Chapter Four: Traitors to Their Kind
The next day was full of making the necessary preparations, the packing, the sharpening of weapons, the stretching of limbs for action, and settling one's mind for the task ahead. Senika scurried around the small hut, gathering things she needed and laying them out across her pallet of blankets in the loft.
She spread the materials across a soft fur hide and took stock of them, trying to decide if she had everything. Four sets of clothes were neatly folded into piles, with two pairs of tan pants, two pairs of brown leggings, a light blue long-sleeved shirt, a wine-coloured sweater, a cold-weather shirt in a deep shade of evergreen, and a t-shirt dyed light mauve. Some ointments and herb balms for medicine were packaged together in tiny pouches or little glass jars, and Senika's hairbrush, with a few bits of strings, were lumped together on the other side of the pallet. She stood looking at it, then sighed and shook her head. She was probably forgetting something and would only remember it later when they had left.
"Twany-lok?" called Malika from the main floor, "Are you finished? Come and eat dinner."
Senika turned eagerly and scrambled down the ladder. She sat at her spot at the end of the table, across from Kyliba with Ichebar and Beytakilena on the right side and Malika on the left side. Malika heaped a large serving of meaty stew onto her plate and placed a slice of vrena-bread beside it.
"Eat up," she smiled, before sitting down and serving herself.
Senika reflected that it may be the last meal she ate with such company in a long-time and the sudden feeling of sadness that flooded her heart surprised her. She looked at Malika and Kyliba, slurping and munching away in peace, and was struck by how she may never see this scene again. She realized that in hopes of finding her father, she had also sought a different kind of home. With the serene image in front of her, she was struck by how lucky she already was.
Malika noticed she'd stopped eating and gave her a stern look.
"Senika, I know you are excited, but if you don't eat your supper, you will have no energy for adventuring."
Senika started, shaking her head to rid herself of the sudden strange thoughts she'd been having. "I'm eating it, Yamai. I was just lost in daydreams."
Malika smiled kindly and touched Senika's nimble human hand briefly. "As long as you finish."
Senika nodded, and went back to the stew, remembering a time in her youth. When she had realized that she was growing bigger than the largest Noghri, she had stopped eating in hopes that she would stop growing as well. She'd become sick and thin, and Malika had been positively livid when she found out why Senika had been starving herself. She had repeated numerous times how it was normal for Senika to be that height for a human at her age and how she could care less what other Noghri looked like, or Senika's resemblance to them.
Senika shook her head at the memory and went on eating her stew.
Presently, the family finished eating and Senika cleared away the dishes, heating hot water on the fire and washing the utensils and plates in a metal tub. Kyliba helped by drying them.
"Kyliba?" Senika asked tentatively as they finished the dishes and went outside to tend the livestock kept for food. The sky was ablaze with red, orange and magenta, with the sun falling slowly towards the horizon, as if to set the world on fire. The air was chill and tinged with the smell of wood smoke from Noghri stoves and the thick, damp smell of the Omnipar forest.
"Yes Senika?" he asked as they walked around the side of the cabin to the tiny shed in the back where the white-feathered chookas were penned.
"Will you miss me while I'm gone?" she asked self-consciously, playing with the end of her braid. Tints of red, rust and gold showed through the dominant brown of her hair in the dying sun.
Kyliba chuckled to himself, "That depends, twany-lok."
"On what?"
"On whether you'll be coming back," he said with a solemn glance, bending down to pick up the chooka feed as they reached the pen.
"Why does that matter?" she asked curiously, also picking up some chooka feed and beginning to scatter it generously across the pen.
"Well," he replied, pausing to shoo a chooka that got too close to his clawed feet, "If you aren't planning on returning, then I will mourn you as if you had died, sparing myself years of painful waiting and baseless hope."
Senika looked up at him with imploring blue eyes, but absorbed this without reply.
"But, if you intend to return, then I will indeed miss you," Kyliba contended.
She thought about this for a moment, the confession bringing too many questions to mind than she had the strength to answer presently. It also brought up a flaw in her plan; she had focused too much on getting to Coruscant. What was her plan then? What would she do when she had retrieved the information that she had looked for for so long? She had thought before at dinner that her father might give her a home, but she had realized that she couldn't bear to leave this place permanently. It was all she'd known…
"I'm not sure Kyliba," she answered softly, shaking her head, "I couldn't bear for you not to miss me."
"Then you will come back?" he questioned calmly, not like an interrogator, but a friend seeking to help her understand her own problems.
"That depends," she said with an ironic smile, throwing his own words back at him.
"On what?" he asked, also smiling at the repetition.
She was silent for a moment, gazing at the sun, at the line of the trees against a darkening sky, at the cozy hut with smoke curling from the chimney, at the only home her memory told her of.
She faced him bravely, pressing her lips together in determination mixed with remorse.
"On if I find what I'm looking for."
Kyliba nodded slowly and rolled the sack of chooka feed closed before setting it down. She copied the motion and followed after him as he walked carefully on creaking, arthritic joints back to the house. He had his hand on the door latch, and was just about to open it when he turned slightly to regard her.
"You don't know what you're looking for Senika. I don't think you even can yet," he whispered softly, before entering the house.
Senika tilted her head in confusion, puzzled, and silently slipped through the door after him.
* * *
Malika stood outlined in the doorway of her house by the glow of the fireplace and watched three lithe, quiet figures slip away into the night. Senika turned around just before she was out of sight and waved frantically at her, her face shining with excitement.
Malika struggled to smile back, even though Senika wouldn't be able to see it with weak human eyes at this distance, because it seemed as though the action would bring luck to them and their expedition. She also tried to smile because it held back the wave of desolation and regret that she felt.
Noghri do not have the anatomy for tears or crying, but Malika knew these actions from watching Senika grow up. She was glad that she didn't have the capability for either, for she was sure that they would overcome her now.
It became harder and harder to maintain the smile as she observed Senika disappear from sight. The curious, pure-hearted little girl she'd raised from a baby was now a valiant young woman and letting her go hurt more than any pain she'd ever known. What was worse was that she wasn't sure if she would see her little girl again.
"Good-bye, Senika," she whispered into the velvet night, with only the silent stars to hear her.
"Good-bye, my daughter."
* * *
Two of Honoghr's three moons were in the sky, dim and small, but still beautifully rounded in spherical perfection and glowing, pearly and luminescent, against the serene black dome of night.
Senika was checking the contents of her backpack when she heard a dry twig rustle against some fallen leaves. Her head jerked up and she looked over her shoulder in the direction of the noise, but was relieved to see only Relkivk.
"Sha'vah!" she whispered vehemently to her friend, standing as she did and hoisting her heavy pack onto her back. Relkivik gave a nonchalant shrug as he stepped up to the group.
The other members of the party had been gathered underneath the tree for nearly five minutes waiting for Relkivik, and Senika signaled through hand motions that they should get moving. The Noghri expressed their agreement and Senika smiled slightly before plunging into the forest.
Omnipar was the only forest left in the Clean Land and it protectively surrounded the village of Omniparek, which simply means, "by Omnipar." It was a deep and mysterious wood, with uncharted perils and untold dark regions where sunlight never reached the ground. It seemed to harbour a dislike for any creature that was not from its boundaries and few Noghri that were not from its village strayed into the reach of its ravenous branches.
Senika was not afraid of Omnipar or any of its hungry inhabitants, but she was vaguely nervous of leading her friends through it in the darkness and without any sort of path to guide her. The night was freezing, a warning of the winter approaching, and Senika was grateful for the extra clothes Malika had made her wear despite fervent protests.
She pushed aside a curtain of cobweb-like vines, the white fibers trailing eerily across her neck as she passed underneath them. The mud of the forest floor sucked at her soft hide boots, squelching slightly despite her efforts to be quiet. She could hardly see anything in the darkness, with the lights of the moons unable to penetrate the branches of the trees.
"How far until we can light one of the flares?" Senika whispered to Ichebar.
"Half an hour or so. Can you see well enough? Do you want me to take the lead?" Ichebar asked, concerned.
Of course, she did want him to lead, but it seemed very cowardly to be giving in already, so Senika shook her head.
"I can manage," she answered.
So Senika continued to lead the group through the ghastly depths of Omnipar, with each step carefully placed and the direction constantly being checked. She led them across freezing streams that soaked her pants up to the thigh, she slogged though brambles that snagged viciously at her hair and dug into her clothes, and she felt the knots of numerous tree roots scrape across her feet, hurting them despite her boots.
The going became easier when they reached a point far enough away from the village to light the compact flare lanterns. Senika tried not to look as relieved as she felt about being right about the path. Everything in this mission seemed to depend on timing.
The expedition was going splendidly until about an hour before dawn.
They came to a clearing, which was not really a clearing, but had fewer, thinner trees, as close to a clearing as it is possible to get in Omnipar. Pale moon-light filtered weakly through the tree branches, illuminating the first threat of the night, a chilling creature Senika had only heard of before in legends told beside the fire on cold winter nights.
The monster did not see them immediately as they came into its proximity. It was a mammalian quadruped called a Vralok, and it rose nearly twenty feet high, it's dark crimson fur lying loosely over masses of rippling muscles and deadly sinew. Vralok's preferred to live in moist, mild climates, and were nearly extinct as a result, for the Clean Land was farther from the equator than they preferred.
Senika recognized the Vralok immediately and crouched into a defensive position, not quite comprehending. She whirled to face Ichebar, who has come to a dead stop beside her.
"Is that what I think it is?" she asked in a harsh whisper, straining to keep the anxiety out of her voice.
"Yes, Senika," Ichebar replied slowly with a nod, "That is a Vralok."
She looked at the enormous beast, studying the razor claws on each of its four paws and the arm length front teeth lining its front jaws. She looked at the clearing, noticing the arrangement of the trees, seeing one large golak tree that had broken near the bottom and was leaning against another at a gentle forty-five degree angle. A plan began to form in her head.
"I'll need to kill it," she said, part declaration, part question and seeking Ichebar's advice.
"It will never let us pass through its territory," Ichebar affirmed, "And we cannot handle the delay."
Senika drew her dagger, preparing to draw blood with it for the first time.
"Bakfulor, Mapeshka, Takrevor, circle to the left. Vor'corkh, Sakhisakh, Pirakash, circle to right. Ichebar, Beytakilena, Relkivik, approach in the center. I need you all to distract it, so strike at its stomach, where it's vulnerable."
Senika stepped out into the clearing, making noise in the fallen leaves to catch the Vralok's attention. The beast started and swung its head around, glaring at her with sharp, predatory black eyes.
Senika glared at it in return, matching its ferocity passion for passion. She started to run towards it, her confident feet finding the right path over the rough ground. The Vralok ambled forward, hissing and roaring in annoyance, charging towards her companions. She tightened her hold on her dagger and swerved without warning to sprint brashly up the angled golak tree, running hard against the brutal angle till she reached the pinnacle, where the top of the fallen tree, and the top of the tree it had fallen against, met. She looked wildly around, the fierce war cries of her companions below sending her heart thumping wildly and her blood screaming through her vessels.
In the dark, she found it difficult to find what she sought, but nevertheless it was only a second before her fingers grasped a sturdy tree vine. She held her dagger in her teeth and gripped the leathery stem with both hands. Taking a deep breath, she pushed off from the branch she was standing on, swinging down towards the Vralok.
There was a cheer from Relkivik as she let go of the vine and landed on the creature's shifting back. She stumbled and nearly fell off from the erratic movement of the enraged beast, but her fists found anchorage in the Vralok's dark red hair. Swiftly, she clambered up its back to the neck, where she wrapped her legs tightly around its throat, strangling it. She wanted to use her dagger, to employ her shining, deadly gift to slit a fatal gash in its jugular, but her hands were busy holding her to the monster and she didn't dare let go.
"Keep holding on Senika!" she heard Ichebar shout at her.
Yes, yes, she thought, I have to hold on…
But this action was becoming increasingly more difficult, as the beast shook and bucked, furiously trying to remove her, its strength and vehemence seeming to increase with Senika's continued efforts. Her head rattled, her vision became blurry, and the world appeared unable to stop spinning…
Must hold on! Her mind screamed, Can't let go!
She was finding it hard to breathe, and she dizzily took one hand from its place to take her dagger out of her mouth, wanting desperately to just kill the thing and be done with. But by this time, she was beginning to faint, starting a spiraling descent into black unconsciousness.
Lift the dagger…
What her brain directed, her body could not comply with. Her leg muscles loosened, her eyes rolled back, and she began to slip.
Just when she thought the clash of wills was over, that she was finished, failed, a strong, deft arm pulled her up. She recognized the smell as Relkivik, holding her up with one arm, stabbing the Vralok in the brains with the other.
"Can't let go," she mumbled, and slumped.
She felt herself being lifted off the beast, jumping to the ground. Distantly, the sound of the monster hitting the forest floor carried to her ears. Her eyes still seemed unable to focus.
"Senika?" came Relkivik's worried voice, "Senika, are you alright?"
Things slowly sorted themselves out, the colours and images running apart to separate and make sense, like paint organizing itself into a picture on canvas.
"Senika, you killed the Vralok!" Relkivik said, shaking her gently, "You had suffocated it by the time I stabbed it! You saved our lives!"
"Mmmh?" was all that Senika could manage to say.
"Here," came Beytakilena's voice, "Give me some room."
A cold, sweet-smelling liquid was placed under her nostrils, so that when she inhaled a sharp, mint scent cleared her passages and her mind was instantly awake with an intense clarity.
Beytakilena sat leaning over her, an extremely concerned expression on her face and her nimble fingers delicately rubbing Senika's cheek.
"Twany-lok? Better now?"
Senika coughed and sat up, brushing away the Noghri's hands. She shook her head and then grinned vivaciously.
"Phew," she said exuberantly, "What a ride."
Beytakilena chuckled, and Relkivik laughed out loud.
"If you are recovered," Ichebar said casually from close by, "We should continue our journey."
"Indeed," Senika agreed and rose steadily to her feet, "Let's continue."
They left the moon-lit clearing of the Vralok, relighting their lanterns and double-checking their direction before continuing on to Nystao.
