Erling looked through the leafycanopy to the ground below. He didn’t see anything to be concernedabout, but the uneasy feeling didn’t leave him. Then movementcaught his eye. He watched closely and soon made out soldiers headingfor the tree he and Toemeka hid in.
His heart jumped to his throat.How had they found them? Even as he asked, he knew. Cadmus must havebeen waiting for Toemeka to contact Michio, sensing when she left herbody. He must have traced her Light Body to her physical bodysomehow. Erling now regretted suggesting such a perilous plan.
Toemeka’s chest rose and fellin short nervous breaths.
“Toe, wake up. We have to getout of here.”
There was no response.
He gave her a shake. “Come backto your body.”
She remained in a trance-likestate,
Hundreds of birds suddenly flewinto the air with cries of alarm. He peered down through the leavesto see what startled them. Far below a soldier started climbing upthe trunk.
***
Michioreappeared in front of Toemeka. Isensed you were in trouble.
Ican’t return to my body.
I’llbring you back.He took her hand. Focuson your physical body.
She visualized sitting besideErling and imagined the feel of the bark behind her back and beneathher legs. She heard alarmed bird songs and felt a subtle shift.Opening her eyes, she was back in her physical body in a heavy rainshower.
“Toemeka, you’re back!”Erling exclaimed. “We have to get out of here. Rochambeau tracedyou and soldiers are just below us climbing the tree!”
She scrambled to her feet andhurried along the branch after him, heading toward the limbs ofneighboring trees. Below her, the nearest soldier had almost reachedthe branch they were on.
“Run!” Erling yelled as hestarted racing toward the neighboring tree branches. She followedclose behind, but rain made the branch slippery and keeping herbalance became increasingly difficult.
“Stop or I’ll shoot,” asoldier yelled.
Ahead of her, Erling stopped toglance back. A soldier stood near the trunk where the branch theystood on connected to the tree. His blaster was aimed at them.
“Don’t stop!” Toemekaexclaimed. “He won’t shoot me and can’t get a clear shot of youwith me in the way.”
“They’ve shot at you before.”
“Go. Cadmus wants me alive.”
Erling tore along the tree limband she followed, afraid of being shot in the back.
The branches of neighboring treesintertwined with the branches of the tree they were on. When thelimbs became thick enough, Erling jumped to the neighboring tree. Heturned to look back just as Toemeka jumped. She wobbled unsteadilyand he seized her arm to stabilize her.
“Got your balance?” he asked.
“Yes, go.” She dashed afterErling, heading for the tree trunk. His foot slipped on the wet barkand he fell to one knee, then scrambled up and moved deeper under thecover of the tree canopy. They reached the trunk, then climbed frombranch to branch, encircling the tree, protected from the worst ofthe rain by its large leaves.
Toemeka glanced back. “He’sfollowing us.”
“More soldiers are probablyclimbing this tree. Keep going.”
***
When Michio shifted his attentionback to his physical body, he discovered it was raining. He rose andglanced around for Jake.
“Any luck?” Jake askedwalking over.
“Yes, I connected with Toemeka.She and Erling were going back to search for us. After all that’shappened, can you believe she’d even consider such a foolish thing?She knows Cadmus is tracking her.”
“I’d be surprised if shewasn’t considering it. You don’t know what Toemeka’s made of ifyou think she’d leave us to perish at Cadmus’ hands.”
Michio bristled at theimplication that Jake knew Toemeka better than he did.
Jake kept talking. “Thisprojecting-out-of-the-body-thing is pretty useful. Maybe I’ll getBreezy to teach me how to do it.”
“Good luck,” Michio mumbledunder his breath as he mounted the axterdon.
He helped Jake up and kicked thebeast in its sides. The creature lifted its heavy tail off the groundand began racing through the forest as if it sensed danger.
After several hours, the axterdonshowed no signs of fatigue even though it was burdened with theweight of two large men. When it grew dark, they stopped for thenight and ate some dried meat-and-berry mixture Kumaroo had packedfor them.
“Did Kumaroo include food forthe axterdon?” Michio asked.
Jake glanced over and saw theaxterdon chewing on leaves. “Looks like it can forage for food.”He yawned. “Do you mind taking the first shift? I’m wasted.”
“I’ll wake you in a fewhours; then we need to keep traveling.”
“I don’t think we can travelin the dark. It’s too hard to see. How can you not be dead tired?You haven’t slept more than a few hours in the last two days.”
“I haven’t recently beenwounded like you.”
“I need to sleep even when I’min the best of health.” Jake curled up in one of the furs.
Fully attentive, Michio listenedto the night sounds. He hadn’t heard or seen signs of soldiers allday. After determining they were safe for the moment, he focusedwithin, filling his body with Light and Sound. Soon warm energyradiated through him and the cold, weariness, and emotional stressfell away.
He felt a ripple in the air, thenMaster Jadock appeared before him, smiling warmly. The Master wasdressed in a pure white robe with gold trim. He touched his thumb tohis forehead and bowed to Michio. “You’re doing much better atkeeping your balance, no matter what happens in the outer world.”
Michio returned the greeting andsaid, “This was a test?”
“You are always being tested togauge your worthiness of carrying the mantle of power.” MasterJadock faded away.
After a few hours, Michio stoodand walked around to stay awake and stretch his legs. The moon hadrisen and small patches of soft light shone through the trees.
He heard a branch crack andfroze, his heart pumping. It could be an animal, but instinct toldhim it wasn’t. Probably a scout hunting for them. He crept silentlyback to Jake and touched the man’s shoulder. “Jake,” hewhispered.
Jake jerked awake. “What isit?” he asked, groggily.
“We have to go.”
As they mounted the axterdon, asoldier burst forward through the trees and fired upon them. Theaxterdon roared, staggered and then started running on its two hindlegs.
“The axterdon’s been hit!”Jake said. “What’ll we do?”
“Just hang on. It doesn’tseem to be slowing him down.”
The panicked animal raced throughthe woods, weaving through the trees so
