Chapter 1 - The Unknown
(Italics are Trigedasleng)
She sat in the tree that hung above the trickling river. It was a warm day and the sun glistened off the top of the water. The world was still and calm, every reason she had fled to the Unknown lands. Her eyes followed the movements of the black jaguar below her. Every so often it would stop lapping from the river and listen to its surroundings.
Her grip tightened on the dagger as she shifted her weight. Her focus returned to her prey, the gorgeous black jaguar with the shining black coat. She hated killing but her need to eat won out, berries and leaves were not enough to live on, she had tried to before. At least the jaguar could fight back.
Her attention returned to her prey and something changed in her eyes. Then, she was falling from the sky, landing on the jaguar and slipping a knife into his throat. It thrashed under her, twisting around and landing a scratch down her knife bearing arm. It thrashed in her arms, trying to find a way out but she was stronger and held it as its heart slowed beneath her palm.
"Yu gonplei ste odon," she whispered to it as it took its last breath. She was starting standing when she heard it. Voices, so quiet that she shouldn't be able to hear them, but she could. No one lived in these parts of the Unknown lands and the sound stood out against the forest. She left the jaguar where it was and swiftly climbed the tree she had just abandoned. There her climbing stopped as she listened for the direction of the voices. The rustling of the leaves was all she could hear for a second before the wind changed and the voices accompanied it. She jumped through the trees carefully, checking to make sure she was headed in the right direction and slowly making her way to them.
She found the group soon after, not that it was difficult. The group left a heavy trail after them, even though it was obvious they had tried to hide it. The group was only six people. Five looked to be warriors, while the other was not. They held the sword wrong and their stance left their left side wide open. She scoffed quietly, wondering how they could let someone so stupid out into the Unknown lands. The lands were dangerous, and lots of people died within five miles from the closest clan borders.
"This better be worth it," one of the warriors spoke up. He was tall and roped with muscles. One of his arms was covered with overlapping tattoos while the other only bore two. A ladder that twisted its way up and around the man's arm and a circle with thirteen dots surrounding the outside and a line slashed through the middle diagonally. She guessed the ladder tattoo symbolised that he was from Boudalankru. The circle tattoo was a mystery, though. She frowned, she had not seen it before, though the other four warriors bore the same mark. The final man also bore the circle with the thirteen dots around it but in the centre was a square instead.
"It will be. The Sky people can finally leave our lands," growled one of the female warriors. The only tattoos that she bore were that of Trikru, three open circles linked with a smaller joined one. And the one she did not know. The male non-warrior bore the same one. The Boudalankru warrior who led the small group stopped and the male Podakru warrior behind him crashed into the other warriors back with a curse. She would have rolled her eyes if they hadn't been plastered to the group ahead.
"Is that all we risk our lives for?" He turned menacingly towards the two Trikru, "We had to find our own land when we first broke into clans. Why should the Sky People get special treatment because she loved one of them?"That drew her up short. The breath caught in her throat. She cursed herself. It was no longer her she loved.
"No. Nyx you know that Commander wants a meeting place and market so the clans can come together. Also, more training grounds and schools so that people of different clans can come and meet together," told the other female warrior. Nyx scoffed but turned and carried along anyway. She, though, was frozen in the tree.
Green eyes, black skies, red blood.
She shook her head hard to clear the memories and scowled. They were moving again and she knew that if she didn't do anything now, her chance to surprise them would be gone. She dropped to the ground and killed four of the warriors before the first one had hit the ground. Nyx and the non-warrior turned at the sound and Nyx charged at her. She fought him with her right hand and so he didn't notice the left come around and stab him in the forehead with a dagger until he was already dead. She often used her right hand, although not her strongest, because when she switched to her left she could surprise her target.
Blood dripped from the wound, but she was already on the final person of the group with her Chinese Dao pressed hard against his throat.
"Don't think about moving or screaming or I'll end your life," she spoke to him.
"Who are you?" He asked her. She ignored him and pushed him forwards. The jaguar she had slain before was coming into sight, and she needed to figure a way to carry the man and the beast back to her home,"How did you kill us without so much as a wound? Where are we going? How do you know these lands so well?"She ground her teeth together to stop herself killing him out of sheer frustration. She forgot how annoying other people could be. If she didn't need his damn intel, his blood would already be joining the others in the ground.'
"Shut up," she growled menacingly. He shut his mouth quickly and swallowed loudly. She could hear his heart beating quickly, and she wondered how the Commander could be so stupid as to have him on her side.
While the stupid man had been talking, they had gained ground and she found herself upon the jaguar. She stared down at it before turning back to the man she had on a tight leash. She strode over to the man who cowered back in fear slightly. From her belt she pulled two pieces of fabric. One she stuffed into his open mouth and the other tired around his eyes, so he couldn't see where they went. She then hefted the jaguar over her shoulder. With the tip of her sword, she jabbed the man in the back slightly and told him to move.
The walk back to her home was short, and it made her gladder that she had caught and killed the warriors when she did. She strode towards, shoving the man every few seconds.
Her house stood on stilts and three sides of it was a mix of wood and scavenged pieces of metal. A few areas had windows, especially the side that faced the winding river. The houses final side was open, extending deep into the mountain. On this side of the house, they kept pigs, sheep and cows. The other side crops.
She didn't stop as she approached the stairs, snickering when the man stumbled and fell on the first one. She bent down and grabbed the collar of the shirt and hauled him up the rest of them. She dragged him through the open doors before throwing him into the centre of the living room.
"I'm home," she called and from the kitchen came her mentor and closest friend, Alaric. He was tall and broad, but he was gentle in disposition, "I found a hunting party just passed the crater. He is the only one still alive. Also, I came across a jaguar while hunting today. I'm looking forward to the fresh meat,"she glanced down and for the first time notice how dirty she was,"I need to clean up."
"It's good to see you too," he smiled at her and gave her a small hug. His eyes shifted to land on her shoulder and careful pulled the fabric away from her shoulder to reveal the deep, angry wound that she had received from the jaguar. In truth, the wound caused her no pain, and she had forgotten about it as soon as it had happened, "Why must you always come home with an injury? I'll interrogate the man, though I'm sure he would have given up information without you having to drag him up the stairs." They nodded to each other, and she swept into her bedroom and the shower she had been craving.
Schyler blinked as the blindfold was pulled away from his eyes. He glanced around wearily, noticing the woman who had killed the other warriors and tied him up was gone and a man had taken his place. He gulped. Though not as tall or as broad shouldered, the man before him was as dangerous or more so than Nyx. His arms were thicker than Schlyer's calves and his legs reminded Schlyer of tree trunks.
His eyes though were drawn to the most obvious feature of the man's face. A burn scar, that stood out harshly against his tan skin. It covered the whole right of his face, stretching from his ear to his nose. Schyler followed it down his neck, where it bulged out like a veinand to his right arm and hand covering them like a tattoo.
"I'm Alaric. I'm so sorry about my friend. She, um"Alaric paused for a minute, contemplating what he was going to stay,"I guess she hates people. What's your name?"Schyler blinked, the different natures of the two were strong and Schyler was reeling from the sudden change.
"I'm Schyler," he stuttered. Though he knew English, he wasn't particularly good at it. He didn't need to, most people spoke Trigedasleng. Movement to his right caught his eye. The girl was back. Now she was clean and he was not blind folded, he could see her features clearly. She was pretty he realised or would have been at one point in her life. Her hair was blonde (Schyler marvelled at that, not many people, had hair that light) and braided tightly on both sides of her face, crossing over and tucking together at the end. Her eyes a brilliant blue. Though not as physically strong as Nyx or Alaric, this girl had muscle and Schyler was sure that she could throw a wicked punch. He noticed three red scratch marks against her light skin that must have been new, standing out against the hundreds of other scars that lined her arms and shoulders. He briefly wondered how she had received them.
"This is Schyler," Alaric spoke up, pulling his attention away from the girl, "Schyler this is Kieyya." So finally knew the girls name. Kieyya nodded and smirked.
"It's nice to meet you Schyler," she spoke, her mouth filled with malice, "We shall have so much fun together."
