Conflict

by Pedro Urvi

  The Usik sat around the fire and cooked several small animals they had caught. They tied her hands and feet, put her beside a great tree and ignored her. Aliana looked at them fearfully. She had no clue as to their intentions towards her. She imagined all kinds of horrors, from torture to group rape, but for the moment, luckily, they were simply ignoring her. She gave thanks to Mother Helaun for the fact.

  One of the men came toward her menacingly, brandishing a hatchet in one greenish hand. His face was painted a sinister red under the cloudy night sky. On one side of his shaven head was a huge, ugly scar. He sat down beside her. Aliana thought the time had come for suffering, and swallowed hard. She raised her tied hands to protect her face in what she knew was a vain gesture.

  The Usik showed her his other hand, which he had been keeping out of sight behind his back, and offered her food on a piece of bark that served as a plate. She looked at the savage in surprise, then after a moment’s hesitation accepted the offering. The Usik also brought her water and a strange beverage with a strong, bitter smell which he made her drink, insisting with a threatening wave of his hatchet. Those savages were nothing if not direct. She thought of poison, of some powerful drug, but she really had no choice in the matter, since the Usik did not seem inclined to argue. She closed her eyes and gulped the ill-smelling, bitter-tasting drink.

  Protect me, Mother Helaun, don’t let anything bad happen to me, please.

  Nothing strange happened to her, or at least nothing she could identify.

  This surprised and confused her.

  The second day of their march they did not carry her. They tied her hands behind her back and she was made to walk behind the Usik with the scar, who guided her by pulling on a rope they had tied round her neck, like a dog collar. Several times he made her stumble with his sharp tugging at the rope and Aliana had fallen painfully to the ground, since she was unable to break her fall with her hands.

  Every time she fell, the Usik stopped to laugh openly at her, making gleeful gestures. For some reason her clumsiness amused these savages immensely. She began to think that Scar, as she thought of him, was making her fall on purpose to entertain his companions. On one occasion she began to complain, but thought twice about it when she saw the expression on their sullen faces.

  The days went by in misery. The Usik went on deeper into the forest, and Aliana began to notice strange and unfamiliar things about it. By the sixth day of the journey it was evident to the Healer that the vegetation had become much more like that of a jungle, vivid and richly-colored, peopled by strange animals and kinds of insects that were unknown to her. She did not recognize any of the different plants, nor the insects on them. That evening Scar brought her a small animal, cooked on the coals, which was unfamiliar to Aliana. She did not know whether it was a rodent or not, though it looked like one. She expected it to taste horrible, and was surprised to find it was quite edible.

  Thank goodness, I thought it would taste much worse. Anyway, I’m sure I’m eating jungle-rat. But I won’t be picky. Even if I have to eat worms, I will. It’s a question of survival. I can’t afford to be fussy.

  She had tried to communicate with Scar, but without success. Every evening, when he brought her food, she tried to whisper some words. At first the Usik had roundly refused to let her speak, waving his hatchet menacingly. Now he no longer threatened her.

  Aliana touched her chest and whispered:

  “Me Ah-lee-ah-nah! Aliana.”

  Then she pointed at the Usik, but he shook his head and refused to answer. He brought her the strange drink and she gulped it down. She had reached the conclusion it must be some sort of medicine to prevent her falling sick in that environment. It seemed strange that they did not seem to want her to die. Why? They certainly treated her like an animal, so why give her any medicine? Unfortunately Scar did not wish to be communicative, leaving her haunted by doubts.

  On the seventh day she tripped on a formidable root and fell, hard. This time it had not been Scar’s fault; she had lost her balance because her hands were tied behind her back. At once they all began to laugh non-stop, as though she were the court jester. At this, anger boiled up in her. Unable to restrain herself, she cried out in protest:

  “I’d like to see you here in my place!”

  There was sudden silence.

  A cold fear clutched at Aliana’s stomach.

  One of the Red Usik took a step toward her and punched her in the face, she fell once again. Next he lifted his loincloth and urinated on her. The shock was so great she did not know what to think or do. She was astonished, quite unable to react in any way. When he had finished, all the savages burst out laughing once more. She was furious, but realized that to them she was an animal, or less even than that, a dirty rat, so she had better be very careful what she did and say nothing more, or else she would pay dearly. The rage she was feeling made her want to scream, but she restrained herself. Her lower lip was cut and it hurt, although the humiliation hurt a lot more. Aliana looked at Scar, but he lowered his gaze and turned away.

  On the tenth day of painful marching, things changed.

  Aliana was absolutely awed. Before her were the tallest, biggest trees any human being could ever imagine.

  Giant trees. As far as the eye could see. By the million. Unbelievable.

  The Healer was so impressed by the wonderful sight that she almost fell over again. Each tree of that gigantic forest was titanic, unthinkable. The base of each trunk was bigger than a house, and the height of those cyclopean trees was at least a hundred and eighty feet, maybe more, probably more… When they came to the base of the first of those huge trees, Aliana realized just how huge it was. The base of the trunk was more than twelve paces across, the height incalculable. She was so impressed by these brown and green giants that she was left breathless as she looked up at the distant canopy of the forest. How old could those trees be in order to have reached such a size? Hundreds of years for sure, perhaps more than a millennium.

  The Usik walked on among the magnificent trees. The vegetation was scarce at their feet. Probably the huge beings required all the nutrients the soil could provide, so that as a result nothing would grow around them, under their branches. She tried to imagine their roots, they must be unfathomable. Scar tugged at her rope to stop her lingering there, but Aliana was so impressed by the surroundings that she walked almost in a trance. The air was so clean, fresh and alive that all scents reached her pure and intensified.

  They walked among the ancient giants for another day, and on the morning of the day after that they came to a wide open area surrounded by those colossal trees. Aliana was surprised anew by the way the Usik whistled strange little melodies, as though they were imitating some species of native bird, and being answered by more whistling of the same kind. It was as though two birds were communicating through song. It was only the origin of those replies to the singing of the six Usik that took her completely by surprise.

  It came from the top of the trees.

  Aliana looked up, without understanding.

  She discovered something both wonderful and unheard-of: well over a hundred feet up, among the crowns of the trees, the Usik had built a village. Aliana looked on, dumbfounded, at what she could see up there, close to the clouds. The Usik had fashioned their village around the huge trunks of the trees, joined by cat-walks of wood and rope. She could not even begin to think how it had been possible, but all the tree-tops in the area were inhabited. The houses were made of wood, wicker and rope, and set on platforms anchored to the trunks of the green giants and their enormous branches.

  A village in the clouds!

  Aliana blinked and passed her hands over her eyes without thinking, trying to make sure what she saw was real. She was looking at a whole village built at an unimaginable height above the ground, on and around giant trees, the crazy dream of some genius yearning to be closer to the unreachable clouds. She looked at Scar and his group with renewed interest.

  How is
it possible for these brutes to have managed such a grand scheme as this? I can’t explain it, they’re just a bunch of savages!

  The architectural problems should have been impossible to solve for such primitive people as these, and the complications of design and actual building unmanageable… However much she looked at the wooden structures and the people walking on the catwalks and lookout points, she could hardly bring herself to accept the idea that it was anything more than a dream.

  The exchange of whistles ended. Aliana had taken them to be signals of welcome to the village. The six Usik went up to one of the giant trees. The trunk was at least nine paces wide, perhaps more. A seemingly endless rope dropped from one of the platforms high above. They cut her bonds, then one of the men brought her the rope to hold. Aliana grasped it without understanding. She looked up. The Usik pointed at her repeatedly, jabbing her chest with his finger and then pointing at the village in the clouds.

  Finally she understood.

  This lunatic wants me to climb the rope to the village? That’s impossible! It’s more than a hundred feet high! How am I going to get up there? He’s absolutely mad!

  The Usik insisted. The rest joined him, urging her to climb up. The voices grew louder, and one of the warriors threatened her with a hatchet. Aliana was so scared that she gave a start and began to climb up the rope. The Usik below chided her, waving his arm and shouting. She went up and up and up, fear powering her muscles.

  What am I doing? There’s no way I could get up there. Not even an experienced soldier could climb this rope. And yet if I don’t try to reach the village these savages are quite capable of killing me here and now.

  Still she continued her ascent, her legs wrapped around the rope, pulling her body up with her arms, all her muscles tense. She climbed to the limit of her strength, but even so she had not managed to raise herself more than twelve feet. She tried to go on, but there was no way she could. Her muscles simply refused to obey her commands. With a stab of panic like a bee’s sting, she realized she would not be able to go on. The Usik were yelling at her from the ground. It was an ugly situation. Her arms failed her, and she fell.

  The Usik moved away. Not one of them tried to stop her fall.

  Aliana hit the ground hard on her back. A sharp pain ran down her right side. She feared she had broken something, perhaps a vertebra. Straight away she used her Gift to check. She had been lucky, there was no major injury, just pain from the fall.

  The Usik began to laugh at the tops of their voices, so that great guffaws filled the clearing. Once more her disgrace and suffering was a source of shameless entertainment for those evil creatures. Is there any way they could be more horrible than this? I wish I could wipe their stupid smiles from their faces! Aliana grunted with pain, wondering whether those brutes even knew what decency was, or if they would even understand the concept.

  They all went on laughing at her pain, pointing at her and making comments which brought on new fits of laughter. At last Scar stepped up to her and helped her to her feet. Her backside hurt more than she could have imagined. It had been a terrible fall.

  Scar looked at her and shook his head. He was smiling.

  The look on his face made Aliana suspect she had been the victim of a cruel joke. Those brutes knew perfectly well that she would never be able to reach the village, and had made her climb simply to see her fall. They were heartless. This infuriated the Healer, something which took a lot of doing since her best qualities were self-control and a profoundly peaceful nature. But those savages had made her lose her temper.

  At the flash of rage in her eyes, Scar put his hand over her face and kept it there for a moment.

  Aliana was about to protest when Scar pointed upwards with the index finger of his other hand. She looked up and saw something she was unable to believe was real, still more unbelievable than the village in the gigantic trees. It left her gasping.

  Gliding from the sky like a giant eagle, an enormous bird with a rider on its thick neck, a Usik, guiding it as if it were a horse, was coming down towards them. The size of that bird was as unthinkable as that of the trees surrounding them, as big as six men. Aliana had never seen anything remotely like this in her life. The head and neck of the bird were white, and there was intelligence in its eyes. The yellow beak could easily have torn off a man’s head. Its plumage was grey with black spots, and Aliana was delighted by its beauty.

  The bird landed gracefully in front of the warriors.

  The Usik greeted the rider and climbed up behind him, holding on to a harness with ropes which had been stretched across the great bird’s back. Aliana was in shock; a gigantic eagle had flown down from the sky to pick them up. The giant bird took off, carrying four of the Usik on its back. Scar gestured to her to stand still. The Healer watched the beautiful creature take flight with ease until it was able to set its stout claws on one of the elevated platforms. Here the four Usik dismounted.

  It flew down again, gliding in circles to pick them up. Aliana followed Scar’s example and held on to the ropes. A few moments later they took off, soaring above the plain to the platform. It seemed to Aliana that she was dreaming, flying on the back of a majestic bird; surely there was no way that could be real. The great eagle landed, then shook its huge wings, raising a whirl of dust and leaves on the wooden platform. All of them dismounted and the bird flew off again, guided by its Usik rider.

  Aliana watched it on its way. She found it hard to accept that this majestic, powerful and beautiful being existed, in contradiction to everything she knew. But it did, and not only that, the Usik had tamed it for their convenience, which was even more unbelievable. Suddenly she realized where she was and looked down towards the distant ground. Vertigo overcame her, and she had to sit down on the platform so as not to swoon.

  What new surprises are there to come in this village in the clouds? Will I ever get out of this alive?

  She looked at Scar and the other Usik of the party, who were watching her in amusement.

  I honestly doubt it.

  Temple of water

  I have to do something! I can’t stay here any longer! Iruki left, worry eating at her chest. From where she had been hiding she could not see the outcome of the situation. Thanks to the Assassin’s power they had been able to remain hidden in the shadows, undetected by the Norghanians. He had used one of his skills, blending in with the shadows so that he disappeared from human sight. Iruki had no idea how he could do this, it was plain sorcery as far as she was concerned. A magic like that of the world of the prairie spirits, but called up by her companion in flight: a magic she did not understand, but which she welcomed.

  At first the Assassin had been unable to call upon his skills, since some other and far more powerful magic prevented him from using his talent. Repeated attempts to do so had proved useless, infuriating him. Seeing their pursuers closing up on them, Iruki had feared the worst. The damned Tracker was an unparalleled bloodhound. Once he had detected a trail he would follow it to the bitter end. Every attempt the Assassin had made to hide their track had been in vain. The Norghanian explorer had been able to find it again every time and continue the chase. The Assassin had used cunning and deceit to keep out of reach of their pursuers. When they arrived at the great frozen hall, seeing them so close, he had made one last desperate attempt to free his power.

  “I’m going to try one last time,” he had whispered to her, worry in his eyes.

  “Come on, I’m sure you’ll be able to,” Iruki had said, trying to cheer him, keeping her own fear hidden.

  Mustering all his concentration, together with what Iruki guessed had been many years of harsh training, he managed to break the magical interference that was preventing him from using his arcane abilities.

  “I did it! he exclaimed. “I managed to break the lock that stopped me using my power!”

  Iruki smiled. “I knew you would, I didn’t doubt you for a moment!” she lied, while with some surprise she admired the triumphant glee
on his normally serious face.

  And then something totally unexpected had happened.

  Taking her wholly by surprise, the Assassin hugged her, putting his arms around her and pulling her close to him. Iruki felt strange within his arms: frightened and excited at the same time. She knew they were in deadly danger, but the contact of his body against hers had filled her with a throbbing sensation which was undeniably pleasant. She felt the stranger’s strong chest pressing lightly on her breasts. An unexpected joy ran through her body in a warm wave of pleasure. A blush came to her cheeks. For a moment she lost herself in the delight of the embrace.

  The Assassin had looked into her eyes. Iruki had looked back in silence. His foreign, strong, masculine face captivated her, she found him more and more attractive. She thought of hiding the feelings that were awakening inside her, a little ashamed in case he noticed. But before his deep enigmatic gaze Iruki had not been able to restrain herself and had embraced him passionately, pressing her body against his and laying her cheek on his chest.

  “Iruki…” he murmured, fully aware now of what was going on.

  Iruki raised her head, and as her gaze met his black eyes, she kissed him. Briefly but intensely, passionately, spurred by the danger that surrounded them.

  Without wasting another moment, the Assassin had conjured one of his skills and they had both blended in with the shadows around them, disappearing completely in the darkness.

  Instants later the pursuing group of Norghanians had burst into the frozen hall.

  Iruki had clung to the Assassin’s body. They kept up the embrace, feeling warmth flowing from the physical contact. They were both thankful for each other’s touch, in more ways than one.

  They remained hidden, in silence, watching the fight between the Norghanians and the monstrous sea snakes. In the midst of the carnage and despite herself, Iruki could not repress a feeling of gladness as she watched them fall, one after the other. That race of looters and rapists…. not one of them deserved to live, they were all bastards, pigs, and if it had been in her power to bring about the annihilation of the whole race she would not have hesitated. Not only for what had been done to her, but for the uncountable atrocities they had committed, and continued committing, against the Masig people and other weaker races within their reach. She knew it would not cure the deep wound they had opened in the bottom of her soul, but it would certainly help mitigate the pain of the despicable rape she had suffered and which she would always carry with her.