Chapter Three
Savich landed his craft above the timber line on one of British Columbia’s grand mountain ranges. He breathed deep of the bright and bitter cold air, relishing the purity of the snow. His former planet had a cold season, but it never snowed there. Savich grabbed a huge handful of the powder and squeezed it into a ball. He took a bite out of it, then looked around sheepishly. There was no one for a hundred-mile radius, he reminded himself. He took another bite and smiled.
He began his trek down the mountain, recalling the instructions Kumar had given him. He also had them programmed into his device, but he enjoyed the mental exercise. Centuries of survival mode had sculpted his physique into the ripped and carved body of a savage, but he had seldom enjoyed intellectual pursuits. Kumar occasionally brought him reading material or news of current events. He would never admit it, but Kumar’s visits had been like cool water on a hot day.
Once the deep and jeweled forest swallowed him up, Savich listened to the sounds of the Kwadacha Wilderness.
Kumar’s instructions were paltry. Savich was to locate an outpost of Resistance fighters in one of the cave systems between the Kwadacha Wilderness and the Northern Rocky Provincial Park. It was late Autumn. Most tourists would be making a hasty retreat while the Resistance fighters would be hunkering down for the winter. It was likely they had a cavern from which they were operating. It would explain the Krinar Guardians’ difficulty in pinpointing communications between them and other groups throughout North America.
Kumar was confident that Savich’s tracking skills would allow him to locate the headquarters and report back to Kumar. Then Savich was free to disappear into the wilds, if he so desired. Or he could return to the world he’d named Kavelt. Or, he could choose to live in a human city. He was still unwelcome back on Krina, but he had no desire to see that planet again. Or any of its people.
Savich traveled through the forest, breathing deep of the lodgepole pines and searching with his keen eyesight for trail sign. Anything that indicated a human’s presence. He used the stealth he’d acquired from centuries on the harsh planet. He passed rabbits and wolverines on the trail he made; they never even flinched.
He traveled for an hour, covering a lot of ground, and still found no sign of any humans. Thanks to Kumar, Savich knew all about the planet Earth and its grooming for the Krinar settlement. He also remembered stories of the seeding of planet Earth from his childhood, but humans had never been a part of his existence. They were lesser life forms and should be grateful for the Krinar race. Otherwise, Savich couldn’t say he’d formed an opinion about Earth’s current state. As an exile, he felt apart from not only Krina, but its citizens and government. Let them do what they would; it had no bearing on him or his life now.
Hunger gnawed in Savich’s stomach, but he found he no longer craved the taste of meat. Spending a few days with Kumar and his charl Mia, he rediscovered the light and flavorful diet of a variety of vegetables, fruits and grains. He used his sense of smell and sight to forage for edible plants and mushrooms while he was in the Kwadacha. He opted out of setting a campfire too, wanting to keep his presence invisible from anyone who might be in the woods with him. Although after another two hours of hiking, he had yet to see a single piece of human trash, garbage or otherwise. He amended his thoughts. Mia was a lovely little creature. While she didn’t tempt him, he could see how Kumar had been enchanted. Perhaps there were a handful of humans that were worth saving.
At night, Savich watched as the nocturnal Earth creatures crawled out of their holes and trees to explore and hunt. His night vision was excellent, even better than his Krinar brothers. He watched with amusement as a furry black and white beast waddled around the forest floor, sniffling among pine needles and a thick layer of dead leaves from the deciduous trees in the woods. He knew some of the animals from a cursory lesson on Earth’s flora and fauna but would have to pull up information on his device if he wanted more names.
He found a quiet glen with a slight opening above him and lay down to look up at the stars. The constellations here were vastly different from those seen on Krina or Kavelt. Kavelt was a harsh, unforgiving world. The reptiles were akin to something from Earth’s ancient history. His life on Kavelt had been hand to mouth, a constant fight for survival. And yet he had been comfortable there. He wore the danger like a cloak. Now, surrounded by much less deadly creatures, Savich could think, and suffer the pangs of his past more keenly. Perhaps the Elders wished to punish him in this way. At least on Kavelt, he didn’t have much leisure time to consider his past.
Frowning at the swirling feelings of guilt, hatred and disgust in his gut, he almost didn’t hear the scream. He closed his eyes and listened. There it was again. The unmistakable screech of a woman in pain. Savich jumped to his feet and easily found the direction from which the scream came. One more punctuated the thick blanket of night. He began to run, marking the source. If she stopped screaming, he would find it more difficult to track her down. He leapt over treefalls and boulders, scrubby underbrush and bracken. Silence gripped his chest in a cold grasp. Would he be too late? What was a woman doing in the middle of such a vast wilderness? He hadn’t found a single footstep or food wrapping in the hours since he’d landed up here. His sense of direction unerring, he continued running. Just as he was about to question, he heard a final guttural cry. Something about the noise reminded him of the scabika right before he slit its throat.