“What’s that you have there?” she asks and points at the figure in his hands. She doesn’t reveal that she already knows what it is and immediately feels guilty for lying about it.
“Do you remember that people sacrificed to The Great Giver back in the village? When people wanted more out of life than they had. I took this from mother and father’s cupboard when we left the village.”
He holds the figure in front of Skye’s face and continues: “For some time I’ve wanted luck to follow us so that we never have to want for anything. I’ve been telling it to the figure and I think it’s been listening. It’s showed me the way to a better place for you and me. Now all we need is a little more help to beat our enemies.”
Skye listens to Ecco’s words, but she doesn’t understand how a small wooden figure could help them with anything. She didn’t understand it back then either, when the grown-ups wanted things from The Great Giver, and she doesn’t understand it now.
“I don’t understand how a stupid, ugly figure can help us with anything at all. It’s just a foolish thing the grown-ups used. The Great Giver hasn’t ever done anything good for anyone. Not to mention the The Slaveborns or the animals who had to die …”
Skye can feel that she’s getting slightly wound up and angry at Ecco. She thinks it’s meaningless to bring a foolish tradition from the old life into their new lives.
“Be quiet!” Ecco hisses.
“It’s a tradition our people created. To improve their lives, to gain more power and more possessions. Like I’m trying to do for us now. It’s something our people have always done. So stop calling it foolish!”
He picks up a slingshot from the ground and walks away between the trees.
A bit later Ecco returns with a dead bird. Skye says nothing, but looks at Ecco as he sticks the figure in the ground and kneels in front of it. She can tell he’s trying to mimic the sacrificial ceremonies of the past and that the bird had to give its life to satisfy his need to carry out an old tradition. He lays the dead bird in front of The Great Giver and starts speaking. She can’t hear what he says and she doesn’t care. Maybe a hungry predator will steal the bird later so that it didn’t die for nothing.
Ecco gets up again and walks over to her.
“Let’s pack our weapons. We mustn’t take any more than the things that are absolutely necessary or we’ll get tired from carrying. And we have to remember the tin steel!”
He throws a rucksack to her and starts packing the bow and arrows.
“I’ve made this. It could turn out to be useful in close combat.”
He passes her a thick branch. At one end there’s a hole that a long piece of rope is tied to, at the other end of the rope there’s a large stone. It reminds her of some of the butchering tools that the men in the village used for killing dogs and other animals when they no longer had any use as work animals and they were to be eaten. Skye shivers at the thought. She looks at the weapons around her, and it slowly dawns on her what is about to happen. They’re going to go out and kill somebody. Hurt people she doesn’t know anything about.
Fear and resentment grow in her and she starts shaking. She’s scared, and in despair. Everything about Ecco’s plan feels wrong. She wishes they could find another place to live, or keep wandering as they’ve always done. But she doesn’t have the strength or the courage to confront Ecco. She’s also promised herself that she should be stronger. No more tears. And what if he’s right and she’s wrong?
Maybe the strangers do want to hurt them. Maybe she just barely avoided being attacked or killed that day by the lake when they were watching her.
She looks up at Ecco, who’s signaling to her that they should go. With a heavy heart she gets up, ready to follow her brother, her tutor and master. She hopes that he has the right answers, because if he doesn’t then who does?
CHAPTER 19
Brogan lies limp on the bed with blood coming out of his mouth. Falkner looks into his mouth and shudders. He can see that he’s bitten off a piece of his tongue. Konnor enters the hut with some clean water, but none of them say anything. The mood is uneasy, and they all walk around silently without really doing anything. Falkner looks down at Brogan’s half-amputated leg. They’ve finally managed to stop the bleeding, but he’s lost a lot of blood. He doesn’t want to know what Konnor did with the rest of the leg from yesterday, but it’s buried somewhere in the forest. The silence is suddenly broken by a loud shout.
“It’s burning by the river!”
It’s Egor shouting. Falkner quickly gets up and runs out of the hut. He turns to North and Konnor who are still inside and says: “Stay here with Brogan and I’ll run down and see what’s happening!”
Egor and Whistler run after him. The sun’s setting and the fire lights up the edge of the lake. A large pile of dry branches and leaves is in flames. Falkner walks around the fire and he instantly knows that someone has lit the fire. Someone other than them.
“Aim for the largest one of them,” Ecco whispers quietly as he points to Falkner from a small bush near the fire.
“If you shoot him, I’ll take care of the others.”
Skye sits ready with the bow but her breathing is quick and her hands are shaking uncontrollably.
“Hurry Skye! It’s now or never!”
His voice is agitated and she becomes even more nervous. She closes her left eye and focuses on her target. He quickly moves back and forth and she’s struggling to follow him with the bow. Finally he stops, and she’s able to aim at him while gaining control of her breathing. One, two deep breaths. Her hands slowly stop shaking and she shuts out all senses one by one. The only thing she’s focusing on is the area around his chest where the heart hides.
She hesitates for a moment and her eyes find his face. He looks like a young boy around Ecco’s age. It could be Ecco. His eyes twinkle like small stars in the light from the fire and his long golden hair blows in front of his face. What is he thinking of? Is he scared like her? Does he sense that she’s about to shoot an arrow through his heart and kill him?
Just at that moment it starts raining, and Skye feels small drops on her forehead. She’s torn from her thoughts and focuses on the boy’s chest once again. The drops are getting stronger and hit her eyelashes. She pulls the bow string back preparing to shoot. In the second before releasing she lowers her bow slightly and closes her eyes. She fires. A twirling sound shoots through the air, and she hears a loud scream.
Ecco grabs her arm hard and pulls her with him out of the bushes. He quickly runs towards one of the other two boys who are sitting next to the wounded boy. He’s lying on the ground, curled up, screaming. Skye is right behind Ecco but can’t comprehend the situation. The rain is clouding her vision, and she can feel a strong heat from the fire hitting her. And she can hear the screams. Ecco has the large rock sling in his hand and he’s preparing to swing it as he runs silently ahead. The boys haven’t seen him coming. Their attention is directed at their fallen friend.
In one smooth movement he swings the rock over his head twice before it hits one of the boys hard on the side of the face. A strange hollow sound is the result and he falls lifeless on the ground. The other boy looks at Ecco with his eyes wide awake. He’s long and slender, his red-brown hair is sticking in all directions and his thin arms are hanging limply down. For a moment he just stands there looking. At Ecco, at his weapon, and at the two other boys lying on the ground next to him.
He turns around and starts running. Ecco swings the stick again and hits him hard on the shoulder. He loses his balance and lands on his knees. Ecco throws the rock sling away and jumps over him. He quickly manages to turn him on his back and he presses his knees over his arms so he can’t move. The red-haired boy starts kicking wildly into the air to escape Ecco’s iron grip, but in vain.
Immovable and paralyzed, Skye stands looking at the boys fighting but suddenly becomes aw
are of the two other boys lying by her feet. One of the boys is lying lifeless in an unnatural position and his head is covered with blood. The violent rain is rinsing the blood off his face and its running onto the muddy ground, but more blood keeps coming from his head.
She suddenly feels the other boy reaching for her and she jumps a step back in shock. The arrow she fired earlier is sticking out of his stomach and he’s badly injured. His loud screams have died down and have turned into a rattling hissing. Slowly, she walks over to him and looks down at him.
He gets hold of the leg of her pants and clings to it as he tries to raise himself on the elbow. The shirt around the entry hole of the arrow is colored red with blood and she can see his skin through the shirt. She looks at his face. The wet, long hair clings to his cheeks and she feels like removing it so she can see him clearly. At the same time, Ecco shouts at her.
“What are you waiting for! Hit him!”
She looks at him and sees that he has his hands around the other boy’s neck. His thin legs are still moving but not as much as before. The look in Ecco’s eyes is wilder than anything she’s seen before and his eyes are shining with excitement.
“Take the rock sling and hit him. Do you hear me, Skye? Hurry up!”
Finally she reacts and runs for the weapon in the mud. She picks it up. It’s heavy and hard to hold. Once again she looks at Ecco and sees that he’s winning the fight over the slim, red-haired boy. It’s hard to look at without becoming sick, and she quickly turns away. Her hair and clothes are soaked by the rain, but she still feels the warmth from the flames of the dying fire.
Step by step she walks towards the wounded boy. In her hand she holds the stick while the rock in the rope is dragged through the wet earth, gathering a large pile of mud on the way. It feels even heavier than before. She now stands next to her wounded opponent, ready to finish what she couldn’t do before. Through the wet hair on his face, she can see his eyes. They’re blue, and remind her of Ecco’s eyes. He looks her in the eyes and blinks a few times but he still looks straight at her. He looks scared. With one hand he tries to grab her, but he can’t reach.
She hears Ecco shouting at her again. There’s a seriousness and aggression in his voice that scare her even more than the blood on the boy’s shirt or the look in his eyes.
“Hit him! NOW, Skye! KILL HIM!”
In a panic she tries to lift the rock sling, but it’s too heavy for her to swing around. Instead she grabs the stick with both hands and lifts it over her head. She falls to her knees, close to the boy’s chest. Their eyes are still tied to each other. He reaches for her again and gets a hold on her shirt, but his grip is without strength. She can tell that his lips are moving and a weak sound comes out.
“Help me …”
Skye swings the stick with everything she has towards his head as she screams loudly. The only thing she can hear is her own voice. Her own scream. She feels him letting go of her shirt and looks down at him. His eyes are closed. His body is lifeless. He’s dead. In despair she sits down on the wet and muddy ground, throwing the rock sling away from her. From the corner of her eye she sees Ecco approaching.
She looks at him and says tonelessly: “He’s dead now, Ecco.”
He doesn’t answer but nods in approval. The rain’s winning over the flames and the fire is slowly dying. Ecco turns away from her, picks up the rock sling and starts running. The darkness has come and only the scarce moonlight lights the area. He runs toward a small beacon of light further up, closer to the forest. Skye can make out the outline of a small hut. She knows it’s not over yet, but she’s incapable of getting up. She doesn’t dare look at the dead bodies around her, and she closes her eyes. A few moments later she hears someone screaming and her body shakes in fear. It’s not Ecco’s voice but someone else.
North sits by the fire outside the hut. He hears a scream. This time closer than before, and it sounds like Konnor. He left the hut a while ago to look for the others. North gets up and stares into the darkness. He can’t see anything, but he senses that something’s wrong. Suddenly a large flock of birds takes off some distance away and he hears another scream. This time he has no doubt. It is Konnor. He quickly walks into the hut to Brogan, who’s been wakened by the noise.
Dazed, he looks at North and asks: “Who’s shouting? Where’s Falkner and the others?”
He slowly looks around in the dark, but he only sees North. Suddenly they both hear a noise right outside the hut. North quietly moves backwards, away from Brogan’s bed, towards the other end of the hut. He looks down at Brogan holding a finger against his mouth.
“Hush, there’s someone outside,” he whispers. Brogan becomes nervous and tries to get up on his elbows, but his strength is failing him. He looks desperately at North but can’t see him anymore. Slowly and silently he’s disappeared into the shadow of the wall.
At that second Brogan sees the outline of someone in the door. It looks like a boy, but he’s finding it difficult to see clearly. He has something in his hand and it looks like a weapon. Brogan’s wide awake now, and he’s slowly being overtaken by panic. Before he has time to react, the shadow from the door comes quickly towards him and grabs him by the throat. He tries to fight off his attacker but his strength has gone. Painful spasms erupt from his footless leg and he screams in pain. Between the screams he still manages to struggle free, but his throat is immediately squeezed by the hands of the stranger again.
He’s fighting to breathe and he gasps into the darkness: “Help me … help … me, North.”
He sees a large shadow appearing behind his attacker and his hopes grow again. It’s North. His savior. Brogan fences with his arms trying to get a hold of the stranger’s hair. He almost hasn’t any strength left and has nearly given up. Why doesn’t North do anything? Why’s he just standing there? Brogan is struggling to keep his thoughts clear. It’s all becoming blurry and he slips in and out of consciousness.
Finally he gives in to the emptiness, and sees through his half-closed eyes that North turns around and disappears through the door of the hut. Brogan disappears into the darkness and takes one last startled thought with him into death. Why didn’t North help me? Then everything becomes black.
CHAPTER 20
The trip home is long and cold. They need to get back to their old camp to pick up their other belongings before they can move into their new home, that’s now cleared of enemies. The rain still pours from the sky with undiminished force, and the moon is almost hidden behind dark clouds.
Skye’s legs are stiff and cold from sitting on the wet ground, and she’s unable to find a rhythm in her steps. Several times she looks at Ecco who’s walking right in front of her. He says nothing, and his pace is slower than normal. It’s not like him, but Skye doesn’t care. The only thing she can think of is the fear in the blue eyes of the wounded boy. A fear she had created. It cuts like a knife in her heart and the pain feels unbearable.
She looks at the sky and large drops of rain hit her face. But she welcomes them because they hide her tears. She’s afraid they’ll never stop, even when the rain stops falling, but right now she’s only happy that the drops are covering her despair and sorrow. Ecco stops and leans against a large tree. He seems out of breath and struggles to breathe. She walks over to him, but he lifts his hand to show her she doesn’t need to come closer. Quietly, he starts walking again.
It’s almost morning before they reach their camp. The morning sun lights up the forest floor and it’s finally stopped raining.
Skye’s tired. She can barely stand up. The coldness of the night has penetrated every single part of her body, and the wet clothes feel like a freezing armor. She sits down exhausted by the campfire, hugging her knees in an attempt to stay warm. The fire’s been drowned by the rain long ago. Everything around her is wet and it’ll be almost impossible to light a fire now. She hasn’t got the energy to think about it, and she
only wants to lie down next to Ecco to get warm. He’s already crawled into their sleeping spot in the hollow tree and has slipped underneath their blanket.
Skye hurries to join Ecco and takes off her wet clothes. She finds a dry shirt from the bottom of her rucksack that the rain hasn’t found. Quickly she crawls under the blanket and lies close to Ecco with her back against his chest. He pulls her closer to him and she can feel the warmth of his body against hers. It’s completely quiet. Only the sound of their breathing and the song of a few birds can be heard.
Skye breaks the silence and asks in a low voice: “What do you think their names were?”
Ecco doesn’t answer, even though she can hear he’s awake. Maybe he hasn’t quite heard what she said. Maybe she didn’t even say it out loud but only thought it in her head? A little later Ecco starts talking. His voice is low and hoarse.
“Do you know that we were born around this time of year? Sometimes I forget it. Mostly because we never celebrated it after father died, because mother said this time of year reminded her more of death than birth.”
Skye listens to what Ecco says, but she’s never thought of it before now. She’s forgotten many things from back then, mostly because she can’t stand thinking about the time before the world changed. A time that suddenly changed from security and calm to chaos and unhappiness and would never be like it was again. It felt like another life, another world.
He continues quietly: “So now we’re almost adults. You too. You’re a woman.”
Skye thinks that maybe he’s right, even though she still feels like a child. Like a child with no parents.
“And it’s more important than ever before that we stick together. You and I. We must never let anyone else in. They mean us nothing but harm. Remember that, Skye. We can only trust each other.”
The Dawn of Skye (The Someday Children Book 1) Page 12
