The Dawn of Skye (The Someday Children Book 1)

by E. B. Heimdal

  Knox smiles at her and answers: “Yes, of course. Have you tried to hunt an animal before? Do you know how to use a spear or a rock sling?”

  Skye freezes at the thought of using a weapon, and images of the screaming and hurt boy lying on the ground appear in her head. She looks down and breathes heavily. Concentrated and focused she shuts out all the terrible memories until the only thing she sees is the dusty ground underneath her feet.

  Slowly she looks up and answers: “No, I’ve never hunted animals before or used a weapon.”

  Knox jumps from his seat and walks eagerly towards the hut. Shortly after, he returns with two long sticks with sharp ends.

  “Come with me, then. I’ll show you how to do it. It’s not easy. The swimmers are fast and they’re hard to spot. But it’s not impossible.”

  The robust girl, Flo, gets up and says loudly: “Maybe it’s best I go with Skye and show her how to do it. After all, I’m the best of us to pierce swimmers …”

  Skye hears a lecturing tone in Flo’s voice that she recognizes in herself when she’s bragging about something she’s good at. She tries not to feel challenged and looks at Knox. He’s about to answer when Dagwood cuts him off.

  “Flo, why don’t you stay here and help Fella collect more firewood?”

  He winks at Skye and Knox, and she can’t help but smile back. Flo doesn’t answer Dagwood but turns on her heels and walks over to Fella.

  They’ve reached the river, and Knox takes off his shoes and rolls ups his pants. Skye looks at her bare feet. She hasn’t thought about not having any shoes while she has been in the new camp. All her belongings and clothes must be at the old campsite. The sun shines most of the time, so she can easily do without shoes right now, but when the cold and the rain come, at some stage, she’ll have to find a solution to her shoe and clothes problem.

  Knox signals her to come closer to him and the edge of the water.

  “There are quite a few small swimmers, but they’re impossible to catch with the spear and hardly worth eating. It’s the large swimmers we should try and catch. If you stand in the water completely still for a while, they sometimes swim over to you by themselves. But you have to stand completely still or they’ll be scared off and swim away. And when they start relaxing and feel safe then … boom, you’ll pierce them with the spear. Or try to.”

  Knox laughs and hands her one of the spears.

  “It’s harder than you think. Just as you’ve almost got it, the swimmer suddenly moves. Or you’ve aimed totally wrong. The water does something to your vision, which makes you miss a lot.”

  Skye pulls her pants up and starts walking into the water. She finds a spot in the shade close to the opposite shore and gets into position. Knox moves slowly up the river while his eyes scout the water from side to side.

  The water runs quietly by Skye’s feet and tickles her legs lightly. Fallen branches and leaves have gathered in the small recesses of the river, creating small islands for buzzers and birds. Her gaze penetrates the crystal-clear water, and she soon spots a little school of small swimmers that’s moving towards her leg. They’re not any bigger than her little finger and not worth trying to catch.

  In small, quick movements they dance back and forth, and Skye’s fascinated by their ability to move simultaneously as if were they one and the same creature. Suddenly they all swim quickly past her feet and are gone like they were never there. A large shadow moves slowly from the side. This is what scared the little school of dancing swimmers. Skye starts smiling and looks for Knox, but she can’t see him anywhere. She feels like calling out to him but is afraid the noise will scare off the newly arrived guest. The dark shadow under the water slowly moves closer to her leg as its tail quietly moves from side to side. Her eyes follow its shining body glide through the clear water and she slowly lifts the spear over her head. She squints her eye and shuts out all sounds and senses. The only thing she can see is the glistering silhouette under her body. She breathes quietly as her concentration intensifies. In a quick movement she throws the spear through the air, into the water, and through the large swimmer’s body.

  A feeling of great satisfaction runs through her and she smiles proudly. It’s the first time she’s ever caught a swimmer. Why hasn’t she ever known that she has the gift of aiming and hitting really well? She’s surprised at how easy it comes to her if she just concentrates enough and focuses on her target. Like when she was practicing using the bow and arrow with Ecco. She lifts the spear with the wriggling swimmer from the water while she looks around for Knox, but she still can’t see him. How she wishes he’d seen her catch her prey. And on the first attempt! She hopes she’s caught a bigger swimmer than him, particularly because he said it wouldn’t be easy. Maybe he won’t even believe her when she tells him, but then she’ll have to show him how she did it again.

  She laughs at the thought and feels a surge of satisfaction in her stomach. In fact, she looks forward to returning to the camp and Flo even more so that she can show her the large swimmer.

  Her catch is still struggling to free itself from the spear and she hurries to the shore. It shouldn’t suffer any longer than necessary and she hopes she can make herself finish it off. She finds a large stone and puts the swimmer on the ground. Without thinking about her next action for too long she quickly hits her prey hard on the head and it stops wriggling. Now it’s done and she has mixed emotions of guilt and pride. Guilt for stealing another creature’s life. And pride that she’s caught a large prey that everyone in the camp will benefit from.

  It’ll never be easy for her to take a life, man or animal, but she also has to face the fact that this is the only way she and the others can survive. She hopes that the large swimmer understands that and forgives her. It was also on the hunt for something to eat, and if the little swimmers hadn’t been fast enough, one of their lives would have ended today.

  The excitement of standing in the water looking for prey has woken all of Skye’s senses, and it’s not till now that she feels how hard it is on her body. Her legs are tired and she needs to rest. She sits in the shade behind some fallen branches with her catch lying next to her. Here she can wait for Knox’s return. Her eyelids feel heavy and it doesn’t take long before she starts dozing off. Sleepy, she blinks a couple of times but then she sees someone coming on the other side of the river. It’s Salomon. Instantly all fatigue disappears from her body and she’s wide awake.

  He sits by the shore and sticks his feet in the water. The shade of the trees hides her on the other side of the river and he hasn’t seen her. She doesn’t want to show her presence and tries to control each breath and each movement. Maybe she can quietly sneak away without him noticing her.

  The sun has caught him in its grip and he leans backwards and closes his eyes. He looks peaceful as he sits there in the sun’s rays. Now she has the opportunity to get away without being spotted but something makes her stay. Once again her eyes are drawn to his scar, but suddenly she doesn’t think he looks torn and rough but rather majestic and noble. Maybe it’s the sun that makes his face light up. He almost looks like a statue of someone important or a fairytale figure resting after a fight against evil. You wouldn’t think that he was planning a secret escape from the camp, on the contrary.

  Skye can’t take her eyes off him. He draws her to him as if she was one of the small buzzers of the night that can’t stay away from the flames of the fire. There’s something recognizable about him, but she can’t tell what it is. She’d never seen him before she came to the camp. Salomon opens his eyes and unbuttons the top button of his shirt. The turquoise blue eyes light up his tanned face and Skye can’t remember ever seeing such blue eyes before.

  He walks into the water and looks around as he unbuttons his shirt a bit more. Skye can see some dark markings on his chest and is curious to know what they are. Unnoticed, she moves slowly from her hiding spot in the shade to get closer.
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  Salomon bends forward and fills his hands with water. He wets his neck and throat and soon the water drips from his long hair, making rings in the water’s surface. A sudden feeling of intruding on a private moment without permission makes Skye withdraw into the shade again. A small twig snaps and she stops immediately. The noise sounds loud in the quiet surroundings, but Salomon doesn’t seem to react to it. Maybe he hasn’t heard her?

  She stands still for a moment without moving, and Salomon continues to wash himself. Slowly she picks up her catch, and with her look firmly aimed at the ground she takes a small, cautious step. And then another. She avoids every little branch or withered leaf that could make even the smallest of sounds, and when she’s quite a distance from the riverbank she starts running.

  The river twist and turns through the forest and the way back to the camp seems long. She’s taken an unnecessarily long detour, but she doesn’t want to run into Salomon. It takes a while before she finds a passage across the water that’s not too deep. She hurries through the water, which soaks her clothes. They cling uncomfortably to her body and her pants feels cold and heavy. The muscles in her legs are starting to cramp and she has to stop several times on the way back.

  The camp is within sight, and she slows down. She only needs to pass the next small group of trees and she’ll be back. It feels strange to think about the camp as her home, but the thought of not having to wander from place to place is liberating.

  Suddenly Salomon steps out from the group of small trees and Skye cries out in fright and drops her prey on the ground. He stands in front of her, blocking her way, and she has to stop not to bump into him. Has he been waiting for her? Maybe he did see her by the river after all, when she was watching him. Why else would he wait for her? He must’ve taken a short cut to make it here before her.

  Slowly she starts backing up, but her legs have no more strength and she’s afraid of falling if she turns around and starts running. Salomon’s eyes are fixed on her face, and she tries to avoid eye contact with him and looks at the ground. Her back hits a tree and she can’t move any further unless she turns around with her back to him. Skye shouts at him as she tries to remain in control of her voice.

  “What do you want from me? Why are you following me?”

  She doesn’t want to show him that she’s afraid of him, and she squints her eyes in an attempt to look serious. Salomon doesn’t answer but starts walking quickly towards her. Suddenly he looks tougher and angrier than ever before, and the majestic statue he resembled before is gone. He stops a short distance from her and his eyes are shining towards her.

  “You’re looking at me.”

  His voice is loud and clear.

  Skye is embarrassed from his accusation and quickly answers: “No I don’t.”

  She knows that he’s right but doesn’t want to admit it. Not to him or herself. Salomon steps a bit closer and is now standing right in front of her.

  “Is this what you want to see?”

  He reaches for her hand and takes her finger and leads it to his face. Skye tries to pull her hand back but can’t get out of his grip. He presses her finger against his face and forces it down the scar on his cheek. Her fingertips can sense every dent and crease in the skin, and she shivers as she feels how deep the scar is. He lets go of her hand.

  “Deterred now?”

  Without saying anything she looks at him. At his torn and tormented face. At his shining and paralyzing eyes. His scar doesn’t scare her, but he does. Even if his face was flawless, without scars or others faults, his gaze alone would make her scared and uneasy. Not if he looked at her as he looked at the sun by the river but the way he looks at her now. Why does he look at her that way? What is it about her that makes him so angry? The feeling of recognition returns and she tries to remember. Tries to understand why he looks familiar, but she can’t get hold of her memories. It’s all a blur, but she can’t deny the feeling.

  “I’ve seen you before.”

  Her voice is no longer serious and her eyes no longer wander around his face. She looks him in the eyes.

  “I know you … Who are you?”

  Slowly the anger disappears from the shining eyes, and his face is turned into the majestic statue once again. He takes a step backwards, turns around and disappears.

  CHAPTER 26

  Flo looks at Dagwood. He stands with Knox and Skye and smiles. Smiles in a different way than he normally does when he looks at her or someone else from the clan. He almost looks as if he was dreaming.

  She looks at Skye’s hands and feels a stab of envy in her belly. How is it possible to catch such a large swimmer the first time you try? Something’s not right. Maybe it was already dead when she found it, or killed by a larger predator and now she takes credit for it. Knox didn’t see her catch it, so how can he say that this is how it happened? She feels like interrupting their conversation and revealing her lie. Dagwood has the right to know who she really is. She hates that he’s being tricked. Hates that he’s fallen for her dishonesty.

  Skye looks over at her and lifts the large swimmer triumphantly in the air, but Flo doesn’t return her smile. She’s been looking forward to showing her the catch but senses something serious in Flo’s eyes and knows that it’s not just about her surprising catch. There’s something more to it. She’s interrupted by a loud yell. Puk comes running towards them followed by his four-legged companion, and his excitement is transferred to the little roundsnout. Its small, happy grunts mix with the shouts of joy from its owner.

  “It’s completely amazing, Skye. Did you really catch it yourself? I think it’s the largest catch we’ve ever had!”

  He takes the swimmer from her hands, but its slimy surface makes it difficult to hold and it almost slips out of his hands. Clumsily he gets it under control before it falls to the ground again and they all start laughing.

  “Maybe you should hurry and cut it to pieces and throw it in the pot before it runs off,” Dagwood says and slaps him on the shoulder. Laughter breaks out again. and he thinks it’s been a long time since the mood in the camp was this good. Everybody seems to have forgotten how hungry they were yesterday or that there’s a thief among them. The joy of having a new clan member overshadows Dagwood’s worries now.

  His eyes search for hers, and he feels a small surge in his stomach as she meets his gaze with a little smile. What is it about that smile that makes him happy and nervous at the same time? He gets a weird feeling in his body when he looks at her, a feeling that he’s never had when he looks at the other two girls. They’re like sisters to him. But it’s something different with Skye. It’s something undefinable and intoxicating.

  Puk tries to remove as many of the bones from the swimmer as possible, but they’re small and difficult to see. He knows how uncomfortable it is to get a bone stuck in the throat; it’s happened to him several times before. The enjoyment of the food disappears a little if you have to pay a lot of attention to what you put in your mouth. And many of them swallow the food quickly without chewing it first because they’re so hungry.

  By now it’s him who does most of the cooking. His great sense of smell and taste quickly detects if the food has gone off in the heat, and right now they’re all so weak that even a minor stomach poisoning could prove fatal. It’s safer if they eat their prey right away, but that’s not a problem. It hasn’t been for a while. They rarely catch so many animals at the same time that they need to store them for several days. Or animals that are so large that they need to cut them into to several portions. Puk likes cooking, and he’s good at it.

  Suddenly he feels a blow to his neck. Then another one. It hurts and he covers his neck with his hand as he turns around. Then a small object comes flying through the air and hits him on the cheek. He feels a stinging pain and shouts out. It starts bleeding and he carefully dries the blood off. At first Puk doesn’t understand what’s happening, but s
uddenly he sees Fella and Hackett standing a bit away with their slingshots in their hands laughing. Fella pulls the sling back and aims at him.

  Puk holds his hand in front of his face and shouts at him: “What are you doing, Fella? It hurts … please stop doing that!”

  Fella and Hackett start laughing again, but Fella doesn’t lower his slingshot. Suddenly he stops laughing and answers in a serious tone: “Or else what? Are you going to get your ‘daddy?’ Or are you going to send your muddy ‘friend’ charging?”

  Puk doesn’t know what to answer, and sees that Hackett stands behind Fella, eagerly swaying from side to side ready to jump him.

  He starts making boxing movements into the air and then he shouts at him: “Or you box us down!”

  Puk is upset that Hackett has changed so much since becoming close friends with Fella. They used to be good friends too, but something in the new friendship seems to bring out the worst in him.

  “What have I done to you? Why are you picking on me? Please leave me alone …”

  His voice is low and pleading. He’s sad and most of all scared. Suddenly Fella fires the slingshot again and Puk feels another stone on his face. He squats on the ground and holds his hands over his head as protection.

  “Stop it! It hurts …”

  He tries to shout louder but his shouting disappears in tears and cries. Fella and Hackett run over to him and Fella kneels beside him. Puk looks out through his fingers and meets his eyes, but there’s no understanding or compassion in his eyes.

  “You’re a pathetic little baby. Do you know? If you didn’t have Dagwood to protect you, you would have died long ago.”

  He launches a fist towards his face as he was going to hit him for real but stops right before it hits him. Instinctively Puk pulls back to avoid the blow and drops to the ground. Fella stands up and they both look down at him laughing, and he feels humiliated and in despair. Fella starts kicking dirt towards him and soon Hackett does too. The dry dirt flies into his eyes and mouth and he starts coughing. They keep kicking until his body is covered in the dry dust.