Lingua Aeterna

Chapter 9

Verisà

    Waking up in a tree, falling out of said tree, and then waking up on the ground after a brief moment of unconsciousness was not exactly how I saw my day starting. Maicah was beside me a moment later but he had the good sense to slide down the trunk by pressing the orbs together and gliding down the bark. I'd been dreaming that I was flying high above the trees and over Xalar and the rude awakening of falling though dozens of branches was enough to put me in an instant bad mood that threatened to last the entire day.
    "I'm hungry," Maicah signed. It was an easy one to do, even with his hands restrained as they were. He pushed his hands in a circle over his belly and made a sad frown. When the season was bad and it was too dangerous for Mata to use her gift, it was a sign we unfortunately had to use often.
    "Thanks, Maicah. I'm fine," I said bitterly. My hands had instantly moved with the signs for each of the words but I noticed a new ache in the side of one palm as I flexed. I flipped my hand over and saw a dark streak of blood from a deep scrape at the base of my little finger and down nearly to my wrist.
    "Ow," Maicah mouthed the simple sound that one makes when in pain.
    It was a small thing to know that Maicah could express himself in any way other than his signs, so I smiled back at him, my mood lightening.
    "I'm hungry t—"
    "What's going on down there?" Arto called from above.
    I looked up through the branches but I couldn't see him. The sun had risen while we slept on flat boards that Arto had long ago fastened to the boughs but it was still not light enough to pick him out among the leaves. Then again, I imagined that even during the day, his little fortress would have been hard to spot. Looking back down at where I'd fallen, I was astounded that I hadn't been more injured.
    "What kind of bnesiac falls out of a tree? Didn't you lash in?"
    I grumbled incoherently for a minute about lashing Artie and Maicah started to laugh. I could still see the ongoing pain on Maicah's face, but the gurgling laugh he had made me think he was starting to come back around. Artie scaled the tree down to the ground where we were much like a little squirrel—his speed made me dizzy.
    "Did you hit your head or something? Your eyes are knocking around," Arto asked. He reached down and pulled on my arm to help me stand. He was holding a stripped sapling that he'd used to harness himself all night.
    "Remember when you said that you were too tired to show us how you did that and that we should figure it out by ourselves?" I asked him.
    He shrugged and shook his head.
    "Well, we didn't," I said.
    Maicah shook his head at me and pointed his chin down to the supple branch he'd fasted around his waist. I rolled my eyes. Arto stretched and arched his back and then rubbed both hands over his stomach, indicating his own hunger.
    "That's pretty close to Maicah's sign," I said.
    Arto shrugged again and eyed Maicah as if he were analyzing him. Maicah shifted his feet and looked away. When new people seemed to be curious about how Maicah was different from most people, he always retreated within himself. It usually took several meetings before he would even try to teach someone his sign of greeting.
    "So you're pretty good at hunting? That was the point of all that hitting the target nonsense?"
    "It's not nonsense. It's a gift," I corrected Arto. I held my head a little higher but dropped my eyes when I noticed that he was no longer analyzing Maicah and was instead looking me over, scrutinizing me as if for the first time. "Pata taught us how to hunt. Mata taught us how to provide. I'm just a bit better at it than Maicah because of—"
    "The magic you have and he doesn't," Arto finished.
    Maicah huffed. He rattled the chain again and started to stalk away from us.
    "Mai..." Arto began. The frustration was evident on his face. "Kid!"
    Maicah had moved far away from us and had nearly fallen into a berry bush since he couldn't fully stop his momentum with his hands. Arto sighed and got to him first but was shoved away as Maicah retrieved a cluster of fresh and beautifully ripe berries from the center. He had the bunch tucked between his teeth and a few of the thorns from the bush had scratched his cheeks.
    "He'd tell you that he does just fine if he could."
    Arto laughed and plucked a berry from the stem and popped it into his mouth. I was glad he had his mouth full because it seemed that he wanted to say something rude and insulting to Maicah, just to have the last word. He started to say how he'd never tasted a berry so sweet, but I flicked the sapling that he'd discarded at him before he could finish his thought. Maicah pulled the cluster from his mouth and was pinching the stem between the two orbs while he went for several bites, saving nothing for me or any more for Arto.
    "And that's his sign for find your own food, if you couldn't get that," I said with a laugh at Maicah's berry-juice covered face.
    It seemed that Arto was a bit more aware of what he said and did around Maicah after that and he went as far as producing a type of peace offering in the full pinecone he'd found shortly thereafter. Maicah crushed it with the orbs and shared the seeds with us both once he'd freed them.
    "Rough!" I said, suddenly remembering the other member of our odd little company.
    Arto spat out a piece of the cone's bark and scrunched his face. "If the soldiers haven't found him yet," he said.