greedily.
“Lilit, get some sleep,” admonished the spirits.
“I need to keep going,” she protested, but she soon rolled onto her back and went to sleep.
She awoke gasping and wondering where she was, where was her family’s hut, her sleeping roll? Then memory came seeping back, reminding her of just how alone in this wide world she was. She swallowed down a sniffle and peered around at her surroundings. Deciduous forest sprawled on all sides, with gnarled trees sporting great broad dark green leaves. She found that her face and tunic had been wiped clean and wondered who could have done so.
“We did it. We are your guardian spirits, remember?”
Her head swung around to find the dark Shape sitting beside her. There was one voice that dominated, a spokesperson if you will, and it seemed to be that voice addressing her from the opaque shape with the glowing eyes. “Who are you?” Lilit asked frankly.
It chuckled. “You can call me Azyu. I am the eldest and most curious of my brethren.”
The blonde yawned, got to her feet and stretched. “I’m losing those men in these forests,” she sighed, then reached for her spear.
“They have nearly reached their tribe, so they have slowed down. You will catch them.”
“Good.” She filled her waterbag and set off, settling into a ground-eating pace. She threaded her way through the plains and forests of that remote time another day and a half before she caught sight of her quarry.
The humans kept a much closer watch on things than the Ulln did--the two guards shouted to their companions that a stranger approached. They hailed her in a few different modes of speech until they found one she understood. “We see you, golden woman,” they called out. “Who are you? What are you doing in our lands?”
“I am Lilit of the Khebas,” she answered them as she drew closer. “I have come to kill you as you have done to my folk.”
A man pushed himself in front of the watchers. “Those worthless vermin are dead,” he shouted. “We killed them all.” His curly light brown hair was tied back in a loose ponytail, and he peered at her with piercing, dark eyes. He was the one who put his spear through her and left her for dead. She knew it in her gut.
The young woman faced the fifteen men from a few yards away. “No,” she spat. “Not all of them.” Wind began to whip around them as Lilit’s eyes glowed yellow. “I destroyed the trolls when they went south,” she went on casually. “They are dead now, and I have their power. The Spirits of the Khehbas will see your destruction.”
Flint-tipped spears sailed through the air toward her, but she waved her hand and turned them aside with a smile. She stooped, recovered one, and used it to bat aside the thrust of one of the men. Lilit buried it in the man’s chest before turning her attention to the others surrounding her like ravening wolves.
She was not without teeth of her own, however.
The spirits came to her aid by using stones and loose tree limbs to tear two of the warriors apart. Blood, tissue, and more spattered the shocked men who were left. She used her own more crude spear against another opponent, finally putting it through his abdomen. Unfortunately, she was unable to dislodge it from his body as it fell to the ground. She felt hands on her, grabbing, tearing, trying to subdue her. Azyu appeared in his dark Shape to lay hands on one of the men, and tore his jaw loose from his face, which allowed him to absorb his energy.
Some of the other warriors cried out their fear and alarm but the man with the honey-colored hair bellowed, “It’s her, the demons are tied to the Khehbas girl! If we overcome her the spirits will have no power! Get her down!”
Lilit struggled, spat, and squirmed like a wet cat but was eventually wrestled to the ground by five of the humans. “I think mayhap your precious spirits have spent their power for the time being,” the leader spoke. “Get her to her feet.” The men complied and pushed her to stand before him, holding her arms behind her back, her blue eyes glaring her hatred of him. “The Blue-eyes made many interesting things, fine clothes, useful items--but you still use big sharpened sticks as spears. You were clever, but not clever enough. You should have spent less time story-telling and more time making weapons. Now all your possessions are ours and your people are dead.” In fact the men were dressed in simple wraps, with none of the stitching and beadwork that was a hallmark of the Khehbas.
Lilit said nothing for a long while, then her expression changed; it softened, took on a sultry cast. “I am the last,” she said. “Would you not want to enjoy the last of the Khehbas?”
“And have you bite off my spear? Not hardly,” he scoffed. He grabbed her chin and held her face. “I wouldn’t mind taking out the loss of good hunters on you, though,” he spoke, almost to himself. “Breaking you might be enjoyable.”
“You can try it,” she hissed at him through a broad, evil smile.
His fist plowed into her face, which left her unable to see for a good minute. Her ears rang; she shook her head to keep from passing completely out. “Hm. You are strong, the strongest I’ve seen in a while,” he said.
“Are you going to kill her, Zazel?” asked one of the men holding her.
“Not yet.” Another blow followed, then another, then more, until she was sagging between her captors. “Put her with the ones she killed. Bind her arms and legs.”
Strips of hide were tied around her wrists behind her back, and her ankles were done in the same manner. She was dragged through the leaves and deposited between two of the lifeless bodies she’d left in her wake. She awoke late that evening with her face throbbing. Crusted blood and purplish bruises decorated her face. She breathed in, coughed, winced at her split lips. “Awake now, Khehbas woman?” Zazel’s voice floated from across the campfire. The dead warriors had been moved away, to the edge of the firelight, which was where she found herself. “I know you will kill me. Maybe not even right away.”
“Then why...do you let me live?” she wheezed. She twisted around until she was facing him.
“It will free me, I will be with my ancestors and family. They died of a sickness. Wiped them all out. So I became the head warrior, led the raids. Find good stuff.” He was quiet a few minutes, watching her over his arms that were wrapped around his knees. “When you kill me, you will belong to those spirits. You will never be able to go back to the way you were.”
“Things can’t go back to the way they were, thanks to you.”
“You are going to be set on a dark path. One of destruction. I should know, I’ve been on the same path.”
Lilit saw a pain all too familiar in his dark eyes and was surprised at the understanding in his gaze. “It doesn’t matter,” she rasped. “My path is set before me. Yours will end soon.”
Zazel snorted in mirth. “It will end, sooner or later. By your hand or someone else’s. If I live when the sun comes up, I will sacrifice you to MY spirits. If not, well then, I will be with my family.”
“What makes you think the Great Ones would let you have a happy reunion after destroying whole tribes?” she challenged. “Maybe you will go into the dust and be nothing. Or they will visit pain on you like the pain you caused.”
“That’s possible. Either way, I won’t be here any more.”
The blonde grinned at him from across the campfire. “No. You won’t,” she said knowingly. Zazel raised an eyebrow, wondering what she knew that he didn’t. Eyes began to appear just outside the reach of the firelight, amber eyes that reflected the campfire. The man stirred, which woke his companions, who gasped when they noticed they were being watched. The air picked up, which Lilit had learned was a sign the Khehbas spirits were manifesting. They had brought help for her, it seemed.
Low-pitched growling sounded all around the men who clutched their spears and daggers. “Be still!” Zazel hissed at his men. “I believe it is wolves.”
“We have come to seek your lives for the lives of those we protected,” spoke the girl, bu
t with many voices speaking all at once through her.
“You will spend yourselves using your power this way!” the man with the light brown hair exclaimed incredulously. “I am no novice in the ways of the spirits. I know you expend power every time you do something in this world.”
“We work through Lilit,” they responded. “We gain what we need from her and her victims. YOU.”
Six wolves leapt into the circle of men, snarling and slavering, Lilit began rubbing her bonds against a rock she felt with her half-numb fingers while she could discern the sounds of men’s throats being torn out. She freed her hands at last, then rubbed and flexed them to restore bloodflow. Next she worked to get her ankles loose, then looked up when she heard the squeal of a wolf that had been speared. The other wolves were still wreaking havoc, with fangs bared and the flickering light playing across their white and greyish fur. Three men now lay dead and the others were yelling in terror.
Lilit took up a spear and dashed into the fray, totally heedless of the several furry bodies a hundred pounds apiece hurtling this way and that. She thrust out