The Shards by Gary Alan Wassner

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    “What could have caused this area to cave in so?” Tamara asked, leaning over the edge precariously, casually unbothered by the sheer drop.
    “I certainly do not know, and if I were you I would not venture so close. You may slip and then where would our quest be?” she asked nervously. Angeline was unsure of whether it bothered her more for Tamara to be leaning into the chasm than if she were doing it herself. “Please, sister, back away a bit if only to ease my mind.”
    “Does it disturb you that much?” she replied.
    “Yes, you cannot imagine. For those who have no fear of heights, it is impossible for them to understand the feelings that one who does experiences. I practically swoon when you do that.”
    Tamara put her hands beside her and began to push herself backward, at least enough to relieve the tension in her friend’s expression. As she did so, she looked behind her to make sure that she was not going to slide her ample bottom onto anything sharp, and she noticed what looked to be a swarm of insects heading in their direction from the east. There was a dark cloud, irregular in shape, that was moving steadily toward them as she watched.
    “Sister? Do you see what is approaching?” she asked Angeline calmly.
    Angeline straightened her back and looked in the direction that Tamara indicated with her outstretched hand.
    “I do, sister. It is too dark to be a storm could. It is pitch as night!” she observed, scrutinizing it as closely as she could.
    “And it changes shape as it moves,” Tamara commented, watching it closely herself. “Only a moment ago it was much more elongated. Now, it seems to be fattening up a bit.”
    “It is most certainly alive, sister! Or at least it is composed of things that are alive. No wind is causing it to assemble so,” she replied, touching her index finger to her tongue to moisten it and then holding it up to the air.
    “Yes, Angeline, I agree. And we appear to be directly in its path,” Tamara replied as she looked around her for some shelter. “There does not seem to be anywhere we can go to conceal ourselves.”
    “We don’t know that it is dangerous in any way. Maybe it will dissipate and not come this way at all,” Angeline replied optimistically.
    “Wishful thinking, my friend. I fear that we may be its sole purpose for being here to begin with,” Tamara rejoined ominously.
    “Why? Do you believe it to be more intelligent than the sum of its parts? It looks to be a swarm of bees or flies or the like.”
    “Here? An innocent swarm of flies so thick that we can see it from this distance? I think we had best assume otherwise, sister. What we carry with us will surely be desirous to others as well. We cannot sit here and wait to find out!” Tamara said, and she rose from her sitting position as if she was a lightweight young maiden.
    Angeline did not need another warning to follow. She too stood up on her long, muscular legs, shouldered her bow and arrows and began to scan the horizon for an alternative to where they now stood unprotected. But alas, her sharp eyes could spot nothing either that would afford them a means of protection.
    “We appear to have wandered to a place that is the least conducive to hiding, sister,” she said calmly, although her body was poised for action.
    “Yes, sister. It seems that we have indeed,” Tamara replied calmly, though her insides were churning.
    They both watched with growing interest as the cloud approached them, hoping upon hope that it would pass them by, and quite unsure as to how to defend themselves against it if they should actually be its target.
    “We can conceal ourselves by stirring up the dirt and debris around us,” Tamara said. “But the ground is so barren and rocky, I am afraid that there is not enough of anything loose upon it to hide even one of us successfully,” she observed with a slightly more desperate tone in her voice.
    Angeline had moved even further away from the edge of the