A Fire Within

Part 3

Chapter 17

Wixim scouted ahead in a green branch. They were winding down the Great Tree, trying to get to the crossing point, the south pole in the physical realm. He walked alone, with his dagger in one hand and his staff with the Lockstone on top in the other.

The ramp had a gentle slope and was wide enough for ten men to walk abreast, but there was no railing and he knew from experience that it was a long fall. The In-Between was a strange place, with the glowing sky, like an eternal golden twilight. Then there was the constant tug at your soul, calling you home. It promised rest and peace. It would be so easy to give in and let yourself go.

A nearly constant stream of spirits walked up the ramp, eyes glazed over with a golden sheen that reflected the strange sky. They were making their final pilgrimage to the spiritual realm and ignored all else. The lockstone on his staff should protect him from their sight, and his dagger would hurt them, but not do any permanent damage.

But these weren't the spirits he was worried about.

In a red branch he followed behind his comrades, watching for danger from that direction.

In a blue branch he walked at the front of their column next to Chimeg, who was teaching him dog commands, both verbal and whistled. They'd placed the sleds on flat, wheeled carts and had the dogs pulling them at a slow pace as far from the edge as possible.

Gladys rode in the front sled, her supplies set out around her as she mapped out each branch they came across.

"What if the dogs don't obey?" said Wixim.

"Then you keep working with them until they trust you," said Chimeg. "If you can win over the alpha of the pack, then the rest will usually fall in line."

"How do you know who the alpha is?"

"When you are familiar with them it is easy to tell. Watch them and you will know."

"It seems like a lot of work," said Wixim.

"Where I'm from, dogs mean survival," said Chimeg. "They can keep you warm at night, protect you, hunt with you, provide transportation and friendship."

"It must have been hard for you when we lost so many of them," said Wixim.

"None from my pack were lost," she said. "Some of these packs are not well established since I could only get what dogs were for sale. They're bonds will form over the course of the journey through hardship."

Wixim looked back at his friends, how true it was for them. So what had gone wrong with Emir?

"Hold!" said Gladys. Chimeg stopped the dogs and the column stopped behind them. "Wixim, what does your compass say?"

He had to hold his compass on an angle to get the needle level enough for a reading. "South," he said, pointing out and down into the darkness. Gravity pulled them down, but the compass still worked as if they were in the physical realm. Wixim couldn't explain it.

"How many more revolutions do you think?"

"Let me check," said Wixim. He branched and an orange tinted world appeared. He waited for an old man spirit to step out of his way on his climb up the great tree and then he jumped off the ledge. Chimeg cried out, which made him smile. He picked up speed, falling for a good while as a few branches whizzed past on his sides. Then he saw the branch they were after right below him and closed the time branch before he hit.

Back in the blue branch he pulled out his pocket timepiece. "It's there all right, let me get an accurate count." He branched again as Blaine walked up. This time he waited until the second hand got to the top and leaped head first, watching the timepiece in both branches. Chimeg called out again. As he fell, he watched the clock and tipped his head so that when he hit he would feel the least amount of pain.