by Lori Holmes
By the time the furs were clean, her will had hardened. She would go to Sefaan as soon as she was able. Nyri yanked the furs from the river and heaved them over a hidden branch just inside a thicket. The shadows made the perfect disguise so long as no one looked too closely, and there was no reason why anyone should. The breeze stroked the damp hairs. Nyri hoped they would be dry by the time she returned to Juaan tonight. If he did not have them, he would succumb to exposure in the cold darkness. Nyri glanced at the sky and the angle of Ninmah’s light. She should be getting back. She couldn’t risk leaving Kyaati any longer. She’d pushed her luck long enough as it was.
“Nyri?”
She stifled the cry of shock as Daajir materialised out of the trees like a ghost. She swiftly blocked any possible view of the furs hanging behind her. Her heart hammered, unsure of how much he had seen. His voice had been full of consternation.
“What are you doing out here?” he demanded.
Nyri floundered, “I er, I er, Baarias needed some more herbs to treat Omaal’s fever.”
He looked at her suspiciously. “Really? I just checked in on Omaal’s family and the child was much recovered after Baarias’ last visit. Why would Baarias need more ingredients? And why in Ninmah’s name would he send you out alone?”
Nyri felt the blood drain from her face at her misstep. Her over-worked brain turned to mush. She sank to the ground and put her head in her hands. “I-I just needed to get out,” she blurted desperately. “I just can’t face the despair and the hunger any more. Naaya and Haana… I n-needed to get away for a while while Kyaati sleeps.”
“You left her unattended?”
“Baarias is with her,” she lied. “Of course I wouldn’t leave her alone.” The situation was spinning wildly out of her control and Nyri started to panic.
Daajir did not look convinced. “I hope not. You’re disobeying the Elders being out here alone, regardless, Nyri. We’re all feeling the strain but you don’t see anyone else running away. What is wrong with you lately? You should know better.”
He was speaking to her like a child again. “So should you,” Nyri shot back. “What are you doing out here? You are just as vulnerable as I.”
To her surprise, his scolding did not continue. His face became animated, eager.
Nyri stepped away from the thicket containing Juaan’s furs, drawing his attention with her in the opposite direction.
“I am ready,” he gloated, following her a step, then he paused. “I was going to wait, to surprise you and Kyaati, but since you are out here, I don’t think I can resist any longer.”
“Then don’t, please, I want to see!” Nyri gushed as if she didn’t already know well what he had been up to. The memory of the vaash barb embedding itself inside a Wove’s gut was not one she would forget easily.
Daajir’s eyes glowed at her feigned enthusiasm and Nyri knew her words had had the desired effect. “You won’t have to face our people’s despair for much longer. I have a plan and Aardn has agreed to it. No one else is going to die this Fury, I will take back what is ours! Come, I will show you, let me show you. It will ease your cares.”
Don’t hold your breath, Nyri thought.
He took her by the hand and started to pull her along. He squeezed her fingers uncomfortably, frowning as he went. “You are wasting away, Nyriaana. You look almost as bad as Kyaati.” He turned his head to give her an accusing stare. “We can’t have our most promising women fading away. Once you are Joined, you will need your strength to beat the curse those Woves have placed upon us. It is essential you bear whole children.”
Nyri dug her nails into her palms. It’s not a Wove curse, you fool, she found herself thinking but held her silence. She had promised Baarias; arguing would do nothing but get them both into deep trouble.
He led her into the forest, away from the Pits. Nyri cringed at the delay in getting home. She was trapped and time was running out to return to Kyaati. Even with Nyri’s sleep suggestion, she would not remain unconscious forever. She needed to get away from Daajir as soon as she could. “Where are we going?” she asked.
“You’ll see,” he said cryptically, unheeding of her tone.
Nyri bit down on her nerves and impatience and pulled her hand from his. She could walk well enough on her own. Don’t encourage him… His talk of Joining had made her heart squeeze with fear. He was the very last person she wanted to be with right now. “How much further?”
“Not far.”
Nyri could hear the little smile in his voice. Finally he stopped. They were in a darker, danker part of the forest. Fallen tree trunks and stumps littered the swampy ground, covered with layers of moss and fungus. The air was stale and the black ground squished beneath Nyri’s feet and between her toes. “He’s here somewhere.”
“Who?”
“You’ll see.”
Nyri folded her arms. “This had better be good.”
“Oh, it is,” Daajir gloated. “This could be the greatest discovery within living memory. Ah, here he is.” Daajir’s voice had trailed to a hushed whisper. He crouched down and beckoned Nyri to his side. As she settled on her heels, Daajir carefully lifted back a lump of fallen wood nestled in the ground. Hunkered in the earth beneath was the coiled form of a snake.
She had not expected this. Nyri stepped back automatically as the serpent’s eyes fixed on her. Its tongue flicked the air and a low spitting hiss began deep in its chest.
“It’s safe,” Daajir soothed. He raised a hand and the snake quieted. “It’s taken a while, but I’ve reached an understanding with him.”
Despite herself, Nyri was quite impressed. Like spiders, reptilian minds were usually so alien from their own way of thinking it was next to impossible to create any sort of bond with them. So this was why Baarias had been treating Daajir for snakebites.
“It’s taken me the whole of the Blessing,” he conceded, reading Nyri’s thoughts. “Baarias has had to draw venom from me once or twice.” Daajir drew back the coverings on his arm to reveal the scattering of twin puncture wounds littering his red-gold skin.
“Why?” Nyri asked. “Why would you do such a thing?”
“Simple,” Daajir replied. “I wanted his venom.”
Nyri raised an eyebrow.
He illuminated her. “Nyri, have you ever seen a snake kill a rodent?”
She nodded slowly, pondering at his direction.
“They inject their victim with the venom. It kills their prey from the inside out. It’s a painful death but quick for the small rodent.”
Nyri shuddered at the image he had conjured but nodded. “Yes…”
“It got me thinking. What if we could harness this? What if we could use it to our advantage?”
She frowned at him, starting to feel uncomfortable at what she felt. A shiver of apprehension worked its way up her spine as Daajir’s eyes filled with fervent purpose. She didn’t like it. The memory of his cruel smile as he injured the Wove was strong in her mind.
“Think, Nyri!” he breathed. “Remember how that spider nearly killed that Forbidden abomination?” He produced a hala nut shell half and pushed it towards the snake’s blunt snout. Obediently, it opened its mouth, pushing the deadly fangs forward and pressing them into the brown bowl. Fluid leaked out and gathered in a small puddle.
“This venom kills effectively, painfully, but quickly and it can be remedied if treated fast enough,” Daajir swirled it almost lovingly between his hands. “Those last two parts are what I’ve worked on rectifying. Fast is merciful. The Woves do not deserve mercy and they do not deserve to be saved!” Daajir reached into a pocket and withdrew a handful of night berries. He squeezed the berries over the bowl, releasing the juice into the waiting snake venom. It turned a violent, unnatural purple.
“Now come over here.” He moved further into the undergrowth. Pushing aside the green foliage, he revealed a cluster of half grown plants with blood red leaves and stems bristling with the hollow, razor sharp barbs the length of a
finger. The vaash plant
Around the roots of each plant was a slimy, fleshy bowl, a natural, inescapable prison in which to trap the plant’s rodent victims. All these features were familiar. What Nyri had never seen before was that the barbs of these young plants were dripping with a purple fluid. Exactly the same shade as the liquid Daajir held in his hand.
“I have always been fascinated by the vaash,” Daajir said. “It is cunning and it is deadly. It absorbs the poisons of any other living thing it comes across and takes it as its own, increasing its potency before secreting it from its thorns. I have experimented with many poisons but the combination of snake venom and night juice is what I have been searching for all this past season.” He tipped some of the purple liquid from the bowl into the ground near the plants’ roots. “The berry juice slows down the snake venom’s effects; the victim will take days to die. Long enough for said victim to return to their tribe in agony and spread the word. The combination has no antidote.” Daajir said.
Nyri gaped. She had underestimated him, underestimated his cruelty. She hadn’t even known the half of his despicable plan. Take days to die… No antidote… Her gut tightened as a terrible thought snaked through her mind. “And how have you found this out?” Nyri forced the question between her teeth. “How did you find out what it does and that it cant be cured?”
His eyes closed. “Best that you do not ask,” he said evasively. Nyri sensed a deep regret within him.
“What have you been doing, Daajir?” she asked icily.
“It doesn’t matter!” he snapped. “I told you. I will do anything necessary to protect our people. Anything!” He drew a deep breath, calming himself with an effort. Nyri had touched a nerve. “The vaash barbs are sufficient to pierce the skin of our enemy. That was the purpose of my test the other night. The barb performed admirably.” To demonstrate, he very carefully plucked a barb from one of his deadly plants. Holding it between a thumb and forefinger, he produced a pipe made from a cutting of the aquilem vine.
Nyri’s eyes widened as he pushed the poisoned barb into the pipe, placed it to his lips and blew hard. The barb shot out of the other end and embedded itself in the bark of the nearest tree. “They never even saw it coming,” Daajir gloated. “Tip the barb with my poison and…” he left the rest to Nyri’s imagination.
Nyri was numb. “D-did you– Was that barb poisoned?”
“No,” Daajir said. “I only wanted to test, not spoil the surprise. I don’t want them taking off just yet. They have things of ours that we need to take back.” He looked down at his purplish barbs. “I would have been happy enough with these but that night when Kyaati took off with Naaya, I stumbled across something even better. I knew then that Ninmah had indeed blessed me.”
Nyri’s muscles locked in place as he pulled the very familiar bone knife from his clothes. “Do you remember how I found this by the Pits that night? That place still reeks of their presence. Javaan was right. It is almost like one of them is still there.” He wrinkled his nose and Nyri blanched. “One of the monsters must’ve dropped it the night they fled the wolves.” He smiled darkly, examining the sharpened blade. “I expect even an evil servant of Ninsiku will not survive being pierced by their own weapon. It is infused with all sorts of dark magic. Tip it with my poison and…” He drew back his arm and let the bone knife fly. It embedded itself unerringly next to the poison barb in the nearest tree, though it bit far more deeply. “I saw a Wove do that once. I have been practising,” he grinned in triumph, walking over to pull it out. “I am ready. I will go to the Wove camp, I will use my poison upon them and when they are writhing and screaming in pain, I will step over their bodies and take back the food they stole from us. Their death’s will break the curse!”
Nyri took another quick step back, away from Daajir this time, her eyes darted between him and the snake only a few strides away. In that moment she saw little difference in their cold, flat eyes.
“Dar…” she choked. With a shaky hand, Nyri touched his arm and let her feelings speak for her. She let him feel all of her horror at what he was hoping to do.
Daajir’s eyes widened in shock. His face darkened murderously. Furious, he pulled out of her reach. Anger slashed her senses.
“You’re just like Sefaan” he spat.
Sefaan. Nyri’s breath caught. “Sefaan was here?”
“Yes!”
“Th-that is how she got injured.” Nyri swayed where she stood.
“She shouldn’t have got in my way! She nearly ruined everything. “I’ve invented a weapon to save our people and all you and Sefaan can do is feel is disgust at me?”
“It’s despicable!” She hit back, matching his anger. “How could you do that to Sefaan. To your Kamaali? Ninmah knows how much I hate the Woves, Daajir. But this… it won’t help. It is barbaric!”
“Barbaric?” Daajir raged. “What’s barbaric is letting those monsters destroy everything we are. They burn our trees, and we fall back. They deform our children, and we simply stand and weep over their bodies. They kill any of us that get in their way and we can do nothing to stop them. I say, no more! They will regret the day they thought to curse our people.”
“But they won’t! Just how many do you think you can kill, Daajir? All you will do is cause further suffering. For both our peoples.”
“Have they not made us suffer for years? They have driven us to the brink. We are an animal cornered and it is time to show our teeth.” He tilted his head at Nyri and she hated him in that instant. “What is it? Do you have a soft spot for these creatures? I’ve always wondered about you. The way you used to cling to that abomination when you were a child. What was his name… the Forbidden filth—”
“Don’t you dare,” Nyri’s anger flamed, matching Daajir’s own. Her fury lashing at the man before her but it wasn’t enough to cover her pain. He had torn at her old wounds and she was bleeding. “Don’t you dare speak his name! He saved me. He gave his life to save mine! You have no right to speak of him. He was worth ten of you. The Woves took him from me. They took my whole family from me! I have every right to hate them as much as anyone. But this… this is evil and it will not change a thing!”
“They are evil! And it will make it stop! All of it. It is because of their dark power that our people are ceasing to exist! I will turn it on them and make it stop!”
“It won’t stop! It’s not them!” Nyri burst out. “Open your eyes, Daajir! The Woves are only a small part of what is happening. They did not kill Kyaati’s babies! They are not freezing us to death every Fury and killing the plants that feed us.” It all came pouring out before Nyri could stop it and now she had no choice but to follow through. “That knife holds no power. Killing a few Woves with it and a handful of poison barbs will not save us. All you will do is bring them down harder on our heads in revenge and seal our fate all the faster. We are dying, Daajir, and nothing we know can stop it.”
“No! Heresy! I will not hear it! They are the cause and I will save us from them! I will stop them and you will be made to see!” He swirled the bowl and its deadly contents before Nyri. “In three days time I will go to their camp and I will make them pay! Aardn herself has given me her blessing.”
Nyri paled. She reached out to him helplessly, placating now. “Daajir, trust me, please, we have known each other our entire lives. I have never lied to you. Listen to me now. I found all this hard to believe, too, but Baarias has always known. He knows and now I am certain he speaks the truth. They are not servants of Ninsiku. They have no more power than we do. I know it.”
“How do you know?”
Nyri snapped her mouth closed.
“How do you know?” he demanded again. Nyri’s eyes darted, searching for an escape as she backed slowly away from him. He followed her. “Befriended another one, have you? Is that why you are sneaking around? Meeting a demon friend? Well then, why wait? Maybe I should pay him a little visit right now.” He waved the bone knife tauntingly before her horrified face.
>
It was too much. He had no idea how close to the mark he had struck. Lashing out, Nyri struck Daajir hard across the cheek with all the strength she could muster. “How dare you!” she snarled, trying to keep the desperation out of her voice. “How dare you accuse me of such a crime!” She slapped him again, her palm stinging from the force of it.
Stunned, he raised the knife reflexively in defence and the tip caught the skin of Nyri’s arm. Razor sharp, it sliced deep into her flesh. She backed away in shock, closing her hand around the stinging pain. Blood oozed from between her fingers.
“You’re as crazy as Baarias,” Daajir spat, he jabbed a finger at her arm. “Look what you made me do. I think it is time his teaching of you came to an end! Right now. You should be made to fulfil your ultimate duty. That will take your mind off such nonsense!” With that, he pushed past her and stormed into the trees. “I am true to my people and I will protect us. You will not get in my way!”
Then he was gone. The storm passed leaving only destruction in its wake. The only sounds came from the darkening forest dripping around her and her own ragged gasps. Nyri stared blankly at the blood slipping down her arm from the tear in her skin. The trembling began in her hands then spread uncontrollably to the rest of her body. The palm she had struck him with stung. It burned.
One thing was now certain. She had just made an enemy. She had closed Daajir’s eyes completely against her, if they had ever truly been open. The burning spread. She gasped. Once. Twice. But she could not hold back the tide. She fell to her knees and burst into helpless tears.
What had she done?
41
Tensions
She did not see Daajir and the other boys detach themselves from the trees until it was too late. “Where are you going?” Daajir asked her.
“I’m going to Juaan,” she told him obediently. Her mama had taught her to tell the truth. Even to bullies like him.
All three boys glowered at her. She knew they were not pleased. Daajir caught her roughly by the arm. She whimpered. He frightened her. He hissed in her ear. “Do not go to him. He probably plotted that they took your family. He is evil, you stupid baby. The spawn of a monster. The Elders all say so. You’re lucky he does not eat you in your sleep.” He let her go with a shove. “I’ll be watching him. You tell him that. He doesn’t fool me. There is nobody here to protect him anymore. And,” he poked her in the chest. “I’ll be watching you, too. If you are with him, you are not with us.”