by Zara Starr
I moved through the underbrush and noticed a stinking pile of shit that I was positive was really recent. That was a good sign, but not seeing Trem’s leash anywhere I was worried he might have taken off with it attached.
I was also worried about what may happen should he happen to get it caught on something. Or if something should choose to catch him with it—either effect would be devastating to me.
I thought back to the last thing they had all shared with me, and how their council wanted me to become an official part of their tribe.
So far, as I considered my situation, I really had no idea where to start with looking for a way to get back home. Ella was useless when it came to that idea herself. She really didn’t know anything more than I did so that was a dead end.
I groaned as I stepped to the edge of the jungle and noticed I now stood at the edge of a brook—it wasn’t quite a river, but I figured it was likely a tributary of the main one.
“Wow.”
I couldn’t help but notice how beautiful the terrain was—it was lagoon-like and seemed to have growing vines that snaked across the canopy, creating a natural sunblock.
Every now and again the light would simmer through and ignite the crystalline water so that it shone a bright turquoise blue.
It was stunning and I wondered why none of the Eilahasans had ever brought me here before. Why wouldn’t you want to spend your days soaking up the sun during the summer in a place as radiant as this?
I didn’t notice any fish in the water at first, but as I watched, birds every color of the rainbow dipped and fluttered, some diving deep into the pool and pulling wriggling fish out with their massive talons.
I imagined they must have been eagles or hawks of some sort. Where most of the eagles and hawks on Earth were neutral colors, these birds were bright blues, purples, and magentas.
It was absolutely breathtaking and my mouth fell agape as I continued to watch the natural beauty all around me.
Scar
I wandered into a clearing that smelled of mating. I instantly recognized some of the scent signatures—most assuredly, Arh and Mikaela, along with her pet, who had taken a massive crap at the edge of the woods.
I pursed my lips, wondering which way they had chosen to go and stepped into the woods just over the droppings—ensuring I didn’t step in them as it was clear someone else already had.
Crunch. Crunch.
“Scar?”
I paused midstep as I heard the familiar sound of Arh’s voice just to the left of me, my eyes darting toward him as I glanced in his direction.
“Arh. Where is Mikaela?” I asked worriedly, as I still had yet to see either her or her dog.
“I do not know. I suspect she went searching for the animal she is so fond of because both of them disappeared from our clearing.”
I grunted. I knew what he meant by their clearing, and the smell of sex in the air made it clear he had spent a great night with Mikaela. A rare occasion that the rest of us had yet to get—if we ever even did.
And now, he didn’t even know where she was. A part of me grew instantly angry at the insanity of it all.
“How do you not know? Where were you?” I asked.
Arh tilted his head and perked a brow as he scoffed, crossing his arms over his chest as a cocky grin overtook his expression.
“Do I detect a bit of anger in your voice? What are you even doing here, Scar? Clearly, from the jealous sound of your tone, you already know that Mikaela and I have shared our flesh—in more than one way. So, what makes you so quick to assume the worst of me? She must have enjoyed the delights I brought her last night—or is your nose so broken that you cannot even smell the potency of our lovemaking this many hours later, this far away?” he smirked.
“You would be wise to speak more kindly to me, Arh. I have news that is important, and while I do smell your accomplishments it will make no difference to me how many ways Mikaela screwed you if my vision is to come true,” I said hastily, forgetting I had yet to even shed any light on the sliva—let alone what his mother had told me.
Already, I had allowed his toxic words to attach themselves to my mind and deter me from the place of reason I needed to stay in—lest my hastiness cost me the thing that mattered most. And I still didn’t know where she was.
“What do you speak of? Let’s discuss it as brethren. It seems you have come with a purpose, but I would remind you to consider who we speak of. Mikaela has never been one to go along with what was best for her and that animal has only added to it,” Arh said.
I nodded—for once, he spoke with reason instead of nonsense, which fully surprised me. I wondered suddenly if it were possible that he had matured and grown some, and if Mikaela had anything to do with it.
“What do you know about the sliva dragon?” I asked.
Arh stopped in his tracks and tilted his head.
“What did you say?” he asked, a flicker of upset dancing across his irises. I could recognize that it upset him, even if he hadn’t yet vocalized it. Just as it had his mother, Veruka.
“I asked what you know about the sliva dragon,” I repeated slowly.
He pursed his lips.
“What did you see?” he asked, still avoiding my question. As if he didn’t trust me or wasn’t sure of what I would say, but in asking me what I saw he provided insight that he probably overlooked. I hadn’t.
“So, you do know about the sliva. Just as your mother did,” I muttered. “Do you dream, Arh?” I asked.
“On occasion—though never of the sliva. Where did you hear of it?” he asked.
“Veruka, who is the first person I shared my dream with. Did you know that I never dream—ever?” I asked him.
“Ah, so your worth is more than just a cook—a prophet? You? I would have never imagined it myself,” he muttered.
“You know about prophets too? See, how is it that everyone knows about the sliva?” I asked.
“My sister was murdered by it right before my eyes. It was hard for my mother to hide the monster from me as so many other parents did. I had seen it with my own eyes,” Arh explained.
He shook his head. “But you being here discussing the sliva gives me more cause to find Mikaela quickly. Obviously, it must be back. The dreams only come when it is feeding season yet again,” he reminded me. “So, tell me—what did you see, Scar?”
“I saw an inky obsidian scaled beast with fiery eyes slithering through the trees—it looked like it was near the brook haven where all the raptors capture fish.”
“A place that isn’t too far from here,” he said. “In the middle of my stomping grounds.”
“How did the sliva get your sister, Arh?” I asked as he began walking ahead of me.
He waved his arm above his head. “Follow along and I will tell you the memory my mother never wants to discuss,” Arh muttered.
I strode up toward him—my eyes and ears completely intent on listening as we both searched the jungle for our beloved Mikaela.
A female I could only hope we could both adore, love and share—should she ever allow us the opportunity.
Arh
“My sister was a year older than I. We were very close and my mother adored her greatly. Obviously, she and I were each other’s first playmates and at that time we were still young. We liked to play in the meadow outside of our mother’s home cave.”
I whacked some of the plants off our path. “In some sense, you might say it was my fault as I was the one to come up with the idea for Tishena and me to run out of the cave while mother was busy working on tonics and doing her usual duties to care for us.”
“Tishena and I were playing tag through the meadow and then a dark cloud came over the sky. But as I looked up, I realized it was no cloud at all.”
I paused, closing my eyes briefly. The memories of the event returned to my mind, as fresh as if it had been yesterday, and they weren’t pleasant.
“Instead, a beast with dripping canine teeth and fiery eyes wa
s hovering just above us. I yelled and Mother came running out—it was the first time she had seen it, but on sight, she began shaking her head and repeating, ‘my dream, my dream, my dream.’ She just wouldn’t stop saying it.”
I whacked more branches off our past. “The beast lunged forward as I ran back toward the cave—its jaws snapping shut upon Tishena and biting her torso in half,” I finished as Scar strode behind me.
“You saw her get eaten? It didn’t consume her in one bite?” Scar asked in shock.
“It ate what it wanted and left the rest of her—as if it wanted to warn and torture my mother at the same time,” I said.
“Did your mother have a dream too? How did you learn it was the sliva?” Scar asked me.
“My mother eventually came around to telling me about her dream and the foresight she had about what befell Tishena. I think it was why she agreed to foster you and Dey as she has,” I said.
“But she never officially took us in,” Scar said.
“And yet you both revere her just as a mother. I have always noticed it,” I admitted.
“And somehow, I thought you always resented us both for it. Why do I now feel like that is no longer the case?” Scar asked.
“Because it is not. Yes, I did hold some resentment about it, but I have learned that my mother’s heart and station did not come from nowhere. It is who she is and if she sees the two of you as her family then I am nobody to tell her differently. I adore my mother, and both you and Dey seem to bring delight to her life. She has already been robbed of so much,” I explained.
“Does your mother blame herself for what befell her? It seemed as if she did when she told me to hurry and find you—and Mikaela,” Scar explained.
“I think she does think it her fault because she did not heed her own vision. I don’t think she expected that a female could be a prophet as the council never seemed keen on it, but I believe she is more than just a healer. I believe she had visions she regrets not abiding long before,” I said.
“I wonder how long it had been between her dream and when your sister was taken?” Scar asked.
I shrugged. For all my many questions over the years, this was one I had never once thought of asking her. It always seemed too painful for her to discuss and I just wanted to go about my business—hunting and providing as I was good at it.
I just wanted to be a normal Eilahasan and forget about the sister I never got to see again. And yet, Scar’s question was relevant now.
“We should hurry. The lagoon isn’t too far from here. If she is there, she’s already treading dangerous ground as it is,” I said.
“Do you not know?” Scar asked.
“What?” I asked.
“How long it was from your mother’s dream until your sister was taken?” he asked me again.
I paused and looked back at him—trying to consider what I should and shouldn’t say carefully.
“I do not know. I never asked my mother that question. I never thought it necessary—until now.”
I sighed in reflection of the truth and hoped that I wouldn’t once again lose a female who meant something to me to the wicked and vile creature called the sliva.
“I see, well then I suppose we should quicken our pace, eh?” Scar said, stepping past me as he began to speed up. I pushed myself to catch up with him and gave a nod.
“You truly are a brother, Scar. I hope you know that,” I said, lifting my hand and resting it on his shoulder briefly.
I smiled and nodded forward. The lagoon wasn’t too far ahead now and as I inhaled the air around me I picked up a wafting scent of dog—the only one that existed in our land, Tremor—which meant Mikaela couldn’t be too far away.
One thing was certain, she was great at tracking that damn creature, much to my dismay.
Dey
I walked around the home cave with an expression I was sure conveyed my displeasure, but Veruka never commented on it, which was shocking. I came back over to where she was as she stepped inside the cave entrance and pursed her lips.
“How long do you think it will be before we hear from them again?” she asked.
I pursed my lips and sighed. I was worried too, but I certainly didn’t know what to say to her about it.
“I…” I sighed again. “I don’t know. Do you think we should go get others to help?” I asked.
“No, I don’t want to scare everyone and I am afraid of what the council will say if they learn we had a prophecy occur over here again. I do not want to cause a panic in the rest of the tribe members,” Veruka said.
I perked a brow.
“Is that what you did the last time, Veruka?” I asked.
She glanced at me and drew her hands together, wringing them tightly.
“No, I didn’t even recognize my own prophecy. I didn’t see it as anything but a dream, but I was young and I had never before had such an experience to know what it was,” she explained.
“If you could do everything differently, what would you do?” I asked her, hoping that making her see the errors of the past could help her to make new choices in this new opportunity she had found herself in.
“And they say I am the sage one here?” she asked with a chuckle.
“I’m not sure about being a sage advisor, Veruka. I just notice that when life provides a chance to rectify and learn from the experiences of the past it is often so we can make better choices and provide a new path for ourselves. It is only when we consistently choose to make the same poor decisions that outcomes remain the same—or unmoving,” I said.
“You are indeed quite bright and wise. I am surprised it was not you who inherited the foresight that Scar has recently displayed. Sometimes, fate is not such a kind mistress. She tends to give gifts to those who may not understand them so well when clearly there are those who might be better suited to them. I feel you would be a great prophet—you would embrace the title with pride, of that I am certain,” Veruka explained.
I gave a shrug. I had not spoken my thoughts because I wanted to receive compliments. I had spoken them because I felt they needed to be said and that in this case, the pupil had a lesson for the teacher—as surprising as that may have been to her.
“I can only pray that Scar is able to find them both and that my son doesn’t mistake his presence as a threat. I know you all think Arh is foolish and reactionary, and in many ways this is true, but if you saw your sister bit in half at such a young age you too might feel more aggressive toward the world. It made him a prime hunter, which I am delighted to see.”
Veruka paused. “My only fear is that he will fail to heed the wisdom I’ve so desperately tried to instill in him at a moment he will never be able to return from. They have little time, but I am not convinced they will work together and if they do not—well, your dear Mikaela may indeed be totally lost.”
“Then we should pray and make haste to have every possible remedy they may need readied for when they finally do arrive,” I said.
Veruka smiled back at me and gave a nod.
“I hope you know that I have adored you and Scar like my very own. That can never change. And never shall it.”
I nodded—knowing full well she wholly meant every word of it. There was no doubt.
I just hoped that the same security I felt in her words would be provided to Mikaela, and that Scar would recover both her and Veruka’s very misunderstood son.
Seventeen
Mikaela
I had no idea how long I had been looking for Trem, but as the light danced across the lagoon I was positive that something here had attracted the curious explorer of a canine.
The predatory birds I had been watching all disappeared, and I decided to venture forward down the overgrown foot trail that jutted out from the edge of the cliffside I had come to stand on.
My mind was racing with strange thoughts. On the one hand, I did enjoy what Arh and I had shared but there was a misogynistic aspect to his people that I was confident I could never just go
along with.
The council’s request and even harsher punishment for me should I choose to go against it, was downright despicable.
How could anyone think that forcing a person to accept their fate and taking away their own decisions, could ever make them happy to go along with a totally new culture?
There were a number of things I didn’t feel ready to give up as a person, and I really didn’t understand why I had to.
And yet, to deny that Arh, Scar, and Dey had infected my every thought, fantasy, and curiosity would be a bold-faced lie. I wasn’t about to do that to myself—I was smart enough to recognize my reality for what it was. And that reality had shown me repeatedly that I had no control over anything that had gotten me to Eilahas.
The only thing I did control here was my own livelihood—or lack of it. If they wanted me to earn my keep I was more than willing to do that, but I didn’t think popping a baby out of my crotch after sleeping with three dudes was a fair trade. Not at all. It was my body for Christ's sake!
I eased myself down the path, leaning back slightly to keep my balance The terrain was rocky, but as I walked the dirt seemed to shift slightly beneath me.
Whoosh!
The earth slid out from under me and I landed on my ass with a loud oomph noise. I groaned, my skin aching from the impact of falling.
I pushed myself upward, shaking my head at my own foolishness. I should have known better than to go gallivanting down a trail I didn’t know. It could have been riddled with all sorts of holes and loose soil. A false cliffside could have even welcomed me into a large gaping hole in the ground if I wasn’t careful.
Suddenly, I regretted taking off into the jungle without gauging my surroundings, but there was no way in hell I was going to let Tremor disappear without putting in any effort to find him.
He was my family. He was the only family that I had on this godforsaken planet.
I gulped slightly and moved to continue the rest of the way down the path—this time taking more caution as I moved along.