AKLESH (Under Strange Skies)

by Samuel Jarius Pettit

  And now, here was a tribe that was having an actual holiday in regards to a season that came whether or not they wished it to. It was something he had to work to wrap his head around.

  Gar could not help from getting a little excited. He couldn’t tell whether this was from the increase of activity that had instantly taken over the tribe at Vol’s announcement. Or the fact that Gar could feel vibrations of excitement coming off of Kai’s more than ten feet away. He wondered if he was feeling almost giddy because the young native’s emotions were running so high and bleeding into his own consciousness.

  At night their dreams had become mixed to the point where they could hardly tell where one person’s influence left off and the other’s picked up. But with Kai running on such a charged battery, Gar felt there was a good likelihood that neither of them would get any sleep and he’d have to force the native to take his mat outside so he could get some rest.

  Although the sleeping arrangement was working out, Gar was having problems keeping his libido in check. At night he would catch himself stealing glances at the muscular native as he slept. It had been his opinion for quite some time that Kai was probably the most beautiful being he’d ever seen.

  He blamed their link for this. He was certain these couldn’t be his own feelings and desires, but something due to his unwilling joining.

  Still, in recent days, he had found himself thinking about Kai when he wasn’t around. He would wonder what the young native was up to, whether or not he was training, etc.

  ***

  Tyro had decided to implement a new technique in their hunt that year. He hadn’t tried it before and he made his group swear not to talk about it. Often he would sit in a huddle quietly with Kai, Cho and the twin, talking over what they had practiced that day. Kai wasn’t sharing anything at that point, even with Gar.

  These extra training session kept Kai away, which annoyed the prince more than he expected. If Gar hadn’t known any better, he might have mistaken his feelings for jealousy.

  And yet, Kai had developed an inner fire that was almost irresistible. His skin seemed more supple, his muscles firmer, his eyes deeper…

  It wasn’t as if Gar couldn’t just try to have a fling with Kai. He’d done so before with many a different partner he hardly knew. But this time Gar was cautious. For one, he couldn’t just hop on a ship and fly back to Orestus if things got uncomfortable or complicated. Another thing, he wasn’t even sure if he was feeling what he was feeling or it was some sort of by-product of the joining, a sort of insane attraction to the other person.

  And lastly, he was getting nothing from Kai.

  The young native kept most of his thoughts about Gar locked away somehow. Gar wished he had enough mental dexterity to do this, but lacked in comparison to a companion who was in every way his superior in that regard. Without any idea how Kai felt, he decided the best course of action was to keep it to himself as much as he could and just stay frustrated.

  And if things got really bad, he could go into the woods by himself for a little while and come back when he was a little less stressed.

  The whole tribe was in an ecstatic mood. Gar noticed it most from Seema, who seemed happier than usual and went about her morning chores humming serenely. It appeared as if the whole keep was on some collective happy drug and he was the only one not getting any of the supply.

  Although there was a lot of merriment going around, the underlying theme was work. There was only a great celebration after all the chores involved in shoring up the keep for the cold season were completed.

  The crops were being gathered while the hunting groups were pulling in the last of the season’s prime hunting. This was being dried and prepared for the winter by the skilled workers in the keep who were responsible for food preparation and storage. The extra hunting time was good for the warriors and allowed them to practice for the great hunt. Indeed, as the days grew nearer to the hunt, Gar saw very little of Kai, who was spending nearly all his time with his hunting group. And when he came back to the keep, it was almost always after the evening meal. He was exhilarated, excited and worn out. The native wore a self-satisfied expression and beamed it at Gar, who would smile back then grumble in frustration when Kai’s back was turned.

  Confidence looked good on the young Aklesh, even to the point that Seema noticed it, mentioning it one morning to Gar while they watched the warriors go off for the day.

  “I’ve never seen Kai so determined and self assured.”

  Upon hearing her observation, Gar began to wonder if the feelings, thoughts and attitudes he figured were seeping to him from Kai didn’t also run the other way.

  But, Gar didn’t have much time to dwell. As the time to the festival grew short, Hatha’s skills were in greater demand. He and his new apprentice had to make sure gates and posts were mended or secured and other structures were ready for the oncoming season.

  Gar was finding it hard to recall what his life had been like before he’d arrived on the planet. But one look at the night sky would always remind him. And working with his hands, wrapped like Hatha’s and down on the ground level, it was easy to lose himself and feel as if he had always been part of the tribe.

  Till one day, right before the hunt, Hatha reminded him of his world with one astute question.

  “How do people in your world come together?” They were standing at the base of the keep, underneath the twinning roof system and back where the phontas were tended, fixing a broken railing of the pen that kept them corralled. The first platform was a good 40 feet above them. The smell of the animals was enlivening to say the least.

  The carpenter’s question had come out of nowhere.

  They had been quiet for some time, so the question struck Gar as odd. He thought he knew what the tribesman was asking, but decided to check, just to be sure they were thinking of the same thing.

  “What do you mean by ‘come together?’” They were both holding the end of a new railing and sliding it into place.

  “Well,” Hatha said after thinking about it. “Your kind do not join, that is true?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then how do you find your life partner? What do you do?”

  His line of questioning was interesting. No one, other than Kai, really asked him about what life was like on Orestus. He wondered if more people would be curious if there wasn’t such a taboo around the Sky Tribe.

  “They get married,” he said. Hatha gave him a perplexed look. “There’s a ceremony, and the couple takes vows depending on their culture and religion.”

  “Is that all?” he asked.

  Frankly, Gar thought that was more than enough. The idea of marriage was never a real winner with him. He pondered Hatha’s question.

  There were blood rites that he knew in some cultures, while some other ceremonies could be very extensive, taking weeks to complete.

  “Not that I can think of,” Gar replied. “There is nothing like joining that I know of in the known universe. But, I’m not fully versed with every culture and their coupling rituals. Where I’m from, though, it’s is simply a matter of saying that you wish to be with someone.”

  Hatha still seemed confused. “So you’re telling me where you come from people can become partners just by saying they want to?”

  “There are some formalities, but yes, that’s pretty much the gist of it.”

  “And people stay bonded by these promises?” Gar laughed. He had always thought that marriage was as bonded as two people could get. But, viewing it from an Aklesh standpoint, made it seem a little trivial and easy. “Not always…um, it can be complicated.”

  “Oh,” said Hatha, then let the subject rest while they finished installing the new railing. While they worked, Gar could see the gears were still turning in the tribesman’s mind. They dusted off their hands and started to return to Hatha’s hut as he worked out what he was thinking.

  “Are you married where you are from?”

  “I am not,” replied Gar. />
  “Do you wish to be?” Hatha said, pursuing the idea harder. Gar noticed that the idea of marriage really seemed to be sticking for the native, somehow.

  “Are you asking me?” Gar teased Hatha with a smile.

  At that point Hatha became very self-conscious and flustered. “No…I…no, I am not that way…

  I…”

  There were still many in the tribe who did not understand Gar’s humor, although it was getting better. Mostly it felt like the Healer, and of course Kai, got what he was saying half the time. And even then it was easy for him to leave them behind when he spoke. As marvelous as nanites were in translation and tone, nuances in culture and timing still eluded the technology. He let Hatha off the hook.

  “It has not been something I’ve thought much about.

  But I’ve always supposed that one day I would be.

  In my culture, it is expected, especially of me.”

  “Ah,” said Hatha, slapping him on the back and seeming to understand. “To create children!” This amused Gar. “That, too.”

  “How strange. There is no joining where you are from and yet Kai was able to join with you,” Hatha nodded a little apologetically for mentioning the

  ‘issue’ that he and Kai were dealing with. But still he thought about it. “Do you wonder how that was possible?”

  Indeed, Gar had been dwelling on the question for quite some time. It was a huge mystery and, when he got back to Orestus, one he would pursue heavily.

  That was, if he ever got back.

  “I do indeed.” Gar replied, retreating into his own thoughts while they walked back.

  ***

  Tyro’s hunting group was just coming down from the keep to go for another round of training off site.

  Many of the hunting groups had strategies that they employed for their hunts, and it was not uncommon for teams to try new approaches during the great hunt. Not only was it a test of skill but also how well a team worked together.

  This had been their trouble as a unit.

  Although Tyro was good in a command position, the twins would have problems following separate orders from him and would get in each other’s way. Kai was strong, but he wasn’t as strong as the others and would lose confidence in his own ability. Cho, on the other hand, kept trying to help her brothers and would lose sight of any tasks given to her.

  So among the Aklesh hunting groups, they were considered the long shot.

  Tyro could have been in any hunting group, and they would have been glad to have him. But duty and affection bound him to his childhood friends.

  There were times when he resented them for it, but he would always put that aside for the good of the tribe. They were given the less challenging assignments and he bore the humiliation with as much dignity as he could muster.

  The others in his group often felt sorry that Tyro had been tied to them. They knew he would move up the ranks of the tribe much quicker had they not dragged him down.

  But this year they had a different plan.

  Most teams stayed in the general area of the keep while they practiced throwing spears, archery and riding. They would go on little hunts for the local game to stay sharp. Tyro’s team was the only one traveling a good distance away. No one knew quite where they were going, but their absence had been noticed, especially by Vol.

  Tyro’s group was already on her list. She considered them weak and useless. There was also the fact that they had been the ones to bring the stranger into the keep, as well as Kai getting himself captured by the Others and curtailing the fishing season. He had returned the body of their kinsman, for which she was thankful, but by this time her gratitude had flowed away and her usual warrior sentiment had taken hold.

  At first she’d been hard on them, hoping it would make them improve. But after seeing the chaos they inspired, she had all but given up. There was talk of disbanding the team. None of them were old enough yet to pursue other stations among the tribe, but at least it would get them out of her hair, and Tyro could be reassigned somewhere he would be better utilized.

  She and her team were fixing and sharpening their weapons as Tyro’s team passed by, headed north of the keep.

  “Going for a nap?” she asked as they walked by.

  Her teammates, a rather thuggish crew, laughed heartily.

  Kai started to say something but Tyro put his hand on his friend’s shoulder, which instructed him to keep on walking and ignore the jibe.

  Vol had seen Kai’s instinctual reaction and decided to kick her taunting up a notch.

  “Careful in the hunt, little Kai. It would be a shame if you ended the same way as your father.”

  “My father was a great hunter!” Kai said, turning on Vol suddenly. “You should not disrespect him.” Tyro sighed. Kai had risen to her bait.

  “You’re right. Your mere existence is disrespect enough,” she replied.

  There was a flinch from both sides, as if a fight would begin, but Tyro stepped between Vol and Kai, asserting his large presence. Although Vol felt she could take him, she knew she would still suffer in a physical altercation. She needed to save herself for the hunt.

  “If you have a problem with a member of my group, Vol. You come to me. It is our way.” She smiled viciously, but backed down all the same. “I have nothing but problems with your group.”

  The moment was tense as both hunting parties stared each other down. Those who had been sitting in Vol’s group were now standing, and the situation seemed to be heading toward conflict. In an all-out brawl, Vol’s team had the most force, but the looks on the faces of Tyro’s group meant they weren’t in the mood to be playing any games.

  Sometimes hunting teams had small incidents with each other, and Vol, being the current head warrior at the time, encouraged this, but they kept these to themselves lest the tribal elders interfere.

  “Go on. Go practice,” Vol practically spit, breaking the tension. “Like it will do you any good.”

  Her crew laughed at this and the danger had passed. Although Kai was still offended, both sides calmed down. Tyro’s group headed back on their path, leaving the laughter behind. Tyro was making a mental note to pull Kai aside at some point and tell him to reign in his temper. If he had let Kai slug Vol, she would have definitely deserved it, but the ramifications would have been bad for them in the long run. If the head warrior couldn’t have her way in a fight, she’d find other routes to get her revenge.

  The sooner she was challenged as leader, the better.

  “We’re going to get a kill in the hunt, Tyro. I know it,” said Cho.

  Tyro grunted and sped up his pace, even more eager for them to show what they could do.

  CHAPTER 21

  Kai would always remember the three words that Gar had whispered in his ear before the all warriors had left the keep for the great hunt, a day that would change everything.

  “Kick their ass.”

  He didn’t quite understand what the expression meant, which was obviously from the stranger’s world, but the sentiment rang loud and clear and he’d felt Gar’s emotions behind them, that of determination, solidarity and pride. Kai had told him of Vol’s offense the previous day. Gar had used some more choice expressions that Kai couldn’t quite make out the meaning of, but understood that Gar was on his side, which made him feel good anyway.

  The whole tribe was awake early that morning in order to send the 12 hunting teams off. They would wait impatiently all day to find out the results. It was dangerous, but it was tradition.

  There had been no more altercations between the hunting groups. Everyone had hunkered down to their own hunts, making individual plans for the event and hoping that theirs would be the team to bring in a kill.

  Kai could not remember a time when there had been more than one or two kills for a festival and plenty of times where there hadn’t been any.

  It was about half a day’s ride to the Rasclaan feeding grounds and they had to make sure they kept their distance once t
hey arrived. What made hunting the Rasclaan so difficult was that the species was highly telepathic, more so than any of the other creatures that existed on Aklesh. As a group they could sense a predator’s approach from miles away.

  They were very large, agile creatures with four legs and tremendously large front haunches that, when employed, gave them great speed. The creatures stood about seven to eight feet high and were about the same width and length. They had a large shoulder area that looked a bit like a hump, a sloping spine and wide spread back legs. The neck stretched down from the collar and was encased in a mane of white fur. On the rest of their bodies the hair was shorter and sleek. Their snouts were broad and flat with flared nostrils. The mouth of the creature was large and although the teeth were not big or particularly vicious, they had many of them. The Rasclaan was a grazer by nature but could use its bite as a means for defense. Another means of attack and protection were the large, bony protuberances that stood out from their joints like daggers about ten inches long both at the elbow and the hip area.

  These were of particular concern to Kai since one of these had been the means of his father’s premature death.

  So, they were hard to hunt for several reasons -- they were agile, strong, potentially vicious, had sharp spikes sticking out of their bodies and, of course, could sense an approach from far away. It was a nearly impossible prey, and the Aklesh warriors relished the challenge. To make a kill of the Rasclaan was to prove your worth as a hunter.

  The warriors arrived at the site and set up a temporary camp, settling on a ridge overlooking the majestic creatures while they ate peacefully on the plains below. It was far enough away to be out of the telepathic range of the Rasclaan, which was important. If the creatures were alerted to the presence of the Aklesh too soon, they would start a stampede and the hunt would be over before it could even start. It was important that a run started when the warriors decided it was time and not before.