House of Vultures, Maggie Claire [fun to read .txt] 📗

Antero, you are theone who wanted to see this place. Now carefully hop across therocks! Don’t stopuntil you reach the other side. I can feelhim recoil at my command, fighting against me without success. Hisbody heaves as he makes the first jump, his hands swinging to keephis balance. On the second jump, he stumbles, his knee banging intothe stone. He howls with pain as blood dribbles down to his ankle,but he keeps moving until he’s across the rocks.

I let out a sigh ofrelief, having held my breath in fear that he’d end up gettingswept off to the ocean. My turn,I remind myself, eyeing the stones. I attempt toquell a sliver of fear in my gut. Don’tthink, just go. Don’t stop until you’re back on solidground. My movements are far surer footedthan I feel as I run across the stones. Landing beside Panther, Idrop to the ground, working my fingers into the sand forcomfort.

“Show off!” Panthermumbles, his hands grappling with his mask in frustration. “Do Istill have to wear this thing?”

Chest heaving as the shock and delayedfear of my actions finally catches up to me, I pull him up tostanding position. “Never take off the mask, remember? Now, we havea little way to walk before we reach the Pith, and we do not wantto waste daylight. Come on!”

A small remnant of a fewtrees blackens this side of the land, most vegetation still crunchyand brown despite the many years since the windstorm. The groundconsists of sand and rock, so every step we take kicks up a swirlof dust. The air smells of cinder, as if a perpetual fire burns inthis desert. With nothing growing, our movements are easilynoticeable. We are exposed, vulnerable to attack, and I find myselflonging to run. My eyes keep searching the sky, my hand constantlylanding on the handle of my knife. Something is watching us, I know it. There are eyeseverywhere on us. I try to shake off myparanoia, but my skin crawls with my fear.

After two hours of walking, a giantgaping maw opens suddenly in the earth before us. Its wide mouthspans at least twenty feet from our location on either side. Dusty,tan colored sand sifts into its empty expanse with the gentlestwhisper of the wind. “I think I am a little disappointed,” I snipeto my companion. “I was expecting…more.”

“You’ve really not comehere before?” Panther asks, seemingly shocked at my revelation. “Ithought you were lying.”

“There’s never been anyreason to investigate this place.” I creep up to the edge of thehole, seeing only the vast, unknown depths shrouded in darkness.Shuddering, I find my feet are frozen at the lip of the cavern. “Isit what you expected?” I question, genuinely wondering what Pantherand the rest of Déchets believe.

Surprisingly, he explains that it isexactly what he had pictured. “My people have sent many spies intothis land to map out its vastness. Only a handful have everreturned, and those that do have spoken of a hole in the Pith. Nonehave ever gone down into its depths and lived to share what theyfound. We need to go down into the hole to find out what liesinside it.”

“Great plan, kid,” Imutter sarcastically. “Go see what’s in the dark, scary hole.‘Cause that’s worked so well for your spies, hasn’t it?” The ideaof exploring this place sends ice water shooting through my blood,my knees threatening to buckle with my terror.

“Do you have a betteridea?” Antero growls as he paces along the cave’s mouth.

I bite my tongue to keepfrom shouting at him to stay still. Fool’sgoing to fall in soon, I surmise with ashudder. The cavern where Wolf made his home was mostly aboveground, as was the place where we had hidden Panther when I firstfound him. But this—exploring this part of the Pith requires goingunder the earth completely. “I’ve always felt more comfortable inthe open air and sky,” I whisper, hearing how the tremor in mylimbs makes my voice waver. The idea of willingly going undergroundinto a hole that could so easily be filled with sand does notappeal to me at all. I can already feel my blood pressurerising.

This time Panther gets to be incharge, not through our bond but through his own strength of will.“It’s the only way to truly know what is down there.” He tugs mypetrified body forward until I stand at the lip of the cave oncemore. My legs lock in place, and fear sweat drips down my spine.“Lower me down first, Mynah. I will catch you when youjump.”

I chuckle hollowly at the thought oftumbling down that hole and landing on him. “I’d squash you,Panther. You are too small and dainty to catch me.” It felt strangeto be saying such things to him; I’ve always been dwarfed in sizeand stature by my male counterparts. In truth my slim body is themore muscled and powerful one from my years of trying to survive inthese lands.

“I’m tougher and olderthan you think, Mynah.” Panther truly sounds affronted by myinsinuation that he is weak.

“Really? And just how oldare you exactly?” I snicker as I patronize him, trying to take mymind off the darkness waiting before me. However, his responsewipes the smirk off my face.

“I’m twenty-eight, and Imay have lived as a priest, but I’ve done many chores that requiremuscle. Chopping wood, hauling hay, harvesting corn and othercrops, laying cobblestones….”

His list continues, but my mind cannotfocus. In truth, I cannot focus on anything but his childlikeheight. “Seriously? But you are so light, so small—even Wolfthought you were a boy barely past twelve.”

“Our people age slower inDéchets, but I speak the truth. Now, are you going to help me intothat hole or are you jumping in without a cushion?”

I am speechless as I lower myself tothe ground in preparation for Panther’s descent. He throws his feetinto the expanse first, easing his body over the edge until hedangles by his hands. “What do you see below me?” He grunts, theweight of his body quickly fatiguing his arms.

“Nothing! It is too dark.You could drop to a solid ground immediately or fall for hundredsof feet. Let me pull you up,