New To Beven

Chapter 15

The first day of journeying, after hours of climbing and weaving through tree trunks, left me suppressing numerous groans. My muscles complained worse. The smell of dust and scraggy pine took permanent residence in my nose. That wasn't so bad. 

We moved slow because, we moved as humans, well most of us. Dan had donated the cloak off his back to help our team recover from the sickness.

But. Two cloaks came with us. So when we settled down for the night, the pair of puma suits passed hands among the group as each able body took up the watch in turn.

Dan had finished his turn and settled next to me on the soft forest floor that had progressively grown harder. He breathed deeply then released. Branches framed our view of the starry sky. With hoods up and wrapped in our temperature regulating fabric, the crisp mountain air couldn't get in, except for a brisk breeze across my face. It might have flushed a bit in response and had nothing to do with Dan's nearness.

We lay on our backs. The flutter of bat wings had ended with twilight. Insects now clicked and buzzed. An occasional night bird, or toad, called or croaked respectively. Their other worldly noises grew more familiar the longer we were on this planet. 

We could have whispered, remarked on the numerous sparkling flecks secured firmly in the blanket of black, or discussed what was to come tomorrow. Instead, his hand slid under mine. I figured it was all right to go along with it, letting our fingers mesh, like gears in a well-fitted machine, yet so much warmer than metal. 

My other hand had been clicking the multi-tool in my pocket for most of the night. It stilled at his touch. A sigh broke past my lips. I suddenly felt so tired. Blackness came complete as I drifted into heavy slumber, knowing I finally could.

Not long after, a toe gently nudged my side. I grumbled and rolled over, getting pricked by needles in cheek and nose, sneezing as a result. Lifting my head off the irritant, I found the spot next to me bare, and Pam standing over me. 

"We're heading out," she said, simply.

I nodded, and bleary-eyed, gathered my feet beneath me, using a nearby boulder to prop my sluggish body. After a tear of paper, I shoved half the caffeine bar in my mouth and grimaced against the texture. Taste was okay, but I preferred my morning rejuvenator to be in liquid form.

Clipping my shades around, against the morning sun, I spotted Dan at the head of the group, the farthest end from my position. 

Yeah, I guess I had my place and he had his. 

Doubtlessly, I did cover the rear of the traveling train, sweat evaporating off exposed skin when I removed the sleeves and tucked them away, but I kept my head protected under the hood. The Raven cloak took up residence in the hauler, whose creaky tracks blended with the chittering of rodents, scrabbling into sandstone holes at our intrusion.

Half the morning passed, with me watching Guard members' backs or the ground on which we plodded. Trees became thinner, stunted in growth, just like the caffeine bar on which I continued to gnaw.

The terrain looked, and felt, far different than what I'd seen from above. Yet a few landmarks stood out, as I gazed past the shoulders in the line. There stood a rogue tree, cleaving a boulder, as it had broken the line and dared to grow in little oxygen.

We grew near. Time to bring the rest of our members back into the fold. They needed help, whether they wanted it or not.

My gaze dropped back to the now loose gravel, that had crumbled from the peaks, until hiking boots planted themselves in my view. I looked up, found serious, sunflower eyes. There Dan stood, coming out of thin air--which there was plenty of at this altitude--pausing my stride. After finding the face and seeing its firm expression, I moved focus to the taezart slung over one shoulder, and more darts along his belt. He'd removed his jacket. Bare muscular arms gleamed in the sun. I coughed on dry air.