Ahoti ran into the hut, commanding in an urgent tone, “Kahira! Go into the underground room quickly! I am going to get your mother so we can join you. But if not, do NOT come out until you are called back out by one of us. NOW!”
He did not give her any time to think! When he pulled the rug away from the opening in the floor, Kahira quickly ran down the little steps. Her father closed the trap door, covering it with the rug. He hurried out into the cool night with his axe, rushing to the lake.
Running towards the beach, Ahoti could see Amatola lying silently on it. Her utensils were tossed around her like a tornado had just dropped them where they lay. Bent, smashed; some so torn apart he could not tell what they had been. In the middle of the disarray lay his precious Amatola.
Ahoti dashed to her, holding her in his arm. Tears began falling from his eyes. A lance had been shoved into her back, through her heart, coming out of her chest. Amatola was covered with multiple slashes. There was blood everywhere.
He closed her rainbow dead eyes, kissing her cold but still soft lips. Ahoti lay Amatola down gently on the blood-soaked beach. He stood with his arms raised in the sky, axe in his hand. He screamed a scream such as had never been heard in the land. His scream was of the pain and grief of losing his other half; of the anger; of the need to avenge this horrible deed unto death, if necessary.
Ahoti turned from Amatola’s lifeless body, his heart torn to shreds. He bolted into the forest to follow the fetid odor that had been so strong around Amatola. He did not have far to go.
He was quickly surrounded by an ambush of six huge ebony warriors on giant black beasts. They dwarfed Ahoti in size; sitting on the beasts made them loom even larger. Each had his own axe, much bigger than Ahoti’s, made of a shiny metal he had never seen.
Ahoti could see he was out-manned and out-numbered but he was past caring. He was filled with battle lust of grief, pain, loss and revenge. He screamed his war cry again, jumping at the closest of the towering beasts. He landed below its chin, holding with one hand to its protruding tusk while he slammed his axe into its neck. Making a strange, shrieking cry, the beast fell dead to the ground.
As the dark warrior riding it was momentarily distracted, Ahoti leapt on the warrior’s back and slit his throat. Black blood drenched both of them as the fighter fell over.
Ahoti vaulted high into the air from the dead beast before the warrior hit the ground, turning in the air to face the remaining five warriors.
He noted one directly next to him on the right. As he dropped, he sliced the warrior’s jugular vein. While life poured out of his neck, Ahoti shoved him off the animal and landed on it.
The enormous beasts made it impossible for anyone on them to get close enough to fight hand-to-hand. But the four remaining warriors crowded Ahoti on his beast into the middle of the pack, closing off any escape!
Chapter 15
One warrior threw his axe, taking Ahoti’s arm, clutching his own axe, completely off just below the elbow. Blood poured from the stump. He was in shock as another enemy grabbed him. He snatched Ahoti onto his own mount, holding him in place.
The other cave dwellers towed their animals back enough to release the frightened beast Ahoti had vacated. It pushed its way through them, running into the forest. A few of the men, wild now with blood lust, pulled Ahoti down from his captor.
Dragging him by his braid, they tied him to a tree. Ahoti swam from consciousness to unconsciousness as he lost blood. He could tell from their insistent signing to him that they were in search of someone or something.
Ahoti realized with dread they wanted to know where Kahira was. With Amatola dead and the undeniable knowledge that he, too, would soon perish, there was no way they would make him tell them where his daughter was.
The fierce warriors tortured him ruthlessly with their axes, knives, sharp claw-like nails and other tools. They tore pieces of flesh from his body, peeled his skin off in places. They sliced his arms, legs and anywhere they knew would cause pain through tendon and bone.
They built a fire and then burned Ahoti all over his body, places that would not kill him but were brutally painful. One assailant put a blazing stick through each of his eyes!
Screaming, Ahoti passed out. Too soon, he awoke again, blinded and in unbearable agony. Ahoti was slipping away. He knew there was not much time before he died. He would soon be with his beloved Amatola.
He prayed to Edla for strength; for her to watch over Kahira after he was gone. The cave dwellers continued, demanding to know where the child was. But Ahoti refused to give any indication that he knew or understood what they wanted.
Even though the warriors had done their best to cause Ahoti the most severe pains imaginable, they had not broken him. They had not won. Angrily, they cut him from the tree. He fell to the ground hard on his face.
One of the brutes stood over him and swung his axe, sticking it deep into Ahoti’s back between his shoulder blades. The rest of his life gushed out of that fatal wound, spilling his life’s blood everywhere.
Ahoti could not be hurt any more. He had given his life protecting Kahira, displaying bravery and resilience such as a true hero and a loving, protective father would. It was the last thing Ahoti could do for her.
Kahira sat frightened in the corner of the lower room. She pulled a blanket over herself, covering it with different things stored in the room. Her axe was in her hand. She heard sounds of what was happening drifting in the air through the kitchen windows above.
It was faint but she heard her father as he screamed his pain into the night. Kahira knew her mother was dead. She didn’t know exactly what had become of Ahoti as he never came back, so she waited down in the storage room as he told her to do.
The four remaining cave dwellers walked to the hut. Using their bloodied axes to break through the front door, they all entered. Kahira was terrified. In all her life, she’d never known real danger. But she could sense the ill will of these men.
She clasped her weapon to her chest and held her breath, wondering if they would find her! Kahira listened to the men stomping around, breaking things. For a brief instant she caught a glimpse of their blackness through the floorboards.
When they left, Kahira stayed down in the lower room, falling asleep in the corner under the blanket, still gripping the handle of her axe.
As Sula peeked over the mountains, Kahira awoke. She came out from under the blanket. She listened cautiously for sounds of movement but heard only calm silence. The atmosphere even smelled as it should. Kahira went up, opening the trap door, pushing the rug aside to step into the room.
What she saw was chaos. The hut’s rooms had been devastated. All furniture was broken apart. Mattresses were slashed open, grasses pulled out and strewn all over the floors. Anything of worth was gone.
Kahira shuddered as she looked upon the destruction of her home. With tears streaming down her face, she turned, stepping over the door into the sunshine. She walked slowly to the beach. Kahira saw her mother lying on the sand.
She stood over her mother as tears continuously streamed down her face. Kahira would never laugh with her mother again, never know the comfort of her love again, never bask in her gentle spirit again.
With heart breaking, she turned, following the path of her father’s footprints. Kahira found Ahoti lying in the leaves on the path, the large metal axe protruding from his back. She bent down, pulled it quickly out then turned him over.
Kahira screamed as never before, letting pain and grief loose as she peered upon his hollowed eyes and painful expression! They had burned out his eyes! She could never look into those beautiful, intelligent, loving eyes again!
They had cut off his arm! Never again would she feel his loving embraces. Kahira staggered back to the hut. She dropped the axe on the ground. Going inside, she brought out a broom they had made together, with some rope.
Returning to Ahoti, she stood for a long time over him. The horror of it all sent her into severe shock. Dazedly
picking up her father’s axe, she began cutting branches from trees.
She made them into a small tepee, working almost mechanically. She tied the ends of the top branches together, cutting them until they were even.
She dully searched until she found what she was needed. Kahira stopped at a fairly large tree. She went around the tree, cutting a long piece of bark from top to bottom, as she had often seen her father do.
When the bark was freed from the tree, Kahira approached the tepee. She placed the flat piece of wood across the top of the tepee, binding it there with the end of the rope. She turned, shuffling back to her mother.
Amatola was still lovely but covered with blood and gore like her father. Kahira pulled the spear from her mother’s back, dropping it to the ground. Putting her arms under Amatola’s, she dragged her to lie beside Ahoti.
She went back to the beach to get the spear, setting it down beside the large axe. Going into the hut once more, Kahira got the fire starter. She moved around, picking up dead grasses until she could hold no more.
Taking the grasses, she put them on the ground under the inside of the tepee. Picking her father up, barely able to hold his weight, Kahira laid Ahoti’s body on the bark, placing his arm and his axe beside him. She then picked up her much lighter mother, gently laying Amatola in Ahoti’s arms.
Kahira set the dry grasses on fire, watching them catch with glazed eyes. The flames blazed as the wooden tepee was devoured. The bark her parents laid on began to smoke and burn, growing into a huge fire of its own, burning her parents into ashes. She sat there through the night until the flames were entirely out, and the embers and ashes cooled. Memories of her parents ran through her mind all night long.
There was no trace of Ahoti or Amatola left. Their spirits had gone to the two moons; their ashes were now spread over Edla.
Kahira returned home in silence, traumatized. She was desolate without her parents, so totally alone. Never in her life had she met another humanoid. In her grief, she laid on her bedroom floor, crying herself to sleep. Oh, how she missed her parents!
Chapter 16
Overwhelming grief held Kahira for almost a month. She had wood in the basement for the fire; winter began shortly after her parents were killed. She put together a wooden pallet with more grasses on top of it, keeping her a bit off the cold floor.
She covered it with warm blankets for comfort. Kahira blanketed off the two small rooms, closing the windows off tight, so the heat remained in the main room. She mostly laid on the pallet, watching the flames, remembering her parents, crying in her mourning.
There was plenty to eat because Kahira was never really hungry. She did not eat much that winter. There was water from either breaking ice in the lake to melt by the fire or just sucking on snow or icicles that hung from the hut.
Her seventeenth birthday came as did spring shortly afterward. Kahira decided it was time to move on. When the flowers blossomed, she up-rooted some of them and replanted them in a bunch where her parents’ tepee had been.
As she stood there, Kahira heard a sound she’d never heard before. Looking around, she feared the black warriors had returned. The scent in the air reminded her of the scent they had left behind.
Wandering around in the trees and bushes, she found what she had sensed. One of the warriors’ huge dark beasts, the one Ahoti had been captured on, was in a group of bushes.
Even though it was not cold, the terrifying beast shivered. She crept up to it with her hand out, talking in a low, quiet, comforting voice, realizing it could tear her to pieces or stomp her to death in an instant.
To her surprise, the beast stood still as Kahira slowly put her hand between its eyes and ever-so-gently petting down to the end of its nose, feeling it tremor from her gentle touch.
When she touched its head, her mind seemed to shimmer in and shimmer out again. It did not hurt; the feeling just surprised her as she had never before felt it.
Kahira looked deep into the beast’s large, black eyes, realizing she could mind-talk with it! It understood her; she understood it! Its mind was not dark or evil! It was kindly gentle, nothing like what one would think due to its frightening appearance.
“Who are you? Where do you come from?” Kahira asked.
“I am Tanka. My parents were captives of the cave dwellers so I was born in captivity. I have never been on top of Edla before; only underneath her. I am just one year old; although to you I have such a tremendous girth, I am still a foal, frightened and confused.” Tanka continued, “The dark warriors left me behind when they returned to their caves. I am lost, lonely and frightened. I’ve never been alone before.”
“I am Kahira. I am also young, alone, lost and lonely. You will come with me, my friend. We will grow, learning about life together.”
“Thank you for this. I will protect you so you will not have to be afraid. Neither of us will be lonely any longer.” She could feel warmth exuding from him.
Three weeks into spring, they were finally ready. Kahira and Tanka had become close friends. Unlike his outside appearance, Tanka was kind, considerate, thoughtful; smart for a foal. He gave himself to her, loving her as his partner.
Chapter 17
Kahira took the floor boards out of the hut’s three rooms. She made a cart using vine ropes. The cart was flat with three sides about an arm’s length high. A top made straight up curved into itself on two sides from young, flexible branches. Sewing many large pelts together, she made a canvas-type top on the cart.
On the bottom against one side, Kahira made a shelf with the front tight against it, looking like a small trough. There she put her herbs, jerky, several more ropes she made, with everything from the store room.
On the other side of the cart, using ropes, Kahira tied the weapons along with the large spear (after she had cleansed the blood off the spear and axe). She had a large water-pouch sitting in the corner by the cart’s back.
Kahira made a small mattress using pieces of the other two mattresses which had been torn apart in the hut. She filled it with clean, new grasses, setting it up against the hole in front of the cart canvas. There was a large flap that could be closed, tied down, in case of rain or cold weather. A board sat in front of the opening with a smaller mattress on it for her to sit on, guiding the cart when they left.
Kahira practiced long hours using the new metal axe until she could throw it accurately every time. It had been heavy when she started practicing but now it felt good, right in her hand. She made a side belt loop. The axe handle slid smoothly into the loop, leaving her two open hands but still being close enough to pull quickly if she needed to.
When everything was taken out of the hut that she wanted to keep, she set it on fire. Kahira slept on her mattress in the cart, staying until the fire was spent. Looping ropes around him that she made so Tanka could pull the cart, then attaching the other ends to the wagon, she kept only two ropes unstrapped which she held loosely in her hands.
Kahira and Tanka mind-talked about where they would go. “Tanka, have you ever seen the lands to the north?”
“No. No mention was ever made of them in the underground caves.”
“I don’t want to go back, since my parents left there for their own path. I surely don’t want to go west where cave dwellers are. So we will go north to see what there is to see.” With that, they were ready to move forward in life.
North meant going through their forest. Sula had just crested the mountains as they began their journey. Forest smells surrounded them. Kahira inhaled as much as she could. She loved the pine smell with the scent of all of the forest flowers.
Although there was no road, the way they went seemed large enough for them to move in a fairly straight northern line. There was no hurry so they ambled along, taking in the lush greenness with scents of the forest until the day was almost gone.
Noticing that the trees had begun to thin out, Kahira decided it was time to stop for the night. Taking bread and meat from the cart, she sat on a
dead log. She ate, first taking meat for herself then feeding some to Tanka, looking at their surroundings. While Tanka finished his meal with some grasses, Kahira got some berries out for dessert.
As twilight fell, a strange green mist soon filled the little hollow where they camped. “Tanka, Do you know what this thick air is?”
“I am only a foal, Kahira. There are many things I don’t know about yet. We will just have to learn about them together. But no, I have never seen this thick, green air before.”
“Safe night, Tanka. Wake me up if anything strange happens.” Kahira had decided she would go to bed, rising early so they could leave the area. Kahira climbed into the cart, pulling the flap down. She fastened it, getting ready for bed. As soon as she lay down, she was fast asleep, tired from the long first day of their journey.
Early the next morning, Kahira dressed. She brought out some berries with bread to eat for breakfast. She opened the flap, noticing the green mist was still there but had lightened considerably. It was much easier to breathe.
Tanka already had his breakfast while she slept. She attached the wagon to him, saying, “Tanka, please walk slowly as I want to keep watch for danger.” He began plodding toward the area where the trees were still growing yet further apart. They could see the green mist floating there.
When Tanka pulled into where the green mist was thicker, Kahira noticed a lake of ugly, dank, dark water that smelled horribly. It was stagnant with green, slimy mold across the top. The few trees were unhealthy with long ropes of green slime dripping from their branches. Some trees were barren of leaves and life, although a few still clung tenaciously.
It was very eerie here. She could hear strange slithering noises, small splashes of water in the lake with rustling sounds coming from somewhere. No sunlight pierced through the green haze growing from the water or from the ground around it.
Every part of Kahira felt troubled, her mind shouting danger to her. She spoke quietly to Tanka. “Do you see anything here, Tanka? I sense danger but I see nothing dangerous.”