Keira's mind gradually woke up, groggy and disorientated. Her head felt swollen, her thoughts confused and elusive, and her senses were all smothered by a hostile, suppressing heaviness. She had no memory and everything was numb, as if she were separated from her entire body. All she could see was black, and opening her eyes made no difference. Her ears felt like they were stuffed with cotton wool, and the only thing she could perceive was a dull ringing of tinnitus coming from inside her own head. Now she had heard it she could not ignore it, and it tormented her as she lay unable to move. She was frightened, frightened of the unknown and the foreboding nothingness that trapped her.
But then, the ringing gradually faded out, and soft sounds started to emerge. They span all around her until they stopped and settled in consistent places, and to her relief, she was able to identify what they were. There was birdsong, friendly and familiar, which greatly soothed her aching mind. Then bubbling water. Then a gentle breeze blowing through leaves.
She felt energy and life returning from somewhere deep, and she opened her mouth slowly. Her face was stiff and she perceived the sensation of it cracking and breaking as she exercised the muscles. Her dry lips brushed against whatever she was lying on, and it tasted peculiar, yet strangely familiar.
She twitched a finger, and could feel the warm energy run up her arm to her shoulder. A part of her body had returned to her. She used the same technique to find her other arm, and once she had control of both of them, she tensed her muscles to get the blood flowing again. She lifted them up, bent her elbows and then placed both palms flat down on soft, organic material. Summoning the strength, she pushed up to support herself with her trembling arms, but she collapsed down again almost immediately. She tried again, and this time saw the blackness retreat away from her. Her vision corrected itself and she found she was looking down at a patch of red grass.
The flexing of her back muscles alerted her to the presence of her legs. She flexed those too, and was soon on all fours. She blinked a few times and then took in a breath, but choked on something and coughed suddenly and violently. Half a tooth fell from her mouth and landed in the red grass. She stared at it, even more confused. Was she falling apart?
Without looking up, her memory and rational thought began slowly returning, piece by piece, and conjured activating questions. The ambient sounds around her told her that she was in the forest. Yes, that's right. Haven Forest. She was in the forest last night, she remembered that. But what had happened to her? She had been lying on the ground clearly, and she was weak. Hadn't she been with someone? Yes, yes she had. But who? She could remember screams and being in pain. And why was her face throbbing with warmth?
Then she remembered the dark figures, and twitched reflexively as she relived the punches she had suffered, their phantom blows alive again in her body with dreadful clarity. That's it; she had been attacked last night by the lakeside. Her mouth fell open in a groan and her head drooped down on her shoulders, revealing a familiar-shaped imprint in the grass where she had fallen. The red patch was right under where her head had rested. It was stained with blood.
Emotions starting to brim, she tilted her head upwards now, and looked around her. She couldn't see anything beyond a few metres, just a murky black curtain, but she could make out the faint, dark shapes of tree trunks. This was definitely still the forest, the scene of the dreadful attack. But her eyes then landed on something in front of her, something that did not appear to fit in with the rest of the scene. An orange fuzzy shape amid the dark green was heaped up at the foot of a moss-covered tree trunk. Then Keira's heart froze solid as she realised that it was Tess.
A fire lit inside her and she crawled heavily over with all the speed she could muster, her limbs cracking, calling out to her, but her voice was a dry whisper.
"Tess... Tess..."
When she stopped only a few inches away, she trembled at the sight of the ottsel's twisted body, tangled in the gnarled roots. She called to her again, and gently nudged her with her hand in an attempt to wake her. To her foggy relief, Tess stirred, making a barely audible groan, and then she opened her eyes with difficulty.
"Tess!" Keira whispered in suspense. "Can you hear me?"
Tess stared up at the face coming into focus above her, but her eyes widened with alarm at the sight of it. "Keira? What happened to you?" she asked in a shocked voice that was barely above a croak.
"Never mind about me," said Keira, who had not yet seen the terrible state of her own face. "It's you I'm more worried about."
"I'm feeling bad, Keira," groaned Tess. She tried to raise her head weakly, but was arrested instantly by sharp, burning pain that exploded through her entire body, and she cried out.
"Stay still!" said Keira urgently. "Don't move!"
That was all the advice she could give. Tess lay as still as she could except for the rapid rise and fall of her chest, her face contorted and wheezing through her clenched teeth. Keira was almost moved to tears at the sight of her. She was no doctor, but she could tell a broken bone when she saw one, and Tess had many. Her limbs were bent at painful and unnatural angles, and her back was twisted half-sideways. Keira wondered how on earth she could possibly still be conscious.
Then Keira was struck by sense. They needed help, and the communicator she had packed yesterday was their one lifeline.
"Tess, j-j-just lie still," she said, her voice trembling. "You're hurt real bad. I'm going to call for help. I've got to get you to my father."
"OK," Tess breathed as her pain subsided to just above tolerable.
Keira turned herself around and commenced her hands-and-knees search, eyes bleary and sweeping the grass with her hands for the spot wherever her bag lay. It had to be here somewhere.
But then her hand unexpectedly splashed into cold water, and it took her convalescing mind a few seconds to understand that she had reached the dark, deserted shore of the lake. Its shimmering texture broke into her shadowy vision, a glint in the darkness. Suddenly aware of how desperately thirsty she felt, all other preoccupations were driven momentarily out of mind, and she lowered her parched lips to the surface to slurp up a few small mouthfuls. The water was cool and fresh and earthy, and drinking it really cleared her faded vision a little, and washed away the nasty taste that lingered in her mouth.
When she had drunk enough, she pulled herself up again and looked down at the rippling surface. There was just enough light to see a reflection, and what she saw as the water settled made her freeze and stare in disbelief. Something wounded and defiled was looking back at her. Was that really her own reflection? Her own face? Her cheeks were two swollen purple bruises, and dried blood encrusted her right side from her hairline right down to her jaw. Her mouth dropped open in shock and she raised a hand to her face, but withdrew immediately with a wince as the touch triggered a cruel sting of pain.
Her emotions finally broke. Feeling desecrated, she let out a cry, half scream and half gasp, and splashed handfuls of cold water onto her face in a moment of sudden madness. Then she fell onto her back and just lay there sobbing and moaning in the grass while her head pulsed.
From her uncomfortable position at the base of the tree, Tess could hear the distressful sounds and automatically tried to roll her head to the side. But she immediately wished she hadn't, because another spear of mind-jarring pain pierced the length of her spine, forcing her to a blinding halt, and it took her almost a minute before she could find her voice.
"Keira?" she called out as loud as she could, and even that hurt. "Keira!"
Keira found herself again and rolled over, hearing her name, and swallowed hard. "Yeah?"
"Did you find the communicator?" Tess asked distantly.
Keira suddenly remembered their dire situation, and fought her way back across the grass. She could see a little more clearly now. It was dim, not yet dawn, and the trees seemed so oppressively tall as they bent in overhead, their uppermost reaches creaking in a wind that could not be felt at ground level, dappling a sorrowful, deep blue sky. But in the grass Keira could now see many of their possessions lying scattered from the attack. There was a pile of clothes, one of their torches, a crumpled towel, and then… yes! There was her bag.
Finding new strength, Keira clawed her way over to it until it finally lay in her hands. Here she sat on her knees and rummaged around inside for her communicator, but it was disturbingly absent.
"No!" she cried with a gasping croak, panic bubbling within her veins. "Where is it?"
Tess didn't dare turn her head again but she could hear the urgency in Keira's weak voice, and sensed more trouble.
"I can't find the communicator!"
"Look again!" called Tess with effort. "Maybe it's somewhere else close by…"
Keira cast her eyes further afield, checked the bundles of clothes, and then the bag again, thrusting her arm down deep. Nothing. She dropped the bag with a frustrated sigh, and craned her neck upwards in frustration, feeling lost in hopelessness.
"It's gone!"
Tess grimaced again. She had enough presence of mind to realise that unless it had been knocked aside somewhere they couldn't find, then those things — whatever had attacked them — must have taken it deliberately, leaving them cut off out here. But she remembered something else too, or rather, someone.
"Keira, where's Azyma?" she asked difficultly.
Keira's eyes shot open wider with realisation, and Azyma's terrified screams filled her skull once more. Azyma! How could she have forgotten her? She hurriedly looked all around, expecting to see another body lying somewhere nearby, but there was no sign of her at all. The only remnant was the rest of their clothes and other belongings strewn chaotically in the grass. Keira called out several times with her broken voice, but thick silence was her only answer. Was she even still in the forest? Had she somehow got away? Or maybe…
An even greater dread started to creep up on her, the terrible unknowing of Azyma's whereabouts, and her trembling hands rose to her mouth, almost choking on fresh tears. Azyma was gone.
"Keira?" Tess tried to get through to her again.
"I… I don't know…" Keira stammered. "She isn't here."
She felt a terrible stab of grief right through her heart, and thought back hard to the last moments she could remember of the fight. The memory was muddy, but she remembered that Azyma had been seized first out of all of them, that first strike of terror. She could recall little more, but suddenly she felt anger, anger at those things that had attacked them, and what they had done to Azyma, and she punched against the ground with a frustrated cry.
Though her body was broken, Tess's throbbing mind processed the situation with relative clarity. She couldn't remember much either, but she began to suspect with horror that Azyma could also have been taken by whoever or whatever it was that attacked them. They had taken the communicator and they had taken Azyma, but for what reason she could not fathom. Any unfolding possibilities were interrupted by another surge of pain ripping through her body, this time without provocation, and it completely derailed her thought process.
Keira turned her head back to Tess when she heard her gasp and pant, and then dragged herself and the bag back to her side. Looking helplessly down upon her stricken friend, tortured by pain, it now dawned on her that whatever happened next, the thing that would ensure their escape and survival, was all up to her. Tess was seriously hurt, Azyma was missing, and with no way of contacting her father or anyone else, she would have to go and find help herself. There was no other way.
"Tess, listen, I know you're hurt bad, but we've got to get out of here and get you to my father."
Tess scrunched up her eyes and exhaled. Even breathing was painful. "I can't move, Keira," she said. "Just… leave me and find help by yourself. Find Azyma…"
"I can't leave you here!" argued Keira. "What if those... things come back? You won't be able to defend yourself."
"Keira... I can't..." Tess panted. She was sweating with terror, knowing that if she moved even one inch, that unbearable pain would seize her and this time refuse to ever let go until it killed her.
The sight of her in this way brought Keira to an absolute standstill. She could not put her friend through this. Then a glimmer of hope appeared in her mind, evolving into a spark, and then a dim flame, flickering invitingly. It was a crazy idea, but crazy enough to try. She remembered the night when The Naughty Ottsel had burned down, and how her father had healed Azyma with a sweep of his hand. Still slightly delirious but with great dedication, Keira repeated the motion over Tess, focussing all of her thought and power into the intention of healing her. She visualised a flow of green eco emanating from her open palm… but it did not come.
Tess was confused. "What are you doing?"
Keira did not answer, and tried again. She channelled all of her will into the motion, now trying to force the eco out of her, until she was red in the face and shaking all over from exertion. It was no use, nothing was happening, and she had to stop before she hurt herself in her already fragile state. She let out the pent-up breath and gasped, and her arms and shoulders slumped.
"Keira, what are you doing?" asked Tess again.
"Never mind," sighed Keira, abandoning the idea. "I've got to do something to help you."
"Just go," moaned Tess. "I'll be fine. See if you can find Azyma. She might have escaped or still be around here somewhere."
With uncertainty weighing down her heart, Keira automatically took another hasty look around the clearing, back around at their scattered belongings. Azyma still was not there, but then another, more realistic idea came to her. It was dangerous, but it might be their only shot.
"Hang on," she said, and disappeared again from Tess's field of view.
She crawled the first few yards, and then managed to stagger up to her feet. If this was going to work, she needed to be able to walk. Her legs trembled and she felt terribly unbalanced, her brain sloshed back and forth inside her head, but she forced herself onwards, one stumbling step at a time. The world span threateningly all around her until she felt sick and dizzy, but she reached her target, the pile of clothes in the grass, and collapsed next to them. She clung to them for reassurance, waiting for the nausea to subside. When it finally did, she scoured the lakeside, gathering up anything else she could see and bundling them carelessly into the bag. She couldn't be sure if she had everything or not, and right now she didn't really care either, as long as she had the things she would need for her haphazard plan to save Tess.
Then she tried standing again, this time finding it more manageable. Bag in hand, she shuffled back to where Tess lay, and started laying out clothes beside her.
"Tess..." she said shakily, "I've got to get you out of here and back to my father as quickly as possible. There's nothing else for it... I'm going to have to carry you."
Tess begged her to just leave and bring Samos to her, and though Keira was nearly persuaded by her plaintive pleas, she just could not abandon her in the condition she was in, stricken and helpless, not even for a moment. She felt the dreadful inclination that if she were to head off alone, Tess would no longer be there by the time she returned.
"Just hear me out," Keira said, "Here's what I'm thinking..."
She described and explained every movement she made, folding and arranging the clothes and towels. She then found some straight and sturdy-looking sticks and branches and laid them on top of the clothes side by side in a line. Wrapping the clothes around them so they stayed fixed together in a bundle, she was able to construct a tiny stretcher. She tested its strength and durability, and while it was not perfect, it was the best she could do with the time and resources she had.
"I can carry you on this," she said, lifting the makeshift device and showing it to Tess.
Tess knew that things were desperate. She was stuck here, immovably injured with no way of calling for help, and she didn't think she could last much longer. The pain was growing worse and preparing to swallow her up entirely, steal her consciousness, and her mind sank into quiet despair when she understood that Keira's plan was the best option they had.
"Alright," she painfully agreed, not looking forward to it at all, "But please… please be careful."
"I will," Keira promised, shaking with nerves. "You ready?"
Tess shivered unpleasantly. "Just do it," she said, closing her eyes tightly and awaiting the inevitable pain.
Keira placed the little stretcher as close as she could to where Tess lay, and braced herself for what she was about to do. She steadied her hands and slowly slid them underneath Tess's body, taking great care to be as gentle as she possibly could. But with every tiny movement, Tess cried in agony and panted incessantly, which only added to the pain. Fighting to keep her hands from shaking uncontrollably and with tears streaming down her bruised cheeks, Keira lifted Tess off from where she lay and moved her slowly over to the stretcher, repeating over and over again: "I'm sorry... I'm so sorry..."
It was only a distance of a few centimetres, but Tess was crying in anguish and her limbs hung limp as she was finally laid down onto the stretcher. Her tortured face said it all to Keira, who was so upset that she found it difficult to continue. It was the most heart-wrenching moment of her life, and she even wished that Tess would faint so that she would not have to endure this consciously.
"OK, the worst part's over," said Keira, trying to be reassuring. She then set about securing her friend to the stretcher, gently tying Azyma's top around it as tightly as she could without causing further discomfort, just enough to keep Tess from sliding off it.
Meanwhile, Tess's eyes were cemented shut with tears and she was gasping constantly. She just wanted it all to stop. An inviting blackness was closing in around her, but she fought to keep herself conscious and aware. If she allowed herself to be pulled into that void, she may not return.
"OK, I've tied you in," said Keira. "Are you ready to go?"
After a little while, Tess responded in little more than a feeble whisper, the only word she could manage. "Go."
Keira closed up the bag and slung it over her back, then made to pick up the stretcher. She placed her hands underneath it to support from below, and lifted slowly. It was holding out, and she kept ninety-five percent of her attention on keeping it level and balanced, and the other five on the way ahead of her. Thus she began their solemn procession through the forest back towards civilisation, carrying Tess in her precarious and delicate condition. The shadows beneath the trees were still deep, but the air was getting warmer with the approaching dawn. Keira felt very alone and vulnerable, a small, lost figure in this dark, leafy cathedral. What if she couldn't find the way back and got lost? Worse, she feared that more attackers might be lurking in the bushes, waiting for her to get close enough so they could leap out and strangle both of them. Or more hopefully, maybe she would find Azyma, hiding somewhere else or returning to the scene to help them.
Tess could feel every step that Keira took. She kept her eyes closed, still clasping onto her sanity and consciousness and trying to ignore the passing of time. Whenever she opened her eyes the sight was always the same: slowly drifting canopies above Keira's bruised face. The journey seemed to be taking forever.
Then the sounds of the waterfall could be heard again, thundering in the distance. Keira followed the noise, it grew closer and louder until it carved painfully into her brain through her sensitive ears. But there it was, marking their escape route. She halted for a moment beside it, wondering how they would get around. She hadn't thought this far ahead, but they had no choice. She had to do this.
Bravely, Keira stepped forwards up the bank. With her hands taken up with the stretcher and unable to support herself, the wet rocks felt treacherously slippery. A fall into the noisy pool below would most certainly be fatal for poor Tess. But Keira's ardent duty of getting her out of here sharpened her senses, and heightened her awareness of everything around her, every step, every stone. Her heart thumped painfully, enough to threaten to unbalance her, and she barely even breathed. The spray coated her damaged skin, making her face tingle.
But at last, she finally made it back into the cave behind, and let out her breath in relief. "We're back around the waterfall," she said to Tess, and she thought she saw a tiny smile of relief appear on the ottsel's face.
"Keep going," said Tess faintly, finding a small snatch of life from somewhere. "I don't think… I can hold out… much longer…"
Those words caused a fresh surge of fear and urgency, and Keira didn't dare to hang around. Time was short. Thankfully, the ground here was flat and firm enough to allow her to pick up the pace. Still diligent, she proceeded up the shady gorge, her bare feet padding through the dirt. Somehow it felt much longer than on the journey down, but once they were back among the temple buildings, she felt closer to safety, and the warm energy of the old structures seemed to soothe her troubled mind and give her the strength and determination she needed to continue. They still glowed a faint, reassuring light in herald of the coming sun. Around every corner, Keira hoped she might see Azyma coming towards them, leading her father and a rescue team of Freedom soldiers, but there was never any sign of any of them. They were alone out here.
Later on, Keira would never work out how she ever did it, but finally, she reached the entrance precipice. She looked out upon the welcoming view of the city, and the deep blue sky hanging over it. Dawn was almost upon them. And there, shining like a beacon of hope, was the warp gate that would take them home.
"Tess, we've made it to the warp gate," she said encouragingly to her friend in her arms, but Tess barely responded. "Tess? Can you still hear me?"
All Tess could manage was a barely audible groan. She felt terrible, even worse than before, like her very life was slipping away. The journey here had taken so much out of her, and she did not know how much longer she could last.
Keira felt tears forming in her eyes again, and prayed she was not too late. They had to get back to the city as soon as possible, but the warp portal itself, their very means of escape, proved to be their last obstacle. Though it shimmered invitingly in front of them, Tess would not survive a journey through it in her current state. Help was so close, yet still so far away.
There was nothing else for it. Keira realised that she would have to go through alone and leave Tess up here until she could return with help. As difficult as the decision was, the life of her friend depended on it, and her actions right now would determine her fate.
She lay her down carefully by the rock wall, a safe distance away from the portal. "Tess, listen. We're almost there, but I can't take you through the warp gate. It's too dangerous. I have to leave you here for a moment, but it's just for a little while. I'll bring back help as soon as I can. I promise."
Despite her earlier wishes, Tess no longer wanted to be left alone. Keira's presence gave her something to latch on to, and without her by her side she feared that she would lose the weakening hold she had on herself.
"Just... be... quick..." she mouthed, using up what little of her lifeforce she had left.
It was a difficult parting, but Keira knew she could not waste any more time. Tearing herself away, she finally forced herself into the whirling blue light. But she wasn't ready for it, she lost all bearings and control as she tumbled through the void, and when she materialised at the bottom of the gorge, she crashed hard and violently onto the ground with a yelp. The grass may as well have been concrete, and her entire body felt like it had been smashed to pieces in the fall. Then her insides started to roil with a rising fury, and she vomited everything that was in her stomach. It took her almost a minute to master herself, but she swallowed the horrible taste and fought her way onto her feet again, knowing that she must continue. Her eyes were blurred with pain and emotion and her head was spinning, but she could make out the shape of the door in the great city wall that would take her back inside the safety of Haven. It opened for her when she got close enough, but the second one through the airlock was frustratingly slow.
"Come on!" she moaned through gritted teeth, but then it opened and she stumbled through.
The city gardens lay before her, awash in dawnlight, but to her dismay and annoyance, there was hardly anyone here. But blinking hard, she suddenly noticed a single lone figure in the near distance, bearing the familiar blue colour of the Freedom League. Thank the precursors! It was a guard on patrol.
She called out immediately and chased after him before he could disappear around the corner, her unsteady feet nearly slipping down the ramp that led to ground level. The soldier, young and still not fully experienced, turned around when he heard the commotion, but he started in surprise at the sight of Keira, bloody-faced and barely dressed, staggering towards him like a ravenous zombie. He nearly dropped his gun. Even through all his training and all the action he had seen in the wars, there were still things he could not be prepared for.
"Whoa. A... are... are you alright?" he stuttered, too stunned to ask anything else.
"Give me your communicator!" cried Keira, the few coherent words the soldier could make out.
At once he unhooked it from his belt, sensing that he was going to need to call for back-up anyway. "P-P-Please, try to remain calm," he said, "Tell me what happened, and I'll — hey! What are you…?"
Keira snatched his communicator away from his grasp before he could offer any more help. No longer listening to him, almost crushing the device between her hands, she shouted into it. "Daddy! Daddy!"
No reply. Just radio noise. Keira shouted again. But then…
"Keira?" said Samos's stunned voice after a few seconds. "By the Precursors! I've been trying to reach you. What's happened?"
"Daddy, Tess is hurt! We were attacked in the forest by these... things! You need to get over here and help her! She's by the warp gate at the Mountain Temple. Quick!"
"I'm on my way," said Samos at once, sensing the genuine urgency in his daughter's voice. "But what about you? Are you alright?"
"I'm fine," she lied, her only thoughts for Tess, "But please hurry!"
"Alright. I'm coming," Samos said. "Just hang in there."
Keira heard the radio click off, then she ran straight back to the forest entrance with it still in hand.
"Hey!" the shocked guard called again. "Wait!"
He followed her as she ran off back up the ramp and through the city wall, continuing to shout, but Keira either did not hear him or chose to ignore him completely. The only thing in her mind now was getting back to Tess.
She dived heedlessly through the warp gate again and came out atop the rocky valley, face first in the grass. She dragged herself back to where Tess lay, and she lay there beside her, unwrapping the clothes around her stretcher to give her room to breathe.
"Hang on, Tess! My father's coming!"
But Tess was lying limp and made no response at all now. Keira's heart was thumping on painful overdrive, her emotions running high. She could not lose Tess now after all she done to try and save her.
The guard then emerged through the gate and beheld the strange situation in front of him, unsure of what more help he could offer. But the sight of the ottsel jogged something in his memory. He recognised them both now; he had seen them trying to get into the Freedom HQ Building the morning the cruisers returned. He had been on duty then by the barrier. But where was the other girl who had been with them that day? The black-haired one?
Keira then heard the familiar sounds of Hellcat engines drawing near, and looked up to see one of the bright blue vehicles emerging from over the nearby rocky cliffs.
"He's here, Tess! He's here!" said Keira. "Please hold on! Please!"
Somewhere deep inside her mind, Tess was clinging to life by the fingertips. The world was growing fainter around her, Keira's voice sounded far away and unrecognisable, and everything was cold and dark. But then, a pleasant warmth emerged, and it filled up her entire body, accompanied by a soft green glow that penetrated beneath her eyelids. It drew her back, the pain felt like it was being lifted right out of her non-existent body to scatter into the atmosphere above, gone forever. Her limbs stiffened as bones reconnected and fused back together, and then she felt weightless, as if she were floating in an ocean of clouds suspended in a warm breeze, adrift and at peace.
Then the light faded and there was nothing else.