Maal The First Skull- Shadows of the Mind

by Theodore Packwood

  “She’s fainted from being strangled and raped! Give her some time!”

  Hak’s lips curled outward. He leaned lower and swung his whole body, kicking out with both feet.

  eXia took the kick on her arm, rocking backward as Hak’s flat feet smacked her. She laid Jil’s head carefully on the floor and stood up, blasting me with the sight of her incredible figure again. Her fists were clenched as she glared at him with narrowed eyes. Her defiance was such a tantalizing lure.

  “Hak task: work uXulu. eXia task: work like whore,” he spat. “Or Hak take task: fuck girl’s mouth.” Hak grinned, his scar darkening to an ugly red.

  “Go up to your cave and take it out on your females,” she said, waving her hand upward. “Jil has had enough.”

  Above the timbers, clouds of smoke twirled among silhouettes of suspended wooden walkways and ladders. Small cave entrances could be seen, hiding in the shadows of narrow ledges. Gleaming in the firelight, yellow eyes stared, and other white-furred heads moved about, some of them tiny.

  Hiding the females and young? asked Cerulean.

  Perhaps they are less foolish than you surmised, Maal, said Indigo. His voice was deep and rich with sound, ripe with authority and engorged with arrogance.

  “Whore task: shut mouth!” Hak shouted.

  eXia narrowed her eyes. “No.”

  “Hak task: fuck eXia.”

  She laughed at him then, a scornful, mocking melody. “You wouldn’t dare. Goor cocks are too small, and we uXulu are too strong. Will you have your friends pummel and restrain me while you stand on a table to try to rape me, like last time? Even beaten and overwhelmed, you could not contain me.” A corner of her mouth curled up. “How many Goor will have broken bones this time?”

  “So, they have tried.” The revelation made me instantly furious. I clawed at Hak, with no rending of flesh, nor ripping of fur. I screamed in frustration.

  “Hak task: leave alone!” another Goor nearby yelled. “Or eXia take task: beat up Hak again!” Several others laughed, making “Oo-oo-oo” grunts.

  Hak bared his teeth, looking around at nearby Goor. “Hak task: work uXulu!” He let out another loud shriek and lunged at her, fists high.

  She was ready. She sidestepped around him and twisted, landing a double-palm shove on Hak’s back to send him flying across the walkway. He crashed into a table, sending bowls and mugs flying. Fool!

  “Gruck!” spurted one of the Goor as stew splattered all over his face and chest. Suddenly it was quiet, with just one bowl rattling on the floor as it rolled a ridiculous distance away before finally wobbling to a stop.

  I laughed, unable to contain myself.

  Every single Goor stood up, and now they had the countenance of frightening predators.

  There is mettle to these animals after all, said Indigo.

  I caught sight of Jedd, the bald bartender, vanishing quickly through the door behind the bar. The other naked uXulu hurried along the walkway to stand by eXia, their chains screeching with unsettling noise. They were a formidable sight, standing in a circle, facing outward with fists ready.

  Fight, yes, fight! cried Viridian. Make of them a painful sight! I was also eager for combat, though my hapless state made my participation impossible.

  Hak stood up, wiping stew off his face with one hand as he turned around. “Task for all: kill eXia!” he screamed. His face was red with rage, but I could not feel his Hate.

  “Hak task: shut up!” said one.

  “Hak task: no fight!” said another.

  “Hak task: sit!”

  “Hak task: fail!” I said, laughing. His weakness was so powerful I found it comical.

  Yours would take them to their knees in laughter, said Carmine. Why must she always deride me?

  Hak looked around as several other hairy creatures yelled at him. He clenched his fists and seemed like he would charge eXia again, but someone grabbed his shoulder from behind.

  “Hak task: stop!” the Goor yelled. “Rop task: stop fights. Hak task: no fight!” Several others yelled agreement. Rop had seven skulls on his shoulder-strap.

  A cold gust suddenly screamed through the hall, throwing eXia’s long hair into her face. She tossed her head to get the hair out of her eyes, a gesture so familiar I momentarily believed her to be someone else.

  “I know her. Do I not?” With phantom eyelids, I could not close my eyes to concentrate. I brought up my hands to blot out my vision, forgetting they too, were phantoms. Instead, I stared at the floor to focus, but the memory had fled.

  The wind fell to pieces. Heat returned and devoured the puffs of steam hovering near faces of many angry beasts.

  Hak yanked his shoulder free. “Hak task: warn all. eXia secret task: kill all Goor!” He pointed accusingly around him, yelling: “All task: kill uXulu!”

  Rop smashed Hak across the face with a fist. “Hak no make all task!” As Hak staggered, Rop grabbed him from behind and slammed him against a table. “Hak no make all task!” Hak flailed his arms, fighting to rise up, but Rop double-fisted him on the back. Hak cried out, and Rop beat on him relentlessly until he submitted.

  Rop arched his chest and screeched, then held Hak down and raped him, pinned against the edge of the table, like Jil had been. Hak grunted in defiance, but his voice was weak. “Rop: no task,” he repeated several times. When Rop finished with him, he screeched again and flung Hak to the floor.

  That could easily have been you, Maal, said Carmine.

  “Desist!”

  Why are you so irritable, Maal? asked Tawny.

  He wants a body, said Cerulean.

  To cut and slash and hack and gash, said Viridian.

  To fuck those delicious Stonewalkers, said Magenta.

  He could command them all to do his bidding, said Indigo.

  But his authority is contemptible, said Carmine.

  “Desist!” I yelled at the voices. “You are relentless!”

  They laughed at me, mocking my aggravation.

  Hak crawled away, wincing. He reached the ladder to the storage loft and slowly pulled himself up. After he reached the loft, he leapt upward, caught a rope ladder and climbed into the darkness.

  There was silence while everyone turned to eXia. oXellona took eXia’s hand, placed it flat on her chest and hummed. It was a sing-song hum, containing an unbroken string of sounds, high and low. eXia closed her eyes, listening to the sounds oXellona made, then opened them and shook her head. oXellona put her palm flat against eXia’s back, who responded with her own hum, but a different collection of sounds. As oXellona listened, she too, closed her eyes until the hum was complete.

  Wait. “Wait!” A memory of humming tantalized, its presence like an animal just outside the edge of a campfire. I could sense it was there, but it would not take shape. The campfire winked out, with no revelation.

  eXia crouched protectively over Jil, eyes narrowed at the Goor. I could see her vaginal lips as she crouched. It was an invitation I was unable to physically accept, but the mental desire was tremendous.

  Imagine what sensations lurk between those lips, teased Magenta. A whine of desperation escaped, a small sound for the colossal need.

  Rop called out: “All task: eat!” The Goor sat and resumed their loud activities.

  Cautiously turning away from the Goor, oXellona handed eXia a thick, wet rag while the uXulu crowded around. “Will she live?” asked one. She rubbed at her neck, raw behind the collar. All of them had sores and red flesh where the collars touched skin.

  “Yes,” eXia said, nodding to one. “Thank you for your compassion. But return to work; we don’t want to provoke them into further beatings.”

  “As First Stone, you should be more concerned about your safety than that of some human,” another said.

  eXia narrowed her eyes at her. “aXarelle, know your place.”

  “Axe-ah-rell.” Again, the name did not tantalize, like eXiaxana did.

  aXarelle noticed the angry faces of the other uXulu. “I am
Second Stone,” she said haughtily. “It is my duty to protect the First Stone.” She was shorter than eXia, though still much taller than Jedd: I had noticed her pretending to wipe the bar earlier. She was thinner than the rest—narrower in the hip and smaller in the chest—but still her breasts were large enough to fill the wooden bowls on the table. A pointed hairline, a down-turned nose, and a narrow chin, as if her face was a downward arrow. She held her head with her chin up, enforcing the impression of condescension. Eyebrows started low and curved up and away from the center, adding cruelty to her gaze. Thin lips and a narrow nose completed her sour mask.

  “Jil is the last of her Clan!” oXellona replied angrily. “Because of her suffering, the Goor haven’t turned their depraved attention to us.”

  “They couldn’t hold me down,” aXarelle sneered.

  “And if they beat us all senseless?” oXellona’s pitch rose. “How will you fight them off then?”

  “Enough!” eXia demanded in a loud whisper. “We can’t fight amongst ourselves if we hope to survive this place! Be as silent as the still rock. Now go!”

  “Yes, First Stone,” oXellona replied, glaring at aXarelle.

  eXia’s commanding voice was a delight. Though aXarelle should have been forcefully dominated, as Rop had done with Hak, the rest seemed to obey her.

  Mmm. Sexual domination between two Stonewalkers? wondered Magenta.

  Beat them into submission, Maal, said Indigo. Make them obey you.

  “I can not!” I snapped.

  We know, said Carmine, and they laughed.

  The uXulu resumed their chores, wary of the lingering hostility. A pair of them placed palms upon each other’s chest, exchanging the strange sing-song hum for a few moments before separating. Their firm butts and huge breasts jiggled to terrible distraction, but none of the Goor seemed interested in them; there were no sneaked glances or molestations. I would not have been able to resist. Nor would I have tried to.

  “Jil?” eXiaxana asked quietly, placing the rag on her forehead.

  Yet another delightful view interrupted by the unconscious girl. I found Jil’s fragility odious; it grated upon my patience.

  Perhaps you should slap her awake, Maal, said Carmine. It was an excellent idea.

  I moved closer, willing to strike the girl without care for the result. As I approached, eXiaxana looked up. For a moment she seemed to look into my eyes, and a thrill waxed within me. “I wish I could fetch you water from the trough,” she said. She looked past, and chagrin abolished the momentary excitement. It was foolish to think her momentary glance had connected with my debauched stare. Why was I so desperate for her to see me?

  You know the answer to that, Maal, teased Magenta.

  “Do I?” The question confused, and none of the other voices rose to offer an answer. I turned away to discover what had the pleasure of her gaze, since it could not be me.

  Opposite the bar was the wide part of the wedge, walled off by an incredible barrier of colossal tree trunks, sealed by their girth and compacted snow, as their tops stretched high into darkness. Shaved of branches and stacked vertically across the gap, they formed an imposing palisade between the cliffs. Snow pushed and squeezed through slits between the trunks, melting and dripping into catch-basins below. There lay my envy of her focus.

  Above the basins stood a wooden platform, a short set of open stairs up from the walkway. It was filled with piles of furs and a score of snowshoes, though it was curious why the Goor would need either. Off-set from the center, a space between a pair of trunks allowed for egress. A makeshift door—little more than several pieces of broken wood poorly tied together with shoddy rope—attempted to hold back the wind with a thick stump for a brace. It shuddered violently as the wind assaulted it.

  Two expansive piles of firewood–perhaps the remnants of thick branches cut from the trees–were stacked against the base of the platform. Near one of the piles, a Goor squatted over a hole and shat, talking to a Goor next to him who pissed into it. When he was done he went to take a long drink from one of the troughs. I found myself suddenly, horrendously thirsty.

  I floated toward the water, and found I could not move further than one table away from where I had started. With some effort, I floated backward and tried again, with the same result. Testing my limits in other directions, I realized my movement was restricted to a short distance around Jil. I frowned at her in consternation.

  “What has created this maddening tether?”

  Kill her to remove it, said Viridian.

  If only I could.

  Suddenly the world shifted. Crunching and grinding sounds eclipsed all other noise. The hairy beasts grabbed their drinks and clung to tables. The uXulu knelt down on the ground and spread their legs, raising their arms upward as if expectant of gifts. I would have peeked at their crotches had my vision not been tilting and shaking. No, it was not my vision: it was everything else. Stones and pebbles fell down like sleet from the darkness high above, raining through the lattice of timbers. The Stonewalkers cupped their hands and tried to collect the tiny rocks.

  “What is this?” I yelled. I insist I was not afraid; it merely surprised me.

  After the long bout of shaking, the ground shuddered and finally became still. The uXulu had been humming, now loud in the silent bar. The Goor resumed their obnoxious din, with no verbal discussion of the event. The humming stopped and the Stonewalkers looked to each other and showed off their largest pebbles, all of which were discarded with disappointment.

  This is normal? cried Amber. I am frightened, Maal!

  Earthquake, came the word, along with knowledge of its regular occurrence at dawn and dusk, but no understanding of its cause. The deadliness of it was unpredictable: images of humans being crushed to death by large falling rock, buried by avalanche, or shaken off cliffs came forth.

  “How do they not live in constant Fear?”

  Perhaps they do, Maal, said Cerulean.

  It would explain the weakness of the human before you, added Indigo.

  eXia lifted Jil in her arms without effort, and carried her down the walkway toward the bar. I was dragged with them. Her blackened fist bounced limply as they walked, tantalizing me with unanswered questions.

  What hides within that fist? asked Tawny.

  “Nothing,” I replied. “I have seen the inside of it when I arrived.”

  Are you surrrrrre? said Magenta.

  I frowned, not understanding her implication.

  We approached a single table, where a man–not a Goor–sat removed from the rest of the room. As we neared, I became aware of just how massive he was. His shoulders were like large rocks, crowding his neck for space on a frame almost as broad as the table was long. His hand engulfed a mug so completely I did not realize he held one until he drained it and pushed it into a small army of other empty mugs.

  Accentuated by the firelight, his bunched, overly-muscled face made him appear angry. Ridges of muscle framed his glowing, red eyes, flanked a squat, thick nose, and bulged at the cheekbone. His skin was copper with a hint of shine, which was either its natural polish or the film of sweat on his face.

  The man–if he was human–had pulled his table close to the fire and was sitting sideways on the bench. His boots were off, and his huge, bare feet were in the fire.

  What we could do with that body, Maal, purred Magenta.

  Claim it, said Carmine. If you can.

  “How would I do that?” They laughed, and I grew Hateful.

  eXia’s chain kept her a table-length away from the fireplace. I found this odd: I would want slaves to refresh the fuel in the fireplaces. While eXia’s chain was near it’s limit, Jil’s chain still had slack. I was contemplating the difference when he spoke.

  His voice rumbled like low thunder. It sounded much like the grinding of rock during the earthquake. “Don’t put her there,” he said without looking over his shoulder.

  “She needs rest, and she’s freezing,” eXia retorted. She laid Jil do
wn on the opposite side of the table from him. “She needs the warmth of the fire.”

  “Put her near one of the others.”

  “You saw what they did to her. Every night, five or six of them rape her, sometimes more. I want her away from them so she can rest.”

  He turned his head, and his glowing, red eyes glittered in the shadows created by the firelight. There was silence as they stared at each other. The fire shifted and sputtered, launching a dying wisp of an ember into the air between them, which floated for a time, glowing, before it winked out.

  “If you put her there,” the man said, “I will kill her.”

  C

  I chuckled. Such raw honesty.

  eXia gaped at him in disbelief. “Her torture here isn’t bad enough?”

  He stared at her with glowing red eyes.

  Her mouth tightened, and her eyes narrowed. She stood up, her Hate evident by clenched fists, but I could not sense it.

  “Why can I not feel her emotions?” That would be far preferable. I had no desire to experience another blast of Shame from the wasted, unconscious young woman at my feet.

  The huge male turned back to the fire. I followed his gaze into the fireplace, curious at what he found so fascinating within. The flickering flames were unusual: yellow and orange, unlike the… the… gone. The memory was gone, the instant I focused upon it. The fires of my memory were not of the same tint as the fires in this place, but I could no longer recollect what they were.

  Despite the strange color of the flames, its enclosure was not raw stone. A pick had hacked out the sizable niche, but a more purposeful, artist’s hand had followed. The marks of the pick—hundreds of gouges, deep and shallow—had masterfully chipped the stone to create a stirring pattern in the firelight. The detail was fine enough to discern the adoration of a mother’s face, and the tiny hand of her baby clasping a finger.

  Is it the mother and child he stares at, or the flames? asked Tawny.

  A shift in the inconstant breeze clouded my view as smoke belched outward. To my left, the gleam of a metallic edge hinted at the presence of a massive sword, propped against the wall, point down. On the floor nearby, a group of deflated water skins lay beside a pair of thick, fur boots which could house an enormous pair of feet. Those feet were bare, resting inside the fireplace, toes pushed deep into the red-hot embers.