by Seven Steps
“Enough of this,” Eva growled. “If he won’t talk, burn the village.”
Chief Erick eyed her wearily. “You wouldn’t.”
Eva nodded to Kiln. He crouched and touched the ground with both hands. Flames spurted briefly from where his fingers touched the earth. The flames grew, then rolled toward the center of the village.
Sweat broke out over Erick’s forehead, and his hand went back to his beard. Eva wondered if he knew that his hands were shaking.
“If you harm my village,” Erick said, “the Venians will find you. I am a very important man to them.”
“Nadira, did you hear that?” Eva asked. “It sounded like thunder.”
Nadira rose from the ground. The sky turned black, and lightning streaked across it.
“You know about storms, don't you Erick?” Eva stalked closer to the chief. “They just seem to...pop up.”
Another boom of thunder.
“It must be quite common for sudden storms to appear around here,” Eva said. “The wind might knock down trees, trapping villagers. Lightning may strike, burning the village to the ground. And not a single person would be alive to say otherwise.”
Erick kept one eye on the flame that lingered in front of the first hut. His voice came out low, strained. “If you kill me, who would tell you my son’s whereabouts?”
“Well I’m sure we can find someone,” Eva said. “Another son. A daughter. A wife perhaps. With no contraceptives, I’m sure there are dozens of your offspring who would know where he is. We will interrogate them one by one. I’m quite sure that someone will talk.”
Thunder rolled violently above them.
Chief Erick stroked his beard as he watched the flame. He then turned his angry gaze to Eva. “Stop this.”
“Tell us where Pennick is,” Eva said.
“South,” Erick said. “Next to the great tree shaped like a snake.”
Eva smiled. “Thank you.” She nodded to Kiln, who pulled the flames back into his hands.
Nadira descended from the sky.
“Tell anyone that we were here,” Eva said. “And we will come back and finish what we started.”
Chief Erick glared at them as they turned to leave. “Are you here to make my son a death walker?”
Nadira turned to face him.
Erick pleaded with them. “Are you going to make my son a slave?” he asked.
“We are going to make your son greater than you can ever imagine,” Nadira said.
Lex lifted them from the ground and into the canopy.
When they were out of sight of the village, Nadira clapped a hand on Eva’s back. “Way to bluff, Eva!” Nadira smiled. “You really came through for us.”
Eva smiled. “Who was bluffing?”
CHAPTER 31
Pennick briefly wondered what the rest of his tribe was doing as he swung his ax at the base of the young palm tree. Without the sturdier, sophisticated tools of his village, his make shift stone axe left jagged, hacking marks on the trees bark.
Mama and my sisters are probably cooking. Papa is probably hunting with my brothers.
He missed his family, his village, his home.
But none of it matters without Seven.
One final swipe, and the tree fell. He thanked the Gods. It’d taken him twice as long to cut this tree down with the small axe then it should have. He wiped the sweat from his brow, picked up his skin of water, and took a long pull.
He had picked this place because of the hut. As a child he and his brothers played in this hut, and as they got older, they used it to rest when they hunted. But for the last several years, the hut stood empty. When they hunted, they slept underneath the stars with the other men.
It had taken him three days to make the hut livable again, to make a home where he and Seven could start a new life together, perhaps even a family.
Away from demanding fathers, and tribal bickering. Away from everything that we’ve ever known.
Sadness threatened to overtake him for the hundredth time today. He pushed it out of his mind.
If I had taken her home, my father would have killed her or worse, used her to barter her father’s tribe into slavery. I couldn’t let that happen.
Adjusting the knot of the orange cloth that he had tied around his muscular waist, he straddled the young tree. His tanned hands moved the ax up and down, stripping the tree of its leaves, branches, and bark.
As thoughts of his dark-haired beauty danced in his head, Pennick finished stripping the tree and cut it into pieces that could be tied and moved to their new home.
When they had first run away, they’d taken shelter in a makeshift lean-to at night. He remembered the shame that weighed on his mind. Seven was the daughter of a chief. She was used to every sort of comfort, and he, the son of a chief, couldn’t give her a decent hut to live in. A thousand times he considered returning her to her father and trying to reason with the two chiefs. Perhaps a deal could be struck between the two tribes? Maybe this wasn’t the only way?
Seven, sensing his distress, would kiss him and tell him that everything would be all right. She had given him the strength to keep fighting. Her touch gave him the will to move forward with what they were trying to build together.
When he had fixed the roof and door of the hut, he proudly carried Seven over the threshold and declared that the hut was hers to do as she wished.
And she had.
In a matter of hours, she had decorated the hut, filling an entire wall with her carvings, merrily humming as she did so. Two days later, when every nook and cranny was filled with the wooden circles, he decided to expand their meager hut to better fit her odd obsession. He had come this morning to cut down some trees for the frame and the floor. Once he added the addition, he would work on adding more shelving and perhaps a separate hut for her carvings. It was hard work, but the love that bubbled in his chest when she smiled at him was worth it. She had filled his hut with love, and he was grateful.
He had only stacked the first log on the sled when it trembled.
Then the log hovered.
Pennick screamed, fell onto his backside, and crawled backwards into the shelter of the vines.
What bewitchment is this?
Too terrified to mourn the lost hours of work, he scrambled on his hands and knees toward the hut.
“Don’t be afraid.”
Pennick turned back to the floating log and planted his face to the ground.
The gods have come for me. But why?
“What do you want with me?” he asked, his voice trembling.
“Tell us your name.”
Us?
“My name?” Pennick asked.
“Yes. Your name.”
“My name is Pennick.”
He lifted his head from the earth, his eyes scanning the jungle, trying to see who had called out to him. The voice didn’t boom like a god’s voice. It sounded like a man.
But what man could make logs float?
“Where is Seven?” the voice asked.
“Seven?”
“Is she with you?”
“No.”
“Take us to her.”
“What do you want with Seven?” Pennick asked.
“Do you question me?”
“Um, no,” Pennick said. “I only want to know what you want with her first.”
Pennick set his jaw sternly. Gods or not, they will not take her from me.
A set of shoes appeared in front of Pennick, and he looked up.
A man with flaming red hair looked down at him. “We have come to take both of you to the Magistrate Embrya.” The man knelt and looked into Pennick’s eyes. “Magistrate Embrya rules every planet and star in the sky, and she needs you. She needs both of you.”
The man rose, held out a hand to Pennick, and pulled him to his feet.
“My name is Lex. This is Kiln, Nadira, and Eva. We’ve come to escort you to Zenith.”
Pennick looked at the palest men he had ever seen and blinked at the tw
o women. The woman with the darker skin waved at him. Pennick didn’t wave back.
Escort us where? And at whose order? Pennick shook his head. Something was definitely odd about these ‘Gods’.
“I don’t know what you are talking about,” Pennick said. “Seven and I have a life here. We’re not leaving it.”
“Where is Seven?” Lex asked.
“You will never find her, and I’ll never tell—”
Pennick lurched forward and soared into the air upside-down, his feet and arms flailing.
“I’ll ask you again,” Lex said. “Where is Seven?”
“I’ll never tell you!” Pennick watched as Lex’s three friends stepped forward.
“We can follow the tracks of his sled back to the hut,” one of the women said.
Pennick hovered just above Lex’s head as they followed the sled tracks through the jungle.
They finally arrived at a small hut.
“Is this it?” Lex asked. “Is this where Seven is?”
Pennick didn’t reply.
Lex raised him higher in the air and out of sight.
Lex walked up to the animal skin flap that served as the door. “Hello. Is anyone in there?”
Silence.
“We have Pennick,” Lex said. “We know you’re in there, Seven. We need you to come with us.”
Nothing.
Pennick hoped Seven would have run deep into the jungle by now. He started to pray, then stopped.
Who will I pray to? The gods are down here.
The flap moved, and Pennick’s heart fell as his woman emerged from the hut. Her loose, dark hair swung around her shoulders, and her skin glowed even in the muted sunlight of the jungle. She stared daggers at them.
“Venians,” she spat. “I might have known. Where is Pennick? Taken to be a slave in your city, I imagine?”
Lex shook his head. “We are not slave traders. We are here to help you. To take you to Magistrate Embrya.”
Seven’s eyes opened wide. “Embrya? Who is this Embrya?”
“She is the ruler of this planet. She—”
“Describe her to me,” Seven demanded.
“She ... she has wings,” Lex said. “And she’s tall.”
“With red hair, like yours?” Seven asked.
Lex nodded.
“And skin like the snow on the mountain?” Seven asked.
“How do you know this?” Lex asked.
“She torments me,” Seven said. “Every night I see her—and the others. The man with the red hair, the two stars, the blue ones. I see them all sitting around the table that looks like a star. And then I wake up and I carve it, the starred table. I feel like it’s what they want me to do.” She looked down at her hands. “I will go with you because I know that I’m meant to, but please don’t make me go without Pennick.” Her eyes widened, watered. “He’s all I have left in this world.”
Lex drifted Pennick to the ground.
Pennick felt Seven’s arms around him before his feet had touched down. He wondered if she had made a mistake allying with these ... whoever they were.
Seven looked up at Pennick. “I thought you would be a death walker by now.” She tightened her arms around him and sobbed. “I was so frightened.”
Pennick shushed her, running his fingers through her dark hair. “It’s okay,” he said, kissing the side of her head. “They didn’t hurt me. I’m here.”
“They speak of the lady in my dream.” Seven pulled her tear-soaked face away from his broad chest. “Pennick, we must go with them.”
Pennick nodded. “I know. I know that now.”
“Will you come with me?” Seven asked.
“Of course,” Pennick said. “I would follow you anywhere.”
Seven kissed him, their lips clinging briefly before he wiped the tears from her eyes, and squared his shoulders.
Seven looked past Pennick, straight into Lex’s eyes. “I am ready to go with you.”
Lex nodded. “Thank you. We also have a request, directly from the woman that you call the lady.”
“Anything she asks, I shall do,” Seven said.
“You must help us find Arees,” Lex said.
“The fallen one?” Seven shuddered. “Why?”
“Because she must also go with us,” Lex said.
“But she is a fallen god, a monster.”
“She has done terrible things that she must answer for,” Lex said. “We have to take her back to face justice.”
Seven shook her head. “Very few have seen the fallen and lived. It is nearly impossible.”
“Not with us.”
Seven looked at Pennick, then back at Lex. “If the lady commands it, then we will take you to Arees. But I warn you, the jungle is filled with dangers. I hope that you can protect yourselves.”
“And us,” Pennick added.
“We can, on both accounts,” Lex said.
“Then I will go to my fate,” Seven said. “I will take you to Arees, and then I will see the star table.”
CHAPTER 32
After several failed attempts by Lex to lift Kiln, Eva, Pennick and Seven at once, they were left with no other option but to walk through the superheated jungle.
The lush, green vines and foliage hung down, softly brushing the crowns of their heads. Small flies danced around their ears and eyes. Sweat ran down their foreheads and touched their tongues. The silence, like the heat, hung heavy.
Lex cleared his throat. “It must be hard to survive out here. I mean, just the two of you alone. Away from your tribes. Away from your families.”
“It was not our choice,” Pennick said. “If we went back to our tribes, they would never allow us to be together.”
“Why?” Lex asked.
“Our fathers don’t get along.”
“But as the chief’s son, don’t you have any say?”
“Yes, but only after my father dies and I become the chief.” He took Seven’s hand in his. “But I couldn’t wait that long for her. No man could.”
Seven smiled warmly at him. Lex watched love fill her eyes. He tried to ignore the tightening in his belly. Eva had looked at him like that once, but that seemed so long ago.
“You will be chief of our tribe one day,” Seven said.
“Nothing would bring me greater happiness.” Pennick kissed the back of our hand. “Still, I do wish for our families to unite in peace. I sometimes think that it is our fault that it will never happen.”
“Don’t say that, Pennick,” Seven said. “What malice is between our fathers happened long before we fell in love.”
“Chief Erick and Chief Byron used to be on better terms?” Nadira asked.
“Yes,” Pennick said. “Long ago, when I was a boy, the tribes were at peace. I would accompany my father and his best hunters to the meeting of the chiefs.” His eyes drifted to Seven. “I would go and I would sit behind my father and wait to see the eyes of the pretty girl with skin the color of the richest soil.”
“I wasn’t supposed to be peeking into the chief’s hut,” Seven shrugged. “I just wanted to hear them argue.”
Pennick smiled. “One day, on the way back from her village, I heard a shout. It was strange. Not one of the other hunters heard it. Just me. I walked a ways, and there she was.”
“I remember that day. It was the day my father swore that Chief Erick was never to step foot in his village or on his hunting grounds again. He called him a traitor. I ran away in tears because I thought I’d never see Pennick again. We’d never even spoken a word to each other and, yet, I loved him.”
Nadira smiled. “You already knew?”
“Yes,” Seven said. “Our eyes and our hearts knew that we belonged to each other, though our mouths never said it.”
“Where did you run to?” Nadira asked.
“I ran into his tribe’s part of the jungle,” Seven said. “I was crying, and not looking where I was going, and then I tripped and fell into a ditch.”
She and Pennick shar
ed a good natured laugh. Lex, Nadira and Kiln joined in. Eva walked ahead.
“When Pennick found me, I had a swollen ankle,” Seven said.
“I think she planned it that way,” Pennick said.
“Maybe I did,” Seven said.
Pennick smiled. “I couldn’t leave her there, so I told my father I wanted to hunt and that I would follow soon, and I went back to get her.”
“He asked me, ‘How did you get down there?’” Seven said. “Those were his first words to me. At first, I was too shy to speak and only pointed at my ankle. He asked me what I was doing and I told him that I was gathering star fruit. All of the star fruit grew in his tribe’s part of the jungle.”
“My little thief,” Pennick said.
“He had to know it was a lie. I had no star fruit and no basket,” Seven said. “But he didn’t say anything.” She sighed. “He told me that he wasn’t there to harm me, and he carried me all the way back to my father’s hut. He was so gentle.”
“I don’t know how I didn’t get caught,” Pennick said.
Seven quirked an eyebrow. “But you kept trying to get caught, didn’t you?”
“I was careful,” Pennick said.
“So ... he visited you at your father’s hut often?” Nadira asked.
“Sort of,” Seven said. “When I awoke the morning after he carried me in his strong arms for miles, there were two baskets of star fruit outside of my father’s hut. My father didn’t know what to make of it. He thought it was a sign from the gods.”
“Perhaps it was,” Pennick said.
“Every night for weeks I would wake up to a basket of star fruit,” Seven said.
“You had to know that it was Pennick,” Nadira said.
“I had my suspicions,” Seven said. “So one night, I stayed awake and waited. By dawn I had almost lost hope. Then there he was, a basket of star fruit on his hip, a smile on his face. I didn’t want to scare him off, so when he got close enough, I whispered to him.” She turned to Pennick. “Do you remember what I said?”
Pennick smiled. “She said, ‘Enough with the star fruit already.’”
Nadira, and Lex laughed. Kiln joined in.
Eva only rolled her eyes.
“So I whispered back, ‘What else can I bring you?’” Pennick said. “She said she would tell me if I met her in the jungle that night. So, I went back.” Their eyes connected warmly. “We climbed a tree and watched the stars. I asked her again, ‘What else can I bring you?’ She pointed to the stars and said, ‘Bring me one of those shining things.’”