Chapter 66: Fragments Of The Past

Meanwhile, deep in the belly of the jungle—

where the air hung thick and wet like a damp blanket,

where sunlight fought its way through tangled canopies and lost,

Lara moved like she belonged there.

She crouched near the riverbank, jungle knife flashing in her grip. With precise strokes, she stripped three sturdy branches down to their cores. Bark peeled away. Points carved sharp. She smoothed each tip against a flat stone until they gleamed pale and deadly.

She did not rush, nor was her movement desperate.

It was calculated.

The waterfall thundered a few meters away, its roar masking smaller sounds. Mist clung to her skin. The current shimmered silver beneath the morning light.

Lara stepped into the shallow part of the river.

The water was cold enough to bite, but she didn’t flinch. She stilled herself, becoming another shadow among shadows. Even her breathing softened.

A large carp drifted too close, lazy and unsuspecting.

In one fluid motion—

Swoosh!

The makeshift spear pierced clean through the fish’s body. The water exploded into ripples.

Two more swift thrusts followed. Efficient. Brutal. Precise.

Three fish. No wasted movement. No second chances.

Lara studied the three fish and the makeshift spears. She realized her skills weren’t random. She was good at it.

Even she admitted that she was not simple.

She cleaned the fish quickly at the bank, fingers working with surgical familiarity. Blood washed downstream. She gathered wild onions growing at the riverbank and dug up fresh ginger from the damp soil, snapping the roots free with a twist of her wrist.

Then she disappeared.

Not down a path, but into a concealed, narrow crack between clusters of boulders, barely visible unless you knew where to look.

Lara slipped sideways into it, shoulders brushing rock, then vanished behind the curtain of cascading water.

The cave behind the waterfall was hidden from plain sight. Nature’s vault.

“Mommy, you’re back!” Shay’s high, excited voice bounced off the cavern walls.

Lara lifted a finger instantly.

Even whispers became magnified as they echoed.

Shay clamped her mouth shut, eyes wide.

“But Mommy, the waterfalls is so loud, I am afraid you would not hear me,” Shay spoke, softer now.

Lara chuckled. The girl was right, but what if the echo of her voice reached unwelcomed ears?

“What took you so long?” she whispered after a moment, softer now.

Lara lifted the skewered fish with a faint smile. “Breakfast.”

The scent of fresh fish hit the cave air as she set up the fire near the cave’s mouth, just behind the waterfall’s veil. The constant spray masked the smoke, thinning it before it could rise high enough to betray them.

Smart placement.

Sandro’s stomach growled audibly. Shay giggled, then pressed a hand over her own rumbling belly.

Lara threaded the wild onions and ginger over the fish before laying them across heated stones layered with cleaned leaves.

The skin crackled almost immediately. The smell was rich, smoky, mouthwatering.

For a moment, it almost felt normal.

She took a hollow bamboo tube she’d lined with packed mud and filled it with river water, propping it carefully over the fire. The mud shielded the bamboo from burning through. Steam soon began to curl from the top.

The boiled water was for Shay.

The river looked clean—but looks lied. Parasites didn’t care about clarity. Lara and Sandro could gamble with their stomachs if they had to.

But not Shay. She grew up pampered and drank only distilled water.

The children hovered close as the fish roasted, eyes tracking every flip and turn. When Lara finally handed them their portions, they dug in immediately, heat forgotten in their hunger.

“Mommy,” Shay beamed between bites, cheeks puffed, “it feels like we’re camping. I’m having fun.”

Lara almost choked.

Camping.

Sandro froze mid-bite and glanced at Lara. Their eyes met.

Neither corrected her.

Let the child keep her illusion.

After breakfast, the two children scratched letters and little drawings into the cave floor with a charred stick, inventing games to pass the time. Their soft murmurs echoed against the stones.

Lara sat apart, satellite phone in hand.

Battery dead. The screen wouldn’t even flicker.

The last message she’d sent was from the top of a tree that morning—risking exposure just for a sliver of signal. Since then, nothing.

And now, the phone was out of battery.

Finally, exhaustion overcame her. Less than two months was not long enough for her body, which had been dormant for a year, to recover.

Muscles that had forgotten strength were being pushed beyond limits. Her limbs felt heavier than the jungle air.

She leaned back against the cool cave wall.

The roar of the waterfall dulled into white noise.

Her eyelids sank slowly.

Even warriors had limits.

And for the first time since they’d run, exhaustion claimed her.

Sleep did not come gently. It dragged her under.

Lara tossed against the cold stone floor, breath uneven, fingers twitching as memories clawed their way back.

In her dream, she was younger—smaller—standing barefoot at the mouth of another cave.

Darker than this one. Deeper.

She remembered the night her father had pointed toward the black opening and told her to walk in.

No torch. No escort. No mercy.

The cavern swallowed light whole. The deeper she went, the tighter the walls seemed to press in. Air thinned. Silence grew loud. Every drip of water echoed like footsteps chasing her.

It had been a test. Not of survival but of obedience and overcoming her greatest fears.

A towering figure stood at the cave’s mouth. His face blurred by shadow, but his presence unmistakable—massive, immovable, absolute.

Her father.

His voice had always carried weight.

“You are the eldest,” he had told her. “You will carry this family’s honor. The feud does not end with me. It continues through you.”

The feud with the so-called military family.

A war passed down like an inheritance.

“You don’t get to be afraid.”

His silhouette filled the entrance like a gatekeeper of fate.

“You are my daughter. You should be fearless!”

The word echoed as the cave walls closed in—

Lara’s eyes snapped open.

Cold glinting steel kissed her throat.

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