by Aaron Frale
pay your way," Sarge said as he turned to the woods.
"But winter is coming! There will be nothing to hunt, and you will not survive without the shelter and warmth of a home!"
Sarge turned back to Kal and lowered the bag from his shoulder.
_______
One night, a few weeks after they finished the cabin and he had decided to stay, Sarge was cooking a kill over the flame like Kal had taught him. The leaves were beginning to turn outside. As the smoke billowed from the chimney, the smell of fresh banjer meat made Kal's mouth water as she entered. The cabin was a single room with a pitched roof to protect against the winter snow storms. They made a bed small enough for a human as well as a few chairs and a table. The cabin was sparse, but it was never intended for more than one person, unlike the multi-family homes in the village.
Sarge looked back from basting the banjer with the tree sap mixture Kal had taught him and said, "You're just in time for Sarge's homemade barbecue! Reminds me of home. Ain't nothing like Kansas City barbecue!"
Kal didn't remind him that the recipe was a village tradition and not from the Kansas City Tribe. She was pretty sure that Sarge was homesick, so whenever he said something tasted or smelled like his home, she didn't argue. Sarge's fantasies about home made perfect sense to Kal; she often fantasized about being anywhere other than where she was.
When Sarge set the table for dinner, Kal noticed blood stains on his shirt. When she looked closer, she could see a daniyup leaf tied to his chest. Daniyup leaves were good for mending wounds because they stopped the bleeding and had a numbing effect when in contact with skin.
"Did you hurt yourself?" Kal inquired.
"Oh, that? Just a minor wound. I slipped when I was hunting the banjer and fell on a tree branch. Hit that sucker between the eyes, though! Not bad for my first solo banjer hunt."
Kal nodded in agreement and listened to the story of his hunt while they ate his "World Famous Kansas City Barbeque."
_______
After they had finished their meal, Sarge rolled a smoking plant into a giant wrap he called a stogie. They sat on the porch listening to the faint chirping horn of the lasaile bug. They would usually watch the stars, but tonight was different. Kal wanted to know about her father, and a man as well traveled as Sarge would surely know about the Teristaque Wars. Kal pulled her father's insignia from her belt. She had smuggled it from her home in the village earlier that day.
"I have something to show you," Kal said and produced the insignia. Sarge took the patch and looked it over. Kal could not read human expressions, but the patch seemed to strike Sarge in a peculiar way. Sarge bellowed with laughter.
"It seems you got a genuine artifact on your hands!" Sarge howled.
"It was my fathers." Kal hadn't yet figured out if laughter was good or bad. Sarge laughed a lot, but sometimes it seemed a cover for dark memories. Other times, it was the enjoyment of life.
"Don't that explain everything! It was your pops!" Sarge laughed.
"My mother said it was a part of his uniform."
"Of course, it was? and all this time I was wondering?."
"Wondering what?"
"About you!"
"You know of my father?"
"Not personally, but I can tell you where to find him."
"He is alive?"
"Of course, he's alive! You think they fight with sticks like the people of your village?"
"My people do not fight."
"Well, shoot. No wonder you lost the war."
"What do you know about my father? Please tell me! I have to know."
"Listen up, kid. I'll tell you everything you need to know about your father, but I need you to do one last thing for me."
"What? Anything!"
Sarge rummaged through the house until he brought back a small blinking stone. It was beautiful and terrifying at the same time. There was a light in the center that blinked a deep red. It looked mysterious and magical.
"What is it?" Kal couldn't take her eyes off the light. It almost looked as if the light was looking back at her.
"It's how I stayed ahead. And now, I'm giving it to you. It's very valuable and will set up your village for a while."
"We have no need for money because-"
"I know, I know. I don't need no hokum fancy crap. You will need money one of these days, and this is your ticket. Now listen up. You put this in your parent's house. Bury it under stones or something. Keep it safe."
"But--"
"You listen up. I don't want no arguments. Come back to me tomorrow and I'll tell you all you want to know about your pop."
Sarge dropped the stone into Kal's hand and closed her palm. The stone felt warm to the touch like it had an unnatural heat. The slow blinking light transfixed Kal.
"Now run along home."
"But I don't have to be back until Sat'Re'Nik rises."
"Go home. Get."
Kal knew Sarge was serious, so she went home early. She ran through the forest, and her heart pounded. He was alive! And she would finally know more about her father. Maybe Sarge would even take Kal to the stars to meet him? Kal had never felt more alive in her life. She buzzed by the wildlife and trees while she made her way home.
_______
Later that night, she hid the stone under the floorboards of the kitchen. She covered it with a pile of stones to mask the blinking light. Once she knew it was safe and out of view per Sarge's instructions, she climbed back up the stairs to her bedroom. Luckily, no one had awoken while she secured the precious gift.
_______
The next morning, Kal heard the most terrifying noise she had ever heard in her life. She got up and stumbled from her oak bed. Her room was small, barely big enough for her oversized bed, made smaller still by the mattress stuffed full of soft bearuga leaves. Even though she was much smaller than her earth brothers and sisters, the villagers had built her a normal sized bed. She decorated the furniture with interesting rocks she had found in the forest.
A giant beast roared outside, and the villagers ran around screaming. She heard them yell, "Teristaque! Teristaque!" A lump formed in Kal's throat. Her father's enemy had come at last. She heard that the Teristaques were savage and fierce and that they would eat children whole. Kal thought about sneaking out to warn Sarge but knew he was better off hidden away in the cabin. The Teristaques would not raid a cabin when they could raid a whole village.
She heard her front door being broken down and heard the screams of her family. She looked frantically for a weapon and ended up breaking a leg off her chair. Seconds later, a Teristaque kicked open her door, sending rocks tumbling from her dresser. With a battle cry, she smacked the thing invading her room. The makeshift weapon bounced harmlessly off its hide. It tore the chair leg from her hand and kicked her to the ground.
The Teristaque was truly fearsome to behold. It was bipedal, like her, with smooth black skin that looked hard as tree bark. Tubes connected its hulking chest to its face where it had deep fearsome black eyes. Warpaint covered the body. A fearsome bird of prey unlike anything she had seen on her world was tattooed on its chest. It was a hulking mass that could contend with the strongest villager. The Teristaque pointed a giant club at Kal.
"Move," The Teristaque said in a deep growl. "Outside now!"
_______
Teristaques were swarming the village. They shoved families out of their multi-story homes, and they were corralling them up in the town square. There was a giant bird hovering over the village. Fierce and menacing, it was painted the same black as the Teristaque's skin. Kal wondered if it was one of those spaceships Sarge talked about.
Villagers who didn't comply with the given orders were dragged to the town square. They were kicked, punched, and knocked around by the clubs the Teristaques waved and pointed at everyone. The scene was chaotic, and families huddled together. Children wailed in fear. Kal's mom tried to comfort Kal with a hug, but Kal pushed her mom away and stood to wait for the Teristaques to speak. The soldiers
just stared with their hollow black eyes.
One member of the crowd panicked, breaking away from the square, and started running as fast as he could. The Teristaque soldiers screamed at him to stop, and they ordered him to the ground. A panicked man does not listen to reason, so one of the soldiers leveled his club towards the running man. Thunder and lightning spewed forth from the club, and the running man dropped to the ground. It was too far away for Kal to see what happened, but he was no longer moving. The soldiers didn't seem to pay any more attention to him after that.
Once the Teristaques had rounded up the remaining villagers, the soldiers formed a circle around them. Some villagers prayed to the Sky Father and others to the Earth Mother. Children whimpered; mothers and fathers comforted their families. Most of the young and able-bodied stood with grim, blank expressions. It was like the expression of competitors before sporting matches, but unlike Rock Ball, or Log Toss, they may have to fight for their life. Even if Kal never met her father, she would go down fighting the Teristaque. Her father would be proud if she died a warrior like him.
A Teristaque with much more adornment and many tattoos walked toward the crowd. The soldiers made way for him and looked as if they treated him with reverence. He was probably their leader. He stopped at the front of the crowd and lifted the face of a quivering Earth sister.
"So beautiful," The leader began. "I really don't like destroying things of beauty."
A dagger ejected from his forearm, and he stabbed her through the heart. The crowd gasped, and children screamed.