“I was, too,” Anaxis said. “It’s brutal out there in that heat.”
“You must be so hungry,” said his father, handing him a hard loaf of huel bread. “Eat slowly. Have you had enough to drink?”
“Plenty,” Anaxis answered. “I was following the river the whole time.”
“Are you hurt?” Caraxis asked.
“No,” Anaxis answered. “Well, sort of. My side, and my toe are. I tore my side in the fall, and bashed my toe putting one of the cannar out of its misery. It had broken its legs.”
“That was your fault, Anax,” said his sister, Illox. “What were you doing with that piece of glass, anyways?”
“Please, Illox,” said her mother. “He doesn’t need to hear that right now.”
“She’s right, though,” said Balta, who was standing nearby with a sneer on his face. “We all heard from the scouts about how you flashed the cannar and started the stampede. What were you trying to do? You really screwed up this time. You ruined the whole Hunt, Anaxis. The whole year.”
“Balta, please,” said Jora. “We’re just happy he’s alive.”
“Are we? We’re all going to go hungry because of his stupidity,” Balta said.
“I was trying to steer them,” Anaxis said. “I didn’t know they would react like that.”
“You don’t know anything,” Balta said.
“Balta, that’s enough,” said Anaxis’s father.
Balta snorted and kicked the sand. “I’m just saying what everyone else is thinking,” he said.
“I’m sorry, everyone,” Anaxis announced to the crowd. “I was trying to help and it failed miserably. I’ve had nothing but time to think about how foolish I was. I’m truly sorry.”
“Sorry isn’t going to feed us,” mumbled one of the elders.
“The boy was lost and scared for days,” Anaxis’s mother said. “We should all be happy he is safe.”
The crowd murmured.
“I’m so sorry everyone,” Anaxis said, “But, I have to tell you all, I found the most amazing thing in the desert!”
“What did you see, son?” his father asked as he ran his hand over Anaxis’s mussed hair.
“I thought it was a meteorite, but it wasn’t!” Anaxis said. “It’s… it’s some sort of ship, or something. It fell from the sky in flames!”
“What are you talking about now, you weirdo?” Balta asked.
“I don’t even know, Balta, but it’s metallic, and it fell from way high up in the sky, and there were animals in it, almost like us, but without any hair, and pale, and they were dead, I think, but I didn’t have the nerve to touch them. But I know just where the wreckage is. We have to go back and investigate it!”
Some in the crowd started to chuckle, while others grew more visibly upset.
“Anaxis,” his mother said, taking him into her arms, “You were out in that heat for a long time…”
“No, Mom, I know,” Anaxis said, breaking free of her embrace, “But I know what I saw. It’s still there, for sure, I can show you all! We have to make a trip, together!”
“Sounds like a hallucination at best, or Gnirean witchcraft at worst,” said another of the elders. “And with less food in our stores than there should be, we couldn’t afford such a wasteful endeavor.”
“No, listen,” Anaxis said, looking around at the scornful faces of the villagers. “We have to. The wreckage had such bizarre implements inside, and they were glowing, like a fire, but it wasn’t fire. It was absolutely amazing. We simply must return there.”
“Come on, Anax,” Caraxis said. “We all came out here to look for you. Can’t you take it easy on the nonsense for a little bit?”
Anaxis stared at his brother in disbelief, then turned to see the same reflected back at him from the eyes of nearly all the others gathered.
“I can’t believe this is happening,” he said. “It’s the most incredible thing I’ve ever seen…”
“I’m sorry, Anaxis,” said another of the elders. “We’re glad you are alive, but we are rather cross at you for ruining the Hunt for the village this year. You have increased our hardship tenfold. Now, come. The sun is glaring. We must return to the shade, to the village. We have no more time to listen to your wild stories.”
“But…” Anaxis began.
“Shhh,” his mother said, putting a hand on his shoulder. “Not now, Anaxis. Please help us gather up the rope so that we can go home.”
“Mom? Dad? Illox, Caraxis? Don’t you believe me?” he begged.
“Sorry, Anax,” Illox said. “Let’s go home, okay?”
The crowd started to head back to the village, cursing Anaxis in low tones as they departed. He was left standing on the edge of the cliff, unable to believe his news had been met with such disinterest and disdain.
“Hey, buddy,” Mills said, coming over to his friend.
“Mills… you believe me, don’t you?” Anaxis asked.
“Sure I do, Anax. But what does it really matter, anyways?”
“What… what… what does it matter?” Anaxis sputtered. “Beings fell from the sky!”
“We can’t eat them, Anax,” Mills said. “And who knows what trouble we’d get in with the Silver if we investigated too much.”
“You too, Mills?”
“Come on, friend,” Mills said. “Let’s go home. We can tell Xala about it, I’m sure she’ll be interested. Come on.”
Anaxis watched Mills start to turn away, as tears filled his eyes. He looked down at the bread his father had given him, then back at the desert stretching out from the river below.
“Well I’m going back, even if no one else will go with me,” he said to himself.
Once Anaxis had returned home, his parents laced into him.
“What were you thinking, Anaxis?” his mother roared. “Endangering your own life and the future of our whole tribe with that foolish attempt? Are you deliberately trying to summon the Silver? What are we all supposed to do now? What are we supposed to eat this year?”
“Mom!” Anaxis protested. He turned from her glare to his father. “Dad!”
“I agree with your mother, Anaxis,” said his father. “You’ve made some serious mistakes in the past, but never anything as egregious as this. What do you have to say for yourself?”
“I was trying to help,” Anaxis said. “How often do people get hurt trying to steer the cannar? I thought, with my lens, that I could save them their injuries, could improve…”
“The Hunt has been our way of life for hundreds of years, Anaxis,” said his mother. “It doesn’t need help, or fixing, or improving. When are you going to realize that you’re wasting your time with your experiments and your dreaming?”
“I’m not wasting my time,” Anaxis said. “Would you say that the first people to learn to hunt the cannar like we do now, were they wasting their time? Wasn’t that an improvement? What of change, of progress, what of a future that is easier and better than the past?”
“Do the nima change? Does the wind, or the sun?” his mother retorted.
“Yes, there is proof every day that the wind does change,” Anaxis answered.
“Don’t get smart with me, Anaxis,” said his mother.
“No one wants to get smart about anything around here, do they?” asked Anaxis. “We all just want to live in the rock and scrape out an existence with sticks and stones while we hide from the Silver, don’t we? Well I don’t. I think there’s more in store for us than living a step above the animals, Mom.”
“Anaxis, what you did in the valley was brash and foolish,” his father interjected. “You told no one, you acted selfishly, and it cost us dearly. You cannot claim you were hoping to improve anything other than the way people view you. Reckless pride is not something I would think we had instilled in you. It brings me great sadness to know that you are so stubborn and self-interested. I feel like we’ve failed you as parents. That we’ve failed the whole village.”
“No, you’ve raised someone who c
an innovate, who can think for themselves,” Anaxis said. “Please don’t tell me you’re even more disappointed in me than you already were.”
“Your mistakes have never been so costly,” said his mother.
“So I messed up,” Anaxis said. “I told everyone I’m sorry. But next year, if we have more lenses, if it’s better coordinated…”
“I’m telling you now, there will be no lenses anywhere near the Hunt next year, Anaxis,” said his father. “Or ever again. You need to put that idea to rest.”
“It could help us, though,” Anaxis said. “Any idea has problems at the beginning. I mean, Mom, remember when you started adding brall to your bread recipe? How it burned so badly? Then you refined it. We can refine…”
“A loaf of bread is a very different matter than an entire year’s worth of meat, Anaxis,” his mother interrupted. “The discussion is over.”
“Fine,” said Anaxis. “I don’t even care about the stupid Hunt. What’s more important is what I found out there in the desert. I have to get back.”
“You’re not going anywhere, other than lessons, for a long time,” said his father.
“What do you mean?” Anaxis asked.
“You’re grounded, Anaxis,” said his mother. “Perhaps the freedom we’ve always afforded you has been an error on our part. You’re going to stay close, under our watch. You’re going to the training circle every day. You’re going to condition with your brother and sister. You’re going to accept our way of life if you like it or not.”
“Grounded?” Anaxis wailed. “You can’t! The constellations are changing with the seasons, this is the best time of year to observe!”
“Let the stars go, Anaxis,” said his father. “You have to learn how to survive first, to learn what’s really important, before you devote any more time to your hobbies. To be a functioning member of this tribe, you have to hunt like our ancestors always have. And you have to be strong. You have to learn to stand up to bullies. You have to deal with the now, you can’t ignore it and retreat into dreaming.”
“But I don’t care about bullying,” Anaxis protested. “I can eat what I scavenge, what grows naturally. I don’t care about the Hunt!”
“Then we’re going to make you care, for your own good,” said his father. “I’m sorry, son, but desert life is hard, and you need to be hardened. Only the strong make it in this world. You have to grow up.”
“I have to grow up? You have to grow up! The whole village has to grow up! You all have to get your heads out of your rears and start moving forward, or we’ll be stuck here forever!”
“That’s enough, Anaxis,” said his mother. “Go to your room.”
“You can’t argue anymore, so you’re sending me to my room? Pathetic.”
“The only pathetic thing around here is a boy your age that can’t hurl a spear, Anaxis,” his mother said coldly. “We’re stronger than you, and so you have to do what we say. There’s your first lesson in the real way of the world.”
Anaxis felt tears filling his eyes, but didn’t want to give his parents or his brother and sister the satisfaction of seeing him cry, so he left immediately for the ladder against the wall that carried him up to his room.
The next day, at lessons, Anaxis didn’t feel like participating. Xala would look to him for the answers he was usually ready with, but he just stared at his desk, silently. He did nothing when Balta and the other bullies threw pebbles at his head during recess, and didn’t eat when the class broke for lunch.
“Anaxis,” Xala said when the other children had left for the day and the boy still hadn’t moved from his spot, “You seem upset.”
“That’s very perceptive of you, Xala,” said Anaxis.
“No need to be sarcastic,” Xala said. “Tell me, go on. What’s upsetting you so much?”
“My stupid family,” Anaxis answered.
“Family is difficult, but you only get one,” Xala said. “And they care for you, even though what they want for you might not be what you want for yourself.”
Anaxis rolled his eyes.
“I understand you found something rather remarkable in the desert while you were away,” Xala said.
“Yeah, well. Who cares?”
“You know I do. Care to tell me about it?”
“It was just a bunch of junk.”
“That’s not what I heard.”
Anaxis made eye contact with his instructor. “It was so bizarre, Xala,” he said, flooding with energy. “It was like a ship fell from the sky. There were creatures inside it, and strange artifacts that lit up without fire!”
“That’s very bizarre, indeed,” Xala said.
“How could no one care about such a thing? I just don’t get it. How can I be so different from everyone? I feel like I don’t belong here at all.”
“What were the creatures like?”
“They were almost like you or me, but they were so skinny, and pale, and they didn’t have any hair. And their clothing wasn’t animal hide, it was shiny, like glass. What could it possibly have been?”
“I can’t imagine,” Xala said with eyes full of wonder.
“I just want someone to go back with me, to prove that I saw it, and to find out what it was,” Anaxis said. “Everyone’s so mad, though.”
“Not everyone. You wouldn’t even talk to your friend, Mills, today. I know he’d want to hear about it.”
“He just wants to fit in. He says he’s not popular enough to be different. He just wants to keep his head down.”
“We all do what we must to get through this life,” Xala said. She pinched her chin in thought and stared out an opening in the wall. “What could you possibly have found out there?”
“My brother said it was probably Gnirean,” Anaxis said.
“Gnireans have hair, like us,” Xala said. “Supposedly. I’ve finished my book about their culture. Fascinating stuff.”
“Then what could it have been?”
“Something from outer space, perhaps,” Xala said.
“Outer space? From the stars? From beyond Valor?”
“Possibly.”
“How? From where?” Anaxis asked excitedly.
“That much I do not know. But I do know that the crash needs further investigation.”
“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell everyone!”
“It’s hard when no one will listen.”
“Tell me about it.”
Xala stepped away from Anaxis’s desk, her long dress sweeping around her as she stalked to the front of the classroom and back.
“Would your parents let you go back if you went with me?” she asked after a while in deep thought.
“To the crash site? No. I’m grounded. Indefinitely.”
“Hmmm,” Xala hummed, stroking her wiry, gray hair. “Would you tell them I took you if we went anyways?”
“Would I tell… No! No way, I promise!”
“Hmmm….” Xala hummed.
“Oh, please, can we go? I don’t care if I get in any more trouble. They could ground me for the rest of my life, all I want to do is go back and investigate!”
“Alright,” Xala said. “Tell you what, let me do some thinking on this. In the meantime, try to suss out if Mills would be interested in going with. Okay?”
“Yes!” Anaxis whooped. “Oh, Xala, that would be amazing!”
“No promises, Anaxis,” his instructor said. “But we can’t let some hard heads squander your brilliance, can we?”
Anaxis was practically levitating, he was so excited.
“I’m sure your parents are wondering where you are right now,” Xala said. “Go on home, and we’ll talk tomorrow, alright?”
“Alright!” Anaxis cried. “Thank you so much, Xala!”
“Think nothing of it,” she said. “I won’t see a fire like the one in your belly get snuffed out if there’s anything I can do about it. Go on now, and keep your head up.”
Anaxis ran from the instruction hut, his heart racing. Th
e sky was blue again, and the air smelled sweet once more.
7
It was just two days later than Anaxis and Mills were sneaking away through the sleeping village.
“I can’t believe we’re actually doing this,” Anaxis whispered.
“I doubt my father will even notice I’m gone,” said Mills. He stubbed his toe and let out a muffled curse. “It’s so dark. Can you see? I can hardly see.”
“I can’t see very well, no,” said Anaxis. “But the clouds are dispersing and the moons are rising. It will get easier.”
“How long do you think it will take?” Mills asked. “To get out to the desert and back?”
“Two days, tops,” Anaxis said. “You know, with all the time I’ve been spending in my room, there’s a possibility my parents won’t know I’m gone, either.”
“Your brother or sister probably will,” said Mills.
“Don’t count on it,” said Anaxis.
“Fair enough,” said Mills.
“Here we are,” said Anaxis.
The two entered Xala’s instruction hut to find her crouched over a lantern that was giving off a strange, green glow.
“Hello, children!” Xala said. “Are we excited?”
“We are,” answered Anaxis. “Or, I am, anyways. Can’t speak for Mills.”
“I’m excited,” said Mills. “But also really tired. What’s that green glow?”
“Bioluminescent bacteria,” Xala answered proudly. “I’ve been cultivating it in my greenhouse. It will last longer for us than any candle could.”
“It’s beautiful,” said Anaxis.
“Thank you, thank you,” Xala said proudly. “Alright, so we’ve got to get moving before night patrol comes back around. They should be on the northern edge right about now, so we’ve got a narrow window for escape.”
“Understood,” said Anaxis. “You ready, Mills?”
“Ready as I ever will be,” Mills answered. “Let’s do this crazy thing.”
The three left the instruction hut as the clouds overhead started to disperse and the light of the rising moons began to bathe the desert village in pale light. They crept silently along past the rock dwellings at the farthest end of Talx, headed toward the Hunting Valley.
Legend of Alm -The Valor Saga Pt 1 - Falling Star Page 5
