“We can’t do without it, obviously. If something happens, you’ll need to be my light so I can fight. I can fight in the dark, but it’s harder.”
“Can you see in the dark?”
“No. But I can hear well.”
“Like…how well?” His kind had been here for generations, so perhaps they had adapted to the lower light exposure.
“I’ve fought multiple opponents and won—multiple times. I can hear their steps in the dirt, hear their breath as it moves past their teeth. There will probably be coyotes scavenging there.”
“Like those big-ass wolves we saw?” I would not want to get anywhere near those again.
“No. Though the coyotes are a kind of wolf, they are small. But they can easily overpower you if you don’t take them seriously. If the glowing flowers are there, we might be able to skip the torch.”
“That’s right. Firefly petunia.” I could see their light from the garden in my bedroom on the darkest nights when the sky was covered with clouds and the moon was invisible. “If those are there, I can work with that.”
“The journey will take us many hours to make. We’ll sleep before we proceed to the forest.”
“We’re—we’re going to sleep out here?”
“We’ll take turns on watch.”
“And watch for what?” I asked. “We can’t see anything.”
Instead of flashing me his annoyance, he seemed to sympathize with my fear. “I’ve lived my whole life in the dark, and this is what I’ve learned—if you can’t see them, then they probably can’t see you.” He took the torch in his hand and led the way. “It’ll be alright.”
It was clear he really did know these lands well by the way he moved, the way he was able to tell me how close we were without any identifying clues. I checked for root vegetables along the way but found none.
“We’ll stop here.” He stopped near a set of boulders that would be at our back, while we faced the water. He stuck the torch in the ground, so it continued to burn with the boulder to shield the light from the rear. He dropped his pack and sat on the ground with his back to the rock. He handed me a canteen and a ration of food, dried meat with some herbs.
I handed it back. “I’ll take the water, but you can have the food.”
He didn’t take it, his eyes elsewhere.
“Morco.”
“I’m fine.”
“No.” I set it down beside him. “You didn’t eat earlier, so I won’t eat now. Then we’ll be even.” I was hungry, but there was no way I was as hungry as he was. Nearly a foot and a half taller than me with thick arms and shoulders, he needed it more than I did, especially since he was the one who would have to keep us alive if we encountered trouble.
I stared at the water, and in my peripheral, I watched him take the food and eat it. My back was to the rock and my arms were around my knees, the flicker of the torch and his chewing the only sounds.
I could see some of the water, and the surface was still and lifeless. “Is there anything else in there besides fish?”
He finished eating, inhaling his food quicker than I’d drunk that watery stew. “None that I’ve seen.”
“I wonder where the fish come from. There must be a waterfall or something.”
“Yes, I’ve seen them.”
“Do you know how to get back to the surface?” If there were a path, they probably would have left to flee the Knives, so I already knew his answer before he gave it.
“No. I don’t think there’s a way.”
“Have you looked?”
“No, but the rocks are slick, and even if you managed to climb that high, it’s impossible to know where the openings to the surface are. You can’t see them from this far below. The only way to the surface is to fly.”
“I haven’t seen any birds down here. Are there other things that fly?”
