Neophytes of the Stone

by C Lee Tocci

  “Excuse me?” Lilibit asked the Shadow Voice.

  The wind moaned and the trees creaked, but the voice didn’t speak again. Once more Lilibit extended her hand as if to touch the cleft stone, but her eyes darted around the clearing.

  “Beware!” The words were a gentle hush, tickling her ears. “Beware!”

  She looked at the stones to see if it might be one of them speaking, but she had never heard a stone speak aloud with words before.

  “Beware of what?” she called loudly into the woods. Her words echoed back to her from the trees.

  The voice did not answer for a very long minute, and when it did, it sounded like it came from the copse off to her right.

  “Do you always question everything that you are told? Do you never just obey?”

  Lilibit turned to find the voice but saw no one. Then she thought about what the voice had asked.

  “Just about,” she answered with a shrug. “Why shouldn’t I touch that stone?”

  A figure appeared behind Lilibit, which was the exact opposite direction from where she had last heard the voice. Lilibit skipped backwards as she spun around.

  It was a woman. Lilibit’s first thought was that this was a woman made from a moonbeam. She was very tall and slim and had long hair that fell like a ray of light almost to her knees. Her hair wasn’t blonde or gold, it was a pure white like new snow, and her skin was a bloodless pale.

  “And if I were to tell you not to touch the stones? That bad things might happen should you get too close, would you obey?”

  Lilibit shrugged again. “Bad things can happen if I obey or disobey, but how will I know what the stones are saying if I don’t touch them.”

  “You can hear the stones?” Her voice was still a whisper, but Lilibit thought she heard more than idle curiosity behind the question.

  “Well,” Lilibit shrugged, “kind of.”

  They were quiet for a moment and while the woman did not appear to be looking directly at her, Lilibit thought that she was being watched very closely. Her bare toes drew circles in the dirt.

  “You are new in the Valley.” It was not a question.

  “Not at all,” answered Lilibit. “I got here weeks ago.”

  “I see,” she said with a nod of her head. “I am Cohanna.”

  “I’m very pleased to meet you.” Lilibit reached out her hand. “I’m Lilibit.”

  “So you are.” Cohanna smiled enigmatically as her long pale fingers wrapped softly around Lilibit’s. Lilibit drew in her breath; the touch of Cohanna’s hand was like cool dry water. She barely felt it, yet she knew it was there. She tilted her head and looked up at the woman.

  Cohanna began to walk into the woods, away from the stone circle, and while their hands no longer touched, Lilibit found herself walking beside her.

  “You are hungry,” Cohanna said.

  “I’m always hungry!” Lilibit reached into her pocket and pulled out a lint covered hunk of cornbread. She broke off a piece and offered it to Cohanna, who took it politely but did not appear to share Lilibit’s enthusiasm.

  “Thank you,” she said as she nibbled, “but that was not of what I spoke. You are hungry to learn. You crave knowledge. You rush to the flame to acquire the heat, but you take no caution to avoid being burned.”

  Lilibit walked quietly as she thought about Cohanna’s words.

  “You talk funny,” she said at last.

  Cohanna did not answer. The trees creaked somberly.

  “I’ve got no stuff!” The words burst from Lilibit.

  “Stuff?” Cohanna’s face could not be seen in the gloom of the trees, but her voice pushed at the gate of Lilibit’s thoughts.

  “You know, stuff. In my head. Everyone else has got stuff in their head, but I’m all empty.”

  “And what …stuff… do others have that you lack?”

  “Stuff like, what they did last year, what happened to them that was good. And bad. People they met, places they’ve been, things they’ve done. They’ve got stuff in their heads and I’ve got nothing.”

  The woods grew darker, but Lilibit didn’t notice.

  “Sometimes, we sit around the fire at night and they all talk about stuff and if I try to tell a story, they all laugh ‘cause they know I’m making it up.”

  “So you wander the forest of Mort-Gre’el…?”

  Lilibit grinned as she looked up at Cohanna. “None of them have been into the forest. Now I can tell them about the ring of stones and the queen of the fairies…”

  Cohanna laughed and the woods seemed to lighten in response. Lilibit didn’t think this happened often since she seemed as surprised by her own laughter as by Lilibit’s words.

  “A fairy queen?” Cohanna gurgled. “Is that what you will tell them? That you have met the queen of the fairies while wandering truant through the Mort-Gre’el? Are you a neophyte stone warrior or a storyteller?”

  “I would rather be a storyteller than a stone warrior,” Lilibit admitted with a sigh. “Is there anything more boring than Quaybo?”

  “I will admit that I do not see the appeal, and yet it is one of the more important skills that a stone warrior should possess. And when the Stone Voice rises…”

  “Yeah, yeah, I know. I’ve heard…”

  They walked in silence for a while before Cohanna spoke.

  “Do you look forward to serving the Stone Voice?”

  “I guess so,” Lilibit said after thinking for a moment, “What do you think she’ll be like?”

  “We can hope that she will be brave and strong and wise and true.”

  “Hmph,” said Lilibit. “She sounds boring.”

  Lilibit heard no change in the sounds of the forest, but evidently Cohanna did. She paused in her steps and looked keenly into the thicket in front of them. Lilibit stopped beside her, looking from Cohanna’s face to the trees and back again, but she neither saw nor heard anything.

  “Keotak-se.” Cohanna greeted the woods.

  Silently, a shadow detached itself from a dark grove of trees and stood like an oak in the dim forest light, his hands on his staff, his eyes on the woman.

  “Cohanna.” Keotak-se returned the greeting.

  Lilibit was disappointed. She wanted to be able to introduce her new friend, to have met someone that no one else knew about yet, but it was not to be. Everyone knew everything and it seemed that there was nothing she could learn that everyone else didn’t already know. She sighed.

  And yet, something interesting was happening. Keotak-se and Cohanna were staring intently at each other, not saying another word. Lilibit looked from one to the other. They weren’t speaking silently to each other in the way that Marla and Ulex would talk, with their eyes echoing soundless words. It was more the way that Todd and Jeff would glare at each other, trying to make the other one back down and blink first.

  Lilibit grinned. Was this something no one else knew?

  Lilibit watched and did not so much as fidget. She wanted to see what would happen next and she was a little disappointed when, after what seemed like a very long time, Cohanna spoke.

  “So,” she said quietly. “The neophytes have arrived.”

  “The Council has noted.” Keotak-se’s words meant more than they said.

  “The Stone Voice rises.”

  “The Council has heard.”

  “As have the winds.”

  Lilibit was getting annoyed. It was if they were talking in gibberish.

  “Shall you attend the Council?” Keotak-se’s eyes narrowed and he leaned toward the woman.

  Cohanna said nothing for another long moment and when she did finally speak, the trees seemed to breathe as if they had been holding back the breeze, waiting for her words.

  “Beg an audience with Gil-Salla. I shall attend.”

  With that, Cohanna stepped backwards into the shadows of a copse and disappeared without a word or even a glance at Lilibit.

  “Bye, Cohanna!” Lilibit called into the forest, but she heard no sound
in response. She stood with her hands on her hips, more than a little offended.

  “You are late for Quaybo.” Keotak-se spoke with a quiet reproof.

  “Boring!” Lilibit sighed.

  The tall man trod lightly across the forest floor. His feet did not disturb the layer of leaves. The soft leather of his boots made no sound as they glided over the blanket of mulch and branches. Lilibit watched his legs closely, trying to figure out how he stepped so gently. She looked back and saw the channel made by her own small feet but saw little sign of the tall man’s passing.

  His toes landed first and his weight rolled smoothly to the balls of his feet, barely resting on his heels before springing off again. Her pace slowed as she tried to imitate his step. Her eyes on her feet, she was not aware that the Stone Warrior had stopped until she bumped into his legs. She rubbed the bruise on her head as she stared up into the stillness of his face.

  “There is a time for all lessons. It is not yet your time to learn the art of earthwalking.” His voice was flat. Not angry, but she thought he sounded displeased with her. She sniffed and pushed on, but with a secret defiance, she walked on her toes.

  “Mr. Tree?” she asked after a long silence. He looked down at her with one raised eyebrow. She shrugged. The name fit him better than “Keotak-se”, and besides, it was much easier to say.

  “When the Stone Voice rises, what happens to those people she doesn’t like?” She hoped her voice sounded nonchalant and he wouldn’t hear how worried she was. Maybe it was too casual, for he did not answer for what seemed like a very long time.

  “It will not be for the Stone Voice to pick and choose those who serve the Stone,” he said at last. “The Stone Voice serves the Earth Stone, as will her warriors.”

  “Yeah, but what about the small ones? Nov’m says only the biggest and the strongest will be chosen. What happens to those who don’t get picked?”

  “Size is not an indication of greatness, nor is muscle an indication of strength.” Mr. Tree’s eyes looked deep into the forest and beyond. “To the Earth Stone, we are all small, no larger than grains of sand. And yet, the power we hold, the echo of the Creator within us, makes us precious in Her eyes.”

  He glanced down at her. “There is a place for all that would serve the Stone.”

  She thought about that for a while, even forgetting to walk on her toes she mulled over his words.

  “But what…” she asked at last in a very small voice, “will happen to those who don’t want to be Stone Warriors?”

  Light broke through the canopy of trees, golden rods of light stabbing down through the gloom, looking almost solid in the forest mists.

  “There are many ways to serve the Earth Stone, as many paths as there are leaves in the forest.”

  And with that, Keotak-se took her hand and led her out of the Forest of Mort-Gre’el.

  Chapter Nine

  Quaybo

  From where he stood, Todd heard the mocking heckles from Nov’m and the Tigers. And from what he saw, he couldn’t blame them.

  When it came to Quaybo, the Ravens were beyond pitiful. The Tigers and the Timber Wolves sparred with an intensity that frequently drew blood. The Rabbits, while they couldn’t match the size and power of the two dominant clans, still jousted with a vigor that, if not impressive, was at least respectable.

  The Ravens looked like they were netting butterflies.

  Jeff was almost adequate, though, since he was only eleven, he was still too thin and wiry to have enough upper body strength to wield his quaybo with any kind of power. Nothing could convince Donny of the need to try to hit another person with a stick, certainly not one of his own clan mates. And Marla… well, Marla swung like a girl.

  At first glance, you might be impressed by Nita and Devon’s stick work, but if you looked closer, you could tell that they were just making up complicated rhythms as if their quaybos were percussion instruments. They would click out a tempo and then go faster and faster until one of them started to laugh. And the Stone forbid that either one of them break through and actually hit the other. That happened only once and Devon felt so bad, he almost cried.

  And Lilibit. He should get extra points just for finding Lilibit when it was time for Quaybo class and dragging her to the field. She had yet to make it to the end of a practice. The minute his back was turned, she would disappear.

  He cradled his head in his hands and admitted an ugly truth. He was a failure as a chieftain.

  Keotak-se reappeared with the smallest Raven reluctantly in tow. Placing her quaybo into her hands, he looked down at her coldly. She gripped her staff with all the zeal of a soggy banana.

  Todd rose to his feet.

  “C’mon, Lilibit.” He grabbed his own quaybo and squared off in front of her, intending to do a little sparring, hoping that, with Keotak-se’s eye on her, she would at least fake a little enthusiasm.

  It actually went fairly well for three or four minutes. Lilibit checked his parries and Todd could see from the gleam in her eyes that she thought it might be funny if she actually hit him. She swung and lunged with surprising strength, but since she had little skill, he blocked her neatly.

  In her eyes, he could see her attention waning. He broke through easily and the butt of his staff stung her leg.

  “Hey!” she yelped, skipping backwards and rubbing her thigh.

  “Pay attention!” Todd raised his quaybo to the at-ready position and waited for Lilibit to do the same.

  She didn’t.

  “This is stupid!” she snapped as she threw her staff to the ground. She turned on her heel and headed for the hogan.

  “Lilibit.” Keotak-se’s voice was low and cool, yet the command was implicit.

  “What?” Lilibit spun around, speaking a little more rudely than perhaps was wise.

  “Pick up your quaybo.” Keotak-se did not raise his voice, yet all the neophytes on the field stopped to watch.

  Lilibit held Keotak-se’s eyes for a long moment, her lower lip jutting out. Finally, she stomped over to her staff and snatched it gracelessly off the ground.

  “Greene!” Keotak-se called out, not moving his gaze off Lilibit.

  Ginger Greene stepped forward with an unpleasant smirk. A brawny girl from the Tiger clan, taller than Todd, she could normally be found besides Nov’m, a raucous echo of his ridicule.

  “Spar with Lilibit,” directed Keotak-se.

  “What?” Todd’s voice cracked again but he ignored it this time. “She’s twice her height!” And five times her weight. There was nothing gentle or delicate about Ginger Greene. Lilibit would be beaten to a pulp.

  Keotak-se silenced Todd with a look and gestured for Ginger to engage. With a smirk, the tall girl hoisted her quaybo and stood before the smaller Lilibit.

  “Do not worry, Stone Warrior.” Ginger looked down at Lilibit, a nasty glint in her eye. “I will be happy to teach the little one the art of Quaybo.”

  “Keotak-se!” Todd stepped between the two girls. “Lilibit’s needs more practice before she can match up with this…”

  Todd cut himself off but everyone knew from the tone of his voice that whatever he was going to say, it wasn’t going to be complimentary. Lilibit, glancing from Todd to Ginger, then swallowed hard and raised her chin.

  “Todd doesn’t mean to be rude,” said Lilibit, “he’s just jealous because you have more facial hair than he does.”

  Todd grimaced as the smirk left Ginger’s face. Her eyes narrowed. Keotak-se, placing a hand firmly on Todd’s shoulder, pulled him back from the crux, leaving the two girls glaring at each other.

  “ZEE-AHT-CHA!” Ginger screeched out the traditional Quaybo engage-greeting. The few neophytes that had not yet abandoned their sparring joined the onlookers encircling the two combatants. Lilibit stumbled back a step as the saluting tap of the staffs came down a bit fiercer than normal. She held Ginger’s eye and nodded back in acknowledgment.

  Like the crack of a whip, Ginger’s quaybo flew. The first t
hree strikes came lightning-quick, but Lilibit was able to block them. The fourth struck her right arm and sent her staggering to the side and the fifth blow buffeted off her head.

  Todd gave a shout and lunged forward, but Keotak-se’s grip on his shoulder held him back. Turning to glare at the Stone Warrior, Todd almost missed Lilibit’s reaction.

  With a scream like a spitting cat, Lilibit rolled to her feet, blood spilling from a gash that ran from her forehead up under her hairline. Pitching her quaybo to the ground, she leapt at the taller girl, hitting her chest high, her fingers curled. Caught by surprise, Ginger fell backwards, her tight grip on the staff now like a millstone as she crashed to the ground.

  “AAAAAAHHH!” Ginger’s scream flushed the crows from the trees and the needles off the saguaros. “Get her off! She’s biting me!”

  One of Lilibit’s hands pulled at Ginger’s hair while the other scratched her face. Her teeth latched onto her shoulder. Blood, hair and limbs heaved in a tangled swarm.

  As Nov’m moved to the aid of his clansman, Todd felt the grip on his shoulder lessen. Whether Keotak-se was giving him permission to enter the fray or if he was just appalled at the turn of events, Todd didn’t wait to find out. He leapt in front of Nov’m, shoved the larger boy out of the way and lifted the rabid Lilibit off her victim.

  Spinning Lilibit away from the skirmish, Todd didn’t see Nov’m’s staff flying towards him until the fraction of a second before it hit the back of his head. The blow sent him spilling forward and with a grunt, he fell on top off Lilibit.

  “I’M ATCHA!” screamed Jeff, grammatically incorrect but technically accurate as he swung his quaybo in a broad arc at Nov’m.

  Nov’m turned and neatly parried the blow. Meanwhile, Ginger, recovering from Lilibit’s attack, lurched to her knees and smacked her staff into the back of Jeff’s legs. Jeff pitched forward, slammed into Nov’m, and the two of them went down. Nov’m quickly rolled on top and cocked back his fist, aiming for Jeff’s face.

  Lilibit, having struggled out from under Todd, took one look at Nov’m and dived at him, wrapping her arms around his wrist and her legs around his back. Ginger, not even bothering to rise to her feet, grabbed Lilibit around the waist with one hand and grabbed a handful of her hair with the other. Todd, attempting to pull the two girls apart, found himself tackled by two of the Tigers and rolled off the pile.