Kaija: Queen of Stone

23

Mara

I was blinded by the sun. I sat up, breathing. I had the most horrible of feelings in my stomach. Udan was in trouble.

I looked to the trees, searching for a sign, but there was not one to be found. I shook my head, the bird call I heard over the last few days comforting me. It was louder than before, almost as if it was drawing closer to us or we were moving closer to it.

Rodi gasped, shaking from Dari's arms. "Makaio is gone!" she shouted, standing to her feet. She looked behind her at the horses, leaving them behind. The woods were too thick, there was no chance in getting them through there.

"No worries," Lenox whispered. "They will find their way back home."

I looked behind me, noticing that the one thing left of Makaio was his blanket. I stood, dusting myself off. It was odd that we had a morid conversation about death and now, he was gone.

"We must search for him," I declared. "Don't go far, regroup if you don't find him within a few feet."

Everyone nodded, branching out in different directions. I walked north, listening to the bird's call. It was more urgent, almost as if it was warning me. I followed it, wondering if it would lead me to Makaio.

The trees had shifted as I walked, closing together. The more I continued on, the more the forest densed. My breath froze when I could not move at all.

My hand was caught on a tree. I placed a hand on my arm, and foot on the bark of the tree and pulled. The skin stretched, blistering, and I almost screamed as the pain bloomed. My fingers pulsated as they released from the tree. I felt the substance on my fingers. It was sticky, almost like sap.

I turned my head toward the woods and listened to the trees rustle. Footsteps appeared from behind.

"We can't find him," Rodi said. She gasped, looking at me. "Mara, what happened to you?" she questioned, staring at my hand. My hand was irritated and reddened, blistering like blood clots.

"I'm fine," I answered. "You still cannot find him?"

"No," she answered, "Dari went to look a little ways over."

"Help!" his voice erupted, filling the trees. "Help me!"

We looked at each other, rushing toward his voice. My stomach twisted as the bird called once more. Something was awry. The forest was not a place to be welcomed. I wondered if the bird was warning us of impending danger.

"Help!" another voice shouted. After listening, I realized it was Lenox. His voice sounded feet away from Dari's.

We ran, searching for them until we saw both of them. Dari was stuck to the bark of the tree. His entire arm was pressed against it. Each time he pulled, the skin stretched like mine did. Lenox was nearby, in the heart of the forest. He still screamed. Lenox's foot was caught under a root. He was struggling with the buckle of his leather boot.

"What is going on?" My voice shook.

The bird's cry grew louder, burdening my ears. I looked around, searching for where it was coming from. I didn't think to look above until Rodi screamed.

"Makaio!" she cried out, pointing into the trees.

I twisted, looking upward. My eyes widened as they fell on the disturbing scene. Makaio was spread out between four branches.

Each appendage was connected to a branch by the sticky substance. His eyes were wide open while his jaw fell to the ground. I looked down, picked up my foot, hearing the crunch of his teeth under my boot. Blood dripped down from his corpse, landing onto my arm. The guts from his open belly fell to the forest floor like rainfall. The bird's cry grew darker.

"Move!" I shouted, moving toward Dari and Lenox. "We need to get out of the forest now!"

I pried with all my might to get him free. He screeched, gritting his teeth as his flesh blistered like her hand.

"Leave me," he said through bated breath. Sweat beaded down his forehead like tear drops. "I'm not going to be freed easily."

Rodi stepped forward, wrapping her hands around his waist. "I won't leave you behind," she answered. "Pull!"

We both pulled at the same time, provoking screams to roar from deep within Dari.

"Hold on," Rodi yelled, pulling harder. "Almost there!"

We fell back. I caught myself before I could crash into the tree behind. I looked up, expecting to see Lenox still trapped, but he was nowhere to be found. He had abandoned us.

Anger flooded my veins, the itch returned, but Rodi's voice suppressed it from surfacing.

"Queen Mara," she heaved. "We need to get you away from this danger."

"We promise our lives to you," Dari said.

Rodi grasped a hand to my arm. "It's time to prove ourselves."

The bird's cry sounded again. Louder, more demanding, twisting. It was no longer inviting or a warning, it was a death call.

"What is that!" she screeched, looking upward.

I didn't want to look at Makaio's body again. I couldn't imagine seeing the quiet father I had promised to protect, dead.

I adjusted my gaze. Makaio was not alone. Feasting on his corpse was a giant arachnoid. His massive black pinchers wrapped around his head. Violet venom oozed from its fangs. It snapped from his body, the tendons falling to the ground in front of us.

The arachnoid shifted on eight needle-like black legs and released the cry of the bird. It wasn't warning us, it was calling us. I had walked us right into its trap.

My breathing stopped as Rodi's voice thundered through the woods. "Run!" she called as the arachnoid shrieked again.

It paced between Makaio and the branches between, causing them to creak. It wasn't coming for us. I cocked my head to the side, staring into its many glossy black eyes. They blinked, reflecting my blood stained face.

"Don't," I said before Rodi and Dari could even move their feet. "It wants us to run," I whispered. "Look." I pointed up at its large bulbous figure. "It's waiting."

"Waiting?" Rodi questioned.

Dari gasped, wincing. "I know what it wants."

"What?"

"It wants us to trap ourselves."