Free The Defiance (Brilliant Darkness) by A.G. Henley Page A

meet you in the caves." I reach up and find his ankle on the rung above my hand, passing as much love and protection through my touch as I can. Then I let go.
     I land with a squelch on the soggy earth and immediately race away from the caves, waving my arms and shouting. My feet twizzle under me and I almost lose my balance, but the distraction seems to work. The few creatures I can hear follow me, their feet sliding across the ground toward me.
    After a moment, I hear Eland scrambling in the other direction. I listen for sounds of the creatures nearing him, but hear only the rain spattering the ground. A creature shrieks from the direction of the caves. Too close to Eland.
    "Over here!" I pinwheel my arms toward where I heard the sick one. "I'm here! This way—I have food!"
    I don't have food. I don't have anything, except a desperate desire to buy my brother time. The sick ones surround me, gnashing their teeth. Did they understand me?
    "Eland, are you okay? Are you in the caves?" I shout.
    The sick one by the caves screams again . . . and so does Eland. I cry out, too. I want to run to him, but I don't dare draw more of the creatures there.
    My eyes water with dread and the hideous stench of the sick ones as I again wait to find out if my brother is alive or dead.
    A noise drifts through the rain; it sounds like a body hitting the ground.
    I slip and slide in that direction, hoping the creatures stay out of my way. I don't know if he's safely inside the caves, or outside of them. I lose my footing and fall in my hurry to get to Eland, barely noticing the mud that covers me.
    "Eland!" I shout. There's no answer. I creep through the muck, arms outstretched, searching for his body. My knees scrape against the hard rock, dirt, and gravel inside the cave mouth.
    I flail around, feeling only unforgiving stone.
    And then I find him, slumped like a forgotten water sack. He made it inside. I pull him into my arms.
    "Eland! Are you okay?"
    Nothing.
    "Eland?" I feel his face. His eyelids are closed, lips slack, breathing shallow. "What's wrong? Are you hurt?"
    He turns his head and retches. I dodge out of the way just in time. Then I hold him, making soothing sounds like Aloe used to when we were ill. I smooth his shaggy, soaked hair back from his face. His forehead is clammy.
    What's wrong with him? Is it shock, or exposure to the sick ones? Anxiety gnaws at me with sharp, needling teeth.
    I can't leave him alone to go fetch help. What if he came to with the creatures right outside? I’m more grateful than usual that the sick ones seem to hate the dark and cold of the caves enough to never come in.
    I have to get Eland inside by myself. I don't think I have the strength to lift and carry him, but when I have to, I do. I totter with him in my arms through the tunnel that leads to the main cave, shivering as my wet clothes stiffen in the increasingly frigid air. My thoughts flutter in all directions while I walk.
    I wonder what such close contact with the sick ones will do to Eland and how long it will take him to recover. I catalog the medical supplies I brought in for Marjoram, hoping she has what she needs to help him.
    And how will Moray take the news that he's going to be a father? What will he do?
    I think about Peree, praying he's safe. What will we do now that the ceasefire between our people seems to be over?
    And I consider Aloe's warning about the Three.
    Fox was like a foster father to Eland and me as we grew up, thanks to my close friendship with Calli. He and Acacia fed me, bandaged bloody knees and palms from my frequent falls, and scolded me when necessary, while Aloe was busy doing her duty as the Water Bearer. In other words, they treated me like their own child. If I can't trust Fox, whom can I trust?
    "Fancy meeting you here again, sweetheart."
    I'm not surprised the Three posted a guard after the cave fire, but why, why does it have to be Moray ? From the acrid smell in the air, I'd say he's standing next to