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26
Hurrying to the kitchen, I fill several water pouches. I shuffle back out to center court and call for the other two, “Kava, Angus, you ready?”
Kava comes jogging down the stairs with a bag over her shoulder. Angus steps out of the armory door and yells across the courtyard, “Kava, you any good with a sword?”
Kava just laughs, and Angus shakes his head. He approaches with two swords, a bow and two quivers full of arrows. He hands Kava a small knife in a sheath and gives me a quiver to carry knowing full well, I am no good with a bow. But a sword, I can probably handle, seeing that I make them.
We head out the front of the castle and across the rocky surface of the island. The mountain is one good leap away. Dread rises in my throat. I don’t think I can do this. I step closer and look down between the rocks, which is not a good idea. Panic drains the blood from my limbs and my head is reeling.
“Okay,” Angus says. “The person who will be the worst at this goes second. So at least the last one can throw them across and the first one can catch them.” He looks right at me and a terrified laugh sneaks out of my mouth.
Angus steps up to the edge, breaths deeply, puts his big foot out and leaps across with ease. I am bolstered by his success and step up. Angus walks alongside Ellery as it moves along its path.
“Come on, Ledger,” Angus encourages.
“Okay, I can do this.” My heart hammers in my chest and my tongue is dry. I put my foot out like Angus. If I lean forward my foot will land on the mountain. One, two, three, go! But my body does not obey. I can’t breathe, and I am dizzy.
“Ledger, look out!” Kava screams. I look up just in time for an overhang from the mountain to hit me in the face and throw me backwards. The next thing I know, I’m on my rear end and my vision is blurry.
Kava helps me back to my feet. She is obviously holding back a laugh and I decide not to think about it. Just do it. I’m simply going for a walk. I face the mountain; the cliff side is level with Ellery again and I leap forward, landing flat-footed on solid ground. Sharp pain shoots through my feet, but I don’t care. I made it. I hear Kava land beside me.
I take a deep breath and she slaps me on the back of the head as she walks off to find Angus. I am such an idiot. I touch my face where the rock hit me to see if I’m bleeding. It’s only bruised a little.
We climb the rocks and meet up with Angus, then trek west some distance to find the spot where the Wolf Man exited the island. Angus locates boot prints, many large and one small set heading north. I worry for Hollis. She can’t handle this sort of thing. I grind my teeth as we hike the rocky paths up the mountain. I look back at Ellery as it drifts slowly by as we enter a large cave. My world is leaving without me and frustration eats at my gut because we might not be able to get back on the island.
The cave is dark for the first several paces, and then we see a light at the other end. It looks to be an opening out the other side. Less of a cave, more of a tunnel. We reach the end and hide on the left side of the opening. I peek around the rock and look out across a valley of large round huts with smoke emerging from only the hut in the middle. People are coming and going from their homes. There is no sign of Hollis or Tolliver. I don’t know what to do.
“What do you see?” Angus steps round me and peers out over the village.
Kava grows impatient and says, “Well?” She steps around me to the cave opening.
It’s as if nothing happened. There is no racing about. There are no prisoners. They must be hiding them. I am at a loss for what to do now, as if I expended all my fake brilliance on Ellery.
“Let’s sneak around that side,” Angus says pointing to the hill rising on the west.
I follow Angus around the village through thick brush and trees. Thorns pull at the skunk pelts wrapped around my feet. I’m glad I had cut off the tails a couple days ago. When we hear voices in the strange language, we stop abruptly and quickly hide behind a pale green juniper bush.
We sit watching the small village, waiting for some sign of where our friends are. Finally, I see Wolf Man exit a smaller hut and enter the larger hut in the center of the village. “They’re in that one,” I state. The roof is covered with layers of woven straw. The walls are some sort of orange clay, with a strange zigzag pattern etched all the way around. It stands out from all the other buildings. More and more people enter the center hut and I’m nervous they’ll eat them or something worse.
No one stirs in the village for quite some time. No one comes or goes. “Let’s go,” I say, nodding toward the center hut.
“We cannot just walk in there,” Kava says.
“We can’t just sit here,” I reply.
“Let’s do it,” Angus agrees. “Kava, where is your knife?”
She pulls it from her satchel and unsheathes it.
“Good,” Angus says.
Angus nods toward the hut and we run from the brush toward the center of the village. I feel a wave of terror being out in the open. What if we’re running into a trap? We reach the building with zigzag markings and sneak our way around to the door. There is a thick pelt hanging over the doorway. We hear voices. There is no yelling, no threat of death.
Gently pushing back the curtain, I peer inside. There are many tan faces. Everyone is dressed in fur all the way around the room. It is surprising how many they have squeezed into this hut. Kneeling in the center is the girl with golden hair next to my brother. They are alive. My hand shakes as I hold the curtain and strain to hear what they are saying, when someone notices me. I drop the pelt and pull out my sword. Angus does the same and we step back, braced for a fight. Kava is frozen in place, dagger ready.
Inside there are raised voices and strange words of surprise. Then the curtain is pulled back and Tolliver is standing before me. Unharmed.
“Tolliver, let’s go,” I whisper reaching for him.
He swings his hand away and says, “No.”
It confuses me so I try again. Tolliver grabs a fistful of my cloak, dragging me inside where all the faces stare at me. Some old, some young, all dark skinned with smooth black hair.
The bald men with the long black hair spiking from their shoulders and orange paint across their faces kneel around the inner circle. Three rows of men, women and children sit in silence with their legs crossed. My skin is itchy from all the focused attention.
“Welcome,” a high-pitched voice with an odd accent says. I walk cautiously to the center of the hut. Angus and Kava follow close behind.
“Come, sit.”
Locating the voice, it belongs to an old lady with deep bags under her piercing black eyes. She is seated at the top of the circle next to Wolf Man. “Welcome in Jikuni,” she says with her old twisted fingers held out. Her deerskin robe hangs limply from her bony arms. She wears a necklace of small bones with strands of curly brown hair dangling between each. It must be human hair, because I’ve never seen an animal with fur that long or curly. Following Tolliver to a mat in front of them, Angus, Kava, and I kneel beside Hollis. My chest aches for air, and I can’t help feeling we need to run away.
“We talk,” the old lady says slowly. “Where Ellery?”
“They are gone,” Tolliver says, kneeling on the other side of Hollis.
“Gone,” the woman repeats. “Where gone?”
“We do not know.” He puts his hands out and shrugs. “We are searching for Ellery,” Tolliver explains.
“Searchy?” she imitates looking at Wolf Man. “What is searchy?”
“Search. Look,” Tolliver clarifies, putting his hands to his eye like a spyglass. “We are looking for Ellery.”
Peering around at the strangers, I notice there is only one person standing, a guard with spiky shoulders and crusty orange face paint. He is poised with his hand on his sword and the other behind his back. He wears a necklace of little white teeth—human or animal, I can’t tell. Either way it makes my stomach splash bile into my throat, and I hold back the urge to cry.
“Yes,” she nods and speaks in her native tongue to Wolf Man. They chatter back and forth a few times in their quick-syllables. To all of us, she says, “Help you need?”
I struggle to understand her accent. I have never heard anyone have such difficulty with my language before.
Tolliver hesitates for a moment and responds, “We need food.” He motions lifting food to his mouth and chewing.
The Wolf Man belly laughs, “Yah.” He nods in understanding or agreement or both.
“We help you food,” the saggy old lady says.
Tolliver nods and the old lady nods along with Wolf Man. Soon every head is nodding, including Hollis and Angus. I’m not. All I want to do is grab my friends and run out of here.
“What you pay?” asks the lady.
“Pay?” Tolliver scowls.
“You trade, need food.” She nods again leading the whole room into nods.
“I thought you wanted to help. We don’t have anything to trade,” Tolliver says.
Her face goes sour and Wolf Man whispers to her. Her old eyes light up as she says, “Yellow girl trade.”
My gut wrenches and I shout, “No!” The whole room of dark eyes looks at me.
“No?” The old lady’s eyes harden.
“She is mine,” I blurt.
Hollis looks at me, eyes full of pleading and horror.
“Oh, she is you.”
All heads nod again. Wolf Man grows impatient to strike a deal. He jabbers to the old lady again.
“Food,” he says and points aggressively at Hollis.
“No,” I reiterate. The guard with the teeth necklace steps behind me.
As Wolf Man argues with the old lady, I whisper to Tolliver, “Let’s get out of here.”
“Thank you,” Tolliver says to Wolf Man and the old woman. “We must go now.”
He gets to his feet and bows slowly. Hollis, Kava, Angus and I do the same and head to the door at the same time. Teeth Collector blocks our way with crossed arms.
Wolf Man gives him a curt command and he grabs Hollis by the hair. Her eyes bulge, and I lunge at him with all my weight. Unmoved by my scrawny body, he pulls a knife from the belt around his waist. In one smooth motion holding Hollis’s hair, he slices it short.
A terrified scream comes from Hollis. Tolliver jabs at Teeth Collector and Angus pulls out his sword. Hollis is released and falls into my arms. Her hacked hair is falling into her teary eyes. The hulking man ignores Tolliver’s punches and hands her hair to Wolf Man.
Squeezing her tightly, I hold her as she shakes and cries. Wolf Man smells the clump of hair, satisfied with the trade. He says something in his language pointing at the door.
Teeth Collector walks to the doorway and pulls back the curtain, allowing us to leave. With arms wrapped protectively around her, I lead Hollis out the door. He tells another hairy-shouldered guard something. The guard leaves and returns with a bulky burlap bag. Tolliver doesn’t look in the sack and accepts it. We follow closely as he walks swiftly away hand in hand with Kava.
My insides wrench as we hear shouts from behind us. Several guards come after us as we head for the tunnel through the mountain. They shout strange things and point to the east side of the mountain. Tolliver seems to understand their meaning and points upwards.
I bite my tongue and guide traumatized Hollis up the embankment. She wraps herself around my arm, making it hard to climb. But it doesn’t matter. I’ll keep her safe. I’m just glad she is alive.
The cavernous path between the mountains is consumed in shadows. Ellery looks so small among the massive mountains, like driftwood floating down a forest stream.
With Angus in the lead, we run along the ridge as if drawn back by a force. It’s strange to be homesick for Ellery.
Hollis and I make the leap together. I barely think about falling to a bloody death between the cliff and the rocky island.
