Stink Bug – Chapter 19

V’x kept lagging back, heavily favoring her right side. I tried to stay with her, encouraging her to keep up. She would flutter her wings and hop to speed up, but would soon slow again. K’eel squawked angrily every time we fell too far behind. Her patience was wearing thin.

“You OK?” I asked of V’x when I thought K’eel might be out of earshot. V’x ignored me, and we continued on in silence. We rounded a corner and nearly crashed into K’eel, who stood with her wings raised and her hands on her hips.

“Must you be so slow, V’x?” K’eel demanded.

“I go as fast as I can,” replied V’x bowing reverently.

“This is important,” said K’eel turning back to march along the trail. She stopped and spun back. “Unless you want to stay here forever.”

V’x stopped and fluttered her wings. “Oh no. I wish to go home just as you do.”

“Good.” K’eel turned back to the trail. “Let’s go.”

We reached the great tree. K’eel grasped the hooked ends of the rope ladder and took to the skies. The gap between the tree and the surrounding woods was narrow, and she frequently hit branches and leaves, showering us with debris. She disappeared into the canopy and we heard her land on the platform above. The ladder shook as K’eel affixed it to the platform. In a matter of minutes she returned to the ground to join us again.

“There,” K’eel said. “It should hold. Now go.” She pointed at V’x.

“Me?” V’x fluttered nervously. “I don’t…”

“You. Go. Now.” K’eel fluffed her feathers and raised the crest on her head. “Now,” she repeated when V’x continued to hesitate.

V’x stepped to the ladder and slowly began to climb. The weakness of the right side of her body was obvious. She struggled to pull herself up the ladder, but made progress and finally disappeared into the canopy. The ladder ceased to shake and a quiet cry came from above.

“Wait here,” muttered K’eel. She flew up to the platform and disappeared. I heard scraping and a squawk. K’eel returned only a few minutes later. “Now you,” she said. “Climb up.”

I wasn’t certain I had the strength to climb so high, and I wasn’t fond of heights. I gazed up the length of the ladder, watching it sway slightly. “What have I gotten myself into?”

“Climb, yes?” said K’eel.

“Yeah. I’ll try.”

I grabbed the rungs and stepped onto the ladder. “How do people do this?” I wondered aloud when I was about 20 feet up.

“What?” called K’eel from below.

“Nothing, nothing. Just keep climbing.” I had thought I was pretty strong for my age. This day I knew I was nothing like the spry teenager I had once been. I’d gotten weak, and those extra pounds weren’t helping. I kept going, despite my shaking arms. I’d been climbing for a while when I felt K’eel swoop past me on her way to the top. Then there were hands on my shoulders.

“Here, let me help.” V’x held out a hand. I gladly grasped hers and she hoisted me the rest of the way onto the platform.

“Thank you,” I gasped, laying back.

V’x sat down beside me. “Flying would be easier.”

“Yeah. I’m missing some parts,” I muttered breathlessly.

My heart was pounding in my ears. I laid my arm over my face. I heard some scraping and the heavy thud of a Vrr’ak’l sitting down. “We will observe here today,” K’eel said. “Perhaps we will spend the night.”

V’x trilled alarmedly. “Not the night.”

“Nate must see the Keepers. If he is to help us he must know our enemy.”

“I know our enemy. I do not wish to be here.”

“You know our enemy. You will be here.”

I lifted my arm off my eyes. K’eel sat straight and tall, feathers fluffed and crest raised. V’x pressed her feathers against her body and hung her head.

“I will do as you say, K’eel,” peeped V’x.

“Good. I shall get us some supplies.” K’eel stood. “Get to know each other,” she said as she leapt off the platform toward the ground. She hit tree branches as she plummeted. I heard her squawk. “I’m fine,” she trilled up and was gone.

I looked at the open sky overhead, blocked only by a few branches. “Why not fly up?”

V’x followed my gaze. “The Keepers will see. We don’t want them to know we’re here.”

“The Keepers, eh? So what do you know of the Keepers?”

“Too much.”

“Care to share?”

“I’d rather not think of it.”

“I’ll need to know.”

“Yes, I know. And I will tell. But it is difficult.”

V’x fell silent and began a feeble attempt at grooming the remaining feathers of her right wing.

“So what happened there?” I asked, hoping to spark conversation.

V’x froze and trilled softly.

“What is going on between you and K’eel? Why aren’t you living with everyone else?”

“Must you ask such questions?”

“I just want to understand.”

V’x eyed me. She rubbed the damaged side of her face. “These injuries came many years ago when we were first brought to this place. I thought we could fight our way out. I was wrong. Why I lived then, I do not know.” V’x looked at me pointedly. “K’eel’s only brother was lost at this platform, at the hands of the Keepers. Only T’r’bl’s words prevented my death.” She looked away. “I regret having ever built this.” She tapped the boards. “I am a tinkering fool.”

Read Chapter 20.

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