On the third day
of their trek along The Churn
the Slain recognizes
a particular pile of rock.
They make camp.
Gather glasswort to dry.
Contemplate the roil
of The Churn
The foaming wall of water.
Dangerous to enter The Churn —
impossible to navigate,
impossible to breathe.
Getting lost inevitable.
But, over time,
the Slain has found a way.
Built a path of stone
to cross confusion.
Needs a few flat rocks
to locate the opening.
But the Slain,
his wound so raw,
cannot lift the stones.
They make a plan.
Use the rope to travel
in an arc from the shore.
Locate the path
within The Churn.
Odymn ties the rope
around her waist.
Kicks off her purple
running shoes.
Takes a lungful of air.
Steps into the froth.
Effervescence
scours her skin,
tickles her nose,
irritates her dangle wounds.
She keeps the rope taut,
holds her breath,
moves as fast as she can.
Feels for the slates
with the soles
of her feet.
Substrate unpleasant,
slimy with mud.
Her lungs crave air.
Risk of drowning.
Clamps fingers on her nose.
Red sparkles and black
compete behind her lids.
Odymn is lightheaded.
Ready to draw
anything into her lungs.
Even deadly froth.
Her toes feel
the sharp edge of a slate
and her body
bursts through the wall of foam.
She falls to her knees.
Pulls in air.
Flattens her hands
on the stone.
Walls of effervescence
to either side.
Path of slates,
a tunnel,
curving
through The Churn.
Odymn tugs
three times on the rope.
Waits, watches where the tunnel
vanishes into foam.
Sighs relief
as the bulk of the Slain
pushes through,
the scruff of the Argenop
in one hand,
her running shoes
in the other.
The Argenop
tumbles to the tunnel floor.
Pants for air.
Shakes water from his fur,
muzzle to tip of tail.
Odymn and the Slain laugh.
Try to duck the splatter.
Single file, they follow
the tunnel.
Stop when they find
the skeleton of the slear-snake
coiled across the path.
Killed by the Slain
as they crossed,
only days ago.
Sinuous column of spine,
frail cage of ribs.
Bleached, picked clean
by scavengers.
The Argenop examines the bones,
prods at the vertebrae.
Dry ligaments fail
and the bones disarticulate.
Brief clatter as they fall.
YOU ARE READING
Meniscus: One Point Five - Forty Missing Days
Science FictionAfter the Slain is shot, Odymn and an Argenop elder work together to try and return him to good health. As they journey towards the Themble, survival is a challenge. Odymn must add to her foraging skills and survive an attack by the vicious kotildi...
