After a couple of miles, the gentle decline away from the cabin turned sharply up a steep, rocky incline. Adie traced the meandering path between the trees with her eyes, noticing that the trail led back on itself about a quarter mile above them. She gauged the terrain to be moderately steep, though not beyond her capabilities.

“If we go straight up we can cut a good five miles from the trip,” she observed. “Do you think you could manage the climb?”

He looked at the mountainside and shrugged. “I’m game if you are.”

The climb was harder going than Adie had thought, but she managed to navigate round several large boulders and overhangs that blocked their path. They emerged from the dense vegetation at the edge of the trail in less than twenty-five minutes, both of them panting.

“If… you can do… that again… we’ll be halfway… there,” Rick managed to say between gasps. “The trail curves… round the other side… of the mountain… about three hundred metres… up.” He pointed up, directing Adie’s eye to the trail above them. The lack of vegetation on the rocky face made it clearly visible. “Then it’s downhill… the rest of the way.”

“Maybe rest for two… minutes first,” she puffed, pulling the water bottle from the side pocket of the rucksack. After taking several swallows, she stood and did a few stretches to try to ease the burning in her calf muscles.

“Ready?”

“Lead the way.”

Adie used a small amount of her magic to re-align a few tree roots, providing them with hands grips to could climb the near vertical dirt face blocking the last fifty feet to the trail. Both collapsed on the dirt path, breathing heavily in the altitude-thinned air, relieved to have made it.

Adie sat up, turning to Rick who lay on his stomach with his forehead resting on his arm. “You Okay?” she asked.

“Uh huh.” He didn’t have enough breath to elaborate.

Shuffling her way backwards, Adie leaned against the rock face and, using an aching hand, brushed her hair back from her face out of habit. A cool breeze kissed her bare neck thanks to the shorter length.

Barely three feet separated the rock face Adie leant against from the edge; several large stones tumbling over when she stretched her legs out. They ticked against the rocks below as they dropped beyond sight. Movement in the distance caught her eye as she absently watched a few more fall. She strained to make out what she first thought was a person, but after a few seconds, realised several people were moving quickly along the trail.

“Rick?” she whispered, alarm evident in her voice as she reached across to tap him on the shoulder. “I think there’re men heading up the trail. Do you think they’re the shifter and his friends from last night?”

He sat up, instantly alert, to scan the area she pointed out. “Shit, there must be about twenty of them,” he said after a moment. “Maybe fours hike or 12k behind us as long as they stick to the trail.” He jumped to his feet and offered her a hand up. “Rest time is over. Think you can jog down the other side for a few Ks, we’ll have to stick to the trail because the trees and undergrowth are too thick to gain any advantage.”

“How far till we reach the shaman?”

He huffed a breath out. “About ten ks.”

She took a deep breath herself and did a quick calculation in her head. “Ten ks, that’s just over six miles,” she stated and nodded once. “Let’s go.”

She set the pace a little slower than she normally ran because the thinner air had her breathing heavier. With the loose grit surface and steep drop that waited on one side of the trail, she needed to be sure of her footing. They rounded the sharp turn at the top of the incline that Rick had indicated was the turning point, she heard him breathe a sigh of relief at the sight that met them.

The trail ran at a shallow slope, widening as it twisted gently through a thick layer of trees bordering a large green pasture that was dotted with a herd of grazing buffalo. A lake gathered running water from the mountain peak in a natural reservoir, before the overflow tumbled over a sheer cliff. Their descent into the valley was unhampered. Adie picked up the pace hoping to extend the lead they had on the shifters chasing them.

Rick ran easily alongside her. “It’s not far now… stop once we clear the trees… I need to signal her… so she knows we’re friendly… and won’t attack us.”

“Okay… no problem.”

Within minutes, the trees thinned and Rick signalled for her to stop. She pulled her water bottle from her backpack and sipped the cool liquid before doing a lot of leg stretches. Her calves and thighs were burning with a ferocity she hadn’t felt since a couple of months after she first started her self-moderated training programme. She welcomed the feeling; welcomed the knowledge that she could push herself beyond her limits. She was a survivor.  No one would hurt her as Uncle George had ever again. She hadn’t thought about the years of abuse she and Callie had suffered at his hands for almost a year, putting the resurrection down to the visit they paid him the previous month. His death brought her no regret; what did, was not stopping him sooner. Her reluctance to confront her torturer had resulted in the loss of so many innocent children.

Rick stood in front of her waving his hand in front of her face. “Earth to Adie…”

She shook herself from the morbid thoughts clouding her mind. “Sorry, I was daydreaming. What did you say?”

“Just that she hasn’t signalled back yet. It’s not like her. She always knows when someone’s coming,” he repeated, scanning the rocky path ahead that led down the edge of a vast waterfall, the fine spray forming a mist that cooled the air. “We should keep moving.”

“I thought you said she’d attack us?”

“That’s the thing, her first line of defence is an overwhelming need to turn back the way you came. I don’t feel that. Do you?”

“No.” She pondered his question for a moment. “If anything I want to get down there as quick as possible.”

“Then let’s keep moving.”

He helped her up from the rock she was resting on and directed her on a narrow path, virtually hidden by the undergrowth. Holding several small branches back, he allowed her passage without disturbing the camouflage. Rick led the way along the path that ran parallel with the main trail before turning toward the waterfall.

Adie glanced up from watching where she stepped and stopped dead in her tracks. Spinning in a circle, she searched for Rick, but he’d vanished without a trace.

“Rick?” she called softly. “Rick, where’d you go?” She jumped a foot in the air when a hand reached through the wall of water, pulling her into the stream by the wrist. She slammed against chest, making them both stumble into a small opening in the rock face at Rick’s back.

“This way,” Rick instructed, leading them deeper into the cave. “The entrance is completely hidden. Only people from our pride know of its existence,” he explained. The tunnel split numerous times left and right as they made their way forward. “There’s only one way through to safely reach the other side. Some of the tunnels lead to dead ends and some to death, so if you lose sight of me at any time, don’t wonder off on your own. Okay?” He stopped and frowned at the opening ahead.

“What’s wrong?” Adie asked.

“The torches lighting the tunnels have gone out. They’re lit by the Shaman’s magic not fuel, so they should be lit.”

She called a small orb of flame to her hand. “Which one?” she asked, unconsciously heading for the one on the right.

“Right.”

Flame flickered a few times before bursting to life, followed by every torch in view along the passageway in rapid succession.

Sometime later, they emerged from the darkness of the caves into bright sunlight, blinking and shielding their eyes from the blinding light.

Rick took off without warning, running full tilt toward a dark mound in front of a wooden hut.

“Shaman,” he called, panic lacing his words. He dropped to his knees as he reached it. “Adie quick, she’s hurt!”

Before Adie could react to his plea, he toppled over. She too fell forward from the force of a blow to the back of her head. A split second later, she felt the sharp sting of a needle in her arm and everything went painlessly dark.