself, but I’ll endure it all gladly to protect her.
Finally, after reaching out until I’m certain that my arm will pull out of its socket, I grasp the edge of the riverbed. I dig my fingers into the dirt, and we’re dragged along more slowly as I try to pull us closer to the shore. It’s pouring rain now, making the dirt ledges soft and impossible to hang onto.
I almost get it. I almost haul us from the mud’s relentless flow. But suddenly the weight of it disappears. The slippery shoreline at my fingertips disappears, the solid ground beneath us disappears. We’re airborne for just a moment before plummeting over the mud waterfall.
The planet may wish to bless me, but gravity is still unkind. I turn so my back hits the water first. The impact knocks the breath out of me. I must squeeze my little alien mate too tight, as she screams and she yelps and she claws at my arms.
I don’t dare release her. The water here is still once I’ve paddled us away from the falls, but rain continues to pummel down. I can’t see a shoreline from here, can’t tell how far we fell, can’t sense much of anything aside from my mate’s panicked heartbeat.
“Calm,” I tell her, “We must think.” I know she can’t understand me, but I hope my tone is soothing.
We must get to land and find some shelter. Even if I could tread water through the storm, it isn’t safe out in the open. The wind howls over us and past us, bringing with it leaves and sticks and clods of mud. I’m just going to have to guess at a direction and go.
I hook an arm around my mate’s torso, just beneath her arms, and position her so her head will stay above the water as I swim. She’s shouting, but at least she’s stopped fighting and flailing. She must realize the peril we’re in. Is it too much to think that she trusts me already? I’ve saved her from the mud. I’ve proven that I am strong and capable.
I mutter a prayer to the planet and I swim.
Land isn’t far. Perhaps we’ve landed in a smaller pool of water than I thought, or perhaps luck was with me again. I pull us out onto the muddy shore and I hold the little female’s hand. She’s stiff, but she doesn’t pull away. She shields her eyes and tries to look around. I’ve learned that these sapients’ senses aren’t as strong as ours, though. If I can’t see, she definitely can’t. We’re going to have to guess again.
I lead her away from the water, and soon we find ourselves in an unfamiliar forest. These trees are different from the area we came from. These sprout violet needles in the place of blue leaves. The female touches a branch, then plucks some needles free and stuffs them in her pocket. Perhaps they’re edible? No time to wonder, now. The female’s hand is so cold and delicate in mine. My priority is going to be keeping this defenseless creature safe. We must find our way back to the camps. But for right now we ought find a place that will shield us from the storm.
I wish to run, but the wet needles that cover the ground make our footing slippery and treacherous. I pick us a path aimed in the general direction of our camps. There’s no way to know how far we slid, but I suspect it was a long distance. And uphill. We fell quite far.
We don’t come across a hill, though. I nearly run nose-first into a sheer rock wall. This must be the waterfall’s cliff. We plunged from above. Our camps are a long climb and trek away. Impossible in this storm.
We don’t want to return to the falls, so I lead us in the opposite direction, away from the body of water. The wall at least shields us from the worst of the wind. She huddles against the rock for a moment to clear her hair from her eyes. She looks up at me then, barely visible though she’s so close. Her eyes squint against the lashing rains. She says something. A question. She’s so frightened. She doesn’t know about the luck that’s been following me. How could she?
“Trust me,” I tell her. I try to convey my words with my eyes. I clasp her fragile hand between both of mine. “Trust?”
She grimaces, but she nods.
I lead us further along the wall. My hands slide along sheer rock and orange moss. Has any creature drowned while standing on their feet? I’m beginning to wonder if it’s possible. I wouldn’t call this rain, I would call this a deluge. A sea emptying itself.
Rain and time and distance drag on. Are we going to get lost amongst mountains? Will we walk straight to that green sea that the females drew on their map? But we both stop as we come across a dark gap in the stone.
I have to turn sideways to fit. It seems like nothing more than a split, at first. No cover over our heads, just a little more protection from the wind. Better than nothing, but we’re still being pummeled by the water. As I release a breath and squeeze a little further, though, I turn a corner into a dark opening. A cave! I might not have even seen it in the plain daylight if I hadn’t wedged myself in the crevice. But I found it! Led along by this blessed planet. I could bow to the ground. I may yet.
I stop the human at the cave’s mouth, just out of the rain. Damn, I wish she hadn’t lost her blaster. I’d feel much better about charging into this mysterious cave if we had a weapon. “Wait,” I say, and I hold up a hand, then point to the ground. She seems to get the message. She nods, and she peers over my shoulder, but she doesn’t move her feet. Good. I have to make sure the space is clear before I allow her any further. Nothing is going to threaten or harm her under my watch.
The cave is dark, but my eyesight is sharp enough. I follow the wall all the way around. There are leaves and needles that have blown inside and dried. There’s layers of dirt and dust. Some scattered animal bones lie in one corner. A pool of water gathers in another from a small crack high above - just a slow drip, despite the deluge outside. I sniff the water there. Nothing strange. But we won’t sit too close, in case there are creatures far below the surface.
There’s another crevice in the furthest wall from our entrance. I crane my head through, but it’s too dark deeper inside, even for my keen eyes. It smells like damp wood and fungi. Perhaps a food source? We’ll need to find a way to cast some light inside.
Something thuds behind me. The female has peeled off her armored vest and dropped it. She’s swaying on her feet. I’ll never forgive myself if she’s been hurt. I charge at her and grab her arm. She yelps, but I must know if she’s sustained an injury. I run my hand along her arm - her strange suit is torn at the elbow, but there’s no blood, and though she protests, she doesn’t react with pain. I examine her other arm, then each leg. There’s a gash on one of her ankles. Blood oozes down into her boot. The flow is slow - is that bad? I don’t know enough about this alien’s anatomy yet. I guide her to sit with her back against the wall.
She pulls her leg away from me once she’s seated and examines the wound herself. She says something and tugs the leg of her suit back down over her ankle.
“You’re hurt!” I tell her, gesturing. “Let me help!”
