A cloud dropped in front of the hot sun, giving them a brief relief and Mariel looked up at the deep Violet sky overhead. Warm air blew in from the south of the mountain on their backs. Heavy underbrush tore at their skin causing them to thicken their bark yet giving them no respite from the warmth. They pushed through the heavy greenery to the edge of a ravine, and all stopped, looking down at its great depth. Treetops below looked like berry bushes. Birds on the branches were just ants from up there. It would be a long perilous descent with a far more treacherous journey back up the other side.

The entire way Mariel would have to listen to her bickering mother and the cold silence of her father. Koda oblivious to it all would chatter until he fell asleep on Gunter’s back and Kai would be too nervous to say a word loud enough for Gunter to overhear. Varren on the other hand seemed delighted at the aforementioned rebellion.

“How are you going to get it.” He spoke to her too excited to use hushed tones. Mariel shot a look at her father to see if he overheard. “How are we going to get away when you do?” He smiled at her. “He’s going to kill you, you know.” He said it as if it were a thrilling thing to fall under the wrath of her father. Why did Gunter have to be so eager to go against her?

She studied her father. He was broad-shouldered with short dark vines. He was a head taller than Varren or Kai and had forearms as thick as their legs. She could understand how her mother had become infatuated with him. He was strong and quiet. She needed a good listener, she hardly ever stopped talking. Most of the time it was to berate him for not being firmer with Mariel. Either that or to chide Mariel herself. She could forgive her mother for wanting her disciplined. She could not understand how her warrior father could not stand up against her mother when he obviously disagreed with her. Mariel cringed at his emasculation. She found it harder and harder to justify her father.

Gunter was always brooding when he was with Mariel. He would smile and laugh just fine when he was alone with her mother, but he would never even smile with his eyes for Mariel. He wouldn’t compliment her or even show pride in her when she did things that no other Viv could even do. He would just demand more of her. He would challenge her to try harder. To dig deeper, lean in. “You can do better than that Mariel.” He told her after she bonded with Bright-Eyes.

Kai gave Mariel a nervous glance. “Maybe we should just leave this one alone. He looks pretty mad.” He whispered.

Mariel watched her father scan the ravine. “Look at those clouds,” Blythe said in Gunter’s ear. “We should wait here until the storm passes.” Gunter didn’t look up from the ravine he simply grunted. Koda wiggled down from his back and sat digger down in the tall grass. Blue watched the treetops keeping track of where Sweetie leaped from one to another. Kai kept giving Varren disdainful glances, but Varren seemed oblivious to his pest of a wolf.

Mariel stole a glance back where her mother kept looking. The sky had turned a dark purple, like wine as the sun was setting. The horizon was covered in darkness. She watched long enough to see ominous purple creeping across the sky like a hunter stalking prey. She elbowed Kai to make him look back. Varren turned as well. They watched in silence as Koda played in the dirt with Digger humming to himself.

Blue came over and circled between their feet. He was feeling the storm coming as well. He shoved into Mariel’s legs, and she looked down at him. The black wolf stared at her with his deep blue eyes. She could feel him tugging at her soul. Do you want to bind? She thought before casting a guilty glance at Varren. She nudged the wolf away and looked off where they had climbed up. It was steep enough to slide down. She looked back up at the storm coming in and then back at her father. He still hadn’t looked up from the ravine. He would risk all of their lives just to turn Mariel over to the chief. He was no father. He had been once, when she was small, she remembered.

He had swung with her hanging from his vines. He had laughed. He had run and played. But that was lifetimes ago. He had lost faith in her somewhere along the way. Now she could only see the disappointment in his eyes. Now she only had anger in hers. He wasn’t the same. She wasn’t the same anymore either.

The breeze turned cool, and the air seemed to lift off the mountainside. They could smell the fresh damp rain coming. The clouds were charging across the sky now. The Parched Plateau would suck up the water like a bird on a worm. Mariel imagined the dry Parched earth between her and the Aurai. They may as well have been across the sea from her now. She clenched her jaw. Stubborn man. Blinded by the tribe. He would get them all killed.

Cold rain splashed across her face. Mariel looked up in a daze. The air grew colder as the blanket of rain washed over them. A bolt of lightning flashed overhead. Fear drowned all of them faster than the rain. One thing terrorized Viv more than fire. Lighting.

“What are we going to do Gunter?” Blythe cried.

“I think I see a cave below.” He answered. Mariel saw him begin to root down. Thin roots began to spring from the pores of his feet and sink into the earth. He was going to start climbing down. “Hold this so I can get Koda up on my shoulders.” He handed Blythe the leather sack. “Be careful not to touch it.” He warned her.

Blythe held the sack out away from her like a man would hold a snake. Gunter grabbed Koda and raised him over his head. “I will climb down a little and you hand it back, carefully.”

He pulled his foot up from the soil and a large clump of wet mud pulled up with it. He withdrew his roots and waited for the clump to drop off his foot before stepping over the side. He paused until his roots grabbed on again and pulled his other foot up to repeat the process. It would prove difficult in the mud. It would take him some time to get a firm footing on the ravine edge.

Mariel held her breath. The ravine would be extra slick. It would be hard to root deep enough to keep to the side. Gunter would have to really focus. He took another step down and grabbed onto the side with his hands descending backward. She watched as his nails grew out and gripped into the soil at the top edge. Mariel’s muscles were coiled tight now. Her breathing was shallow. Kai glanced up at her with fear in his eyes. Mariel watched as her father adjusted side to side and tested his grip on the ravine side. The rain smashed through the leaves making Blythe’s words vanish as they left her lips. Gusts of wind shoved at Mariel’s back causing her to crouch lower to the ground. She wanted to root by instinct but stilled her heart and slowed her breathing.

Gunter pulled one hand free of the soil and reached up as Blythe stretched her arm over his head dangling the stone. Mariel pounced. She snatched the stone from her mother’s hand and rooted her forward foot down deep to turn back away from her father. She launched off with every muscle in her body throwing herself back in the direction they had climbed up from and landed on her stomach in the tall wet grass. She was sliding. The thrill pounded in her chest now. It had worked. She was shooting down the side of the hill. She felt like Bright-Eyes diving on prey from above. She closed her eyes and drank in the sweet victory imagining the stunned faces of her parents above. Sharp rocks brought her back. The pain was sharp enough that she considered growing out her bark but dismissed it as the bark might slow her down.

She glanced back to see Varren behind her sliding on his backside with a grin from one eye to the other. Kai was even further behind him. Blue and Sweetie were nowhere to be seen.

Another sharp slice was enough to convince her. She closed her eyes and pushed holding her breath until the bark thickened over her skin. The slope dropped out from under her and for a moment her heart stopped at the feeling. She was airborne for only a second before slamming back into the mud with a splash. Then the ground leveled out. Tall grass beat at her face as she crashed through the underbrush at the bottom of the mountainside. A tree loomed ahead, and she grabbed at the ground desperately with her nails before remembering her father had torn out her nails on her left hand. Her right hand found purchase and instead of deterring her it steered her directly into the tree. Her ribs slapped off the wet bark of the tree and the air was knocked from her lungs.

She rolled to her back and gasped. Rain dropped in her eyes, but she did not close them as she panicked for air. Terror coiled around her heart until the first wheezing wisp of air entered her. Then several more allowed her to unclench her fists. Varren skidded to a stop flinging fresh mud over her.

“That was crazy.” He laughed. “You are an artist.” He flung the mud free from his hands and was about to bellow out another laugh when Kai slammed into his back. The two tumbled over Mariel landing on her chest. Fresh panic made her buck them off and scramble for her feet. She stood panting as they untangled from one another and stood up with her. Then they all looked up the steep incline they had careened down.

“He is going to come down here if we don’t run, now,” Kai said.

Mariel looked down at her hand with wide eyes. She had let the stone go to grab the ground.

“Looking for this?” Varren held up the leather sack by the strap.

Mariel breathed out relief. “I guess we should make ourselves scarce then. We have to get out of the trees so he can’t sense us.”

“Where to?” Varren asked cheerily half kneeling as if she were the chief.

“Why out of this downpour and onto the Parched Plateau of course.” She bowed back.