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Chapter Fourteen

Adlis stumbled in the darkness as she raced towards the bluff. She'd heard no signs that she was being pursued, but her paranoia got the best of her, convincing her that a thief or cutthroat was hiding in every shadow. In the back of her mind, she scoffed at having felt alone in the church. At least in there she was surrounded by the priests and acolytes, even if they were separated by walls. Out here in the dark desert, she was truly alone. Not a single soul to be seen for miles, and only the sharp, cold wind to keep her company. Even now, it whipped her dress and her hair behind her, making her mad dash across the sand even more difficult. In the distance, she heard the telltale buzz of a wastep, and she froze. The massive stinging insects were notorious for picking off lost travelers. If one were to find her out here, she realized with a shudder, she would have no way to fend it off. After a minute of waiting, the sound did not return, so she kept running, the bluff slowly getting closer. Fifteen minutes later, she arrived at the base of the massive rock. She bent over, trying to catch her breath. Looking back, the town was nothing more than a few small pinpricks of light in the distance. The wind blew again, and she shivered. Her dress had not been made to withstand the weather, and the cold was quickly creeping through her fur. She needed to find Brother Dunma's friend. Once she had gotten her breathing under control, Adlis set off once again. Picking a direction at random, she began to walk, hoping she would not be forced to circle the entire bluff before she found the cabin. She was in luck, and found it after only a few minutes. It was small and plain, clearly constructed for necessity and not for comfort, but the light shining through the window and the smoke curling up from the chimney made it look like a mansion to the cold zik girl. She began to race towards it, but forced herself to slow to a calm walk. Dunma hadn't given her any indication that his friend knew she was coming, and seeing a figure running straight towards his house might lead a person to shoot them. She slowly made her way to the front door, her heart beating with anxiety. What if Dunma had been wrong? What if this mysterious person turned her away? The only place she had to go was back to the town she'd just left- straight into the hands of the Embin priests. She raised a trembling hand to knock on the door, but before she could, a voice called to her. "Hey, you," Adlis spun around, barely containing a startled scream. The black furred zik she'd seen back at the church stood there, leaning on the side of the cabin. "A-are you the one Brother Dunma sent me to meet?" she asked in a timid voice, desperately hoping that he wasn't. "Don't play dumb with me," the zik spat. "You know who I am." Once again, Adlis saw the overly-long rifle hanging from the zik's back. Slowly, realization dawned on her. "You're Luka," she said slowly, "the Sniper Marshal." "At your service," Luka replied curtly, touching the brim of his hat. "Why are you here?" the girl asked. "I'm doing everything they asked me to do." "Not everything," Luka sneered. "You seem to have misplaced the most important part." Adlis' ears turned white, "I- I'm doing the best I can. Just give me more time!" "You're time," the black zik spat, "is quickly running out. We gave you this chance to redeem yourself, but make no mistake: we are more than capable of doing this ourselves." "I'll try harder," Adlis promised. "You'd better," Luka agreed. He stepped forward, and Adlis had to fight the urge to back away in fear. "It'd be a shame if you had to live like this the rest of your life, wouldn't it? On the run from the church, stared at like a freak every time you go into a town." He reached up and gently began to stroke one of her ears, which whitened even further, "Stuck with these things until the day you die." Adlis' ears turned blue at the thought, and she fought to keep tears from running down her cheeks, "I promise, I'll do what you want. Just give me a little more time!" The zik gave her a cruel smile, and withdrew something from his breast pocket, "All right, then. A little more time. But you're going to need this." With that, he tossed what he was holding to her. Adlis fumbled with it, but managed to catch it. A strange feeling crept across her hands as she grasped it. Opening her hand, she what it was. "This is Kulgan's Twisting pendant!" she exclaimed, but found that she was speaking to nobody. Luka had vanished as if he had never been there. Adlis shivered, and forced herself to clutch the pendant tighter. It felt weird in a way she couldn't describe. It was just... unnatural. Still, it was her only way of doing what Luka and the others had ordered her to do. Not knowing what else to do with it, she slipped it around her neck and hid the small stone inside her dress. It made her fur stand on end, but what choice did she have? Steeling herself, she took a deep breath and knocked on the cabin door. There came a small noise on the other side, and a few moments later the door opened. A toola stood inside, tilting its head in confusion. "Thought I heard voices, I did," he said, waving his claws in greeting. "What be you doing here?" "My name is Adlis," she answered. "Brother Dunma sent me here." "Brother Dunma?" the toola echoed critically. "Trouble with the church be you in?" "Yes," the girl hung her head in what she hoped was an ashamed way. Her ears, she was glad to note, were still blue with sorrow. "He helped me escape, and told me you would help me." "Help you he said, did he?" After a moment's consideration, he stepped aside and motioned for her to enter. "Come inside, I suppose you should, then." Adlis thanked him and stepped gratefully inside the cabin. It was small, even smaller than she'd thought it would be, but there was room for two. "Dinner I was about to eat," the toola said, scuttling towards the fireplace where a pot full of sweet smelling soup boiled. "Want some, do you?" "Yes, thank you." As the toola spooned some of his dinner into two bowls, Adlis spoke up again, "Excuse me, but I don't believe you told me your name." "Footil my name be," the toola replied, handing her a bowl. Without another word, he began to eat. Adlis let him be, and began to eat as well. She was hungrier than she'd realized, and soon she was looking at the bottom of her bowl. "Hungry be you still?" Footil asked, and took her bowl back to the pot. He filled it and handed it back to her. Adlis thanked him, but had barely raised her spoon to her mouth when another knock came at the door. "Again the door knocks?" Footil asked. "That can be who, I wonder?" Adlis froze. What if it was the priests again? What if they'd tracked her here? She was about to tell Footil not to answer it, but he had already done so. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that it was just Za and Kilo. "Adlis!" the simmk exclaimed, and ran to embrace her before he had even been invited inside. "Za!" she returned the greeting. "I'm so glad you're okay!" "Me?" he asked incredulously. "I was more worried about you! That fuaro said that they were going to execute you!" "Brother Dunma," Adlis confirmed. "He's the one who helped me escape." There was a moment's silence before Footil looked back outside at Kilo, who still stood in his doorway. "May as well you come in," he said. "Everyone else has." "Much obliged," the fuaro said flatly. She turned to Adlis, "So, you managed to get out, huh?" "Yes, thanks to Brother Dunma." "Good," Kilo paused to look around the cabin. "Let's get going, then." "Going where?" Adlis asked. "To keep looking for that thing that stole my child!" Kilo snapped. "Are you stupid or something?" "Stealing children, I hear?" Footil asked, closing the door. "About what is this?" "Something has been kidnapping children from Everdry," Adlis answered. "Kilo wants to find whatever it was and kill it." "And we're wasting time standing around here," Kilo concluded. "Come on, we're leaving." "Not without Kulgan," Adlis said, standing up. Za and Kilo both froze. "Kulgan?" the fuaro asked, raising her eyebrow. "Yes, he's in the church," Adlis explained. "He was the one screaming about getting his pendant back." "You want us to go back there?" Za exclaimed, taking a step back from her. "Are you crazy?" "No. It would be wrong of us to leave him there to be executed." "The simmk is right," Kilo said. "I'm not risking my life to break that worthless Twister out of prison." "But he's a Ranger," Adlis argued. "And let's face it, we were never on that thing's trail in the first place. Without him, there's no way we'll find it." Kilo opened her mouth to argue back, but couldn't deny her logic. "Besides," Adlis concluded, "you don't even have your gun anymore, do you? How do you think you're going to fight it?" Kilo's face turned grim, and she crossed her arms angrily, "Fine, then. We'll go save the stupid drunk." "You're both crazy!" Za shouted, already quivering with fear. "We'll get caught- or worse!" "That's a risk we'll have to take," Adlis said. "We won't get anywhere without him." And neither, she thought, lightly brushing her hand against the pendant under her dress, will I.