by Marius Thue
“She said she was feeling guilty she lost him in the storm,” Garnek remarks.
“She must have threatened him into silence. He must have known what Renai did,” Mekar suggests.
“It makes sense,” Garnek says. “Hiro barely spoke a word after he came back. He must have been afraid of something. Perhaps she threatened to kill him, or perhaps she said she’d accuse him of having killed Kora. I'm afraid we might have taken Renai's side. She probably would have created a believable story.”
“Renai was probably afraid he'd spill the truth now that Thoke became chief. She probably didn't expect Larii to die either,” Mekar says. He stands and sees Janeg and Diseni walk out of the forest. Thoke can see the anger in Mekar's eyes. Something else is off here.
“So Hiro tried to save Kora, but Renai defeated them both,” Thoke says. “We can't let them win.” He stomps away into his hut and lies down on the furs. Thoke knows he has to do something, but he cannot think of what that should be.
Suddenly Thoke wakes up. The sun shines weakly on the outside of their hut, meaning Thoke has slept all the way into morning. The hut is unusually empty as only he and Neera share it now. There are no children to wake him early in the mornings. The furs Larii used to sleep on still lie there. Even the furs Rhekir used to sleep on have been empty for just as long.
As quietly as possible, he throws on some thin pelts. The day feels like it will be a warm one, so Thoke walks out with nothing but some straps of hide above the waist, mostly meant to keep his pelts below in place.
Neera will be allowed to sleep for as long as she likes. Being as strong as she is, it must be tiring. Vengeance for their daughter is the only thing that keeps them going. Neera has been getting comfort from her conversations with Rhekir as well, which Thoke simply is not ready to do.
Thoke walks over to the large boulder. Some logs have been placed to make it an easier climb. A tree stump has been placed on top, making it more comfortable to sit up there.
The morning feels unusually warm, which means the winter has lost all of its strength. Thoke opens his mouth and blows out a hint of frost smoke, a sign of a moist spring morning.
Fog is rolling in on the village, making it impossible to see far up into the mountain. The clouds lie so thick, Thoke struggles to figure out where the sun stands in the sky. A bad feeling sinks into Thoke's gut.
Visibility keeps getting worse, making this a great day for an attack. Thoke tucks his long black hair behind his ears. Neera has maintained his thick braids, but they still falls close to his face. The hair has been getting so long that Neera has had to cut some off. One flat rock and one sharp one does the trick; she keeps the hairs in between them while pulling back and forth, which makes them fall off with ease.
The strip of hide holding his beard in place by the chin has loosened. Thoke tries to find some more, but realizes he has none left. He carefully he unties it before fastening it properly again. His beard is so long it makes it quite easy.
Thoke sits down on the stump and closes his eyes to better listen to his surroundings. A fox skips across the hard snow that still remains in patches outside the village. Those little footsteps are easy to detect. It must be looking for rodents under the melting snow.
Other footsteps can be heard as well, but further away. There seems to be a lot of them, but they’re quite far off in the distance. He can hear more and more, and they seem to be coming closer. These are no animals. Thoke opens his eyes wide and stands up. With all his breath he screams:
“They're coming!!”
CHAPTER 22
Thoke’s screams cause the village to burst to life. People fall out of their huts, running around feverishly. They haven't had time to practice this more than once, but luckily everyone has some idea of what to do.
People are running around the village half dressed. They run to the hut in the center of the village, near the boulder. There, Garnek stands ready, delivering spears, bows and quivers full of arrows to those who run by.
The hut is filled with weapons, so it all happens in a hurry. Not a word is exchanged between the villagers as they hurry around.
Inside the palisade, platforms have been built for the archers to stand on. They run up and get into positions, arrows nocked and ready. Mekar and Neera command the archers while Gerak and Janeg command the men using spears. Garnek stands in front of the hut in the center, where the children are hiding inside.
It doesn't take too long for the chaos to calm down and for the defenders to get into their positions. The fog isn't thicker than it was before; they can see the forest’s edge some hundred steps away, but just barely. Everyone stares up toward the mountainside.
Mekar lies on top of the builder, scouting. He keeps as low to the ground as possible, not wanting to share his brother’s fate.
It's eerily quiet. Thoke stands on one of the platforms closest to where he heard the sounds. Once again, he closes his eyes and listens. This time there no sounds. He could swear there was something there only moments ago.
Thoke almost begins to panic as he struggles to focus his hearing. There's too much noise inside the village. The sound of over ninety people trying to be quiet is deafening. A woman sniffles and wipes her nose. A man loses his spear, making a small thump as it meets the ground. Another struggles to attach his arrow to the bowstring. He must have made the gap in the back of the arrow too small. The platforms and palisade crack and move as the wind blows lightly from the sea. All other sounds seems to be absent. There are no animals scurrying in the forest, no birds chirping.
Thoke looks to the forest’s edge with the mighty mountaintops reaching high above the fog. He can't see any movement either. It's as if the mountain knows what's about to happen. Thoke turns and looks up at Mekar, who simply shakes his head.
Neera stands beside Thoke, bow in hand. They share a look, and he begins to think he might have been hearing things. They all stand there for a while and not one word is exchanged. The villagers are getting restless, and Thoke realizes he must do something.
Thoke steps down off the platform and walks over to the gate. The gate is attached to both sides of the palisade with plenty of thick straps on one side and thinner ones on the other. He unfastens the two thin ones then drags the gate in toward himself. The gate is heavy and firmly planted in the ground, so he only opens it enough to squeeze himself through.
Carefully, he walks out among the chopped down tree trunks. He tightens the grip on his spear and keeps low to the ground. The sounds from the village start to fade out as he begins to hear sounds from the forest more clearly, but there's hardly anything to hear.
Halfway between the village and the forest’s edge, he stops. No one's within sight, and it's still silent in the forest. If the ravages were in there, he would have heard something by now, no matter how quiet they were trying to be.
Thoke stands there for a while, listening, before returning to the village. Janeg runs over and pushes the gate shut. Thoke feels disappointed somehow.
“What's happening?” Serk asks, standing right by the gate.
“Nothing, I think.” Thoke still isn't sure himself. “I could have sworn I heard something out there.” He looks around at his battle-ready villagers, feeling like he's scared them for nothing.
“Have you lost it or what?” Terot blurts out, before quickly realizing what he just said. “Oh, it seems I lost it there myself for a bit.” He smiles nervously.
Thoke looks at him for a moment, realizing Terot might actually have been right.
“So what now?” Serk asks.
“We begin today’s work,” Thoke says. “We'll use this as a test.”
Everyone stands paralyzed at their posts, unable to believe what Thoke has just said.
“We should seize this opportunity and attack the ravages now!” Gerak exclaims before raising his spear.
“Garnek, do you agree with your son?” Thoke asks loudly.
“It's a fine day for a fight,” Garnek answers o
ver by the hut. “Besides, we're all ready to go anyway.”
Once again, all eyes swivel back to Thoke. Some are hopeful, some bloodthirsty, but most are afraid.
Rhekir walks up to the platform next to his mother. They seem to be ready at least. Silence falls upon the tribe once again while they wait for their chief to make his decision. They're not ready, but a surprise attack might give them an advantage, Thoke thinks.
The silence is broken by the screams of a man outside the village. Thoke jumps back up on the platform and looks out. The man comes running out of the forest, screaming and shouting. Thoke recognizes this man immediately as Teemo. He's wearing his black stripes, carrying a torch in each hand.
The words coming out of his mouth makes no sense. He seems to be chanting in some foreign tongue while flailing the torches around. Thoke notices the torches and understands what Teemo is about to do. He grabs the bow out of Neera's hands and takes an arrow out of her quiver.
With a quick jerk of the string, he sends an arrow flying right into Teemo's chest. He falls on is back, still chanting, and tries to throw one torch at the palisade. It doesn't even come close. Teemo lies there still screaming and chanting.
The spectacle he makes means everyone’s attention is locked to him. Suddenly, Thoke hears a crackling sound further away. He turns around and looks to the other side of the village. Three men have gotten all the way next to the palisade, carrying a torch in each hand.
“On the other side!” Thoke screams with all his might.
The three men leave one torch each by the bottom of the palisade, causing it to catch on fire. They throw the others over and into the village, before running back toward the forest.
Instantly two huts begins to burn bright. Some of the archers have gotten into positions and loosen arrows at the escaping men. One man gets hit in the back and goes down, but the rest of the arrows hit nothing but snow, heather, and tree stumps.
In the edge of the forest, Dorkas steps out, smirking as he spots Thoke standing on the platform. Behind him Renai and the beast, Org, step out. They are the only three not painted in black stripes, probably feeling frightening enough as they are. Dorkas stares right at Thoke, and their gazes locked for several long heartbeats. Dorkas then slowly raises his hand before dragging it quickly back down. Loud roars can be heard from the forest as over one hundred black-striped men and women come pouring out.
“Everyone move!” Thoke shouts, urging those who are yet to get into position.
Six ravages come running with a large tree trunk in their hands. With great force they ram it into the burning palisade, making it crumble to the ground in ash and smoke.
A wide hole, close to five steps across, is revealed as the smoke dissipates. Thoke's spear men position themselves to surround the opening, spears pointing into it.
The attackers keep coming from the forest, running the hundred or so steps to the opening in just a few heartbeats.
“Loose!” Thoke screams after jumping up on one of the other platforms.
Arrows rain over the ravages, but there are simply too many of them and almost all make it to the palisade. Only five or six of them fell with arrows buried in them, Thoke judges. The rest crash into the defending spear men, making them tumble over each other. Chaos ensues as Thoke's men can't do much else than hold their spears out and attempt to stand their ground.
The mass of ravages overwhelm them, and they begin to swarm. Thoke hands the bow back to Neera and jumps right down into a sea of blood and flesh. People are fighting and running all around him. Screams fill the village as fire licks the sky.
Almost the entire village is burning, Thoke realizes, and the fires are expanding quickly. The ravages still flow in through the hole, but Thoke’s fighters seems to be holding their ground for now. The ravages are so vast in numbers, they stand clogged up by the opening, waiting to get in.
Not many archers remain on the platform as most have jumped down to join the fighting. Mekar has gotten down from the boulder; he would have been an easy target up there. He runs up to the platform where Neera and Rhekir are firing arrows at the ravages still outside the palisade.
Thoke tries to get to Dorkas, but there are too many people between them. Dorkas remains in the background, seemingly content to watch it all unfold from a distance.
Org, the giant beast, plows his way through the crowd by the opening. Men and women, villagers and ravages, all get thrown aside as he makes his way toward Thoke. In his hands he carries a thick piece of wood, looking like he might have pulled one of the logs out of the palisade.
“Give me back my head!” he roars.
He strikes at Thoke with the log, swinging it wildly. Anyone who happens to stand in his way gets smashed to the ground. Org takes out as many ravages as he does villagers. Thoke dives under one of the swings and throws a left fist to Org’s jaw. The beast stumbles backwards but remains on his feet. He shakes his head and resumes swinging his log.
Garnek stands not far away, still guarding the hut. He grabs his sons, Gerak and Terot, from the fighting and commands them to guard it in his stead. Now he has the chance to avenge his father.
He grabs his spear and wobbles up behind Org. With a deep thrust he sends his spear right in over the beast’s hip. Org grunts, swings his log around, and hits Garnek right in the chest, sending him crashing to the ground.
Thoke has lost his spear while dodging Org’s attacks. Terot has spotted it from the hut and throws his chief a new spear. Inside the hut, Thoke sees the frightened children huddling under some pelts.
Thoke runs toward Org, who stands over a nearly knocked out Garnek. With a powerful throw, he sends his spear flying through the air. It seems to be headed for Org's back, but suddenly one of the ravages gets pushed into the spear’s path. The spear hits her in the chest, sending her flying through the air.
Ravages manage to get up onto the platforms. Rhekir drops his bow and pulls out his spear. He fights with all his strength to keep the ravages away from the archers.
Neera and Mekar stand close to him, still firing arrows at their foes. One of the ravages has somehow managed to approach them. Mekar hasn't noticed, Neera realizes. The man sneaks up behind him and raises his dagger. Neera doesn't have time to react but suddenly a spear hits the ravage right in the head, causing him to fall over the palisade to the outside. Mekar jumps as it happens, and then they see his son Serk smiling, having been the one who threw the spear.
Org pulls the spear out of his side and tosses it away. He notices the massive moose head outside the entrance of Thoke's hut. He runs over and puts it over his head. With four straps attached near his neck and down under his armpits, he fastens the head on his own. Then Thoke sees them, the little holes that are carved out of the moose head’s throat. At least he now knows how he sees out of it.
A large circle forms around Org as no one dares to come to close. It seems he's gotten even more bloodthirsty after getting back the head. With long, heavy strides he moves toward the hut where Gerak and Terot stand paralyzed with their spears raised.
Garnek reacts fast and limps his way in front of him. The beast grabs his throat with his left hand and lifts him up high, making Garnek stare right in the moose's black, empty eye sockets.
Garnek pounds away desperately at Org's arm, but the beast doesn't even flinch. With his right hand Org finds his dagger and brings it up. He stabs Garnek in the side of his neck then drops him to the ground.
Renai fights close by. With a dagger in each hand, she sends four villagers to their deaths, using only four slashes to do so. She moves like never before. Her deadly dance seems to have grown even deadlier. She's like a small army all on her own, where she cuts down men twice her size.
Garnek manages to get up to his good knee, holding his hand to his wound. He can’t stop the bleeding as the blood continues to flow between his fingers. His eyes fall on his sister before he falls.
Renai loses her breath as she sees her brother lying bloody on the gro
und. Janeg has seen the same and comes running toward the beast. With a leap, he roars and thrusts his spear toward him. Org simply smacks him out of the air, as if he were some small fly that flew too close.
Gerak and Terot come running over shortly after, both screaming with anger. Even though they attacked at the same time, Org knocks them both over with one sweeping strike of his right hand.
Thoke aims to take advantage of the distraction. He pushes an attacking ravage away before kicking the legs out from under the beast. The ground shakes when Org lands on his back. Thoke jerks a spear out of a nearby corpse, jumps up into the air, and sticks it down through Org's heart as he lands.
With a deep sigh, life flees the giant’s body instantly. Janeg gets back to his feet, feeling unsteady as he rises. He looks around at the carnage that surrounds them.
“Is it really worth all this?” he shouts in the direction of Renai. “Just to get revenge from a poor decision made years ago?”
“You did this to yourselves!” Renai snaps back. “You sent me like a piece of meat to that monster!” Renai hacks down a man that runs by, not realizing it was a fellow ravage.
“You're truly lost, then.” Janeg's last words are low, and Renai probably couldn’t even hear them.
“You still haven't learned anything.” Renai hacks down another ravage then a villager. “One day the monster you call a chief will turn on you, just like the one you gave me to. Dorkas told me about Thoke's true nature. At least I saved the children before it was too late.”
“Dorkas has tricked you, Renai,” Thoke cuts in. “He lies like he always has.”
“It's too late now, anyway.” Renai's words turn too soft for anyone but Thoke to hear.
A tear runs down her cheek. Perhaps she thought this would all make her feel better, maybe take the anger away. She seems more sad than anything else. Her grip around the daggers tighten as the anger rises within her and shows on her face. With a roar, she runs toward Thoke. She throws herself at him screaming, “Die!” as she flies through the air, daggers raised above her head.