Sora's Quest (34 page)

Crash turned around at the sound, a strange expression on his face. He looked down at her.

Sora met his gaze, but her eyes caught on his jaw and her breath lodged in her throat. A long, gruesome scar traveled down the length of his torso, starting at his collarbone and trailing to his navel. It must have been a gruesome wound—she wondered how he had survived it.

"A lesson learned," Crash murmured.

She looked up, startled, to see that his eyes had followed hers. "What happened?" she asked, wondering if he would answer the question.

"Bad timing," he said coldly. Then he turned away and pulled on his shirt.

Sora was somewhat stung by his words. She wasn't sure if he was referring to the accident or to her question. But she recovered quickly.

"So what are we going to do?" she asked instead.

"About what?" he grunted.

"The Wolfies."

"Rescue them." Crash finished dressing and turned to her, his eyes shadowed. He bowed his head in thought, then started pacing. "Do you know where those stairs lead?"

Sora frowned. Stairs? She glanced around the room, then noticed them. They were almost invisible, far back from the door, shrouded in darkness, covered in dust. The stairway appeared to have been carved out of the tree, just like the room itself. It disappeared upwards, into the trunk.

She shook her head wordlessly.

"Then we need to find out." He started toward the staircase.

Sora watched him, surprised. That was it? No comment on how they had arrived inside the tree in the first place? The icy lake or his inability to swim? She frowned. "We should rest for a while longer," she ventured. "That was quite a fall."

"We don't have time. The Catlins will kill Burn and Dorian soon. We have a day left, at most." His eyes were trained on the dark staircase.

Sora followed his gaze. She wondered where the stairs led. Perhaps a dead end? Exploring could be a greater waste of time, but Crash wasn't the kind of person to argue with.

She let out a long, strained sigh, then started to stand up. A sharp pain made her stop. She winced and sucked in a breath. Her side began to throb just below the ribcage. She hadn't felt it before because of all the adrenaline and ice water, but now that things were calm, she could remember the Panthera's claws digging into her.

Crash paused at the base of the stairs. His eyes flicked to her shirt. He hesitated, staring, then started towards her.

"W-what are you doing?" Sora asked, backing up. He wasn't looking at her face, but at her torso. She wanted to look down too, but her eyes were glued to his intense expression.

He stooped before her, his broad shoulders blocking out the light of the fire. His hand went to her waist where the pain ate at her side—he touched the spot with surprising gentleness. Sora stared down at the top of his head, too shocked to do anything else. She watched as he inspected the wound. She could see now that there was a bloodstain on her shirt, left over from yesterday. But she didn't think the wound was still bleeding.

"The Panthera did this to you?" Crash asked quietly.

Sora swallowed, "Yeah."

Crash grabbed the base of his shirt and ripped a long strip from it. "It's not too deep," he said. "All we need to do is bind it." Then he tied the cloth securely around the wound. He met her eyes. "You cleaned it out when we went for that swim earlier."

The words hung between them, silent, a shade awkward. He frowned, still staring at her, as though she was not quite what he had expected. He cleared his throat. "I...well, thank you."

She was speechless. Gratitude? From this assassin?
Not bloody likely,
she thought, and yet there it was. Loud and clear.

"Of course," she said solemnly. Then she couldn't help it. She cracked a smile.

To her surprise, Crash let out a quiet chuckle. He stood and gave her a hand up, helping her to her feet. He picked up her cloak and threw it around her shoulders. "Come on."

With that he started up the steps, not waiting for her to follow. Sora blinked after him, still surprised, momentarily frozen in place. Then she hurried to catch up.
Some things never change.

It wasn't long before Sora could feel the strain on her legs, despite the fact that they were fit from traveling. The staircase seemed to stretch on forever. It was barely the width of a broom closet, and the stairs were not evenly cut. Each step was either shorter or higher than the step they were on. She tripped several times.

Every couple of turns, a white torch was mounted on the wall to light the way. Being magic, it was able to light quite a distance. Crash had to move sideways to get past them, and more than once Sora almost knocked one over. One torch actually fell on top of her, but as soon as it touched her, the Cat's Eye let out a fierce chime. The fire was snuffed out like a candle, no sign of ashes or sparks.

As she climbed, she wondered what kind of power had created such a passage.
Nature magic,
some part of her whispered, and she quickened her step.

The two kept silent, neither in the mood to converse. Sora pushed herself mindlessly forward. She forced her way up the stairs, her legs moving without conscious effort. She didn't even look where she was going, keeping her eyes on her feet so she didn't trip. Her breath grew heavy in her lungs.
These stairs go on forever,
she thought.
When will they end? It's been an eternity since we were at the bottom.

Her question was answered abruptly by her head hitting the ceiling.
Thunk!
She yelped and sat down, rubbing her bruised crown, looking up in surprise.

The stairs leveled off abruptly. She was at a dead end: no doors, no windows, no corridors, no ladders to climb, just a solid wooden ceiling. She had to sit down so she didn't bump her head again.

Crash already knelt in the small crawlspace, not making a sound. Sora shuddered, trying to keep some space between them. His presence lent her a newfound security—as long as he was at her back, she would be safe. But something about him still deeply frightened her. His uncanny stealth. His unusual aura.

"Dead end," she whispered.

Then she heard the sound of footsteps, not directly above her but a few feet in front. Crash put a finger to his lips. He slowly reached up and placed his hands on the roof, where Sora noticed something odd flickering in the firelight. A latch. A trapdoor.

She stared at it, watching in fascination. Stretching upward, Crash placed his ear to the door and listened, then opened it up a few inches. Sora could hear voices, but they were speaking in another language.
Catlins.
Anxiety curled in her stomach. What if, at this very moment, they were discussing the best way to trap them? Perhaps they had heard her head thunk against the wood? Her eyes flickered to the assassin nervously. Then she was hit by a realization.

He knew what they were saying!

She wanted to ask him what was going on, but she bit her lip instead, waiting. The minutes stretched on and her knees began to ache from her cramped position. Finally the footsteps left, and she heard the familiar crinkle of leaves—vines opening and closing.

He set down the door, carefully latching it again, then turned to look at her. He actually appeared pleased. "Seems like the whole colony is talking about us. They seem to think we died in the fall," he told her. "They've sent a search party to scan the area, but Catlins are horribly afraid of water. That's why they put lakes beneath their colonies, to protect them from other tribes. I doubt they'll look very hard." Crash smiled faintly, but that expression quickly melted. "They've already taken the Wolfies to the Grandmother Tree."

Sora's mouth went dry. Her heart raced once again. "What do we do?" she asked.

Crash nodded to the trap door. "We need to recover our weapons," he whispered. "It's still early in the morning; the colony won't be too crowded."

Sora gave him a pointed look. "That's a terrible idea! Let's just steal a few spears."

"I need my sword," Crash murmured. "And my dagger."

Sora frowned. His eyes grew cold, and she knew he had made his decision.

"Fine," she said. "What's your plan?"

Crash turned back to the trapdoor, lifting it once again, this time slightly higher. He peered outside, scanning whatever room lay beyond. "Don't get caught," he said.

"That's it?" Sora replied, incredulous.

He was already climbing through the opening into the world beyond. She let out a long, slow sigh. Perhaps it would be in her best interest to go back downstairs, return to the raft, sail to shore and disappear....

But she followed the assassin anyway.

They were in a mid-sized room. Boxes upon boxes of goods were stacked alongside each wall: tubers, dried flowers, a myriad of vegetables that she didn't recognize, buckets of mushrooms and strips of dried meat. A small table stretched to one side. It held an old, dusty book, made from dried leaves. Sora took it all in with interest. A ledger, perhaps? They must be inside a store.

She could see a doorway leading outside, blocked by familiar magic vines. Several portholes decorated the far wall, flooded by ample morning light. Crash slunk up to one and peered through, then gave her a sharp nod. He motioned to the doorway. It took her a moment to realize what he wanted. Apparently, she was the master key.

Sora crept up to the door, standing slightly to one side so she wouldn't be caught in the open. Then she touched the vines, sending a silent command to her Cat's Eye.
Zzzzt!
With a jolt of energy, the necklace absorbed the magic and the vines fell to the ground.

Outside, the colony was strangely silent. Sora glanced around from left to right. Morning light filtered through the mist. She wasn't sure what time it was, but she guessed it was too early for the Catlins to be up and about. They must still be asleep. Far off in the distance, she saw a feline shape dash across a bridge, but that was all.

"This way," Crash murmured, his voice hushed.

They ran out of the building, crouching low to the ground. They were on the second level, the marketplace. It was easy to find cover between the stalls, ducking from empty tables to low benches, overshadowed by grassy canopies and cloth banners. They only ran across two Catlins, who were carrying heavy crates to some unknown destination. Sora and Crash paused behind a series of stacked barrels as the merchants passed. One of them sniffed the air, turned its head and glanced back and forth...but after a brief hesitation, continued on its way.

Sora let out a silent breath of relief. They waited several minutes after the Catlins had disappeared, then started off again, moving as fast as possible.

Although she was thoroughly lost, Crash seemed to recognize where they were. More than once he turned in a full circle, gauging their position, then continued across the giant branch. They turned onto a smaller bridge to the next thoroughfare. There, he ushered her onto an elevator and grabbed the levers, tugging experimentally at the ropes until the platform budged upwards. The mechanisms turned and grated as they rocked into the air.

"How do you know where we are?" Sora asked in a hushed voice. They sat low on the elevator, obscured by shallow walls.

He pointed to one side, over her shoulder. "Landmarks. The pattern of that bark looks like an arrow. And the stamen of that flower is bent."

Sora shifted, suddenly uncomfortable. She stared at the dark patches of the tree, turning her head slightly.
I suppose it looks like an arrow. A bit.
"You're observant," she muttered. Once again, she felt inadequate. She had been busy running for her life—she hadn't thought to pay attention to her surroundings.

They reached the prison tree without further complications. Sora had the sense that the colony was slowly waking up. Sounds could be heard from below—voices calling to each other, though she didn't know what was being said. The elevator arrived on the prison floor, rocking gently into place. Thankfully, no one was there to meet them. A pair of guards lingered at the doorway where the vines were still limp and lifeless, as they had left them.

Crash slunk up behind them. Sora averted her eyes, knowing what he was about to do. The assassin slipped a knife from one guard's belt and quietly slit its neck, toppling the body backwards behind a large flower. He dealt with the other guard just as silently. Soon, the passage was all clear.