Prologue Previous Chapter

Oola

Strong hands grabbed her shoulder.

“I’ve got Oola.” Barak yelled, his strong arms yanking her from the lake’s embrace.

“Mika.” She said, dreamily, holding out her hands, the last of the golden-green glow fading from the sky above.

Lungs shuddering, she floated, unable to move, letting the waves play with her. Dimly, she could hear Lam say “I have her.”

“Get her to shore.” Barak said, quietly. And then, more loudly. “Oola?”

Oola tried to speak, but the water wouldn’t let her.

“Oola?” He repeated. Grunting, he swung his arm across her chest, and pulled her through the water, his legs kicking against hers as he swam.

“Mika?” Reya.

“Turn her over.” Lam gasped.

“Mika.. wake up!” Barak roared, ringing her ears, and bringing the world back to life. Groggily, Oola shook her head, trying to clear the water from her mind. Mika. Come on, Mika.

“I’m ok.” She groaned, shoving at Barak’s arm. “Help her.” Instantly, Barak sets her free and begins to climb out of the water.

And for a moment, she is floating again, in peace. But this time the air is bitterly cold, the stars dull and lifeless, the darkness full of fear. Grimacing, Oola forced herself over, swimming madly for the distant firelight. She could see the others in silhouette, clustered around her friend, pounding on her back.

Reaching the shallows, Oola crawled out of the water and collapsed on the muddy beach. Farther up the shore, a line of white lights marches through the dirt, and she slipped back a little towards the water.

“Breathe, Mika!” Shara.

The fire flares up brightly, illuminating the lakeshore for just a moment.

And then, the sound of thin, watery coughing. And then retching, and the dull splash of water against mud. And then, a string of gutteral sobs.

“Lay down, Mika. I’ve got you.” Lam said.

“No, keep her upright.” Barak ordered. “Keep the ants away.”

“Will she be ok?” Pak asked.

“I think so.” Reya whispered.

Thank you, spirits. Oola sank into soft darkness.

=-=

Oola opened her eyes, to find the world dim and grey. Tendrils of white mist crept up from the lake, drifting across the ashen shore.

She sat up, swaying as the world spun around her. Clumsily, she planted one hand into the dust, and tried to regain her balance.

The first person she saw was Lam, crouched next to Mika, stroking her hair as she slept, her cheek blackened and scorched, her bare arm a scarred and twisted ruin of charred flesh.

Oh, Mika.

Her tongue was thick and numb. “How is she?” She said, with an effort.

Lam looked up for a moment, his eyes dark, skin sallow. “She was burned pretty badly.”

Oola shook her head again, trying to clear away the cobwebs. Standing up, she stumbled towards him. “Get some sleep.”

Lam shook his head. “No. I can’t. I need to be with her, in case…” He trailed off, and resumed stroking Mika’s hair.

Oola grimaced as she studied Mika’s wounds. Huge holes had been burned in her clothes by the fiery ants, leaving the skin underneath cracked and shredded. Her leg, her belly, both arms… people died from burns like these, slow, painful deaths of rotting flesh and oozing sores.

“Shaman taught me some plants that can help with burns.” Lam babbled. “But I can’t leave her. Barak… Barak is out searching, but I don’t know-“ He hung his head.

“Lam.. she’s a strong girl. She’ll survive this.” Oola tried to sound reassuring. She glanced around. “Where are the others?”

He waved his hand, distractedly. “Shara is sleeping. The others… Looking for food or something.”

“Wait; what about the ants?” Oola asked, suddenly remembering the danger.

“They left, last night before the rain.”

Oola blinked. It rained? But he was right, the signs were everywhere.

She opened her mouth to ask another question, and closed it again, shaking her head sadly. Sitting down, Oola watched the waves ripple across the gray lake as lightning flashed in the clouds.

We can’t move her. Not like this.

At this point, all they could really do was watch her die.

And hope it was quick.

In the sky, thunder growled, long and low.

Someone gasped behind her.

“Mika?” Lam said, astonished.

Oola scrambled over, to find Mika awake, her brown eyes glinting amidst the burned flesh. “Lam. You did it.” She whispered. “You saved me.”

“Ssssh.” Lam said. “Rest now.”

Wincing, Oola looked away. “Let me see if I can find something for the pain.” She said.

“No, it’s ok. It doesn’t hurt… that much.”

What?

Oola turned around, and stared at her young friend, only to find her trying to sit up, Lam’s hands fluttering helplessly.

“Mika, what are you doing?” Oola demanded. How can she even move with burns like those?

“I’ll be ok.” Mika laughed. “What are you so upset about?” Almost casually, she brushed at a palm-sized mass of blackened tissue on her arm, sending it plopping into the damp ash. The skin underneath was tan, and smooth.

Oola and Lam stared at it for a moment, glistening in the thin sunlight, before they glanced at each other, and then at Mika.

“What?” Mika said, defensively, climbing to her feet.

“It worked.” Lam whispered.

“What?” Oola said. “What worked?” Her heart quivering.

“I… I spoke to the spirits.” Lam said, haltingly. “I asked them to heal her.”

“I heard you!” Shara said, sitting up. “I heard you speak to them.” She stared at Mika. “And they answered.”

Mika blinked. “Why is everyone looking at me?” She stretched out her arms, and more bits of charred flesh sloughed away, falling to the ground like soft rain, leaving unblemished skin behind.

Oola stared uncertainly at Shara. Shara just shrugged and smiled.

=-=

The thunder quickly brought the others scurrying back, smiling happily at Mika’s recovery.

Reya spoke up first. “We should head back. Get out of the ant’s territory.”

Barak shook his head. “If Jiant is following us, we need to move forward, not back.”

“I am not going to let my sister get any closer to the nest. They came from the north.” Reya growled.

Barak nodded. “I agree. We shouldn’t go north.” He pointed west. Oola followed his gaze, up the mountainside, towards the large notch.

“She can’t make it up that hill.” Reya protested.

“Reya, “ Lam interrupted. We are caught between Jiant and fire ants. What other choice do we have?”

“Reya, “ Mika whispered. “I can do this.” As if to prove her point, she jumped slightly, stumbling as she landed. In an instant, Lam was at her side, holding her up.

“You see? It’s too dangerous!” Reya protested.

Oola shook her head. “Everything we are doing is dangerous. Going forward, staying here or going back. We have to choose something.”

“Shut up! Just shut up!” Reya screamed. Turning, she stormed away from the group, her arms crossed tightly above her chest.

“My mother was like that sometimes, when she carried Lara.” Shara said.

A black cloak of grief settled over Oola’s heart for just a moment, as she remembered her lost loved ones.

Barak sighed sadly, and blinked. “Come on. Let’s go.” He waved up towards the pass.

Oola stared at Reya’s back as they started working their way up the grassy slope, picking their way between the tumbled stones and stunted trees. Reya stood at the bottom alone.

Is she coming? Oola did not look forward to the fight that would ensue if Barak tried to force her up the mountain.

But finally, Reya turned and started up after them, rubbing her belly gently as she slowly followed their path. Oola waited for her silently, falling in beside her, ready to help her if she needed it. But if Reya even noticed her presence, she said nothing.

The sun ascended with them, reaching its highest point in the sky just as they reached the crest of the notch. The others were silently standing at the top, staring out to the west, and as she reached them, Oola could see why. A blanket of bright white clouds covered the land, stretching as far to the west as the eye could see.

“Wow.” Mika said quietly. Oola nodded. It was so… peaceful, so… big. Will I ever see anything quite this beautiful again? Somehow, she doubted it.

“Hey, look!” Pak called, interrupting her thoughts and waving them towards the northern side of the pass. There was a short, rocky rise, and then an immediate, steep fall towards the river below. She gripped the rocks tightly, fighting vertigo as she stared down at the surface of the lake. At its western edge, a river flowed out, descening from the mountains into that clouded unknown beyond, sparkling in the bright sunlight, dazzling her, forcing her to look away.

“It’s a river.. so what?” Barak asked.

“No, look on the other side.” Pak said.

Looking back, at first she didn’t see anything, the glare thrown up by the river was too strong. But Oola raised her hand, shieldeding her eyes from the reflected sunlight, she looked again.

Flashing and pulsing, tiny dots shimmered in the sunlight, elaborate lines and circles tracing their pathes through the ashen earth.

I was wrong. She thought.

“What is that?” Lam asked.

“Ants.” Shara said, flatly. Mika shuddered and drew away from the edge. It was probably for the best. Oola grimaced, and looked again.

Maybe it wasn’t quite so beautiful after all. Staring past the flickering lights of the fire ants, she could see shapes – charred remains of huts in a semicircle on the plain next to the river.

What happened here?

Unbidden, images of women and children came to her mind, running in terror from a relentless, white-hot carpet of death that consumed everything in its path.

With a sick shudder, Oola realized that not every skeleton they had seen along the lakeshore had been animal.

“We should keep moving.” Shara whispered, her eyes bright with fear.

“Don’t be such a wimp, Shara.” Barak chuckled. “They can’t reach us up here.”

Shara dropped her head, and backed away, her long black hair covering her face.

A wave of disgust ran through her body and Oola pushed away from the rocky edge. “Fine Barak. What do you think we should do now?”

“So you’re finally going to listen to me?” Barak snorted.

Oola stared off at the clouds for a moment, fighting her temper. “Are you going to answer the question?”

She could hear his smirk. “We will wait here until the clouds break, and then we’ll head down the western side of the mountain.”

Oola sighed. As much as she hated to admit it, it was a pretty reasonable plan.

=-=

The blanket of clouds slowly burned away as the sun traced its path through the western sky, revealing a line of hills that descended towards a wide plain that stretched off to the horizon. More importantly, the western mountainside offered a reasonable slope down to the river. It, in turn, offered a path that wound through the hills, past small, sparse forests andinto a wide valley that gleamed yellow in the afternoon light.

“Get off your butts, and let’s get going.” Barak said suddenly.

Oola saw Shara shiver slightly as she stared at their “leader”. Oola leaned over to her. “Don’t let him get to you.” She murmured. “We’ll find a new village, and a new chief soon enough.”

Shara glanced back at her. “They’ll probably just yell at me too.” She said, flashing a quick smile as she rose to her feet and started after Barak.

From above, it had seemed like a short, easy trek to the river’s edge, but the sun was already half-gone by the time they reached the water. At least there are no fire-ants here. Oola thought, glancing around carefully.

“We’ll camp here tonight,” Barak said. “And head towards that valley in the morning.”

Oola nodded, and pulled the meat from her pouch and sniffed cautiously. It was starting to smell. “I’ll go out and hunt for more food.” She said.

Barak shook his head. “No.. you stay here and smoke what you have.. Din and I will go hunting.”

Din looked up at Barak and smiled, and the two of them jogged down the hillside. Disgusted, Oola gathered the kindling while Lam started the sparks. Once it was ready, Oola set the meat to slow-cooking atop the flames and left it to cook while she stared at the sparks thinking of all the things she should have said to Barak.

After a while, she looked up again, and noticed the red-yellow star, low against the darkening horizon. At first, she assumed it was just the red wanderer, but as the night progressed, and the light stayed fixed below the last glow of the sun, she realized it was something else.

“A fire… a village… people.” She said. It was much too early to be so optimistic, she knew, but she smiled anyways.

Maybe our journey is nearing its end.

Next Chapter

Saturday, July 1st, 2006 at 2:42 am.
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