A Quick Sun Rises

by Thomas Rath

  Tam stepped forward, as if to stop Dor’s angry tirade but it was already too late. She knew all too well what this meant for Dor and PocMar and her heart was wrenched with the fear that somehow Dor would not come out triumphant. To call one coward in the Chufa culture was to openly challenge that person to a battle to the death. No Chufa would allow himself to be called such without fighting to prove his accuser wrong. Dor was challenging his boyhood enemy now and one of them would not survive the evening.

  “What is your claim?” one of the Kinpa insisted, calling Dor to present his reasoning behind the charge.

  Turning to stare at PocMar as he spoke, his face was a cool rage as he spat the words. “To attack a Chufa in such a secretive and craven manner is the truest definition of the word coward.”

  “This woman lies,” PocMar insisted. “No true Chufa would accept her word over mine.” Thane reached out a hand to hold Jne from reacting to PocMar’s disparaging comment. But surprisingly, she did not seem concerned with what he’d said. To her, one that is without reason is never taken for his word or held responsible for their foolish acts. “No matter though,” PocMar continued. “You will pay for your lying tongue once and for all!” he screamed at Dor. “DaxSagn will not save you this time!”

  Dor smiled at his opponent. “Choose,” he said calmly. According to Chufa law, the person who had been challenged was given the option to choose which ever weapon he deemed to his advantage thus assuring that a false claim would never be made. Death was near placing over Dor the calm assurance that always came when it approached. Whether it came for him or PocMar, it was close now and Dor urged it ever nearer.

  “Daggers!” PocMar spat, his voice confident, his rage still boiling. His anger actually wasn’t directed at being called a coward so much as it was that he had failed in his desire to finally have Thane dead. He’d thought he had accomplished that goal before, and nothing would have made him happier than to have Thane in Dor’s place, but alas, one at a time. Thane would still be dead this night as well after he finished off his only friend.

  Dor’s smile grew larger at his choice. “Are you certain you don’t want to pick something else?” he offered.

  PocMar paused, a glimmer of uncertainty flashing across his face. Then it was gone, replaced by his ever present rage. “Of course, I am certain. You bluff at your skill DorMar. But even if you don’t, you cannot have improved more that me since you’ve been gone—chasing after your friend, was it?”

  Dor smiled at the remark unwilling, and possibly unable, to allow himself to lose the calm that surrounded him in a shroud like death’s embrace. Pulling the dagger that sat securely sheathed at his waist, he waited for PocMar to draw his weapon.

  Reaching behind him, PocMar pulled free a blade he’d won when one of his followers had taken down a troll that he took credit for. Knowing PocMar was better with a knife, the one who had earned it had not spoken up for fear that he would end up dying by that same blade in a similar challenge as PocMar faced now. “You just keep your friend,” he sneered, referring to Jne, “out of this.”

  “Don’t worry,” Dor answered, unable to control his own tongue, “I won’t let her harm you.”

  PocMar’s face distorted into a furious rage as he lunged forward, an obvious break in the etiquette of the challenge as he had not first asked Dor if he were ready. Dor easily sidestepped the lunge leaving PocMar completely exposed. He could have slit his throat with a quick cut and ended it right then, but he was not ready to see his opponent die. No, he must be seen for the coward he truly was.

  Recognizing his vulnerable position and the mistake he had made, PocMar ran forward to clear himself from Dor’s cut that never came. Though he immediately took confidence that Dor had missed a grand opportunity, Dor’s smile said otherwise. Coming more cautiously this time, PocMar advanced on his opponent as he slashed across the chest and then quickly reversed his momentum with an uppercut swing designed to bury the dagger under the chin and up into the skull. Dor, though, was not fooled and easily turned his blows away and, with an incredible display of ability, effortlessly deflected each assault as PocMar continued to unleash his arsenal of attacks but to no avail. Many opportunities had arisen when Dor might have used an attack himself to at least injure his opponent, but as of yet he merely parried against PocMar’s constant barrage.

  Sweat was beginning to pour off of PocMar as his frustration continued to build, as well as his apprehension as to his ability to beat Dor. Dor, on the other hand, still remained encased in the calm of death that watched eagerly, waiting to feed on the one who failed. After deflecting another attempt at his throat, Dor smiled as PocMar backed away pretending to prepare for another attack, but Dor knew, as did all watching, that it was really to catch his breath. Dor had him and he knew it. PocMar would have also known it but for his arrogance. The crowd watched in relative silence though whispers could be heard among the clanging of metal. Jne seemed bored by the display while Tam and Thane, though concerned for their friend, were beginning to feel more confident.

  PocMar waited. Jeering at his opponent, his breathing was labored and becoming forced. The sweat on his arms was now dripping over his hand making his grip less certain. Dor stood waiting, almost in a completely upright position as if unconcerned that he might not be able to react quick enough to another attack. It was then that PocMar finally started to realize that he was beaten and that his life was completely given into Dor’s hands. Once Dor decided it was ended, his life would be over. Suddenly, his eyes started darting about as if looking for a way to escape but the crowd was at his back pressing in as they watched. The only way was forward past Dor or back to the woods past the foreigner that had caught him with the bow. Making his decision, he flipped his blade over catching it by the blade and then threw it at Dor with all his strength. Clearly against the rules of dueling, Dor was caught off guard by PocMar’s aerial assault and let out a gasp of pain and surprise as the blade embedded itself into his right shoulder.

  All stood frozen. Tam made an unconscious move toward him but Thane caught her arm. To interfere in a duel would forfeit the life of the participant as well as your own. Dor dropped his blade and then staggered forward. PocMar watched him approach uncertain as to whether he should attempt to flee or if he still might have a chance to win. Stopping within arm’s length, Dor held his opponent with his glare while he reached up and, with a slight twinge, pulled the dagger free. “I believe this is yours,” he said.

  PocMar’s expression revealed the fear he was feeling though he tried his hardest to hide it. Looking at the blade, he moved as if he would take it when Dor’s other hand shot forward, catching him by the throat while raising the blade and pressing its blood-soaked edge against his neck. Through the pain, he suddenly felt his rage break through the calm that always seemed to wrap him in a cocoon of nothingness when death approached. He flexed his grip on PocMar’s throat squeezing a little bit tighter making it more difficult for PocMar to take in air. PocMar’s eyes were globes of terror now as he waited for the final cut that would end his life and declare him a coward and Dor the victor.

  His shoulder throbbed now with the beating of his heart as his rage seemed to increase with the pounding rhythm. Everything else around him seemed to fade into nothingness leaving only him and PocMar who he could feel was trembling with anticipation of the killing stroke. Dor concentrated on the pain to increase his rage willing him to ignore the blade and rip PocMar’s throat out with his bare hands instead. He could feel PocMar’s pulse increasing rapidly as his artery throbbed against his hand that gripped it. Dor concentrated on the feel of PocMar’s blood flow as it raced through his neck trying to feed his brain and keep him alive through the increased pressure Dor was applying. And then suddenly, he felt it. The water that mixed with PocMar’s blood; he could feel it as if they were connected. After the countless hours of practice and failure, the connection seemed to come of itself revealing its secrets and offering its power to him if he so desired
to take it. He felt himself smiling. It was so simple, and now he knew how. All he had to do was call for it to come out and he knew that it would obey his bidding. He could reduce PocMar to a husk.

  His eyes widened at the realization leading PocMar to believe that the moment had come making him suddenly go slack and dropped to the ground breaking Dor’s connection as he fell into a heap into the dirt. Dor stared at him, his rage unexpectedly swallowed in the joy of his discovery and leaving him with a feeling of pity for the young Chufa boy that had always been a coward, and who would forever remain so.

  He let PocMar’s dagger fall to the ground, where it landed next to him, and then turned back to retrieve his own. “It is finished,” he spoke, to everyone’s amazement. “Let him live with the shame he has heaped on others for most of his life. Let him live with the knowledge that he will always remain a coward.” He paused. “But should we meet again,” he hissed, but then didn’t finish his sentence.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Tam ran to Dor and checked his shoulder, which was now bleeding rather profusely. Looking to Thane she was about to ask for his help but already he was placing his hand over the wound and calling forth the QenChe Tane to cauterize it. No one approached PocMar who still lie in the dirt unconscious and unaware of his good fortune at still being alive, though he would regret it in the years to come as his cowardice would haunt his every breath.

  Thane nodded to Dor accepting his thanks and then stepped forward once more to address the crowd. “Now is the time to break free of the mire of hate and superstition that envelopes the Chufa existence. Now is the time to once again regain the noble majesty that once was our heritage and indeed our inheritance. Give me the arrow that will turn the tide back to the favor of those who fight for your very existence and live in the assurance that as you take breath every day it is thanks to the noble within you that refused to be shackled by the doubts and ignorance of the aged who would keep you chained in fear.” The Kinpa scowled at him for his last comment recognizing all too well his reference to them.

  An eerie silence fell over the people as they digested his words. More than a few were stirred by the emotion and conviction with which he spoke. Slowly, voices could be heard rumbling as neighbor spoke to neighbor in whispered tones as to whether they should believe the young outcast who suddenly returned in company with one not of their race. All their lives they had been taught by the Kinpa that nothing but horror and death existed on the opposite side of the mountains that protected them. Now, one who lived there was in their midst and it seemed, on the surface, that what they had been told was true. Yet, it was not easy to disregard the beauty and nobility that seemed to encase the strange woman in spite of the aura of danger and lethality that surrounded her as well.

  The Kinpa scanned the crowd easily recognizing in the faces of many those that they had been swayed by Thane’s words and were in favor of passing the most prized Chufa possession on to him to do with as he pleased. They could not let victory fall to defeat so suddenly.

  LorVenPa, who had remained silent through most of the debate, stood forth with his hands raised to call attention to himself. “The Chufa have always been, and continue to be,” he looked at Thane, “a noble and grand people. It was not we who waged war in the times of old with the HuMan’s but they who attacked us in innocence. We were exiled and almost left to ruin as our ancestors struggle to make their way through the troll infested Shadow Mountains to our present home where we live in peace. Peace is all we have ever sought and it is peace that we continue to desire now. The fact that we hold such a weapon as the arrow that DaxSagn so ably carries and wields is so that peace might be maintained against those who would take it away.” Again his eyes turned accusingly toward Thane. “It is due to warmongers and wrongdoers that we are forced to live sheltered as we are or else be annihilated by those bent on evil intent.”

  Motioning toward his fellow Kinpa, he continued. “We are mere servants to the people, chosen to guide in matters concerning your welfare and protection. But it is you, the people who have the voice that truly determines all matters and it is to that voice that I offer this one caution. Already one of our own has betrayed us,” he didn’t turn his gaze toward Thane this time but the statement was left for the people to decide on whether he referred to Thane or the ancient nameless one. “Our meager existence has been thanks to the powers of the arrow that has been the salvation of our people countless times. Keep that in your hearts as you ponder the question as to its fate. Keep that in your hearts as you decide what your thoughts will be this very night as you lie down with your little ones to sleep as to whether you feel that you have done the right thing to protect them. There is no turning back from such a choice. It is up to you to decide whether you will embrace peace and life, or the war of foreigners and death.”

  Thane watched as the Kinpa turned a sickening grin toward him before returning to his previous place in the crowd. All were silent, the sounds of the night and the crackle of the center fire the only thing to be heard when a slight rumble suddenly began in the center of the crowd and then quickly spread out in all directions as the cry began to be raised, “Keep the arrow! Keep the arrow!”

  LorVenPa smiled in triumph at Thane as the other Kinpa gathered together to discuss what should be done now that he’d returned. All the frustrations that he’d been holding in check suddenly erupted to the surface as he shouted above the din of the crowd, “You will lament this day! When the hordes crest the mountains in a swarm of death and you are left standing impotent with no one left to protect you, you will remember this day when a fallen people dug themselves even deeper into the filth in which you presently mire about! And as you watch as your children are devoured and your wives are turned to slaves, you will remember this day and weep!”

  The crowd suddenly turned silent again, many losing the color in their faces as they turned toward the Kinpa as if begging them to denounce such language. But Thane did not wait to see what would be done. He had given all he could for his people, and yet he knew he would give so much more. He knew that he would still pay the ultimate price for their protection but no longer did he do it for them directly, but only because it was the right thing to do. No longer did he hold hope in his heart that he one day might return and live with the Chufa in peace. No, he would turn his back on the Ardath Forest and the people who called it home and never again return.

  Passing Jne, she fell into step behind him as he headed for the woods. He had one more thing that he must do before they departed and he saw no reason to delay. He wanted to be away from there as quickly as possible.

  Tam looked up at Dor, the tears welling over her eyelids at all that had happened. The joy she had felt with the FasiUm had been beaten down by the sorrow and hurt that came from Dor’s duel and now her people’s inability to see beyond themselves.

  Dor looked back at her, the concern in his eyes evident though their meaning was lost on her. She thought they spoke of her being left behind and a touch of anger forced its way through the sorrow.

  “I will not stay!” she insisted. “I will not sit here safe from harm while you and Thane throw your lives away trying to save people who are not intelligent enough to save themselves!”

  Dor smiled at her outburst and shook his head. “I would not think of it.” She was caught off guard by his words. “Why would I want to embrace death alone without you by my side as my companion? I have not come through so much to take the final journey alone.”

  She smiled at him, the sudden warmth of her choice returning, as she finally felt that she was seen as an equal and not as the young child that once tormented him. “We must prepare to go so as not to miss Thane,” she replied, a sudden sense of urgency filling her voice. Though she’d gained Dor’s respect and support, she wasn’t too certain that Thane felt the same way, especially now that she and Dor were espoused to be made one.

  Taking her hand back into his, Dor moved them forward toward where their parents had been stand
ing. “Let us bid our farewells quickly,” he said, navigating through the crowd that was now dispersing as many had lost the will or desire to celebrate any longer. Usually, the FasiUm ceremony went deep into the night, often times ending well after the rising of the sun, but too much had occurred for the spirit of celebration to reinstill itself into the hearts of the revelers.

  Finding their parents huddle together and talking of the night’s activities, Dor and Tam approached just as his father said, “I always felt sorry for Thane, but now he has gone too far. It will be best if he left, for all of us.”

  “How can you say that?” Dor demanded, surprising them as he and Tam materialized out of the crowd. “He has nothing but all of our lives at heart. I know of what he speaks and it is truth. I have seen the hordes that run wild bent on nothing but death and destruction.”

  “Maybe that is so,” Tam’s father offered, defending his friend’s statement, “but that is what comes to those who live by war and hate. Eventually, they are overrun by those of the same mind but with greater might.”

  “So they’ve had it coming to them, is what you are saying,” Tam interjected.

  “They are horrible people who do horrible things,” her mother answered. “It is justice after what they did to our people. They are only harvesting what they have sewn.”

  Tam was disgusted by her parent’s comments. “You have never even met a one of them and you are passing judgment as if you had first hand knowledge of their minds and hearts. Thousands have died already and thousands more will yet be slaughtered fighting to protect their families and their homes. They will die, though they don’t know it, protecting you.”

  “What Thane said is true,” Dor interjected. “The trolls have gathered and fight together. They are a vast number that none here would ever fathom and they will come back, should they turn victors, and annihilate you all.”