The leader will follow
The warrior will plea
The healer is coming
To set Terah free
Chapter 8 Refugees
Kia opened her eyes to the blinding light of Warmsun wondering what had startled her. Rok slept soundly a few inches away, nestled down in the mound of feathers. Song was between them, her head resting on Rok's arm. Stix thrashed her head side to side and moaned, her hands worked – stretching out and balling up in tight fists and her healthy leg twitched. Again she moaned and Kia understood a few words mingled with the groaning formed from the nightmare, Run. Fire. Kill. Her breath came faster and beads of sweat popped out on her forehead. Suddenly she opened her eyes and screamed, "No! Kia!"
Kia sat straight up.
Song screamed.
Rok leaped to a crouch, clutching her knife.
"It's okay. Stix has sleep terrors." Kia cradled Stix, rocking and holding her tight. "We're here, sweet Stix, you're safe." Kia stroked her forehead, but jerked back from the burning hot skin.
Stix groaned, but lay limp in Kia's arms.
"Song..." Kia glanced around but Song only huddled in the far corner of the shelter, sobbing. Kia's eyes met Rok's. "Help me."
Rok, moved to the sleeping place beside Stix. "What's wrong?" With a gasp, she yanked the soft tunic off over Stix's head. "She's on fire! Song! Get water!"
Song cried harder, but grabbed the spine plant cup and dove out of the shelter. She spilled much of the precious liquid stumbling back with it. Before either of the fems staring at her could say anything, she ran for more water. This time she also brought a blanket with the corner dripping wet. She wiped the wet blanket over Stix's arms and body while Kia dribbled water into her mouth. Rok stared at Song, but didn't speak.
"We need more of the spine plant," Song whispered. "Kia, do you think you could find it again?"
"Of course, but what's wrong with you? Why are you still crying?"
"This happened because of me," Song sobbed and turned away. "I brought the bad luck. I...I..."
Kia almost laughed. "If you're thinking about you and Vee whispering to each other in the middle of the ceremony, I highly doubt it. I don't think you have the power to call a Zid harvester."
Rok, still crouched, sitting on her heels, growled through clenched teeth. "I think you've all forgotten that I'm a trained warrior, and even if I am young, I can tell when someone hides the truth."
Kia's heart turned cold with fear. She'd seen Rok's temper and knew the horrible consequences of crossing the warrior. Once, Rok had snapped the neck of a swamp wolf when it attacked. Another time, Rok caught an elderfem stealing food and beat her nearly senseless, breaking the elder's arm in the process. The Memlore and council had declared Rok justified and punished the offending fem. After that the whole village feared Rok. Now Kia feared for Song.
Rok roared, fists clenched in fury. "What are you hiding from us? Are you such an infant you can't speak?"
"Stop it," Kia screamed. "Stop now, Rok. This is not the time! No matter what, we have to work together, twice as hard because we are only half of a femtog. And that's no one's fault! You're scaring me and Song, and you're upsetting Stix!"
"Stix is out of it. She can't hear a thing. Come with me. We'll get the spine plant." She glared at Song. "Get over here and take care of our sister. If you think all this is your fault, then do something about it instead of bawling like a child!" Rok stomped out of the shelter and Song scrambled on hands and knees to Stix's side.
Trembling, Kia touched Song on the cheek, but had no words. She hurried after Rok.
"Don't say a word!" Rok growled. "Just lead."
After a few steps down the trail toward the clump of spine plants Kia spoke anyway. "Sounds to me like you'd like to lead us."
"I told you in the beginning I wasn't femtog material."
"You wish you hadn't pledged?"
"If I hadn't pledged my love and loyalty I'd be ash under that Zid Perg-hole, or worse, I'd be a slave."
"That's not an answer. If the Zid hadn't attacked, would you leave us and go back?"
"No, and don't ever ask me that again. I don't break a promise. And I don't hide the truth."
"You didn't answer the other question," Kia said.
"You didn't ask another question, you made a statement."
"Well?"
"No, I don't want to lead. It's enough responsibility to protect your hides. I can't be anchored down with decisions as well."
Kia thought Rok might be calming down a bit, but she was still wary. She took a deep breath and chose her next words carefully, trying to push the image of Rok beating the elderfem from her mind. "Do the rest of us need to fear you?"
Rok stopped in the trail. "No. I pledged to protect you with my love, my loyalty, and my life. I would take my own arm off before I laid a hand on any of you. I wouldn't be protecting if I harmed you, would I? In fact, I'd like to take my tongue out for yelling." Rok embraced Kia tightly. "That's all I have to say and I don't want to say it over and over. I can't change who I am."
"You'd better make sure Song knows what you just told me. You scared her."
"She's the last person in Terah who needs to fear me. And I've told her that already."
"Good. The spine plant is over here." Kia turned off the narrow trail and pointed to a jumble of boulders. "Behind those. But watch for slitherbeasts."
"And wolves. How did you ever find this in Moonlight?"
"The hand of Veenah."
"Humph." Rok took the lead with her knife bared, peering under brush and behind stones possibly hiding a serpent big enough to swallow a fem whole. Suddenly she yanked Kia protectively behind her and drew her hand back, prepared to throw the knife.
A coppery-haired fem stood up from behind a boulder with her hands held over her head. She gripped a bow and arrow in one hand. "Don't kill me!" she yelped. "I thought you were a swamp wolf or a Zid!"
"Put that weapon down, fem. Where did you come from?" Rok said, still poised to throw her knife.
"We've been walking for three days," the fem said as she eased around the boulder to drop the bow and arrows. "We came from a mountain village on the other side of the valley. The Zid attacked before the rock diggers came." She ducked back behind the boulder.
"Who is with you?" Kia struggled out of Rok's grip and stood beside her.
"Only Fem'ma and a mem."
"How did you escape and get so far from the mountain?" Kia was still suspicious.
"I was away from the village trying to hunt."
"Trying?"
"I'm useless with that thing, but I had to gain skill if I ever wanted to be part of a femtog."
"Where are the others? I think you're a spy for the Zid." Rok stepped away glancing in all directions.
Kia felt a jolt of panic sweep her body when she realized the rocky area was a perfect ambush site. She unsheathed her knife and backed down the trail, holding Rok's tunic tight in her left hand.
The strange fem climbed up on the boulder. "That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard in my life. If those wretched spawns of Perg had taken me – and I was still alive – do you think there is any way I would still look like this?"
She wore a necklace of bear's claws and a long, white tunic made of mountain ram's skin, adorned with beads and the velvety white tails of rock mink. Seamless slitherbeast skins covered her legs, down to thick, bear-hide foot coverings.
"I had no idea the mountain village was so wealthy," Rok said. "Still, I don't see the rest of your troupe." She and Kia backed down the trail until they were clear of the boulders.
"Don't worry, young warrior." The rich, tenor voice of a mem came from the high bushes. He emerged, perched on the shoulder of a tall elderfem who wore a long buckskin dress. He wore a white cloak adorned with river clam shells and closed with buttons made from small animal leg bones.
Kia's heart flopped and she was positive her eyes left their sockets. The elderfem wasn't holding the helpless mem. He was barely balanced on her shoulder!
Kia turned her head away, ashamed that she'd stared at the mem.
He spoke again, "Fems, stand down, all of you. Not enough of us remain in this part of Terah to risk a battle. I assure you, we are harmless. In fact, we are so harmless we cannot even get meat. Let me introduce my little clan. I am called Moon. I am carried by Fem'ma. I don't know her birth name. Ch'e is the one who cannot scare the side of a hut with her bow."
"Shut up, Moon. That was mean," Ch'e said.
Kia cringed to hear such disrespect. Even if he was young, all mems deserved to be honored.
"Forgive me dear Ch'e. Fem'ma, lower me to the ground so I may present our weapon to the warrior.
The matron's face seemed to drain of its color. "No!" she whispered. "Not here!"
"Ma, Please! I'm sure she can make better use of it than we can and possibly she will be willing to hunt for us."
With shaking hands, Fem'ma unfurled a small blanket and spread it on the ground beside the bow.
Rok gasped and took a step forward. Kia covered her mouth to keep from crying out. The matron placed Moon on the ground. It was unheard of. What if he toppled and injured his head? Worse, what if he injured his seeder while sitting on the bare ground. She ran forward, instinctively, to lift him out of danger. The matron grabbed her arm.
"It's okay. He's protected. I keep him wrapped so he won't injure himself. He likes to stand on the ground, and he hasn't toppled in years."
"What? How?" Rok and Kia spoke as one.
Moon tipped his head back and laughed hard. "You've never seen one like me! Watch!" He wobbled a bit and leaned forward, twisting his thick torso, and took a step, then another. He shuffled forward until he was clear of the hem of his cloak then twisted again, exposing a foot. "See? I have two of them! And," he shrugged the cloak to the side to expose his shoulder, "I have hands! Well, tiny hands, but my fingers bend and I can hold onto Fem'ma when we travel." He hobbled to the bow and. "Let's see if I can do this." He curled his torso and twisted, reaching his exposed hand toward the weapon.
Rok stepped toward him, watching Ch'e and Fem'ma with caution.
Moon hooked a finger around the bow, but dropped it. "Wait," he said. "I got this." He bent again and this time secured the bow. Lifting the end from the ground, he hobbled a circle to face Rok. "May I present our weapon? We would like meat. What do you say, warrior, is it a trade?"
Rok averted her eyes and bowed her head as she reached for the bow. "I accept your trade, Syr Moon. With my leader's permission, we have meat at our shelter. However, we came this way to collect spine plants for medicine."
"Warrior, let's get something straight right away. I'm not a father, nor even out of training yet, so you should not call me syr. And please look at me. You make me feel like a freak when you turn away. What are your names? I don't want to call you Warrior and Hey You forever."
"I am Rok of Cerian hearth. My bond sister and leader is Kia of–"
"Greetings, Rok and Kia of your own hearth," Moon cut in. "I would venture to guess your village, along with your fathers' hearths, is gone. And we should drop the formalities, at least while we are refugees."
Kia whispered to Rok, "What's refugees?"
"I heard that," Moon said. "A refugee is what we are. Wandering, homeless, because the enemy has destroyed our homes. You were here looking for medicine? Which of you is sick, or are there more of you?"
Kia answered, "We were five starting our bonding quest. One sister was killed in the first blast and another is badly hurt."
Ch'e hopped down from the boulder. "Why didn't you say so before? We're wasting time!"
"Are you a healer?" Kia asked.
"The best. I'll help you." She dove for the spine plant and knocked loose several pads along with some of the purple fruits. "Can one of you scrape those? Fem'ma, will you weave a basket?"
Everyone burst into action. Moon wobbled dangerously close to the spine plant. "What can I do to help you?"
"Don't get hurt," Kia said, feeling heat rise in her cheeks.
"He's a mem, not an infant!" Ch'e grumped. "Here, Moon, use this stick and hold the pads down so they can clean them faster."
Again Kia's jaw dropped.
Moon deftly flipped the stick to his shoulder and braced it with his jaw while he held it down with his fingers. Chuckling at Kia's surprise, he said, "We are a progressive clan. Mems are expected to participate. Get busy, our medicine woman has a temper."
"Great," Kia mumbled. "Just what I need, a hearth full of angry fems."
"What kind of injury does your sister have?" Ch'e hollered from across the field.
"Hey!" Rok yelled. "Don't wander off alone!" She glanced at Kia then Fem'ma, who was half finished with the basket.
"I'll stand watch. You go with her," Kia said.
Rok took off like an arrow to catch up with Ch'e. They stopped at a thick tree several paces away.
Rok eyed the fem while glancing around the clearing. "Stix has a bad cut on her leg. Our sister, Song, used sinew and a tree dog claw to close the wound. She gave Stix something to help her sleep while she sewed."
"Good, I know what to get. Lift me up on your shoulder so I can reach that tree moss." Ch'e pulled several wads of silvery moss from the tree. "Now, see that fallen log? Let's see if it has some lichen. And I need a couple of small green plants that should be growing somewhere in this damp soil. Ha! Got it. Hey, I can get used to hunting medicine with my own guard."
Rok grunted and led the way back to Kia.
Fem'ma lifted Moon to her shoulder and carried her basket loaded with much needed medicines. The troupe followed the trail back to the shelter at a fast jog. Kia glanced over her shoulder to see Moon grinning, sitting sideways so he could hold Fem'ma's hair with both hands.
They slowed before emerging from the tall grasses when they approached the dead nightbird, and the shelter under its wing. A shriek from a carrion bird split the air, followed immediately by the snarl of a short-tailed lion. Kia peered through the reeds in horror. The nightbird had been ripped to shreds and was completely turned on its back.
Song and Stix were nowhere to be seen.