24. Exodus

CASCADE

CHAPTER 24

Entin was gone.

Cascade awoke just after dawn and was instantly worried when he couldn't locate his lover. He rushed out of his cave and onto the trail, only to stumble right into Entin. His face was covered in flecks of blood, and he looked as though he hadn't slept. Cascade grabbed him by the arms and searched his face.

"It is done. Harlak is dead," Entin whispered.

"He's what?" Cascade gasped.

"He's dead, eaten by the gods atop Mount Storm."

Entin looked sad. No, not sad—tired. His big eyes were bloodshot, and his gentle face looked almost like that of a stranger. It was as though he'd somehow aged overnight. But Cascade's love for him didn't waver. He was determined to weather any storm that came their way together. Always. They were a tribe. A chorus of howls from nearby made him freeze.

"The monsters are close," T'reer said urgently.

Cascade had heard him and Aiel coupling in the night. They appeared beside Entin and Cascade now, spears in hand.

"We need to warn the others and get to the graveyard of the mastodons," Entin said.

"Quick. Do as he says," Cascade said. "You two run the trails and round up as many as possible, but be fast. We'll go to Main Cave and load supplies onto the sleds. I think our only hope is to run. Maybe we were always meant to run. I don't know anymore. I used to think there would be glory in bloodshed, that we might avenge our ancestors somehow and set the old stories right. I realize now that was just a legend, like any other. What I want now is to survive. Go, save as many as you can!"

He gripped Entin's hand and ran with him down to Main Cave.

Packing the sleds took precious moments, but Cascade knew they wouldn't have time to forage on the run. He had no idea how far the Wolves might go to hunt them down. In the legends, they'd played games with their prey for months before finally delivering the killing blow to his people. Death was a sport to them.

"I'm sorry, by the way, for robbing you of your blood oath," Entin admitted.

Cascade paused and looked at him in the dim light of the cave. Entin was the wisest person Cascade had ever met—perhaps the gentlest, too. But this new side of him was anything but the tender, nature-loving person he'd come to know. A righteous fury had ignited in his eyes, and Cascade was enraptured by it. At that moment, he knew that he would follow that light anywhere.

"I could never be mad at you. Justice was done. That's all that ever mattered to me. Now come. The howls are drawing near," he said.

Cascade kissed Entin gently on the lips and then wiped some of Harlak's blood from his cheek with his thumb. "I will follow you to the end of the earth. I'm yours, and you are mine, until the spirits take us," he whispered.

Entin stared into his eyes, clasped him by the back of the head, and kissed him passionately.

"If you ever want to kiss again, I suggest you get moving," a voice interrupted.

Cascade turned and saw his mother and several other tribe elders at the mouth of the cave. They carried spears and had painted their faces in Mountainhome's war patterns.

"Mother, what are you doing? Surely you don't intend to fight? We need to run! Now!" Cascade implored.

"Cascade, you are right to run. But we are old. We have lived our lives. We'd only slow you down. We've spent all these generations waiting for this moment. Let us avenge our ancestors. You have your lives still ahead of you. Run and seize them. I love you, son, but we are doing this. We will hold them off for as long as we can." She cried as she spoke, but her mouth formed the smile he'd always looked to for a laugh or support.

"I can't leave you here—you've got to come! Mother! Please, this is madness!"

"Shhhh. It is our time. Go. Mountainhome will always live on in here."

She placed her hand on his heart.

"I love you, Mom," Cascade sobbed.

"I love you too. You've made me and your father very proud. I will see you again when we meet as spirits."

"Goodbye," he whispered.

He could barely look at her. Tears streamed down his face and burned his eyes. He hugged her tightly and breathed in the scent of the oil she used in her hair. She was the only family he had left, yet he knew he must leave her. A scream broke out nearby, and she gently pushed him away. He closed his eyes, then turned and left the cave with Entin. It took all his strength not to rush back to her and fight by her side.

To his relief, Aiel and T'reer were already waiting for them on the trail.

"Where are the others?" Cascade asked incredulously.

He'd expected a small army to be ready for them. The elders were only a tiny fraction of the tribe, numbering maybe thirty in total. There should have been many hundreds more.

"Massacred. All of them. The Wolves must have scouted the caves and ambushed them in the night," T'reer said quietly.

His face was ashen, and Aiel looked like she'd seen a spirit. But another scream cut their conversation short. Whooping howls and yelps erupted from the forest in every direction.

"Go!" Entin screamed.

The four took off from Mountainhome with the Wolves at their heels. Screams sounded behind them as the remaining defenders met their doom. The Wolves had finally come.