Veiled Planet (Hidden World Trilogy Book 1)
Page 4
Thick silence hung over the valley, broken only by the plaintive whinnying of the satyrs who’d escaped death. The men waited, making sure none of the terrible predators moved before lowering the rope ladders and slithering to the bottom with a speed that must have given them rope burn. The torn bloodied bodies of the dead satyrs bore vicious claw marks showing the ferocity of the attack.
The rest of the tribe left the caves, climbing down the ladders with quiet proficiency. Kara mulled over how much practice they’d had. No one appeared to be in charge, yet the whole operation, from packing the camp away until the last bear was dead, had gone with the smoothness of practice.
“Follow the children down,” Yleni instructed, going first with her two boys behind, eager to join the men.
By the time Kara made it to the bottom, the adrenaline-fueled ascent seemed simple compare to the descent. Her legs were jelly, her palms sore, and her hands and arms tense from clamping onto the rope. She slumped to the ground, not wanting to think about what could have happened if there had been the smallest mistake at any point during their frenetic flight.
The Maruts started cleaning up the aftermath of the attack with the same effortless efficiency that seemed to accompany all their actions. Everyone pitched in: some removed the reins from the dead satyrs, others collected and piled up every broken piece of wood littering the grass from the few carts that had shattered. A third group dragged the bear carcasses over to the side, while a fourth worked in pairs, tossing the satyr bodies up onto the mound of wood. The older boys released the satyrs from their harnesses, herding them away from the camp to graze, and tending to their wounds.
Kara watched, the sense of being alone and lost sweeping over her anew. Everyone had their place here and knew their role, except her. Yet again, she was the outsider.
Once preparations finished, everyone gathered in a circle around the pyre. Yleni approached Kara. “Come, join us.” Smiling sympathetically, she held out her hand, pulled Kara to her feet, and led her over to the group.
Ikeya started a low chant, quickly taken up by the others until it echoed around the valley in an eerie harmony.
As the dirge increased in volume the hairs on Kara’s body stood on end. Memories surfaced like a flood. Some buried for years, like her mother’s unexpected death; others more recent like leaving her homestead for cadet training, being bullied and excluded by most of her fellow cadets, threatened to overwhelm her. She concentrated on blinking away tears as the tribe mourned the loss of life. She looked away as she caught Rishi staring at her across the circle.
As the animals’ bodies began to burn, the singing slowed and came to an end. The flames crackled and roared stretching hungry fingers up into the evening sky until everyone retreated from the intense heat, standing silent until the blaze died.
The oily stink of burning flesh hung in the air and Kara watched as Ikeya gathered the men and moved toward the slaughtered bears. Her stomach lurched, queasy as memories surfaced, and she didn’t protest when Rishi appeared by her side, took hold of her arm, and guided her away from the dying fire.
Still shocked by their narrow escape from the kallin pack, the normality of the women as they went about unpacking food and making preparations for an evening meal jarred. The Maruts were treating the episode as nothing out of the ordinary. Maybe for them, Kara thought, this was part of their everyday experience. If true, this was a far cry from the primitive, simplistic version of their life taught in the colony school. Relief at not having to watch the bears being skinned flushed through her as she walked by Rishi’s side; the images from last time were still engraved in her memory.
“How is your leg?”
The question caught her by surprise. The tough young Marut hadn’t struck her as the sensitive type. “The scars are healing, and the ankle twinges a bit sometimes, but, yes, it’s much better.”
The camp noises faded as they moved farther away. The sun had disappeared behind the valley walls a short time before, and twilight was fading rapidly.
“It gets dark quickly out here.” Kara peered around.
“It doesn’t get dark where you come from?”
There’s wasn’t enough light to read Rishi’s expression, but Kara knew he was laughing at her. She scowled at him in annoyance. “We have light at night as well as in the day,” she informed him.
Rishi sat down cross-legged, making himself comfortable on the grass.
Kara sat a little distance away, facing away from the noise and activity of the camp.
Around them the blanket of night provided a pocket of concealment as it settled over the valley.
Kara was glad he couldn’t see her, as she badly needed to regain a semblance of composure.
“I know how you feel,” Rishi’s tone was soft, conciliatory.
“When was the last time people you didn’t know kidnapped you, then?”
“We had no choice. Your wounds from—”
“Then don’t presume to know how I’m feeling.”
“Both my parents died when I was young,” he said quietly.
“Oh.” Now she felt stupid and guilty.
“A sickness struck the tribe. Many died that year. Ikeya is my father’s younger brother. He and Yleni took me in, and raised me as their own.”
“I’m sorry.”
“You have nothing to be sorry for, and it was a long time ago.”
Yes, his hurt was old and he’d had time to adjust. Hers was new, and fresh, and she couldn’t think how to make the ache go away. “My mother died when I was young, too.” She experienced an odd kinship of loss with him. “It’s just me and my father.”
“You will see him again. Ikeya has no plans to make you a Marut.”
She ignored the sly taunt.
“What do you do all day behind your fence?” he asked.
It took her a minute to understand he was referring to the colonists’ settlement. “All of us or me?”
“I’m only talking to you, aren’t I?”
She blew out a sharp breath. He was arrogant and rude. “I study plants and animals. Mostly plants, though.” She wasn’t going to bother to explain further. He wouldn’t understand anyway.
“Yleni knows about plants. Maybe she could teach you?”
Kara perked up. That would be an opportunity she would grab if offered.
Abruptly he changed the subject. “Your people don’t eat the flesh of animals, do they?”
“Are you asking me or telling me?”
“But we do not eat the flesh of those animals who gave their spirit to save us,” he told her.
“But seeing as you eat flesh, isn’t that a waste? You don’t eat the bears either do you?”
He smiled, and his white teeth gleamed in the darkness. “We respect the death of the one, and the flesh of the other is toxic, though the hides are of great use.”
“I’m not sure I understand—”
He cut her short. “We don’t expect a child to understand the reasoning of their elders.”
She gasped at his cheekiness, and before she could stop herself, leaned over and punched him in the arm.
“Hey,” he grinned, eyes shining bright as he rubbed his arm, pretending she’d hurt him. He opened his mouth to respond, but Masir appeared, running toward them. He stopped right in front of Rishi, his breath panting in and out of his little chest. “Uncle Rishi, come, come.” The boy’s tone was urgent.
“What wrong, little one?”
“Yleni says you must come and eat. Now!”
“Okay, okay. Thank you, Masir. Go back and tell her we’re coming.”
Kara liked how he spoke to the boy. Kind, but in a manner that let him know he was taken seriously.
“She’ll be cross with you if you’re late,” Masir shouted over his shoulder as he dashed off.
Rishi looked amused, and his eyes twinkled as he turned back to Kara. “Come. Yleni’s anger is something you want to avoid. Believe me, she’s worse than a mama kallin bear.”
As she sat at the campfire, enjoying the hard flatbread dipped into the stew filled with more unidentified pieces that Yleni handed her, she noticed a sweetness in the air, and sniffed, wondering where it came from.
“It’s the wood,” Rishi said.
“What is?” she mumbled around the hot food currently burning her tongue.
“The smell. It’s coming from the sweetwood, a tree that burns hot and slow, so we only need a little. Carrying a forest with us for cooking isn’t practical.”
She wasn’t surprised at the Maruts use of such a tree as fuel, though she’d have to look up its family, genus, and species in the data banks when she got home. It fitted with how adept they were in using what was available in their environment. She ignored Rishi’s gibe, she was too busy enjoying her food, and trying to listen to Yleni’s conversation.
The Marut tribeswoman spoke quietly with Ikeya, her voice soft and urgent, her eyes angry. He looked over at Kara with a calculating look in his eye, shrugged his shoulders, and grunted.
Later, as Kara sat on a soft satyr wool blanket, and warmed her feet on the remnants of the cooking fire, she listened to the boys’ soft chatter as they sat next to her. On the other side of the children, Yleni and Ikeya sat with Rishi on the far side, talking in quiet voices.
Kara gazed up at the stars. They reminded her of childhood camping trips. Her father had chosen to make a homestead far away from the colony’s base and close to the border of the land donated by the Maruts because he’d wanted to experience more of the planet than statistics and clinical observations. She watched the embers flicker as the fire dwindled, and deliberately turned her thoughts away from home, not wanting to dwell on what would only upset her. She had to admit that other than the incidents with the kallin bears, she didn’t appear to be in any danger that she could ascertain. Yleni and Ikeya displayed kindness and courtesy, but where their culture was concerned, they clearly regarded her as a child, something she resented. Tomorrow she would have a serious talk with Ikeya as taking her home didn’t seem be a priority for him. She needed to figure out how to change his mind.
Chapter Four: Animosity
Marut Proverb:
Holding on to resentment is like imbibing poison. How can you expect to be healthy?
The night temperature dropped, and Kara snuggled under a warm satyr blanket near the front of the cave, listening to the rhythmic breathing of those sleeping behind her. After the evening meal the women, children and elders had returned to the caves, settling themselves for the night. A dozen warriors safeguarded the satyrs below, while more watched from the ledge, and the rest of the men slept till it was their turn to stand guard. The kallin bears might not be a threat anymore, but the bloody carcasses were a magnet bound to attract one or other of the planet’s predators sooner or later.
Kara was too restless to sleep. She did her best to ignore the memory of Rishi’s eyes flashing with laughter, a difficult feat as he was on guard and perched on the ledge a few feet away. She tried not to look at his profile, faintly outlined against the backdrop of the hazy night sky. When she’d hit him, he’d responded by laughing at her. She wasn’t sure if she’d caught a flash of admiration, as if she’d just passed a particular test and he was reassessing his estimation of her.
Lemnas had passed its zenith and Ostara appeared above the lip of the cliffs. Each moon followed the orbit of the other close enough that both full moons occurred virtually simultaneously. The waxing lunar cycles gave five weeks of increasing brightness, culminating in one night where the combined radiance of the two moons made the planet nearly as light as day. After the moons waned came Dark-night, a time of no moon when the dense darkness made it hard to distinguish shadows.
Would the colonists’ patrols have found what was left of the kallin bear that had attacked her on the mountain? She shuddered. They might have thought the bear had killed her, but what explanation would they produce for the skinned animal, if it was still there? The possibility of other predators appearing, and not leaving much left of the bear for them to find, flashed through her mind. But she knew they wouldn’t stop searching.
Thoughts of her father resurfaced, and she could just see the worried crease between his eyebrows. He’d not be sleeping either, but pacing around his study, into the common room and back, brewing endless cups of fyllo tea and leaving them untouched. He’d be in too much anxiety to eat either, but he’d never give up hope of finding his only child.
Dad, I’m alive. I’m here. She concentrated on sending the message to him in the hope he’d somehow sense she was alive.
Rishi turned in the dark, his eyes filled with golden glints as he stared at her before turning away.
She had the oddest feeling he’d read her mind. She would swear his expression had been one of sympathy. Her thoughts turned to the Maruts. She’d be dead without them. They had protected her right from the beginning even if they thought her ignorant, and they continued to shelter her. Of course, if they would return her to the colony she’d be safe from every danger they faced out here, but that option didn’t appear to be a priority. At least, not in Ikeya’s estimation.
A feeling of stubborn rebellion rose as she recalled Rishi’s attitude. Her general cadet ranking in her class might be low, but that was because she had no interest and made little effort in areas she didn’t need. Yes, there were many physical and martial skills prized by the colonists, but she was a rising star in her chosen field. Her tutor had even discussed putting her forward as a candidate for further training off-world at the nearest interstellar academy. The ambition to cross the vast distances of space chasing opportunities to discover and record new plant species had driven her since her mother died. She’d even thought she could name one Anya after her as a way of remembrance. Her mind churned as she considered how to persuade the Maruts to take her home. Trying to make it on her own seemed ridiculous, even if she identified the correct direction. Judging by her behavior on the recent exercise, any such an attempt was doomed to failure. She finally drifted off to sleep with her brain still puzzling at the question of how to return to the settlement.
When she woke, Ostara was setting in the pre-dawn sky. Rishi lay across the entrance, his back rising and falling as he slept. She heard movements from the cave, and, as if a signal had sounded, everyone woke, gathered their sleeping blankets and within ten minutes had assembled below.
A welcome cup of hot sweet caj was pushed into her hand, and she watched in awe-struck apprehension as Rishi and the young men who had remained up on the ledge, pulled up the rope ladders, stashed them in the caves, and casually retrieved the metal stakes as they descended.
Ikeya stood on the back of his cart, shouting instructions.
Kara didn’t understand every word he spoke, as the translator programs were limited and her memory still fuzzy. Yet the more she heard, the more she remembered, and caught the gist of his speech: load the wagons.
“We’re leaving.” Yleni tossed the family’s bundled blankets onto the cart. “We don’t normally stop here. It’s one of the emergency shelters. We’re lucky it was close.”
Emergency shelters? Kara closed her mouth. This was more evidence the Maruts possessed a high degree of organization. If she hadn’t seen how smoothly and successfully the tribe had worked together to defeat the kallin pack, she might have doubted Yleni’s words.
“Here,” Yleni grabbed Kara’s empty cup and thrust a few dried berries into her hand.
Kara didn’t recognize the fruit, but she examined them, turned them over, and sniffed them. She desperately wanted to ask the name of the fruit and where they picked it as a myriad more questions about their diet sprang to mind. She eyed the boys eagerly chewing the dried purple fruits.
“They’re called sweetberries, and they won’t hu
rt you. The boys will have them it you don’t want them. They’ll eat them quick enough.” Yleni laughed, pointed her in the direction of Rishi’s cart and gave her a push. “Go.”
Kara glanced around the camp as she headed for Rishi, her attention skittering away from the kallin bears’ bloody skinned carcasses. She noted the pile of scraped hides, neatly rolled and ready to pack on the carts, but the same as the day before, apart from the bears’ piled remains and a large circular area of blackened ground, she saw little sign of yesterday’s carnage. They'd even removed the satyrs' dung, placing it in containers fixed to the back of the carts. Maybe they used it for fuel?
She sucked in a deep breath of cool fresh early morning air, not yet warmed by the day’s heat, and munched the berries with pleasure, enjoying their sweet tartness. She was alive and well, and this was a once in a generation opportunity to learn more about the planet and its people. Maybe she shouldn’t fight too hard to go home?
Those who’d lost animals and whose carts were destroyed had salvaged their property, and were taken aboard other
carts. Nobody complained.
Rishi was busy settling a mother with two small children and their belongings onto his cart, and introduced the woman as Leyrah. He glanced at his team of satyrs, still twitchy after last night.
A group of women and men clustered nearby, talking in loud excited voices, attracted Kara’s attention. One proud-looking woman with her neck and chest covered in glittering beaded jewelry gestured at Kara in a way that made her uneasy. The others, listening to her tirade, shot her belligerent looks. She looked for Rishi but he was busy with their guests. Feeling threatened she moved around to where he was lifting a girl of around ten years old to join her mother and sibling on the back of their cart.
If only she had better command of their language. The number of words the colonists had in their databanks was pitifully small and useless when faced with situations not covered in trade delegation discussions. ‘How many satyrs does your tribe maintain?’ certainly didn’t cover this situation. As she observed the loud talking woman, part of her brain sent out signals of alarm, while another bit calculated how long it might take to gain mastery of the Marut language.