The Feral Sentence (Book 1, Part 2) (8 page)

“
Come
on, Brone, help us out,” Biggie said, wiping sweat from the tops of
her eyebrows.

“
Ain’t
rocket science,” Flander said.

“
I don’t
see you catching anything, Flander.” Fisher laughed then swung down
hard and tore a silver, yellow-backed fish from the water. “My
favorite.”

I pointed the
sharp end of my spear toward the water. I’d been about to jab
downward when I heard it—a high-pitched whistling that skimmed the
lobe of my ear. I quickly glanced back to find a broken arrow lying
at the base of a massive boulder.

“
Retreat!” Trim shouted.

Another arrow
came flying out from distant trees, followed by another and
another. Trim ran in the opposite direction toward the jungle,
lunging over fallen tree trunks and fish carcasses. I kept up,
fueled by adrenaline and survival instincts.

Everything was
happening so fast, I didn’t know what was going on.

We ran into
the thick of the jungle, plowing our way through heavy verdure.

Trim led us
south, away from the shoreline and away from our attackers.

“
Trim!”
Fisher hissed.

Trim turned
around.

“
I think
we lost them.” Fisher bent over, hands on her knees, fighting to
catch her breath.

There was a
moment of silence, before Trim’s eyes met all of ours. “Stay on
guard.” Her eyes quickly shot down at my neck. “They got you.”

Confused, I
reached up, and with the tips of my fingers, grazed over the skin
of my neck, only to feel the lumpiness of the cut I’d been given
the night before—the one I’d forgotten to clean.

“
Oh,” I
said. “Barely.”

I wasn’t
prepared to tell any of them the truth. I couldn’t trust
anyone.

“
Anyone
else?” Trim asked.

“
We’re
okay,” Fisher said. Everyone nodded in unison.

“
Who was
that?” I asked.

“
Fucking
Northers,” Rocket growled. She pressed the skin of her thumb into
the point of her spear, and I could tell all she wanted to do was
kill someone.

“
How do
you know?” I asked.

“
The
arrows. That’s their specialty. And, well, they came from the
North,” Rocket said.

“
Did
anyone see anything?” Trim asked.

Everyone shook
their heads.

“
Didn’t
’ave time,” Flander said, scratching the top of her gray-haired
head.

“
Guys…”

“
The
fuck are they doing on the Western shoreline?” Fisher
asked.

“
Guys…”

Trim sighed
and shook her head. “I don’t fucking know. This is the second
attack in broad daylight.”

“
Yeah,
and they’re trying to start a full-blown war. They won’t stop until
they kill us all.” Fisher clenched both fists and turned in circles
like a shark in water.

“
Can’t
we go after them?” I asked even though violence was the last thing
I wanted. “I mean… hit them before they hit us again.”

“
Guys…”

“
Murk
won’t allow it,” Trim said. “She doesn’t want war, and she can’t
risk losing us or any of her people.”

“
We’re
already at war!” Rocket said.

“
Guys!”

In unison,
everyone turned toward Biggie, who’d been attempting to capture our
attention. “Stop talking.” Her eyes were as round as golf balls,
and her lips were curved downward as if she’d seen a ghost.

And in that
moment, it was as if our surroundings suddenly came into focus—as
if a veil had been lifted, revealing a gruesome reality. There were
strings of teeth dangling from tree branches all around us, some of
which were large canines, but most of which were flat and obviously
human.

There were
fragmented pieces of skull and bone scattered across the earth
beneath our feet, around which tall wooden torches were stabbed
into the ground. The candles had melted entirely, and their
leftover wax formed crooked, drooping lips.

There was
something eerie about this place; it was as if life itself did not
exist. For a moment, all sound from the jungle’s wildlife faded,
and the only thing I could hear was the shallow breathing of
everyone around me.

“
What is
that?” Biggie moved toward the center, her eyes glued to the
ground.

Beneath our
feet was a circular drawing carved in mud, part of which had been
smudged due to our footprints. It was a perfect circle with three
gashes drawn evenly across its center. But what caught my attention
was not the shape or its location, but rather, its color. It was
stained in a deep red, which almost resembled black earth.

Trim’s
knuckles whitened around her fishing spear. “We’re on Ogre
territory.” I noticed Biggie’s face contort and her nostrils
flare.

“
Do you
smell that?” she asked.

I inhaled a
deep breath through my nostrils, although I suddenly wished I
hadn’t. I couldn’t understand how I’d failed to notice such a foul
stench. It was like nothing I’d ever smelled before, and the more I
breathed, the more nauseous I became. It smelled of decay,
something far worse than sour milk, and moldy cheese combined.

A drop of red
suddenly fell from above and onto Biggie’s shoulder. She slowly
tilted her head back, and I followed her eyes.

I wished I
hadn’t.

What I saw was
beyond anything I’d ever imagined to find in the jungle. It was a
naked female body tied by the ankles, dangling upside down from a
massive branch overhead. Her throat had been slit straight across,
and there were symbols carved into her chest and shoulders. Her
skin was completely blanched and her face and neck swollen to the
point of being unrecognizable. But her lifeless, dandelion eyes
remained wide open.

I knew exactly
who we were looking at—Sunny.

CHAPTER
8

“
We
continue to train our people.” Murk lit the tip of a green cigar
and leaned back in her chair.

Trim clenched
both fists and stepped forward. “Did you not hear anything I just
told you? They’ll attack us again. We need to make a move.”

“
I did
hear you, and my decision remains,” Murk said.

I couldn’t
understand how she was being so calm about our attack and about our
being ambushed and forced to retreat into enemy territory. I also
couldn’t understand how we’d manage to survive Ogre territory
without an encounter.

Fisher stepped
forward and knelt on one knee. “With all due respect, Chief, if we
do nothing, we’re sitting ducks just waiting to die.”

Murk exhaled a
cloud of white smoke, ashed her cigar onto the stone floor, then
eyed us carefully. “You all know how this works. You Hunters are
the only ones with enough experience to take on an attack against
the Northers. If we lose our Hunters, we lose our food supply, and
we destroy ourselves from the inside out.”

“
Our
food supply is already being cut,” Trim said. “We’re already going
to destroy ourselves from the inside out if we keep being
intercepted during our hunts.”

“
Is this
the first attack during a hunt?” Murk asked.

Trim
nodded.

“
Then we
can’t assume they’ll attack at every hunt. Stay away from the
Western shoreline until further notice. There’s fish in some of the
fresh water around here.”

No one
countered her argument, and all that could be heard was the
waterfall’s heavy drop at the entrance of the cavern.

Murk slowly
stood and met Trim’s side. “How many Battle Women do we have?”

Trim stiffened
up with both hands on either side of her body. “Twenty, at
most.”

Murk scratched
her chin. “And how many Archers?”

“
Two.
Three, if you include Brone,” Trim said.

“
I want
six Archers at all times on our territory,” Murk
ordered.

“
And
where do you propose we find these Archers?” Trim asked.

“
I’ll
let you handle that,” Murk said. “No need for another Assessment.
It’ll only worry the women.” Trim responded with a quick
nod.

“
From
now on,” Murk announced, her voice suddenly loudening, “no hunt is
to be executed without proper caution, and no hunt is to be
mentioned to anyone other than myself.” She crossed both arms over
her chest and parted her legs at shoulder’s width. “If we’re
strategic about this, we’ll never have to attack the Northers on
their turf. Let them come to us… We’ll be ready for
them.”

“
And
when they attack?” Trim asked.

Murk formed a
slow-crushing fist below her chin. “Destroy them.”

* * *

“
How
many Northers you think they got?” Biggie asked, rushing to Trim’s
side.

Trim walked
briskly away from the waterfall with dozens of eyes following her.
It was apparent trouble was lurking by the way Trim moved, and the
women of the Village could sense it.

“
I don’t
know...” she said. Rainer took half our village when she left, and
who knows how many drops she’s taken from us.”

“
So
equal or greater than our population,” Fisher said
matter-of-factly.

Trim didn’t
respond.

“
Yeah,”
Flander added, “but what you’re all forgettin’ is that Rainer don’t
do civilization. She never believed in it. Which means all of ’er
people are trained in battle. That’s what she recruits ’em
for.”

Rocket hopped
sideways, keeping up with Trim’s pace. “This would be so much
easier if we could burn their fucking homes to the ground.”

“
Agreed,” Biggie said.

“
Enough,” Trim said. “You’re all dismissed.” Everyone stopped
following her.

“
Give
’er time,” Flander said. “She needs ’er space.”

Fisher’s
eyebrows came together as she watched her leader exit the Working
Grounds. “The last thing any of us needs right now is fucking
space. We need to stick together.”

“
Yeah,
well, that ship’s sailed,” Biggie said. She used her forearm to
wipe sweat away from her chin then turned around and made her way
toward the water.

“
I’m
with Biggie,” Rocket said. “Need me some water time.”

Fisher
released a sigh—a growl, almost—and walked in the opposite
direction. I stood awkwardly by Flander’s side, pondering whether
or not to also walk away.

“
Looks
like ya got the day off, kid.” Flander stretched her back, cracked
her fingers, then said, “I’m goin’ to take a nap.”

I suddenly
caught Savia’s eyes—the woman who’d been supposed to train me as
Needle Woman. She was sitting underneath the shadow of a tree with
a dry piece of leather in one hand and carved wood in the other. A
pile of arrows lay beside her, and I could tell by the solemn look
in her eyes that she knew exactly what was coming. I tried to
smile, but my lips didn’t move. So instead, I left the Working
Grounds and made my way toward the Village.

I’d been about
to enter my tent, when I heard Ellie’s voice, “Hey, right on
time.”

I glanced
back.

“
I’m
doing my rounds,” she said. “Here.” She offered a closed fist, so I
placed an open palm underneath it and caught five
pearls.

“
Payday,” she said.

“
Oh, um…
thanks,” I said.

She stared at
me for a moment, her almond eyes narrowing. “You okay? Looks like
you’ve had a long day.”

A long day was
an understatement. I’d nearly been killed out on the Western
shoreline, and although grateful that I’d survived the attack,
there was a part of me that wished the Norther who’d fired the
arrow hadn’t missed. I couldn’t get Sunny’s swollen, lifeless face
out of my mind or the way she’d just dangled above us, poisoning
the air with the rancid smell of decay. How was anyone supposed to
live with such a memory? The image of Sunny being dragged away by a
masked Ogre still haunted me, and now, I’d have a new memory to
accompany it.

I felt
queasy.

“
Brone?”

I shook my
head and forced a smile. “I’m okay.”

“
Come
here,” she said, pulling me in close.

I stiffened,
feeling entirely ill-prepared for affection.

“
Relax,”
she said. “You looked like you needed a hug.”

Although
uncomfortable, I enjoyed the sensation of her warm body against
mine. It soothed me. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d been
touched, with the exclusion of Rocket, Biggie, or Flander slapping
me across the shoulder or on the back.

She slowly
pulled away and smiled, her plush pink lips curving on either side.
“Better?” I nodded.

“
Now use
those pearls wisely,” she said.

I opened my
hand and stared down at the silky, multicolored pearls, suddenly
remembering that only two of these actually belonged to me. I
remembered the yellow serpentine mask hovering inches away from my
face, and the last thing I wanted was to see that mask again. I’d
do as instructed and drop three pearls near the Cliff.

Ellie reached
up and stroked my cheek. “You’ll be all right.”

I didn’t
understand how she saw right through me, being that I’d always been
the type to hide my emotions from the outside world, but she did.
And I wished this were true—that everything would be all right. I
wished that I could rewind my sentence and steer clear of Trim and
her crew. I didn’t want to be an Archer. I wasn’t prepared to go to
war. I wasn’t prepared for any of this.