by Brian Braden
“Is something wrong?” she mocked.
“There are many ways to win a war. Hold no hope Fu Xi will reach them. The Lo will perish.”
“I stopped you from killing them once. I can stop you again.”
“You didn’t stop me on the mountainside.”
“Fu Xi still lives, doesn’t he?”
“As you said, that wasn’t your doing,” he said dryly.
He transformed into mist and blew away, chased by the morning sunshine.
The goddess returned her attention to Fu Xi as the Red Sword materialized in her hand. Caressing the muddy orichalcum blade, she thought of her first born.
Totaresh will try to slay him the instant they meet. Fu Xi is powerless without this sword by his side, but I am forbidden from returning it to him.
She examined the blade forged to slay gods, smiling the way women often do when they possess a secret.
And Nuwa had many secrets.
But I am not forbidden from giving it to another.
“Your trials have just begun, my beloved sons.”
***
“Mother.”
She groaned as sleep lifted its veil.
“Mother, wake up.”
Someone gently shook her.
“Mother!”
Disoriented, Atamoda shot upright.
Kus-ge!
She found a world shrouded in fog and Kol-ok staring at her.
She fell forward in the boat, hugging and peppering kisses on her son. “I thought I’d lost you!”
“I thought I lost everyone. The storm washed me overboard. Not long after I found my boat, I saw you treading water.”
“I don’t remember anything after...” Atamoda cupped her hand over her mouth, remembering Kus-ge cutting her loose.
She tried to kill me. Again. The betrayal felt like bile in her throat.
“You’ve been asleep for a long time. A day has come and gone. It’s dawn again.”
“Something is different...”
“It stopped raining.”
She closed her eyes and leaned her head back, “Oh, thank the Nameless God!”
“The water is foul.”
Atamoda reached into the water to palm a sip, but quickly spit it out.
Salt.
“I tried to drink some after the storm, but it made me vomit.
“Don’t worry. We will find good water.”
“We are alone.”
“We will find our people,” she nodded vigorously, trying to convince herself. “Or your father will find us.”
Kol-ok lifted the blanket between them. “We have food, even if there isn’t any water.” He handed her a fish cake, and then craned his head left and squinted. “Do you hear that?”
Atamoda lifted an ear. “No.”
He turned around and peered into the fog.
Then Atamoda heard the distinct lapping of waves against a shore. “I hear it.”
“I smell fish, too. Land!” Kol-ok snatched the paddle and began to row.
“Can it really be?” Atamoda started to cry as the boat plowed through sheets of dead fish. She scooped up a dead trout and sniffed it.
“It’s fresh, dead only a day or so.”
“We’ll eat well tonight. Oh, think of it, fresh fish for supper!”
She sniffed it again. “Perhaps the salty water killed it.”
Jagged boulders stood like ghostly giants along the shore as they beached on a steep, rocky bank.
Kol-ok tested the ground with one foot before fully committing to the earth.
“It’s real!” He held out his hand to Atamoda.
She wobbled from the boat, her balance not yet trusting solid ground. Atamoda sank to the earth, grabbing fistfuls of pebbles and breathing in the muddy scent. Touching her forehead to the ground, she uttered a silent prayer to the Nameless God.
Atamoda pulled Kol-ok down beside her and hugged him hard, realizing how close she’d come to losing him.
Kol-ok looked out over the foggy water. “Father cannot be far away. The current which brought us here will do the same for them. We’ll make camp here. If you will gather up fish, I’ll look around for some wood and good water. If we can light a fire, maybe they will see it.”
Kol-ok stood and turned around.
“Mother.” He nudged her.
A few feet away, an old man, tall and bony, gawked at them. He carried a strange metal pot in both hands, his long gray beard fell over a heavy wool vest. Combined with a conical wool cap and furry leggings, he looked half sheep.
Atamoda staggered up. “Hello,” was all she could think to say.
Her voice seemed to shake him out of his trance. He dropped the pot with a thunk, and fish spilled onto the bank. Atamoda realized the pot was actually a metal helmet.
Her stomach tightened. Sammujad warriors sometimes wear metal helmets. But this man didn’t dress, or look, like a Sammujad.
He knelt down and stuffed the fish back into the helmet, apprehensively looking over his shoulder. That’s when Atamoda noticed horrible scarring, as if the right side of his face had once been scorched.
He stood and tucked the helmet under his arm, astonishment transforming to hostility.
“Pahak chay yel!” He pointed to their boat. “Pahak chay yel!”
Kol-ok slid between Atamoda and the old man. “We’re not welcome here.”
She stepped backwards.
He shooed them toward the boat. “P’akhch’yel ! Veradarrnal depi tsov. Miayn mahy spasum e dzez aystegh!”
He’s afraid.
“Zeljko!” A whip-like voice barked from her right.
The old man dropped to one knee and bowed his head.
Before Atamoda could turn to look, she heard a loud crack. Kol-ok spun about, blood shooting from his mouth, and fell motionless to the ground. Atamoda didn’t remember the blow, only an explosion across her cheek, and then darkness.
She awoke to excruciating pain in her scalp and across her back. Coming to her senses, she kicked and screamed, but couldn’t see who dragged her by the hair. A moment later, he released her. Before she could get up, a sandaled foot pinned her neck.
Strange male voices laughed jovially with guttural, alien words, drawing pleasure from her torment.
Terrified, she struggled vainly to push away the foot, but they only laughed louder.
A gaunt face with high cheekbones and grotesquely pointed teeth leered down at her. Black hair cut like a bowl dropped over a face red as an autumn sunset. Strange, rust-streaked metal mesh covered his chest.
Then a black-skinned giant clad in gleaming crimson metal filled her vision. He towered above the red man, and considered her dispassionately, like a fisherman wondering if a minnow was worth keeping.
Demons!
Atamoda squirmed, wanting to scream, struggling to breathe.
“Rantaian,” the giant said and turned from her sight.
A look of disappointment briefly passed over the red man’s face. Rusty iron chains appeared in his hand. He gleefully rattled them over Atamoda’s face before once again snatching her by the hair. She shrieked in agony as he dragged her toward the echoes of screams, and the reek of burning flesh.
To Be Continued in the Chronicles of Fu Xi, Book III, Totaresh
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Brian L. Braden is the author of the Black Sea Gods and the novelette Carson’s Love. He is a founder and assistant editor at Underground Book Reviews.
Please support indie literature. If you enjoyed this novel, please rate and review this book on Amazon, Goodreads, or Shelfari.
Glossary of Terms and Characters
ai-halah: (eye-HAL-ah) “The reed and the wood”, traditional Lo music. Ai is female vocals, halah is male vocals.
Adyghe (ad-YAH-gay) Mountains: Eastern edge of the known world, home of the Hur-po and the Narim
a-g`an: (AYE—ghahn) Lo word meaning ‘of the steppe’ or ‘enemy’.
Aizarg: (AYE-zarg) Lo phrase meaning I give him the e
ast, or He leads the east. Sco-lo-ti of the Crane Clan and Uros of the Lo Nation, husband of Atamoda, father to Bat-tor and Kol-ok.
E’laa: (Aye-LAH) Orphaned Minnow child, twin sister to Toma
Alaya: (ah-LAH-ya) Wife to Levidi.
Amiran: (ah-MEER-ahn) Scholar in the service of Lord Leviathan or Wu.
arun-ki: (ah-ROON-ki) Lo word meaning “village upon the womb,” a stilted village built off-shore in shallow lagoons.
Aryans: (air-EE-ans) One of the three nomadic tribes of the g’an.
Ashtoreth (ASH-tore-ehth) Called “The Snake of Hur Ar”, a ruthless member of Hur-ar’s nobility bent on placing her son, Baal-eeb, on the throne at any price.
Atamoda: (At-uh-MOWH-dah) Patesi-li of the Crane Clan, wife of Aizarg, mother to Ba-tor and Kol-ok.
Atta: (AT-uh) Levidi’s grandfather, oldest man in the Crane Clan.
Ba’al: (BAH-awl) A sinister deity called The Black Dragon, worshipped by cult in Hur-ar.
Bal-eeb: (BAHL-eeb) Second Prince of Hur-ar, Captain of the City Gate. Son of Ashtoreth.
Ba-lok: (BAY-lok) Sco-lo-ti of the Minnow Clan, Second to Aizarg, husband to Kus-ge, son of Aie-lok, grandson of Setenay.
Bat-or: (BAHT-or) Toddler and youngest son of Aizarg and Atamoda, brother to Kol-ok.
Bla-la-te: (blah-LAH-tay) Xva’s uncle and sco-lo-ti of the Gar Clan.
Carp Clan: Lo village of which Okta rules as the sco-lo-ti, the chieftain.
Crane Clan: Lo village of which Aizarg rules as the sco-lo-ti, the chieftain.
Council of Boats: A gathering of the more than one Lo village or perhaps the entire Lo nation, usually a festive event.
Doinna: (DOH-ee-nah) Young Minnow Clan woman
Ezra: (ezz-RAH) Sarah’s brother. Thief and gang leader of pack of feral children in the slums of Hur-ar.
Fu Xi: (foo-HI or foo-ZI) Immortal demigod, son of Goddess Nuwa, often called the God of Names, or the Wanderer.
Gar Clan: Also known as the Lost Arun-ki. Kus-ge, wife of Ba-lok, hailed from arun-ki, once the farthest east of all Lo villages. Shortly after Kus-ge departed as Ba-lok’s new bride, the villagers vanished without a trace, the arun-ki burned to the water line.
g`an: (gh-AHN) Lo word for the open steppe bordering the marshes north of the Great Sea.
Ghalen: (GAY-lehn) Lo phrase for iron spirit. Younger brother of Masok, sco-lo-ti of the Turtle Clan.
Great Sea: Immense body of fresh water and home to the Lo people. Its northern shore is lined with vast expanses of reed beds, marshes and narrow coastal forests which give way to open steppe.
heli-dar: (hell-EYE-dar) Lo word for the afterlife. The Lo believe it is far out to sea beyond the reach of any boat.
Heise: (HAY-suh) Fu Xi’s black stallion, his name simply means “black”.
Huise: (Hhway-suh) Fu Xi’s gray mare, her name simply means “gray”.
Hur-ar: (her-AR) “City of the Yellow Metal,” located at the base of the Adyghe Mountains in a deep canyon overlooking the Hur River; also called Ghund-Ghund, The Place of Mazes, by the Scythians.
Hur-Po: (her-POE) “People of the Yellow Metal, those who inhabit Hur-Ar.
Hur River: River running north to south separating the Adyghe Mountains from the open g’an; spanned by the Kupar Bridge.
Ice Men: Savage race living in the far north lands.
Isp: Patesi-le selected to serve the Uros.
Kol-ok: (kall-AWK) Aizarg’s and Atamoda’s oldest boy, brother to Bat-or.
köy-lo-hely: (coy-ee-LOW-hell-eye) Lo word meaning “the sacred place where the people gather”; a large wooden platform without a hut at the heart of the Lo community, usually a in the middle of a lagoon encircled by huts.
Kus-ge: (kuss-GEE) Ba-lok’s wife, hails from the mysterious Lost Arun-ki, the farthest Lo settlement to the east that vanished years earlier.
Ood-i: (OO-die) Member of the Crane Clan, husband of Ula, father to Su-gár.
Levidi: (lev-EE-dee) Aizarg’s best friend, husband of Alaya.
li-ge: (lie-GHEE) Lo symbol meaning “balance” or “joining of flesh and spirit.”
Lo: (LOW) “The people” or “the family.” Nation of fishing tribes divided into different clans. They live along the Great Sea’s northern shore in stilted villages over the water.
Masok: (MAY-sock) Sco-lo-ti of the Turtle Clan and Ghalen’s older brother.
Narim: (nah-RHEEM) Race of demigods who live in the Black Fortress in the mountains above Hur-ar.
Nushen: (NEW-shen) Village of Goddess, an ancient village that has served the goddess Nuwa for ages.
Nuwa:(NEW-ah) She is also called the Queen of the West and the Celestial Queen. A goddess who sired Fu Xi with a human man. She dwells in seclusion in her temple on Tortoise Mountain above the village of Nushen.
Minnow Clan: Lo village ruled by Ba-lok as sco-lo-ti.
Oeto-sy: (oy-TOW-see) the sky god or “father above” of the Lo pantheon. Husband of Psatina, father of Sethagasi.
Okta: (AWK-tah) Leader of the Carp Arun-ki. An older sco-lo-ti, but not yet an elder. Tall, lean and light complexioned like Aizarg, but older, nearing the age of an elder.
patesi-le: (pah-TEH-see-lee) A lo shaman, always a woman and the wife of the sco-lo-ti.
Psatina: (sat-EEN-a) The Earth Mother, prime goddess of the Lo pantheon.
Quexil: (Kek-zil) Captain of the Obsidian Guard, warrior and Lord Leviathan’s closest servant.
Ro-xandra: (Row-ZAN-drah) Old Minnow Clan woman.
sco-lo-ti: (skoh-LOW-tee) “leader of the people”, village chieftain
sagar: (SAY-garr) Sammujad spears, heavier and longer, made to defend against Scythian horse warriors.
Sahti: (sah-TEE) Wife of Xva.
Sammujad: (sam-MOO-jahd) one of the three nomadic tribes inhabiting the g’an. They occupy the fringes of the steppe and rely mostly on trading to survive. They have been pushed back in recent years by the Scythians.
Sana: (SAH-nah) Scythian princess, sister of Prince Tuma, daughter of King Sawseruquo, granddaughter of King Sosa and his captive bride, Setenay.
Sarah: Former pleasure slave in bondage in Virag’s camp. She is originally of the Hur-ar and vows to lead Aizarg’s party to the Narim.
Scythians: (sith-EE-ans) Horse warriors who’ve come to dominate the g’an over the course of several generations, they are the most savage and feared of the three steppe tribes.
Setenay: (set-EN-aye) Patesi-li of the Minnow Clan, grandmother to Ba-lok, oldest living member of the Lo people. Called “The Grandmother of the Lo.”
Sethagasi: (seth-ah-GOS-ee) The sea goddess of the Lo pantheon, daughter of Psatina and Oeto-sy. Synonymous with Great Sea. Also means “womb.”
Spako: (SPAY-koh) Sammujad mercenary in the employ of Virag. Enormous and imposing, but dimwitted and, if left to his own devices, gentle.
Summoning of Spears: Ceremony where the Lo choose an Uros to lead them in time of war.
Silt Flats: Place near Crane Clan village with the shallows meet the deep sea and large waves form and the village boys wave ride atop their small reed boats.
Sunalei Ostu: (Sue-NAH-lay OH-stooh) Called “Sunnah,” he is Lord Leviathan’s master of horses.
Su-gar: (sue-GARR) daughter of Ood-i and Ula.
Tiejiang: (Teh-ZHANG) Blacksmith of Nushen, raised by Fu Xi.
Time of the Spear: Lo term for a time of war when an Uros leads all the Lo nation, superseding the power of individual sco-lo-ti.
Toma: (Tow-MAH) Orphaned Minnow child, twin brother to E’laa
Tortoise Mountain: Home of the Goddess Nuwa.
Turtle Clan: Lo village ruled by Masok as sco-lo-ti, also home to his younger brother, Ghalen.
Ula: (OOW-lah) Wife of Leedi, mother of Su-gár.
Uros: (UR-ouws) War Chieftain of the Lo.
Valley of the Beasts: A valley discovered by Aizarg and Levidi filled with a milling multitude of animals of every sort.
Virag: (veye-RAG) Sammujad Slaver, former owner of Sarah.
Wu:(WOO) A mysterious land far to the east of Cin. Fu Xi thought of this land as the end of the earth.
Xva: (ZEE-vah) Aizarg’s cousin and youngest man in the Crane Clan Nation. Husband of Sahti.
