by Feath Pym
young Eh,” Eh Speak said.
“How…?” He set his spear and loin clothes down, tired of packing them up and down the cliff. It is safe enough now to release them.
“Because it was what I thought, at first,” the Speaker sent him a dark look. “And you are a young hunter, but not a fool.” Eh Speak’s eyes were shadowed by his eye ridge, but even so he put up a hand to block the light of Father Sun. His squint knotted his broad forehead as he watched the water recede. Naked, Eh Speak’s many tattoos were vivid in Father Sun’s light. Clean, sharp lines defined his many magics. The one on his forehead twinkled as if the sky fires were living there. Eh Quest couldn’t pull his eyes away, he’d never seen that happen. Then he snorted, amused at himself. Eh Speak hadn’t bathed since rising, there was some sand on Eh Speaks skin, of course he’d twinkle in the light.
After a moment his hand dropped and gripped Eh Quest’s arm with bruising force. “Tell me what you see, young Eh Quest.” All amusement dropped from him at the stiff command.
“The ocean, going away. Father Sun, coming up. Ash and smoke.”
“Don’t disappoint me. Tell me, is Father Sun coming up or going down?”
Eh Quest had never questioned Eh Speak before. But what kind of question was that?
Baffled, Eh Quest looked again. What he saw made his head reel; the world spun backward while he still faced the front. “How can this be?” He throat closed up on the words. He hawked and spit to clear it out. “Father Sun is going down! He sinks beneath the ocean.” Where a moment ago Father Sun had cleared the edge of the world, unfeasibly now he rested only half way up.
Eh Speaks grip spasmed and Eh Quest thought his wrist would shatter under the pressure. “I have never seen the Father sink right after rising. But I have seen…” His voice faltered. He tried to speak but nothing came out. He growled until his throat opened and then yelled; “Get off the beach!” A few faces turned up to them like flowers seeking Father Sun’s light. Eh Speak turned to Eh Quest. “Get down there, get them off the beach. The Father isn’t sinking. The water is rising! Get them up here, as high as we can get.” He threw Eh Quest towards the trail.
Yelling as he ran, Eh Quest told everyone to climb, to get away from the beach. He saw Ta Fast standing on the landings cliff. She watched the water with a deep frown, her green eyes worried.
“Ta Fast,” Eh Quest said. “Warn everyone who’ve gone far. Get them off the beach. Eh Speak says the water rises.”
The Woman Who Runs Fast leap like a gazelle, pounding to those far away.
The birds returned, diving and shrieking over the heads of the clan, adding to the chaos. “No, no, it’s not the birds, stop chasing them. It’s the water, get off the cursed beach. Flaming Nests!” Eh Quest waved his arms, trying to warn them of the true danger, the water.
The cries of the birds drowned out his warning; those farther away couldn’t hear him at all.
Large groups, secure in Eh Speaks decision all was fine, gathered seaweed. They had long threads thrown over their shoulders, which trailed behind them like preening birds tails. Their backs to him, he had no way to get their attention. He could see Ta Fast throwing divots of sand as she dug in deep to reach them.
Eh Speak had told everyone it is safe, and they believed him. He had never been wrong. Eh Quest didn’t understand the problem, but if Eh Speak had fear, then he believed there was something to be afraid about. It was enough for him.
He started down the last trail to be beach, yelling nonstop. An infant Ta sat in the beach grass, crying. He picked her up, set her on his hip and yelled louder. “Climb to the top cliff!” Not understanding the problem, some looked at him with scorn and continued to chase the birds, contempt for his panic in their straight backs. Why didn’t they hear the danger? Were the birds so loud they drowned out reason? Eh Quest could hear the ocean over the birds, a sizzling wrath of furious sea sprites.
He had done what he could. The fury of the sea sprites and Eh Speaks fear found a permanent home in his heart. He wanted off the beach. Still carrying the little Ta, Eh Quest ran as fast as he could, first to the cave level, across the clearing and up to the last cliff.
At that moment, an eerie break in the birds cries enabled Eh Quest to hear the most horrifying sound of his life. The laugher of children. Coming from the cave. He had forgotten them! He hadn’t look in the cave in his mad dash. They hadn’t heard him. They didn’t know.
Ta Sim! Ta Sim had returned to the cave, along with the children and many adults. How could he have forgotten?
Few of the people standing there had clothing on, left in the cave during their rush to get out. Their individual body tattoos were a blur to him, the long bound hair a distraction. He tossed the infant into the first sturdy bronzed body he saw and turned around without breaking stride. Shouts of outrage irrupted behind him, muted by the birds.
He lost his balance half way down, sliding the rest of the way on his face and chest. There were only a few frantic steps to the mouth of the cave and he burst in like a charging bison, bellowing. He simplified his language for the very young and his lack of air. Ta Fast ran into the cave behind him.
“Out! Up!” Eh Quest said, getting so breathless it was a whisper now, no shouted command. Adults jerked forward, grabbed children. Older children grabbed babies. Ta Fast picked up the elder Ta Bray and ran. The chaos made him dizzy but movement on a fur caught his attention. He saw two infants sleeping and he scooped them up.
Over the screech of sea birds he heard screaming from the beach.
He strained to get enough breath, his muscles hurt so much he creaked when he moved. He wasn’t a sprinter, didn’t have the air to sprint. Jogging he could do, he was made for that, but it is too late, too late. His thick muscles demanded more, air that he didn’t have now and they became heavy and unresponsive. He lurched to the side, balance gone.
Dread burrowed into him like a tick. He could hear the sea sprites roaring closer. Terror replaced air.
He sprinted like a cheetah.
He caught up with Ta Fast. Others had come from the higher level and now helped them up the last of the trail. Eh Quest handed the infants to Ta Heal. “… parents…on…beach…”
“Not anymore,” Ta Heal croaked.
Eh Quest stood next to Eh Speak, arms braced on knees as he recovered, sweat streaking his sides. He panted and his muscles spasmed uncontrollably. He saw those on the beach were gone and horror straightened his spine. Where usually a tranquil surf swept the beach, now a frenzy of sea sprites boiled.
Unbelieving, he watched as the wave rose up and ducked its head to hit the lower level cliff. The wave collided with the cliff straight on, surging like a ram challenging his rival. Eh Quest’s heart stopped, before resuming painfully hard, a pale echo. They felt the impact where they stood, the shudder running up the rock and into their feet.
“Oh, Mother…” Eh Speak whispered hoarsely. The water continued to rise, clawing its way up the cliff. It rushed onto the second level, striking with a blast of howling destruction.
Eh Quest could see the wave pick up their sitting log, the one that took four of them to move, and lift it as a bird lifted a twig. It threw the log aside with scorn, where it disappeared under a swarm of sea sprites. The only living Tree Spirit in their clearing, a gnarled ancient thick and squat, vanished under the water.
Eh Quest felt the Wind Spirits running ahead of the wave now, they danced on the rising water, pulled on his hair. They squalled warnings to the Shadow People that lived in their cave. A gleeful, mocking warning that came too late. The wave surged in, filling the cave with a deep-set boom and drowned them all. Nothing could survive that, not even the Shadow People. Would the wave be content now? Would it turn away, its blood lust quenched by those deaths?
No, the wave wasn’t done yet. It continued to claw and tear its way up the last cliff, reaching for them with grim tenacity.
They stood frozen, fear locking muscles and loosening bowels. The wave sm
ashed into the cliff just below their feet, the impact sending everyone to their hands and knees. A cyan mat of water and sea-sprites rushed up, up, flying high above them. It seemed to pause, before fat, heavy drops sizzled down, beating on their backs without mercy. Then the weight of it crashed down in final loathing, as a fist sent in cold fury to crush them utterly.
They crouched on the cliff like boulders, mortal terror crafted with frigid mud, dripping seaweed and tiny scurrying crabs. Eh Quests ears throbbed from the absence of noise.
Then his breath rasped once, harsh in that silence. The sea birds were gone and the Wind Spirits scattered, brooding. All he could hear was the sound of the ocean escaping back over the cliffs, a downy retreat of victorious sea sprites.
A startled bird gave a tiny, querying peep and everyone ducked with alarmed cries.
When nothing more happened, swaying, the clan climbed back to their feet. Eh Quest pressed his palm against his heart, afraid it would burst from his chest. Looking at who stood with him, he saw they all looked like windblown horses; chests heaving and wild eyed, exhaustion drained their will to escape. They all stood waiting for death, for their journey to the next world. What next grim disaster would take them to their sky fires?
“You!” The roar came from the middle of the group. Eh Lip, a hunter, pushed his way forward until he stood in front of Eh Speak.