Fella straightens his back to appear bigger than he is as he answers: “We can’t have special rules for him. He has to learn that we tease him sometimes without you defending him. He’ll never grow into a man if he acts like a small baby hiding behind his father every time something goes against him. ‘Fight the weakness in yourself even if it’ll cost another man his head on the way.’ My father taught me that when I was growing up, and Puk could learn something from that.”
Hackett nods appreciatively while patting Fella’s back. Behind them, Salomon stands in silence, watching them as their courage grows. From the corner of his eye, Fella feels him looking. It’s uncomfortable, and his body collapses a bit before he continues with renewed strength, feeling Hackett’s support.
“And he also taught me that an animal is an animal and not a playmate. Either animals work or they are eaten, otherwise they’re useless to us. Why should we waste food on an animal if it’s of no good to us?”
“Oh, so your father taught you that. Didn’t he also teach you not to become friends with a Slaveborn? What was it we used to call them back then? ‘Filthy slave workers’ who deserve to die in the graveyard they live by. And here you are – sitting next to Hackett, born to growl at your feet and sleep with the animals. Your best friend, who wouldn’t be by your side if you followed all your father’s rules and advice.”
Dagwood raises his voice with each sentence.
“But your father isn’t here. He’s gone, and will never come back. He’s rotting away with all the Slaveborns he kicked down when they didn’t do as he said. Rotting away with all the animals he beat to death if they didn’t work hard enough. Rotting away with the rest of the others who were supposed to protect us against death and misfortune. Your father’s good advice means nothing here. Nothing! Do you understand that?”
Dagwood’s heart is pumping unnaturally fast and he clutches his fists to get his temperament under control. For a short moment he feels like gripping Fella by the throat and shaking that dumb grin off his lips. How naive and forgetful he was. Didn’t he remember anything from back then?
Dagwood looks down at the ground as he closes his eyes and gathers his thoughts. For a moment he sits without speaking and doesn’t continue till his voice is normal and calm again.
“If your father was so wise and his advice so good, how come we’re the only ones left now? Why have all the grown-ups abandoned us?”
CHAPTER 6
Ecco breaks off a branch from the fallen tree lying close to their new camp. He’s found a small shelter in the base of a large old tree that once must’ve been inhabited by a larger animal. There’s plenty of sleeping space for both of them, and they can keep themselves relatively dry if the fury of the sky should start again. The big tree will also protect them if someone tries to sneak up on them from behind. Their backs are quite sheltered, and the ground behind the tree is marshy and heavy to walk in. The fallen trees surrounding the shelter will also make it harder to run towards them at high speed. At least that’ll make it difficult or delay an attack, giving them time to flee or get a head start that’ll keep them alive. Yes, it’s a good and safe place.
Ecco’s pleased with his choice of campsite, but he also knows that it’s only a temporary camp. They’ll have to find an even safer place soon, and preferably one that’s permanent. His body’s tired and worn down from walking. Maybe they can find a place on top of a hill, where the view of the area will reveal all future attacks on them.
He starts looking for branches of different sizes and freshness. The larger branches have to be fresh so they can bend without breaking. The smaller branches have to be dry or hard but mustn’t be so fragile or brittle that they’ll break too easily.
Skye’s almost finished building their fire. She only needs a couple of large stones so that all the fire logs will be surrounded and the fiery embers won’t get away during the night and set something alight. That happened once long ago, and if Ecco hadn’t woken up, something terrible could have happened. Skye doesn’t like thinking about it because it was her fault the embers fell out of the fire and set a pile of dry leaves alight. She hadn’t been careful enough building that fire, but since then she’s paid extra attention to collecting enough stones.
A couple of suitable stones are lying close by, and she manages to carry them to the fire. She looks down at the campfire and smiles happily. Now she can relax and look forward to Ecco returning, and then they can sit by the warm fire and have something to eat. She’ll get Ecco in a better mood and apologize for being stupid earlier. She’ll be a good and skillful sister who’ll make her brother proud – worthy of being his companion and partner, and not just dead weight that ought to be cut off. Not that she thinks he’ll ever abandon her, but she hates the feeling of him looking at her with disappointment or forbearance.
Lately she’s caught him looking at her in a different way. As if he was watching her. Observering her way of handling or solving tasks, as if he was assessing her skills of managing on her own. And she could do most things a little better if only she’d think first and not let her thoughts wander.
Skye jumps on one of the large stones that she’s dragged over to the campfire and looks around. He was here just a moment ago, but now she can’t find Ecco. She’s about to call out but quickly chokes her cry by putting her hand over her mouth.
“Stupid, stupid girl,” she whispers to herself.
“You were about to make a fool of yourself again. You can’t cry out like that when you don’t know whether there are enemies close by.”
She can hear herself repeating Ecco’s words from earlier that day as she quickly steps down from the stone. She looks around again to make sure that Ecco isn’t somewhere nearby, watching her. Maybe he’s hiding to test whether she’s been paying attention to what he told her earlier. Maybe he’s hiding behind a tree, and will step forward in a little while to tell her she failed the test. She sits down and waits a little, but Ecco doesn’t come forward to scold her and she starts relaxing again.
Skye looks over at their new shelter in the base of the old tree and feels like making it extra cozy to stay in. Maybe remove the worst traces of creeps which surely live in the cracks and corners of the shelter. She finds a small twig with lots of leaves on it and begins removing the bugs and webs. The ground within the den is bumpy and uneven, and she collects lots of leaves that she uses to cover the worst dents and holes. In the corner of the den she finds hair and fur from the animal who used to live there, and Skye adds the fur and hair to the leaves.
She finds Ecco’s bundle that the large horse skins are tied to and begins untying it. One end of the skin is tangled in the string and Skye begins pulling it to loosen it up, but she underestimates her strength and pulls too hard. A hidden pocket in Ecco’s bundle appears and a small wooden figure drops to the ground. Skye picks up the figure and turns it around in her hand. She hasn’t seen it since back then when it stood in their house in the fine cabinet with glass doors and a lock on the cabinet door.
Why on earth has Ecco taken it with him? And why has he never told her that he’s been carrying it for all this time, but instead has been hiding it in a secret pocket? The small figure is golden and covered in fine stones. It’s a copy of The Great Giver, a tall statue standing in the large town square that people would worship and sacrifice animals to when they wanted a larger house, more land or more coins. Over time people started sacrificing the children of The Slaveborns if they wanted something very special or very important, and it was always a great occasion that people travelled far to witness.
To Skye the large statue had always been linked to something scary and incomprehensible, and she never liked taking part in the macabre sacrificial rituals. Even though her parents took the statue and the sacrificing very seriously, she always managed to look away when the sacrifice took place. She didn’t remember Ecco being particularly fascinated by either the statue or th
e rituals, but at the same time that period in her life was so unclear in her memory that maybe she just hadn’t noticed his interest back then. Why would he bring a copy of The Great Giver with him unless it meant something to him?
She hears a noise outside the shelter and quickly puts the figure back in the secret pocket. Ecco looks at her and smiles.
“Wow, you’ve made it really nice inside. We’ll sleep really well here tonight. Come out and let’s start the fire. We need to warm our bodies and get something to eat. And then there’s also something really important that we need to talk about.”
CHAPTER 7
Falkner and Brogan are almost finished knocking the four corner poles down in the ground that will be the foundation of their new hut. It’s taken longer than they anticipated and their upper bodies are covered in sweat. Falkner’s frame is a bit smaller than Brogan’s, but they’re both naturally muscular and their raw powers are being put to maximum use. They’ve been working in the sun for many hours, and the rays have burned their skin copper golden.
Falkner stops hitting and throws his hammer to the ground. He dries the sweat off his face with his forearm while he breathes loudly to indicate how hot he’s feeling.
“I’m glad we’ve had plenty of food in the past few days, otherwise our strength would’ve disappeared long before the hut was finished. We should’ve taken the small roundsnouts as well. It was a waste of good food leaving them to rot in the trap. Now I’ve used up all of my strength for the day and I need a break. And some more food.”
He grabs his long, thick hair and twists it so the sweat runs down his neck and shoulders.
“I think I’ll have to cut off my hair soon. The heat is unbearable, and it only gets worse when the sun time starts for real! So much hair is only useful for warming my beautiful head when the cold is at its worst.”
He laughs and smiles at Brogan, who’s sat down on a fallen tree and is waving a big piece of bark in front of his face.
“How about a cool dip before the others get back?”
Brogan’s voice is hoarse and rusty and sounds like the voice of someone who hasn’t been drinking water for a long time. He throws the piece of bark and quickly begins to loosen the string of his pants while he tries to get his worn-out shoes off with his feet at the same time.
“Great idea. It’s the wisest thing you’ve said all day,” Falkner replies laughingly and tries to get out of his pants quicker than Brogan.
Soon both of them have taken off their pants and shoes and begin to run toward the big lake close to the half-finished hut. They race while shouting like howling dogs. Their tired and warm bodies get new energy from the thought of a cool dip.
Suddenly, Brogan steps on a thorny branch and feels an object brutally penetrating his left foot. He winces loudly but carries on at the same pace like nothing has happened.
They reach the edge of the water almost simultaneously and throw themselves fearlessly towards the surface. Brogan is the first to have his head above water again and throws his wet hair back while he gets his footing on the bottom of the lake. He loudly shudders, surprised by how cold the water is, and looks for Falkner. He can’t see him, but suddenly he feels his legs locked in a hard grip under the water. Falkner! He can’t keep his balance and feels his head moving towards the surface again. Soon he’ll be under water again and frantically he tries to twist and turn to get out of the firm grip as he tries to get an idea of what is up and down in the cold water.
The commotion on the bottom of the lake makes the once-clear water muddy, and he’s having a hard time seeing which way the surface is. Finally, his feet find the bottom again and he shoots out of the water like an arrow in the air, gasping for air. Shortly after, Falkner’s head appears and Brogan smashes his hand against the surface, splashing water towards his attacker. They both start laughing as they throw themselves back into the water.
Brogan doesn’t know how long they’ve been in the water, but he starts swimming towards the edge of the lake when his teeth start chattering. He’s chilled to the bone and wants to get back into the sun to warm up his body again. The sun’s gained in strength, and what felt like a heat that was unbearable to work and concentrate in a short while ago now feels like a cherished source of warmth for body and soul.
Falkner is still in the lake, and Brogan sees him heading towards the large waterfall that plunges roaringly into the lake, filling it with endless amounts of water. The big lake seems to be insatiable, and Brogan wonders where the water comes from and disappears to. The powerful force of the water scares him, and he doesn’t want to test fate by swimming over to the roaring fusion of waterfall and lake.
He can see that Falkner has almost reached the edge of the waterfall, and he momentarily disappears in the heavy fog that the waterfall generates when meeting the surface of the lake. For a moment Brogan’s worried. But he knows the physical power of Falkner so well that his worry is unnecessary. Brogan wishes that he could have the same bodily control, not to mention courage, that Falkner has. Just once in a while. He doesn’t understand how Falkner so fearlessly takes on one dangerous challenge after another and never seems to lose his composure. Or courage.
Falkner can feel the strong undercurrent sucking him further and further down the closer he gets to the waterfall. It’s hard to control his body and he fights to keep his head above water. He takes a deep breath and dives into the roaring water inferno, quickly discovering he has far better bodily control under water. His eyes are open, but he has difficulties navigating in the rough water and tries to find his way with his hands instead.
There are a lot of sharp and rough stones pointing towards the water surface, as if a giant monster was hiding at the bottom with open jaws and bared teeth waiting for its prey. Several times Falkner tears his arms and legs, but he continues forward. He only resurfaces to breathe when he’s almost out of breath, and he constantly keeps focusing on the stone formations at the lake bottom. Systematically he maps the labyrinth of “fangs” in his memory, piece by piece, stone by stone.
For a long time he swims by the edge of the violent waterfall, and finally reaches the other side of the enormous water mass. Tired, he distances himself from the roaring waterfall and looks at it, with all its width and glory. What a beautiful sight! So life-giving, and yet so murderous at the same time. Hypnotized, Falkner stares at the roaring and beautiful horn of plenty for a while before finally turning on his back, slowly moving his feet up and down. Slowly, drained of energy, he heads towards the lakeshore where Brogan sits and waits.
On the way he turns a few times, watching the countless swimmers swarming underneath him in small and large schools. The lake is full of life and he realizes how fortunate they are, having found this amazing place to live.
CHAPTER 8
“It’s important you listen carefully, Skye.”
Ecco looks at her with the same serious face that he’s had before, and he pulls her closer to him.
“We’re being followed by someone who wants to harm us. I’m certain it’s the same group that scared the animals in the old valley, and they’ve followed us across the Mountain.”
Skye can feel her heart beginning to beat faster. Her body feels as if it has turned to ice, and every muscle in her body is paralyzed by fear as she listens to his words. Her eyes don’t move from Ecco’s.
“But we have an advantage, Skye. We know that they’re after us, and that’s why we can stay ahead of them all the time. It means that we need to think straight. We need to prepare and always make our move first.”
Ecco’s voice is loud, and Skye has never seen him this determined and confident before. He sounds like a grown man and reminds her of their father when he was telling them something important. The thought of her father makes her relax a bit because he always took care of things if they were serious or unpleasant; often by getting physical and by shouting, and she never liked that w
hen it happened. She normally covered her ears and closed her eyes as he shouted and became violent. But when it was all over they could all relax again and feel safe. At least that was how she remembered it, but there were many black holes in her memory and often it was only fragments or feelings she remembered.
“Do you know who it is?”
Skye stutters through her question and finds it hard to control her voice. She sounds more nervous than she feels.
“No, I don’t think it’s someone we’ve met before. But they can’t be far away. They must live somewhere close by. It’s them who made the animal trap that I found the dead roundsnout in, so they must have a camp or settlement in the area.”
Ecco sits down by the fire. The small animal body that he found earlier is impaled on a long stick and is roasting quietly over the fire. He slowly turns it around and stirs up the embers. The air is filled with the smell of burned meat, and Skye can feel a nauseating feeling growing inside her. The smell reminds her of the last days in the village before they left. All the dead bodies were burning in large piles and filled the air with smoke and the stench of burned meat. She sits next to Ecco and tries to process the new information he’s given her. The nausea is taking over her body, but it also removes her anxiety. She’s calm again. For once she thinks clearly and concentrates, slowly going over every word Ecco’s said.
“There’s something that I don’t understand.”
Skye turns towards Ecco and looks him straight in the eyes.
“How could they build an animal trap that fast? The trap was already here when we came. How can they already be here and follow us?”
Ecco holds her gaze but doesn’t say anything. Slowly his eyes start wandering from side to side as they do when your mind is trying to find an explanation, or answers. He quickly gets up and starts pacing around the fire. His voice is low, almost whispering, and Skye has to listen hard to hear what he’s saying.
The Dawn of Skye (The Someday Children Book 1) Page 5
