71

Chapter 25

We manage to gather a fair amount of logs and twigs, and pile them in the center of the path. Grimly, we pull Bow's stiff body on his wooden stretcher over to the pyre, and set Clay beside him, where he had been for his entire life, and where he should be in death.
"S-should we say a few words?" I ask, glancing over at Stone, who's tracing something on the fox people's foreheads with red clay he discovered. Without glancing up, he answers,
"The only word that will matter is victory. We've promised to avenge them, and saying any other meaningless blather would insult their memory." He stands up, rubbing his hands on his pants and leaving streaks of dirt, before walking away without a second glance.
I think that's kind of harsh, so and I find a two sparse white mountain blossoms and lay them on the chest of each of the bodies. I kneel awkwardly beside them, but can't find any words. My mouth opens, then closes, without sound, and I have to close my eyes, tears dripping down my face.
Clay, so full of life, sitting right in front of me, leaning in and listening intently as me and Stone argue over our stories. So young, so... dead...
Silent sobs wrack my body, shaking my small form, and my tears drip onto the mountain path before me. I open my eyes, and they alight on the symbols Stone had traced onto their foreheads.
A slender, small bodied bird in flight, it's tail running down the bridges of their noses, the wings arching over their eyebrows, the beak pointing north. I don't know what it means, but somehow, it seems to make them look relaxed, truly sleeping, as if it's protecting their souls.
"The Soulbird, yes. An old religion, predating the Order, followed by the first Rulers." A familiar voice says behind me, and I glance over my shoulder at Glass, his slanted green eyes sad.
"The Rulers still follow the same religion, actually. They believe the Soulbird is trusted with a person's soul upon their death, and will carry it safely all the way to the afterlife." He says. I feel a sudden bout of anger at Stone. Why would he be insulting these brave people by etching the religion of the Rulers on their foreheads?!
"Why would Stone do that?" I demand of Glass. He shrugs, kneeling beside me.
"I think he's only trying to help, by gracing them with the only blessing he knows." He says gently. But why would Stone even know that, if he had lived in the Wold...?
"I'm very, very sorry." Glass says sincerely, and stands, walking away. I'm still running over his words, when I see Stone's boots next to me.
Wordlessly, he reaches down, and helps me to my feet. In the other hand, he's holding his dagger and the flint stone.
I stand back as he strikes the blade against the rock, and the wood alights. I make myself turn away as the corpses burn, tears evaporating off my face in the intense heat of the pyre, but I feel no warmth on my skin from the blaze. I'm beyond cold, and I don't feel the biting of the fall storm.
"Let's go." Stone says long before the fire dies out, and his hand is on my shoulder again, as he leads me on up the path, past other families piling their dead on the pile. So many tears, so many cries of rage and anguish. I know they're going to haunt me for the remainder of my life, however long that might be.
We pass all the families, maybe ten groups in all, not including the ones where every member had frozen to death, and find ourselves about to round the other corner of the mountain, back into the wind. It won't be as bad, because the trail slopes upward, and will block the brunt of the storm, but when we emerge into the open, we find the storm has all but stopped.
"It's only been a couple hours..." I mutter in awe, staring up at the quiet, clear night sky.
"And it could be that long before it starts back up, so we'd better get moving." Stone says darkly beside me, forging past me and up the steep mountain, watching his footing so as not to stumble.
I watch his back for a moment, frowning in confusion, before setting off after him.
I decide Stone is the most confusing person I will ever meet. And I think I'm in love with him.
Thoughts and memories, split seconds in real time, but hours in my thoughts, flash past my eyes. Stone had been putting his hand on my shoulder an awful lo lately... How he had held me in the cold... The icy blue armor of his eyes had almost melted, before I had sworn to kill the Rulers, when it had frozen up again, concealing the deep blue ocean inside.
My life is confusing and hazardous enough without boy troubles. But I find myself wishing I were walking beside Stone, hand in hand, like the many couples behind me. Why is he suddenly hard and cold, after he had opened up to me? What did I say to make him give me the cold shoulder?
"Watch your step." Stone says from in front of me, as he hops over a two foot gap in the trail. I almost stepped directly into it, and leap over it just in time, staring wide-eyed down the sheer drop to the forest floor already nearly a mile below me. Holy crap.
He doesn't speak again, except to warn me of other similar hazards. I'm left to stumble quietly up the trail behind him, deep in my dangerous thoughts.
Kissed me. He had kissed me. Twice. Well, once, if you don't count the one on the cheek, which I do. Yes, they had both been to shut me up, but still, he could have just used a gag if I had really been annoying him... He must feel some sort of affection for me, and he can't be as hard and metallic as he tries to put out.
"You gonna tell me what's under your scarf anytime soon?" I say, trying to break the icy silence.
"I don't know what your definition of soon is, but it's definitely not the same as mine." He says shortly, self-consciously pulling the ragged blue fabric over the left side of his neck, just where a brand would be.
"C'mon... I'll tell you how I got mine if you take off the scarf." I nudge him playfully, but he shrugs me off.
"Feel free, but I'm not taking off the scarf." He says without emotion, and I frown. Catching Stone off guard is about as easy as catching a flaming arrow in your bare hand.
I fall back to silence, thinking. Can I tell him, and still be safe? I doubt he's in league with the Rulers... But he's definitely holding something back...
"Fine." I say, feeling I must tell someone. "I turned myself in to Exams. The Beasts found my cave when I was careless when foraging, and I had to flee to the City..." I say distantly, remembering the day I ignorantly neglected to cover up my tracks, erase my scent. I shiver when I recall the brutal growling of the Beasts outside of my cave in the night...
"I was hoping to be a Worker, probably a Predator. Instead-" I close my eyes, recalling the terrible fear I had felt when they had told me I was a Beast. It was like someone telling you you're unwanted, unloved, dangerous, even.
"Instead, they told me I was 71, Impure. Beast." I add bitterly for clarity.
"Okay, but then why are you standing next to me?" Stone says slowly, still not looking at me.
"I escaped." I say simply, hurdling over a large boulder that blocks the path, as Stone clambers over it.
"Wait- What?" He frowns, hurrying to catch up to me.
"I escaped." I repeat, thinking it was perfectly clear the first time.
"Impossible" Stone shakes his head in disbelief, but he won't meet my eyes, and it looks almost like he's... acting.
"Obviously not," I jab a finger the left side of my neck. "That's how I got shot." I balance on a narrow part of the path, my back pressed to the smooth rock side of the mountain, and sidle along, staring down at the sheer drop into the misty forest far below.
"I know..." He mutters, closing his eyes and shaking his head for a moment, then opening them again, staring down the sheer side of the mountain below.
I frown at him, but loose my footing, and suddenly my stomach drops as I begin to tumble off the edge, arms flailing in the open air. I think I'm going to fall, but at the last second, Stone's hand shoots out and grabs me, pulling me back over.
"Thanks," I mutter, sidling further along the narrow path, until we reach a wider section, and I can walk more comfortably.
"Yeah..." He says quietly, but he still won't meet my eyes.
"You okay?"
"Yeah. No. No, no." Stone shakes his head again, his eyes sad for some reason. "Ju-just stay away from me..." He murmurs absently, forging ahead of me. I stare after him in disbelief, mind wheeling.
What is he doing? One second he's got his hand on my shoulder, the next he's telling me to stay away. God, he's messed up.
I don't push him though- I saw what he did with that Beast, and I'm not feeling safe around his swords. Instead I try to figure him out, which almost makes my mind spontaneously combust.
I'm beginning to hear voices and movement a good ways behind us, in the dark of the night. The remaining families are on the move. I try to count the number over my shoulder, but I'm unable to, as they're all moving about.
Me and Stone are a good bit ahead of them, though, and most of the people that trust us enough to listen to common sense have small children, which will slow them down. Me and Stone will reach the top before the rest of them.
I keep a good five feet between the two of us, confused, and a little insulted. 'Stay away from me'. What, do I smell or something? Self-consciously, I sniff my shirt to be sure, but I don't think I smell bad. Maybe his nose is better.
Left to my own thoughts, I have nothing to do but stare longingly up the side of the mountain, the impossibly, incomprehensibly high tooth of pure rock. The peak is far above the clouds, so it must be my own imagination, when I see a blurry, dark shape circle once around the top, and then disappear. Or perhaps it's a bird.
Suddenly, there's the sound of feet slipping over gravel and rocks, and a Beast leaps from the sheer mountain above me, and tackles me to the ground.