Lyra Stellwyn's Arc

Chapter 5 of 6

Lyra had just closed her eyes against the wheel when the crying started. Thin, high, coming from somewhere along the rock face. Rei went rigid on the dash. Noel lifted his head from the hatchling and stared at the window. "Snare," he said. "Close." Lyra listened. The sound cut again, ragged now. Not the wind. A living thing pulling against wire. She pushed the door open. Rain hit her face sideways off the ridge. "Stay with the hatchling," she said. "Keep the cab warm." "Lyra. We don't have the hours." "I know." She took the flashlight and the wire cutters from the glovebox and climbed into the dark. The rock face rose black on her left. The cries pulled her along it maybe forty steps. Then the beam caught eyes. Silver, wide, low to the ground. A cub. Black fur, wet and torn along the ribs. Faint silver marks running down its flank. A snare wire had cinched around its back leg and drawn tight to a stake in the ground. The leg was swollen. Blood ran black in the flashlight. The cub bared small teeth at her. It could not have been more than a few weeks old. Lyra crouched an arm's length away. "I know," she said. "I know." She set the flashlight on a stone so the beam lit them both. Rei landed on her shoulder without a sound. She worked the cutters under the wire. The cub thrashed and caught her wrist with a claw. She kept her hands steady. The wire snapped. The leg came free and the cub tried to run and fell. She pulled off her coat and threw it over the cub the way she'd been taught with hurt things. It went still under the weight. She gathered it up, coat and all, and pinned it against her chest. Back at the truck Noel opened the door for her. He saw the coat move. He did not ask. "The leg's crushed," she said. "I can splint it. It'll cost us the morning." He looked at the hatchling in his lap. Then at her wrist, where blood was already running to her elbow. "The lab notices the fox at dawn," he said. "You know that." "I know that." She laid the cub on the seat between them and got the notebook and the last clean rag. She worked by the dome light. The cub watched her with silver eyes and did not fight the splint. Rei sat on the headrest and went quiet in the way that meant nothing was hunting them yet. When it was done Lyra started the engine. The sky was already graying at the edge. "We drive," she said. "We're half a day late and one animal heavier. The coast doesn't wait." Noel counted the creatures in the cab. Fox. Hatchling. Cub. Rei. He got to four and did not stop there.