Hand of Fire (The Master of the Tane) (8 page)

     
              “But where did it come from? I mean who made it?”

     
              “Legend has it that it came from the Chufa of old. But they didn’t make it.”  

     
              Thane was now more confused than ever. “I don’t understand. How is an arrow not made?”

Dax pulled the arrow from the quiver resting by his leg and handed it to Thane. “See for yourself.”

              Thane held it with awe not quite sure of what to think. It was all wood, even the tip, and instead of feathers at the end there seemed to be leaves. It was lighter than it appeared and it felt warm in his hand, almost as if it pulsated with life. He could almost sense the living force flowing through it.

             
“It was my father’s,” Dax continued. “And my father’s father and his father’s back to when we lived in the great forests on the other side of the mountains. They say that the great one of old could talk with the forests and the animals and that the trees would give him arrows like this one from their inner hearts. Supposedly, these arrows could shoot through rock and metals of the strongest make and their tips would never dull.” Dax had stopped working his blade and now stared at the horizon as the sun set behind the mountain peaks. Thane sat spellbound by the thought of it all while trying to catch whatever it was that was scratching at his mind just beyond understanding.

             
“Well,” Dax finally said breaking the silence. “That’s what they say anyway, if you want to believe it. To me it’s just a fine arrow that I don’t have to sharpen and that’s good enough.”

             
Thane handed the strange arrow back and the weird sensation he had been feeling all along suddenly left him. “Thank you, DaxSagn,” he managed as he got back to his feet still lost in thought. “I had better get home now. The Kinpa will be visiting soon.”

             
“That’s right boy. And get some sleep. It looks like you could use it.”

Thane nodded in reply and then turned for home.

              That night, as he slept, he dreamed of talking trees with arrows for leaves.

CHAPTER THREE

             
Rani ducked under the low hanging vine and bound through the jungle of trees while cursing her decision to leave the safety of the river. She had entered the Underwoods forest hoping to end her journey quickly and return home to her children, but her mistake in judging the sun’s quick descent was proving to be a fatal one. If she did not reach her canoe by nightfall, when the creatures of the Underwoods began their nightly struggle over life and death, it was almost certain her three children would be orphaned and someone would then be making an Appeasing Journey for her. The thought of them pushed her on even faster.

             
She was Waseeni, and like the rest of her race, she was small of build but agile and quick in her movements; she had to be to survive the dangers of the Teague swamplands where the Waseeni made their home. Her eyes matched the dark brown of her tanned skin and her hair was bleached almost white from the sun. She wore a half-shirt and a simple loincloth, which was kept in place by a belt that also held her only weapon, a dagger. The deadly heat and dense humidity of the Teague made clothing a burden and only that which was necessary to keep one modest was ever worn.

             
The way was quickly becoming darker making it difficult to see as the limbs of the trees seemed to come to life reaching down to grab her and slow her escape. A distant howl broke her fluid gait tripping her up on a fallen log and sending her sliding headlong through the soft, decomposing plant debris that littered the ground. Righting herself quickly, she ignored the musty smell and suppressed an anxious shiver as she darted ahead in a desperate search for the sanctuary promised by the Belfar River.

             
It was almost completely dark when she finally heard the beckoning sounds of the water calling to her fear-dulled mind. She was almost there. A tiny smile creased her sweat-covered face but was quickly erased when a horrible cry froze her cold in mid-stride. Her eyes caught the movement of something large just ahead as it bounced up and down on top of another unrecognizable form. A second scream escaped from the grounded creature, a last cry of anguish, and then all went silent. Rani shook uncontrollably and cursed herself for not bringing her blowgun. She knew she was close now but felt a gnawing sense that she would find death just at that door to her freedom.

Inching slowly forward, she could just make out what it was that blocked her passage. The bulbous body and spindly legs of a giant spider had fallen upon some unwary creature and was now proceeding to wrap it into a cocoon of webbing for later digestion. Rani’s eyes darted to the tree tops above wondering if more weren’t hiding in the dense foliage just waiting for the next victim to happen along. She had always hated spiders, and the ones in the Teague did grow rather large and there venom was lethal in the smallest amounts, but never had she ever imagined the nightmare that was so close to her now.

              A soft rustle in the undergrowth behind her broke through her terror stricken mind crying out in warning that she was not alone in her observance of the spider and its prey. Night had fallen. A low growl hissed through the air placing her unknown companion only feet behind her and to the right. She didn’t move. Maybe it hadn’t seen her. Maybe it had! Was it another spider come along to find the warm, satisfying blood she offered so easily? She remained frozen in place, not daring to move, her ability to escape hindered on either side by the thickness of the forest that had quickly become a death trap. Forward or back were her only options and neither offered anything other than certain death.

             
The stalker suddenly screeched mingling its voice with Rani’s cry of dread as she shot forward towards the spider and its prey. She could hear the hunter falling in behind her as it broke from the bush in quick pursuit closing the gap with incredible speed. The spider rose onto its back legs in readiness as she sprinted towards its eager embrace, its mandibles moving with anticipation. She was trapped! She would die and none would appease the ancestors for the death of her husband.

             
A shadow suddenly passed over Rani’s head causing her to dive instinctively to the forest floor of decaying foliage. She looked up in time to see a shadow collide with the massive spider knocking it to the ground and locking it into a desperate battle for life. Not wasting a precious moment to gawk, she rose to her feet and bolted past praying their struggles would not declare a victor until she reached her canoe and escaped into the river.

             
Once past the melee it was only a small distance that lay between her and safety. Forgetting caution, she raced headlong for the shoreline and her beached canoe that had suddenly become visible in the darkening night. The shrieks and screams of the bloody fight abruptly ended with a last hopeless cry just as she reached the river’s edge. Chancing a quick glance back, a shiver shot through her as she could just make out the form of the stalking shadow bent over the spider’s curled and bloody corpse. She could hear it rip into its prey’s swollen flesh as it hungrily devoured its victim’s innards. She barely stifled a scream of terror and disgust with the sudden realization that that very well could have been her being eaten in the spider’s place.

             
The shadowy figure suddenly looked up and glared at her, its glowing yellow eyes holding her in place for a mere instant before she turned away and threw herself and her canoe into the safety of the river. A mocking howl ripped past her, chilling her deeper than the cold water that now surrounded her shivering body.

             
Quickly pulling herself from the icy river and into the canoe, she dug her push pole into the swirling flow and pushed the vessel out towards the center of the river. The current was strong, testing her exhausted strength as it beat against the small craft threatening to wash her down through the rapids she had spent most of the previous day getting past. Running them in daylight would be risky enough, at night it would be suicide.

             
Rani tried to eliminate the sounds of the forest behind her by concentrating on moving quickly up stream and away from the stage of death. To her relief, the shouting rush of the Belfar River rapidly replaced the cries from the awaking forest leaving her with a small sense of security. She pushed on, further upstream, ignoring the burning in her limbs and the ache in her back. She wanted to be far away from that scene of death. Those yellow eyes forced themselves back into her mind driving another shiver up her spine. She had come close to losing her life today, too close. Life in the Teague swamplands was dangerous at best, but nothing she had ever experienced came close to what she’d seen today.

             
Trying to force it all from her mind, she concentrated on the river’s currents which were difficult to navigate in the early darkness of night before the moon rose. She picked her way through as best she could until the water finally slowed from its rush into a silent, drifting flow. She was exhausted. She had to find a place to tie up and sleep but she wanted nothing to do with the shore on either side. She would push her canoe until morning if need be, but she would not get near the forest again this night, or any other.

             
It was at least an hour after the moon had finally made its appearance and bathed the water with sparkles of hypnotic light, before Rani happened upon her salvation. A large, stone bridge spanned the width of the river supported by two rock pilings that jutted up from the bed beneath; a perfect place to tie off her canoe. Pushing herself under the bridge, she secured her line, pulling the craft up close to the slimy stone pillar just out of the line of sight of anyone, or anything, that might pass above while she slept. Satisfied she was safe, she loaded her blowgun with a poison dart and lay back against her pack using it as a pillow.

             
All around her seemed peaceful and quiet as if death incarnate did not lie in wait just beyond the edge of the forest to either side. The water brushed by in quiet serenity stroking at her exhausted mind, bidding her to follow on currents of restful bliss, but the gloomy thoughts that gripped her would not allow such blessed slumber. She remembered. It tore at her heart and sapped the light from her soul. But still, she remembered. The reason she was there in that cursed river alone. Alone. She was alone, and empty.

             
Rani’s mind raced back to the year when she had first felt the Burning. It was a time to celebrate in a young person’s life. When one felt the Burning they were allowed to enter into a marriage contract with a man of their choosing. Should he accept, a year of purification was declared when they were not allowed to have contact with anyone of the opposite sex until the night they were bound as one. Rani had loved her chosen mate since the first time she’d met him and their wedding was a celebration for the whole community. His face flashed into her mind with the painful stab of longing that had been her lot for the past two weeks. Both their parents had been taken by fever years before leaving them alone as neither had any siblings. And now, save for her remaining children and the one she knew was growing inside of her, she was left  with no one.

             
Rani’s short time as a wife bore fruit the first year they were together when she delivered not one, but two boys. She had been ecstatic with joy and excitement. The whole community had come to see the twins that were such a novelty in the village. It was almost unheard of for a Waseeni to give birth to twins. Rani felt truly blessed by the ancestors and soon two girls were added to their family. When she discovered that one more child would soon grow their family to seven, she could not believe her great fortune. At least, that was, until a few weeks ago when her first born, Tahben, and her husband, had been taken by one of the vile creatures that inhabited the swamps snatching them right from her canoe as she climbed up the long ladder to their hut nestled in one of the enormous Teague trees.

             
Rani ran her hand over the rough claw marks still evident on the side of her canoe. Tears welled up in her already red, swollen eyes, her heart aching from the pain of her loss. The guilt washed over her binding her like the spider’s viscid web trying to suffocate her soul in its merciless embrace. If only she had...what? If she had allowed Tahben to climb the rope first then she and her husband would bother be dead and it would be Tahben in her place seeking a gift to appease their souls and also take care of their family. Though the sweet thought of being taken with her husband was a tempting one she always pushed it aside knowing that her living children needed her now more than ever.