Wild Hope by C.M. Estopare

Author:C.M. Estopare
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: anonymous
Published: 2017-09-13T22:00:00+00:00

12

A vortex of spiraling tentacles reached down. They licked his face, his body. And as he opened his eyes, his gaze registering kapok trees and towering bamboo stalks, the tentacles pulled away. Becoming one with the black sky above, they broke into an explosion of gossamer clouds. Disappeared.

Kato bolted upright.

The Dreaming. The Wilds. Ava. He scanned around, touching the jungle floor blindly with his hands. Searching for a weapon—a stick, a bow—anything. As an initiate in the Dreaming, he had a right to a weapon. The Shamaness’s guardswomen were supposed to give him one. Him and Ava. Unless…

He cursed. This was the Shamaness’s punishment, then. How he and Ava would suffer a prolonged and brutal death.

He stood, the effects of the elixir wearing off as the jungle spun as if on a wheel before settling down. Silver light speared through the canopy above, the light offering him a path. A place to begin searching.

There was no use in calling her name. He’d only upset the resident predators.

Crouching, he tiptoed through the brush. Careful not to step on the tail of a viper—or worse. The creatures would smell the elixir on the both of them eventually. Soon, he’d hear the deep growl of beasts infinitely worse than a puma or a wild boar. Soon, he’d know what it was like to get ripped apart by fate and Purpose and magic. But, until then, he’d do his duty and protect Ava from the Wilds. At least, until he could protect her no longer. It was the one last thing he could do for the Mesh, for his father. He hoped his family wouldn’t mourn him too much.

He sighed, shaking his head. Listening for the telltale crack of broken branches and fallen leaves, he ventured forward. Flattening his hands against the slick trunk of bamboo shoots or the rough bark of kapok trees, he went where the light was leading him. Assuming it would either lead to Ava, or something else entirely.

“Hello?” called a crackling voice. “Is anyone there? Hello?”

Kato froze in place. The voice was unfamiliar. It sounded far away, yet only paces from him. The static came again and a light flashed in the darkness, blinking through the jungle floor. Sprinting toward the flashing light, Kato dug through the brown leaves and broken branches.

“Ava! I swear to God—if you don’t answer me!”

It was a man’s voice coming from Ava’s rectangular device. Her cell phone. Picking it up, he held it with his head cocked to the side. Strange white symbols stared back at him, accompanied by the face of a human hog.

“Hello? I hear someone breathing—is this Ava?”

“I am looking for her.” Kato told the voice.

“Well—who—who is this?”

He could use the light from her phone as a way to search further than what the moon showed him. Ignoring the voice as it babbled, Kato stood from his crouch and used the device to scan. Holding it out like a torch, he flung it to the right and left of him as he continued straight.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.