Back at Sovrex, after a week away, I was intercepted by my mother quite suddenly. She pulled me aside from Nyaor, Callista and Osrunr – who were busy helping around the tribe anyway after my return.
My mother and I stand at the edge of a pond, where she crosses her arms over her chest and looks into the trees, looking far too serious.
"What's the matter, mama?" I ask her carefully, curious by her interception of me.
We had barely spoken since my integration into the tribe, and hers.
"We need to talk about your father."
Father died when I was seven... she rarely talked about him and I tried not to, as I missed him dearly and he meant the world to me. The memories were too painful.
I approach the topic carefully, to protect my own heart and mind on the sensitive subject.
"...okay... what do you want to tell me that I don't already know?" I try not to snap about all the times she said was I just like him; in a negative sense. Namely reckless and outspoken.
"Your father was a strange man," she nods to herself, rolling her eyes, looking at the sky, before looking back down at the pond, "...he held strange knowledge. Often spoke of things I did not understand, so he stopped telling me. Over time he lived with the land, and integrated to our tribes life. He loved the peace."
"I remember when he used to say, putting me to bed, that outside these forests, was a great vast land..." I recount him dramatically, swiping my hand through the air.
"Yes," she nods, "I never believed everything he said. But now I worry, that he is perhaps not dead, but alive – and coming back to see you. Potentially taking you from us all, to his vast lands. Wherever and whatever they may be."
"...father is alive...?" I focus on that point, the rest is crazy talk, "W-wait.... you – you suspected father is alive and you did not tell me? I thought he was eaten by a crocodile," I hiss at her, "You told me –"
"A mother will lie to protect their child," she hisses back, eyes ablaze, "Listen to me."
I stand back from her, feeling my heart split open in my chest.
"Are you saying father left us?" I ask, the pain in my chest is excruciating. She nods and I feel tears abruptly pour out of my eyes, as I feel as if a child once more, "Why would you lie to me, mama – I grieved him terribly."
"Because I did not know if he would come back," my mother approaches, she sees the need to run in my eyes, so she apprehends my wrists – but not lightly. She claws down on me, forcing me to stay. The pain shakes me out of my emotion, and I focus on what she has to say.
"Last night I saw a camp, far away – outside the valley. You need to alert the Magus."
"What camp?" I ask, "Why is a camp a worry – have you gone mad –"
"I saw thousands," my mother whispers.
I pause, closing my lips.
"Thousands of what?" I inquire, I could not even fathom the number, it was so rarely used.
"People," she whispers.
"You're crazy," I pull away and she claws me deeper.
"Believe me, don't tell everyone, I know it sounds crazy but you must listen and look for yourself," she commands me, and I see the real fear in her tone, "Your father may have been telling the truth, that there is more out there. Okay?"
"What do you want me to do again?" I ask, flustered, and flabbergasted.
"We need the wisdom of our Magus, to guide us, okay? Do you understand," my mother finally lets me go, "Yehseeka, do not disobey me this time. Please."
"I believe you," I murmur uncomfortably as I pull up my arms in front of me and see the blood trailing down my forearms. She clawed into me with her panic, "I will talk to them. For now, please rest, mama. I will investigate."
"The highest cliff face, northward," she whispers at me as she strides by, "You'll see the lights of their camps at night. Go with Callista."
***
A few hours later, when it is pitch black and the tribe is mingling, while the elders and children are put to bed, the rest of us play our funny games.
Whether it be eloping into the forest to fuck, hunt or play hide and seek.
The mood is elated as the weather is warm.
Our Magus Callista, Orsunr and Nyaor, generally keep their distance from one another. Nyaor tends to fuss over Biankar. Orsunr is on patrol around the borders, looking for threats. Callista is talking to some of the families before they go off to bed.
He says goodnight to the last family, then turns to see me lighting a torch to take with me from the fire.
"Come with me," I ask Callista, as he approaches with suspicions in his pitch-black eyes, "I fear I have something strange to show you that even I can't believe... until we look for ourselves. So come? With me. Now."
Callista doesn't shoot me down for once, instead, he raises a brow, walks around me and grabs his spear by his tent and he holds out his arm with the weapon, as if to say 'lead the way'.
I smile warmly at his change in respect toward me.
I turn with the fire torch, and I walk out of Sovrex.
"It'll be a bit of a walk uphill, so I hope you ate well," I tell him mindlessly, as he walks behind, "My mother has spotted something of interest, and she believes only you will understand how to confront this... whatever it is. You'll see. I have an idea but..."
"Spit it out," Callista rumbles over me, direct and straightforward, unlike my rambling.
I look over my shoulder, as we slowly walk uphill along the narrow path, "Thousands."
"Of what?" he is undisturbed for now.
"Men," I elaborate.
Callista goes blank – I assume that's how I looked when my mother first told me.
Impossible, right? What would that even look like?
Callista is silenced, just as I am. What else is there to say until we see it?
So, we traverse the steep landscape as I take him up toward the cliff above the valley, the one I assume my mother was talking about. As you could see over most of Damp Water.
We walk together, toward the lookout, and I lay down my fire stick against a boulder, as I look out over the dark landscape.
I feel immense disappointment, as I turn every way, but I see nothing.
No light.
A few tribal camps are lit up in the forested areas, but that's it.
Callista is looking with me, however, just as curious by the idea of thousands.
"...perhaps she has lost her mind..." I whisper in defeat, the first words spoken between us since our trek up here.
I heave in a large breath, going to sigh loudly, when Callista suddenly jumps behind me and slaps a hand over my mouth, clamping my jaw shut in a panicked move.
He hauls me back with him, behind two rocks, within a crevice.
I have no idea what the hell he is doing, until I hear what he must have heard first.
A man's groan of frustration, on the other side of the valley's mountain peak.
Callista lets me go, knowing I register the danger, and then he turns me to him, in our hideaway between two boulders, he lowers his hand for my foot, and he points to the top of the boulder. He is going to hoist me up.
To peer over the other side.
I put my hands on his shoulders, step onto his foot and he throws me upwards.
I hoist myself over the boulder, aiming to stand, but immediately keeping myself flat on top of it, as I see what's on the other side of this mountain top. Along the rocks and lesser incline, is the head of a camp, tents set up everywhere... down the hill, are more camps... behind that? A trail of more tents... more men...
Literally thousands.
Wearing weird clothes.
A-and.... Strange weapons, hanging from their hips. Long flat blades. Huge. How did they break that out of a rock?!
I'm not breathing as I look over the scene.
When I look down I see the man who groaned below – it's just a man taking a shit behind a rock.
He gets up from his squat, kicks dust over the excrement and waltzes back to camp. Argh. Gross.
I quickly scramble back down before the smell wafts up to me. I jump down next to Callista, who jumps up and takes a look for himself.
He only looks for a second before dropping back down back to me, turning to me, eyes immediately haunted. This beast of a man genuinely looks terrified. A man who had no opponent, suddenly facing a catastrophic challenge one could not prepare for.
"Magus," I whisper, looking up at Callista's frozen expression, my hands clutched into my skirt with my rising anxiety, "That's a lot of pig shit... do we tell everyone to run?"
Callista shakes his head, squatting down, I squat down with him, as he holds my eyes steady, "What did your mother say? Why did she tell you to look and not anyone else?"
"...she was scared... because she thinks my father came from those thousands... I don't understand either... I thought he was dead..." I whisper. Callista nods, narrowing his eyes, looking me over quickly, "What's that look for, huh?" I whisper, annoyed.
"We do not run, or we will be slaughtered – especially if they're hungry... and they look rather hungry, don't they? We show strength and negotiate. We show our best. And we work out an offering for peace," I concede with a nod.
"I approve," I whisper as well, "We stand strong."
Callista manages a smirk, leaning into whisper into my ear, "I wasn't looking for your permission."
Now I joke with him, "Listen here, Magus, just don't offer me over like a piece of meat, okay? I know you hate me, but that would be a little bit cruel, don't you think? To trade me for peace?" I smirk myself, "I know what you're thinking. If I'm related to those people, you think you can negotiate with them about me, don't you?"
"That's not a camp, that's an army," Callista explains, ignoring me, mostly, "They're going to war."
"...they'll need warriors," I whisper, eyes widening, "Maybe even magic?"
"Yes," Callista nods, "Now you follow what I'm thinking," he stands up and pulls me with him, then he drags me down the valley, his steps quick, "We use what we can."
He is adamant.
We quickly move back into the safety of the forest. Callista wants to snuff out our fires as soon as possible, just to be extra cautious. The coverage of Damp Water should conceal us for now. It would give us some time to prepare.
I go to Callista and Orsunr's tent, and inside, I see Orsunr reclining on my wolf hide, and Nyaor sitting cross legged on the mat, eyes closed in meditation.
I sit awkwardly on a log and look between them.
"So. Uh – we have a problem bigger than a bounty on my head," I tell them both. I also hear Callista coming back.
Nyaor opens his eyes to look at me, while Orsunr sits up slow, and Callista walks back in with my mother, who he has dragged into the tent quietly.
"Please let me go," she whispers, as I see his fingers are too tight across her upper arm. Why is he so forceful?
"Tell us," Callista growls low, shoving her forward. My mama twists her ankle and falls to her knees, crying.
"What is wrong with you, don't handle my mother like that!" I almost scream it, but I don't want to wake anyone, so I just jump to my feet instead.
"She's been interrogated already," Callista hisses at me, "Look at her. See her eyes? She knows. She knows what they want. And she won't tell us. Why else are they on the other side of that valley? She told them where we are."
"Forgive me," my mother pleads and begs as she cries, supplicating herself, hands out, "I'm sorry, Magus, I'm sorry – I didn't want this."
"Tell us," Callista repeats himself, using a more neutral tone.
"They know of us, you are correct, Magus," my mother slowly moves up, gulping down air, she clasps her hands on her knees, looking up at Callista with defeated eyes, "I spoke to their King; their... 'Magus'... they call a King... and..."
"Are you an outsider?" Callista asks my mother, "Speak the truth."
"I was with an outsider," she explains, looking to me, "...he was their King... your father..."
"You're talking to me now, not her," Callista growls, leaning down to grab her chin, "You told them where we are. Why?"
"...they need Shamans..." she whispers, eyes wide, "For battle. They need an... advantage... in their war."
"What. Did. They. Ask. Of. Us?" Callista rephrases the question.
"Three Shamans by sunrise to their purple tent," my mother whispers, "...and they will leave..." my mother lowers her head, "...and they will leave... I swear that's all the King told me."
"He treated you well, because he loved you?" Callista asks, more gently now, holding out a hand for her to stand back up.
My mother takes the offering.
"Yes, he loved me," she answers truthfully, still frightened but a little more confident.
"My tribe's safety is all that matters to me," Callista says this with such ferocity and passion, tears swell in his eyes, "...do you understand what measures I will go to, to secure Sovrex's position...?"
"I do," my mother nods.
"Then we reply to this message, with what they ask – I do not wish to know what the alternative is," Callista whispers, "You're coming with us. Yehseeka – I'm not talking about you."
"What do you mean?" I ask, in shock, as Nyaor and Orsunr both jump to their feet.
"The four of us, you, me, her," Callista nods to his brothers and my mother, "Morgan, the tribe is yours until we return."
"Are you crazy! You can't just leave me," I hiss, running up to Callista, I start to pummel his chest, "What the hell are you thinking!?"
"Yehseeka," Nyaor tries to pull me off Callista but I scream and he puts a hand around my biting mouth – securing another arm around my throat, "Don't make me do this," Nyaor says into my ear, "Morgan..."
I struggle fiercely.
"Let... me... go-ah!" I choke on the last word, as Nyaor tightens his arm.
Black spots fly across my vision.
My mother watches with wide eyes as I'm handled like this, and she looks helpless and confused.
No more than I.
I am choked out. Laid down. And left to tend to Sovrex.
Alone.