Soft Speak With a Mean Streak // Kiri x Fem! OC

Chapter 17

It was a rainy day. The rain was weirdly comforting for me, but today it wasn't. A bunch of warriors rushed out in skimwings. Something happened.

When they arrived back, a meeting was called. Everyone had to attend. "We have known about this hunting of tulkun from the far south, but now they are here!" Tonowari shouts. "These sky people have killed our tulkun!" Ronal shouts. "They have killed my sister." Ronal says angrily. My heart drops. Tears quickly take the place of the feeling of uneasiness.

Roa was dead. I brought my hand up to my mouth to silence my cries. I looked over at Tsireya who was just as upset as I was. The rest of the meeting blended into various people shouting. I feel a hand go to my shoulder. It's Kiri's hand. I lean into the touch.

Jake was trying to calm the people down, "you don't understand the sky people, they will destroy you!" He pleads with the group. "You need to tell the tulkun to leave, go far away!" Jake tells the group. "You live with us, but you learn nothing!" Ronal shouts back.

Everybody was too angry to listen to him. Neteyam was holding some device in his hand. Neteyam and Lo'ak were also trying to calm down the group. I didn't know what emotions to feel. Anger? Sadness? I was overwhelmed.

Everyone was ready for war. Our classic war cries were echoing around. Jake grabs the device from Neteyam and holds it up in front of everyone. Everyone goes silent in a heartbeat.

He holds it up, "Tell the tulkun if they get hit with this, it's the mark of death! Tell them to leave." He looks at Ronal and Tonowari. "It's about protecting your family. That's all you want, is for them to be safe." Jake's words visibly register in the chief's mind.

Tonowari looks at Ronal who gives a nod in response. "Everyone, tell the tulkun to leave. Go far away and stay safe!" Tonowari declares while holding his spear in the air. "Go, tell them all!" Ronal commands.

Lo'ak quickly pushes through the crowd and rushes off. Where is he going? Payakan. I grab Kiri's hand and squeeze it, removing it from my shoulder.

I go after Lo'ak. There is no changing his mind but maybe I can go instead of him. It would be better if I went instead of Lo'ak.

"Lo'ak" I say when I catch up to him. Somehow Neteyam already beat me to it. I must have interrupted them because the tensions were already high. "I can warn Payakan, just stay here where it's safe." I offer. "No way, he's my brother." Lo'ak says. Neteyam was visibly upset by this comment. "No, I'm your brother." Neteyam says while grabbing at Lo'ak's shoulder. "Lo'ak, its not sa-" I start.

"I don't care. I'm going after him." Lo'ak loudly cuts me off. Tsireya, Aonung, and Roxto all jump on the pier. "Lo'ak- '' Tsireya starts but is cut off by Lo'ak jumping into the water. "Come on! He's going to warn Payakan!" Neteyam says while jumping in the water.

I roll my eyes and quickly call my ilu. Jumping into the water and riding after Lo'ak. God we are so dumb sometimes. We pass Kiri and Tuk. "What's happening?" Kiri asks. "Lo'ak is going to warn Payakan, we have to stop him!" I say quickly. "Wait up!" Kiri says as her and Tuk starts following us as well.

—-

Following him was not helping anyone. We couldn't get to him in time. We just had to help Lo'ak at this point. "Payakan! Payakan!" Lo'ak shouts. We see Payakan surface, but with the device from before. "Shit!" Lo'ak says as he jumps onto Payakan. "Help us get it out!" Neteyam calls.

Neteyam and the group all try to pull the tracker out of him. It doesn't budge. "Hurry, it's coming!" Tsireya says. I look back and see a huge metal ship coming towards us. "Call dad!" Neteyam instructs Lo'ak. "But-" Lo'ak starts. "Just do it!" Neteyam instructs and Lo'ak follows his orders.

I try to get a grip on the tracker and pull it off but it's hard to get in a good position. I just end up straining my back. "Dad! We are at the three brothers' rock with a tulkun that is under attack." Lo'ak says quickly, while watching the ship.

"Everyone's here! Tsireya, Aonung, and Tatu." He says urgely to the ear piece. "It's getting closer!" Tsireya urges. The tracker is not budging. Until Neteyam throws us a rope. "Tie it around!" He instructs Aonung. He ties the rope around the tracker and Neteyam starts to pull on it with his ilu.

"Pull harder!" Lo'ak shouts. "I am!" Neteyam responses. I follow Tsireya's technique and use my legs to try and unlodge the tracker. With one big pull the tracker comes out. Causing all of us to fall into the water. "Go! I'll distract them!" Neteyam says as he swims off with the tracker. "Go, go." Lo'ak instructs Payakan.

Everyone gets on their ilu and swims away. Hiding in the long seagrass. The ilus blending in. We watch as many different looking metal beasts swarm the water. Until one spots us and we have to scatter.

We all start to race away from the various beasts that follow us. Diving into the sea grass to try and lose the beast. Even with how much we try to trick them it's useless. Then I see Tuk go flying past me.

I quickly swim up and around, letting go of my ilu so I can lose the beasts. I then grab Tuk's hand and point to the leaves with an air pocket. We quickly surface and Tuk starts gasping for air. "You ok?" I ask her. Tuk still catches her breath while nodding. I lean against the leaf to catch my breath as well.

Tuk and I scream as Lo'ak surfaces in the pod. "Tuk!" He says relieved. Tsireya then resurfaces as well. A light can be seen shining through the leaf. Coming closer to us. "They are coming!" Tsireya says before we dove back down.

We try to swim forward but are cut off by a beast. We turn around and are cut off again. We are surrounded. I grab Tuk to try and shield her from what's gonna happen. All of us were waiting for the next thing to happen. There was no way out. Then a net is thrown at us.

Lo'ak escapes the net while the rest of us are stuck. Then an ikran comes into the water and pulls us up. "No, let go!" Tuk squirms. Lo'ak hangs off the net, grabbing his knife. Beginning to cut the net.

—-

the next few chaps are gonna be action packed