The ground grew rockier. Falima stumbled. Abruptly jarred sideways, Collins found himself on the ground before he realized he was falling. Pain shot through his left shoulder. Dull aching pounded through his thighs and buttocks, a reminder that he had spent more time riding the last two days than in all the rest of his life combined. He looked up to a hovering hummingbird and a still-mounted Zylas peering down at him, arm extended. "Are you all right?"
"Just fricking fine." Collins had no idea whether the almost-swear word would translate as the real thing or into a somewhat acceptable substitution like the one he had provided. He clambered painfully to his feet, ignoring Zylas' gesture. "Mind if I just walk for a while?"
"Not at all." Zylas peered into the distance. "In fact, we'll take to the mountains soon. Probably better if we all walk."
Ialin disappeared.
Collins massaged his aching shoulder.
"Only kept us mounted this far to make as small a scent trail as possible. Ialin's seen guards out there, though they don't seem to have located us."
"What about Vernon and Korfius?" Collins asked, worried.
Zylas dismounted, clutching Falima's lead. "No reason to think they're not safe. They've got their stories, and we just have to hope no one convinces Korfius to rat us out."
Collins laughed at the play on words, which seemed to baffle Zylas.
"What's funny?"
Collins saw no harm in explaining, this time. "Rat us out. You're a rat."
Zylas continued to stare.
"Just seemed funny," Collins mumbled, withdrawing back toward his irritability.
"Is that how it translates?"
"Yeah."
Now, Zylas chuckled. "It's not the word I used. We don't have a lot of animal-based slang."
Collins nodded. "Makes sense."
"Ready to continue?"
No, Collins thought but said, "Yes."
They headed into rocky hills that soon became forested mountains. The trail continued to spiral, double back, and loop. For a time, Collins tried to trace the route. When that became impossible, he attempted conversation. "So now will you tell me about this elder?"
Zylas looked up with clear reluctance. "You'll meet soon enough."
Foiled again, Collins bit his lower lip. "How soon is soon enough?"
"Tomorrow evening."
"Tomorrow!" Collins complained, recalling that Zylas and Ialin had made the trip and returned in about twenty-four hours.
Zylas' eyes widened. "Did you want to take longer?"
"Shorter."
"We could arrive a little earlier," Zylas said slowly. "If you won't be uncomfortable with Falima and Ialin in switch-form."
Collins considered. He might perform better with Falima communicative. She seemed to have warmed up to him in Vernon's cabin. Ialin, he thought, might do him better as a speechless bird. "Perhaps somewhere between the two?"
Zylas tossed his tangled hair. "Of course, there's the elder's switch time to consider, too." He rubbed his forehead. "While you sleep, I'll meet with the elder and talk about that."
Surprised to have his opinion considered at all, Collins merely said, "All right." He had not thought about the details such coordination might require, but he should have. He had learned enough under dire enough circumstances. I should be thinking all the time. It bothered him to consider that he was, perhaps, not as smart as he believed. He had always done well in school, earning A's and B's with relative ease and not just in rote subjects. Yet he worried that his ability to anticipate and react to life situations might not prove as competent. What happens when I get out in the real world where life doesn't consist solely of classes and tests? The thought now seemed ludicrous. Assuming I survive Barakhai and ever make it back to the "real" world.
Zylas led Falima up the slope. "Speaking of sleep, we work best when we get half in each form. Thought we could take a break: eat, nap."
Though Collins had slept a solid eight hours, he suffered from hunger, thirst, and physical exhaustion. He supposed he could learn to coordinate his sleep with Zylas', in three- or four-hour blocks rather than all at once. "Sounds good to me."
Despite his suggestion, Zylas continued hauling Falima up the mountainside. "There's a cave not too far. I'd rather hole up on higher ground. Safer."
Collins followed, now aware of his growling tummy, his dry mouth, and the soreness of his legs. He wished Zylas had waited until they'd arrived at the cave to mention food and rest.
Half an hour later, Zylas waved Collins into the rock crevice he had referred to as a cave. A curtain of vines hung over the entrance, swarmed with round pink flowers; and grass softened the floor. Collins touched a wall slimy with algae and moss and immediately jerked back his hand. Warm and moist, the interior seemed stifling after the dry, cool wind that had accompanied them through the day. Falima remained outside, grazing, but Ialin swept onto a ledge and perched. Zylas went outside nearly as soon as he entered, then returned moments later dragging the pack that had rested on Falima's withers. As Collins hurried over to help, Zylas let it flop onto the floor.
"I appreciate that Vernon doesn't want us to starve, but I would have packed a bit lighter."
At the moment, Collins would have carried the pack the rest of the way if it meant a steady supply of Vernon's peanut-buttery nut paste. He helped Zylas unpack enough food to satisfy them both: bread and nut paste, bugs and fruit, roots and berries. They ate well, then settled down to sleep on the grassy carpet.
Collins dreamed of a violent earthquake rocking him in wild, insistent motions. "What? Where?" He leaped to his feet. "Huh?" The world came into abrupt focus, despite his missing glasses. Falima stood beside him, still clutching the arm she had been shaking. Zylas stood near the pack, smiling slightly from beneath his hat brim as he watched the exchange. "Bit jumpy, are you?"
Still slightly disoriented, Collins glanced at his watch. "What time is it?" It read 6:15. Falima would have changed fifteen minutes ago, which would have just given her time to dress and wolf down some food before awakening him. He yawned.
Though Collins had found his own answer, Zylas gave him another. "Early evening. You're a good sleeper."
Collins yawned again. "Most grad students are." He stretched, the pain in his thighs and buttocks even more pronounced. He was glad Falima had taken human form and they would have to walk for a while. "Now, if I could just get some coffee."
Zylas laughed. "Don't have that here. But you're welcome to eat dirt. Tastes about the same to me."
"Let me guess. Not a coffee fan?" Collins sprang forward and hefted the pack before his older and smaller companion could do so. It settled awkwardly across his neck, obviously constructed to balance across a horse's unsaddled withers without sliding. Now, he had to agree with Zylas; fewer supplies would suit his shoulders better. "It's an acquired taste."
"Apparently." Zylas did not fight Collins for the pack. "But why bother to acquire it?"
"For the caffeine." Collins trailed his companions through the viny curtain and into sunlight that, though muted by evening, still burned his unadjusted eyes. "Helps you wake up."
Zylas headed back up the slope. "Why not just take caffeine?"
Why not, indeed? Collins recalled a professor once telling the class that, in the name of avoiding hypocrisy, No-Doz was his morning beverage. It seemed more like an admission of drug addiction than the heroically honest statement the professor had clearly intended. "I actually like the taste of coffee." Now. When he first started drinking it, he had diluted it more than halfway with milk. Gradually, the proportion had decreased until he had come to take it with only a splash of nondairy creamer.
"All… right," Zylas said slowly. "If you say so."
"It's good." Collins hopped after Falima, who had darted up the hill with a dexterity her horse form could never have matched. "Really. Coffee has a great-" Struck by the ridiculousness of the argument, Collins laughed. Why am I defending coffee to a man who eats bugs and calls them a delicacy? "- flavor," he finished. "When it's made right." It seemed rude to leave Falima out of the conversation. Not wanting to lose the ground he had gained with her the previous day, he asked, "So how are things with you, Falima?"