Chapter 21 - Talk Later

  Alex was about to write-off Corvus’s comment as some type of joke. But the sensation crawling across his skin belies that notion. Phrases like ‘the calm before the storm’ run through Alex’s mind. The peaceful nature of this place feels… fragile. On the cusp. It’s unnerving in a way that Alex just can’t shake.

  Hara seems less bothered, accepting the new nature of this place with childlike wonder. She trots around, sniffing at the silhouette outlines of trees and bushes. But she does take frequent glances back at her companions, assuring herself that they’re still present and safe.

  With a slow spin to take in the sights from all angles, Alex finds his voice again. “This place is… so weird.” He says, feeling an almost instinctive need to half-whisper the words. As if speaking normally, or taking any overt action, would shatter the anticipatory moment.

  Corvus starts to walk further into the territory, unbothered and unconcerned. He looks back over his shoulder with a glimmer of amusement in his black eyes. “Come now, there is far more to see.” He says in hushed tones, as if respecting that same sense of fragility.

  Hara moves up beside Alex, rubbing against his leg. He lays a hand on her neck and together they follow Corvus. The ground slopes downwards ever so slightly, and the forest in silhouette thins out. The slow descent gives the trio a breathtaking sight of silvery outlines in the thousands carpeting the slopes of the territory in monochrome splendor. Alex keeps his hand on Hara, both drawing comfort from the contact.

  As the minutes stretch on, none of them speak. The weight of the place’s atmosphere seems to encourage internal contemplation. They continue down the gentle slope, and Alex starts to realize a change. The ground begins to take on a spongy firmness under his boots, and the grasses and vine-creepers covering the soil start to give way to broad-capped mushrooms. It’s impossible not to step on them, the shrooms letting out little ‘tshh’ hisses before springing right back up as soon as the foot is lifted once more. The effect is like being surrounded by barely audible whispers following their path.

  Hara leans down to sniff at one of the mushrooms, pressing on it with a paw to watch it spring back up. As the springy shroom pops back upright, it releases a light cloud of spores. Spores that go right up Hara’s nose. She wrinkles her nose, trying to fight the tickle as she shakes her head back and forth. But it’s inevitable. The hellhound’s sneeze breaks the hushed silence like a cannon-shot.

  Alex’s head snaps around, eyes wide in terror at the sound. Hara stands rooted in place, still as the stone she appears made of. Even Corvus turns back to watch her. The sensation of anticipatory sharpness had hardened around them as if the air itself had turned to razors of glass. Alex feels an instinctive urge to tackle Hara, to shield her, to try and block the mounting cataclysm bearing down. But he can’t move, can’t even call out.

  And then the moment passes. Nothing happens. The precipice persists. Slowly, everyone relaxes again. The sense of sharpness passes, leaving all three unharmed. Corvus chuckles softly under his breath and then whispers to the others. “Fear not. That very phenomenon is precisely why the grotto is so safe.” He says, gesturing around. “If that weight accompanies every sudden motion or overt act, only a being like myself or Shalmond would dare impose. There is a deep rooted instinct to not be the thing that pushes something over the tipping point.”

  Alex lets out a breath he didn’t realize he was still holding. And in that moment, everything crystalizes. He understands the Title of ‘The Waiting Breath’. The realization is like a firework show within his own mind. The calm before the storm, the charge in the air before a lightning strike, the moment of weightlessness before falling. The anticipation of what comes next. As the epiphany blooms, he feels attention latch onto him like being on a stage before millions of eyes. In the instant he knows ‘The Waiting Breath’, Shalmond knows him.

  Alex is so caught up in that moment, he almost misses when the looming presence makes contact. Not in words or touch, but as just a bubbling joy at having been found. It urges Alex to breathe in that sensation, to revel in the anticipation. It wants Alex to experience it, to know it. And Alex understands. In that moment, Shalmond loves Alex as a painter loves someone who grasps the meaning of their art. Alex also gets a sense of greeting and welcome impressed upon him, an introduction.

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  “Hello.” Alex says to the air. Corvus and Hara turn to look at him. The crow with a look of pleased surprise, the hound with curiosity and puzzlement. Alex feels it when Shalmond responds, impressing on him a sense of pleasure and then curiosity, wonder, a thirst for knowledge, trepidation, uncertainty, righteous wrath against those who take advantage of the lowly. And Alex understands. It’s Shalmond’s way of saying “It’s a pleasure to know you, Alex.” Because Alex knows that the mix of sensations is Alex himself.

  “It’s a pleasure to meet you too. Your territory is terrifying, wonderful, and beautiful.” Alex says aloud. He can feel it when Shalmond preens at the compliment. Then the attention shifts and Alex feels an impression of continuation, exploration, movement, and a reluctance at departure with an intent to return. “Oh, of course. We’ll keep going, and you can return to talk later.” Alex says, and feels the presence around them retreat. It isn’t gone, but Shalmond’s focus is no longer on them.

  Alex lets out a soft sigh and then grins. “OK, that was awesome.” He says with a chuckle. Corvus steps over to him and Alex smiles. “I think I just talked to your friend.”

  The crow nods vigorously and clasps Alex’s shoulder. “Wonderful Alex. Absolutely wonderful.” He beams. “I had not dared hope that you might be able to communicate with them. I was prepared to be the intermediary for the duration of our travels within their land.”

  Hara noses against Alex’s leg. “What going on? Hara confused. Who Alex talk to?” She asks, looking around with her nose twitching. She couldn’t see or smell anyone else, but her friends seem to think someone was there. Why couldn’t Hara sense the other person?

  Alex kneels down and rubs Hara’s neck. “I was talking to Shalmond, Corvus’s friend. We’re inside them, I think. It’s like this territory doesn’t just belong to them, but more that it became their body.”

  Hara stiffens and goes wide-eyed. “Corvus friend ate us.” She looks between her friends and whines. “Hara not food. No eat Hara!” She says worriedly.

  Alex just chuckles and puts an arm around Hara’s side to give the hound a squeeze. “It’s ok. They aren’t eating us. Don’t think of it like we’re inside a person, it’s more like this place itself is alive.” He tries to assure her.

  The hound looks around, not entirely convinced. “Alex sure?” She whines. Her friend rubs her ears and gives her a few more assurances that they were all safe. “Ok. If Alex says is safe, Hara trust Alex.” She says, trying to sound braver than she feels.

  Corvus lets Alex take the lead as the trio starts moving again. Their quiet progress now is more reverent than fearful. The mushroom growths start appearing larger, some rivaling small bushes, then small trees. The further they walk, the more dense the fungal growths become. The ‘whispering’ of the small ones underfoot grows to a constant susurrus. Alex follows that innate pull, trusting the instinctive sense of direction.

  In the monochrome world of The Waiting Breath’s domain, Alex and the others emerge from the fungal forest at the bottom of the slope into a vast open space. Alex steps forward, only for his boot to make a splash as it lands in water. Only the silvery ripples racing out along the surface show the truth. What had appeared as a flat open stretch of ground is the surface of a large pond.

  Alex lifts his boot and taps the toe of it against the water, sending more ripples cascading across the surface. It gives him a sense of where the edge is, and he turns to follow it. The pond is quite big, occupying the entire bottom of what turns out to be a large bowl in the terrain. As the group moves further around, Hara’s ears perk up. A few moments later, Alex hears it too. Running water.

  A small steam flows from the pond through a small channel eroded into the fungal loam. It snakes back and forth before running into a cavernous tunnel cut into the side of the slope. It’s hard to see in this realm of silhouette and shadow, but the silver outlines of the water’s splashes and ripples show the path further downwards. Alex pauses before the tunnel mouth, his sense of direction telling him that it’s their path forwards.

  Alex is about to say something to Hara and Corvus when the presence of Shalmond’s attention returns. Both Alex and Corvus subtly lift their heads, acknowledging the other’s attention on them again. Shalmond presses both Corvus and Alex with a sense of caution and a plea.

  Alex nods. “Yeah, we’ll be careful. Is there something dangerous down this tunnel?” He asks the open air. Shalmond’s response is a bit harder to discern this time. A sense of a literal precipice and falling.

  Corvus speaks up this time. “Ah yes, the falls. I remember where this exit leads. Normally it would be trivial to me, going this way. But Alex and Hara would be hard-pressed.” He says, turning to examine his two companions. “Unless you both are hiding wings?”

  The sense of mirth from Shalmond follows Corvus’s little joke. And Alex picks up the thread again. “Is there a way down without flying, or falling?” He asks.

  Corvus nods. “There is an old pathway just beyond the influence of this territory. But it was treacherous long ago, and in disrepair. In the ages since I have traveled this way, I doubt it has gotten better.”