Page 110 of Planet Zero
Strong hands grabbed them by their scruffs and hauled them upright. “You two need a spanking to get some good sense into your heads.”
“Zoark!” they squeaked in unison.
“Quiet.” He let Vircea go but held on to Addie. He was spitting mad. “You and your ideas. What do you think you’re doing?”
“Your brother is suffering!” She turned and twisted in his hold to get free, to no avail. “Do you not care?”
“I care. And I know that if I free him now, his punishment will begin anew.”
That silenced Addie. She glanced at Oh’nil and found his eyes open, hazy from pain and hunger, observing the scene in front of him without interest.
“Leave him alone.” Zoark swiveled his head to Vircea. “You, too. He doesn't need your compassion. It upsets him.”
Vircea said nothing. She stood stiffly, staring at the ground, frowning.
Zoark gave Addie one good shake and let her go. She stumbled but quickly regained her footing and straightened her clothes in angry pats. She’d about had it with being overpowered.
“You should know better, Vircea,” he chided his sister.
“He’s all I have left from my family,” Vircea said softly, still not looking at Zoark. “After you’re gone… Oh’nil’s all that will be left of us. I can’t bear to think of losing him.”
Slowly, Zoark approached Vircea and gently pulled her chin up, forcing her to look at him. “Don’t think it. He’s strong and will come out on the other side just fine. And I will stay around for a while longer.”
Vircea’s eyes flickered, her expression hopeful and uncertain. She didn’t dare believe him.
“Go home. Everything will be alright.”
She nodded and pulled away from Zoark’s touch before turning and fleeing.
Silence descended. Addie had wanted to light into him for shaking her like a rag doll, had been prepared with some choice words in both languages, but the scene between him and Vircea shattered her battle mood. Now she stood there twisting the frayed end of her sash, not knowing what to say next.
“Were the three of you close growing up?” she asked inanely, to break the silence.
Zoark’s head swiveled as if he only now remembered she was standing there.
“Follow me,” he said curtly, and Addie’s heart flip-flopped.
With one last glance at Oh’nil whose eyes were closed once more, she walked after Zoark trying to be quiet and stifle the crunch of gravel under her feet. As usual, she didn’t succeed, and her steps echoed all the way to the Olzol Mountains.
Zoark led her away from the settlement, walking fast in his uneven but still flowing gait, forcing Addie to jog after him. They passed a kidney-shaped field where the women gathered little berry-seeds to rub Boroms with to achieve a better taste, and where Addie collected her Timpho grass bulbs. They passed the outcropping of rocks that formed barriers in the shape of frozen ocean waves between this field and the other where tall grasses mingled with short bushes to create a ground covering that was dense and uniformly colored in shades of dusky green and dirty yellow. They reached and went through a narrow passage between large boulders enclosing the field on the far side, and proceeded up an incline to where rocky hills became small mountains.
It was even colder there, at the higher elevation. Addie shivered as the wind whipped at her hair, and at Zoark’s.
“Where are we going?” She had to raise her voice to be heard over the whistling of the wind as it wrapped around the rocks. The leaves and grasses, dried and fresh, rustled loudly, adding to the noise.
“Away.” His answer was curt and anguished. It was the first time he’d shown a sign of distress. Distress, anger, and utter exasperation. Addie scrambled to find something to say and couldn't come up with anything. He was hurting for his brother. Probably angry at Qalae. Worried about marauders, uneasy about the disappearing Elkeks. Frustrated with his inability to change the course of events, to swerve and avoid the collision their tribe was clearly heading toward, steered by Chemmusaayl’s “wisdom.”
When green vegetation disappeared leaving only scraggly yellow grass and the ever-enduring moss covering bare rocks in uneven patches, Zoark stopped climbing.
“That’s good enough. People follow food. They won’t come here - nothing to follow.”
“Our people?”
“Ours, theirs. Marauders. No one.”
Addie swallowed. “Kind of like at the caves in the Olzol Mountains?”
He raised his heavy eyebrows. “Caves? No, the caves are different. They are not barren. You only have to let yourself see it. Here - nothing’s here, which is the point. I don’t want to be disturbed.”
