Last to Fall

ch 14

—current time—

Alita-

By sunrise, we were on the move again and with the difficulty of communicating I managed to convince azriel to take us towards the river. my hand was burning a lot more, and I felt like I was getting hot flashes every once in a while… I hadn’t looked at the cut for the past two days nor have I cleaned it so I’m not surprised that it hurts…

I finished off the last fruit I had saved in my bag but I needed to get something else to eat and soon, I wonder if I can get azriel to build another fire or hunt an animal?...

As we walked I pulled out the map and studied the area. Just down the river seemed to be a large drop, possibly a cliff, and northwest of us looked to be a mountainous area… we were getting closer to the river and I noticed azriel was a bit off?...

Well as off as an alien stranger that I knew nothing about, could be… he doesn’t exactly act normal by human terms but that’s to be expected… I mean the man eats raw meat, growls, climbs trees, has an attitude half the time, and has a problem with my hair…

Sighing I shook my head, weird doesn’t even begin to describe him… I looked up from the map to see him looking around the area cautiously.

Was he worried about that monster we encountered yesterday?...just the thought of that thing sends a shiver down my spine.

As we got closer to the river, the trees and foliage started to thin out. And the riverbank became visible as we walked up to the tree line.

Ariel stopped in front of me and used his spear to block me from walking out of the tree line. He was carefully scanning the area and looking to the other side of the river as if expecting to see something pop out.

“Ke’et..” He whispered. And I nodded in understanding before he walked out of the trees onto the river bank. He frequently looked to the other side of the river searching for something…

After a few minutes of walking around, he called out my name. “Alita!”

Poking my head over a bush to look out he waved me over and I quickly made my way out of the trees.

He set his spear down against some rocks then kneeled down next to the water to cup some in his hands and drink.

The river was clear as crystal and didn’t have a strong current but, On the other side, there was a steep cliff side that looked to be about ten feet tall, almost like a wall of sorts.

Moving over to him I filled my flask up and drank from it sighing happily at The cool refreshing clear water.

He then stood up and grabbed his spear before stepping a few feet into the river, searching through the water. I watched as he slowly waded through until he spotted something, stopped, and pulled back his spear before throwing it a few feet away into the river.

I got to my feet curious as to what he was doing but quickly realized what he had caught once he pulled his spear from the water, with some kind of long snake-like fish on his spearhead.

It has a long slender body that was about three feet long, covered in scales with a fishtail and sail fin on its back, it was silver in color with four red eyes and a mouth full of sharp teeth.

At any other time, I’d probably pass on the alien sushi but my stomach was growling in protest, I couldn’t pass up another meal…

He came back to the bank of the river and found a larger rock to set the snake fish on while he cut it up. Once he had a few pieces cut he brought them over to me, and held it out for me to take. The meat was pink in color, like salmon but the thought of eating it raw still made my stomach churn, “sa’te” he urged.

Shaking my head I pulled back away from his offering making him a bit frustrated. How was I supposed to tell him we don’t and most of the time can’t eat raw meat…

Seeing some sticks on the ground I gathered them up making a small pile and tried to show him what I needed. “Fire!”

It only took a moment for him to understand but he seemed unsure about the idea and kept glancing at the other side of the river.

He sighed before standing up and going to the treeline grabbing some sticks for a fire. I smiled and looked over to the river, moving to the shallow water.

I washed my face and arms the best I could then went back to the small fire azriel was building. Along with the sticks, he gathered he also had something that looked like slime, that he put in the center of the fire.

I watched curiously as he pulled something from his bag to start the fire, like flint and steel he made sparks and the strange slime immediately lit up.

Okay then… note to self, mysterious slimes are highly flammable…

Once the fire was set I grabbed the chunks of meat he had cut and a long stick, making a fish kabob of sorts, azriel watched like a confused puppy.

Setting the stick over the fire I started to cook the meat, he seemed less than pleased with me scorching the food he had just caught and I’m sure if he spoke my language, he would be protesting right about now…

Once the fish was a nice crispy light brown on the outside I took a bite out of a chunk and I swear azriel pulled away, seeming a bit grossed out. But I was too overwhelmed to care, it was so good!

I practically moaned in delight while eating the rest of the meat, now this is what I would call a five-star meal!

Ariel simply watched me finish the meat off before going back to the dead fish to cut up the rest of the meat.

After eating a few more pieces, azriel finished off the rest of the raw meat at his own pace, keeping a lookout, while leaning back against one of the larger rocks.

As we sat there, an idea popped into my head and I grabbed my bag, digging through it. Pulling out the notebook and pencil I had gotten from the survival kit I smiled.

The whole reason these were added to survival kits wasn’t to help anyone who was sent here to help them survive, it was for exiles and criminals to write down their last thoughts, or last wishes and regrets before they died, and they could record their last moments in life…. The thought made my smile falter a bit but I quickly shook my head to get rid of those dark thoughts.

Opening the book I started writing in it and azriel watched curiously from his spot. He seemed to get more and more suspicious of what I was doing, each time I looked up at him, then back to the book. The grin on my face only grew as I continued.

After probably about an hour or two I finally finished my sketch and admired my handy-work I wasn’t the best at art but I still enjoyed it…

Looking up for the last time, azriel looked between me and the book clearly lost as to what I’ve been doing. I leaned over and handed him the book showing him what I had drawn. “It’s you azriel!”

His eyes widened slightly as he looked at the page that I had drawn a picture of him on, he was completely enamored, to say the least, and I giggled from seeing the shocked expression on his face. Once he finished looking over it he handed the book back.

Leaning back I closed the book and I set it back inside my bag…

Something whizzed past my head hitting the ground where I had just been a moment ago. Looking up I saw an arrow with bright-colored feathers attached to it embedded in the gravel before me.

Azriel jumped to his feet, alarmed, and faced the cliff on the other side of the river while grabbing his spear.

Looking over to the cliff I noticed multiple natives standing along the treeline, two of which had bows and arrows, and the other three had spears and knives. Although they were similar to azriel they all had nearly identical markings painted on their body that were different from his.

I was still confused and in shock as one of them pulled back on their bow with another arrow aimed right at me.

“Alita! ” azriel shouted before grabbing me and pulling me out of the way as another arrow came flying at me.

I stumbled and he quickly pulled me to my feet before grabbing my wrist and running into the trees. I struggled to keep my footing and keep up with azriel as we ran.

“Why are they trying to kill us!?”

My foot caught on something and I fell to the ground, with my wrist slipping out of his grasp. I fell to the ground hard and narrowly avoided hitting a rock. Azriel stopped and quickly turned around to help me up, clearly panicking.

An arrow flew past my head and hit azriel in the shoulder making him snarl. “Azriel!” He grabbed the arrow and pulled it out, looking at the arrowhead before facing our pursuers who were quickly gaining on us.

He threw the arrow down and grabbed me around the waist before throwing me over his shoulder and running. I squealed at first but didn’t struggle, considering the other men chasing us started shooting more arrows at us, this was the best way to avoid being shot…

Blue blood was dripping down his other arm from his injury but he didn’t slow down. I don’t understand what’s going on, shouldn’t they be friends or something?!

In the heat of the moment I realized we were still right next to the river and heading northwest…

wait…the cliff! It’s a dead end!

“Azriel! We can’t go that way! Azriel!”

Before I knew it we were at the cliff edge right where the river ended and dropped off the edge as a massive waterfall.

Azriel came to a sudden stop and looked over the edge clearly agitated and worried. He set me down and scanned the area looking for a way down, he noticed a rock face near the waterfall we could climb down.

“Alita!” He strapped his spear to his back and crouched down.

“You’ve gotta be kidding…” With some hesitation, I put my arms and legs around him, and he made his way over and carefully started climbing down.

Glancing down at the river below I felt a sinking feeling in my stomach, afraid I would lose my grip and fall. Despite his injured shoulder, Azriel was able to climb the rock wall but the waterfall made the stone cliff slippery and each missed step had me squealing and tightening my grip.

Shouting from above grabbed our attention as the men who were chasing us peered over the edge of the cliff. One of them threw a spear down towards us and I screamed, as Azriel pressed his body against the rock wall to avoid us getting hit.

He hurried to climb down faster and a few arrows flew past us. We were almost halfway down when Azriel’s foot slipped and we nearly fell. He struggled to get his footing back only to look up and see we were at the perfect angle to get shot.

“Azriel!” I tried to warn him and he glanced down below us at the water, then back at the natives trying to kill us.

One of the archers aimed down at us and to my absolute horror Azriel just let go, and we both fell down into the river below…