Chapter 14: Impossible

For two days they pushed through chest-deep water clogged with bracken and underbrush. The exertion was tiring, of course, but it was the constant vigilance needed to keep themselves safe that left Tarek truly exhausted. Twice they had to scurry up into the trees when a caiman floated too close, and the water was forever clogged with bugs, snakes, and swimming rats. Most troubling of all was the possibility that they might wander across one of the Yura out fishing or trapping. Tarek thought of the men he’d almost certainly killed by pushing their canoe into the flesh-eater ants and had no desire to visit more violence on anyone. It was bad enough that he dreamt of drinking Kanga’s blood every night without heaping more deaths on his own head.

Worst of all was the inescapable cold that leached into their bones. Flood season was always a chilly time, but usually they spent it snug in their home with a good fire in the hearth. The brothers began retreating up into the trees for a bit every couple of handspans just to escape the water’s enervating embrace. They’d eat a little journey meal to warm themselves and then keep heading northward roughly parallel to the river. The pemmican that Tarek had hoped would last five days was already mostly gone.

“I think those are the hills he was talking about,” Tarek said as he straddled a branch, pointing to two low peaks in the near distance through a break in the canopy.

“Are you sure?” Tavi asked, frowning.

“Not even a little,” Tarek admitted. “But I remember Tata saying from his raiding days that Yura land was nearly as flat as ours, and those are the only two hills I’ve seen that are at all close to each other.”

“It might have been nice for Xochil to give us directions that didn’t include star sighting,” Tavi said bitterly, gesturing to the bland gray expanse above them. “We won’t see the Adder Star for weeks yet.”

“I keep thinking about that. Did he not know that the flood was coming early, or was it some kind of cruel joke? Did he just not think about it? Did he even get back across the river himself?”

“The old snake has some kind of strange magic, I’m sure of it,” Tavi muttered. “He’ll be fine.”

“You know the stars,” Tarek said. “Couldn’t you calculate where the Adder Star is supposed to be even if we can’t see it?”

Tavi puffed out his cheeks and spread his hands helplessly. “Could you put an arrow in a rat’s eye?”

“What?”

“It’s really hard, is what I’m saying. Yes, under ideal conditions, with plenty of bark paper for calculations and Locotl there to double-check me, I could. But even with all that I’d need some point of reference – some other star, or preferably two or three – in order to get my bearings. As it is, like this? No. Not a chance.”

Tarek scrubbed his hands through his wet hair in frustration. Though they were mostly out of the direct rain in the dense jungle, plenty of heavy drops filtered down through the canopy, and they were never dry.

Tavi sucked air through his teeth, looking grim. “We won’t last more than another three days going on like this.”

“That’s unless the Yura find us first,” Tarek said with false brightness. “Then we won’t have to worry nearly so long.”

Tavi gave him a flat look. “I don’t mind bleak humor, but ideally it should be at least a little funny.”

“It’s either laugh or cry, and I’m wet enough already.” Tarek rubbed his hands together and shoved them in his armpits. “All right, options. As I see it, we either choose to go inland between these hills or else keep looking for others. We’re going to run out of food in a day. We can always fish, but without some kind of line we’ll have to get down in the water to do it, and we can’t see every caiman coming. Plus, I’d imagine the great sharp-tooth fish from downriver will start wandering inland in the next couple of days. So food is a problem.”

“So is getting anywhere,” Tavi said. “One more day of rain and I won’t be able to touch down through the water. Two or three more days and it’ll be the same for you. We’ll tire far more quickly swimming all the time. I say we head towards the hills. We increase the risk of bumping into the Yura if we go inland, but honestly, I’d rather take a war club to the head than starve or get rolled by a caiman.”

“How about none of those?” Tarek said, shaking his head. “Bleak humor’s supposed to be funny, little elder.”

They slipped out of the trees and forged their way through the drowned pillars of the jungle. Their movement was more swimming than walking at this point, and they used the larger tree trunks to push themselves forward whenever possible. For all their wariness about caimans and constrictor snakes, the journey was tedious and cold. When Tarek noticed a clutch of fire beetle larvae emerging from a blister in a ficus trunk’s bark, the resulting snack was a major highlight of the day. The wriggling grubs were nearly as long as a finger and their flesh had a tingling spice that warmed Tarek’s belly and made his lips pleasantly numb. Tavi had always turned his nose up at insect larvae at home, but he ate at least half of the clutch. Anything was better than wet, cold journey meal at this point.

“Why is the Adder Star red?” Tarek mused as they wove their way carefully between the trees. “Stars are white or yellow, aren’t they?”

“Usually.”

“I thought Locotl might have taught you something about it.”

“Well…” Tavi grunted as he planted his feet on a gumroot trunk and pushed off. “We talked about light bending through air, which didn’t make any sense to me at first, but he said that some colors get scattered and others don’t.”

“Scattered by what?”

“Not sure. Something too small to see. When some bits get scattered, we see red, and when others do, we see green or blue or whatever. It’s the same basic reason that Shaka shines green instead of white like the greater moon Margandu.”

“That doesn’t make any sense at all.”

“I may be telling it wrong,” Tavi admitted. “I’m not entirely sure I understood it myself. Oh, and stars can burn differently depending of what they’re made of, too.”

Tarek goggled at his brother. “Stars burn?”

“Well, yeah. How do you think they make light?”

“So…” Tarek wrestled with the concept. “Stars are like big bonfires hanging in the air?”

Tavi kept swimming. “That’s not quite right, but close enough. Wood that’s gotten saltwater in it burns green, right? Like that, except it’s not saltwater.”

Tarek shook his head and trailed after the boy. “I keep waiting for you to laugh and tell me you’re joking.”

“Haven’t you ever thought about this stuff before? You’re old!”

Tarek batted away a swimming mouse that seemed to think he was an island. “I’ve had other things to worry about, mostly.”

Tavi was quiet for a moment before he spoke again. “I stay awake sometimes thinking about all of it. I can calculate the paths of three different objects in a single equation, but I still don’t know what the Adder Star’s made of or what it looks like. Not really. Locotl was just barely starting to teach me about it all. Just imagine how much more I know about the stars than you…”

“Yes, I know, Tav. You’re smart and I’m not. Thank you.”

“No! I mean, yes, but that’s not what I’m saying. If you take the difference between your understanding and mine, the gap between Locotl and me was ten times bigger. Twenty. More. I don’t even know what I don’t know yet. He had the knowledge that dozens of numerators before him spent their whole lives figuring out.”

Tarek felt a pang of guilt. “And now that’s lost to you. I’m sorry, Tav.”

Tavi raised his hands out of the water in his best estimation of a shrug. “He’ll choose one of the other boys to work with. Zeppu, probably, even though he’s stupid. But… it won’t be me.”

“I think of the life I’ll never have with Yaretzi and I feel the same way.”

Tavi made a farting sound with his mouth. “Marriage. Babies. I know you liked her, Tarek, but I don’t get why everyone makes such a big deal of it.”

“Give it a few years, little elder, and you might feel differently.”

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“If you say so.”

Tarek stood up straight to stretch his back and felt the water recede from his neck down to his collarbone. “I think it’s a little shallower here.”

Tavi, who was paddling along just in front of him, put his feet down and stood upright. The water came to his chin. “You’re right. Maybe we’re close to the hills. Let’s get to that break in the trees and rest for a bit.”

They pushed ahead. “Watch for that spikevine. The poison will still make you sick even if it’s wet.”

Tavi sloshed wide of the dangerous plant where it bobbed in the water’s gentle current. “The ground is definitely rising. Thank the Ones Beneath.”

They broke into a wide clearing and both stopped dead at the same time. The waterline stood at the middle of Tarek’s chest and nearly to Tavi’s shoulder. A stone’s throw ahead, they could see solid ground, but instead of joy, Tarek felt only confusion.

“Tav…?” he said quietly. “Am I really seeing this?”

“I’m having trouble with my own perceptions at the moment,” Tavi whispered, “so I really couldn’t say.”

Tarek took another step forward, and the water crept lower on his body. Turning around, he saw deeper water behind. Twisting back to front, he saw ever shallower water and clear ground ahead. “But it’s flat.” His eyes were at war with his brain.

“The ground isn’t rising,” Tavi agreed. “The water’s being held back.”

The two young men stood in a sharply sloping wall of water. Behind them, the flood was still rising just as Tavi had said it would. But where the trees gave way to the open glade ahead, the water simply… did not advance. It looked as if an incredibly large, invisible bowl had been set down in the water, displacing all the water in the glade. Ten more steps and they stood on muddy earth despite the rain falling on their heads, an impossible wall of water curving away from them on both sides. Tarek watched as the rivulets of water coursing down his legs and around his feet wicked themselves away from the earth and flowed unerringly to meet the wall of water behind them.

“Strange magic,” Tavi said. “I think we chose the right hills.”

The twin peaks rose on either side ahead of them, wreathed in greenery, the cleft between them drawing Tarek and Tavi forward to whatever lay beyond. The brothers exchanged bewildered glances and walked cautiously on.

“It’s nice to be out of the water,” Tarek said. “Maybe he’s not so bad after all.”

“Who says he did this for us?” Tavi countered. “Maybe he likes to keep a garden during the flood.”

“Three handspans’ walk from the river, he said. We can ask him soon enough.”

It felt invigorating to be forging ahead on two steady feet, and Tarek felt himself warming up even though the rain continued to sheet down on their heads. They ate up the distance quickly and soon found themselves rising into a narrow pass between the two hills. Trees grew thickly on all sides, but as they came down the far side of the little passage, they could see bare ground sloping down ahead.

“How much land is he able to keep clear?” Tavi said.

Tarek peered through the rain, but the constant shroud of wetness kept his sight to less than a stone’s throw. “Quite a lot, it seems.”

“Enough to keep our whole tribe on dry ground and picking berries through the Month of the Otter if he wanted.”

Tarek frowned. “Yes.”

“I knew I didn’t like him.”

Tavi stopped talking and began the odd, disjointed humming he always made when he listened to the Song. It seemed to calm him, so Tarek didn’t complain. Besides, having someone in the Song helped them steer clear of any dangers while on foot. They might not have to worry about caimans for a moment, but there were always widow’s flowers and chokevines waiting for the unwary in the deep jungle.

A sudden crack echoed through the hiss and patter of flood rain in the darkening jungle. It sounded as if a huge tree had split in half. The brothers waited, but no boom of a falling trunk ever came.

“What was that?” Tavi whispered.

Tarek had no opportunity to respond, because more cracks and snaps filled the air, making a chorus of wounded trees. Amid the sounds came a subtle thud thud… thud thud that came up through the soles of his feet and reverberated in his chest.

“There’s something big out there,” he breathed.

A shadow moved through the curtain of rain and trees. At first it looked like several somethings moving all at the same time, but that was simply because Tarek’s eyes refused to comprehend the impossible. He blinked, shook his head, and realized what he was seeing.

“Something huge,” he amended.

A four-legged monster with a back twice as high as Tarek’s head moved through the forest, shouldering ancient trees aside like saplings. Its legs were trunklike and blunt-footed and its rough, pebbled skin was a dull, dry gray. Its three-horned head was as big as his family’s hut, and its eyes glinted red in the dimness as it swiveled from side to side. It was looking for something.

Tarek’s mouth was dry and his heart raced. He’d never been so terrified of a living thing in all his years. “Run,” he choked, pushing at Tavi as he turned.

The boy simply stared at the incredible beast without moving, and once more Tarek found himself dragging at Tavi’s arm, trying desperately to make him run.

“Tavi, come on! What’s wrong with you?”

“Stop!”

“Are you kidding? It’ll crush us.”

“No, stop pulling! Can’t you see?”

Tarek glanced back and up at the thing. Its broad head was pointed squarely at them, and its deep-set eyes burned with feral rage. “I see it just fine! Let’s go!”

“No, look! Really look. And listen.” Tavi had his heels dug into the mud, and he pulled his arm from Tarek’s grasp with annoyance.

Now the massive creature had turned its body toward them with the sound of more breaking branches. It lowered its head, the horn on its snout and those just over the eyes fully as long as Tarek was tall, and it bellowed a challenge. The blast was shattering, and Tarek fell to his knees, covering his ears. I’ve never heard of a beast like this, not in any of our stories! This is impossible!

“It’s impossible!” Tavi echoed his thoughts, the boy’s shout thin and weak in the aftermath of that colossal roar. “Look! The rain!”

Tarek reached for Tavi again, but his foot slipped in the mud and he floundered. He wondered now if he’d misjudged his brother these last two days. He’d thought Tavi was feeling better, showing signs of recovering from the awful upending of their lives – but perhaps it was the freedom of insanity that Tavi had been showing. Too many terrible things had happened to him, and now he’d cracked. Tavi strode right at the beast, as unconcerned as if he were strolling about the clearing back home. Tarek let out a choked cry from where he crouched, but his feet were mired in the mud and he felt like he was chest-deep in water again. All he could do was watch as his tiny, fragile-looking brother walked closer to the monster, who swung its head and pounded the ground in warning with massive feet. It swept its great horn through a young tree, sending enormous shards of wood flying in all directions. Tavi laughed.

Then, with a rending bellow, the beast reared on its hind legs and stepped on Tavi.

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