Genesis #21

Chapter 10

________

Dark, undisturbed sand coated the ground under the shade of squat trees crowned with purple leaves. Red light dappled the ground, starkly contrasting the sandy ground. Voices drifted through the trees, carried by a soft breeze. Four figures dotted the purple sand lining the shore on the edge of the forest. Jethro sat on a pile of sand, fiddling with a twig, his brown eyes on his son’s animated face as Clint stood waist-deep in the water with Keila. Jethro smiled. He’d never seen his son so happy.

Rune lay afloat in the black, salty water. His eyes were closed, a crease between his brows. The two humans were whispering to one another. Moments later, they dove beneath the water, swimming toward Rune’s position. Little did they know, the sarsh could hear their movement in the water. The sarsh knew they couldn’t see in the water. With a smile, Rune sunk beneath the surface, laying on the sandy ground beneath the water. He heard the two of them swim over him, muffled by the water.

The sarsh smiled. It was peaceful, underwater. He was tired from the work they had done all that day. Rune worked out, wanting to hone his strength for their journey. Sagara, Jairaj, all the humans, and Rune had traveled some of the forest, and before they all went swimming, they trained in close-contact fighting. Then, with the help of several gellen, they packed everything they would need. Now it was evening; tomorrow they would leave.

The sarsh shook himself out of his thoughts as he heard Clint and Keil calling his name. Following their voices, and slithering along the ground like a snake, Rune pinched both the friends’ ankles at the same time. He could hear their muffled shrieks, and he grinned, rising out of the water behind them. They both screamed as he tapped their shoulders. “Rune!” Clint growled. “How did you do that?”

“Do what?”

“You vanished! Were you underwater that whole time?”

“Yes.”

“But we were looking for at least a minute!”

Rune gave Clint a funny look. “How long can you hold you breath?” The sarsh asked.

“Probably twenty of thirty seconds. How long can you hold yours?”

“Why don’t we have a contest?” Rune challenged. Clint nodded. “I’ll do it, too!” Keila added. The three young people sunk underwater. It was so quiet, one could hear the bubbles Clint and Keila released to stay under longer. At thirty seconds, Clint stood, gasping for breath. Two seconds later, Keila joined him. Rune was nowhere in sight.

Clint glanced at the spot where he knew Rune was still sitting on the sand beneath the water. “Why am I not surprised that he can hold his breath longer? He’s better at everything and isn’t afraid to show off.”

The two friends waited for a minute before they frowned. “When is he coming up?” Keila worried. “Did he pass out?” Clint snorted. “Is that even possible?” But he reached into the water, tapping Rune’s bare shoulder. The sarsh rose out of the water, black rivulets of water running down his body; he shook his head to get the water out of his hair, his ears springing back up.

“What?” He asked. “I thought we were having a contest.”

“We were. It was obvious you could hold your breath longer. How long, though?”

“Twenty-five minutes, give or take.”

There was no response from Clint or Keila. Their mouths were open, their eyes wide. Rune didn’t crack a smile. “Come on, guys,” He said. “It’s time to go back to Kaiele. We have a big day tomorrow.” The humans struggled through the water and up the sand, Clint sputtering angrily, to where Sagara waited with their wetsuits. Rune didn’t even have to leave the water. He watched with a faint smile as the two friends helped each other don their suits on. I wish I had a friend, Rune thought abruptly, recalling his comrade, Dagian. The young sarsh used to be on Rune’s squad, he was the closest thing Rune had to a friend. The sarsh sighed, but shook his sadness away as everyone else joined him and together, they swam back to Kaiele.

______

Clint and Rune stood in the restrooms, toweling themselves off. The sarsh morphed his soaked pants to dry ones, and a shirt on his bare top half. Clint frowned. “That still doesn’t make any sense,” He stated in a rather whiny tone. Rune regarded him with a blank look.

“Then don’t try to make sense of it,” He replied evenly. Clint huffed.

“Rune?” He asserted, serious tone in his voice. The sarsh raised his eyebrows in response. “Why do you always act like you’re better than me?”

“Do I?”

“Yes!”

“Explain, or give me an example.”

“Last night, when we were looking for Augen, you said your eyes and ears were better than ours. Today, when you challenged me to a breath-holding contest, you knew you’d win.”

Rune hesitated before replying. “Well, all sarsh have better eyesight and hearing than humans. That is just a fact, not my pride. An about this evening, you are right. I was being prideful and I’m sorry.” The sarsh turned and left the restroom, his soft boots silent on the metal floor. Clint followed moments later, a thoughtful expression on his face. Keila was already asleep in her bunk, and everyone else joined her, worry blooming in their stomachs. In the corner of their room, four packs were awaiting their voyage. As Rune fell asleep looking at Clint and Keila’s exosuits, he had an idea.

____

“Augen!” Rune’s voice was still rusty with sleep as he bellowed at the door to Augen’s quarters. The gellen commander burst out, eyes wide with panic.

“What is it?”

“I have an idea.”

“Why on Sulien are you pounding on my door, screaming at the top of your lungs so early?”

“You know how Clint and Keila are going to bring their exosuits?” Rune asked. The gellen shook his head.

“They asked to leave them with me. They said they don’t want to wear those bulky things.”

Rune hesitated. “Well, never mind then. I was going to suggest that you could make armor for all of us, but I guess that would be uncomfortable.”

Augen nodded. “We couldn’t make four suits of armor in one day, anyway.”

“I thought gellen were super smart?”

“We are, but that doesn’t mean we can build things quickly.”

“Okay. When do we leave?”

“Well, you are ready now, aren’t you?”

“We have to eat first, then we’ll be ready.”

________

The three humans and one sarsh sat silently at a table in the mess hall, each table around them filled with gellen, conversations drifting about the room in a hum like thunder. Rune had already eaten, watching anxiously as the humans slowly consumed their food. “So,” Clint began, mouth stuffed with food. “Why are we doing this by ourselves? Why can’t we have some of Augen’s men come with us?”

Rune shook his head. “I asked Augen the same thing. All he said was, “This is your journey, not mine. I cannot help you.” The sarsh rolled his eyes and growled. “Real helpful.”

Keila piped in, her voice small and quavering. “I’m scared.” Clint squeezed her hand. “Don’t worry,” He assured her. “We’ll be fine. We’ve gone through a lot in our lives, and we’re still here aren’t we?”

“Not without a price.”

Clint sighed. “Kel, we were doing this same thing before we came here. We’ll be fine.”

“Do you remember how that ended? We were covered in mud, beat up, and exhausted.”

“Well, this time there’s no one chasing us.”

Keila sighed. She said nothing else. By now, they were all finished their food. “Let’s go,” Rune said. “We need to say goodbye to Augen before we leave.” They all rose, hefting their packs. They waved to Sagara and Jairaj; the gellen looked sad to see them go. All four of them left the room, sadness weighing heavy on their hearts. As they left the mess hall, Augen sprinted around the corner, worry written all over his face. When he saw them, relief filled his face.

“I thought you had left already,” The gellen confessed. Rune frowned. “Why would we leave without saying goodbye?” The gellen mumbled something unintelligible and there was an uncomfortable moment of silence.

“Augen,” Rune snapped. “Would you snap out of it? We’re trying to leave, we’re stressed and on edge, we don’t have time for you to be weird.” Everyone’s heads turned at the sarsh’s outburst, but he ignored their stares. Augen tilted his head.

“My apologies. I was worried I would not get to say goodbye, so goodbye.” The gellen turned to go, but Rune stepped forward, shame written all over his face.

“I’m sorry, Augen. I’m not in a good mood right now. I just- I never got to thank you for saving my life. So, thank you, and goodbye.”

Augen smiled. “Goodbye, Rune. Perhaps we will see each other again.” Rune knew they wouldn’t, but he nodded anyway. All the humans said their goodbyes, and they turned, setting off for the submersion chamber.

_______

When they emerged from the water, liquid streaming from their suits, tears trickled down Keila’s face, mingling with the black water. She tried to wipe them away, not wanting the boys to see. Clint saw and took her hand.

“Kel, it’s okay to be upset.” He assured her. “You have every right to be upset right now. No fifteen-year-old should have to go through this.”

Silence ensued, save for the sloshing of water as they waded out. The humans stripped their suits, revealing clothing Augen had made specially for them. The sleeves and pant legs were removable, there were pockets all throughout each piece of clothing, and they even made a place for Clint and Keila to put the scabbards for their parablades. Augen explained that the temperatures of this planet, called Sulien, was very fickle. One minute the skies were red, which was apparently the normal color for the sky, then the next the skies were black, which led to massive storms. Sometimes it was boiling hot, the next it was frigid. It was hard to know what to expect, Augen had said, but considering how determined the travelers were, nothing could get in their way.

And the last thing Augen had said to Rune was, “When you arrive, things will not be as you expect. Know who to trust and who not to.” The sarsh had merely nodded, not quite understanding. Now, on the beach, gazing up at the mountains in the distance, Rune remembered the dream of the man speaking as if he expected the sarsh and humans to be there. Quickly shaking off his thoughts, Rune took a deep breath.

“Well,” He said. “.. Let’s go.” He took the first step, and all the humans followed. They were all carrying compasses Augen gave them. They were to travel east. The forest was nothing like forests on Earth, or in the humans’ cases, Midrian. The trees were squat and very wide, with flat tops covered in a blanket of purple leave. Thick orange vines draped every tree like snakes. The ground, instead of dirt, was sand. There was little vegetation on the ground, but the trees were laden with a purple fruit Augen said they could eat if they ran out of food. He had actually said ‘when’ they run out of food, which Rune didn’t find encouraging. The sand sprung back up behind them as they walked, leaving only a faint imprint of their heavy combat boot print.

Today was one of the sweltering hot days, each of the travelers removed their sleeves and pant legs, stuffing them in their backpacks. The boys tied strips of cloth around their heads to keep sweat out of their eyes; it had only been a few minutes since they arrived above ground and they already looked as if they had been in a shower. Keila tied her hair up into a high ponytail that bounced as she walked.

“Gosh,” She complained. “I’m glad we didn’t bring our exosuits.”

“Keila, they have cooling systems in them,” Clint pointed out.

“Oh, now I wish we hadn’t left them. Do you think we’ll ever get them back? We spent a lot of novas on those.”

Clint shrugged. “I’d rather have my family than armor.” Keila nodded, a thoughtful and worried expression on her face. No one said anything as they traveled further, no longer able to see the beach through the thick trees. The day wore on, the burning red light glaring through the treetops. No one spoke, save for the occasional ‘ouch’ or ‘excuse me.’ It was midday when Rune spoke. “Did anyone bother to ask Augen about wildlife on this planet?” The sarsh asked. Everyone shook their heads, sudden worry written on their faces as Rune growled.

“Great.” He groaned. “There could be many species in this forest. I’ve had enough run-in’s with huge and dangerous creatures.”

Keila swallowed. “I’m sure there are no dangerous animals here.” She whispered, more a question than anything. As if on cue, there was a far-off roar of some creature, it sounded like a crowd of screaming people mixed with the roar of the anarii. It was ear-piercing and sent shivers down the travelers’ spines. Their eyes were wide with horror, heads turned in the direction they heard the noise. Rune was the first to recover. “We’re going the opposite way of that noise, we’ll be fine.” With steely determination in his eyes, the sarsh plunged forward again. He topped a dune and disappeared. The humans had trouble getting up the large hill of sliding sand. They were halfway up when they heard a shout of surprise and anger. It was Rune. Quickly scrambling over the dune, the humans could see the sarsh lying on his back, a large rodent on his chest. It had long legs, scales covered its heavy tail and its long snout, where fangs protruded from its drooling mouth. It had long claws that dug into Rune’s shirt, making him wince.

There was a pause as the creature saw the humans. Distracted for a minute, the creature didn’t expect Rune’s sudden movement; the sarsh punched the rodent in the snout, flinging it off his chest. He got to his feet, scowling fiercely at the whimpering rodent, which recovered and curled into a ball, thick scales seemed to grow over the creature's fur, and it rolled into a hole in the sand, disappearing.

Rune dusted himself off, picking up his pack. He was grumbling curses under his breath as he touched four neat slices across his face. “I don’t need more scars there,” the sarsh growled to himself. He noticed all the humans staring at him. “Let’s go,” Was all he said before turned and carefully tiptoeing past the hole of the scaly rodent. “Don’t go near that,” He warned.

____

The rest of that evening went without incident, though they saw many more of the holes where they knew the rodent would be. Rune creatively named them ‘Devils,’ along with a few other words caused the humans’ jaws to drop. The red light of the sky darkened, and it was time to set up camp.

“Clint, can you collect firewood?” Jethro asked his son, who nodded, and went off in search of wood. Rune nodded. “Good idea. Keila, can you help Jethro set up our tents?” The girl put her hands on her hips.

“What are you going to do? Sit back and watch?”

The sarsh shook his head. “I need to attend to something before I help.”

Keila was about to ask what it was, but she noticed spots of glimmering liquid on the sarsh’s shirt. She cocked her head, and the sarsh followed her gaze. “Yeah,” He said. “I need to attend to that.”

“Are you bleeding?”

“Yes. It was that devil.”

Keila laughed. “Your blood is silver? That’s so cool.”

Rune pursed his lips, moved a few paces away, pack in hand, and sat on a log, removing his shirt. Keila blushed and turned to Jethro to help with the tents. The sarsh sighed as he tended to the scratches on his skin. Only the first day and I’m already hurt, He thought. Don’t want to know what the rest of this journey is going to be like. He quickly wiped the blood off his skin and slipped his shirt back over his head. “Sorry about that,” He said to Keila, having seen her embarrassment. She ducked her head and said nothing. At that moment, Clint returned, clamping a bundle of sticks in his elbow.

“I was going to get some vines,” The boy said to no one in particular. “But then I saw they were covered in slime, and they smell like... actually I don’t know how to describe it. I don’t think we should touch them.”

Rune nodded in agreement, moving to help Clint with the wood. “Good idea; and we definitely should not burn them.” With Jethro and Keila finishing with the tents, Rune helped Clint set up a pyre of sticks inside a circle of rocks. The sarsh stuck his metal hand in the pyramid of sticks, lighting the kindling with his fingers. In minutes, they had a fire large enough to cook their dinner. Keila cooked, and they conversed over their meal.

“Do we plan on taking watches?” Rune inquired. Clint swallowed his food before answering.

“We don’t know what’s in these woods, I think we’d better take watches. Who calls first?”

“I will.” Rune didn’t hesitant to reply.

“I’ll take second,” Clint said.

“Third,” Jethro grunted over his food.

“I guess I’ll go last, then.” Keila said. When that resolved, Rune and Jethro cleaned the dishes in a nearby creek and all the humans crawled into their tents, saying goodnight to Rune. The sarsh stoked the fire, adding a few logs, and he began moving about the perimeter of the camp. He would wake Clint up at two pm; they had a watch that Augen gave them to tell the time. They could have used the moon’s position, but there was no moon. The night was pitch-black. No light, save for the fire. It didn’t affect Rune, though. There was no color in his vision, everything seemed to be black and white in the total darkness.

__

After what seemed like all night, the sarsh glanced at the watch, nodding as he saw his time was up. His eyes were heavy with weariness. He ducked into Clint’s tent, touching the boy on the leg. Clint woke with a start, glancing about to see what had woken him. “It’s just me, Clint,” The sarsh whispered. The boy nodded, rising and throwing his blankets off.

“Get your dagger,” The sarsh advised. “Just in case.”

Once was Clint ready, the fire stoked again, Rune climbed into his own tent and fell asleep almost instantly. The entire night went without incident.

____

In the morning, after eating and packing up their camp, the group moved out again. They stopped only twice, skipping midday meal. The day passed without trouble, and it went this way for two more days. That’s where their journey got tough. Midday, during a break, Rune glanced up at the sky. It was dark, the regular red shade was an ominous black, lighter holes of red visible through swirling clouds. Rune cursed, glancing around at his companions.

“I was hoping this wouldn’t happen,” The sarsh said, his voice full of dread. “There’s nowhere for us to go.”

Fear sparked in Keila’s eyes as she craned her neck to see the brewing storm above them. “Didn’t Augen tell us what to do if this happened?”

Rune nodded. “Yeah, but it isn’t exactly an ideal solution.”

“Well, what is it?”

*this isn't the end of the chapter, but it's all I've got for now. Ya'll enjoy.*