Sky Child

by Brenner, T. M.

  I follow the tunnels to the mouth of the Crag, making sure no one sees me walking around. Outside, I can barely make out Ebb, who is waiting for me. She's wearing her normal clothes, and she's carrying a large cup that is half filled with beer.

  "Are you sure you're okay with this? Because we could always think of something else," I say.

  "Sam, you know that this is the only way. I will be fine. You worry too much," says Ebb.

  "Worrying has kept me alive. So far."

  "And your..." she trails off.

  "My... what?" I ask.

  She won't answer me. But I think I know what she was going to say: my brothers. Only that isn't true anymore. I know she didn't mean anything by it, but it still cuts me inside. I should have thought about them more. I should have had someone protecting them.

  I need to stop hating myself for what happened. I didn't kill Jet. It's not my fault. It's not my fault. I keep thinking that, over and over again: it's not my fault. Maybe someday, if I think it enough times, I might even believe it.

  "I'm sorry," says Ebb.

  "Are you ready?" I ask, ignoring her apology.

  Ebb stares at me for a moment.

  "Yes," she says.

  "When you're done, meet me back at my room."

  She nods.

  We walk down the twisting tunnels until we reach Chaff's room. His glowing stick is still on fire, and we can hear him snoring. I find a dark shadow and hide.

  I watch as Ebb takes a drink of the beer. She walks into Chaff's room, pretending to stumble. She spills some of the beer on her shirt, and onto Chaff's face.

  Chaff is startled awake. He looks up at Ebb, who is bent over, looking into his face.

  "Oh, I am so sorry! I thought this was my room!" says Ebb, loudly.

  Chaff rolls over and sits upright. Ebb slowly moves back. I can see in the light that her shirt is now clinging to her body.

  "It's okay, beautiful," says Chaff, an evil smile on his face.

  "I think I've had moo touch beer. I mean too much beer!" says Ebb.

  She takes another drink.

  "Hey, you're cute," says Ebb.

  Chaff's evil smile gets even wider.

  I watch as Ebb slowly walks backward, keeping her eyes staring right into Chaff's. Chaff stands up and follows her down the tunnel.

  I look around to make sure that no one sees me, and then go inside. I head straight for the sleeping mat and lift it up. It's there. Oh, thank the Sky Gods, it's there!

  I pick up the missing page, and I try to find the meaning of 'seed'. It takes me a moment, but I find it:

  Seed–a flowering plant's means of reproducing; develops into another plant of the same type.

  So vegetables must have seeds that make them grow. And it sounds like they are part of the plant. I wonder what they look like.

  I think about keeping the page, but I realize that all I need is the information. I don't need the actual paper. I put it back exactly how I found it then move Chaff's sleeping mat back into place. I leave Chaff's room excited, because there is now reason to be hopeful.

  I make my way back to our room. Flot seems to be sleeping, but I think he's having nightmares. He moves in his sleep, making noises, saying words that don't make any sense.

  I stand near the entrance of our room, waiting for Ebb to appear. She finally does, and her shirt is still soaked.

  "Are you okay?" I ask.

  "Yes. It worked very well," says Ebb.

  "I'm glad that you're back safe," I say.

  "Me too. So did you get the page?" asks Ebb.

  "I read it, but I left it there."

  "Why'd you do that?"

  "So that Chaff wouldn't know someone had been there. I need to use what I've learned to show people I can grow food. They might not believe me otherwise. I don't know how long it will take to grow it, so Chaff can't know that he's been tricked yet," I say.

  "He seemed so full of drink, I doubt he will even remember me," says Ebb.

  "That would be even better, but I think it would be hard to forget you."

  "That's sweet," says Ebb.

  I smile a nervous smile.

  "Will you watch over us tonight?" I ask.

  "There's no place I would rather be," says Ebb.

  I take off my clothes and slide into bed.

  38

  The next morning I realize I should take the hunters out on a hunt. What good is a leader if they are never there to lead? I would have done it yesterday, if...

  I let Ebb go back to her room to get some sleep. She looks tired but hopeful, and I share those feelings too. I am glad that I can finally work on my plan to get rid of Chaff.

  I collect some eggs from the chickens, but I grab too many. When I finally realize it, I freeze. It takes all my strength to fight back the tears. I decide to set a few back down on the ground.

  When I return from cooking the eggs, Flot is already awake. He's set out cups for each of us and filled them with water. He looks up at me and realizes he's made the same mistake that I have.

  "It's okay Flot. There are things that will change. But we will deal with them, together," I say.

  "Can... can I keep pouring him a cup? At least for a while?" asks Flot.

  "Sure. You can do that, if it helps."

  "Nothing really helps."

  "I know."

  We eat our breakfast in silence.

  When we've finished eating, I finally speak to Flot.

  "I was going to take the hunters out today. Would you like to join us?" I ask.

  It takes Flot a moment to think.

  "Yes. I think it might help to do something normal," says Flot.

  "Okay. I will also put them through training."

  "I will be there for that too, then."

  "If you need anything..."

  "I won't. I will be okay," says Flot.

  I pick up the pan that I cooked the eggs in, and walk to the loud waters to clean it off. When I get there, I see Sickle, but not Scythe or Chaff. His head is wrapped in a piece of fabric, with a patch over his eye. I am glad that Jet stood his ground, and fought to protect his brother. That eye patch will stand as a reminder of Jet's strength and bravery.

  Sickle notices me staring at him. He has a blank look on his face; no expression. He just stares back with his one good eye. I look away. I don't want to start something with him. Not now. And I have to remember that it's his father that I really need to stop. Do you blame the knife, or the person holding it?

  I rinse the eggs out of the pan then take it back to the Great Fire. I use the bottom of my shirt to dry it out. Once I'm sure that it won't rust, I place it in the stack of pans next to the fire.

  I turn and stare into the flames. They pull me in closer. I find myself on my knees, praying. I pray for protection for Ebb and Flot. I pray for courage to do what is right, and the strength to keep going. And I pray that no matter what happens, the people of the Crag will be okay.

  I get up off my knees and walk to Helm's room. When I get there, I see flowers outside the entrance.

  "Helm?" I say.

  "Sam, come in," says Helm. "Did you need us to lead the hunt again?"

  "No, I will lead them today. I'm also planning on having a training. Can you and Mast let everyone else know?" I ask.

  "We can. Are you sure you're ready after what happened?"

  "What happened cannot be changed. We can only change today. I won't let what they did to Jet be an excuse to hide. I will make myself ready. The hunt is too important. The hunters need someone to lead them if they are ever going to improve."

  "I think they are ready to listen now."

  "Good. You haven't heard of any attacks on the hunters, have you?" I ask.

  "No, not since your new rules. Everybody seems to be getting along. At least for now," says Helm.

  "Pray then that this peace holds. Because if it breaks now, things may be worse than before. It would be like loosing a wolf from a pen. They will be wild, and dangerous, and th
ey will not stop until they taste blood."

  "Do you need someone to guard you now?" asks Helm.

  "No. I don't think Chaff is going to send anyone after me, and my new armor should protect me against another attack. I am as safe as I can be."

  "Then be smart."

  "I will."

  I leave Helm's place and head back to our room. Flot isn't there, but I see that he must be wearing his armor, because it's also gone. I put on my new armor. It's easier to put on than my old armor, because they made the straps that hold it together work much better. They are easier to reach, and easier to tie.

  I wonder just how much work they put into making this armor. There are many things that are different than the old armor, things that are much, much better.

  I head out to the mouth of the Crag. No one has come outside yet. I practice with one of the sky spears, trying to throw it as true as I can. I can tell I am improving, but I am still better with my sling.

  I ready the sky spear for my next throw, when I stop and look down at it. I realize what made it better than the old spear. Lagan had taken what we already had and made it smaller. I wonder if it would be more useful if I could make it even smaller.

  I think about what a smaller spear would look like. It could be as long as my elbow to the tips of my fingers, and maybe as thick around as my smallest fingers. I could make one from a small branch, with a sharp point at the end. It would be easier to find small branches than large branches, so I could make many of them. And they wouldn't weigh much, so a hunter could carry many of them.

  I walk toward the cemetery, because I know I will be able to find good branches there. When I get there, I collect many small branches that have fallen from the trees. I take one of my knives and make a sharp point at the end of a stick, just like the sky spears. I also take the knife and try to scrape the bark off the branch to make it as straight as possible. I hold the new short spear in the middle, take a running start and throw it.

  It doesn't seem to go as far as the sky spears do. It also doesn't fly true. When the short spear starts losing speed, it just falls out of the sky. I watch as the tip hits the ground, but it doesn't stick into the ground like the sky spears. It makes me question whether the short spear will work at all.

  I also think about my sling. I use small rocks that feel as heavy as a short spear. When I throw a small rock at someone with only my hand, it just bounces off of them. They may say it hurts, but it won't kill anyone no matter how hard I throw it. I use the sling to make the rock go faster. Maybe I can make something like the sling to launch the short spears with.

  I take my sling out and hold it how I normally would. Then I put the dull end of the short spear against the pocket of my sling, making sure that the sling stays tight against the spear. I reach back and try to throw the short spear. It gets tangled in the sling and goes nowhere.

  I decide to give up for now. Maybe I can talk to Anchor, Jib and Stanchion, and see if they have any ideas for making my short spear work. I have a feeling that with their help, we could make an even better weapon than the sky spear.

  Taking the new short spear with me, I head back to the mouth of the Crag. When I get there, no one is waiting yet. I decide that instead of waiting, I will go see what Anchor is doing.

  I stop at the opening of the tunnel that leads to Anchor's room. Just thinking about the narrow hallway makes me start to panic. I close my eyes and feel my way down the tunnel. It helps again to think of blue skies and green clover. I just need to focus on those until I come out the other side. It takes a while, but I finally reach the opening to Anchor's room.

  "Sam, I was just about to leave for training. Were you coming here to tell me, because Helm had already mentioned it," says Anchor.

  "I am actually here for another reason. I've created this," I say, handing him my short spear.

  Anchor moves it around in his hands, and feels the weight of it.

  "So you did this?" asks Anchor.

  "Yes," I say.

  "It's brilliant," says Anchor. "You could carry many of these with you, unlike the sky spears which you can only carry a pair of. Did you test it?"

  "It doesn't work well when you throw it by hand."

  "Did you try anything else?"

  "I tried using my sling by placing the dull end of the short spear in the pocket then throwing the spear with all of my strength," I say.

  "And how did that work?"

  "Worse. So I thought I would come to you and see if you had any ideas."

  Anchor looks more closely at the short spear then finally sets it down.

  "I will show this to Jib and Stanchion, and see if they have any ideas."

  I turn and head back through the narrow tunnel, keeping my eyes closed, and hoping I come out the other side unharmed.

  39

  I come out of the tunnel from Anchor's room okay. It still takes me a moment to relax myself, until my fear of small spaces is no longer bothering me. I make my way back to the mouth of the Crag. Most of the hunters have finally appeared.

  I look around and I see Jet.

  Wait, no, it's Flot. I feel my hands turning into fists. I am sure that if I ordered the hunters to raid Chaff's room and bring him to me, they would. But if I did that, I would be no better than Chaff.

  What would the hunters think? They would think that murder was okay. That the rules I made no longer meant anything. Things would get worse, and I would never be able to fix them.

  I do my best to calm down my anger. I open my hands, so that they are no longer fists. After a handful of deep breaths, I am in control of myself again.

  I look out into the crowd, searching, and I find Ebb. I wave her to come to me. Mast and Helm arrive at the same moment, and they take their places at my sides.

  "Yes, Sam?" says Ebb.

  "As my protector, you should be up here, with us," I say.

  "Oh. Okay," says Ebb.

  I finally turn and talk to the crowd.

  "We are going to try something new today. I want everyone who uses a big spear to stand over here," I say, pointing to my left. "Everyone who uses a sling stand here," I say, pointing straight ahead. "And everyone that uses a sky spear, stand here," I say, pointing to my right.

  The large crowd breaks into pieces. I can clearly see now how many of each I have. It seems that there are about as many that throw sky spears as there are those that use slings. There are as many that use big spears as the other pair of groups combined.

  "I am going to make you into smaller hunting groups. There will be a hunter with a sling, a hunter with a sky spear, and a pair of hunters that carry a big spear. If I put you with a person in your group that you cannot get along with, you must learn to get along with them. These people in your group are now your new family. You will hunt alongside them. They will protect you, and you will protect them, and not just in the killing fields, but in the Crag too," I say.

  I listen for any comments, any arguments, but none come. My guess is that they are waiting to see what the groups are like before they argue.

  I move into the crowd and start with the hunters that carry big spears. I try to pair people up so that there is one younger and one older hunter. I also try and put family together, because they are already connected outside of the hunt. I do my best to make the pairs fair, so that no one ends up with someone that I can tell they hate. I look around, and no one seems angry by the choices I've made.

  "Now, does anyone have a problem with how I've selected these pairs?" I ask.

  No one speaks up.

  I turn to the hunters that use slings. I do my best to do the same things I did before. Families together, no enemies, and someone that would fit in with the pair I had already put together. This is a bit more difficult, but I make it work. I look around. This time, there are a few people that look surprised, but none that look angry. A few people even look happy and relieved.

  It takes me the longest to work in the hunters that use sky spears. After moving a few hunt
ers around, I have the groups mostly set. I realize that I am missing a few hunters to throw sky spears. We are almost a handful short. It takes me a moment to come up with a way to fix it.

  "Is there a pair of big spear hunters, with a sling hunter, that would like to learn the sky spear? Realize that you will no longer be part of the group you are with now," I say.

  I wait, listening to the crowd, and eventually a group raises their hand. It is the group that Flot is part of. They were one of the last groups I had put together, because they were people that did not have other family in the group of hunters. Although they were not enemies, they also were not friends.

  "Come then. For those of you that carry more than one sky spear, share one with these new throwers," I say.

  We are short a sky spear, so I give one of the hunters, Plank, a sky spear from my back. She looks at it like it had been blessed by the sky gods.

  "Thank you," she says.

  "Practice well with it. Your new family's lives depend on your ability to use it," I say.

  She nods.

  I do my best to place the new sky spear hunters in groups. Once I am finished, I look around to make sure that again, no one is angry. Every face seems to be okay with the groups I have made.

  "Does anyone have a problem with their group?" I ask.

  No one says a thing.

  "Good. Get to know your new family. Know their names. Know what they love and hate. Soon you will learn how well they hunt. How they move and see and hear. The way they think. The way they live. I am going to say these words clearly so that everyone understands: if anyone tries to hurt someone in your new family, it is your duty to protect them. No hunter dies at the hands of another person. No hunter kills unless they are protecting themselves. Anyone that is found going against these rules will be killed," I say.

  Still no comments from the crowd.

  "Each new family will have a letter that I give you. It is your duty to remember your letter. If you have a hard time remembering, scratch the letter into your armor. From now on, I may call on your group's letter. When I do, I will give you a command. I expect you to follow my commands immediately. If you have a hard time hearing my commands, the other members of your family will repeat my command for you. Does everyone understand this?" I ask.