Hand of Fire: Book 1 of the Master of the Tane

by Thomas Rath

  Thane smiled weakly.

  “Just think of this as making us even,” Dor added.

  “Dor?” Thane suddenly stopped. “Do you believe what I said? I mean about the deer. I wasn’t making it up. It really happened like that.”

  Dor look at his friend pensively. “I have never heard of such a thing happening to anyone before but that does not mean I don’t think it happened to you. You are my friend, Thane, and I know you well enough to know that you do not lie, even about small things. Or, might I add,” Dor said in mock anger, “about things like being near the lake when PocMar and his goons were pelted with Shue berries. He’ll know it was us for sure now!”

  “That’s right,” Thane said putting his hand on his head. “I’m sorry Dor, I didn’t even think about that. I guess I have really made a mess of things for you.”

  Dor laughed. “Don’t worry about it. It was worth seeing Poc-Scar light up in a red brighter than the berries on his face. It will be worth whatever his troll brains can come up with to get us back.”

  That night the whole village gathered in the center area to pay their respects and bid farewell to the two Chufa warriors who were killed during the interrupted raid. The two bodies where hung by their feet with their heads, a foot above the ground, shaved completely bald. Four of the Kinpa were standing by the dead preparing themselves for their part in the death ceremony called the SaiEeDu. DanGuaPa of the MarGua Tane was the only one of the Kinpa who would not participate.

  When all had gathered and the center fire was started a hush fell about the crowd and the ceremony began. FelTehPa of the TehChao Tane stepped up to the body closest to him and, beginning at the ankles, began to peel off its skin. All the skin had to be removed, except the skin that held the TanIs, to allow the spirit to escape the dead body and continue with its eternal progression. If the TanIs was cut or removed, the soul would be lost forever whether the person was alive or dead. In the case of a living Chufa, he would die almost immediately.

  When FelTehPa got down to the shoulder area TanVerPa came forward with a large jar and placed it under the head of the body so the blood that had been pooling there could drain into it. This blood would be mixed with the blood of one from the VerSagn Tane and used for the growing of their crops.

  When the skin was completely removed and the blood drained out BinChePa of the QenChe Tane stepped forward and called fire from the dead body and its skin allowing the spirit to fly free. When the body had burned to ash LorVenPa of the ArVen Tane called the wind to carry the ashes away returning the body back to the earth from whence it came.

  After finishing the death rites for the first warrior the whole process was repeated again with the second releasing his spirit and returning his body to the earth.

  Thane watched the whole process in reverence, thinking back on the day’s events. It had just occurred to him that he had witnessed the deaths of both men and in some way he felt responsible. It was I who led them into the ambush in the first place and then I was too slow to save the first one from being hit with the rock, he thought to himself. Then I waited to rest after I killed the first troll making me arrive too late to kill the second and save this other. How can I face their families knowing that in some way my thoughtlessness contributed in their deaths? Thane’s soul ached inside of him making the pain in his ribs seem trivial compared to the way his heart felt. I wish it were me who had been killed instead of these two men who had families. Everyone would be happy then, especially my father who would not be shamed by me anymore. Thane saw Dor and started towards him but was stopped by Dor’s mother.

  “Don’t you think you’ve caused him enough trouble for one day?” she said glaring at him. Then, grabbing Dor by the arm, she led him away home. Dor turned and gave him an apologetic look and then a quick smile as if in apology.

  Thane turned away so his friend would not see the tears that were building up quickly in his eyes. Passing beyond the light of the fire he hurried away into the safety of the dark night where he could be alone with his feelings and not be put on display by anymore onlookers.

  “Going to find your friend the deer to have a quaint conversation?” someone yelled as Thane left the village center. He could hear the laughter as he started running into the forest. At first he just ran not having any real idea of where he was going until finally he found himself on the beach southeast of village. He wasn’t surprised that he’d ended up here. This was his secret thinking place where no one would come to bother him. Not even Dor knew where it was. There was a large cluster of boulders not far from where he left the forest. They were the only ones of their size found on the whole beach, which made them well known to everybody. But what the others didn’t know was that there was a small cave-like area that faced the ocean in the middle of the cluster. Only by wading through the surf could you get to his secret spot.

  Luckily, the tide was down so he didn’t get too wet as he trudged quickly through the breakers trying to outrun the next wave. It wasn’t actually a cave but more like a private beach surrounded by rock that went far enough back so that even at high tide there was still a nice sandy area to sit on.

  Thane sat down and looked out into the clear night sky. A soft breeze carried spray from the last wave and cooled his sweaty body with its moisture. “I wish everyday could be as peaceful as right now,” he sighed. He watched with envy as a seabird floated gently along the air current that passed over the dark ocean surf.

  He closed his eyes and imagined himself floating through the sky just like the bird and looking down on the earth with nothing to worry about; just the freedom of flight. With his thoughts came a sudden sense of liberation and weightlessness that started from within and then spread out over his body. He found himself relaxing with the flow of it and just let himself go. He had the strange sensation of shifting wind flows and sudden movement with nothing around but the sky and the stars. He could almost feel himself floating away, riding the air currents.

  Ah, he thought, this must be what it’s like.

  Suddenly something grabbed his shoulder startling him from his trance-like state. Thane jerk open his eyes and for a split second thought he could see nothing around him but the stars and the night sky. Then, just as suddenly, he was staring out into the ocean and found TamVen tugging on his arm.

  “I said are you all right?” she practically shouted in his ear.

  “Yes, yes,” Thane replied irritably, pulling his arm away from her and standing up.

  “Well, I’ve been standing here trying to talk to you and you just sat there with your eyes closed,” Tam retorted. “You don’t have to be so rude.”

  “What? How long have you been standing there? And hey, how did you know about this place anyway?” Thane was exasperated.

  “First off, I’ve been here for only about a minute or two and secondly, I’ve known about this place for a long time. I knew you would be here.”

  Thane felt like he might fall over. “You knew I would be here?”

  “Yes, of course. I know you always come here when you are upset. I just never came before because I didn’t want you to know I knew about your hiding place. But tonight I have something important I need to ask you. So here I am.” Tam smiled sweetly as if the whole world were in perfect order while Thane sat down flabbergasted at the prospect of Tam knowing about his hiding place.

  “You’ve always known about my secret place?” Thane felt himself getting dizzy so he laid back and tried to keep himself from becoming sick. “I can’t believe it.”

  Tam sat down next to him and innocently began to ramble on. “Anyway, the reason I’m here. I was thinking the other day, ‘you know, I bet that I could shoot a bow as well as anyone else around here if I was only given the chance.’”

  Thane nodded silently without really hearing while he stared off into space still trying to recover from his initial shock. “She knows about my beach,” he said dumbly.

  “Well, I know my parents wouldn’t allow it so I thought, �
�Maybe DaxSagn,’ I mean he is the best. But then I remembered that he wouldn’t teach me either on the account that he and my father are friends and that just wouldn’t do. So I kept thinking about it until I finally came up with a brilliant idea. You can teach me how to shoot a bow!” Tam smiled brightly as if extremely proud of herself while Thane turned to stare at her still not sure how she could know of his private beach.

  After a moment of silence the gist of what she was babbling about finally sank in past his swimming head and upset stomach. He shot to his feet. “You have got to be crazy if you think I am going to teach you how to shoot a bow! It’s not allowed. You know that as much as I. Not to mention the fact that your father, my father, DaxSagn and everybody else in the village would kill me!” Thane stomped around shaking his head. “No way! No possible way! Not in a hundred cycles!”

  Tam sat in silent amusement watching while Thane made a rut in the sand as he paced back and forth spewing out all of his silly objections. When he finally stopped and looked at her, she quietly announced, “I knew you would object, so I thought to myself, ‘hmm, what does Thane have of such importance to him that he would trade for, let’s say a lesson a day for an hour?’ Then I thought of this place and how attached you are to it and how fond you are of its secrecy from everyone...”

  “Wait a minute there,” Thane blurted out trying to keep himself from strangling the little imp where she stood. “Just hold on. You can’t blackmail me you little troll.”

  “Oh I can’t, can’t I? Well, we’ll just see about that.” Without another word, she rose quietly and started for the surf as if to leave.

  “Wait!” Thane cried desperately. “Where are you going?”

  Tam turned around and smiled one of her most sickeningly, sweet smiles. “To the village, of course, to let everyone know where you are. I’m sure they’re just worried sick about you.”

  Thane felt like he was going to throw up. This little troll brain was going to get the best of him after all. He frantically searched his mind for anything to get him out of this mess but the only thing he could come up with half way decent was to get rid of her permanently and he couldn’t do that. Or could he? No. They would find the body, he thought to himself. It’s tough living right.

  “All right, you win,” he finally said with a heavy sigh. “But only two times a week for half an hour.”

  “Four, for three quarters of an hour.”

  “Three, for half an hour.”

  “Done,” Tam laughed clapping her hands. “I knew I could count on you.”

  “Sure. Now, will you kindly leave me alone? I’d like to be by myself for awhile—a long while.”

  Tam turned and skipped towards the sea looking back just as she reached the water. “Let’s say here, tomorrow, after the evening meal?”

  Thane mumbled something that sounded like an affirmative answer and Tam bounced into the water and around the rocks out of sight.

  “That girl is going to kill me yet.”

  * * *

  The five men gathered on the floor around the small candle that threw dark shadows across the walls giving the hut an ominous feeling that matched their purpose.

  “You heard what Dax said about the boy. There can be no mistaking it.”

  “Maybe, but one incident doesn’t prove anything. That’s only one in five. I say it’s still coincidental.”

  “You both have good points but we must remember the sign of the five Tane which he carries. That could be the final clue to prove what some of us have suspected all along.”

  “That’s true, but we can’t prove it either way because no one remembers Gelfin’s TanIs.”

  “I’d be willing to bet the four of you that other signs will show, and when they do it could be too late for the rest of us. I side with taking care of the problem before it grows out of hand.”

  “I still say we wait for more proof. If it comes down to him being who we think, then I will personally cut the TanIs from him and end the whole thing. My brothers Kinpa of the five Tane, we have a great responsibility to protect our people and I for one will not forget that sacred trust. Are we agreed?”

  The others looked at each other for a grave moment before all finally nodded their heads in consent.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  A gust of wind raced down from the snow capped mountains on its way to the sea and adventures unknown. It struck Thane’s face with a slight nip bringing with it the fresh scents of the forest while tempting him to follow. He loved the early morning peace that settled in the trees surrounding his home just after a rainstorm. Everything was fresh and renewed in a way that made him feel alive. He felt welcome here. No one was around to give him strange looks or move away snickering when he approached. The forest was friendly to him, returning the care he gave to it.

  Another blast rolled down off the mountains stinging his face in its chill and making him pull his blanket tighter around his lean frame. The cotton leggins he wore kept the cold from his legs although they were still a little big. His mother made them large on purpose because of the growth spurts he was experiencing. She quickly tired of having to make new ones for him every two moons.

  Sitting perched on a large rock, he stared into nothingness, trapped by his own thoughts. Closing his eyes, he drifted down the corridors of his mind and let himself get lost in the serenity of his surroundings. The wind picked up again and he felt himself become lighter as if cradled and carried on its wings of freedom. He no longer felt the rock on which he sat or the cold that was creeping down the front of his blanket. The sounds and smells that wafted around him suddenly seemed to take on life and could be recognized as separate individual beings with their own distinct personalities. Every subtlety had divided itself into a visible feature to his mind. The drops of water falling from the leaves and needles, the whispers of the winds as they brushed through the branches of the trees, the animals in hiding as they watched him; even the ant, crawling up the rock. It was all there and he was part of it. He wanted to open his eyes but was afraid the moment would pass if he did. He wanted to explore the whole world in its minuscule subtleties. As if in answer to his desires, he began to feel himself in motion as if moving through the forest on a flurry of wind with everything exposing itself for him to examine.

  Suddenly, he sensed movement behind him as if a mountain had just fallen from the sky. He could feel the ground give way to the pressure of a foreign weight as if ten trolls were standing on the same spot. The sounds of breathing came like an explosion. He focused his senses to the noise and weight trying to discover the monstrosity that had invaded the forest and its peacefulness. As he focused on the intruder he was overcome by a sense of anticipation and intensity. Thoughts shot through his mind like a whirlwind, feelings of excitement, desire, love and a strange need to approach unheard.

  Thane smiled knowingly, instinctively perceiving with what and with whom he was dealing. He opened his eyes and for a fraction of a second thought he was looking over the tops of the trees out towards the ocean. Then he felt strangely heavy as if encumbered by his body while his thoughts seemed thick as if wading slowly through mud. It was but a brief moment before he felt normal again and his senses cleared but what a strange feeling it had all been.

  “You can come out now Tam,” he finally said. “I know where you are.” There was silence. “Come on Tam. You are in front of a small tree about one quarter of a stone’s throw away, directly behind me.”

  There was silence for a moment longer and then Thane could hear a heavy sigh and footsteps coming towards him.

  “By the mother’s blood,” Tam exclaimed in exasperation as she came up to where Thane was sitting and plopped down next to him. “How come I can never sneak up on you, Thane of the five Tane?”

  “Now don’t start with the name calling, Tam,” he returned with a bit of an edge to his voice, “or I’ll leave right now and that will be the end of today’s lesson.” She always knew what buttons to push to get at him and it drove him cra
zy.

  “I’m sorry,” she replied unconvincingly before taking the blanket he offered her and wrapping it around her shoulders. “I’m just so frustrated! I’m never going to get it right. How can you always tell when I’m coming?”

  Thane suddenly realized that he wasn’t sure what had happened to cause him to know she was there. It wasn’t until he had entered some sort of self-induced trance that he knew she was behind him. How had he done that? And were those actually her feelings that came over him so strongly?

  “Well?” Tam pressed. “Are you going to answer me or just sit there with that silly look on your face?”

  Thane returned from his perplexing thoughts and looked at her dumbly. “I…uh…I’m not quite sure,” he whispered.

  “Well that’s great! How am I ever going to get good at it if you don’t know how to teach me?”

  “I mean,” he rushed, trying to recover. “I’m not sure how to explain to you how to improve on it.”

  Tam looked at him with furrowed brows. “Are you all right, Thane? You look a bit anxious.”

  He quickly stood up and stared down at her. Was that love I was feeling coming from her? He suddenly felt very uncomfortable being alone together.

  “Thane?” Tam pressed getting a bit worried. “What is it?”

  “Uh…nothing,” he replied pacing back and forth. “I’m…uh…fine.”

  Tam stared at him in disbelief.

  “The reason I, uh, knew you were behind me is because you, uh well, you...made too much noise. That’s it, you weren’t being silent.” I must be mistaken, he thought while Tam went into a fury. How could I feel what she was feeling? Even if I could, she wouldn’t be feeling things like that about me. She hates me, and she’s still a brat.

  He felt a sudden sting across his face tearing him from the thoughts that kept plaguing his mind. “What was that for?” he cried, rubbing a hand over the red fingerprints that appearing on his cheek.

  “You’re a pile of troll dung, Thane of the five Tane,” Tam answered in a broken voice while trying to hold back tears. “I have worked long and hard to perfect all the skills you have taught me in the last four cycles and all you can say when I ask for your help is ‘you were too noisy’? Not to mention the fact that you just stand there like a dumb log staring at that rock.”