Time Lapse

Chapter 23 ~ Three Triangles ~

The heat tore down on the back of Atlas's neck. A world of black remained as his eyes stayed shut. Not death, no, Atlas wouldn't be lucky to be embraced yet. The poison from the tiamona remained but only lingered compared to the paralysis he felt last night. What time could it be? If the sun were out, then that means he'd been out for hours. What happened to Rak and the others?

"Did you sleepwalk over here? Where did Rak go?" Shadid asked, grabbing Atlas by the back of the collar to turn him around. Atlas's face was pale, an aftereffect of the toxin running through his veins.

Shadid's head blocked the sun from blinding him, a temporary roof. His head pounded as though he were experiencing a hangover. "Are–" his throat unable to vocalize, still shaking off any lingering illness. Atlas pointed towards Shabiri Canyon.

"Towards Shabiri? Why?" Shadid raised an eyebrow, sitting Atlas up on his own. "What happened last night?"

The tiamona was powerful, and if it was toxic, it put Atlas to sleep for an entire night. Using the little words he could choke out, Atlas pointed towards the wagon, "Three... Triangles." Setting Atlas aside to recover, Shadid walked back towards the wagon. He searched around the wheels and the front for clues but found nothing.

"What did he say?" Shal asked, hopping out to search for whatever Shadid looked at.

"I'm not sure. I think Rak headed for Shabiri Canyon," tracing his fingers along the wood. "The wood feels different."

"Did he say why Rak left?" Helmer walked from the cart's other side, feeding the horses bits of dried grass they stored for Caryopsis. Erys still slept peacefully in the wagon's back.

"He mentioned three triangles and pointed towards the wagon," Shadid explained with plain indifference, as though whatever murdered the villagers' campsite didn't leave its mark on each victim.

"Do you think the villagers you and Atlas found were attacked too?" Shal asked. "It's gotta be around here somewhere."

"Is this it?" Helmer asked, kneeling up from the driver seat's right side. "Rak sat here last night, didn't he?"

Shadid and Shal stepped over to examine Helmer's findings, pointing towards three deep indentions on the coach's underside. Three gnarly carvings of triangles stabbed through the side of the wagon, leaving clear signs the tiamona visited the wagon while they slept. The inches of wood around the engravings were black, almost as if it rotted overnight.

"You don't think it took Rak, do you?" Shal asked.

"Was it here while we slept?" Helmer scratched his head, still feeling groggy. "Does anyone else feel tired?"

Shadid stayed quiet, unsure where to start addressing their issues. Shadid and Rak only heard stories of tiamonas, but never had they seen any. To be targeted by one stood entirely higher of an obstacle than the Nomai could predict. "If we keep the tiamona alive, it could track us back to Lord Byvren's and kill everyone. We either shake it off or kill it." Shadid stated scornfully.

Shal and Helmer's expressions grew dark and fearful, certain they wouldn't make it to Byvren's alive. They weren't close to Rak and felt content as long as they stayed alive themselves. But now they were thrown in the midst of a tiamona, another league above agmas that set its sights on them.

"What do you mean? Nobody survives hunting a tiamona. What do you expect us to do? Surely, we're safer heading to Lord Byvren's before it can catch us!" Shal argued, raising her voice.

"And bring it back with us? Endangering everyone else because we were too scared to die trying to fight it?" Shadid asked coldly. "You'd rather risk letting it kill more people just to save yourself?"