Page 37 of Spirit Trials
“What if we made our base area a little distance away. We wouldn’t be close enough to have to fight all the time, but we could make the hike here each morning and each night.”
I consider Kinsley’s suggestion; it’s actually a pretty good idea. “What if everybody else does that?” Harper points out.
Not to be deterred, Kinsley says, “Then we’ll move. If it gets to be unsafe or too crowded; we’ll go somewhere else. But think about how long it took us to find this water. I don’t think we should leave it. Also, if it took us this long, it will take others that long too, or even longer if they’re further away.”
I glance at Harper as I consider Kinsley’s words. “It’s a good idea,” I say out loud and wait. I don’t want to talk Harper into it because if something happens, then she’ll just blame me. I want her to come to the same conclusion all on her own.
She drops her arms. “Fine. Let’s find a spot that’s not too far away but not too close.”
I inwardly cheer but keep all expression off my face. I shift from foot to foot, anxious to keep moving. “Let’s keep moving,” I suggest. They readily agree; we’re all still on edge from everything that went down yesterday. We’re lighter today, missing our bags from yesterday; but at least we’re alive. Grief at Sariah’s needless death clings to me, but I use it as fuel to keep going. We walk parallel to the water for a while. By unspoken agreement, I think we’re all leery of leaving it. Kinsley stops suddenly in front of me, and by instinct, I grab my bow and nock an arrow. Harper steps up next to me and pushes my bow down, even as I lift my gaze and get my first glimpse of a spirit jaguar. Its body is mostly translucent, almost glowing. It’s both majestic and beautiful. Its eyes are trained on us, and they seem to glow. “It’s beautiful,” I whisper in awe.
“It is,” Kinsley whispers back, her eyes wide.
“And deadly,” Harper reminds me. “But you can’t kill it. You can only kill it by killing its bonded.”
The spirit jaguar continues to watch us, almost unnatural in its stillness. Finally, it turns and bounds away without making a sound. Only when it’s out of sight do I take a deep breath. I realize the potential danger it represents. Because of their silence, they are even more deadly than I realized. “Do they ever kill?” I ask.
Harper shoots me a look. “All the time. If they think somebody or something is a threat to their bonded, they will take care of the threat.”
“I can’t believe we saw a spirit animal,” Kinsley breathes.
I turn to her in confusion. “You’ve never seen one?”
She shakes her head. “You can only see spirit animals if you bond to one.”
“Why?” I ask.
She shrugs. “I guess it’s a way of keeping them protected; outsiders can’t see them.”
I think of how I saw Lox’s spirit animal, but I don’t say anything. I’ll have to ask Lox about it if I make it out of here alive. “What do you think that means about us then if it left us alone? I guess we’re not considered a threat. That’s not good.”
“Well, or it’s really good,” Harper disagrees.
“How do you figure?”
It’s Kinsley that answers. “Then nobody will see us coming.”
I take the two of them in as a slow smile fills my face. “All right. I can get behind that.” Anxious to keep moving, I start forward once again. “Keep on the lookout for gold coins since we lost ours last night.” I’m still mad about that but can’t do anything about it except find more. A high-pitched whistle pierces the forest around us, and I automatically drop and grab my bow. “What is that?” I call out. There’s another ear-piercing whistle. “Where is it?” I yell above the noise. Something large and dark swoops down over us, and I nearly drop my bow at the sight of the massive bird with huge talons. “Drop!” I yell. Kinsley screams and rolls away as it comes right over her. It makes another ear-piercing sound, and I nearly drop my bow. My ears keep ringing from the sound. I push my nerves aside and sight it with my arrow. I let it fly, and the massive bird makes another terrible sound but flies off as if the arrow did nothing. I watch it fly away and quickly glance at Harper and Kinsley. “Everybody okay?”
“Yes, for now,” Harper says, sounding just as shook as I am. “How do we kill it?”
I shake my head, tracking its ascent. I take a deep breath and start to relax. And then the bird turns and then dives towards us. “Run!” I shout. “Behind that tree.” We race for the tree, but I know we’re not going to make it. I push myself to run faster. “Go!” It lets out that piercing whistle again, and I focus on keeping my footing. Harper screams, and I turn in horror to see the bird shove its talons in her shoulders. I turn around and raise my bow as the bird beats his terrible wings. I let the arrow fly, and it hits the bird right in the eye. The bird lets loose a terrible shriek. My second arrow hits the second eye. I pull my knife from my leg as I race toward the bird. It's faltering, hovering right over the ground. Harper has gone quiet, and that terrifies me, but I can’t look away from my prey for a second. I slash at its exposed belly, making it screech again. It spins around, and I’m knocked to the ground as Harper’s dangling legs hit me. I’m on my feet a moment later and pull another knife from my leg to replace the one I dropped. The bird starts flapping its wings, and I've got seconds to bring this thing down before it takes off with Harper. I run at it and jump and use all my strength to shove my knife into its underbelly. Blood sprays me as I fall to the ground and roll. With an unearthly shriek, it drops Harper. “I’ve got her,” Kinsley shouts. I glance over for just a second and see Kinsley standing over Harper’s body protectively with her knife raised. The bird shrieks again and then lifts off. I watch it until it’s out of sight, never dropping my guard. I’m expecting it to turn at any moment and dive bomb us again, and only after a few minutes do I realize it’s truly gone. I spin around and run to where Harper’s collapsed on the ground.
Chapter 21
My stomach nearly empties itself at the sight of the blood and shredded flesh. I drop down next to Harper where Kinsley is already methodically ripping through the tattered remains of Harper’s shirt to see the wounds. I glance up at Harper’s pale face and see her eyes are glazed over with pain and shock. I grab her hand. “It’s going to be okay, Harper.” I squeeze her hand and then take the scraps Kinsley tore off. “I’m going to soak these,” I tell Kinsley. I jump up and run back to the water and then bring them over. “This is going to hurt,” I warn. I hate that I don’t have anything with me to help. I grit my teeth, hating the loss of my bag. Kinsley’s exposed each wound now, and I do my best not to throw up at the sight of the torn flesh. I hand the cloths to Kinsley. “I’ll hold her down; you clean the wounds.” Kinsley meets my eyes, and we share a commiserating stare. We both hate what we’re about to do. I reach across Harper’s body and pin her arms down. Her wild eyes meet mine. “Hang on, Harper,” I whisper. And then Kinsley starts cleaning the wounds. Harper’s screams reverberate through the forest. I grit my teeth and use my strength to hold her down. Even at that, she still pulls free, and I have to grab her arms again. She arches her back and screams again and then falls blissfully silent. When I realize she’s out cold, I release my hold on her. I stand to my feet abruptly. “I’m going to go see what I can find for healing.” I glance down at Kinsley. “Will you be okay?”
Kinsley nods. “I’ll protect her.”
“I’ll be back as soon as I can.” I take off towards the heaviest area of underbrush. I have in mind a few different plants. If I can find them, they will help reduce her pain and help her toheal faster. I don’t let myself think about what will happen if I can’t find what I need in time. I search every plant I come across, being careful to stay away from the ones I know are poisonous as well as the ones I don’t recognize. I get frustrated as time passes and I don’t find anything, but I refuse to give up and go back empty-handed. Harper needs help. My mind starts thinking about what we’re going to do next. Harper’s not going to be able to move for a while, and I worry about her blood attracting wild animals. My heart speeds up, and I return to my task at hand with a vengeance. I search every overgrowth and around every tree. I finally see something that catches my attention. I peel back a bush and silently cheer when I see the gold coin. I slip it into my pouch that I’m thankful to still have, along with a few throwing stars. I’m almost ready to give up when I see one of the plants I was looking for. “Yes!” I reach down to grab as much of it as I can. Suddenly, a sharp pain pierces my hand. With a yelp, I pull back and stare in horror as a large snake uncoils its body. I grab my knife with my uninjured hand and slice at it as it comes at me with fangs bared. I stab it again and again and then jump backwards when it falls to the ground. I clutch my wounded hand and assess the damage. There are two red marks on my hand that I try not to panic over. “It’s just a snake bite.” The problem is I don’t recognize this snake; I have no way of knowing if it’s poisonous or not. I take a calming breath.You won’t help anybody if you panic.I reach around the dead snake and shake the bush this time, berating myself for my stupidity in reaching for the bush without checking under it first. When I’m sure there’s nothing else lurking, I grab as many of the leaves as I can and several of the thickest stems. With my hands full, I start running back to where I left Harper and Kinsley. My heart is in my throat as thoughts of everything that could have happened to them in the time I was gone flood my mind. I breathe a sighof relief when they come into view. A quick glance shows that Harper’s still out cold, but I see the clear relief in Kinsley’s eyes.
“I was scared you wouldn’t come back,” she says softly, and I hear the fear in her voice.
“I’m sorry. It took me a lot of time to find what I was looking for.” I set down the leaves and thick stems. “I need to wet these leaves; I’ll be right back.” Moments later, I drop down next to Harper and cut the middle of the thickest stem. I squeeze out the clear paste and begin to rub it carefully over her wounds. After that, I begin to separate the wet, cold leaves as I begin to make a covering of wet leaves over her wounds. I meet Kinsley’s eyes when I’m done.
“What is that?” she asks.
“Heartshade vine. I was hoping I’d find some here. It grows in the deepest, darkest parts of a forest. The paste inside acts as a mild sedative and pain reliever. It will actually keep her asleep longer, but it will give her body more time to heal. The leaves, when wet, act as a poultice to help heal and regenerate the damaged skin and close her wounds. It’s really powerful.”
