The Trail of Mysteries

Chapter 8

The

Trail

of

Companionship

Something warm and gentle caressed Liv's face as she slowly awoke from an exhausted sleep. After she had crossed untold miles in the jungle, then out in the desert dunes, she had needed every minute of sleep her tired body could get. Even when fully awake, still yawning, her body protested her movements with stinging cuts and abrasions, accompanied by aching, bruised, and sore muscles. As she rummaged through her pack to see if they were any painkillers in there, she became aware of a low rumbling sound. She recognized, the more she listened, the regular patter and tone of heavy breathing!

The broad blade of Liv's knife slid smoothly from the sheath as realized that it was by – a predator! She was able to move quickly on the soundless sand. The open spaces afforded very little hiding room for an intruder. After a few minutes she located where the sound was originating from.

A ten foot cactus plant with a large boulder several feet in diameter at its base hid something out of Liv's view about fifteen feet away. Very slowly she drew to her left revealing a form partially covered in sand about half way up the base of the rock. However, she still couldn't make out what it was. Another rumble came from the mound of sand. A gust of wind came from behind her blowing her hair into her face and causing her backpack to rustle slightly as her arm moved to brush away the hair.

Without any warning the sand mound exploded into an unrecognizable whirl of motion, out of which Liv caught the brief flash of something shiny! She instantly twisted to the side as something shot out of the whirlwind the next second. It grazed her rib cage in the process, narrowly missing her, to mangle a cactus plant behind her. The form then melted quickly behind the rock again but not before being struck full on by Liv's thrown knife in the upper section.

A minute went by before Liv heard a sound that caused her to gasp and lose her breath for a few seconds! It was a sound that she knew above all other audible tones she had ever heard. She'd been waiting to hear that sound for the last twenty-four hours!

"UGHHH!!! LIVERIIIIIIINE!!!!" a voice behind the rock bellowed. Liv couldn't help but smirk through her tears. Liverine was the name she called herself when she went exploring and adventuring. Only one other person had ever called her that before.

Her brother emerged from behind the rock, shaking off sand from his clothes. He stopped after a second and looked at Liv. Then he swung his head, looking over his right shoulder at the large buck knife halfway embedded in his pack and pointedly looked back at her with the big-brother-catching-little-sister-in-trouble look. Liv knew that look.

"Man, watch the ninja stuff okay?" Ty said trying to look stern. But he was too happy to be upset with Liv. Plus, he had also realized how close that knife throw had come to him instead of his backpack.

"Me? What was that you shot at me?" It totally destroyed that cactus where I was standing," Liv replied as she turned away to examine the ripped up cactus plant, then looked back at him with the same mock-stern look that gave way to the smirk again.

"That was what I called the crippler. It's not meant to kill but scare and maim," Ty answered, swiftly drawing another crippler, his second of the three he had in his quiver, and nocked it in place ready for another shot.

The air had the cool, crisp scent that only comes from being touched by a mountainous, conifer forest, combined with cold, dry desert air. The sun had just come over the eastern horizon to light the chilly early morning dawn. Jagged Peak stood in front of them in the distance shrouded by swirling grayish mist.