Hand of Fire (The Master of the Tane) (14 page)

            “I’m fine. It’s just a little painful. What about you?”

            Dor grinned back proudly. “Not a scratch.”

            “You must not have been in the fighting then,” Thane smiled.

            “No, I’m just not as clumsy as some.”

             
Thane looked sadly at their fallen comrade. “I guess not,” he whispered.

            By cutting the troll’s loincloth into strips, Thane was able to splint the other Chufa’s arm while Dor kept an eye out for any danger. By the time he was finished, most of the noise from the fighting had died down with only a few faint cries drifting over from a greater distance. Dor checked the troll’s body for anything else useful and was rewarded with another knife, which he kept, returning the first back to Thane. “I think we’ve earned these, don’t you?” he asked smiling brightly.

            “Maybe,” Thane returned.

            By the time the battle was completely over and the others came around to check for wounded, the Chufa warrior Dor and Thane were caring for had died. All were saddened by the passing of two of their friends and fellow fighters but there was also a sense of relief that the raid had been reported before the trolls reached the village or the number of deaths would certainly have been greater.

            “It’s a good thing you were around here and saw the trolls gathering when you did Thane or things would have been much worse,” Dax commented as all the warriors gathered around in preparation to return with the bodies to the village.

             
“Oh, I wasn’t up here when they gathered, Dax,” Thane replied, glancing at his friend. “Dor and I were down by the lake.”

            Dor stared at Thane with an incredulous look before glancing at PocMar who approached the group with a red spotted face that instantly turned redder.

            “Of course you were up here boy, how else would you have known the trolls were on raid?”

            “Well, actually...” Thane paused, looking around at the other Chufa, not feeling so anxious to share the whole story.

            “Come on boy, out with it? How did you know?”  Everyone gathered in closer suddenly very intrigued at how this mere child had saved their village from greater destruction.

             
Thane looked around nervously not quite sure how to explain it. Wasn’t it good enough that they had repelled the raid and that few died or were injured? Why must they know everything? And why had he opened his big mouth? He had fought well, bringing down two trolls himself, shouldn’t that be enough?

             
Dor watched his friend, worried he would spill everything about their ambush on PocMar and his cronies. “Uh, what he means is that he, that is we, were not in this exact spot but near here after being at the lake,” Dor piped in trying to save them both.

             
“You keep quiet boy,” Dax snapped. “I want to hear what Thane has to say.” Dax stared intently at Thane. “Well, spit it out boy, we have dead to attend to.”

             
Thane glanced at Dor who gave him an ‘I tried’ look and then scanned the crowd that had gathered around. His father, who had not spoken a word to him the whole time, even to see if he was all right, just stared at him and shook his head not offering any help.

             
Thane searched within for the right words to say but all he could think of was the deer that he’d seen on the trail. It seemed to reach out to him with a feeling of dread and fright and the memory of an awful stench, which could only have been the stink of rock trolls. The trail the deer had come from then entered his mind as if it was giving him directions. Thane remembered his disbelief and then a picture of a doe and two fawns entered his head as the deer continued to stare at him. It was as if the animal was pleading for his help.

             
“I was told,” Thane finally blurted out.

            Dax looked puzzled. “Told? Who would take the time to seek you out and tell you so you could give the alarm instead of doing it directly themselves?”

              “It wasn’t a who but a what that told me.”

            “Now don’t you be playing games with us boy,” Dax scolded. “You may have fought as good as or better than many of us but don’t try my patience with silly games!”

           Thane looked around anxiously. He knew they wouldn’t believe him. He had a hard enough time believing it himself but they had to know he wasn’t lying. “Dax, I’m not playing games. I swear by the five Tane that what I am telling you is the truth.”

            “Don’t you start blaspheming now,
boy. That will get you in a lot deeper trouble than lying.”

            “I’m not, really. Dor and I were coming back from the lake when a deer jumped onto the trail in front of us. It stopped and stared into my eyes and I was bombarded with all these emotions and memories of fear and disgust. And then I saw in my mind the trail I brought us on to where the trolls were and I knew they would raid. That’s how I knew, that’s the honest truth.”

              Dax stared at him dubiously while the others, even his father, started laughing and teasing him. Dor suddenly broke from the crowd to stand by his friend and shouted above the laughing, “It’s true!”

            “Don’t, Dor,” Thane whispered with his head down.

            “It’s not right, Thane,” he said looking at his friend. Then louder he said, “I was with him when it happened. I saw the whole thing and it’s just like he said.”

            “Oh come on,” someone in the crowd yelled. “Let’s get back and take care of our dead. I, for one, don’t want to listen to the stories of babes just out of their mother’s arms.”

            “Right, let’s go,” another agreed. “We’ve heard enough.”

            Dax raised his hand for silence and then looked back at the two boys. “Since you both feel it necessary to continue with your little child’s game we will leave it up to the Kinpa to decide what to do about your lying and,” he added looking at Thane, “
your false swearing.”

            The crowd of men gathered up the two dead bodies and headed back to the village leaving Thane and Dor standing together alone.

              “I’m sorry, Dor. I should not have let you get involved,” Thane said as they started after the others. “Now, thanks to me, you are in trouble as well.”

             
“Don’t worry about it Thane,” Dor said trying to sound cheerful. “Our punishment cannot be any worse than when I got you in trouble with the Kinpa gag.”

            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.