Read Online Helix and the Arrival by Damean Posner - Free Book Online Page B

woodland fawn,’ he whispers. ‘It is yours, Helix.’
    â€˜What should I do?’ I say.
    â€˜Keep low. You will need to cover some ground. Stay upwind – this side.’ He pushes me in the direction I need to head.
    I creep forward, with Ug crouching low behind me and Saleeka behind him.
    â€˜Closer,’ he whispers, and he’s right. There’s no way I could make the distance with a spear from where I am.
    I look up and see the fawn at close range. It has soft brown skin and wobbly legs. It looks very young.
    â€˜Now,’ says Ug, ‘take your shot.’
    I grip the spear tighter in my throwing arm. ‘It’s still too far away,’ I whisper back to Ug.
    â€˜No it is not. Any closer and it will sense you. Throw now.’
    â€˜I can’t.’
    â€˜Helix! What are you waiting for?’ hisses Saleeka, from behind Ug.

    â€˜This is your chance,’ Ug urges. ‘Do you want to be a caveman or not?’
    I feel a fire burning within me, flickering through my insides and filling my head with heat. I rise with the spear in my hand, ready to hunt a beast.
    I let go, but not of the spear.
    I let go with my lungs and scream. Really loudly.
    The fawn hears me and skips into a run for its life.
    â€˜Throw the spear,’ I hear Ug yelling from behind me.
    But instead of throwing the spear, I keep screaming and sprint after the fawn, following it around trees and over logs.
    The fawn is running from me, and I am running from Ug, Saleeka and everything else that has anything to do with the mountain.
    I hear Ug and Saleeka call to me as they follow, but they have no way of keeping up. I’m too fast for them.
    I run through the forest as far as I can, losing sense of time.
    I run.
    And run.
    And run.
    The muscles in my legs are about to give up, but just as I’m about to drop to the ground, I break through the woods and find myself in open grassland.
    I see the fawn from the corner of my eye, running on ahead and out of sight.
    I collapse to my knees, my chest rising and falling, trying to refill my body with air.
    But I’m not concerned with my lack of breath. Before me, the land has opened up into a new world. A steady breeze blows air into my face, fanning my amazement even further. It’s a view that I never expected to see from this vantage. Ahead of me is the river. It is swollen and blue, lapping at its banks as if it has anticipated my arrival.
    â€˜You’re here at last, Helix,’ it says to me. ‘Welcome.’

My spear has gone – I must have dropped it somewhere behind me. I hear Saleeka screeching at me from the woods’ edge. But I don’t care. The river has taken hold of me. I know it’s forbidden. I know it’s dangerous. I’m sure there are unimaginable perils lurking beneath its surface. But I still don’t care.
    I rise to my feet, doubled over and still breathing heavily. I look up from my toes to the river and beyond.
    The river people are close and real now, not just dots in the distance. Their skin and hair is darker than mountain folks’. Their bodies look leaner, but not in a weak way. They wear a decoration around their necks – a string threaded with colourful objects.
    Their roundhouses sit heavily on the land, as if they’ve always been there. From the mountain, they lookedcrude and makeshift. But now I can see details that were not visible before. The curved mud walls are decorated with patterns of crisscrossed lines. The timbers across the roof are much heavier than I expected and look to have been felled from mature trees. And then there’s the roof thatching over and under the timbers that is thick and well made. I imagine it would withstand the worst of the weather.
    Beyond the roundhouses are fields. Shoots of greenery sprout up in neat rows. This must be the food that grows from the mud. To the side of the fields are oxen, which are tethered to poles in the ground.