Reborn

Chapter Seven

Kane was shaken awake by Warner, his eyes becoming alert almost instantly. He had taken the first shift to watch and had only fallen asleep after the sun had risen to the east. When his eyes opened the first thing he did was look towards the sun to see that he had slept for only a few hours, seeing this his eyes turned to meet Warner's questioning.

He didn't hear screams or shouts, so it wasn't that they had gotten attacked, so why had Warner woken him up early?

"There's something you should see." Warner's voice was soft but carried an unusual hint of seriousness that had Kane rising to his feet almost immediately.

He followed Warner down to the river. After almost a half hour of walking, he paused his footsteps as his nose began to pick up an unusual scent in this area. His eyes met Warner's.

Warner nodded and gestured with his chin to a small fallen tree ahead of them. "One of the guys on watch was scouting around to see if he could do some hunting. He came across it."

Kane pressed his lips tightly together and made his way over to the tree line to see with his own eyes.

There, in the small enclosure, lay the remains of a fire. The fire had died, and it was obvious someone had carefully covered it with dirt to smother it, but small wisps of smoke still rose occasionally in the air. It was unmistakable proof that someone was close by.

Whoever had jumped into the river seemed to have survived.

"Should we find them?" Warner asked.

Kane hesitated to answer while he picked up a stick and dug into the ashes. No bones, so whoever it was didn't hunt or fish. He looked around the campsite, his eyes lingering on a spot next to the trunk of the tree. A small depression on the ground left the impression that someone had lain there.

Close by, a second small depression was surrounded by small shavings of wood, sticks, and even bark. He leaned over and picked up a few pieces, rubbing them between his fingers before letting them fall back to the ground beneath him.

His brows wrinkled as his thoughts turned. Both of the depressions were small, smaller than he would have expected from an adult, and there were two. Did that mean there was more than one person? Why were they so small?

"We'll track them and see where they are going but we shouldn't get close. We don't know what happened to the Red Fox Tribe."

Warner nodded in agreement, and soon they both returned to their own camp to relay the instructions to their men.

After a small and dry breakfast, they gathered up their packs, and began their return trip back to their Tribe. They were all quiet and moved fluidly through the trees that lined the river. It looked like the unknown person was traveling along the river. Since that was the case, they would stay in the woods as much as possible to avoid them.

Even being so cautious, the men were well experienced with traveling and moved quickly. After several hours, just when they were about to stop for a break, a sudden noise by the river's side had them all lowering themselves to the ground.

Warner and Kane's eyes met briefly before they moved silently through the trees. They stopped in the shadows just before they would be exposed to the light. They slowly settled to watch. Kane's dark eyes narrowed sharply at the sight that met him.

A small, messy looking girl was sitting on the ground with a large staff in her lap. She was using a small stone knife to slowly sharpen a point at one end, but her attention was on another person by the river.

She had dark matted hair that framed a pale and dirty face and looked much too frail to handle such a large stick. She set the staff to the side, pushed herself up from the ground and moved closer to the river.