The legs were crunchy, with a fairly pleasant taste, though he suspected that was mostly just the oil and spices. When he bit into the body itself though, he was surprised at how much he liked it. The flesh was white, soft and tender, and tasted like a mix between Kenad meat and Luduk, the large fish commonly eaten by Shenza. The spices used by the Thearans were delicious, and helped a great deal. Dakesh still completely avoided the face area, as it unnerved him, but he found after eating the rest that he was very happy with the meal. He went hunting with the Thearans every day after that, and very quickly settled into their way of life.
Eventually, the Thearans decided to pack up and keep moving into the desert. Dakesh made his mind up long before that he'd stay with them, but now he was forced into officially joining the tribe, which unfortunately meant challenging a fellow warrior to single combat. He spoke about it at length with Erasmus; Aella sat quietly with them, joining in the conversation only when she had something she thought worth saying.
"To the death of course," explained Erasmus, the day the tribe meant to leave. "Thearans are willing to accept anyone into their tribes, but you must prove firstly that you're a capable warrior, and secondly that you're willing to kill whoever stands in your way. You can issue the challenge to one you choose, or if someone doesn't like you or doesn't agree that you belong, they may challenge you." Dakesh wasn't challenged, thankfully, so he challenged a young warrior named Andreas. He'd been hunting with the warrior once or twice, and they'd never really gotten along. He felt awful about having to pick someone to kill, but he desperately wanted to be a part of the tribe, and he would have done anything to get away from the Duulshen, the elders of Shanaken, and disappear from their reach. By now, he was sure someone had been sent to kill or capture him, as they wouldn't take the dishonour of a stolen blade lightly. So, he challenged Andreas to combat, and later that day, they stood facing each other in a ring in the sand cleared of obstacles and surrounded by watching Thearans.
Dakesh drew his blade and waited for Andreas to move. He could feel his opponent's strength and energy; from the moment he drew his sword he sensed these things as clearly as he saw the sand, heard the slight breeze, and felt the sunlight on his skin. The magic of the sword still awed him, even as he was getting used to its power. He sensed the energy of every Thearan warrior nearby, and although individually he knew his power was greater than most of them, the sheer magic surrounding him was intense. It felt like standing in the centre of a ring of bonfires, waves of heat washing over him unceasingly. Even through the wall of energy, he felt a mountainous inferno of untapped magic to his left; if the rest felt like bonfires, this felt like the sun itself. Glancing quickly towards the source, trying to keep Andreas in his sight, he recognised the warrior straight away. He expected Kerberos, of course; but in the centre of that raging inferno of pure magic stood Aella, watching him intently. She was alert, but in a thoughtful way; ready to study the fight. She was unaware of the aura coming off her. He sought out Kerberos, curious, and saw the intense aura emanating from the leader. Though smaller than Aella’s, it was more solid and seemed to run deeper. Dakesh blinked and turned back to Andreas, focusing on the fight once more.
His opponent wielded a Thearan spear, one of the most common weapons for Thearan warriors. Each warrior cut their spear to a length that suited their fighting style, some using short handles and wielding them like swords, and some using full spear-length shafts of wood. Andreas was one of the latter, his spear taller than he was. He stood with the butt of his spear resting on the ground next to his foot, eyes narrowed at Dakesh. The spearhead, made from Thearan steel, was about two feet long and diamond-shaped, with edges that looked razor sharp. Finally he swept the weapon into a fighting stance, and started moving slowly towards his opponent. Dakesh waited a little longer, then suddenly charged at Andreas.
He leapt at the last second, just as Andreas' spear lunged at his stomach. It passed through where he'd been with almost no time to spare, so fast he couldn't even consciously follow. He let the blade's magic guide his way, straining to focus on his new senses instead of trying to think. He flipped in the air, landed in a crouch behind Andreas, swinging his sword in a horizontal arc just as his feet hit the ground. The point of his blade just touched Andreas' calves, slicing the animal hide boots he was wearing and a tiny bit of his flesh. The spear appeared suddenly to Dakesh's right, heading straight for his face. He'd seen it before it happened though, and was already out of the way by the time it hissed past him.
Andreas looked furious, and a little confused. Facing each other now, they fought proper, and Dakesh had a hard time getting past the spear now Andreas was used to his speed. Constant thrusts and horizontal strikes bombarded Dakesh, and although he could parry them easily enough with the foresight granted him by his magic blade, he didn't have the time to return blows. Still, they were both breathing hard by now, and Dakesh could see Andreas starting to lose energy, but he'd never felt better. He was sweating, but the sword gave him more energy the more he fought. He also saw the toll his shallow cut was taking on Andreas' footwork; Andreas was taking small, almost ginger steps and avoided even that when he could. They kept fighting, Dakesh blocking and dodging furiously while Andreas attacked constantly. A forward lunge of the spear was swept aside by Dakesh's blade, but Andreas only used the momentum of the block, moving with Dakesh and twisting, swinging the butt of the spear at Dakesh's face. Dakesh ducked, but Andreas kept turning and this time the spearhead swung at Dakesh's belly. Dakesh leapt backwards, but the spear tore through his vest and ripped into skin beneath. Pain lanced through him, but he somehow knew without looking that it was a shallow cut. It wouldn't stop him from winning.
A surge of energy suddenly hit him. He twisted his head to the side as the spear streaked towards his face again. The lunge would have smashed straight through his nose had he remained where he was. His left hand darted up and snatched the shaft of the spear just below the blade, his own blade sweeping straight through the wood. The black blade sliced through Andreas' spear with almost no effort. Andreas looked at the end of the wooden shaft he was holding in utter disbelief. Dakesh drew his left hand back and before Andreas realised what was happening, threw the spearhead with all his strength. The spearhead moved so fast it couldn't even be seen; it punched straight through Andreas' head and kept going, impaling itself in a second warrior's chest with such force that she flew off her feet several metres before the point of the spearhead buried itself into the ground, pinning the unfortunate warrior to the dirt.
Andreas was still standing, the ragged remains of his head spurting blood. The broken spear shaft fell to the ground as his hands opened and closed a few times, grasping at nothing, before his corpse crashed to the ground. Dakesh was speechless, and numbly realised he wasn't even out of breath. He sheathed his sword. Wild screams erupted from all around him, and Thearans rushed at him from every direction. He felt a moment of panic before he remembered that Thearans loved combat and destruction. What he'd done apparently greatly impressed them. He had to admit, he was impressed himself. He'd never seen anything like it, and in that moment he felt incredibly powerful. He was a Thearan warrior now. He embraced his new tribe, cheered with them, and spent the rest of the night celebrating. The next day, they packed up and headed out into the desert.
Aella
Tarsius stood before them, the noise and smoke and smell making Aella's head ache even from a distance. It was an ugly, hunching beast of a city; buildings thrown together seemingly at random, every size and style pressed together violently. People from every country pushed and shoved each other, and shouting in every language was perpetually competing to drown the other out. Even outside its walls, Aella felt suffocated. She headed back to camp.
They stayed at Tarsius for far longer than Aella expected; Kerberos insisted on almost constant travel since taking over their tribe, but now he seemed content to settle down for a while. They took on new warriors, both from the many tribes camping nea
r theirs and from Tarsius itself. Fights broke out almost constantly, though the warriors from her tribe won most of them. None of the other tribes worshipped Sithares, and the Fire Magic wielded by Kerberos' army was a keen advantage in one-on-one combat.
She never entered the city itself. Erasmus, Natasa, and Timothea all visited fairly often, and her mother went almost every day. Aella spent her time training, sparring against anyone willing, and hunting. She also travelled into the trees along the coast whenever she could, finding somewhere private to practice using the Fire Magic within her two ancient swords. She was powerful even without the Fire Blades, and unleashing that power made her feel free and light hearted; but since she never had much of a chance to practice, she wasn't as in control of the magic as she wanted to be.
After about a month, A potential new tribe member named Dakesh came hunting with her and Erasmus. He was Shenza, and although their tribe contained quite a few of the pale-skinned, black-haired warriors, he was striking. There was something different about him.
He was a far better hunter than Erasmus. While Erasmus usually hung back to let her make the kills, she realised Dakesh would actually be quite useful. The first time they hunted together, she killed four large Omasi Huntsmen, and when Dakesh realised what they were his face turned as grey as the mottled fur of the giant spiders.
"Please tell me I'm not supposed to eat these," he said to Aella as she knelt by them and started pulling her arrows from their corpses.
"What else would we do with them?" she laughed. She bundled the spiders up in her rope, and they headed back to camp. As she prepared their kills to eat, she had to explain to Dakesh that their abdomens weren’t edible. He seemed to be of the opinion that no part of them was edible. After they cooked, he was hesitant to try eating the spiders, and sat staring at the large fangs as her and Erasmus started eating. He still looked sick as he tentatively tried the first bite. Exactly as she predicted, his expression changed almost immediately to pleasant surprise, and after the second bite it changed just as suddenly to outright pleasure. Her and Erasmus exchanged a glance, smirking and trying not to laugh. Every warrior who tried spider meat for the first time had the exact same reaction. It never failed to entertain the Thearans. Though Erasmus joined the tribe relatively recently, he grew up as a slave in the farmlands outside Omatus, where the huntsmans were most common. Like every other slave, he was only given a single meal per day by his Omati masters, so he took to eating the spiders for survival.
They went hunting together every day after that, and Dakesh became a closer friend to her than Natasa and Timothea. A few weeks later, the tribe finally started packing to leave. Dakesh was talking with another Shenza named Dakai. She couldn't follow, as they were speaking in their native language; but shortly after the conversation, Dakesh challenged a young Thearan named Andreas to one-on-one combat. She was glad; he was pledging himself to their tribe.
The circle was formed around the two warriors, and Dakesh drew his blade. He took a moment to breathe; perhaps nervous, perhaps weighing Andreas. He turned suddenly and stared straight at Aella. For a single second, he looked at her the same way Kerberos' fanatics looked at their leader; pure, unmasked awe. She masked her feelings, simply staring back at him as though she hadn't noticed his odd expression. Then it was gone, and after a brief look at Kerberos, he blinked and turned back to Andreas.
The fight was short, but intense. Dakesh moved much faster than she first judged. He moved in a smooth, natural way, almost as if he knew where to move to avoid Andreas' attacks. Usually she was an accurate judge of combat abilities, but with Dakesh she was totally wrong. He was incredible.
He landed a shallow cut to Andreas' calves, and slipped past a sudden and vicious lunge at his face which even Aella might not have dodged. Andreas stepped up his efforts, laying on a constant stream of attacks. Dakesh dodged or blocked them all, but didn't seem able to counter. Andreas' calves were obviously suffering, however, and he was starting to slow down. Dakesh was apparently losing no energy at all. Quite the opposite; incredibly, he was speeding up.
Andreas suddenly landed a blow, slicing Dakesh's stomach. Dakesh didn’t slow down. Andreas aimed a thrust at his head, and when he twisted aside to dodge it, his hand snatched the spear behind the blade. His own blade swept down through the wood as though it was fabric and without hesitating, he brought the spearhead back and threw it inhumanly quickly. Even staring intently at the battle, Aella only saw a slight blur as the spearhead flew. Barely a split second later, Andreas' entire head disappeared, and Timothea, who was watching from behind him, flew several metres backwards. It took a few moments for Aella to realise the spearhead killed her. Dakesh threw it so hard and fast it passed right through Andreas' head, impaled Timothea's chest, carried her several metres, and forcefully pinned her corpse to the ground.
Aella gasped as she watched Timothea die. Andreas was an expected casualty, but Timothea was simply watching the fight. Dakesh was equally as shocked by her death, judging by his expression. It was hard to be mad at him; he clearly didn’t murder her on purpose. And besides, this meant he was a proper member of their tribe now. Although she mourned Timothea, Aella celebrated with the rest of the tribe that night.
Zanela
The forest chattered and whispered around Zanela as she sat alone in the canopy outside the city. A slight breeze rustled the leaves, turning her entire world into a vast, rippling green ocean. Kuulshen were all taught a healthy fear of the forest as they grew up, and even as a Daishen she wasn't immune to that lifelong fear. But the forest felt far safer to her now than the city.
Dakesh couldn't betray the Shenza, she knew it. He was angry at the Duulshen for refusing to name him Kaizeluun, but he would never steal the blade of another warrior. But what if it's true? There was nowhere for him to go but west, to Tarsium. The Duulshen said it was a haven for people who wanted to remain unfound; a place where lost souls went when they had no more growing to do.
She desperately hoped he knew better than to settle in such a terrible place. The soul couldn't grow in a city that squatted on the stony ground like the carcass of some dead beast. Far too many people packed into buildings made of stone and animal hide, never training and never wandering through the vibrant life of the forest. Slowly dying as their souls grew stagnant and the circle of life overtook them. She couldn't imagine anything worse. The thought of Dakesh's soul decaying as he hid from the Duulshen for the rest of his life in Tarsium brought stinging tears to her eyes.
But there was nothing she could do. Either the news was false and Dakesh was still fighting, or he was already fleeing Shanaken. The battle still raged on the northern shore; even if she could get to a safe position and watch from a distance, she would never find Dakesh amongst the chaos. And if the report was correct and he was on his way to Tarsium, there was no way she could catch up to him now.
Zanela breathed slow and deep, closed her eyes and hugged her knees against her chest. She breathed in the forest, listened to its song. She recited the three tenets to herself. They always gave her strength. What's the worst case scenario? She forced herself to focus on it. One of the only pieces of advice her father gave her when she was training for the warrior's tests was "Expect the worst, and come prepared.". She found it oddly helpful.
Dakesh either killed in battle or being marked an outsider for the rest of his life; those were the worst case scenarios. If he was named outsider, he would never be allowed in Shanaken again. He would be treated as a stranger by those he loved. But he would also be hunted for his crime. Taking the Kaizuun from another warrior was akin to taking their very soul. The Shenza didn't have much in the way of possessions. Everything contained within the Moving City was common property, belonging to all of the Shenza equally. They shared houses, food, and use of all other buildings and resources. The money gained from selling fish and other produce was returned to the Duulshen and distributed to any who needed it.
The only things an individual Shenza owned w
ere their sword and the clothing they wore, and both were hand made by the warrior themselves. So taking one of the only two possessions a Shenza owned, one which took months of careful hard work to perfect, was one of the worst things one warrior could do to another. When the stolen blade was one imbued with magic and earned through the brutal Shadow Trials, the crime became even worse.
Zanela prepared herself by imagining Dakesh was already dead. She pictured it; his corpse laying on the forest floor somewhere, torn apart by a Zuzuk or sliced open by the blade of whomever was sent to hunt him down. The image burned in her mind and heart, but she forced herself to see it clearly, and to accept it. If she moved through the pain now, it couldn't hurt her when it happened later on. She mourned Dakesh. She was alone now. Alone in the forests of Shanaken. Expect the worst, and come prepared.
Sunset turned the greens of the forest to gold, glittering in the breeze as quiet settled over Shanaken. Zanela perched at the very top of an ancient tree, staring out over the forest. Almost a year had passed since Dakesh disappeared. Almost a year of living alone in the forest. At night she slept in a small hollow she found near the top of a tree high up in the canopy. During the day she hunted and foraged for food. Every day she practised the Zuunshai and recited the three tenets.
A peaceful life. She grew used to the solitude. The forest always made her feel alive and connected to life. Best of all, she was free of her parent's judgement. She knew if she were to return to the city, she would most likely suffer the same fate as Dakesh when he was finally hunted down. The Duulshen would definitely view her as guilty. Who wouldn't? She ran out of the city the moment her brother was revealed as a traitor.
There was no way to find him, and nothing to go back to. She loved the forest, but knowing there was no choice in her being there made it a little less beautiful. She was attacked occasionally by predators, and was now learning their movements and habits. Zuzuk, the largest predators in Shanaken, slept most of the day away. They rose in the twilight before sundown, and used the low angle of the sun to their advantage, letting the light blind their prey.
Gods and Heroes- Rise of Fire Page 13
