Prologue Previous Chapter

Armis

Lam waved frantically as he ran down the riverside trail towards the group. Armis motioned for the others to stop, and a hush came over the others as the boy approached. “Around the next bend – there’s something in the water.”

“What do you mean?” Armis asked.

“A monster, a beast of some kind. Huge. It’s looking for fish or something.”

Armis nodded. “Okay. Lead me back up there. Everyone else, stay behind and stay alert.”

“I’m coming.” Barak stepped forward, gripping his spear, staring at Armis. A wave of anger swept through, and Armis closed his eyes to keep his temper. Choose your battles.

“Fine.” He turned and headed down the path, not bothering to see if Barak followed. Lam raced past, vanishing silently in the brush.

“How does he do that?” Barak wondered.

“What?”

“Move so quietly.”

Armis shrugged. “I don’t know. He must have a gift for it.”

Barak was quiet for a moment. “Have you seen what else he has a ‘gift’ for?”

Perplexed momentarily, Armis quickly recalled the near-constant companionship of Lam and Mika. “Yeah. Mika.”

“You need to do something soon if you don’t want her to end up carrying his child.”

Armis grimaced, feeling sick to his stomach. Already? But then, Reya was only a few months from her time – it wasn’t like Mika would be the first in the group. And then he winced. They would need to find a midwife for Reya, and soon. And a place to settle down. All of this walking wo-

Barak held his arm out, interrupting him in mid-thought. “Look,” he whispered, and pointed.

Without even noticing, Armis had come around the bend and over the rise. Before him, the river sparkled brightly with the afternoon sun. A huge dark creature shuffled awkwardly through the stream. Squinting, he could make out a large, wolf-like head with smushed-in features, a large round furry body, and short, but powerful looking arms and legs. Water dripped from its coat as it ambled over to the far shore, carrying a large fish between its jaws. Lying down in the sunlight, it devoured the meal in three bites.

“Let me kill it.”

Both Armis and Lam turned towards Barak. “What?” Armis demanded. Wait.. how did Lam get back here?

“I can take it..” Barak stood up, gripping his spear tightly.

“Sit down.” Armis hissed. “There’s no need to kill this creature. It’s already eaten.”

Barak frowned, and Armis could see the spark of defiance in his eyes. “Barak.” he said, preemptively, “leave it alone. Go tell the others to come up. Tell them to be as quiet as they can. Lam, keep scouting ahead. I’ll stay here and watch to make sure it doesn’t come over to this side of the river.

Barak stared back at Armis. Shaking his head, he started back down the path towards the others. Armis watched him for a moment, sighing in relief. “Lam, we need to talk about Mi-” But the boy was already a spearsthrow ahead down the path.

How does he do that?

Shaking his head ruefully, Armis waited as everyone crept by, doing their best to keep quiet. The beast had rolled over on its side, and judging by the regular movements of its chest, was sleeping soundly.

“What is that?” Kito whispered.

“I don’t know. A bear or something.” Armis said.

“It doesn’t look like a bear.”

“It looks more like a bear than anything else.” Armis responded.

“What does it eat?”

Armis chuckled. “Fish.”

“Why are you laughing at me.”

Armis surpressed a snort. “Enough questions. Get going.” He said, swatting the boy on the back.

Reya, as usual, was last, accompanies by Shara and Oola. He took a last glance at the beast before turning to follow.

“I can’t believe you’re letting Barak hunt that thing.” Reya said.

“What?” Armis said, wide-eyed. Whirling towards the river, he saw Barak creeping along the slope on the far side towards the sleeping creature, dragging his spear in the grass.

“Barak.” Armis hissed loudly. “No.”

The dark-haired man stared back at him, and even at this distance Armis could feel the heat of the anger in his eyes. The monster rolled up onto its legs, and uttered a low growl, sniffing the air. And then with a snort, it turned and ambled away from the river, into the sparse forest that dominated the far side.

Barak waved dismissively, and crept slowly into the woods, tracking the beast.

He’s going to get himself killed.

A voice spoke in the back of his head. “Fine… Let him.”

He turned, and headed up the path, jogging to catch up to the rest of the group, fiery rage churning in his heart.

=-=

As the sun slid behind the western hills, Armis called for a halt, and they spread out across the grasses, dropping packs, fetching sticks for the fire, pulling food out of packs. It hadn’t rained in a while here – the grass was starting to turn brown at the tips. Best to be careful–

“Din, before you–”

“Hey… where’s Barak?”

The thoughts about the grass fled his mind while he turned towards Oola, who was glancing around the campsite. “Barak?” she called out.

She turned, and glanced at Armis. “Have you seen him?”

Sudden guilt and awkwardness assailed him. “He.. He went into the woods on the far side of the river to hunt that beast we saw earlier. He wouldn’t listen.” The core of rage was gone, replaced by a childish helplessness. My father would not have had this problem.

The air was suddenly quiet, except for the chip-chip-chip as Din struck his flint, creating sparks for the fire.

Something was nagging at him, something about the f-

“We have to go find him.” Oola said, flatly. She started to pick up her pack.

“What? Why? If he wants to go get himself killed, let him.” Reya spat.

Everyone started talking at once – “He brought this on himself.” “We can’t just leave him behind.” “It’s too dark to find him.” The wind started to pick up out of the west, whistling through the trees. “He’s our best hunter.” Tohm shouted. “I don’t care if he’s a pond leech, we need him.”

“Aieee. Armis. Help.” Din cried.

The Fire!

He whirled around, to see the two boys fleeing from a flame as it leapt across the plains, driven eastwards by the winds.

My fault. I should have warned them.

Everything started to happen at once.

“Get back.” He cried. “Back to the river’s edge.”

“My pack.” Shara yelled. “All our food.”

The two boys furiously splashed water at the fire, but they might as well have been spitting on it. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw someone – Mika? - dash forward to snatch at some gear before it was engulfed. Oola and Lam at her side, dashing forwards to pluck their gear from the burning campsite.

“My pack.” Shara yelled again. “It’s over there.” She said, pointing. And someone ran past him, the wind howling in his stead as he dove through the firestorm.

An orange pillar of flame, arms and legs flailing wildly, stumbled into sight on the far side of the fire.

“Tohm!” Kito shouted, struggling through the stream towards his friend.

Tohm was on fire.

“Get in the water.” Armis shouted, but Tohm was already plunging into the river as Kito surged towards him. Suddenly Armis remembered the little girl who fell into the fire at Red Cave, many years ago. Charred flesh, rot and constant searing pain had been the remainder of that girl’s short life.

Sucking in a breath, Armis stepped into the water, wincing as the chill burned through him as he struggled forwards.

Tohm was floating face down, unmoving. Kito cried in rage as he tried to lift the man’s arm out of the water, slipping on the slick rocks beneath him.

“Tohm.” Armis said as he finally pushed his way through the current. Lifting the man out of the water, Armis shook him, and Tohm’s head lolled backwards, his skin barely burnt at all. “Wake up.” He grunted, smacking the boy in the face.

Tohm’s eyes flew open, blind with fear, and he thrashed out of Armis’s grasp, falling back into the water. Choking and spitting, he lurched upwards again as Kito grabbed his shoulder, steading him, leading him to the far beach. Tohm leaned over, gagging as a stream of water poured from his mouth. Falling to the ground, he gasped several more times before Armis realized he was laughing. “I got it.” Tohm whispered. “I got the pack.” He held up an empty hand, and stared at it. “Where did it go?”

Armis moaned, and scanned the surface of the river, black and orange in the firelight. And then he saw a dark shape floating in the water, bobbing and turning as the current pulled it switfly southwards.

“Shara.” He called, pointing at the river. “Shara. Get your pack.” She nodded and rushes forward into the water, with Oola at her side.

Armis turns back to Tohm. Kito knelt beside his friend, examining his legs. “How is he, Kito?”

Kito looked up. “He’s got some burns on his legs, but otherwise he seems okay.”

Armis patted the boy on the shoulder. “Stay with him. Tend to his burns.”

He turned away, taking stock. The fire continued to burn, but all of its energy seemed to be focused to the east. . Let’s hope the wind holds. Shara and the other women were salvaging food from her waterlogged pack, as a dark figure loomed up next to him, sharp teeth glinting in the firelight.

Shuddering, he leapt away, spinning to meet the new threat.

Barak laughed at him, and tossed the dismembered head of the great beast on the ground. It rolled once, coming to rest face up, dead eyes staring at the stars.

“Looks like things fall apart when I’m not here.” Barak said, weakly.

Spinning, Armis brought his fist up to smash it into his face, when Barak toppeled into his arms. Bewildered, Armis lowered him to the ground. “Barak?” But the big man was unconcious. Shaking his head, he wrapped his arms around the man, trying to pull him upright when he felt sticky warmth against his forearm. Grimacing, he checked Barak’s back, noticing three dark gashes that stretched from his left shoulderblade to his right side. Blood ran freely from the wounds, already his clothing was turning black.

“Oola? Shara? Someone help.”

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Thursday, April 13th, 2006 at 11:49 pm.
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