The Quake

by Tom Hunter

  “Why did you not go with them?” Mochni asked. He was still in such shock to see her alive that he had a hard time of letting go of her hand or arm. Whatever part of her he could touch and prove to himself he was not dreaming.

  She looked first at Mochni, then toward Abby, and smiled. “She knows I think,” the old woman said with a knowing nod in Abby’s direction.

  “Yes,” Abby said softly, her voice just above a whisper. She would have done the same thing in her place.

  “So, why, then?” Robbie asked, his hands opened, palms up in supplication for an answer. He slid a glance toward Mochni, acutely aware of the tension in his body, and the shock at seeing someone he thought dead, now returned to him. Though the beginning of their meeting had been quite rocky, Robbie had long since thought of Mochni as a brother by all accounts.

  “I had to protect the old stories, the old ways, to prepare for the next chieftain. Mochni. I had to be ready so I could help him take his place, his father’s place.”

  Abby stepped forward and took Mochni’s mother’s free hand. “You are terribly brave. Here among the dead and all alone. Strength is in your blood as it is in Mochni’s. He is a fine boy and will make a wonderful leader,” she assured the woman, who lowered her head in thanks.

  Pediah cleared his throat, not wishing to intrude on this moment, but he knew pressing questions needed to be asked. “I’m sorry, I don’t wish to change the subject….” His voice trailed off as eyes turned toward him and he stumbled over whether or not to continue. This should be Thomas asking this question, a niggling voice in his head commented. When he looked to Thomas, the man simply bobbed it once in a gesture for him to continue. “Are the Kisgar still roaming?”

  “Ah,” Mochni’s mother lifted her head, scanned the door over Pediah’s shoulder, then returned her gaze to meet his. “I am not sure, to be honest,” she began. “But to stay safe, when I wasn’t hunting, I sealed myself inside the room you found me in,” she explained with a nod at Thomas who tilted his head to one side considering what she’d said. Before he could ask the question, she added, “The Kisgar have poor hearing. They follow vibrations, mostly, to track their prey. That is why the drum controls them so easily.”

  “Can they see – both in the caves and in the light?” Alexia asked.

  “Oh, yes…”

  “Then –“ Alexia’s hand flew to her mouth. “Forgive me, I didn’t mean to interrupt.”

  Mochni’s mother waved a hand. “It is alright,” she assured Alexia. “I only was to add that if I stayed still and out of sight, in the shadows,” she pointed to the room where Thomas had found her. “Then I was safe from the Kisgar that still roamed.”

  “Mother,” Mochni turned to her once again. “I told them the story, one of the legends, of how the Kisgar became calm again. But there is another, I believe. Once the scrolls were written…?” the Woidnuk asked, hoping she could make clear some of the parts of the story, he hadn’t been able to recall when he was on the surface.

  “You know this story, Mochni,” she encouraged him.

  “Yes, but I want…my friends need to hear you tell it.”

  She quirked her mouth and shrugged. “It is quite simple, but it was done in…steps,” she explained. “I am sure Mochni has told you the Woidnuk were only able to retrain the creatures by working together, but I fear has forgotten the first important steps,” she said as she watched her son with guarded eyes. He offered a crooked smile and scuffed a toe in the sand.

  “Lt. Whipkey explained a phrasing to me once,” she began. “To control the many, you must…’cut off the head of the snake.’” Thomas Knight and his team arched their eyebrows and coughed a short laugh, they had not expected this, but Lt. Whipkey’s teachings had helped, they understood immediately what she meant. Misunderstanding their looks and laughter, Mochni’s mother hurried to explain.

  “We began by working with the Kisgar one by one. But, not just any. We worked from the eldest, the most set in their ways, to the youngest. And to a one, it was only the ones who showed signs of…” she paused trying to recall what Lt. Whipkey had said and turned to Mochni, “What did your father call it?” she asked.

  “Elpha males,” Mochni replied, then with a nudge and a quickly whispered correction from Robbie, Mochni shook his head, “Alpha. Not elpha.”

  Alexia stepped forward shyly, still reeling from her outburst. “Mrs…? Do we call you Mrs. Whipkey? I know that is a human way saying someone is married. Or…I can’t believe none of us has thought to ask, but what is your name?”

  The old woman smiled. “In our culture as the chieftain’s wife, I am simply ‘mother’. I am the mother of the tribe and treat them as my children. In my role, I am the ‘mother of the many’ as well as Mochni’s true mother, which is why he calls me ‘Mama’. Lt. Whipkey chose this to show the difference between mother of a people and mother of a child.”

  Alexia blushed. “Thank you…Mother.” Mochni’s mother beamed with pride.

  “Mother,” asked Thomas softly. “Do you know the safest route to the old temple?”

  “Of course,” she replied with a flourish. “Now that my Mochni has returned, I must go tell our people and had planned to leave when the intruders…” she cleared her throat, “You. Had left our home. But, now that I have met you, our home is always open to you.” She strode toward the still open front door and out into the silent village. “I will guide, if you wish to follow,” she remarked over her shoulder.

  Mochni hung back as his mother swept out the door and Thomas Knight’s team behind her. Realizing Mochni wasn’t as quick to follow, Thomas fell back. “What is it, Mochni?” he whispered.

  “I am still a child in many ways,” he began. “I know this and I know that I am not a suitable leader. Not yet. I have already failed to return what was stolen from us –“

  Thomas put a hand on his arm. “That was not your fault. You would have had it back, but then it was stolen from me, and seems to have been elusive ever since,” he remarked bitterly.

  Mochni smiled and Thomas continued. “You know, Mochni. Your father was a human who must have had to work exceptionally hard to become chieftain of this village. I am sure he met many obstacles along the way, your grandfather being one of them! But, you have his blood in you and your mother, who survived a fall and has been alone in an empty village for some time with Kisgar roaming for prey. These two have made you in body and in spirit.” Thomas paused remembering his own father, smiling and nodding at a memory.

  “My own father would say, you have a ‘tough-as-nails’ pedigree to help you. Do you know what I mean?”

  “Yes, I think so. I am hard, like iron; unbending, unyielding, and strong. Right?”

  “Right,” Thomas snapped his fingers and Alexia turned to find them a few yards behind.

  “You guys coming?” she asked casually, she measured the two with a guarded look. She’d always known when her brothers had had deep conversations and these two had the same look about them.

  “Right behind you!” called Thomas as he quickened his step to keep up with Mochni’s long strides. Soon, Mochni had caught up with his mother and the rest followed as they traversed deeper into the caves toward the old temple.

  Twenty-Seven

  Only the scraping of their shoes, and the bare feet of the Woidnuk slapped against the ground, broke the heavy silence as they traversed the tunnels. Each team member lost in their own thoughts as their eyes scanned the walls, the path ahead, and their ears pricked at a faint sound they’d come to know all too well. Even Mochni and his mother, who led them, heads down seemed to be in deep communication, though no words were uttered. The guttural clacking Thomas Knight and his team were used to, seemed only to have been for their benefit and perhaps Lt. Whipkey’s, he thought. Now, he was reminded of an old book he’d read about the Original People of Australia, and wondered if there wasn’t some ancient ancestry between the two peoples.

  He considered this strange new idea when Alexia caugh
t up with his long strides and nudged him. Thomas looked at her questioningly and without speaking, she directed his gaze once more to the walls. He was brought up short as his eyes fully adjusted to the dimly lit passages which ebbed and flowed first, dangerously narrow, which forced them to walk single file, then wide enough for the entire team to walk side-by-side, and with extra room beside. The widened passages seemed to be the beginnings and endings of community. Homes built into the walls, hollow-eyed and waiting; the breath of life still fresh in the stagnant air.

  As they walked, the soft rumbling sounds of the Kisgar grew louder, echoing and fading in their own communities behind the signs of civilization they’d dug and the Woidnuk had carved into the walls.

  Robbie whistled under his breath and twisted his head to follow a particularly unique carving to its height. “My fans would be so mad if they ever learn I didn’t take any video of this,” he whispered into the quiet.

  Pediah who was nearby chuckled softly. “Why haven’t you, then?”

  Robbie shrugged, his neck still craned and scanning the upper regions of the cavernous walls. “I don’t know,” he confessed. “I guess things got a little hairy, then a little scary, and a whole heck of lot shit went down…” his voice trailed off as his thoughts gelled. “At some point, I put the thing away and lost all track of what I had planned to do, for the tasks which actually needed doing.”

  Pediah considered Robbie with a new appreciation. The boy had grown up quite a bit on this dig, he thought. “And because Mochni is your friend. Your ‘bleed brother’, as he calls it, too,” said Pediah, finishing the thought Robbie couldn’t.

  Robbie nodded and his voice caught, “Yes.” The final “s” ripped from him as Thomas stopped and raised his lantern.

  At the edge of his lantern light, Thomas had caught a flickering which didn’t match that of his lamp. “Stop,” he’d commanded, swinging his lantern in a wider arc to capture the source of the shadow.

  Mochni’s mother paused mid-step at Thomas’s command and gasped as she turned toward him catching a glimpse of a young Kisgar. “It’s a baby,” she whispered. “Well, no,” she corrected herself. “Not baby. But, young.”

  “Old enough to smell us and with knowledge of the hunt, though,” suggested Mochni. His mother nodded slowly not wanting to startle the creature. Like her, it had found solace and safety in the shadows. But, she wasn’t sure what the creature would do with so many humans and Woidnuk approaching it. From the corner of her eye, she watched Mochni cast about for a hiding place of some kind, the others doing the same, yet no one moved.

  They all know these creatures, she thought. They know to be still. This is good. Wondering how they’d fared so well against the Kisgar on the surface, she almost didn’t hear Mochni’s terse whisper.

  “There is no place to hide, Mama. Is it hunting for us or just hungry? What to do?” his questions and comments tumbled one over the other, in no particular order. From the strained sound of his voice, she knew there must be more questions, more concerns, but he had learned to speak needs of the moment. The humans had taught him well. Before she could answer him, Thomas Knight interjected his hastily hatched plan.

  “Well, we can’t go back and we can’t outrun it,” he stated matter-of-factly, as though he met a Kisgar creature every day. He shrugged. “If push comes to shove, we’ll just have to suck it up and fight.” All eyes turned toward him, their eyes wide echoing Abby’s question-cum-exclamation, “Are you insane?!”

  Mochni’s mother had liked Abigail Hogan, when she was used as collateral, at the humans’ attempt to retrieve Ecknom’s Folly. They had become fast friends once the language barrier had begun to break down. Mochni called her, “Ab.bee.” Which to her mind sounded like their word for ‘aunt.tee’.

  Stepping forward, Alexia chimed, “I’m in.” Her dark eyes roving over the team’s faces, daring anyone to go against Thomas’s idea. “I know he sounds crazy half the time,” she admitted. “But, somehow, it just…works.” She wasn’t sure if she was assuring the look on Mochni’s mother’s face or herself.

  Mochni’s mother whirled to face them and hissed, “Don’t be fools!” They were mad to be following this man, she thought. But it was the look on Mochni’s face which gave her pause. He’d already stepped toward Thomas Knight in silent agreement and she understood it as the ultimate sign of trust. Mochni, she knew, did not trust easily. Something he’d learned from his father, she supposed.

  “Alexia is right to agree as is Thomas in his plan. Please, Mama. Just listen,” Mochni pleaded.

  Abby stepped forward. “Mother,” she began softly. “I have known Thomas Knight for a very long time. He is like a son to me and was to my husband who was his teacher. His plans come together in the blink of an eye and we don’t know how or why, but even when they don’t work they way their planned, something good always comes –“

  “In my heart, I have already agreed. I see how Mochni stands with you and as he is the new chieftain of his people, I must follow him. I still think the plan is crazy, but if Mochni believes in him, then so do I,” she said as she stepped forward to join the rest of the team.

  As if bound to the same string, five humans and two Woidnuk turned toward the shadow now silhouetted against Thomas Knight’s lantern. From it’s perch on an outcropping in the wall, it seemed to wait as if listening for a silent cue. Then as the team turned toward the creature, it leapt down to stand before them. The creature, the humans, and the ancient humanoids stared at each other, a tense quiet underscoring each beings sense of self-preservation.

  Twenty-Eight

  The Kisgar bared its teeth, leaned forward, and broke the shaky silence with a hiss. It’s face nearing Pediah’s, who had a sudden urge to run, but at the same time felt rooted to the spot. The Kisgar turned its head as if considering what he might taste like and in an un-animal-like moment of psychological warfare, Pediah could have sworn he could read the creature’s thoughts. Was it daring them to try to run away?

  “Ummm…Thom?” began Pediah as he leaned back, looking wild-eyed at Thomas.

  “I hear you,” he said, picking out the sounds of shuffling feet backpedaling from the creature’s dare. “Just follow my lead guys.” He looked over his shoulder. “And fair warning, it’s gonna seem a little…nuts. But just go with it, okay?” And with that, Thomas Knight dropped into a crouch, spread his arms wide and began to move them in a great pantomime fashion of some kind mythological creature. As his arms moved, he leapt forward toward the creature and began to bellow in reply.

  I feel utterly ridiculous. But maybe I – we – can confuse it to by us some time. Geez, I must be exhausted if this is all I’ve got. He shook his doubts from his mind and resolutely charged forward in what must have seemed to the others, he thought, like a surreal game of…’Chicken’.

  “Come on, little guy!” he wheedled in a loud voice which bounced and dipped a trail along the walls. He lurched forward again, his arms swinging wide, “Ach!” he crowed, drawing the long sound of the ‘a’ from his lips.

  Robbie arched an eyebrow and out the side of his mouth, whispered to Alexia, “Sure you want to follow this…this…” he gestured, unable to set his teeth into a final word. He resorted to a third and final “This?!” which came out in a hiss, his arms moving as though he were directing a game show board.

  “Okay,” admitted Alexia. “So, the last marble finally dropped. It’s official, the man is off his rocker.” She shook her head, “But, come hell or high water – and we seem to be in both – here goes nothin’!” she crowed following Thomas’s example.

  Robbie laughed. “Fair enough. And if you’re game, I’m game.” He launched himself to join the two in their machinations. Somehow, Robbie’s arrival had redirected the Kisgar’s attack and it swiped at Thomas missing him by inches as Mochni jumped in front of it.

  He, too, had begun to bellow and flap his arms as he’d watched the others do.

  Mochni’s mother and Abby flanked the creature j
umping back as its great tail swished at them as though they were little more than flies annoying it.

  Though Pediah was the last to join, he was no less loud than the others and moved about with the grace of someone half his bulk.

  Together, they surrounded the young Kisgar, bucking at it, staying within striking range, jumping back if it got too close. The creature hissed and bucked in return. It’s great claws and arms swiped and scooped air as the team jumped out of its way. The creature turned, a whirling dervish evoking its own scare on the little things which seemed to give it no end. An innate sense of anger fueled its fire. Hot breath. Loud grunts, and a great scraping of its claws on the mud and stone marring the Woidnuk’s walls.

  Though Thomas Knight and his team jumped from danger, they bounced back into formation, as if a thin elastic band pulled and pushed them from imminent danger. From time to time, the Kisgar would stop its ragings and consider them in an intense dare of who might strike first. Each time it did so, the team would get louder and wilder in their movements. Finally, the great creature cocked its head and turned as if to go.

  Thomas stopped, expecting it to leave then. Suddenly, the creature turned its head and looked at Thomas over its shoulder and in one final sweep of its tail nearly peeled Thomas Knight’s feet from the floor. “Oh…shit!” he cried as he leapt backward nearly landing himself flat on his bum.

  In a strange, quite human-like way, the Kisgar nodded its head as if satisfied, and loped off away from the small band of Mochni, his mother, Alexia, Pediah, Robbie, Abby, and Thomas who began laughing, his eyes wild. Sweat poured from him, once more creating a second skin of sweat and sand. He put his hands on his knees and with his head down, he struggled to catch his breath.

  The others joined in the laughter, wiped their faces with cloths as Mochni and his mother watched looking confused. His mother craned her neck in the direction the Kisgar had gone unsure it wouldn’t return and with company in tow.