Wild Hope

by C. M. Estopare

  Kato bowed and almost dropped to his knees, but the Shamaness stopped him with a hand to his shoulder. The cold steel of her golden nail-guards bit into his skin as she held him steady.

  10

  “There will be a ceremony in the next three days.” The Shamaness said as she escorted Ava and Kato back to their hut. “You are welcome to watch and learn our ways.”

  “Sure.” Ava said, stumbling over her words. “That would be lovely. Sure.”

  When the two entered the hut, Kato pressed his forehead to the floor until he could no longer hear the Shamaness’s fluid footfalls.

  “Kato.” Ava called. “Can you come here? Can you…” she sighed, her shoulders slumping as she braced herself against the hut’s back window. “…I need your help.”

  Kato’s jaw clenched. His mother would be back soon, once the sun set. He hoped that whatever the Outsider needed was something small and quick. If his mother returned to a strangely dressed woman lurking around her hut she’d probably swallow her own tongue out of fear.

  “What do you need?”

  This sigh was quick and explosive before she opened her mouth only to close it. It reminded Kato of a fish.

  With his hands clasped behind his back, he waited.

  “I need you to tell me everything. Everything you know about that—” she wiggled her fingers, “—magic. My people need to know.”

  Though he understood every word, he shot her a questioning glare. Minutes ago, the Shamaness gave him an order to not answer any more of her questions. Now, Kato was beginning to see why.

  “Do you understand me? The magic. Scions. Crystals with…souls in them…” she choked on the words, swallowing between them. “…the. Thing. On. Her. Chest.” She tried again, patting her chest like a gorilla. “Scion. Crystal.”

  He wouldn’t betray the Shamaness. He wouldn’t betray the Mesh.

  With a heavy sigh, Ava dropped her head and slumped her shoulders. “Dammit—I wish you could understand. Wait.” Her head shot up, her eyes opened before they turned to slits. “I know. I know.” And she began to pace. “We’ll do an exchange. An exchange of information—would you do that?”

  Kato crossed his arms. Why is this so important to her?

  “Okay.” Smiling, she clapped once. “My husband—Fiete—owns everything down there. On your north shore? Yes?” she nodded her head as if she was speaking to a mute. “I’m going to tell you the truth here: once he’s done building, everything here? He’s going to take it. Not to make it into a nice resort or a vacation home for me—but to destroy it. Destroy it.” Slamming her fist into her hand, she emphasized the words. “And I’m not just saying this to get information out of you, Kato. I’m saying this because—well, you want the truth? I went with the Shamaness because I wanted to warn you people before it was too late.”

  “Warn us?” Kato croaked. “What do you mean—warn us? You say—destroy it. Your man wants to destroy Nyx?”

  “No.” Ava said. Stretching her arms out wide, she stared at him bluntly. “The entire island, Kato. He’s going to drill it for gas.”

  Kato scratched his head, more confused now than when she started. “Gas?”

  “That—that doesn’t matter, okay? Fuck. I keep forgetting you people don’t know about cars…electricity—never mind, never mind.” She said, waving her hands erratically. “Just—get this, okay? You see that beach? All the work they’re doing on it, yes? They are building a giant drill—a thing that can dig deep, deep, down into the earth. You following me? He’s going to put explosives in the drill once it goes down far enough. And then—boom!” her hands mimed a mushroom cloud.

  “And you call this?”

  “Hydraulic fracturing.” She shook her head. “I don’t really understand it myself—but I know what it does to the environment. I’m not here to threaten you. When I say he’s going to destroy everything, I mean he’s going to kill the plants, make your water undrinkable. He’s going to gas up your air to the point where breathing becomes a chore—I know. I’ve seen beautiful places brought to shit because of fracking. This place is so beautiful—so untamed. I thought—well, I had to at least…warn you.”

  Hydraulic fracturing? “He’s going to destroy Moira.” It was unbelievable. “With evil magic—hydraulic fracturing. And you’ve come here to help us?” he approached her, clenching and unclenching his fists. “Help us by lying to us? By making us fearful?”

  She wouldn’t back down. “Now, it’s your turn. Tell me about the magic—Scion Crystals. How do they get it—how many of you control it?”

  “I will tell an Outsider nothing.”

  “I can tell you how to stop it.”

  He froze, his heart thundering in his chest. He understood those words clearly—if what this Outsider was saying was true, then the Outsiders on the beach were going to destroy everything he held dear. The beauty of the island—Moira herself. Without the Island—where would the Mesh go? The animals? This could be what he’s been searching for—a way to prove to the Shamaness that he was worth something. That he could be an asset to the tribe. This was it.

  Only if the Outsider were telling the truth.

  Why did she need to know about the magic? The Scions? What did she plan to do with that information?

  Could he trust her?

  “They use guns.” Ava began, pleading. “They will kill the Mesh once your people realize what my people are doing to the island. And by then—it will be too late. You need my information, Kato. You need it.”

  He did. If she was telling the truth, his entire tribe did. Everything hinged on his decision.

  A plan struck him like an arrow piercing his back.

  11

  It began on the outskirts in the middle of twilight. Lavender bruised the sky.

  Struggling to see within a silent horde of onlookers, Ava held her device high above her head and peered through its reflective surface.

  “What is that?” she asked, snapping a shot of it. “Is that stuff…glowing?”

  Kato didn’t need to look to tell her what the initiates were doing. At thirteen, he was supposed to have done the exact same thing. After the Calling, he would have waited fourteen days to undergo his Dreaming ceremony. Or—if the Council and Shamaness so willed it—the deadly Dreaming Anew. Waiting in the square before the Shamaness’s hut at daybreak, he remembered listening. Hearing the names of the other children his age being called by the Shamaness. But as the day dwindled on and her voice droned, once the Calling came to an end he was never called. Him and one other.

  His mother cried jealous tears that night.

  “It is glowing.” Kato said. “Moira’s Elixir is what it is called.” He figured there was no harm in her knowing that much.

  “And what does that do?”

  Kato shrugged. That, he did not know. “Only the Dreamers and the Scions know that.”

  She hummed her reply, bringing her device high up again. “The Shamaness told me that this is how children become adults, so…” she sneaked a peek at him. “…weren’t you a Dreamer at one time?”

  He winced at the accusation. “No.” Kato replied. “I have never been a Dreamer.”

  “How old are you again?”

  Old enough. He remained silent, keeping his eyes straight as she shot more pictures. Kato hoped she wouldn’t bring up the subject again.

  Fireflies danced as the forest sang its musty melody of cricket chirps and monkey shrieks. As the initiates finished the glowing bowl of aqua-blue, they looked around as if in a daze. Some kept their eyes closed. Others teetered and spread their hands out wide as if fearing they would fall.

  Nearby, bamboo carts waited as the attached drivers dug their heels into the dirt in anxious anticipation. Ushered by the Shamaness’s guardswomen, the dazed initiates flowed into the two bamboo carts in ones and twos. As they were strapped in and given ceremonial spears, the Shamaness raised her arms high. The crowd followed suit.

  “From Moira, we come and to Moira, we must
return.”

  The crowd repeated her words, an unexpected cry of woe erupting from the heart of the cavalcade of people.

  Kato held up his hands, repeating the phrase. Singing it along with the others. His third time being excluded from the ceremony did nothing to dampen the cutting feeling of betrayal ripping through his chest. All of these children would come back and be granted a Purpose. All of these children would become an asset to the Mesh, while he would remain a leech until the Shamaness decided he was ready to undergo the ceremony. If she would ever let him go at all. He still held strong to hope, and as the phrase was repeated again, he felt that hope squeeze out of him in the form of a tear. A single tear cresting his eyelid. Sliding down his face. Weakness leaving his body.

  Maybe he was meant to be a child forever.

  Forever.

  A warm hand fell on his right shoulder blade. The hand of Moira. The goddess they all praised. Hear my prayer, he pleaded.

  “Stop!” Ava screeched. “Wait—wait!”

  The entire crowd convulsed at the Outsiders blatant carelessness. Kato sprang his head up—half expecting for the crowd to turn on her and box her in. Instead, they were peeling away from her. Allowing her passage through, all the way to the front of the group. As she shoved her way past, Kato muscled his way toward her. Hands grabbed at him, attempted to pull him back and save him from what would come next.

  The Shamaness seethed. Steam seemed to rise from the top of her dreadlocked head.

  “You can’t—I want—” Ava heaved over and panted. Catching her breath, she stood tall again. “I want to do it. The Dreaming ceremony. I want to learn your ways.”

  The Shamaness barked a laugh as her guardswomen closed in on Ava.

  Kato fought his way to the front of the crowd and edged past one of the guardswomen. Standing next to Ava, he dropped to his knees and slammed his forehead into the dirt. “Please, Shamaness—she’s an ignorant Outsider. Please, have mercy on her!” he remembered Alemayu’s words—make sure she doesn’t die. No one interrupted the Dreaming. No one cut through the Phrase of Life. To do so meant death.

  Ava had no understanding of this, so it fell to Kato to right things. But this—he couldn’t fix.

  The Shamaness was cruel in her punishments. She knew how to prolong things. How to twist and torture, all without lifting a golden nail-guard. She would punish them both. Kato hoped his mother could handle the stigma that would come with this. He cursed—wishing she wouldn’t have to face it at all.

  “Do you hear this, Mesh?” the Shamaness shouted, storming past Ava. “The Outsider wants to know our ways! The Outsider wants to understand the Mesh! Well,” she grinned, “should I humor her?”

  The crowd remained silent. They wouldn’t take part in the final punishment of anyone, even if they weren’t a tribe member.

  “Fine.” The Shamaness hissed, turning her back on her people. Her feet came to rest before Kato, her bell-shaped skirts swishing. “Escort her into the Wilds, Outcast. You wanted a Dreaming? Here is your chance.”

  He trembled. Unable to answer—unable to form words.

  Smooth skin cradled his chin as the Shamaness touched him—touched him! He gazed into her youthful face, twisted by poison. By malice and magic. With her other hand, she uncorked the crystal at her neck. “Drink.” She passed the crystal to him.

  Blue liquid. Moira’s Elixir. It glowed aqua-blue in his hand—like a morning sky without clouds. Like the ocean painted by evensong. He expected it to burn—to bite—but it was cool to the touch. A thump echoed through the liquid as if a heart rushed in the blue.

  He drank.

  The gift was passed on to Ava, who swallowed and choked.

  “From Moira, we come and to Moira, we must return.” The Shamaness sang. Her melodious voice leaking into a thousand tiny whispers that pierced his skull and created a film over his eyes. The world became a murky blur as the combined voices of the crowd sang the phrase back—their voices slowing. Deepening.

  Gone.

  12

  A vortex of spiraling tentacles reached down. They licked his face, his body. And as he opened his eyes, his gaze registering kapok trees and towering bamboo stalks, the tentacles pulled away. Becoming one with the black sky above, they broke into an explosion of gossamer clouds. Disappeared.

  Kato bolted upright.

  The Dreaming. The Wilds. Ava. He scanned around, touching the jungle floor blindly with his hands. Searching for a weapon—a stick, a bow—anything. As an initiate in the Dreaming, he had a right to a weapon. The Shamaness’s guardswomen were supposed to give him one. Him and Ava. Unless…

  He cursed. This was the Shamaness’s punishment, then. How he and Ava would suffer a prolonged and brutal death.

  He stood, the effects of the elixir wearing off as the jungle spun as if on a wheel before settling down. Silver light speared through the canopy above, the light offering him a path. A place to begin searching.

  There was no use in calling her name. He’d only upset the resident predators.

  Crouching, he tiptoed through the brush. Careful not to step on the tail of a viper—or worse. The creatures would smell the elixir on the both of them eventually. Soon, he’d hear the deep growl of beasts infinitely worse than a puma or a wild boar. Soon, he’d know what it was like to get ripped apart by fate and Purpose and magic. But, until then, he’d do his duty and protect Ava from the Wilds. At least, until he could protect her no longer. It was the one last thing he could do for the Mesh, for his father. He hoped his family wouldn’t mourn him too much.

  He sighed, shaking his head. Listening for the telltale crack of broken branches and fallen leaves, he ventured forward. Flattening his hands against the slick trunk of bamboo shoots or the rough bark of kapok trees, he went where the light was leading him. Assuming it would either lead to Ava, or something else entirely.

  “Hello?” called a crackling voice. “Is anyone there? Hello?”

  Kato froze in place. The voice was unfamiliar. It sounded far away, yet only paces from him. The static came again and a light flashed in the darkness, blinking through the jungle floor. Sprinting toward the flashing light, Kato dug through the brown leaves and broken branches.

  “Ava! I swear to God—if you don’t answer me!”

  It was a man’s voice coming from Ava’s rectangular device. Her cell phone. Picking it up, he held it with his head cocked to the side. Strange white symbols stared back at him, accompanied by the face of a human hog.

  “Hello? I hear someone breathing—is this Ava?”

  “I am looking for her.” Kato told the voice.

  “Well—who—who is this?”

  He could use the light from her phone as a way to search further than what the moon showed him. Ignoring the voice as it babbled, Kato stood from his crouch and used the device to scan. Holding it out like a torch, he flung it to the right and left of him as he continued straight. The voice on the other line would eventually attract predators, but the extra light was worth it.

  “I demand to know your name—and Ava’s whereabouts! Is she returning? Have you natives killed her? What is going on?”

  Kato shushed the voice sharply, though this only seemed to strengthen the voice’s resolve.

  “If you don’t tell me where she is, I will send a detail of mercenaries up the path to your village. Do you understand me? Savages, I—”

  The light blinked. Kato brought it to his face and stared straight into it, blinding himself as something snagged his right ankle. Losing his balance, he tumbled forward into the wet foliage and dropped the device. The cell phone skittered to the right of him and was immediately picked up by a waiting shadow.

  His ankle throbbed like a pin had gone straight through the bone. Rummaging around in the dead leaves, he found the thing that tripped him—a long staff. Yanking it from the ground, an attached spearhead glinted in the silver light. A spear.

  Cell phone light hovered high above him. Edging the spear into his armpit, he angled
the spearhead toward the chattering shadow.

  “Alemayu’s monkey.” He murmured, sighing as the squirrel monkey lit its curious face up with the light of the phone. “Give it back.” Kato demanded, holding his hand out. “You wouldn’t know what to do with it.” Besides, it was quickly becoming his only source of light as the moon began to fade away.

  The monkey chattered, cocking its head to the left and right like a bird. It looked at him with marble-like eyes before taking off. Swinging through the trees with the cell phone squeezed tightly in its bushy tail. Shrieking, it stopped for a moment. No doubt eying him in the graying light.

  “Come here!” he called, moving a step closer.

  The cell phone dinged. Its white light blinking three times before fading to nothing. The monkey shrieked with it, poking its head up and down as it pointed through the darkness, dropped the cell phone, and swung itself through the trees at a breakneck pace.

  Kato froze, the hairs on the back of his neck rising as eyes blazed holes into his back.

  13

  Thunder boomed, static threading through the air like fireflies. Kato clenched his jaw and refused the urge to shut his eyes. Fear soured his belly, sending little pinpricks of electricity spiking through his veins. His heart soared into his throat, banging in his ears before it went silent. Before everything but the thunder and the creature stalking him fell away.

  The effects of Moira’s Elixir were in full swing.

  The Dreaming ceremony is simple. An initiate is dropped into the forest and told to survive. Return home with or without a steed. The Dreaming Anew was vastly different.

  Hefting the spear high above his head, Kato dug his heels into the dirt in a lunge. Massive horns shone brightly, glittering against the dying light of the encroaching storm. Golden eyes glittered. A gargantuan paw stripped the foliage from the grass.