by Lori Holmes
Rebaa crawled forward until she came close to the miracle. There appeared to be enough forage here for her to eat her fill and still take some with her for later. A gift from Ninmah Herelf!
She halted a short distance away from the inviting shells. Though the nuts were plain before her, her spiraling thoughts could not comprehend how they had come to be there. Then her stomach snarled and she decided that she did not care. Throwing caution to the wind, Rebaa hauled herself upright and threw herself forward over the remaining distance, intent on swallowing the nuts down as fast as she could.
A sharp snap was her only warning. Something unseen tightened around her good ankle as she stepped forward and she was yanked off her feet. Her leg wrenched as she was pulled swiftly towards the sky. Between one thought and the next, Rebaa found herself dangling upside down, hanging from a branch in the tree.
The world spun as she swung around and around and for a moment Rebaa was stunned. Blood dripped from the wound at her forehead and splashed onto the snow beneath her dangling hands. The weight of her pregnant belly was pressed down on her chest. Fighting to draw breath, she twisted as best she could to see what grasped her ankle. A rope made of twisted skins snared her leg. Rebaa went cold.
No! Rebaa kicked as hard as she could at the rope that bound her. Her head was starting to feel as though it would explode. She struck at the knot, aiming for what she judged to be weak points, but the rope held.
Something nagged at the edges of her mind but she ignored it as she continued to fight her bonds, struggling to figure out the best way to escape. Spots began to dance behind her eyes and finally she had to halt her exertions. She could not get a full breath. Her mind nagged again and, in her current stillness, she finally understood it for the warning that it was. Something was approaching, whispering across her awareness. It was a signature she knew signature well. Cro.
Abandoning all thought or caution, Rebaa twisted wildly in a renewed effort to free herself. She would rather be dead than in their hands. Ninmah, save me!
The plea had no sooner crossed her mind when she was falling. One moment she was thrashing in an attempt to escape, the next she was on the ground with a soft bump. Rebaa didn’t wait to question what had happened. She kicked the slackened rope from around her ankle and clawed away from the trap, dragging her wounded leg behind her.
She could hear the voices of the hunters now. The breeze picked up the sound and swirled it in the air, making it impossible to tell which direction they were coming from. Throwing herself once more on Ninmah’s grace, she turned south.
Powerful arms seized her from behind and dragged her back. A rough hand clamped over her mouth, blocking her scream before it could emerge.
“Runuk!” a familiar voice hissed in her ear.
In her shock, Rebaa stopped struggling. Not an hallucination. The Thal took advantage of her lack of resistance and dragged her backwards. One arm released her as they passed the tree and a pale hand reached up to snap a thick branch from the boughs with little effort. The show of strength was frightening but the Thal’s hold, while denying any hope of escape, did not hurt her in the slightest.
With her free arm, Rebaa’s captor began to brush at the snow with the branch, eliminating their footprints as she continued to draw Rebaa swiftly backwards. They went no more than six paces before the Thal threw the branch away and ducked down beside an outcropping of rocks. There was a small opening at the bottom and the other woman shoved Rebaa into the tiny hole before squeezing down into the space beneath the jumble of stones beside her.
Her mouth released, Rebaa gulped at the air. While feeding her starved lungs, she stared wide-eyed at the red-haired being beside her. Black eyes stared back reproachfully. Rebaa started to speak but Red shook her fiery head and put her thick fingers to her own mouth, indicating that Rebaa should be quiet.
The voices sounded again outside, much closer now. Rebaa dared to peer out of the small hole next to her rescuer and watched as the furred figures materialised out of the snow. Six tall Cro hunters, each bearing weapons. She could not recognise their totem from this distance but she could see feathers dangling from their weapons and what looked like the mark of an eagle or a hawk. As they drew nearer, Rebaa felt the large body next to hers tense as her own heart hammered against her ribs.
Intense bitterness that was not her own washed over Rebaa’s senses as the Cro reached the tree. They had been hoping for a meal and returned only to find an empty, ruined trap.
Red’s large pale fingers twitched restlessly. “Evil men,” she spat. “Takers and killers!”
A shout went up from the hunters. A scuffle had broken out as each of the men tried to blame the other for the trap’s failure. Rebaa was sure the fight would have continued but a shouted order from an older man with grizzled grey hair stopped the antagonists short. The leader began to search around, studying the area for a few short moments, though it felt like an eternity to Rebaa. In the end he gave another terse order and lead his men back the way they had come with a frustrated gesture. Their dark forms and voices soon disappeared into the distance.
It was a few moments before Rebaa realised she had been holding her breath. She released it in one long sigh. Muttering a few grumbled words that Rebaa did not understand, the Thal woman shrugged out from beneath their rocky shelter. Rebaa hesitated, there was no other way out of this bolt hole. She was left with no choice but to follow. As she hobbled to her feet, swaying on one leg, she waited in a daze to see what Red would do next. Running away was out of the question, she was at the other woman’s mercy.
The vivid hair billowed in the cold wind as the Thal returned to the tree and picked up the severed rope. She stared at it in disgust for a few moments before holding it out to Rebaa, pointing at it and shaking her head.
“What?” Rebaa had the sense that she was being scolded like an errant child for her foolishness. “H-how was I to know?”
“Cro trap. More careful.” The rough voice was bitter as Red threw the offending rope out of sight. “Come.”
Rebaa leaned away instinctively as the other woman approached with an outstretched hand. The coarse features fell in the face of her continued mistrust. Red raised both of her hands as she had on the night they had met.
“I no hurt. You foolish to leave cave. Sick all night. I look after. Come.”
The scattered memories of the Thal sitting over her during the brief waking moments of her illness flashed through Rebaa’s mind. It seemed they hadn’t been hallucinations either. She paused, struggling to think, the haze in her mind only seeming to get heavier.
Taking advantage of her hesitation, Red took her elbow and Rebaa finally gave in. She took one step and her leg buckled from under her. With a reproachful cluck of her tongue, Red reached down and lifted Rebaa into her arms. She strode off and Rebaa could not find it in herself to protest.
The Thal knew the range well; treading hidden paths and winding tunnels that Rebaa would never have found or dared to navigate on her own. They arrived back at the cave in half the time it had taken Rebaa to reach the Cro trap. The mouth opened up in the gathering shadows before them and then they were inside, the dimness pressing down on Rebaa’s eyes once more. Red laid her back down upon the furs surrounding the fire pit at the centre of the cave.
Rebaa lay where she had been placed, too exhausted to do anything more. She lifted her heavy head to regard the stranger sitting across from her. She coughed dryly. She was thirsty again, mouthfuls of snow had done nothing to quench it.
Without a word, Red moved to her side and slipped one arm behind Rebaa’s shoulders, supporting her as she pressed a skin to her parched lips. Cool water flowed over her tongue and soothed her painful throat. Rebaa drank greedily until the skin ran dry.
“Thank you,” she murmured as she wiped her wet lips. She forced herself to remain still as a large pale hand reached out to cover her brow. The Thal woman nodded, satisfied.
“Curse pass. But still weak. Rest.” Red m
oved away and began fussing about the fire, rebuilding the fuel from piles of wood stacked against the edges of the cave. She rekindled it using a couple of pieces of flint.
As she watched the Thal’s activities, Rebaa could feel herself sliding unwillingly back towards unconsciousness. She drowsed as Red moved about the cave, sometimes leaving only to return moments later. The rebuilt fire began to crackle and spit as it devoured new wood, warmth washed over her…
“Hungry?”
Rebaa jolted awake, becoming aware of the smell of cooking meat and spied the hunk of browned flesh spitted over the fire. Her mouth watered as her empty stomach growled. Food. Tears welled as she looked across the flames with desperate eyes, forgetting her suspicion in her need.
Red understood. She pulled the stick of sizzling meat from the fire. Using pieces of worn hide, she took hold of the flesh and tore a piece from it, handing the bounty to Rebaa. Rebaa snatched it from her fingers before the Thal could change her mind. She did not wait for it to cool; she sank her teeth into the scorched flesh, hardly feeling the pain when it burned her mouth.
Her protesting stomach eased with the first scalding swallow but the single helping wasn’t enough to slake her hunger. Her baby kicked. He was becoming more aware, his thoughts and feelings hazing against her own. It was nearly time for him to greet the world. Apprehension shot through her. She would need all her strength for that fast approaching ordeal. Meeting the black gaze across the fire, she held out her hands, pleading for more. The Thal gave it readily.
She was on her third ration and feeling much stronger when her strange companion gave a throaty laugh, coarse features alight with amusement. “He tried to eat you, now you eat him!”
She almost brought the contents of her stomach back up as the meaning of the Thal’s words hit home. She was eating the bear. Juran had always known better than to draw attention to what went into her stomach. “Please, don’t,” she warned, nauseous.
Rebaa was surprised when Red’s expression lightened with understanding before becoming apologetic. “You Dryad? Wood sprite?”
Rebaa frowned. She had heard her people called many names since she had left her forest home. These were new.
“Ninkuraaja,” she corrected.
“Nink- Ninku-” her companion gave up. “Hard. You Dryads live in woods. Down.” She pointed.
“South? Yes.”
“Eat plants,” she pointed at herself and then at her ear. I hear, Rebaa read the meaning, “talk animals?”
Rebaa nodded warily. “In a way.”
“You should not alone.” The voice became reproachful. “You no know danger. Foolish to go near men.”
Rebaa bridled. “Then what were you doing there?” she asked sharply, irritation spiking in the face of her failure to do as Juran had asked. She did not need her short comings pointing out. She was Ninkuraaja, she was not meant for these Ninmah-forsaken places.
The Thal’s expression closed and she shrugged evasively, rubbing at her scarred forehead with one hand.
Rebaa sighed, struggling to regain her temper. She had been through so much, lost so much but this woman had undeniably saved her life twice now, she did not deserve harsh words. “Thank you,” she murmured across the fire. “If it wasn’t for you I would be dead.”
Rebaa just wished she could figure out the reason for it. As the Furies got longer and harsher, the peoples of the land had enough of a challenge looking after their own. Strangers could not be tolerated and the weak were a burden that must perish in order for the strong to survive. She undoubtedly fell into both descriptions. “Thank you for saving my life.”
Red’s face lightened at her words and she inclined her head in acceptance of the thanks. Rebaa dropped her gaze and stared down into the furs, brooding. She did not know how she was ever going to fulfill her promise to Juran.
“You wear clothes of Cro not Dryad. They catch you? How escape?”
Rebaa grimaced. “It’s a long story.” She was not ready to relive her ordeal and certainly not with a stranger. Her eyes were feeling heavy again, fighting against her efforts to keep them open. She couldn’t seem to shake this bone weary tiredness but her stomach was full at last and she was so warm…
“Baby.” Red patted her own belly. “Soon.”
The words ripped the exhaustion aside. Instantly alert, Rebaa struggled to keep her face impassive even as her heart thudded against her ribs. This Thal might have saved her life but if she ever guessed at the baby’s Forbidden heritage then Rebaa was as good as dead. “Yes,” she hedged. She hoped her companion would simply assume the father was Ninkuraaja and not pry further.
“Should not be alone.” Red repeated firmly.
No, she should not. Rebaa pressed her lips together to suppress her longing for the one she would never see again. Her anger burned anew. It was his fault. He should have fled with her. She might have been able to heal him. A tear slipped down her cheek. She brushed it away angrily. He had made his choice. He had abandoned her and burdened her with an impossible promise to save their Forbidden child.
A Forbidden child.
Rebaa shivered. She had no idea of what it could mean and her panic rose in the face of the unknown; this terrible consequence of the love between herself and Juran.
It took an effort to calm her breathing. There was nothing she could do about it now. The sin had been committed. If she faced her fears, she would not be able to function and she needed all of her wits.
“Not alone now,” Red comforted. “You safe here.”
Safe? Rebaa blinked at the words, the concept had become alien to her. But now that she was no longer trying to escape, she found the Thal’s energy to be strangely… comforting. Perhaps it was because Red was the only human companion of any sort she had known since her adopted family had been ripped from her. The aching weariness washed over her anew. “Why are you helping me?” she gathered the will to ask.
“I alone, too,” came the melancholy reply. “Long time.”
Rebaa was surprised when her heart went out to the lonely creature opposite her. She stared into the dark eyes peering across the flickering flames, searching for any sign of deception, an ulterior motive. She could sense nothing more than a heartfelt sincerity and a deep, desperate desire for companionship, however brief. The last of Rebaa’s misgivings crumbled. She lay down upon the soft furs lining the fire, accepting the offered comforts at last. Her foolish attempt to continue her journey in her current state had failed miserably. She needed to regain her health and allow her wounds the chance to heal. She decided to trust her new companion. For now.
“What’s your name?” Rebaa asked as she slid back towards the unconsciousness her body so craved. If she was going to remain, she could hardly keep thinking of the Thal woman as ‘Red’.
“Nen.”
Rebaa smiled. “Rebaa.”
10
Need
Rebaa woke to the thick, smoky scent of a dying fire. She had slept fitfully, her dreams filled with monsters and death. She remembered waking often with a cry on her lips, clutching her chest against the raw, aching loss. Each time she had found Nen sitting close by, watching her with that sad, knowing expression. She had been singing. The songs she sang were strange to Rebaa but had possessed a soothing power that had returned her to sleep each time, wrapping her in a cocoon of comfort.
Rebaa sat up and saw that light was streaming in through the cave entrance. Ninmah had already risen. She glanced around and found that she was alone. Her twice saviour was nowhere to be seen. Cautiously, she got to her feet. Although her sleep had been far from peaceful, she felt more rested and stronger than she had done in days. Her mind was clear at last; blackness no longer threatened on the edge of her vision, begging to drag her to its depths. A full belly had worked its magic.
She realised it was the first time she had seen the cave with the light of Ninmah shining in from outside and Rebaa moved to study this unexpected haven. The cave walls were cold and grey now tha
t the fire had burned low but the space had the feel of having been lived in for a long time. The ground had been cleared of loose rocks, all of which were piled neatly against the curving walls along with the stored firewood. Her attention was drawn upwards where dozens of reliefs had been scratched into the grey stone.
Putting as much weight on her healing leg as she dared, Rebaa moved to take a closer look. There were many pictures of animals, of birds, bears, lions, horses. They were crudely drawn but still very distinct. There were yet more creatures that she did not even recognise. Giant beasts with great curving tusks sprouting from under a long snake-like limb, located where most ordinary animals’ noses would be. The most numerous of the creations, however, were the images of people. Rebaa ran her fingers over the rocks, feeling the nuances beneath her skin.
It seemed that each picture was telling its own story. Here was a scratching of a settlement. All the people appeared happy and at peace. There, Rebaa could make out a hunting scene. The people had brought down one of the tusked beasts. She moved along the wall, trailing her fingertips, fascinated. Some of the images were not so happy. One clearly showed a battle between peoples. Many were dead. Rebaa shied away from that image. The memories it conjured were far too fresh and horrific for her to face. She did not need any more nightmares.
The next picture was that of a woman holding a baby. Rebaa lingered over that one, her hands unconsciously moving to her belly where her own baby dozed beneath her heart. Somehow the image was sad. Rebaa turned around and saw another picture where a figure appeared to be fleeing from others who were hurling stones. She only caught a glimpse, however, before a throaty voice called from behind her.
“Wake?”
Rebaa flinched and spun to face the cave entrance. Nen had appeared and was watching her carefully. Rebaa couldn’t help but notice that her large hands were covered in red gore. Rebaa shuddered but nodded in answer.
