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Salith was on edge.
She had been resting between the wooden wall and the press of her siblings, warm and safe, the vibration of their shared breathing doing its duty of lulling her to sleep. All of a sudden that vibration had become a deeper rumble, then a rattle that had torn her from any chance at rest. Jolted awake, her eyes had scanned the frightened and confused faces of her siblings, before finally landing on Alitha.
The young one had been a constant presence at her side since she was dropped from above. That first night Salith had seen her struggle to claim her flies when feeding occurred; she had, understandably, shied away from the giant who daily ripped their sky apart. Salith hadn’t been willing to watch her starve. She had snatched an extra bite and shoved it under Alitha’s hungry mouth.
The look she had received then had been nothing short of worship.
Now Alitha was frightened and silently pleading to her for help. Salith was moving fast, scurrying over bodies, eyes on her, but the jolting continued. They were all swaying slightly, fragments of light spilling in from cracks in the walls she had not known were there, their bodies seeming to move in two directions at once. It was all too much, but Alitha was still looking at her and Salith had to move.
There was noise as well. Not just the sounds that came from many moving limbs, or the thuds as the siblings jostled to and fro. No, there was that strange, wavering tone that sometimes accompanied their feasts or the introductions of new members of their family. It was always low and broken up by pauses, though now it seemed the tone fluctuated, as if it were coming from two sources. It suddenly reminded Salith of the ways in which she communicated with her siblings, the patterns of their clicks. The connection was chilling.
Despite the treacherous ground she managed to make it to Alitha, in the process stepping on one of Zaxa’s legs and earning herself a sharp hiss in response. When Alitha huddled against her,Salith provided warmth and wished she could explain what was happening.
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It went on like that for some time.
Salith had, in truth, no real concept of the passage of time. She knew patterns, cycles of being. Sometimes when the giant came the world was bright and it was in these times that she felt the most alert. If the sky had not opened for some time she began to feel tired. Whenever she came out of that state she was alert again, back to playing with her siblings.
This was such a sudden interruption into that pleasant rhythm. The world was shaking and it seemed like it would never stop. The sounds from outside would disappear and then suddenly come back, more varied but just as confusing. Alitha was crying and Salith could do nothing but hold her and murmur softly, hoping to soothe, feeling more powerless than she ever had before.
Then, abruptly, the world crashed down.
The sudden end to their swaying was accompanied by a bang so loud Salith could feel it ringing through her body even after the noise stopped.
Then, blinding light.
Then, falling.
She had no chance to get her bearings. She was tumbling head first, limbs flailing in every direction. Her surroundings were spinning, a mess of colour and the bodies of her siblings tumbling past her. The fall seemed to last for an eternity but the end was just as shocking as the beginning. She hit something hard and was left dazed for a moment.
She gathered herself but it was still all too much. The space they found themselves in was far too wide. No longer was she pressed against her siblings – instead, nothing but a horrible vast empty space existed around her body. The light was blinding and the color palette she was used to, the solid browns of her wooden home, were cut through with garish hues that hurt to look at. All around her her siblings were scurrying, trying to make sense of what had happened. Salith had a brief, fleeting thought that they might have passed into another world, but when she paused to examine where that thought might have come from it seemed to slip from her grasp.
She was shivering with fear at this idea when suddenly the empty space around her was no more and blessed warmth took its place. She didn’t have to look down to know it was Alitha. At the feel of her body she felt her own heart rate slowing, her breathing easing into calmness.
Again, time passed and Salith could not say how long it had been since they had entered this hellish, seemingly endless void. All around was chaos but she knew she had to provide some sense of stability for Alitha. She thought back to those worshiping eyes and the way in which she had known, then, what her duty was.
She would not falter.
She kept herself pressed tight to Alitha, murmuring softly. There was still the constant movement as her siblings struggled to right themselves, but she found that staying still allowed her to get a better sense of her surroundings. The space was big but not so different from their wooden home. It had four walls, a floor, and a covering that kept the sky out. The details were different – the floor underneath her was strangely soft, for example – but once the two of them were no longer moving and she had comfort from Alitha she could right herself.
Just in time for one wall to be torn open and a giant to appear.
She had never seen the entirety of one before, only glimpses of horrible pale faces with only two eyes. Now there was one before her, impossibly large. It stood on two of its legs, with two others hanging limply at its sides, but that was all the limbs she could see. Its eyes were wide and staring and, again, there were only two of them. It was frozen; she was mirroring it. Her siblings rushed about, some looking on, others running away in fright.
For what felt like an eternity she stared at the creature. It seemed to be trembling but that might just have been her. She did, however, feel the unmistakable tremor of fear running through it.
Salith felt like the giant met her eyes.
Then it was gone, the wall turning solid once more in its wake.
She wondered, briefly, what it had seen or sensed in this room that frightened it so. The idea of something causing a giant to look and act like that curdled in her stomach.
She needed to get out of here as well.
She didn’t have very long to plot, as it seemed that the wall remained solid for only a few seconds before breaking open again. This time there was a different giant, taller and fairer, and this one strode into the room with a determined gait. He scanned the room with his ghastly head, and then reached for a bundle of leather that sat on the desk, knocking some of her siblings to the floor without a care in the world.
Then it turned, its horrible head seeming to fix on something on the far wall. There were markings there that Salith hadn’t noticed before, and as she focused on them they began to take some form. She couldn’t make out what they were but they appeared to be an alien language. The giant went to the wall and with one swift movement tore the markings out of existence. Salith shuddered involuntarily at the display of strength.
Alitha was curled against her, her body shaking with sobs.
Salith remembered that look in Alitha’s eyes from that first day.
She nudged her head against Alitha’s, pulling her gaze up. Then she moved, quickly, knowing the younger one would follow her.
As the giant turned once more, looking to gather more items up, she heard the screams of her siblings that were crushed underfoot and willed herself to push them out of her mind. She knew they would return in dreams, but she could not stop and mourn now.
She focused on the sound of Alitha’s many legs as she sought out the solidness of a wall, pressing her body against the wood, trying to sense any crack or flaw in the barrier that would ensure their freedom. She heard a sound that was the door closing behind the second giant, but she didn’t want to wait and see if one would return, or if what the first giant saw would obliterate them all.
In the end it was Alitha that found their escape. Salith had felt something pulling her back and turned, frightened, ready to fight, only to witness Alitha scuttling through a crack between the wall and the ground. A rush of elation washed over her as she squeezed her body flat and followed, into the welcoming dark.
The space they found themselves in was cooler and blessedly smaller. The walls were the same dull color as their home, the sounds muted. Salith allowed herself a few short breaths, her eyes on Alitha, standing just in front of her. Safe.
Salith thought of her remaining siblings in the other room. She hoped they could get out, that they could find their way to this safety. She briefly thought of returning and leading them but there did not seem to be enough time. She needed to protect her charge.
Alitha leaned forward just a bit, nuzzling Salith’s body once more. Salith allowed the contact for a moment; took comfort in it.
Then she led the way.