Glowly's Arc

Chapter 5 of 16

Glowly stepped onto the southern shore and felt her legs shake. The crossing had drained her. She reached for her pack to eat, but her fingers found only crumbs and an empty flask. Her food was gone. Her water was gone. The sun beat down on the dark ridge ahead, where her father's drowned steps waited. She needed to search that shore, but she could barely stand. "We can't go on like this," she told Nova. "No food. No water. We'll drop before we find anything." Nova pulled her big coat tight and scanned the rocks. "Then we don't search yet. We find shelter first." She pointed inland, past a shelf of gray stone. "There. See the shadow?" Glowly saw it. A cave mouth opened in the cliff, framed by tall stone fingers. She had no strength for hope, but she followed. The wolf pup trotted ahead, nose down, tail stiff. It reached the entrance and did not growl. That meant no danger inside. They stepped in. Glowly stopped. The cave was not empty. Someone had lived here. A lantern hung from a hook, still holding oil. Wooden crates stood stacked against one wall. A shelf held clay jars, cloth bundles, and small sacks tied with string. A shovel and a rope leaned in the corner. A rolled blanket sat ready. Nova whistled low. "Somebody set this up. And left it." Glowly opened a jar. Dried fish. She opened another and found strips of salted meat. Her hands shook harder now, from relief. Nova lifted a sealed clay pot and pried the lid. Water sloshed inside, clean and cool. "Drink slow," Glowly warned. But she gulped first, then passed the pot to Nova. The pup lapped from Glowly's cupped palm. The three of them ate on the cave floor while the tide roared outside. When the shaking stopped, Glowly looked around with clearer eyes. The supplies were old but sound. Someone had built this place to last. She ran her thumb over a mark carved into a crate lid. A rough shape, like a doorway with steps going down. Her breath caught. She dug in her pack and pulled out her father's map corner. The same shape. The drowned steps. The mark on the crate matched the mark in his hand. "He was here," she said. "My father stocked this cave. He made it this far." Nova leaned over the map. "So he lived. At least long enough to build a camp." Glowly filled the flask and packed dried fish into her bag. Strength came back into her arms. The cave had saved them, but it did more than that. It proved her father had reached this shore alive. His path did not end at the water. It went on, toward the ruin below the steps. She stood and faced the cave mouth. Beyond it lay the deeper channel, and the long green shape still waiting in the shallows.