Chapter Three

"Do you hear that, brother?" Aka sang in delight, nearly on top of the rocks we hid behind now as they closed in on us.

"Hear it? I'd have to gnaw my ears off not to!" they both chortled. "How quick his heart does beat. The boy will be interesting to take on. He seems very…protective, and he plans on being heroic by staying back to fight while the girl runs free. How noble!"

I looked at Aden in surprise, but he didn't look back at me. He gritted his teeth as he realized they smelt his plan, his very thoughts no longer his own around them. Was he really going to tell me to run and hide well he got himself killed by these…things? I couldn't leave him, not after all he's done for me. It would be my fault after all. If he had just killed me like he was supposed to he wouldn't be in this mess. But then again, if I hadn't gotten mad and run off after dinner, none of us would be in this mess.

"Did you catch that?" Aka chuckled, "The girl plans to stay and fight at his side to repay her debt to him!"

Aden narrowed his eyes at me as I felt my jaw drop in surprise. As terrified as I was, I started to grow irritated, like how you feel around a know-it-all who corrects you and just seems to know everything that you don't.

I shot up angrily to me feet before Aden had a chance to pull me back down. "Shut up, that's seriously so annoying!" I shouted at them.

"How interesting, she does speak to us, Aka," the male said in amusement.

As they saw me and stepped closer, I immediately wished I hadn't spoken and clamped my mouth shut. Sometimes I can be…well, stupid. I'm working on it.

"Uhh…never mind…" I whimpered, slowly ducking back against the wall.

"Why don't you call off your Manu so we may see how close we were with our guesses?" they called out.

With that, Ashlynn charged towards them to attack, a millisecond after they jumped out of the way. She went soaring out of the cave and spread her cramped wings as soon as she was out. Once she was gone, the two monstrous possum creatures charged at the mouth of the cavern, causing rocks to tumble down and the sides to crumble. The exit wasn't completely blocked off, Aden and I could still fit through so what good did that do? With a start, I realized that we could get out, but Ashlynn couldn't get back in.

"How interesting…" Adamu smirked, leaning casually against a large boulder while Aka sat down on her haunches and scratched at her ear. It was strange, they talked about eating us earlier and yet they showed no signs of attacking. They were just lounging around like they we were old friends instead of their next meal.

Aden jumped to his feet and pushed me behind him as he pulled a dagger from his belt. The blade curved to the side like a hook and it ended at a deadly point. They both snickered at the knife like it was a mere toothpick.

"I told you he was vigilant," Adamu scoffed, stretching his back until it cracked loudly.

They both got to their feet and took defensive positions, like we were attacking them and they were just protecting themselves. Their round knowing eyes seemed to jump back and forth between us, taking in our stances as their whiskers sashayed from side to side.

"You stay away from us, beast!" Aden shouted at Adamu as he took a careful step forwards, pointing his blade at him.

He grinned coyly at Aden, but pulled his paw back and sat down.

"Yes, vigilant indeed…" he snickered.

"All of this laughter is making me hungry, wouldn't you agree?" Aka said with a yawn, scratching her belly with her sharp claws.

"Yes, I am feeling a bit famished myself. I suppose play time is over."

Both of them got down on all fours, still pretty big even lower to the ground. They stalked towards us, all humor and laziness gone and replaced by vicious snarls and dripping fangs. Now I was truly terrified. We were going to be eaten alive by these things.

Aden stepped back, holding the knife out before him as they drew nearer. Aka lunged at him and Aden swiftly struck her in the face with his blade, making her cry out and stagger backwards. She snarled as the bloody gash along her right eye dripped down her fur. Within the blink of an eye, Adamu had struck Aden with his massively strong tail, knocking him to the side. His head hit the wall with a bang, and he didn't move after. I stared in horror at his still body, watching the blood slowly trickle down his forehead where it struck the wall. The knife sat poised at his side, resting uselessly in his limp fingers.

"Aden!" I croaked, stepping back until I was pinned against the rocky wall.

This is all your fault! I yelled at myself in my mind, feeling tears of sorrow and self-pity well in my eyes.

"Why are you doing this?" I sobbed, dropping weakly to my knees.

"Sorry to upset you dear. It's nothing personal, it is simply life," Adamu said with a shrug, crouching down and getting ready to pounce on me.

He crawled up to me and I hid behind my folded arms as a shield. When I peeked out, I saw his intelligent black eyes an inch from mine, his fangs dripping in my face. I cringed at the sight and tried to lean back, but I couldn't and my hood fell back over my shoulders.

The dark expression in his eyes drifted away and he stared into my eyes with what looked like shock. He let out a startled cry and staggered backwards, bumping into Aka and nearly knocking her over.

"What be the problem?" she hissed in his face, the blood still pouring from her wounded eye.

He pointed a shaking claw at me, "Hair of cocoa…"

Aka ambled over to me and dipped her paw in a small puddle before streaking it over my face as I cringed at her touch. I reached up to wipe away the moisture and found a residue of white paint on my palm as it dripped down my face. I stared up at her with wide eyes and she too jumped in fear. She pressed her nose right up to mine and my heart beat faster than a hummingbird's wings at the sight of her teeth right in my face.

"…golden skin. Eyes of crystal, dark within," she purred in a raspy voice.

She shuddered and trotted back over to Adamu. The two of them broke off into a series of high-pitched squeaks that I didn't understand. Maybe they were speaking possum or weasel or whatever the hell they were.

"…could she be? No…impossible…but that hair, and those eyes!" I kept hearing them argue back and forth in between squeaks.

"Well I say better safe than sorry," Adamu snarled, spinning around and lunging at me.

He slammed me to the ground, his immense weight crushing the life out of me. I could feel my ribs splintering from the pressure as he sandwiched me to the floor. I wanted to scream out as my already sore rib cage seemed to crack under his large fury body, but I couldn't because there was simply no more air left inside of me. His teeth lingered near my throat, saliva raining down on my face.

I felt something hot and wet on my leg, pain finding me in this breathless state. I managed to glance down to see Aka starting to sink her teeth into my calf muscle. Before she could go any deeper into my flesh, I bottled up all my remaining strength and kicked her in the nose. She tumbled back in surprise, releasing my leg from her jaws as she hissed at me and ordered Adamu to slit my throat. Just as his claw was coming down, a ferocious scream of agony erupted from his throat.

Saliva and blood sprayed across my face as he tumbled to the side and writhed a few seconds before going limp. I sat up weakly as the air rushed back into my lungs and I saw a sword sticking out between his two top ribs. He lie dead in a growing pool of his own blood, his glassy eyes still open and staring hauntingly at me.

Standing above me at my side was a slender but somewhat muscular woman wearing a pearlized helmet and breastplate. Her long golden hair hung in strange spirals down her back and then they met at a short braid near the bottom. Behind her came in two others, that girl Adalynn who had stopped us earlier at the palace, and another boy who looked about a year older than her.

They both sprang into action against Aka, diving at her with pointed swords. Even though the woman with the spiral-like hair was weaponless—her sword was still stuck in Adamu—she had pulled out these seashell looking objects from her belt and was hurling the jagged pieces at great speed towards the creature.

Aka fought violently, but it wasn't enough since she was greatly outnumbered. With her fur matted in crimson and littered with wounds, she bolted past them and charged at me on all fours, determined to make her kill before she too met her end. Before she was a foot away from me, that girl, Adalynn, beheaded her with a single slice of her sword. I felt my stomach churned as I watched the possum's headless body slump to the ground like a sack of potatoes and her head rolled into a large boulder. Her fangs were still bared, and her damaged eye was coated in dried blood.

The three of them turned to me and saw me shaking like a leaf as I sat curled up on the floor. The woman who had killed Adamu crouched down beside me and lightly caressed my hair for comfort. Adalynn's now black and gray eyes scanned the cave and then stopped short at the sight of Aden unconscious against the wall. Her face suddenly contorted with rage and she glared at me bitterly, automatically making me responsible.

The pain in my leg suddenly became unbearable and it started burning like it was literally on fire. I clutched at it and tried to fan the wound with my hand to ease the pain. It felt like someone was holding a hot curling iron to my skin, scalding and killing the layers of flesh it burned as the blood poured out. I screamed, squeezing my bloody leg and hoping to die before this unbearable pain got any worse. I've never felt pain like this before in my life.

"It is the infection already starting," the woman said, studying the bite mark as I screamed in pain.

"Filthy Po'eles," the boy grumbled under his breath.

The kind woman pulled a small vial from her belt and she dripped a few drops of that sour pain killer between my lips. Drowsiness overcame me almost instantly as that familiar drugged feeling kicked in. I could no longer hold up my head or feel the fire burn in my leg.

"Net them all!" Adalynn said in a commanding voice, standing scornfully above me. Her eyes were dark as she glared down at me.

The woman and boy hesitated for a moment, but neither of them dared to cross her. The woman pulled out a small canister from her belt and twisted the nozzle, sending a net shooting out over Aden's still body. The boy did the same to me, covering me in a thin, scratchy net. It smelt like salt and felt dry and brittle, yet I couldn't break it.

"What…" I started to mumble before my eyelids started to close.

"Load them up! We are going back to the palace where the council shall deal with them," Adalynn barked, flipping gracefully out the narrow entrance to the cave.

That kind looking woman crouched down beside me and rested a gentle hand on my head. I wish I could find my voice so I could demand to know what they were going to do with me, but I was barely conscious here on the cave floor.

"My apologies," she smiled weakly before lifting me up over her shoulder like I weighed nothing.

I saw that other boy lift Aden in his net and the two of them carried us out just as my mind turned to mush and I no longer saw anything but the insides of my eyelids.

* * *

I woke up to a burning in my chest and started coughing uncontrollably. My body shook as I was racked with this terrible cough that set fire to my lungs. Something warm lightly touched my back and my cough morphed into a scream as a hand clamped down over my mouth. I struggled against the steel fingers, but I couldn't break free.

"Do not be afraid, it is just me!" a hoarse voice said.

"A-Aden?" I questioned, hardly recognizing his tone. I couldn't see his face, in fact I couldn't see anything but darkness. We were sitting in a cold musty smelling room in pitch blackness.

"Yes, I am here," he said, his tone soothing.

I asked shakily, "W-where is here?"

He growled in disgust, "We are in the dungeon. My cousin was kind enough to have us placed in here until our trial."

"Trial? For what? What did we do? And why are we in a dungeon?"

"For committing acts of treason," he sighed.

What treason? We did nothing, I was just trying to go home and then we were attacked by those nasty giant creatures and I almost got my leg chomped off. Now we were being locked in prison and accused of being criminals?

"What did we do?" I cried.

"Not we, me," he said, "It was my job by order of the council to see that you be killed in order to protect our people, and I did not do my duty…"

"Why is me being alive dangerous to people? Those other people don't even know I'm here so what's the problem?" I demanded.

He groaned. "When a surfacer arrives in Palekana word gets around pretty quickly as the scent travels. I would not be surprised if they already know of your arrival. Like I said, because of the danger, we kill all who fall from the surface before any attention is brought to them, and to us."

"Why didn't you just kill me?" I asked him.

He paused for what felt like forever. He either hadn't heard me or he was just ignoring the question. Aden tapped his foot noisily on the stone-cold floor, deep in thought.

"I…couldn't," he sighed at last, "You were wounded and innocent and—" he stopped himself abruptly. "It would have been wrong."

"Well thank you," I breathed softly.

Even though I couldn't see him, I could sort of picture the smile on his face as he remained silent. I imagined his reflective eyes absorbing all this blackness and reflecting it back through their mirror-like surfaces.

"After saving your life more than once now, may I have the privilege of knowing what you are called?" he asked softly, reminding me I'd never told him my name.

"I'm Shelby," I said.

"Shelby…" he whispered, saying it like it was a sacred word.

"Well now what do we do? Just sit here in the dark and wait? How long will we be stuck in here for?" I fired many questions at him, feeling he didn't know the answers either.

"I do not know. The trial shouldn't be more than two or three days away. Knowing my cousin, she will want justice served as quickly as possible." Even in the dark, I could tell he was rolling his eyes.

"How's your head?" I blurted out, remembering that he had been knocked unconscious for the remainder of the battle.

"It is fine, how are your injuries?" he asked, and puzzlement flooded my mind as I frowned into the blackness.

"What was wrong with me?"

He chuckled quietly, "The ribs on your right side were fractured and a bad infection had started in your leg from a bite. The hospital managed to get to it in time, or else you would've lost that leg."

I jumped at his openness.

"Oh…" I muttered, feeling a soft cloth wrap around my ribs and my leg. "I feel fine I guess," I lied, my whole body aching.

I shivered in the damp cool air of the dungeon, trying to curl up beside him for warmth. I hoped that if I closed my eyes I would be home again when I opened them. Of course I wasn't, I still saw the black nothing stretched all around and I felt the same raw coldness in my fingers and toes.

We sat here for a long time in the black silence of our cell, just sitting beside each other for comfort and body heat. I leaned back and found a wall a few inches behind me, so I scooted back until I could rest against it and close my eyes. Maybe if I could sleep, I'd be able to forget how cold and miserable I was. After what felt like an endless amount of time passed, I was finally able to drift asleep, resting my cheek against Aden's shoulder while the back of my head was propped up by the cold stone wall of the cell.

* * *

I woke up again and wasn't sure how much time had passed since I had fallen asleep. It could have been hours or days, this whole strange place felt timeless to me. I stretched out my back, and panic hit me when I felt the cold, empty space beside me. I reached out and felt around blindly for a hint of something with a pulse.

"Aden?" I cried out, feeling something soft across my body.

I felt the fabric and realized it was a soft blanket like the one from the hospital. Where did it come from though, and where did Aden go? What if someone came and took him while I was sleeping and now I was stuck here all alone?

"Hello?" I said, hearing my voice echo back to me.

"What is wrong?" mumbled Aden, sounding like he was by feet.

I felt something stir close by and I felt him poke my knee to alert me he was close by. I heard him yawn, so he must have dozed off too.

"Sorry I woke you. I didn't know if you were here still," I apologized.

"Do not fear, I will not be leaving here without you," he reassured me.

"When the trial is over…what exactly will they do to us?" I asked nervously, seeing that I couldn't avoid this question any longer. I had to know not only my fate, but the one I had forced on him too.

He paused for what seemed like years, saying nothing and hardly even breathing as I waited to hear his answer. I continued to hear nothing from him; the only sounds were my fast paced breathing and that annoying dripping sound from the back corner of the cell. I suddenly felt his body slump down next to mine and he let out a long, tired sigh that gave me the chills.

"Aden?" I squeaked, lightly shaking his shoulder. "What is it? What's gonna happen to us?"

"It is not good, Shelby," he said in a dark whisper.

His fearful tone sent chills up my aching spine. What could be bad enough to terrorize Aden? He always seemed so brave and daring, but now he seemed as hopeless and afraid as me.

"What are they gonna do to us?" I repeated.

He swallowed hard before he could speak, "The punishment for treason is…death."