It made some type of delightful trilling noise. Kahira shook her head, showing she did not speak the language. She continued walking cautiously toward the delightful being. When Kahira was in front of it, she gently grasped its “hand”. Closing her eyes, the familiar feeling wrapped itself around her brain, letting the language in.
Then Kahira smiled, dipped her head once. “I am Kahira. These are my friends, Tanka and Pheta. We are wanderers who have traveled a long way from where we started.”
“I am Willow. I feel no evil in you. You are welcome to our humble village. We seldom have strangers pass through here.”
It is a day we will celebrate with a banquet to celebrate and welcome you.” Willow turned toward the pod huts, trilling again. Suddenly, all the doors swung open! Others came out of the huts. An exquisite sound arose as they got the feast ready, trilling greetings, talking to each other.
They worked on the feast, making a fire in the pit and keeping the young ones safely away from it. The trio went back to the pond. They found a place to camp at the edge of the forest by the pond. Kahira set up the hut as Pheta flew up, landing on a large branch to settle. She watched what was going on curiously. Tanka went into the forest to catch his own meal. He ate early.
As Sula lowered, the twin moons rose gently from the other side. Willow trilled, telling them the feast was ready. They were very excited as they had never been to a feast! She sat on a log near the fire with Tanka lazing on the ground beside her and Pheta watching it all from under a tree close by. It was by far the most awe-inspiring thing Kahira had ever seen.
The drinks were simply clear, cold water from the lake, sweetened with dew drops that were collected every morning by the young ones for that purpose. The meal was amazingly arranged, salad-like but full of flower petals from all the different forest flowers.
Its flowery fragrance was intoxicating! There were seeds in the salad, too. The taste wrapped itself around Kahira’s taste buds, bursting into hundreds of delightful flavors. At last, everyone was full!
After the meal, several sweet creatures came together beside the fire. They began to trill music like Kahira had never heard! It slid into her ears and misted around her head.
Stimulated by it beyond comprehension, Kahira began to waver and move to the trills of the music. Some others began a sensual dance, bending, seeming to glide around each other.
Leaves, flowers, vines swayed in the breeze with the dance. It was a magical blessing to Edla for the wonders that made up these special plant creatures. Suddenly, Kahira felt something was wrong. She opened her eyes, looking to where the dance was being performed.
Willow was standing perfectly still, immobilized in terror of what was in front of her!
Chapter 27
Unlike the forest and plains dwellers, which were good hearted peoples, cave dwellers were a malicious tribe. They lived far from the other tribes in deep caves with meandering tunnels taking them from one to another. Their tunnels also took them underneath Edla to more cavernous homes.
They were nocturnal; Sula’s rays hurt their eyes. Cave dwellers were a tall race of warriors with obsidian skin covered in large, shimmering black scales. They had two long, dark red horns growing from upper foreheads and curling back to a sharp point. Each black nose had four breathing holes.
Large ears grew on each side of the face with sharply pointed lobes. Long black faces ended in pointed chins with maroon, pointy beards. Eyes and tails were maroon. Tails split into three long, pronged spikes, each having a life of its own. The cave dwellers were extremely handsome but their faces foretold of the inherent evil running in their veins.
Birth tattoos of reddish orange flames shot up a leg and across the backs. Battle images with strange, frightening animals appeared on each side of the flame designs.
A huge black beast galloped out of the forest on the other side of the feasting ground! The dark warrior riding it reached down as the beast jumped the fire pit, grabbing a long branch of burning wood!
The beast ran straight at Willow who was unable to move out of its way. As it passed her, its rider touched the fire branch to her body. She instantly caught fire! The trill that rose from her was one so painful that Kahira knew she would never forget that sound.
Not slowing down, the beast bellowed! It moved through the cluster of frightened plant beings while the warrior continued his raze of their bodies in fire. One after another they trilled their last painful trills, falling to the ground in flames.
When they were all dead, the beast trampled every pod hut in the village while the warrior set each on fire before moving to the next. Nothing in the village remained. Nobody was alive. It was over in a matter of moments.
It happened so swiftly that Kahira had no time to do anything! Tanka, hearing the loud roar of the beast just like himself, ran at it, bellowing his own huge roar.
The warrior jumped from his mount’s back. As the two beasts began to battle, he ran directly at Kahira and grabbed her around the waist! At the touch of his hand, Kahira had the familiar feeling. She knew his language!
“What in the blue moons are you DOING!” she screamed at him. “Why would you do that to those special beings? How COULD you!”
The cave dweller never answered. Instead, he picked her up like she was a rag doll, sprinting back into the forest where he had emerged. Kahira tried to fight him but the way he held her made it impossible. She could not do him any damage. She did not have her weapons. All she could do was kick and use her elbows to jab him in his ribs which did not seem to faze him at all.
She was furious! Kahira could not see why anyone would destroy a village full of those vibrant creatures. It was such a waste of LIFE! As she struggled ineffectually, tears streamed down her face.
The evil predator set her down, reaching for a long, odd-shaped sheath. Bringing his hand back up, she could see he held a strange looking weapon. It had a long, slender, black marble handle with a big crimson ruby perched on its top.
Looking straight at Kahira, he mumbled some strange words, pointing the ruby stick at her. From the ruby, she watched a bolt of lightning come straight at her!
Kahira ducked as the lightning bolt sizzled past her, barely across her left ear, cutting the flesh in half. Blood began to run in a thin line down the side of her face and neck. As she watched, the assailant again pointed the weapon at her!
She ran like the wind deeper into the forest. Kahira heard the bolt sizzling towards her! When she turned toward it, it hit her right in the middle of the forehead! The bolt’s strong force literally picked her completely up off the ground! She was thrown ten feet through the air, striking the trunk of a grizzled old tree and she slid to the ground!
Chapter 28
For a few seconds, she was unconscious; Kahira reached up to touch her forehead where the bolt had stricken her. She could feel something there. Although her entire body buzzed with the bolt’s electric shock, she wasn’t hurt!
The warrior watched the lightning bolt hit Kahira, throwing her completely off her feet into a tree ten feet away from her! He saw her rise to weave a bit on wobbly legs, using the tree to hold her up. “Why aren’t you dead? You should have been killed by the blast of that lightning bolt’s electricity!”
Angrily, he strode rapidly across the forest floor until he stood in front of her. “You WILL die this time, woman!” he screamed. Furiously, he again began his chant, pointing the weapon; this time directly at her heart! Kahira did not know why this cave dweller wanted her dead!
Without weapons or assistance, not even knowing if Pheta was safe or Tanka was dead, she was not thinking clearly. As the weapon was pointed a third time at her, this time at her heart, she felt panic and fear of death.
Not knowing what she was doing, Kahira clamped her eyes tightly shut. She held both hands out empty, palms facing the warrior as if telling him to back off or stop. She heard the litany end and the sizzle of the lightning bolt. Feeling an odd sensation in her hands as the bolt struck t
hem, she opened her eyes wide in shock.
An electrified bolt of lightning shot from her hands straight at the warrior! The bolt hit his body which began severely shaking. Kahira watched with huge eyes as his life force was wrenched from his body! It was withdrawn into the palms of her hands! She saw it travel up her arms into her own heart!
The warrior’s body disintegrated on the ground, becoming nothing but a pile of gray ash. The weapon and its sheath lay beside the ash. Her entire body began crackling and sizzling loudly.
Again, Kahira did not feel any pain. But she was totally lost. She sat down against the gnarled old tree, looking at the palms of her hands. There was nothing to see. No burns.
Nothing irregular about them. She touched the mark on her forehead. What was going on?
Rising, Kahira moved to the pile of ash. She picked up the weapon, sheathing it. Holding it in a hand, she walked back through the forest to the destroyed village.
Kahira was unable to stop thinking about what had happened, over and over in her mind. She realized it must be another unique power she was born with! This was really frightening! Kahira did not know what the power was or if it did something to her body when it was used. The warrior had been evil and her heart had drawn the evil life force into it.
If she continued to use this power, would she eventually become evil, taking all the evil life force into her heart with each use of the power? Would that change her spirit if it kept happening? How could Kahira control its power or would it end up controlling her? Once started, could she stop it? Could it eventually kill her?
Chapter 29
Kahira’s mind filled with hundreds of unanswered questions! She could think of no way to find the truth. She walked into the pod village deep in thought.
Glancing around, she noticed the black beast lying dead on its side by the fire. Kahira walked to the tree hut, seeing Tanka lying by the tree trunk. He watched her moving toward him. “Are you okay, Kahira? He questioned with concern. “You look frightened and confused!”
“I am fine, Tanka, worn out but fine. I need to sleep. Right now I cannot think straight. It’s good to see you here! Are you hurt badly? Where is Pheta?”
“I hurt my leg but it was a blessing. When I stumbled and fell, the beast almost ran over me. He was much bigger and stronger than I. Yet he could not stop quickly enough. As he passed over me, I was able to reach up under him.”
“Biting down hard, I ripped his stomach out. But he fell awkwardly toward me, landing on my leg. I think it is broken. Pheta went into the forest to get meat. We are lucky she is with us and unharmed.”
Tanka looked at one of his front legs. It was sitting at a strange angle. Kahira could see bone sticking out from the skin. He looked at her. Pheta appeared with a large rabbit-like animal in her mouth. Circling around Tanka, she dropped it to him. Kahira could feel the love and relief Pheta felt on seeing she was not hurt badly.
She went into the hut, bringing out the bowl. Moving to the lake, Kahira leaned over. She took a handful of fresh cold water, drinking deeply. Kahira glanced at her reflection, dropping the bowl to the ground. Letting water ripples subside until the lake was clear as glass, she looked closely at her face. In the middle of her forehead, she saw what looked like a tattoo of a bolt of electricity exactly where the bolt had struck her!
Hurriedly, Kahira filled the bowl with water, setting it close to Tanka. She climbed into the hut going into the bathroom. She closed the doors, standing in front of the mirror. It WAS a tattoo of a lightning bolt! As Kahira looked closely, she noticed it had a strange glow emanating from it that was the softest, purest white light she had ever seen! She grabbed what she needed to bandage Tanka’s leg, moving down the ladder.
Kahira sat on the ground beside the broken leg, resetting it. She applied medicinal herbs to help it heal quickly and to stop the pain. She made a strong splint wrapped with thick bandages around the leg. While she worked, Kahira told her friends what transpired in the forest, about the tattoo on her forehead, about her new dangerous power. None of them knew what to think.
Kahira took a hot bath, soothing some of the afternoon’s aches away. Drying off, she went straight to bed. She was asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.
Although she was alive, she was not untouched by the events of that fateful day.
Kahira slept soundly for two days. Tanka began to heal with Pheta’s help. Pheta stayed close under the hut, watching over them and keeping them safe. During those two days,
Kahira had a dream...
*****
It was a frosty, crisp night. Lightning flashed, thunder roared. Sheets of rain filled with quarter-sized hail poured from the dark black clouds to drench the grounds of Edla. The two moons were moving through the heavens, flashing in and out from behind ominous clouds. The sky was dark purplish black, barely allowing the moons to be seen. So much thunder and lightning!
Despite being unable to see hands in front of faces, a group of humanoids fought in the deluge. Ten evil warriors were on gigantic black beasts. The leader was large, carrying a weapon with a long black handle. A blood red ruby perched on top of its handle. He stood away from the others, watching the battle from atop his massive mount. They had come on a mission to kill a female child.
These assailants were fighting six other warriors of much smaller stature, on foot. Three were plains dwellers, three were forest dwellers, but only four were adults. The two left were a child of each couple, a young girl and boy. The parents were fighting for all their lives, especially trying to protect their young.
The battle was lost almost before it began. The cave dwellers were bigger and stronger, their ten against the other four. The four fought courageously well but simply could not win this assault.
As they were cut down, one by one, the boy grabbed the girl’s hand, running away from the battle grounds. They ran fast but not fast enough as two pursuers on their raven-colored beasts rode up behind them.
One slashed the young boy to pieces as others did the same to their parents. The leader stood over the terrified little girl. Pointing his weapon at her, he mumbled words under his breath. A blast of lightning came from the ruby! It pulled her life force from her vibrating body into his own evil heart. Her body disintegrated on the ground, becoming nothing but a small pile of gray ash.
None of the four fighters ever stood a chance. They died lying on Mother Edla as sheets of pouring rain covered their bodies, mixing with their blood, seeping into the land.
*****
Kahira woke up after sleeping two days. For some reason, she had dried tear runners down her cheeks. She got up, splashing water on her face while rubbing away the sleep and tears. Scanning the new tattoo on her forehead before leaving the bathroom, she was surprised to see that her birth tattoo had changed!
Chapter 30
Now the vine from each of Kahira’s shoulders had a smaller vine that swirled around her neck, the sides of her face and across each side of her forehead. The two vines met, encircling the new lightning bolt tattoo already there!
She went outside, drawing in a long, deep breath, letting it out slowly. Pheta sat on the ground under the hut. Kahira went to her, sitting down beside her. Studying the exquisite dragon, she realized that in the short period of time they had been together, Pheta had grown into a full-fledged adult dragon!
Kahira nuzzled Pheta with her head, petting a soft feathery wing. “I know we have never tried, Pheta, but would you mind if I tried to ride you? I would love to soar into the clouds and forget my troubled heart; to feel the air sweeping cobwebs away from my brain.”
“I know I can carry you safely, without any burden of your weight.” Pheta looked at the young woman she called ‘mother’ when she broke from her shell, which she now loved dearly. They had a bond of heart and mind that could not be broken by anything or anyone.
Pheta spread a glorious wing on the ground, motioning for Kahira to climb. She climbed the soft feather to Pheta’s neck. The ‘little tria
ngular bumps’ Pheta had been born with running down her head, neck, back and tail had become large, strong scales. Finding one close to Pheta’s face, Kahira sat on it, wrapping her feet around it and holding to the next scale up with her hands.
Pheta swooped gracefully into the air, pumping her wings in a large range of motion. She smoothly glided into the sky, flying perpendicular to Edla. Kahira was flying!
She closed her eyes, a huge smile plastered across her face, feeling the wind move rapidly past her. Kahira’s hair flew away from her face, straight back into the wind. Sula shined his warmth over her body.
She opened her eyes to look down on Edla, watching landscape race past them. The view was inspiring! She saw Edla in a way she never had, from the sky. Kahira felt awe, seeing Edla’s wondrous appearance from above.
Pheta swooped and glided smoothly here and there. She turned into the wind, moving in different directions in the sky. Kahira felt joy and happiness spread through her.
Pheta flew higher, taking Kahira into clouds of white mist where she couldn’t see a thing but clouds surrounding her. Just as swiftly, Pheta left the clouds, bringing Kahira sharply into the bright light again. Clarity of her surroundings changed from being unable to see a thing in the clouds to having clear focus to see everything outside of their mists.
Kahira thought about the vision. She knew in her heart the life force sucked up by the warrior had been hers. It happened eons ago when the number of humanoids could be counted exactly, as tribes were just beginning to grow. The vision’s horror seeped out of her mind as if the misty clouds pulled it out on their own accord, leaving just the vision to think about. Kahira wanted to understand what it meant.
She now knew that THIS was her destiny! She would learn its meaning with new events moving in her life. Although the new unique ability Kahira learned she had still frightened her, she felt positive that in the end, it would be what she needed to fulfill her destiny, however it was preordained.
They flew through the sky for hours. Kahira motioned Pheta to land beside the hut. After Kahira disembarked, Pheta rose again to fly to the forest for meat. With his leg still mending, Tanka was unable to hunt for himself.