Star of Blood

7 | The Wool Over Their Eyes

"Are you alright?" demanded Prema's father.

She nodded then looked at her body, still drenched in the guts of those Dorobans. It drew a lot of concern from the other Hantri. "I'm fine, Father. This isn't my blood."

"What happened out there?"

Prema took a nervous breath. Even in asking for explanations, her father was pretty scary. "There were six people, who I believe came from a neighbouring village. They'd been ambushed by Dorobans, and I went to save them."

Her father looked her up and down. "And you killed all of them?"

"Actually, I didn't kill any of them. A Mendaxian did."

Prema remembered those six and how they thanked her for coming in to rescue them. Then, they'd inquired about the young man with her. It turned out that, even though his violent move scared them off, they were still a tiny bit grateful for his help.

Her father's brows furrowed. "Do you know this Mendaxian?"

Prema hesitated. However, she felt that it was time to tell the truth after hiding this relationship for so long. "Yes. He's a new friend of mine."

His eyes shrank. When he spoke again, he stayed quiet, but the shock in his words was still very powerful. "You befriended a Mendaxian?"

"But he's nice," Prema said. "He came with me and helped to protect those other Hantri."

Her father scratched his beard. "Even if that is true, you can't trust him."

"It's alright, Father. If I won't try to kill him, he won't try to kill me."

Commotion behind her father caught Prema's eye. She glimpsed a group of Hantri bringing back something heavy. Then, she realized that "something" was a bunch of tied-up humans they probably ambushed.

Food for the whole village.

Prema clenched her fist and looked back at her father. "Don't you feel like it's a little wrong to be doing this to those poor Mendaxians and Dorobans?"

"The outsiders?" he asked, to which his daughter nodded. "Why are you complaining? And why now, of all times?"

"I know we're low on food, but they are humans like us!"

"And what makes them different from the boars you hunt, Prema?"

It took her a second to muster up a comeback. "Well, humans are special and stand out from other creatures. It just doesn't feel right to be treating them like the boars and stealing all their stuff."

"They all take what they have for granted. Their materials are better off in our hands," her father declared. "Also, they are not like us. Defiling their environment and making a mockery of Atman puts their beliefs below us. We only hunt when we need to. We only take resources when we need to. But the outsides care naught for such things."

Prema opened her mouth to respond, but when seeing his face morph into an ominous expression, she closed it.

"Need I remind you of what the outsiders have done to our tribe all those generations ago?" he questioned.

She didn't answer right away. She remembered it clearly-the stories of those outsiders coming in and attacking the Hantri, taking their resources, lands, and lives. Many believed that they even stole from the Hantri the knowledge of manipulating Atman, which would be the reason Mendax and Dorobo knew how to use magic today. They were just stories in the end, but lots of Hantri believed them.