Keeper of the People (Book One)

by Karah Quinney

  Giad clasped arms with Anaay as the young man helped him rise. Giad had been sitting in the same position for hours and his legs were stiff like an old man’s. Anaay cautioned Giad telling him, “You must remember to stretch before starting a watch and then you must shift your position at times. You have done well this night but let this be a lesson to you, my brother.”

  “Are we?” Giad asked looking up at Anaay even though he could barely make out his features.

  “Are we what?” Anaay asked distractedly as his eyes sought out the sleeping figures of the women and children.

  “Are we really brothers?” Giad whispered the words.

  Anaay took a long time answering before he said, “We are not brothers by blood, but we are brothers of the same band and so in this way we are joined.”

  Giad seemed pleased with his answer if his silence was any indication. Anaay clapped him softly on the shoulder and guided him forward to where the women slept.

  Taikiuu was immediately alert, she did not move until she could make out Anaay and Giad. She waved to them and signed that all was well. Anaay was coming to see the benefit of speaking with hands instead of words and he signed the same thing back to her. She asked after Jon’lan and Anaay responded using the same sign to show that all was well. They did not speak in an effort to allow the others to sleep. Thankfully the shelter that Anaay had constructed protected them from the light rain that was steadily falling. Taikiuu marveled over Anaay’s survival skills, although she refrained from commending him in front of the others.

  She did not wish to embarrass the young man. Giad did not notice his mother’s sigh of relief when she saw that he was well. He simply plopped down next to her and began to whisper all that he had seen while watching over the women. Yaa woke up to smile at her brother and listen to his tale like a dutiful sister before drifting back to sleep. Star Feather asked Giad to rest and looked over at Anaay for support when the boy began to protest.

  “But mother-”, he complained only to be interrupted by Anaay’s soothing voice.

  “Giad, you have done well this night and already the sun is starting to crest over the mountains. Let us take our rest and we will wake soon to find Jon’lan back with us.” Anaay spoke smoothly as he motioned for the boy to follow him.

  Star Feather smiled in appreciation and turned so that she could face Kii saying, “That young man will make some woman a wonderful husband one day.” Both women laughed when Kii’s face flamed into a delicate blush. Instead of hiding her face Kii laughed with delight and the sound of her laughter found its way to Anaay’s ears. He turned and looked back at the women glad that they had found joy in their morning. Giad merely rolled his eyes and shrugged before following after Anaay.

  Jon’lan knelt beside the cave entrance, it had been difficult finding his way in the dark, but he could not risk a fire to guide his way. He gave the sound that Roark and he had used while hunting. After a long wait there was a reply and Jon’lan finally allowed himself to slightly relax.

  Roark was a fearsome sight when he rounded a boulder and suddenly appeared in front of Jon’lan as lightening flashed briefly overhead. Jon’lan was thankful that the rain had produced only a drizzle since he knew the women were sleeping outside under a small shelter. Anaay and Giad would spend the night under a canopy of trees for shelter. Roark clasped arms with Jon’lan and then spoke quietly, “My wife and the children?”

  “They are safe, for now.” Jon’lan knew that the wait must have been agonizing for Roark.

  “And yours?” Roark knew the answer simply by looking at the man, but out of politeness he asked.

  “They are well.” Jon’lan ushered Roark into the cave, he had already scouted it out to make certain that it remained free from animals during their absence. They both walked into the darkness of the cave and Jon’lan felt with his hand until he reached the back wall, rounding the corner he led Roark into the deep recesses of the cavern where he kept his trader’s pack and supplies. Using flint and stone he lit a small torch knowing that the meager amount of light could not be seen from the interior chamber of the cave. Both men studied each other for a moment before Jon’lan finally spoke. “We must leave this place and we must do so immediately.”

  Roark waited for Jon’lan to continue.

  “It is not as bad as I feared.” Jon’lan said softly and continued when Roark remained silent. “At first I thought for sure that it was Marad who had found us. But it was a band led by a man called I’naram. He is not a good man Roark, he is a man that rapes women and harms those smaller than him. There are no children in his band and I do not like the way his women look at Mar-ee, Yaa, Giad or your unnamed son.”

  Roark shifted where he crouched on his hunches realizing that it had taken every bit of self control that he possessed to stop himself from racing to his wife’s aid earlier in the day. Now at hearing what type of people slept so close to his wife and children Roark felt his heart race once again with fear and anger.

  Jon’lan watched as Roark contained his anger and after taking a breath he continued. “We were able to keep our women and children safe from them for now because my wife told them that everyone had taken sick, not just Star Feather. I don’t know how she thought of that so quickly, but it has kept them safe for now.” Both men nodded in acknowledgement of Taikiuu’s quick thinking. Finally Jon’lan said, “We must develop a plan that will help the women and children to get clear of I’naram and his warriors. I counted two hands of warriors and half as many women. I’naram thinks that the rest of our band is away hunting and I did not tell him how many of us their actually were.”

  Roark looked at Jon’lan and found that he was speechless. “But there is only me.”

  “I know that Roark, but we did not want him to think that he could steal, rape and plunder at whim with no repercussions.”

  “This is true, be at ease.” Roark spoke softly, aware of the strain that was on Jon’lan’s shoulders. He only hoped that the man was clever enough to find a way to save both of their families. The warrior inside of Roark constantly thought in terms of strategy, fighting and death. But he could not see a way to evade the foreigners without loss of life.

  “It was time to leave anyway, as we saw yesterday on our hunt, with the coming of fall, the mountain passes will close shortly. While we had hoped to stay in this valley for a short time neither you nor I want to be here if Marad chooses to come after us.”

  “He will come.” Roark said, remembering the bloodlust in Marad’s eyes as Roark defied him, shaming him in front of his men.

  “Then we have been given another reason to leave. Now we must plan what it is that we will do and I must return before my absence is noticed.”

  Jon’lan bent close to Roark and began to outline his plan in the dirt. Both men knew that their lives and the lives of those they sought to protect rested on their shoulders.

  Sirion enjoyed the display of power as her son fought another one of his warriors. Marad had a lust for blood that she had secretly nurtured over the years. Even now as he fought one of his friends from childhood he stopped just short of maiming the man. His warriors cheered as he shouted in triumph when the man that dared to challenge his authority ceased moving at all. The man’s wife ran forward shrieking wildly as she looked at her battered and bruised husband. He was covered in his own blood and Marad stood over them both with barely a scratch on him.

  The broken warrior before him had challenged him to a fight, as a way to show his prowess and strength to the other men. Marad had seen the challenge in the man’s eyes and he chose to fight him with the knife, knowing that it was the man’s weakest form of weaponry. Could he help it if the other man’s knife was inferior and broke off at the hilt as it connected with Marad’s arm?

  Marad had a small cut on his forearm where he had blocked the other man’s knife. But overall he was unscathed. His mother sat on a dais as she watched the splendor of her son as he stood before the crowd gathered there. They were not many,
not as they once were, but for now they were a small band, without a village.

  They lived in the forgotten land where they fought for survival day by day. Their island home of Hetmos was a place of dried lava and rock, it was as if the world had been torn apart and all that was left was this land of forest and brush.

  Sirion knew that they could follow the Ada’na at anytime. Marad had discovered the route through the cave that would take them the way that the Ada’na fled. But already the leaves were changing colors and the evenings were growing cold. Why should they travel to another unknown land and suffer through a winter without their stores of food and familiar hunting grounds. The forest that they lived in now teemed with wildlife. At least here they would be able to survive the winter. Sirion had been the first to have a Haik built and then Marad.

  The other warriors shared a large Haik of their own and those that were married were building their homes as quickly as possible with the help of the others of their band. Sirion had taken on the role as Matron of their people and Marad was her faithful son, he was her strength and her power. Vengeance burned in his heart and she would grant him his heart’s desire come the spring. For now, she wanted their people to grow strong again, already a few of the women showed signs of expecting new life.

  They would grow strong and survive the coming winter in this bleak forest and when the time was right they would travel as a band to the place where the Ada’na had gone. They would find her and when they did her suffering would become a story of legend and triumph for the Hetmos people.

  Never again would one woman hold so much power that she could call down evil upon the People by her cry to the mountain Gods. Already the mountain rested as if appeased by the sacrifice of the People. Already the women that had given their children to the mountain forgot the loss of their little ones. They were revered as sacred mothers for their gift to the mountain Gods.

  Sirion allowed these women to serve as her special servants. They ate with her on every occasion and were given the best portion from each hunt. There were three elders that still lived after the destruction of the Aztlan Village and Sirion ruled over them with ease. They had no choice but to follow her edict, since her son was first Warrior and hunter for the people. If they did not listen to her they would not eat. Marad wanted very few things in life, two of which were power and the woman of his choice. Marad preferred the girl’s to be young and just in the first bloom of womanhood.

  Sirion watched two such women whisper to one another. It would not do for his son to find a woman with her same strength and guile. He needed someone that she could mold and use for her own purpose. Sirion chose Dyani as Marad’s prize for winning the fight against such a fierce warrior, but she and her son both knew that it was also a bribe from her to him. Sirion wished to wait until spring to travel after the Ada’na and Marad wanted to gather his warriors and go now. Sirion knew that she would get her way when she saw her sons face flush as he gazed at Dyani’s young nimble body.

  Dyani’s mother served as one of Sirion’s special servants. The woman had already given her small daughter of two seasons to the mountain God’s as a sacrifice, she would not stand against Sirion if this was her wish. Sirion would honor her with the privilege of having Marad mate with her daughter Dyani. Marad’s eyes gleamed as he looked at Dyani with an intensity that caused his own mother to look away.

  Dyani was fair to look upon with rounded cheeks and shy eyes that she kept lowered at all times in the presence of men. She had not yet entered into her first season as a woman and should not be given to any man until that time. Yet, with only a flick of her wrist Sirion did away with that decree and the remaining elders were shocked and outraged. She silenced them with an icy glare. They would not stand against her and neither would Dyani’s mother, not if she wanted to eat and survive the long winter ahead of them.

  “Marad, you have done well. Your prize will be Dyani. You will honor her because it is my wish.” Sirion spoke quietly as her words were relayed to the group gathered there. Some murmured in the crowd that Dyani was too young and not past her first season as a new woman, but no one spoke up in the girl’s defense.

  Briefly, Sirion thought of her own torment at her father’s hand before she was old enough to be called a woman. It seemed fitting that other women should be made to endure what she had night after night until she had grown too old for her father to favor anymore.

  Marad grasped a trembling Dyani and dragged her to his Haik. He did not thank his mother for going against the taboo of the People by giving him a girl, not yet a woman. Sirion watched with a cruel smile as he dragged the young girl along behind him. Dyani’s mother stepped forward at the last moment as if to intervene but Sirion cleared her throat, drawing the woman’s attention.

  “My son does your family a great honor, if he is successful he will plant his seed in her belly and you will have a grandchild of blessed blood. Perhaps another great warrior like Marad. Think of the glory that will be yours. Soon Dyani will come into her time as a woman and perhaps then Marad will be so besotted with her that he will ask for her hand in marriage. Who can know such a thing?” Sirion smiled knowingly at the affect that her words had on Dyani’s mother. When the woman acquiesced to Sirion’s wishes it seemed to mollify those that watched from the sidelines.

  She knew that it was against the ways of the People to offer a young girl, not yet a woman to any man and especially without the assured benefit of marriage. But Sirion would rule these people and none would go against her. Suddenly Dyani’s screams pierced the air and Sirion felt a rush of power flow through her body. The feeling was just as she expected yet the moment was dimmed slightly by the other young woman who had been spared Dyani’s fate. Sirion looked into the young woman’s eyes and recognized a like minded spirit. Perhaps she would watch this young woman, to make sure she was never powerful enough to become a rival or a threat to all that Sirion hoped to control.

  The drummers began to beat and pound on their drums as Sirion directed her women to dance for the warriors that brought in food from their hunt. Soon the sound of the drums and the dancing and clapping of the band drowned out the ragged screams that came from Marad’s Haik.

  Upon her dais Sirion closed her eyes and rested as some of her serving women fanned her carefully so that she would not grow too warm by the roaring fire. Inside the Haik Marad watched as Dyani’s eyes grew round with fear, when he pulled his hunting knife from its sheath. He had never known the pleasure of taking a girl as young as this one and his dominance over her thrilled him.

  He wiped away some of the young woman’s blood that marred his perfect body. At first he meant only to use his knife to cut the ties from her hands and ankles, but when she shrieked in fear again he felt a curious heat fill his veins. Never before had he thought to use his knife on another of the People, except in battle, but as he looked into the fearful brown eyes of the woman before him he felt the bloodlust of the hunt fill his body and he allowed it to overtake him completely.

  He stepped forward with a vicious snarl of triumph as he knew that no one would answer her screams for mercy or her pleas for help. She was his, an animal fit only to serve him and he would do whatever he pleased with her. There was no escape, no hope and no way out. This time when she screamed with raw terror clogging her throat there was only his laughter to answer her along with the steady beat of the drums.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  “Mother,” Kii whispered softly, “When will father return?”

  “Soon daughter.” Taikiuu whispered the words to her daughter knowing that her voice would offer the comfort that her hand signs could not.

  Kii smiled upon hearing her mother’s voice and scooted closer so that they could share each other’s heat. Mar-ee climbed into Kii’s lap and asked for a string story. Kii was not in the mood to play but she realized that both girls needed something to do since the women had asked them not to run about. It would not do for sick children to behave in such a way in plain s
ight of the others.

  Taikiuu smiled as Kii gathered up her string and began to spin a story about a friendly bear that helped little children find their way in the forest. Giad who had wandered close to the women after taking his rest sat with his legs folded paying rapt attention. Anaay was nearby although Taikiuu could not see him, it was Rhea that announced Anaay’s presence.

  Every now and then she would thump her tail rhythmically upon the ground and perk her ears up looking towards the shadowed forest. It was there that Anaay would take cover and watch over them all from a distance. Rhea got to her feet suddenly and even Kii noticed the animal’s behavior and stopped her story even though the children protested.

  They all looked as one toward the shadow darkened forest waiting to see what would appear there. The children clapped their hands and smiled when Jon’lan emerged holding out his arms as Yaa and Mar-ee raced forward. Kii stood and brushed her hair back behind her ears waiting patiently for her father to come to them.

  Taikiuu also came to her feet and when Jon’lan was within reach she met him step for step until they were molded together almost as one. She clung to him for only a moment and then released him as she knew she must but not before he gently kissed her cheek. He nestled Kii in between one arm and held the hands of Yaa and Mar-ee as they dragged him forward.

  Finally he came to the women’s sleeping place and settled himself amongst them. Star Feather smiled a hello as she nursed her son with a small wrap covering her from shoulder to waist. They all waited as Giad signaled Anaay and the young man appeared as a shadow in the early morning fog before joining them.

  Once everyone was settled Jon’lan spoke, “Roark sends his greetings to his wife and children.” Yaa and Giad sat close to Star Feather and their little brother had stopped nursing long enough to peek his head out and look solemnly at Jon’lan. “He and I have discussed our options and found that our only alternative is to leave this valley.”