by Joe Darris
Urea and Kao walked on for a while in silence, making a slow loop around the Spire. The stump of the thing still towered above the village, a hundred feet tall and wider than that at the base. The top had started to grow its own set of anarchic spikes, “crystalline tree branch fractals” Zetis would call them with a laugh. He was supposed to come to, but Urea doubted he'd make it. He had become the ghost of the Spire. He spent all of his time where the casino they had all lived in for so long had fallen, at the foot of Father Mountain.
Urea had protested that they had everything the needed right here in the Garden, and that there were more important uses of the VRCs, but Wyla had agreed with him, and began delivering her scavenged VRCs, or Stones as she called them, directly to him.
Urea and Kao crested a hill and walked down to the banks of the South, it ran fat with water from Father Mountain's snow melt. How many of their words will we use? Urea wondered. They had already taken to calling the howluchins howlers, the biselk prongelk, the vultus kingcrows, only the Spire's word for Shadow, panthera, had stuck.
“Where will you go?” She asked the hunter.
He shrugged, then looked to Father Mountain.
Urea nodded. She knew of the cave that held generations of paintings, the stories of Kao's people all the way back to beginning. She supposed he had more in common with Zetis than herself, leaving the present for the past and the future.
“You'll always be welcome here Kao,” Jacob's voice rung out from the back of his prongbuck.
Jacob dismounted and another, younger pilot climbed down off of the prongbuck too. He carried a folded black bundle beneath a rack of prongs in his hands. The sly devil actually got one.
Wyla and Phoebe crested the hill behind them with a gaggle of young children behind her, the oldest among them only five or six summers. Phoebe had a way with the youngest, thank Nature. Without her...
The thought evaporated when Urea saw Zetis come up behind them, holding his own little bundle. What's this? Urea had arranged the surprise farewell, but she hadn't asked anyone but Jacob to bring a gift, and she hadn't even expected that to happen.
“Kao are you really leaving?” Phoebe asked.
“He must, someone must keep our people's ways,” Wyla said.
Kao nodded. Urea could see he was thankful Wyla was so gifted with words. “We made gifts,” Wyla said, “Where them?”
Kao nodded indulgently as the horde of children climbed all over him and tied grass braids into his thick hair. He bowed in front of Wyla and she crowned him with a wreath of flowers. Urea wondered if he blushed under all that hair.
“Visit?”
Kao nodded again but Urea couldn't tell if his tears meant he was telling the truth or a lie.
“I got something for you too big guy.” Zetis stepped sheepishly forward, all his confidence and bluster gone in the presence of what they had once called a god. He placed a VRC in Kao's hand, but it glowed blue instead of red.
“I made some modifications. If you ever need us, just put this thing in a fire. It'll turn red and we'll know, OK? There's some other stuff too, but remember, its up here right?” Zetis tapped on his own head and Kao nodded. Urea couldn't be sure what he thought of the gift.
A shadow blocked the sun and Urea shrieked in excitement.
“Skup!” she ran towards the kingcrow but stopped short when Elia got off.
“He couldn't come... One-eye and Kao...
Kao laughed at that. Still scared? Urea could almost hear him say.
“He could've rode with you.” Urea said too angrily. She hadn't seen Skup in a month, but this wasn't about him. If Kao didn't care then why should she?
“Kao, this is Abraham, he has something for you... go ahead Abraham.”
Abraham was thin and and as pale as Urea, with a big black shock of curly hair on his head. He approached Kao with the big black bundle in his arms, a small set of prongs protruded from the pile, but they were still almost as tall as the boy.
“My elk got sick, and... we had to... Jacob said... here!” He shoved the bundle into Kao's hands.
It unfurled and Kao saw it for what it was, the skull helm and leather of prongbuck. This was one was much finer than the tattered shroud that had brought down the Spire. Two spiral horns framed the skull face and the prongs rose flawlessly above and behind them without a knob or broken point in the set. The leather sparkled iridescent shades of black like everything from the Garden. Kao donned the skull helmet and was pleased to feel the prongbuck's furry shoulders settle upon his own, the rest of the leather fell around him and cloaked him in the ghost of the beast.
He smiled at the boy.
“We couldn't let it go to waste.”
Kao nodded his thanks to Jacob, then turned to the gathering of loved ones before him. He took a deep breathe, and cleared his throat. The hunter is going to make a speech?
He caught Urea's look and laughed with his eyes. He said no words, instead, he smiled at them all with love in his eyes and too many sharp teeth. He smiled at the only family he had in the world, then turned his back on them, and went into the wilderness.
###
Thanks for reading! If your belly is full and you liked the meal please write a review at your favorite publisher’s website! If you hunger for more check out www.joedarris.com for the lastest news on the Wild Lands saga.Thanks again, and happy hunting.
Joe Darris
Acknowledgements
I never could have done this without the support of my friends and family. I especially must thank Srijan, my first reader and editor. That day at Barton Springs changed my life. Thanks to Tam, Mitch and Organ, you guys gave me the confidence to write another one. Thanks Robyn for telling me to go for it. Thanks to my mom for reading the first chapters too many times and to my dad for tirelessly editing the final draft. Heather, the cover you designed is better than anything I ever could have hoped for. Thanks for reading in the wilderness. Most of all I have to thank my darling wife Raquel. I never could have done this without you. Thanks for letting me write while you cooked dinner, thanks for letting me read over your shoulder while you read countless rough drafts. I love you babe.
About the Author
Joe Darris lives in Austin, Texas with his darling wife, two cats, a dog, eight chickens, a snake and a couple of hermit crabs. He loves Sasquatch, tromping through the wild, running in the city, fresh eggs and roast chickens. You might see him pilfering book stores or competing in beard contests.
He is currently revising the sequel to Legend of the Wild Man, writing a collection of short stories, and working on Twine games. You can read his work or contact him online at:
www.joedarris.com
twitter.com/joedarris
facebook.com/wildmannovel