“Think of the possibilities.”
And she did. “I can use a strength talisman to break it off,” Kreya finally said. “Speed to get us out of here before anything notices us.”
Eyes glued to the beautiful bones, Zera passed her the necessary talismans, while Kreya drew out her sharpest knife. She felt the weight of the blade in her hand and readied herself. Bringing the talisman up to her lips, she whispered to it. She felt the strength fill her arms. Climbing up to the dead beast, she swung the knife and hacked through a rib.
Close by, much too close, a creature roared.
Kreya yanked the rib free. It was heavy, but she was still imbued with strength. She positioned it over her shoulder and then activated the speed talisman. They both fled down the trail as another river lizard, larger than the slain one, crashed through the trees behind them.
“Shit!” Kreya swore.
“Pass it to me!” Zera said.
Kreya handed the rib to her. “Peel off,” she ordered. “Five hundred paces, whistle.”
They separated, each plunging into the forest, forcing their pursuer to choose. Kreya ran toward the river, hoping her speed talisman would last until they rejoined each other. Alone, she felt the forest close in on her, but she kept her pace up, scrambling over the underbrush.
At three hundred paces, she veered in the direction in which she knew Zera had run.Please be okay,she thought.Please don’t be caught. Don’t be dead.She listened as she ran, knowing that any second she could hear the sound of a river lizard making a kill. She could hear her friend’s last scream. And it would all be her fault. Again.
I shouldn’t have let her come. I shouldn’t have—
She heard three short whistles. When she found the trail again, Zera was only a few yards ahead of her. Giving herself a burst of speed from the talisman, she caught up with her. Her sides were heaving hard, sweat shone on her face, and blood dotted her forehead.
Not dead. Very much not dead.
But there was no time to feel more than a flash of relief. Just because they’d survived a few minutes apart was no guarantee they’d survive for longer together.
Wordlessly, Zera handed her the rib, and Kreya shouldered it.
They kept running, side by side, until the talismans’ power wore off, and then they slowed, stopped, and panted, listening for any sound of pursuit. Kreya tossed her drained talisman into the bushes.
Lowering the rib bone to the ground, Kreya looked at it, then at Zera.
Zera grinned at her, and Kreya grinned back.
“I missed this,” Zera said. “Never thought I would.” She then eyed the lizard bone. “Hello, my pretty. You were worth it.”
Kreya imagined if she’d hadthiskind of bone to fuel the crawler, it could have scrambled across that cliff in minutes.She’s probably calculating how much she can sell lizard talismans for,Kreya thought.
But Zera said, “I spotted the crash site, not far from here. The crawler is pretty banged up, but if you could use the lizard bone with it...”
Kreya was startled. “You want me to use it?” It was worth a fortune, and Zera was a businesswoman now first and foremost. She’d made that clear enough with her life choices.
“Of course.”
“Then we are still a team?” She hadn’t thought that, after so many years, after Zera’s disapproval of what she’d done and what she planned to do with Jentt, they were still... well, anything to one another but reminders of the past. She’d thought Zera had accompanied her out of some kind of leftover sense of responsibility or guilt or...I don’t really know why she came.
Zera rolled her eyes. “Obviously. You don’t flee from a river lizard with just a casual acquaintance. Come on, hermit girl. That busted-up spider won’t walk by itself, you know. And we still have a long way to go.”
They slept near the crawler crash site, beneath the shell of a dead giant tortoise, which was cramped for two and stank of swampy rot but was at least relatively safe. Kreya woke to the cry of a bird she didn’t recognize and listened for a while before crawling out from beneath the shell.We’re not dead,she thought.
Nothing had killed them during the night. She marveled at that.
She checked for any sign of nearby predators before relieving herself and attending to her teeth. She was still sucking on a mint leaf to rid herself of the last taste of morning breath when Zera emerged from the shell.
“I will never not smell of dead tortoise,” Zera announced. “It’s seeped into my skin. It’s a part of me now. Henceforth, all tales and ballads about me will speak of my reptilian aroma.”
“Mint leaf?” Kreya offered.
