Pillar of Fire (Book One-The Whale Hunter Series)

by Karah Quinney

Oi’yan’s family had come to the Chimar Village, like so many others, seeking security and prosperity. Yet, as a foreign woman, she had no hope of attaining a life that was secure and safe.

  Kahm would have had his choice of a future mate, he would have been able to take a first, second or even a third wife. However, he desired only Oi’yan from the day that he first saw her until now. Yes, even now.

  Sunflower opened her eyes and took in her surroundings with a frantic glance. She inhaled the crisp morning air and lifted her face toward the bright rays of the sun. A squirrel ran past and a brown bird swooped from an upper branch of a tree. When she spread her hand open, she caught sight of Talon’s necklace and immediately realized that her brother was nearby.

  Sunflower wrapped the sleeping fur around her shoulders and looked at her surroundings with unmasked curiosity. She tilted her head at an angle as if listening to something that only she could hear. There was no sound at all, but it was a habit from the time before the long sickness had taken her hearing.

  Sunflower quickly gathered their belongings. Talon had allowed her to carry a small basket with a few items that she valued, including her small bag of dried plants and roots and her bone awl. He had taken nothing except his weapons and the necklace that he always wore.

  They had their cold weather parkas and long pants as well as their moccasins, but their clothing was tattered and worn. Even her best attempts to mend their garments had met with failure. For far too long, they had been given the scraps that others didn’t want.

  Sunflower touched the ground with both hands and placed her face close to it. She hoped to feel the vibration of Talon’s footsteps before he appeared. It was always his way to stomp the ground so that she could sense his arrival.

  When she felt the telltale vibration of footsteps, her first reaction was unmitigated relief. She would see Talon’s familiar outline through the shadows in the trees at any moment. Concern caused her brow to furrow as she realized that the vibrations were faster than normal. Talon often pounded the ground hard three times to announce his presence, but these vibrations were so close that Sunflower couldn’t count them.

  Talon was running.

  Sunflower gulped in fear and slid farther back into the crevice of the rock face. Talon wouldn’t run unless there was danger. Suddenly, a cold chill of foreboding stole over Sunflower’s body as she hunched her shoulders defensively against whatever danger the forest held.

  Kahm ran with Wolf at his side. They both moved like the wind through the trees in perfect harmony. He knew the moment that Wolf scented the wind and veered off their normal path. The wolf ignored the familiar whistle and Kahm grumbled over the animal’s odd behavior.

  As Kahm broke through a stand of trees he could see that Wolf had something cornered against an outcropping of stone. He drew his bow and notched an arrow into place as he approached. It occurred to him that Wolf was not growling and snapping as he normally did when they hunted together.

  He knew Wolf’s behavior well and his odd stance was disturbing. Had wolf stumbled upon another of his kind? With movements that were almost too quick for the eye to follow, Kahm slung his bow upon his back and unsheathed his hunting knife as he cautiously moved forward.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Sunflower reared back as a wolf emerged from the forest. Her sharp movement caused the wolf’s teeth to flash in warning and she immediately froze. As her eyes darted left and right, she realized that she was cornered between the wolf and the rocky crevice at her back. Panic caused her breath to hitch in her lungs and she noticed that the wolf stopped snarling when she held perfectly still. She reared back in fright as the wolf sniffed her thoroughly, inhaling her scent with a flare of his nostrils. Her limbs trembled of their own accord as the wolf’s tawny eyes flickered over her body.

  Sunflower froze, but it didn’t deter the animal from stalking forward. She held her breath as he sniffed every available piece of clothing and skin. Sunflower felt a thump upon the ground and she looked over the animal’s large head and saw a man standing with a dark grimace upon his face and a knife held threateningly in his hand.

  Sunflower’s eyes filled with unwelcome tears as the man studied her coldly. The wolf went to stand by the man’s side and Sunflower’s breath hitched in her chest as the man simply stared at her.

  Kahm gasped from the shock of seeing another person after so much time spent alone. Wolf bounded over to him as if he wanted to introduce the two of them. However, Kahm wanted nothing more than to turn and run back the way that he had come. He was stunned to find a young girl, dressed in torn and weathered clothing, standing alone in the forest.

  Kahm was frozen, unable to move forward or retreat as the girl stared at him out of large, expressive eyes. A shadowy haze began to fill his vision and he knew that he was about to experience one of his dark moments. Black spots danced before his eyes, highlighted by bursts of light. He became hyperaware of everything around him; the sound of the girl’s rapid breathing touched his ears, which was not possible, not from this distance.

  Yet, every sound was magnified. The cacophony of noise was like a knife’s edge grating against his senses. He reared back and stumbled, only to rise to his knees and fall again. There was a moment when he knew that he might collapse and then the ground underneath his feet gave way and he was airborne.

  Sunflower clamped one hand over her mouth to stifle a scream as she dropped her carrying basket and the blanket within. She scrambled down from her perch upon the rock and lowered herself over the embankment that fell away into the forest below. Sharp rocks cut into her hands and feet as she scrambled toward the fallen warrior. When she drew close, she saw that he was still breathing, though his eyes remained closed.

  She touched him without considering whether or not he would be repulsed by the contact. The people of her village had not welcomed her touch, nor had they allowed her to treat the various ailments that afflicted them.

  Sunflower noticed the man’s fine clothing and his well-stitched moccasins. He wore a parka with decorative beading and fringed leggings, along with a beautifully beaded necklace and a carved turquoise bracelet. She took in everything at a glance, as was her way.

  She pressed her ear to the man’s mouth and felt his breath touch her face.

  He was alive.

  She looked around wildly for Talon. Where was her brother? She still clutched his necklace and suddenly inspiration struck her. She was a healer, perhaps not in practice, but in every other way, she knew the healing arts.

  Guilt assaulted her senses. Perhaps it was true that she was cursed. At the first sight of her, the man had lost control of his senses and fallen over an embankment that even a child could see. What was it about her that caused him to collapse at the mere sight of her?

  Kahm groaned as he felt someone take his hand. He blinked rapidly and felt his face flame with humiliation.

  He touched his aching head and realized that he had been knocked senseless by a rock that was in the way of where his head had landed.

  Suddenly, he remembered the young girl.

  He moved his head, which caused pain to ricochet behind his eyes, even as he looked into the young girl’s worried gaze. He blinked and she didn’t disappear. Kahm cleared his throat and tried to speak. It had been so long since he had spoken to another person that he didn’t know where to begin.

  Sunflower watched the man look around as he took in his surroundings. She wanted to reassure him that he was well but she was not certain of anything other than the knowledge that he didn’t appear to have suffered any broken bones. She smelled the musky scent of the wolf’s fur as he sniffed her from head to toe and then settled at her side.

  Kahm almost ran. Almost. The warrior inside of him wouldn’t run from a mere girl, but he wondered if she was simply evidence of the illness that lived inside of his body. He was not bleeding, though he rubbed at his head and checked his hands as if he expected to find blood present. Everything appeared normal, but could he trust
his eyes?

  “Are you a spirit of the forest?” Kahm’s question was met with eerie silence as the girl merely blinked at him without speaking. A bruise upon her arm assured him that she was made of flesh and blood. Up close, he saw that her wide eyes were flecked with shards of amber.

  Sunflower knew that the man spoke to her by the movement of his lips and she lowered her eyes as she considered how she should respond.

  When he sat up and winced in pain, she turned her gaze away from him. She was the reason that he had fallen. Shame washed over her and she found that she couldn’t meet his gaze.

  “Where did you come from? Are you alone?”

  Kahm tried another language, but the girl wouldn’t look at him or answer his questions. He frowned slightly as he tried to imagine how he had offended her. She looked to be no more than ten or eleven seasons and her dark hair was a tangled black mass, tied haphazardly into two tails on either side of her head. Her unfamiliar clothing was threadbare and he struggled to remain impassive as he noticed her well-worn dress and weathered moccasins.

  He knew at a glance that she didn’t belong to the Chimar Village, though he couldn’t place her heritage. There were other bands and villages that were quite a distance away from the Chimar village, but none of those people favored this girl.

  Kahm motioned for the girl to stand but she ignored him once more. In an instant, he realized that she had not reacted to the sound of his voice or even the padding footsteps of the animal at their side.

  Kahm realized that he had been alone in the forest for so long that he had no idea how to approach another person. The girl’s dark eyelashes fluttered, reminding him of the wings of a butterfly and then her face brightened with color before she accepted his hand. An indefinable twinge of hope assailed Kahm as he saw what appeared to be unfailing trust reflected in her eyes.

  Sunflower watched the man through lowered lashes. She saw that he wanted her to stand but she couldn’t make her feet and legs do as he asked. She was still afraid.

  The man suddenly looked up at the rocks where she had left Talon’s blanket and her carrying basket. Sunflower gasped as he moved to stood in front of her, blocking out the light from above.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Talon found a concealed place and then settled in to wait. He had no doubt that Sarnom would bring warriors with him to aid in the search. Their pursuers would make noise during their approach. Fear skittered over his backbone and he sighed heavily as he fought for control.

  He was exhausted, but each time his eyes threatened to close, he reminded himself that he was the only thing that stood between Sunflower and mortal danger. His sister waited in a world of silence for his return. It was not long before he heard sounds of pursuit and his worst fears were realized. The warriors from his village had discovered their trail.

  His heart beat at a frenzied pace as he turned away from those that would come and take his sister away from him. He silently ran back the way he had come as he watched the placement of each footstep. He needed to reach Sunflower well before the Hokum warriors. He only hoped that his flagging strength wouldn’t impede his ability to protect his sister.

  As Talon approached the place where Sunflower waited, he thumped the ground three times. His heart beat at a rapid pace as he struggled to catch his breath. He had never run so far and so fast before, but fear gave him wings with which to fly.

  When he found Sunflower’s abandoned sleeping fur and small carrying basket, he didn’t worry overmuch. He knew that she wouldn’t have gone far.

  Talon instinctively searched the ground for tracks and what he saw stopped his heart and made him groan deep within his chest. Wolf tracks! A lone wolf stalked his sister.

  He knew that wolves often hunted in packs, but what type of wolf hunted alone? Could it be an animal with the killing sickness? Talon had seen his share of animals that were taken by a sickness that caused them to foam at the mouth and act violently. Such instances were rare, but every hunter knew to be wary.

  Sunflower was utterly defenseless against such an animal.

  Talon berated himself for leaving Sunflower alone without a weapon or any means of defense. He studied the signs upon the ground as overwhelming apprehension threatened to swallow him whole.

  He drew to a sudden stop as he saw what had not been obvious before. The footsteps of a man intermingled with Sunflower’s steps and the tracks of a wolf went over the sharp embankment at his right.

  Talon’s heart stopped. Cold sweat broke out on his forehead as he slid down the embankment in search of his sister.

  For a moment, he forgot about the war party that trailed them. He forgot about everything as panic completely overwhelmed him and fear for Sunflower’s life seized his very being.

  Talon moved as if his life depended on it.

  His breath came in hard gasps and he was fatigued beyond measure, but he forced his eyes to search for Sunflower.

  The thought of his sister in the hands of a stranger fueled his body with rage. As he scrambled down the steep rock side, he pushed himself harder and then harder still.

  Sunflower knew that Talon would be very angry with her. He expected her to stay exactly where he left her. She couldn’t hear his call and she couldn’t hear the sounds of the world around her that would alert her to danger.

  However, she knew deep in her bones that the man that blocked out the sun’s light needed her help. She hoped that Talon would realize that she only sought to help the man.

  In her dreams, she was a healer that cared for her people with loving hands and knowledge entrusted to her by generations of women. However, she knew that such thoughts could only exist in the silence of her mind.

  The people of her village wouldn’t allow her to tend to the various illnesses that they suffered. The man that stood with his back to her would probably recoil in disgust when he realized that she couldn’t hear.

  Kahm couldn’t see up the sharp incline, but the sounds that came from up above were telling. He knew that he could leave the girl to whatever fate awaited her, but it was as if an invisible force held him immobile.

  It occurred to him that she had a better chance of surviving on her own than she did if she stayed with him. He was untrustworthy and unreliable; he was also capable of causing great harm.

  The times of blackness came farther and farther apart now that he lived in the solitude of the forest. Who could say what would set him off? The last time that he had fallen into a swirl of black fog, there was a furious thunderstorm.

  Suddenly, Kahm heard the pounding drum of footsteps from up above. The sound was unmistakable, yet it took him much too long to react.

  His self-enforced confinement caused him to doubt the validity of his own hearing. The girl pulled at his hand even as he turned defensively and blocked her with his body. Wolf growled low in his throat, releasing a feral warning of imminent danger.

  Sunflower could feel the vibration of running footsteps as she bent and placed one hand against the ground. Talon was near. The warrior shielded her again and she realized that he sought to protect her.

  She broke free of his hold just as Talon came into view. Her brother was a remarkable sight; he held his hunting knife in one hand and his bow in the other. An arrow was clasped between his teeth as he panted with exertion. Long, black hair streamed out behind him and his eyes narrowed with determination.

  Talon caught sight of the man that had taken Sunflower and he sheathed his hunting knife, lifted his bow and set an arrow in place with one swift motion. He took aim, sighting the man’s broad chest before choosing to let the arrow fly.

  Sunflower saw Talon take aim at the man that shielded her and she screamed. She didn’t know if she made any sound at all, but she forced herself to try. Sunflower held up both of her hands as they all stood panting with a mixture of shock, anger and uncertainty.

  Kahm had never heard a sound quite like the eerie keening cry that came from the girl standing at his side. The young man slid to a
halt in front of them with a fierce scowl upon his face as his eyes moved back and forth. He looked Sunflower over with obvious recognition and concern, but he never relaxed his stance.

  Kahm suddenly realized that he had somehow misunderstood the girl’s plight. She had not been abandoned as he had believed and the young man was justified in his efforts to protect the girl who was essentially defenseless. He raised both hands in a placating gesture as the young man took in everything with a searing glance that rivaled Kahm’s stony gaze.

  “Release the girl or die!” Talon’s voice was harsh and filled with warning.

  Without breaking stride, he watched the strange warrior that had taken Sunflower from the rocky crevice up above. The man had the posture and bearing of a predator of the forest.

  Talon knew at once that this was not a man to face in battle and he recognized on an instinctive level that the man meant them no harm. If he had wanted to cause harm, he could have made use of the weapons that hung at his waist or commanded the wolf that snarled at his side to attack. Instead, the man simply waited without speaking.

  Talon glanced over his shoulder. “We are being pursued by several warriors.”

  Kahm understood the young man’s words perfectly. The Hokum tongue was similar to the language spoken by those of the Chimar Village, yet there were noticeable differences.

  By his unspoken actions, it was clear that the young man had made a judgment in his favor. He noticed the similarity in their features and he surmised that the young man was the girl’s brother. Wolf’s snarl alerted Kahm to the presence of others.

  “Come!” In an instant, Kahm made a decision that shook him to his core. He motioned for the pair to follow him.

  The young man grabbed their belongings from the ground where they had fallen while the girl remained frozen in place and he realized that she didn’t recognize the danger that stalked them.