Chapter 100: The Forest of Borrowed Voices
Miko gasped.
The two injured cubs began arguing over the size of charity while Thalara watched them with something painfully soft in her forehead eye.
For one tiny moment, the ridge did not feel like the end of the world.
Then a woman’s voice rose from the forest below.
"Lena."
A female near the dead piles froze.
Her skin went white.
The voice came again.
"Lena, come down."
She began shaking.
"My mate."
Soren stood.
Too fast.
The stone beneath his hand cracked.
"Do not answer."
The forest remained dark below the ridge.
Trees moved without wind.
Another voice called.
"Father?"
One of the former elders dropped the carved token in his hand.
That was his daughter’s voice.
His daughter had died beneath Riverbone.
Then another voice rose.
And another.
Nine voices.
Six dead.
Three missing.
Every name came from the forest.
Calling their families home.
...
Nobody slept again.
The voices continued until sunrise.
Sometimes they begged.
Sometimes they cried.
Sometimes they laughed with the exact laugh of the person who had died.
The tribe left the dead-stone ridge as soon as the light became strong enough to see the path.
They moved west in tight groups.
Soren ordered lengths of hide rope tied around each travelling unit.
Five to eight people per line.
One strong beastman at the front.
One at the rear.
Cubs and wounded in the middle.
A former elder stared at the hide around his wrist.
"You expect us to walk tied together?"
Soren did not look at him.
"I expect you not to chase a dead relative into the forest."
"I have self-control."
From the trees below came a girl’s voice.
"Father, I am cold."
The elder’s head turned instantly.
Soren raised one eyebrow.
The male silently tied the rope tighter.
Swanly moved between the groups.
"If someone calls from outside your group, do not answer until you can see their face."
A frightened female asked, "What if it truly is someone who was left behind?"
Swanly’s chest tightened.
"Then we see them first."
"And if they need help?"
"We still see them first."
A male protested, "What if waiting kills them?"
Kael’s growl rolled from behind Swanly.
"What is outside has already killed people using familiar voices."
No one argued again.
The ridge narrowed.
Dead gray stone rose on one side.
The forest dropped sharply on the other.
Below, branches stirred.
The hollow birds followed without revealing themselves.
Their wingbeats moved from tree to tree.
Flap.
Pause.
Flap.
Kairo walked near the front of the cub group.
He counted under his breath.
"Nilo."
"Here."
"Miko."
"Here."
"Tavi."
"Here."
Kairo looked behind him.
Three younger cubs held the rope.
"Rabbit cub."
The little girl blinked.
"I have name."
Kairo frowned.
"What name?"
"Lumi."
"Lumi here."
"Yes."
He continued counting.
Every few steps, he started again.
Nilo walked beside him with his ears constantly moving.
Miko marched at Swanly’s side, one tiny fist raised toward the forest.
A voice called from below.
"Kairo?"
It sounded exactly like Swanly.
Kairo’s head turned.
The false Swanly continued.
"Come here, baby."
Miko jumped in front of his brother.
"Fake Mama!"
The voice stopped.
Miko pointed at the trees.
"Stupid fake!"
Swanly grabbed the back of his clothing before he could march down the slope and challenge the entire forest.
"Miko."
He kicked his feet in the air.
"Let Miko fight her!"
"You are not fighting my stolen voice."
"She call Kairo baby!"
"I also call Kairo baby."
"Only real Mama can."
The false voice returned from another tree.
"Miko, come to Mama."
Miko’s entire face twisted in outrage.
"You not Mama!"
He cupped both hands around his mouth.
"Fake Mama ugly!"
Every nearby survivor turned.
Swanly’s eyes widened.
"You cannot even see it."
"Still ugly!"
Nilo nodded solemnly.
"Voice ugly."
The hollow bird copied Swanly’s angry tone.
"Miko, come here now."
Miko gasped.
"It steal scolding too!"
Kairo grabbed one of his arms.
Nilo grabbed the other.
Miko strained between them.
"Let go! Miko bully it!"
"You cannot climb tree," Kairo said.
"Miko learn!"
Swanly dragged all three cubs forward.
"Heroic battle cancelled."
Miko looked over her shoulder.
"Coward fake Mama!"
A few survivors laughed despite themselves.
Even Kael’s mouth moved.
Then a different voice rose from the trees.
"Jaro."
A middle-aged male in the rear group stopped.
His mate had died during the escape.
The voice sounded weak.
"Jaro, please."
The laughter vanished from the tribe.
Jaro’s whole body began shaking.
His group tightened their grip on the rope.
A guard said, "Do not answer."
"Jaro," the voice sobbed. "They left me."
His eyes filled.
"My mate."
Swanly turned.
"Do not go."
"I heard her."
"You heard something wearing her voice."
"She may be alive."
"She died at Riverbone."
"You did not see her body!"
Jaro tore at the hide rope.
The male beside him grabbed his arm.
"Stop!"
The voice screamed.
"Jaro!"
He shifted into a brown wolf and ripped free.
"No!"
He jumped from the ridge.
Swanly ran toward the edge.
Kael caught her around the waist before she could follow.
Jaro crashed through the lower branches.
The forest swallowed him.
For one second, everything became silent.
Then wings exploded from the trees.
Gray bodies dropped from every direction.
Jaro screamed.
"Help me!"
The scream changed halfway through.
It became wet.
Broken.
The birds tore open his stomach before he reached the ground.
One hooked beak pulled a rope of intestine through the branches.
Another ripped his face away.
Jaro thrashed beneath them.
His mate’s voice came from one of the birds pecking through his throat.
"I found you."
The tribe watched.
No one could reach him.
His screaming stopped.
The hollow birds continued feeding.
Miko buried his face against Swanly’s leg.
Kairo covered Nilo’s eyes.
Nilo had already seen.
Swanly turned the cubs away.
Her stomach rolled, but she forced her voice to remain hard.
"This is what they want."
Several people cried silently.
Soren looked toward Jaro’s remains.
"Retie every group."
Nobody complained this time.
They moved faster.
The false voices followed.
A dead mother called her cub.
A missing brother promised food.
An elderly female heard her first mate laughing from thirty years ago.
Nobody answered.
Not again.
The first hollow bird attacked near midday.
It dropped from the high trees behind the group.
Swanly heard Kael growl.
She spun.
Kael stood ahead of her.
The sound had come from behind.
Wrong.
She turned too late.
A gray shape plunged toward her back.
Human lips opened across its narrow face.
Kael crossed the distance in one leap.
He slammed Swanly down beneath him.
The hollow bird’s claws tore across his injured shoulder.
Fresh blood sprayed over Swanly’s face.
Kael roared.
The creature beat its wings and tried to lift him.
Swanly rolled beneath it.
Her black bow appeared in her hand.
Too close to fire properly.
She grabbed one arrow and drove it upward.
The bird snapped at her wrist.
Kael caught its beak with both hands.
Its false mouth screamed in Swanly’s voice.
"Help me!"
"Shut up," Swanly snarled.
She shoved the arrow through its open mouth.
The point pierced the soft roof and entered its skull.
The hollow bird convulsed.
Blood poured over her hand.
Kael tore its jaw apart.
The creature dropped.
Swanly pushed it off him.
His shoulder was open again.
Four deep lines cut through healing flesh.
"You are bleeding!"
Kael caught her face.
"Did it touch you?"
"You are the one bleeding!"
"Answer me."
His golden eyes were wild.