15
At past Gathers Mawei had spent the horripilation at her mother’s side, trembling in fear, but this year she wasn’t afraid of anything the mischievous highland-yetis had come up with because she had something real to be afraid of -those horrid, nosy little twins. She thought they were probably already talking, telling everything they’d seen in the giant pine forest south of the creek. Ruffer and Mawei had decided on a classic strategy: deny everything and make counter accusations.
Within the highland tribe there was a group that worked with fire and smoke, and when they reached the hill overlooking the clearing, Mawei and Ruffer could see that their work was well underway. The smoke was coming up, black and dark grey from all around the woods, and the scene was illuminated by the waning moon, shining its pale light from behind lingering clouds.
Mawei and Ruffer were making their way down the hill, through a stand of young evergreens, when they became aware of the sound of breathing, deep inhalations and loud exhalations, happening in unison. They both looked around, but they couldn’t see the source of the noise. Neither of them said a word, they just kept moving.
A loud shriek from above sent Mawei closer to Ruffer and they looked up to a highland-yeti, up at the very top of a nearby tree. He began taking short ragged breaths loudly, which shook the tree in a strange way. The sound started to multiply and Mawei realized that there were yetis at the tops of all the trees, and all the trees began to shake in the same way.
The yetis up in the treetops began making a piercing chirping sound, signaling each other, and soon the trees stopped shaking and began swaying, slowly at first, but then increasing in speed and range. All the trees around them were swaying and it seemed to Mawei that the whole world was unstable and on the verge of collapse.
Mawei was trying to mimic Ruffer’s casual walk, but when the eerie, high-pitched screeching began she couldn’t hide her fear. “It’s okay Mawei, they’re just trying to scare you.” Ruffer said.
Mawei looked at him, “there’s a spider on your face,” she said. He brushed the spider from his cheek and Mawei wondered where it could’ve come from when she felt something land on the back of her head. She jumped and began frantically swatting at it and felt two more hit her arm. Ruffer realized what was going on and he took her hand and they ran toward the clearing while the yetis in the trees continued to pelt them with a seemingly endless supply of big furry wolf-spiders.
They were finally out of the stand of trees and were running and pulling spiders off of each other when they noticed a night-yeti coming toward them. “There you are!” He said. “You two are in serious trouble. You’re coming with me.”
Mawei and Ruffer looked at each other. “In trouble for what?” Ruffer asked.
“You know,” he said, “come on, I’m not the one you have to explain yourselves to.”
He turned and began walking and Mawei and Ruffer followed. “Do you know him?” Mawei asked Ruffer with her eyes.
“No,” Ruffer said, “but he looks familiar. I guess there’s nothing we can do but go with him.”
Mawei grit her teeth and clenched her fists. She couldn’t think of any way to get out of it, she was guilty, and pretty soon everyone would know. Her mother, her aunt, her father, everyone. She probably wouldn’t even get a chance to explain herself, she would just be shunned and her parents would be ashamed of her. The council would send emissaries to find Rei and they would kill Helena and it would be all her fault.
The big night-yeti took them to the edge of the clearing and down a little slope toward a patch of leaves. Mawei was looking at his back and she saw that his black fur was slightly lighter than before. “Look,” she said to Ruffer, “his fur’s not really black, he’s darkening.”
Ruffer looked at his back closely, and as they crossed the patch of leaves Mawei noticed that the yeti leading them seemed to be stepping with great care. That was when the ground gave out beneath her. She fell to the bottom of a deep pit and before she knew what had happened Ruffer’s body landed on top of her. She caught a shin to the head and Ruffer was upended.
Mawei looked up and saw the opening in the darkness above her where they had come through the leaves and branches covering the hole. There was a yeti looking down at them, a highland-yeti, not a night-yeti. He looked satisfied with himself, but he wasn’t finished. He leaned over, smiling, and dropped a clutch of live snakes down the hole. One hit Mawei’s head and she frantically pushed it off onto Ruffer, who was sitting, and immediately jumped up, brushing at his legs. It was the last thing Mawei saw before the yeti who had tricked them covered the hole they’d fallen through, sealing them in complete darkness.
Mawei felt snakes brushing against her leg and she stomped down, connecting with one and sending it into hyper violent thrashing and hissing which the other snakes joined. In a panic she began clawing at the side of the pit, at first trying to climb up, but then just pulling dirt down onto the snakes, which kept wriggling by her feet and up her legs. She inhaled some of the dirt and started coughing, trying to catch her breath in suffocating desperate gasps. She felt Ruffer’s hands moving to her hands in the darkness. He held them tightly and stopped her from clawing at the walls. His hands felt calm and she wished she could see his face. The snakes were biting and she stomped again but Ruffer moved one of his hands to her leg, telling her without words to stop.
He began to push her upwards, lifting her away from the hissing and thrashing. She put her hands against the side of the hole for stability and let him push her up, until she was standing on his shoulders. She realized that he was trying to push her up and out of the pit. She reached up from where she was but could barely feel the leaves at the end of a claw. She stretched up and tugged at the branch, and brought a rain of debris down on herself and Ruffer below. She could see his face in the moonlight, twisted in pain and fear. “Can you reach the top?” He asked her.
“Not from here.” She said. There was an orange striped snake climbing up his torso as he focused on holding her. He moved his hands to her ankles and lifted with all his strength while Mawei tried to keep her balance and reach up at the same time. She managed to get her hand on the outer edge of the hole, but it wasn’t enough for her to pull herself out. He gave way a little and she almost fell, but then he took ahold of her feet and shoved upward.
Mawei got an elbow above the lip of the hole and hauled a leg up and over. She pulled herself up and looked around for the trickster. It was smoky and she couldn’t see much, but she thought he had probably gone. She lay at the edge of the hole and reached down to Ruffer who strained to reach back. “The branch.” Mawei said, pointing to one of the branches that had been used to camouflage the hole.
He took it in both hands and held it up to her and she gripped it as tightly as she could. He climbed up, digging his feet into the walls and reached, grabbing onto both of her forearms. Mawei dropped the branch and dragged Ruffer out of the hole. Two snakes had taken a ride up with him and Mawei and Ruffer lay on the dirt, exhausted as the snakes slithered off.
“If I ever see that yeti that tricked us again, I’ll bite his face off.” Mawei said. “If I hadn’t been with you I’d still be down there.”
“I could say the same thing.” Ruffer said. “We’d better stay together.” He sat up and looked around. The smoke cleared a little and they could see the woods not far in the distance. “Let’s walk single-file a few feet apart, I’ll go in front, and that way if I fall into a trap you can help me out.”
“Okay, but don’t get too far ahead.” As she stood she had the strange feeling of being very high up. Ruffer was walking away and she wanted to follow, but she couldn’t move her feet. It was as if she’d been planted to the spot. Ruffer moved into the smoke and Mawei lost sight of him. She looked down at her feet, wondering why they wouldn’t move. They looked normal but she couldn’t lift them. With every second that went by Mawei knew that Ruffer was getting farther away. She concentrated on lifting her foot and managed to start to l
ift it, but it weighed a ton and she had to put it down again. She was all alone and she couldn’t move.
She was about to give up when Ruffer emerged from the smoke. “What are you doing? Why aren’t you following me?”
“I… I can’t move.” She said.
“What?”
“Ruffer, do you think that yeti put us down in the hole because he knew about the human?” She squinted her eyes against the smoke. “He said he knew what we did.”
“No,” Ruffer said, “he was just trying to get us to follow him, it was just a trick.”
“Yeah, that’s what I thought too.” Mawei said. “Ruffer, could you do something for me please? Could you pull me?”
“What?”
“I don’t know what’s wrong with me, I can’t move my feet.” She held out her hand to Ruffer. “Just yank me out of this spot -I’m stuck.” She almost changed her mind, but it was too late, he had her hand and he pulled her forward. She stumbled, heart racing and sure she was about to fall into another black pit, but she didn’t. She just stumbled and felt foolish. “Sorry,” she said, “I’m okay now. Go on.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, I just needed some help. Go, I’ll follow.” Ruffer shrugged and began walking with Mawei close behind.