Cress

"Chaghara scat," Jimmy muttered. He stabbed his walking stick at a pile of bright yellow pebbles.

I nodded toward another tattle pile not too far away, and another, and another, then tipped my head back and looked up, searching the shadowed lower branches of the massive pines rising from the rocky hillside. Jamesh did the same, his breath hitching in his chest when he saw what I did: hundreds of ghostly, transparent chaghara husks draped from twigs and broken branches, swagged across rough pine trunks and drifting gently in the breeze.

Without a word, the both of us sidled backward, easing on down the animal trail we were following. We didn't run until we were out of sight of the shedding ground, but then we turned and pelted as fast as we could, flying back the way we had come.

We pounded into the clearing several minutes later, both of us breathing hard, our sudden re-entry startling Becks out of sleep and bringing Ephie bolt upright on her bedroll.

Doc put down his tin of leftover soup.

"Chagharas," Jimmy panted, bending to put his hands on his knees. He squinted up at me, nose wrinkled to keep sweat from dripping into his eyes. "All the way over the top of the ridge, you think?"

I nodded, walking past him to the weapons bag. "Big den up there. Old, too. Well established... " I grabbed the ammo box and started checking magazines. "We're in their forage territory, which means we might just stumble into a mess of them." I pursed my lips, muttering under my breath, thinking out loud. "We could head west to the gorge instead of trying to get over the mountain... Be good, either way. There's that smuggler's bridge Da used to use. Might get us across the river to the other side. We could make camp in Da's old cabin tonight."

Doc took one look at what I was doing and started packing Malush's stove and the food, while Becks got himself on up, moving stiff as an old man but rousing Lolarose while he was at it.

Five minutes later we left, setting off just as the sun began peeking through the tops of the trees behind us. I kept a wary eye to our backs, but for all their fury when cornered, chagharas weren't known for stalking prey over long distances. They much preferred to drop from a tall tree or wait for some unsuspecting bird or rodent to wander past their burrow. Humans were actually a little too large for the average chaghara. Still, I didn't want to tangle with a whole clan of the things, not with a group of townies stomping around. Ephie and Lolarose made enough noise for five people, with all their blundering through the underbrush.

We could cross the river gorge, then Nox could cut the bridge. No one would be able to follow us, or at least not easily, and Da's hunting cabin was on that side. Even if the old place had fallen in, it would offer safe shelter and dry firewood.

It was good to have a plan, and a little of the weariness dogging my shoulders began to ease, my stride a little longer, my steps a little lighter.

An hour later, we emerged from the tree line a bit farther down the ridge, coming out on top of a bluff of sheer, wind-weathered rock. Below us, a narrow ravine wound like a fraying grey ribbon through the folds of the mountain. During the spring thaw the water flowed fast and cold, but after a long, hot summer, it had dried to little more than a few pools in the low spots.

And there, just like I had remembered, Da's rickety old three-chain bridge swung in a lazy bow from one side of the ravine to a ledge on the other side.

Behind me, Ephie came to a halt and dropped the bag of goods Doc had made her carry. Her voice rang high and shrill. "This was your plan?" Then she cackled, the sound echoing from the walls of the dry riverbed. "You want us to walk across that? Why are we following her around? She can't even read!"

"Why don't you just take a running start and do the rest of us a favor," Jamesh snarled.

I wasn't paying them more than half my mind. Something was raising the prickle of a warning along my nape. I glanced upstream, eyeing the bank of thunderclouds in the distance. It was quiet, not even the buzzing of the rock locusts to break the hush. In fact, aside from Ephie's growing tantrum, the only real sound was from a breeze sighing through the tussocks of bright green hogweed clinging to the walls of the ravine.

"And your mother never taught you how to be a gentleman, Jamesh Montgomercy. Well, I'm not going to stand here staring. I don't see why we can't just climb down and cross the bottom," Ephie was saying, clomping toward the edge of the ravine. "It has to be safer than that thing, and it's not even that far."

A drop of water hit the back of my hand.

Ephie was still talking. "I mean, really we should just do what I suggested in the first place and go back to Darkening. We shouldn't have left, but nobody ever listens to me, no —"

I lunged forward and caught the back of her nightdress, bringing her up short. "Flashflood's brewing. We take the bridge," I said, ignoring the squawking and snarling as Ephie landed on her rump at my feet. "Jamesh, Nox, you two make sure Beckett and Lolarose get across."

Jimmy shot a last, disgusted once-over at Ephie before he headed for Lolarose, guiding her over to the anchor point for the bridge chains, talking to her like it was going to be a game while he showed her how to hold onto the top two guiderails and walk on the single bottom one. It took some coaching, but they started out over the ravine, Jamesh going backward urging Lolarose to look at him and not the drop beneath her, with Nox coming along behind, carrying Becks and doing his best to keep Lolarose moving forward.

They weren't the problem. Jamesh had been on that bridge often enough to make it safely, and I had no doubt that Nox could do it with his eyes closed. Doc weren't a problem either. He could handle himself just fine. The problem was all Ephinia Ormel, who was wailing, now, her mouth screwed into an ugly grimace of terror as she watched her little sister start over the gorge without her. She wasn't getting up even though I wasn't keeping her there. Apparently, she preferred to die to make a point than go after Lolarose.

I heaved a sigh and looked down at her, trying to feel some sort of thing, but all I could muster was the desire to just leave her there, hissing and spitting out her fury all alone. The air had definitely changed, though, the breeze whistling down the gorge, bringing with it the scent of wet rocks. We didn't have time for this, and I was fairly sure Ephie wouldn't cross the bridge if I tried to call her bluff. Grinding my teeth, I bent and tried to help Ephie back up.

She shoved me away, glaring at me like I had killed her dog.

"Come now, Miss Ormell. Look, they're already almost across," Doc said. "It's not so bad."

The blubbering paused, and Ephie lifted a shaky hand to her forehead. "Do you really think so, Dr. Starling?"

"Yes," Doc soothed, flashing that pretty grin. "I promise. Come on now, we need to go across the bridge. I'll help you."

I watched, incredulous, as Ephie held out her hands for Doc, and then let him lead her down the little stairway to the anchor point. She even gave me a little, victorious sort of grin over her shoulder.

Whatever got her moving. Pressing my lips tight to hold in the waspy things I was saying to the back of her head, I followed the two of them to the anchor point, waiting in silence as Doc helped Ephie onto the bridge and coaxed her out over the gorge, one hesitant, wobbly step at a time.

Twenty meters, then thirty. I started breathing easier, thinking maybe we would get to the other side without a problem.

Then the first, sluggish mash of debris-laden frontwater crept around the bend in the gorge below us, rolling along like a dark, damp, earth caterpillar, clacking and thumping sticks and small rocks against the stone walls.

"What is that sound?" Ephie quavered, her progress faltering. Then she looked down. Her entire body went stiff as a board, her grip white-knuckled on the guiderail chains.

"Miss Ormell," Doc said, trying to keep his voice calm as he came to a stop. "Miss Ormell, just keep your eyes on me. You'll be fine. You made it this far, it's only a little farther."

Ephie had started shaking. Bad. She made a funny noise in her throat that could have been the word "Can't."

I chewed the inside of my cheek, darting a look at the platform at the far end of the bridge. Jamesh was standing there, waiting for us. Nox had taken Beckett and Lolarose up the pathway to the top of the wall, the mirrored gleam of him flickering in a small clump of pines.

"Come on, Ephie," I said gruffly. "Lolarose is up there. You have to keep moving."

Ephie sucked in a breath when she heard me, and craned around, her wild blue eyes finding me, her face saying she had a nice retort all ready to go. Whatever it was, it didn't escape. Her gaze slid past me instead, and then she opened her mouth and let out all that breath on a piercing, hair-raising scream.