Sachihiro

‘’How have you been doing with everything going on?’’ I ask passing Iki the pipe.

‘’Alright, its been a lot more interesting than staying at home actually.’’ She says taking a pull looking up into the dark sky. ‘’It’s only sad about Hannah, I couldn’t even fight for her...’’

I shrug accepting those words as well, there really wasn’t even a monster for me to face, she was just gone. ‘’Yea I know what you mean.’’

‘’I keep expecting to see her around you know, like I know she’s dead but its like I keep forgetting and expect her to skip up to me and start saying something random.’’

I swallow at the word, ‘dead’ she called her ‘dead’. I have never been able to even think the word and its a spike to my heart as though the word makes it realer, more permanent somehow.

‘’How have your gains been since the incident?’’ I change the subject. She slowly blows out a cloud of smoke thinking face on leisurely sitting on the branch with the one leg hanging down.

‘’I’m still cataloguing my gains,’’ she says carefully and I grin.

‘’You’re wondering whether or not to tell me about your early realisations or surprise me the next time we spar,’’ I say amused at her reticence.

‘’Yes, aunt Anastasia taught me to keep my opponents guessing.’’

I smirk, ‘’think you could beat me yet?’’

She takes her time to respond, tilting her head as though she is imagining the fight and she smiles.

‘’Yes, as you are now and as I am now in a purely physical fight I beat you 8 times out of 10.’’

I giggle happily, the cheek on this girl is on another level. Thinking she could beat her da in a sword fight, I watch her with the enhanced focus of my awareness. She passes the pipe back to me I grab it with my right hand lying on my own branch facing the sky. I take a pull, enjoy it, then jump down from the tree now that I’ve calmed down enough to do the ceremony.

‘’I better get myself at 100% capacity then,’’ I say dusting my back.

‘’What you gonna do?’’ she asks from her vantage point on the tree.

‘’Watch and see,’’ I say walking a-ways to an area with enough space for my movement needs.

*

Ikigai

Da walks up to an open area and starts drawing shapes in the sand with his sword, I’m too far to see the exact details but judging by the frown of concentration of his forehead he is using more than just the tip of his sword. I readjust until I’m sitting upright on the branch and watch him carefully using mana-sight but there is nothing magical to what he is doing, at least as far as I can tell. Ma’Mira comes just below my vantage point and looks at what da is doing then mumbles something under her breath.

‘’What’s he doing?’’ I ask, she seems to know.

‘’Looks like his summoning ritual, you know your da is pretty versatile with his little sorcery.’’ She says unsheathing her katana and sitting down under the tree with the bared blade on her lap closing her eyes.

Nikita comes by leaving her shadow Saya’s mate behind, she looks at da’s squiggles grins to herself then runs off to the main camp. I wonder what that is about. Da finishes his circle with other geometric patterns in the middle and sits crossed legged in the middle but again mana sight tells me nothing new.

Grandda comes in form the north side of the outer perimeter and stops to look at his son oddly, I grin at him and wave him towards me. Niki comes back with Max, Michael, John and Ma’Ingwe, Zhen and Sway are not far behind.

‘’What’s going on,’’ grandda asks and I point to da.

‘’He’s doing a summoning ritual,’’ I say knowingly.

‘’Finally, he hasn’t been complete in too many years now.’’ Grandma Divina says from somewhere.

‘’Who’s guarding the other perimeters?’’ grandpa asks seeing everyone around.

‘’Ava, Cyrus, Cicilia on the outer and Gaia, Dewan and Sema the camp proper. Who relieved you of your post?’’ Michael responds causing silence to fall over everyone, I’ve actually haven’t heard anyone besides da or Zhen or grandma challenge grandda Damage when it comes to anything concerning security. He himself seems slightly taken aback.

‘’Thandeka replaced me,’’ he says with a strange look on his face before exchanging another look with grandma.

Mirabilis, Soal, Lavender and Shravanthi are out there trying to find sources of food or a way off the isle and mapping it out as best they can. All we can really do now is mostly wait, hunker down and wait around which can get boring fast, hence the smoking with da and now him being a source of entertainment.

‘’What’s the big deal about da's summoning thing?’’ I send whisper to grandma, she knows these things best.

More people come but I ignore them as grandma tells me to use my spirit-sense. I close my eyes and concentrate for a few minutes, then I pull a spirit protecting talisman from my ring and place it around my neck before opening my spirit senses towards da’s general vicinity.

I’ve never been really good at using spirit, its always been an elusive force to me. Directing it to do anything specific has always been beyond me, unlike da and Uncle Daewon who I’m told are protégés when it comes to wielding the stuff. I just gather the little I can hold on to and sort of hurl it towards da and let it ‘taste’ the surroundings. That’s my spirit sense and I’m nearly overwhelmed by everything it picks up.

My senses are overwhelmed, the drawings on the sand bright with spiritual energy, da himself shinning like a beacon then my energy dissipates and I’m left with internal spirit energy I can’t manipulate. I look around, yet I’m not the only one that can’t keep up with what’s going on spirit wise so I just pay close attention to what I can keep track of.

Da gets up sheaths Razor on his hip and he starts moving around erratically, then his erratic movements find cohesion and he starts flowing smoothly within the circle he’s drawn. Da once told me he sacrificed all his spiritual powers but since then it has regrown and surpassed my own but apparently he is still not where he used to be, or at least what it could be. He dances around the circle elegantly like some unseen force is pushing him along, sometimes he moves in beautiful stumbling staccato’s, sometimes in a single seamless movement that takes him from one side of the circle to the other.

I bet there are interesting things happening to the spiritual energies with how Aurora is gawking and grandma is squinting.

He finishes the dancing with a flourish, posing dramatically in the middle of the circle then he grins then frowns then disappears in a burst of spirit even I can feel.

...

....

‘’Ahh... was that supposed to happen?’’ I ask no one in particular.

...

Grandma runs towards the camp and I follow, she grabs Katya and they send rapidly to each other. Katya’s thigh lights up then separates from the rest of her body as she screams and falls. Grandma catches her but the separated leg erupts in orange golden flames, something screeches horribly before the leg ups and disappears without completely burning up.

...

‘’What the fuck is going on?’’ Ma’Mira with naked blade in hand asks having followed us instead of the others that rushed to where da's ciclre was.

‘’Sachi, he’s been taken.’’ Grandma says visibly aging as I watch her.

‘’Taken, taken by whom?’’ Ma’Kuyoki asks reaching us.

Grandma looks at the now trembling slave with the open leg wound that isn’t bleeding as it should. She responds to the silent prompting, ‘’the master has been taken by the gods,’’ Katya says then passes out.

...

‘’What the fuck does that even mean!’’ Ma’Mira exclaims and I’m just as confused as she is.

*

Solomzi

‘’So we swindle down the snake hole-‘’

‘’Why do you even listen to him Qhawe? We all know Solomzi is a liar, ‘great treasure’ he said. We will find great treasure inside that fortress the strangers build eMu’zim’khulu, where is that treasure mhmm?’’ Ekhaya interrupts my telling as he walks in.

He swaggers into the large kraal with his sycophants already talking shit loud enough to be heard by many, I turn my back to him facing Qawe properly. ‘’It was dark of course and I had to use a spear for-‘’

‘’We even let him keep the children to himself though I admit they probably wouldn’t sell for much in this market with so many pale slaves. Hey Solomzi, don’t you want to know how the cunt of that white witch tastes? She can turn into a man you know, scared poor Fefe here half to death when it happened. He stabbed her right in the cock in fright-‘’

‘’Shut your mouth!’’ I hiss my hand on my waist clutching a dagger, but I quickly bring my hand away when I notice the many eyes on me.

‘’You could not possibly feel any sympathy for the strangers. Surely you want your sister back from these unclean things as soon as possible no?’’

‘’You know nothing of me!’’ I say impotently standing and storming out of there quickly.

‘’Having been a slave of these pale skinned strangers I assumed he would have wanted to kill them more than most, did I say something wrong?’’ I hear Ekhaya’s mocking voice and the giggling people as I flee away in angry shame.

I pass the village huts quickly not paying any attention to those I pass by. I reach the Long Grass with a signal to Imba I run quickly home. Having phased into the grass I am as a rustle of the reeds in a hot day bending to the wind, my lion isn’t much easier to spot either but he moves much faster. His coat makes him impossible for any human to spot in his natural habitat but with our bond, I always know where Imba is.

We go far from the villages, once I’ve passed the usual hunting grounds where anyone could see me I sacrifice stealth for speed as my destination is far. The sun reflects warmly on the tall grasses of my homeland, Imba discourages any of the wild big cats from thinking of me as prey, a red twilight takes up my attention.

I reach my ancestral lands soon enough and walk up to the hill to survey all the wealth that I have accumulated for myself and the family through the years. The herd is extensive, stretching out and moving in clumps following the bulls, the bison graze the golden grass all around them happily. Even this, herding and gathering these bison like this was Sachihiro’s idea. Something he told me was done to a small scale by the ones called fae of his homeland. I spot Uncle Wele's boys in the grass watching the herd but they don't see me, still in their teens, inexperienced.

This form of hunting benefits all the Alderman people, yet we still betray his people, I betray his people.

I make my way around and between the herds having phased back into the grass I make my way deeper into my ancestral lands leaving behind Imba who is helping himself to a convenient meal.

Its 2 hours later after making sure I left no trail that I shamble into the hill through the hole of a paca and the warm darkness within. I keep alert for pythons but soon enough there is a turn I take, I crawl on hands and knees a while before the tunnel extends and I jump down onto a stone floor. I whistle and wait spear held ready before me as dark as it is down here I could die before I knew it.

‘’Solomzi, what news of my family?’’ a voice in the darkness asks hoarsely. The rattling of a snakes’ tail has me stepping back sweeping my spear all around the floor.

‘’They are in the slave pens, in separate slave pens. I would never be able reach them and live.’’ I say, my heart pounding in my chest.

‘’You will reach them or little Anga here will have a very bad night,’’ the voice says from the darkness.

‘’Dishna, it does not have to be this way. I would help you if I could without these threats and hostages. Let my Anga and his mother go and I promise I will do all in my power to get you and your siblings out of the Foothills.’’

‘’You will free everyone from the slave pens no matter what it takes that includes spending your life dear ‘uncle’.’’

‘’I do not believe you would hurt my child, you were not raised to be so heartless.’’

‘’I warn you against testing my resolve,’’ she hisses but I take a few cautionary steps forward. [Zoom] A slash [dam] a thump [heeeeee] a screech follow each other, the last echoing loudly before stilling again quickly.

‘’Nwabisa!’’ I rush forward but something impacts against my chest sending me tumbling to the floor.

Something soft falls on me, quickly I scramble away from it grabbing for my spear. I pause, worry, and dread coiling up my throat as I slowly reach for the soft thing. I touch it, then more insistently then more frantically as I feel what it is. ‘’You bitch! I have your little brothers and sisters, they are whole now but wait until I get back and start cutting pieces off them!’’

‘’Then you would die along with your favourite son and his mother, do not forget that without a frequent dose of the antidote you will die in a very unpleasant manner. Now what of my uncle, Brian and my cousin Eldritch?’’

I sneer tucking the severed arm against my chest, ‘’all the men were killed didn’t I tell you? Your uncle was fed to the hunting pride, your cousin was stabbed numerous times then burnt alive. The one you call Asger, remember him? His wife’s family cut off his cock and fed it to him, the half-blood children are adopted into the family of course. I’m sure Elder Sodondile will find a use especially for the girl children.’’ I spit out my words scathingly as I retreat.

‘’The older women are kept in the slave pens, beaten and raped until they are compliant. The young ones are claimed by the favoured hunters, not a much better fate. I could do the same to the little ones under my care, make them regret ever being born into your family, make them curse their ancestry!’’

My back bumps against the wall, its quiet, too quiet. I gulp, fear threatening to unman me, did I say too much, did I let anger lead to my death?

‘’We both know you fear death too much to follow through with your threats. If my family isn’t released and here in a ten-day then I will kill your youngest wife, your favourite son and let that venom ravage through you. I can promise you your name will become a cautionary tale on betrayal by all that witness your suffering before death.’’

I fume, feeling the burn in my blood from the venom once was enough for me to not test her threat further. Does this girl even know what she is asking of me?

‘’I cannot claim your family, claiming all the children as reparations for my sister was already pushing it in the opinions of many and if I try to get the older women as well they will suspect my duplicity. They’d kill me and my whole household, lest you forget that includes your siblings in my care.’’ I say trying to be reasonable.

‘’If you cannot claim them you will break them out, either way I want them released. You have a ten-day, I suggest you stop wasting both our time.’’

‘’Were will you go? All the land outside the Foothills is changed, a lot of it empty and dead. Your father is dead, your conclave and conclave compound has crumbled you only have me and my generosity!’’

‘’Ten days!’’ she hisses and I feel the forked tongue of her pet snake lather my nose. Flinching back I ward it off with limb and spear, it makes it eyes visible in the dark by blinking a membrane across them.

I scramble up into the hole and am quickly crawling back outside into fresh air. It's getting dark out, I take a breath. That bitch is completely insane! I look at the delicate female arm in my hand, grabbing the vial attached to the wrist I throw the rest into the grass. I drink, the cold aspect of death recedes slightly but I can still feel it isn’t completely gone. ‘’Fuck!’’

Stubborn bitch, everything outside the Hills really s gone. Its like the ground flipped itself over burring everything that was on top at the bottom over night. Trees, shrubs,, grass, hills, rocks all gone. The land completely fattened in all directions to the horizon in every direction. A pair of trail runners reported a forested area claimed by something standing 2 days out of the Foothills, but there never used to be a forest there so another team was sent to confirm.

Everything has changed, and with all our neighbours gone and the conclave headquarters in ruin taking their embassy and the town was done quickly. The elders think with the changing of the world everyone out there is dead and no one will come to avenge these people we had welcomed into our lands, I know better though. These pale strangers from the north are vengeful, and they will eventually come for us. The others should know to be scared due to how many hunters it took to subdue even the women. Ahh Sachi my friend, what have we done to your people?

‘’Fuck!’’ I yell again to the cold wind building with the fading of the sun. No one gave me much of a choice to begin with but I am definitely fucked either way, ahh Ingwe. What would you think of your big brother now? I sigh and run back towards home.