A Mountain of Fire

by Marius Thue

  Larii and Rhekir have already fallen asleep in the hut, giving Thoke a clear sign that it has been well-constructed. Around them the others have also covered their huts with old skins. These will be used until they serve no more purpose and begin to crack apart.

  Thoke, Garnek, Janeg, and Mekar will sleep in shifts tonight. They will need to keep watch in case the other tribe tries to cross the strait somehow. Garnek feels safe that the strait is too wide to swim across without coming over in exhaustion. Still, they must be vigilant.

  The first one to sleep is Thoke. He lays down on the furs from two large moose and a caribou. His family members are huddled close together, sharing their warmth in the night. Thoke tries to make himself focus on this feeling of happiness, but he cannot make himself stop worrying. Sleep will not find him tonight.

  Old Sernak is the one who keeps watch every night. He rarely lies inside the comfort of his hut after dark. As soon as the sun sets, he grabs his walking stick and begins wandering toward the highest nearby hill. There he sits, undresses above the waist, and releases his scarred, skinny flesh into the night. On his hill he will sit with his eyes closed, making himself as one with nature. Under the stars, he prays to all the gods he knows to give him a peace that sleep never will.

  Cries of babes wake the tribe the following day as usual. With four children below the age of three, there is always plenty of activity, sometimes even before the sun rises. Soon, in midsummer, the sun will set for only a short time and the night will remain brighter than dusk. At least that helps the adults’ tired eyes.

  The sun has barely made it above the horizon, and Rhekir runs out of the hut to greet the new day. He runs to see if any of the other children have risen. While running across the island, he sees Sernak come limping past him. Sernak’s cane clanks against the rocks as he steps into the hut he shares with his daughter Renai and his son Janeg.

  Thoke is awoken by Larii jumping up and landing with her heels right onto his groin. A massive sigh puffs out of the great hunter as he curls into a ball, holding his private parts. Neera almost breaks out into laughter, but she quickly cups her mouth and keeps all but a chuckle to herself.

  “Little Larii, go out and play with your brother. Your father's hurt,” she says, smiling.

  While Larii bounces out past the flap of their hut, Neera bends over Thoke, who is in a fetal position.

  “Defeated by a small child. How will you live with the shame?” she jests, barely able to hold back the laughter.

  “Some things will always hurt I guess.” Thoke stretches out slowly, releasing a whimper as he does.

  “You're just as handsome as the day we met,” she says softly while staring into his sky-blue eyes.

  “And you're just as pretty.” He smiles and feels the last of his pain leave him.

  “The kids won't be back for a while.” Neera leans in to whisper in his ear. “Perhaps we should check that everything still works?”

  In the middle of the camp, Hiro is preparing a fire as usual. A fire always lifts spirits in the morning. Hiro, opposed to his older brother, Mekar, is not of the talkative kind. During a tragic blizzard many years past, Janeg's wife Kora froze to death when she lost contact with the others. Hiro and Renai also got lost in the storm. Renai found her way back quickly enough, while Hiro wasn't found until the following summer. Hiro never was a man to talk much, but after he was found, he's barely spoken a word. Most everyone in the tribe has given up trying to talk to him as the only responses they are likely to receive are some hand gestures.

  Hiro has the main responsibility for managing order in the camps. He oversees the construction of huts, makes fires morning and evening, and keeps track of most of the tribe’s needs. Mekar walks over to his brother and rubs his pale bald head.

  “How does the day feel, Brother?” Mekar asks while looking around the camp. Hiro nods slowly.

  “What was that you said?” Mekar chuckles. “Have you seen Thoke?”

  “He probably still sleeps,” Garnek answers as he approaches them. “It has not been long since he left his guard post.”

  “Well, I don't know about that. It doesn't look like Neera's up either, and I can see their kids playing by the shore,” Mekar says with a suggestive smile, raising his eyebrows up and down to make sure the others got his meaning.

  Garnek shakes his head and says: “So where's your woman, Mekar?”

  “Sevi's still in the hut, I think,” he answers with a confused look on his face.

  “And where are your children?”

  “All three are down by the shore. Why?”

  Garnek looks at Mekar and begins to raise his eyebrows in the same way he did. A look of realization spreads across Mekar’s face. He hurries toward his hut, almost tripping on some rocks on the way. With a grin he enters and muffled laughter from both woman and man can be heard.

  Hiro drops his piece of flint and is about to rise. “Don't you even think it!” Garnek stops him with a firm hand on the bald man’s shoulder. “We're already down by four this morning, so we cannot afford to lose you and Diseni as well.”

  Hiro looks up at the chief while nodding in agreement.

  Some time later, Thoke and Mekar make their way toward the newly made fire. They both look very happy and only exchange looks that make them smile even more. Thoke holds his hands over the fire. It's not yet warm enough. The sun shines and it's a clear day, but it's still cold. Thoke wears, like most others, only thin pelts from deer at this time.

  Thoke's smile stiffens as he sees the other tribe getting ready to cross the strait. Seven boats of animal skin have been crudely assembled, and they're almost ready to start rowing.

  “They must be desperate,” Thoke says, looking shocked at the attackers.

  Garnek drops the piece of meat he holds in his hand as he notices the other tribe. “Sevi and Diseni, gather up the children and bring them over to the other side of the island! Everyone else, get your weapons!”

  The two women immediately follows their chief’s orders and begin to run around, screaming for the children. They are, in many ways, the complete opposite of each other, appearance wise. Hiro's woman, Diseni, is tall, strong, and has a long black hair flowing down her back. Many say she's the most beautiful of the women in the tribe, though Thoke would object to that. Mekar's woman, Sevi, on the other hand, is short, has a neck-length dark-gray hair, and is not claimed to be pretty by anyone, no one other than Mekar that is, as he seems to think she's truly magnificent.

  “Hiro, stay with your woman. Protect them if we fall,” Garnek continues. “Father, hobble on after them.”

  Sernak is clearly displeased, but he realizes he won't be of much use here. He takes a last look at the attacking tribe almost halfway across the strait.

  “What are they thinking?” Thoke looks bewildered. “They won't stand a chance attacking us like this.”

  As soon as the attackers come within reach, Neera and Mekar pull back their bowstrings. With excellent precision, they rain arrows down upon the boats, killing five before the boats hit the bottom of the shore.

  “Kill them before they reach dry land!” Garnek commands.

  Renai leads on once again. She runs into the sea, standing in water up to her knees. It doesn't seem to slow her down, however, as she swings her daggers at men who only have water just barely hitting their shins.

  Thoke and the others come running close behind her. Horvag sits in the back of the final boat and arrives to the fight as the last. His feet splash into the water as a woman jabs her spear at Garnek, who grabs it out of the air with his left hand. With his right, he cleaves it in two, leaving the pointy end in his left hand. He stabs the woman in the throat, spilling blood into the trashing water.

  Mekar and Neera remain on land, delivering deadly arrows wherever they can. The ordeal resembles a massacre rather than a fight. The other tribe seems weak, and the water is quickly colored red by their blood.

  Suddenly, they hear a loud scream coming from the cen
ter of the island, where they see the others come running with eight warriors chasing close behind. Mekar and Neera spin around, sending their arrows over their friends and children, toward the attackers.

  Down in the water, Thoke and the others have nearly defeated all their opponents. Only three remain.

  “Thoke, Renai, save the others. Janeg and I will deal with these worms!” Garnek yells. Blood covers the chief’s body.

  The women and children get behind Neera and Mekar while Thoke and Renai run past them in the other direction. Hiro stands surrounded by three warriors about fifty steps away. The other five meets Thoke and Renai in the middle. Thoke runs straight at one of them, driving his shoulder into the attacker’s chest, knocking the air right out of him. Thoke can hear the man’s ribs cracking on impact.

  With his dagger, he quickly opens the man’s throat. Blood comes gushing out, and Thoke looks away. Killing humans never comes easy. Thoke tries to avoid spilling blood just for the ghastly sight of it. However, a quick kill is always better.

  Renai continues as usual and cuts down two men as she runs between and past them. Thoke looks up at how easy she makes it seem, almost graceful. Shortly after, another man knocks her to the ground from behind. He stabs his spear down at her, but she manages to roll away at the last moment. Several times he sticks his spear down, hitting nothing but heather and rocks.

  Hiro still remains surrounded, struggling to keep himself out of reach. A woman cuts his arm with her spear. Hiro then throws his own in a poorly considered move. It hits a man in the belly, burying deep, but now Hiro only has a dagger to defend himself. The two others decide to charge him at the same time, spears up high. Hiro closes his eyes as if he has given up. When he opens them, both attackers fall face forward, arrows sticking out of their backs. Neera and Mekar give Hiro a short nod as they both nock another arrow.

  Meanwhile, Renai gets back up to her feet and throws herself at her spear-wielding foe, stabbing him repeatedly in the shoulder. They fall to the ground, and Renai continues to stab wildly. Not far away, Thoke kills their last opponent with a single skull-crushing punch.

  As silence falls over the island, Sernak comes limping from behind a hilltop. He must have walked in the wrong direction to miss the entire battle. Growling, he walks among the dead while hitting them with his stick. Garnek walks toward the camp, dragging Horvag behind him on the ground. He seems to be the only survivor. Janeg walks right behind them, wiping his enemies' blood from his cheek.

  Garnek drops Horvag near the center of the camp, and everyone gathers around. The invading chief tries to run but cannot find a gap in their line.

  “As you see, Horvag, brother of Hoster, my tribe has seen many a fight over the years,” Garnek says cheerfully. Horvag bows his head and looks around at his fallen tribesmen. “This attack was madness. You had a decent plan, I must admit, but you were never going to win here. Your fighters look weak and sickly … especially now I guess. But you, on the other hand, look quite well fed.” Garnek bends down and slaps Horvag’s big belly.

  “We needed this island, desperately,” Horvag explains. He sits on both knees with his hands resting on his thighs. “This wasn't just my tribe. What you have slaughtered here today was an assembly of four tribes. This island's the best defensive spot in the area, and as you said, there's no way we all could stay here.”

  “Well, you're all dead now, it seems,” Mekar says with a sly grin.

  “We would have been anyway if we did not try. The mountain tribe is coming, and they're close.”

  “What mountain tribe?” Garnek wonders. “They can't be so bad as to make you risk all for an island?”

  “Not so bad?” Horvag says. “They have already killed or chased off everyone who moves in on the mountains in the summer. You must have traveled far south these last winters to have been lucky enough to avoid them. Our tribes all used to hunt the mountains, and we used to be four times as many. The mountain tribe is relentless, and now they have come all the way down here. There's no place to hide. We thought perhaps they would end their hunt at the shore.”

  “You should have gathered to fight them instead, then,” Thoke says.

  Horvag drops his head down toward the ground, laughing. Thoke and Garnek share a confused look.

  “They can't be defeated. No one knows where they come from, because no one has seen their camp and survived. They always come when the sun hides, and they wear no clothes above the waist, women and men alike. The frost can't hurt their skin, because they are demons covered in black stripes, and they will end us all.”

  “You could have gone further south, then, where these demons doesn't reside,” Renai says, her face growing angry.

  Horvag shifts his eyes right to her and stares for a while. Then he slowly begins to laugh again, mocking her. “Every year, the black-striped demons are spotted further south, north, east, and west. Their territory grows, and they leave no survivors wherever they attack. You can never run for long once they have your scent. Some say the sun will burn them, and some say seawater does the same. No one has ever seen them during the day nor at sea. This could have been a safe place.”

  “Then you should have found a different island,” Renai says, even angrier this time.

  “Oh no, little one, I'm afraid it had to be this one, and it had to be now. You see, the demons have followed us here and are right on our tails.”

  CHAPTER 9

  Thick fog blankets the island. The air is moist and the huts are barely visible between each other. Hiro sits by the fireplace and watches as pale shadows emerge, turning into friendly faces as they approach.

  Old man Sernak comes limping over, placing his stick hard into the rock and heather as he passes. Slowly, he turns into a shadow before disappearing into his hut.

  Several children run down toward the sea but are quickly drawn back by Diseni's stern voice. From here they can only hear the sea, and the children are never allowed to run out of an adult’s sight. Diseni gathers the children by the fire and sits down next to her man. Hiro places one arm around her shoulders and almost cracks a smile.

  It doesn't take long before all the tribe members gather around the fireplace, sitting close, eating some nuts and berries to begin their day. A few steps away, Horvag stands tied to a tree, which is barely as high as the man himself. He stands, shivering from a long cold night.

  “Please have mercy. Let me get closer to the fire,” he begs.

  Garnek signals to Thoke with a nod. Thoke unties Horvag from the tree but keeps his hands and feet bound. He drags the large man over to the fire and places him so that he barely can feel the heat. Horvag seems to be satisfied as he closes his eyes and slowly stops shivering.

  “Everyone listen up.” Garnek stands. “We have a lot to do today. Our rations are spent, so it's beyond time to gather more. Thoke, Renai, and Janeg come with me. We'll see if there's some nice fat seals around. Mekar, take Gerak, Terot, and Serk out to fish. Hiro, Neera, and Diseni, you shall spread out and stand guard on the highest hilltops. If this mountain tribe shows themselves while we're gone, leave the island and row northwest until you find us.” Garnek looks up at the foggy sky. “There probably won't be any stars tonight, but you know the general direction at least. Horvag’s tribe was nice enough to bring us seven boats. Sevi will keep an eye on the children and make them help you find crabs along the shore. Everyone clear as to their purpose?”

  Some nod, while others seem tired an uninterested. Some are too busy talking among themselves to listen.

  “You lazy sacks of shits! Get going now if you want to eat tonight!” Garnek growls. He stomps his feet and chases them.

  “You forgot about me,” Sernak exclaims as he opens the flap of his hut and climbs unsteadily out. “What am I to do?”

  “You can walk along the shore as well, but look for flint stones. Something may have washed up here,” Garnek says. “There is a lot of moisture in the air this morning, so there will likely be some mushrooms for you to pick
.”

  Clearly dissatisfied, Sernak mumbles some unclear curses while wandering off into the mist, limping with his walking stick.

  The rest of the tribe gets going as well. Garnek and his brother Janeg gather their equipment and leaves in one boat. Thoke and Renai get into another. With one thick, flat piece of wood each, they row out, losing sight of the island before long.

  Mekar will only bring one helper with him out on the water while the others will fish from land.

  “Gerak, you're the oldest, and you squabble too much with your brother. Besides, Terot and Serk would spend the day talking nonsense rather than doing their job. So I give you the charge of fishing from land. And, Son …” Mekar turns to Serk.

  “Yes, Father,” the thirteen-year-old boy responds.

  “Listen to Gerak’s orders now. Terot, you're with me,” Mekar continues.

  First Mekar follows the boys to find a good spot to fish from land. He often leads when there's fish to be found. Even though he knows the best spot on the island, he wants the boys to find it themselves.

  Serk seems to have inherited his father’s abilities and quickly finds a good spot close to the one Mekar likes to use. Serk may have remembered the spot from last year, but in this fog nothing seems to be quite right. After some consideration, Gerak agrees the spot is right. They found it on the northern side of the island, where the sheer cliff cuts deep into the ocean. Down below, the sea is as pitch black as the rock it gently splashes against. Mekar finds the spot to be promising and leaves the two boys to their duties. He trusts them to find their way back to the camp by themselves, even in this fog.

  Mekar and Terot set out on their boat. The fishing rods have been easily made. Strong sticks of birch work well. The birch is tough and hard, which makes it perfect for dragging in fish. They have made the fishing lines from animal intestines and hooks carved out from bones. To make it sink, they have carved a dip around a small rock, and tied the string around following the indentation. Worms or pieces of meat are stuck to the bony hook.