Destined: The Six

33. Island of the Feather

Jeremiah walked to the sliding wall-door that was in every cabin. He slid it open, obviously, to see where Loraine had landed. What he saw shocked him quite a bit.

First of all, the train had luckily landed on a beach. Also standing on the beach, however, were about fifty people that Jeremiah would have imagined Aborigines or Native Americans would have looked like. They seemed to be a tribal group of people dressed in animal skin clothes, some holding spears of rock, and some had elaborate feather diadems. Jeremiah looked at them in bewilderment.

"Uh, hi?" he managed. Some of the tribal people walked up closer to him, as if inspecting him. Heather walked out of her cabin and into the beach. "What is going on?" she asked. Jeremiah shrugged, allowing the tribal people to inspect him.

Now that they were close up, Jeremiah could see that they all had tattoos of feathers on their shoulders. The people looked over Jeremiah thoroughly, looking closely at his face, examining his clothes. One of them even looked at his spear with satisfaction.

Finally, after what was beginning to be an awkward silence, one of the people spoke. "Do you have a man made of shadow?" he asked. Jeremiah nodded. A small smile formed on the man's face. "What is its name?" the man asked as a follow-up question.

"Uh...Marionette--"

The tribal people all cheered. The man who had questioned started to recite different descriptions. He said something about a "puppet made of shadow" and a "pale, slender boy with a black crystal spear." Jeremiah, knowing his body shape full well, decided that they all fit his description. Jeremiah asked the tribal man what exactly was going on. "Grab your friends. We will tell you all about it," the man responded.

Jeremiah and Heather grabbed their friends, as the man had told them. When the others questioned them about what was going on, they simply explained that the man would explain. The tribal people sat them down at a long table, like the elves had. The man say across from them. With a smile on his face, he began to explain, as he had promised.

"We are the People of the Feather. We reside here on the Island of the Feather. For decades now, we have been under a curse. Every month, an ancient creature called a razor-backed cave lion takes a single person from our village and eats them. Before you ask any questions, if we try to stop it, more lions come and more of our people die. It is a well-crafted curse, as you can tell. However, a few years ago, I received a prophecy that a pale, slender boy with a black crystal spear will come to save us. It also said that he would be joined by his puppet made of shadow."

Dylan snorted in amusement when he heard the description of Jeremiah being a "pale, slender boy." Jeremiah couldn't blame him. It was pretty amusing. "So, what am I supposed to do? We don't really have time to save you people right now. You know what, if--or when--we survive fighting Castle, or even defeat him, I promise to help you guys. I promise that I will defeat your curse." As Jeremiah said "promise," the word rang throughout the beach.

Jeremiah looked around wildly. "What's with the echo? Is it some sort of magic?" he asked. The man, who had introduced himself as Timmu, shook his head with a smile. "No, pale hero, that is simply the power of a promise. I'm sure your girlfriend--" he pointed at Heather-- "--can tell you more." Before Jeremiah could protest, someone called Timmu over somewhere else, and he left.

Heather turned to Jeremiah. "Do you want to learn more about the power of a promise?" she asked. Jeremiah nodded. It wasn't as if they had anything better to do. Heather began her lecture about the power of a promise. According to her, a promise was a big deal in the world of the Destined. If one truly meant a promise, they could die if they didn't fulfill it. You could also bind someone's tongue with secret, if you didn't want anyone else to know about your secret.

"And magic is much more elaborate than I thought," she added. "I only recently learned some of the Wizardess Arts, which you know about--I bind your tongue with secret--and that's only one of the magic arts! There are so many that I don't even know about!" Heather seemed genuinely excited about not knowing things. Jeremiah, personally, liked being very informed, but he was Jeremiah, and Heather was Heather.

The tribal people eventually came bearing food, the universal language of peace and prosperity. Their food wasn't as good as the elven food, but Jeremiah was not one to be picky in situations like these. Jeremiah ate while one of the Feather boys, Jali, talked to him. Jeremiah had asked him what life was like on the island.

"Oh, it's fine," the boy said. "We have the hunters and the gatherers, then we have Timmu. Timmu guides us in all the important decisions, and he is almost never wrong. I have actually been chosen as Timmu's successor, so he trains me personally. As a result, I may speak more eloquently than some of the others." The boy finished with a smile.

August entered the scene. "I've finished the repairs--Loraine was a bit more damaged than I thought. We can go now," he said, pointing to the train. Jeremiah said goodbye to Timmu and Jali. "Remember, I will come to help you," he said to Timmu. Suddenly, a roar sounded over the ridge. The tribal people did their best to all circle around Timmu and Jali. Jeremiah realized that the cave lion was coming.

"Go! Run!" Timmu called out, and the Destined didn't hesitate. They ran over to the train and entered each cabin. As the train ascended, Jeremiah looked out his cabin's window. The last thing he saw was a seven-foot-tall lion with spikes along its back eating up one of the People of the Feather.