Prologue Previous Chapter

Kito

Danger.

Kito’s eyes flew open as he tried to sit up, but the earth seemed to be swallowing him, pulling him down into clammy darkness. Rain dripped from the sky above, splashing against his face, his hands. Where am I?

Again, he tried to lift his head, but the ground refused to give up his prize.

“Hello?” He called, but the world was silent but for the dull pattering of the rain, distant and hollow. Experimentally, he rocked his head back and forth, and was rewarded with a facefull of slime, green and sticky, covering his mouth, clogging his nose, searing his eyes.

Desperately, he fought to remain still as the mud and ooze smothered him. Focusing his energy, he blew out hard, hoping to clear his mouth, and for a moment it seemed to work, and he sucked the cool air greedily. But in an instant, water and muck forced their way in and his chest heaved helplessly as the suffocating goo ran down his throat.

Bright spots spun and danced behind his eyes as the vile liquids ravaged him. Furious fear surged through his muscles, and he thrashed desperately, arms and legs writhing as he fought to escape death. The mud clung visciously, relentless, inescapable.

A white light appeared before him, warm and inviting, and he felt himself floating up towards it. A lake shimmered, its pure blue water sparkling in the light of the bright sun.

“Come on, Kito.” Shara laughed, running towards the water. Together, they jumped and skipped into shallows, the chill of the water warring against the heat of the sun.

“Don’t go too far.” His father called, little Lara in his arms.

Kito turned and waved at his parents as they stood at the lakeshore, a small fire burning behind them, a rabbit or some other animal cooking slowly on a spit.

In the distance, someone was pounding on his back, screaming in his ear.

“Shara? Is this the Spirit World?”

She smiled.

“But you’re not dead… are you?”

In an instant, the water disappeared, and he fell into the muck, his arm suddenly erupting in stabbing pains.

“Goodbye, Kito.” Shara said, shrinking away.

“Wait, where are you going?” He said, but his voice was thin, barely a whisper. In the distance, he could see his parents, waving sadly.

“Wait…”

“Breathe, Kito. Breathe!”

Sticky, gritty muck erupted from his chest, pouring out and splashing into the brown mud, the green ooze mixing unpleasantly with yellow bile and red blood in swirls and gobbets. Before he could catch his breath, his stomach heaved again, spraying more goo across the ground as someone pounded hard on his back.

“Let him down.” Armis said, and they lowered him gently to his knees. The world weaved and twisted around him, and his body flopped sideways.

“Look out.” Tohm cried, and strong hands grabbed him, holding him. “I’ve got you.”

The sky rumbled, as rain poured into his face.

Tohm.

Kito blinked and fought to turn his head, but his neck refused, too weak to move.

Was it just a dream?

Tohm leaned over, smiling cautiously. “We thought you were gone for sure.”

Armis nodded. “You are very lucky to be alive.” He looked up at the sky. “Let’s get him out of this pond.”

Tenderly, the two men lifted him, carrying him up into the rain-soaked grass. His legs and arms jerked uncontrollably, tingling needles of pain rippling up and down his flesh. He breathed slowly, lungs grating painfully, as if they were filled with sharp stones.

Armis knelt down next to him. “How are you feeling?”

“I’ve been better.” He tried to say, but all that came out was “–better.”

Smiling, Armis patted his shoulder and glanced at the sky. “The storm should break soon. Get some rest.”

Kito nodded, closing his eyes as Armis kept talking. “Your song.. That was… I wouldn’t believe it if he wasn’t standing-”

Sleep folded in over him, embracing him in warm darkness as Armis’s words faded away.

That night, Kito dreamt of songs.

=-=

Kito jerked awake, his stomach aching with hunger and corruption, his lungs burning. Wincing, he tried to sit up, arms and legs shaking from the effort.

“Hey. You’re awake. ” Tohm said. “Armis. Kito is awake.” Tohm shouted, and Kito winced in pain at the noise.

“Do you want some food?” Tohm asked. Kito nodded, carefully.

Tohm quickly returned with a skewer of rabbit, and a bowl full of clean water. “Here.. Drink this. You’ve been coughing up mud all night.” Hands trembling, Kito took the bowl, drinking thirstily, the water soothing the burning in his belly.

Is there a part of me that doesn’t hurt?

“Thanks.” He whispered.

“You should try to eat something.” Tohm said.

Kito glanced at him uncertainly. “Not. Hungry.” He rasped.

Smiling tightly, Tohm nodded, and put the skewer aside, sitting down heavily. His face was drawn and pale, eyes dull in the cloudy light.

Hands trembling.With a start, Kito pulled his right arm up, and wiggled his fingers. Blinking, he stared at Tohm.

“What?” He asked.

Tohm shrugged. “I guess it grew back. Armis said something about a Song, when we found you in the mud.”

I wish I could remember what happened.

“How are you feeling, Kito?” Armis said, appearing next to him.

Involuntarily, Kito shuddered, but then smiled and shook his hand back and forth.

Armis smiled briefly. He opened his mouth, as if to speak, and closed it again. “Are you ready to travel?” He asked after a few seconds of silence.

What was he going to say?

“No.” Kito whispered. “Not yet.”

Armis sighed. “We need to get moving soon, if we’re going to catch up to the others.”

Tohm looked at him quizzically. “What do you mean? How are we supposed to find them?”

Armis pointed upwards. “I remember the mountains up ahead – one of them looks almost like Shaman’s face. We passed this pond on our way upriver.”

He reached down and drew lines in the dirt. “We are here” he said, dotting the ground. We went up the river, to here”, he said, dragging his finger along a wide curve and making a small circle at the end.

The lake, and Axar’s cave. Kito shuddered.

“When we got, ah, pulled into the caverns, we walked back around to here.” he said, drawing another line between the lake and the starting point. “I don’t know what happened to the rest of the Clan, but they may still be up at the lake. And if not, maybe we can find where they’ve headed.”

West. Just a hunch, but a very strong one.

As he started to open his mouth to speak, he started coughing again, a fit that lasted an uncomfortably long time. When he was done, he wiped his mouth. More green goo. Maybe I had better stay quiet for a while.

Armis studied him. “We’ll rest for today. Tomorrow, we will start after them, allright?”

What choice did they have? Kito shrugged and nodded.

=-=

For the next three days, they plodded upriver, and Kito endured a constant barrage of aches, coughing fits and dry heaves. Walking for more than a few minutes exhausted him, and they were forced to stop and rest often. Armis gritted his teeth and clenched his fists, but held his tongue. Each morning, Kito awoke feeling better than the day before, and they were able to cover more ground.

Finally, they stood at the base of the sloping valley, with the forest to the north and the plain and the stream rising to the west. Kito stared at the top of the western slope, shivering at the memories of Axar’s cave.

“Are you ready, Kito?” Armis asked, and Kito shrugged.

“I guess so.”

“Do not approach that cave” Armis reminded them as he started up the hill.

“No, really?” Tohm snorted, and laughed.

Heart fluttering in terror and hope, Kito struggled up the hillside, a cool breeze blowing in his face. “Please be waiting for us.” He silently begged Shara, Barak, anyone, even Lam. “Please be there.”

But when they crested the ridge, the valley was empty, the cluster of huts in ruins. Axar’s cave beckoned in the distance, dark and menacing.

“They’re not here.” He rasped. “They didn’t wait for us.”

The others kept walking, towards the lake. “They left us behind.” He said, louder.

Tohm paused uncertainly, but Armis kept walking.

“Armis.” Kito said, his stomach twisting painfully. “They’re not here.”

Tohm looked back and forth between the two fo them.

Armis turned back, his face grim. “I know, Kito. I’m sorry.” And then he shook his head. “We need to keep going. We’ll find their trail.” He said, hollowly. “We’ll find them.”

Armis stared at the cave. “They must have thought we were dead.”

“Which way should we go?” Tohm asked.

“West.” Kito blurted out, and then paused, confused.

“Why west?” Armis asked.

Kito frowned. “I’m not sure. It just seems right.”

Armis and Tohm glanced at each other. Tohm started chuckling.

“What?” Kito asked, defensively.

“You kept saying ‘West.’ last night in your sleep.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.” Tohm said, and turned to Armis. “But what if he’s wrong?”

Armis shrugged. “If he’s wrong, we’re no worse off than…” He trailed off, staring at the ground. “Get down.” He hissed, flinging himself into the grass.

Tohm and Kito stared at him. “Get down now.” Armis said. Looking at each other, the two slowly lowered themselves into the grasses.

Armis started scanning around the valley. Tohm watched him for a moment. “Armis, What?”

“Footprints. Lots of them. Very large.”

Jiant.

The three stayed pressed to the ground, staring at the edges of the valley. Finally, after a long time, Armis got back on his feet, motioning for the others to follow. “I think they’ve gone on ahead. They must have followed us.”

Tohm frowned. “How could they follow us if they’re ahead of us?”

“I mean, they followed us before – before Shub. They must be between us and the rest of the Clan.”

He paused for a moment. “Which makes our need for speed that much greater.” He paused a moment longer, reflecting. “But we will need to be cautious. If they catch us, they’ll eat us.”

“How are we supposed to be fast and cautious at the same time?” Tohm asked, a edge of frustration in his voice.

Turning, Armis grabbed Tohm by the shoulders. “What else shall we do?” He growled “Shall we sit here and hope that the spirits come and whisk us off to our friends? Should we just have stayed in the cave and died of thirst?” He shuddered, and pushed Tohm away.

Kito stood still as stone, certain that there was nothing worthwhile he could say.

Armis threw up his hands. “I’m going to get some water. Stay away from the cave.” He walked quickly off towards the lake, the wind blowing the grass around his feet.

Tohm remained standing, shoulders hunched, head bowed.

A desperate cry rolled across the valley. “Help. Help.”

Kito turned his head sharply. The cry was coming from the lake. He scrambled to his feet. Armis was already rushing forwards. “Help me.” the voice from the lake called. It sounded like a man’s voice. How did anyone get in the water?.

Kito and Tohm rushed forward. Armis was already at the edge of the water, scanning the surface. In an instant, green vines shot out of the water, wrapping themselves around Armis, lifting him into the air.

“Time for dinner.” The strange voice called.

“Run you fools!” Armis shouted, as Shub rose up out of the water. In an instant, Armis was gone, gulped down into Shub’s gaping maw.

And then, in another instant, Shub was gone back below the water, leaving just a widening circle of ripples in his wake.

Kito and Tohm stood frozen in terror. “Maybe…” Kito stammered. “Maybe it didn’t eat him. Maybe it put him into a cave or something.”

The surface of the water erupted again, and Kito and Tohm scrambled backwards.

Tentacles waving menacingly in the air, Shub resurfaced. And started laughing. “Kito. Tohm.” It called, in Armis’s voice. “You’ve got to come try this. It’s amazing.”

“Run.” Tohm whispered.

Kito nodded, stomach heaving “West.”

Together they ran, angling themselves around the lake as they sprinted up into the western hills.

“Kito. Tohm. Come back.” Armis’s voice called to them.

Next Chapter

Thursday, June 22nd, 2006 at 6:10 pm.
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