Chapter Five
Renee sat on the windowsill, swinging her legs in idle circles like a child
sitting on a fence. She watched the sky until the last gold drained away. The
horizon was just a pale thin band dividing the darkness of the sky from the
darkness of the land when she pulled her bag up on her lap and took out the
black coil of rope. She pressed one flat end of the rope against the stone and
tightened the "screw" until she felt it take hold.
She pushed herself to her feet and turned, standing on the windowsill and facing
into the corridor with the night a presence at her back. The tight black gloves
were stiff and scratchy on her hands. She stood there and flexed her hands,
her eyes fixed on nothingness.
She stared blindly ahead for a long minute and recalled the look of the long
fall of gray rock that dropped straight and smooth down to the treetops of the
black forest-sea.
She took the thin rope in her gloved hands and took a step backwards.
Falling!
Free fall, rope racing through her fingers like water, couldn't see, couldn't
hear, air choking her, burning her eyes, the weight of her body an enemy,
clawing at her ankles and pulling her down, pulling her faster and faster
until the gray rock rushed by her face like a waterfall of stone.
Renee tightened her hands around the rope and friction, blessed friction, burned
her hands like acid and made her bite her lip to keep from screaming and stopped
her from falling.
She hung there and tried to realize that she wasn't going to die. It took a
second for her brain to acknowledge that she wasn't falling, wasn't dying,
wasn't rushing ever faster towards that speed which would have killed her long
before her body hit the trees. She breathed out raggedly and pushed aside the
half-real sound of branches breaking.,
Risking a look down she saw that she was dangling a mile or more above the tops
of the trees. The frictive material was only on her gloves, and without it her
legs couldn't grip the rope. No help there. She could feel the rope trying to
twist away from her hands, malevolent as a snake, wanting her to fall.
Renee gritted her teeth and started to climb down. In the true dark of moonless
night, the cliff face filled her whole world. There was nothing but gray in
front of her and nothing but black above and below and behind. And the feel
of the rope in her fingers.
It was hypnotizing, that slow crawl down into darkness. Mindless motion, arm
over arm, no room to think of anything besides the passing of the rope and the
pressing need to go slowly, without dips and drops to draw anyone's eye up to
where a black bug crawled slowly down the gray rock. Slow and steady, she told
herself, like the movement of mountains, like a sleeping heartbeat, like the
trickle of black rope through black fingers.
She closed her eyes and kept climbing down. Time was a word from another language,
like pain, like exhaustion.
Then came the realization that there was something beneath her feet. She looked
down and the darkness beneath her wasn't the tops of trees. The trees were above her.
It was a few minutes before she unwrapped her hands from the rope,
and a few minutes more before she stepped away.
Renee looked up to where the rope twisted and moved like a living thing. She paused, watching it, before she twisted the end. She
turned and walked away, hearing behind her the soft thumps of the rope falling
length by length into the old leaves. It could rot there.
The deeper she went into the forest, the more she realized that something was
different. She hadn't expected that - a forest is a forest is a forest, filled
with big-eyed woodland creatures and the things that eat big-eyed woodland creatures.
On other missions she'd spent days, sometimes weeks, in forests and jungles.
She knew that forests could be dangerous, hell, forests could be deadly. Forests could kill you
and the carnivores would eat you from without and the parasites would eat you
from within and whatever they left behind would be drawn down to feed the waiting
trees.
So? She asked herself. So forests were dangerous, she'd known that going in.
The contacts that made her eyes black also dilated her pupils to their widest
extent, so at least she was getting enough light to see where she was going and what
might be coming after her.
Still, it was different. And she thought she knew why.
She had to walk a wide circle to come up on the city from the right direction.
Back when she was making the plan she'd had a few qualms about how she was going
to find the city, but not anymore. Not now when she could look up at
the breaks between trees and see where it glowed faintly like a fallen moon.
It would only have taken half an hour to get there if she moved quickly, but
she valued stealth over speed tonight. Small sounds could carry far on cool
night air. Renee lifted her head and angled it, listening to the growls in the
distance. Case in point, she thought. Something was hunting tonight.
She picked her way carefully over a rough patch of ground and told herself that
she might as well get used to the idea of not getting any sleep tonight. The
plan said that she had to climb down in darkness. The plan said that she should
approach the city at high noon, when most of the Atavus would be asleep. That
left a lot of hours unaccounted for, hours she wasn't going to spend sleeping. Not in this forest.
Still, she wasn't going to risk coming to the city during the busy hours. It
would make it too hard for her to get her bearings and remember all the words
and symbols she couldn't afford to forget.
She was breathing shallowly through her mouth as she moved through the dark
forest. The scent of decaying earth was thick on her tongue, dizzying.
Her hair caught in the trees as she ducked to avoid a low branch. Renee shook
her head to free it and looked at the wisps of gold still dangling from the
branch. Birds would make nests from it, she thought. She shook her head again
just to feel the movement of the air. She smiled to herself.
Her feet were used to the uneven surface of the forest floor now and she was
able to move more quickly without worrying about falling. Silly of her, she supposed. The faster she got there,
the more time she'd have to wait. Still she moved faster, loping over the grass as lightly as a dancer, the bag a forgotten weight on her back.
Calm settled upon her and brought back memories of other missions, other times.
She remembered this feeling, when she forgot that she didn't belong there. When
she stopped being an intruder and became part of it, like there had never been
a time when she wasn't running through this forest as silent as any of its animals.
She could run there forever, for as long as the ground was springy and there
were trees to run under.
She grinned as she ran.
It sprang at her from the darker shadows.
Flashing eyes and the impression of claws.
She was on her back, crushed under its heavy weight. Her hand was warm with blood, and the warmth was spreading across her stomach.
She was blind, choking, fur filling her eyes and mouth. The animal moved on top
of her, struggling to reach its teeth down to her neck. She could feel its heart racing.
Renee wrapped her arm around its back and squeezed, holding onto it with arms and
legs and nails while it bucked and snarled and thrashed on top of her, grinding
her weight into the bag under her. Something cracked beneath her and she winced. She held it
more tightly.
The blood was moving more slowly, the heavy heartbeat slowing down. In the pause between the beats she could feel her own heart beat, rapid as a flutter of wings. She knew the moment that its heart stopped. The animal gave one last
shudder and collapsed, a dead weight on top of her and no less heavy for
that.
Renee's grip loosened and she ran one hand down its back, smoothing the matted fur.
She pushed it away and it rolled off to lie beside her. She
lay on her back and gulped the sweet air. She felt a crazy desire to laugh.
It could have killed her, would have killed her, this thing from the forest
that she had loved.
It was funny. She should laugh.
She thought with sudden clarity that it was lucky that she'd decided to wait
the extra month for the suit to be finished. Without its augmentation the creature
might have killed her. Or she might have still killed it but then ended up
trapped under it. Not a good way to die.
She turned her head and looked at the creature. It was longer than she was,
she noted clinically. Must be about eight feet. One of its great paws lay inches
from her face, claws still out. Long claws. She guessed from the shape of the
paws that the thing had been some early variety of feline. If she got up and
looked at the head she could probably confirm her guess.
Maybe in a minute.
The parts of the pelt that she could see were marked with scars
and places where the fur had been ripped out. It had been in a lot of battles,
she thought. And won all but the last.
She squinted, trying to see the color of its pelt. It seemed important to remember
all the details that she could. At the very least she owed it a place in her
memory, just as she remembered the faces of the people she'd killed.
What kind of color was that? Not brown, not black, almost blue. Blue-gray,
she decided. Just like the trees and the ground and me. Of course, Renee thought,
all cats are gray in the dark, and this time she did laugh.
When she finally stood up, pulling the bag up with her, they were waiting. She
felt them on the back of her neck, intruders in her forest, still her forest
even if it killed her. She turned to face them.
Seeing the pair standing there dappled by starlight and shade made her understand
for the first time why most of them had skin the color of golden oak and hair
and eyes as dark as shadow.
Like white rabbits in winter, she thought with amusement.
If she didn't know that they were there, if her forest hadn't sounded a wrong
note like a bowstring pulled too far, her eyes would have gone right past them.
Renee pulled her shoulders back and drew herself up to her full height. She
put ice in her eyes and fire in her smile. She didn't speak.
Neither did they.
It was a long silent moment in the dark.
Very deliberately, Renee brought her bloody right hand up and wiped it off against
the nearest tree. Then, as she'd practiced a hundred times, she casually looked
away and began to slowly clean the remaining blood from the tips of her sharpened
fingernails. Not worth my time, her manner declared. You aren't even worth keeping
an eye on.
Now that it was actually happening, Renee found it hard to keep her heart beat
even. It was one thing to know that keeping her head down limited the ways in
which they could try to outdo her. It was another thing entirely to actually
look away from two bristling Atavus. She carefully rubbed away a smear of blood
on her right thumbnail.
What were they doing? Were they moving? She thought she'd be able to feel them
moving, just like she'd felt them arrive, but who the hell knew?. They could
kill her before she looked up from her nails. Another bad way to die. She should
make a list.
"A fine kill," said a husky male voice.
Renee's shoulders didn't slump and she didn't smile.
Instead, she looked slowly up from her nails and fixed the one who had spoken
with a slightly bored gaze. "Yes," she said simply. "It was."
Now that she was allowing herself to look at them she saw that they both looked
young. In human terms, she thought, they'd probably be in their late teens.
The girl made a sudden movement and Renee tensed, but relaxed when the girl just
came to stand by the body of the fallen creature. She leaned down and traced
one clawed finger along its side. "This is the one we were following,"
she said over her shoulder to the boy. "I can see where you wounded it."
"Your prey?" Renee said, sounding mildly interested.
"Yes..." The boy said and then looked startled. "No! It was.
Yours now."
"Yes." Renee said, her lips curling into the smile she'd practiced
in front of the mirror. Sly, nasty, vaguely threatening. It was a pity to waste
it on them. "I assume," she continued delicately, "that this
was not an official hunt. I would be...sorry... to have interfered."
The boy looked both flattered and frightened. On the one hand, she was implying
that they looked old and strong enough to be part of the Guard. On the other
hand, if he didn't correct her she might report him.
"No." The girl cut in firmly. "Not an official hunt. We were
just practicing."
Renee's eyes dropped to where a cut across the girl's stomach was slowly healing
itself. "I see." She smiled again.
The boy had noticed the bag. "Are you on a journey?" He asked cautiously.
It was dangerous to seem too interested.
Renee swung her gaze back to him and allowed a touch of real warmth to trickle
into her face. He looked comically relieved. Just like people, she thought.
Unnerve them first and when you finally smile they'll do anything to keep you
smiling.
"Ending one," she said to him. "I'm headed for the City."
His ridged brow creased and she could see him wondering what she was doing out
here, a mile from any portal. She kept silent. Explaining too quickly was as
bad at not explaining at all. Let them wonder. They wouldn't guess the truth.
The girl cracked first. "Are you going there now?"
Renee looked at her for a moment until the girl dropped her eyes. "Yes.
I have fed."
Ah... she could see them think. She was out here to feed. Of course. What else?
Renee turned her attention back to the boy. "Thank you," she said.
"For the gift of your prey."
He noticeably straightened.
Just a boy, Renee thought. In another time, I might have killed you. The thought
made her feel strangely sad.
"It has been some time since I've spent time in the City," she continued
smoothly. "Since your hunt ended with mine, perhaps you will take me to
the temporary chambers." Her tone made it something other than a question.
The two exchanged looks and Renee almost laughed. She knew that look, remembered
it from her own youth. A night sky, a quiet spot, a boy.... a hunt. How romantic.
"Of course." The girl said.
"Of course." The boy said a second later.
"Of course." Renee echoed mockingly. She turned her back on them
and started to walk towards the lights of the city. They fell in behind her.
----
Sorry for the delay, but you might as well know now. My computer was built using
the principles of Chaos Theory. Which is to say, turning it on is like walking
into a dark room when you're not quite sure whether you were supposed to go
right or left at the stairwell. You might end up at your friend Sally's birthday
party, or you might walk into a meeting of Cannibal's Anonymous.
*blink* Hmm. Apparently my computer isn't the only thing running erratically.
Sorry about that. As always, any comments are appreciated, and also greeted
with loud shouts of joy.
And then I do a little dance.