Leaves

Chapter Three

Ware-Yami-Tote

After Joryn left, her tears still burned into my mind, Souk turned to me, "What does your new wisdom say about the exchange we did?"

"Don't you know?" I thought about it, and information I had never known before flooded to me, "No, you don't… we switched what we know."

"Yes, and before I die, I want you to find me and I will give you back what you know."

"What? Can't you just do that now?" I asked.

"Fine, and have me die here?" he snorted, his personality had changed, "You have new wisdom, but you're as naïve as ever. If we do that I die, it's that simple. You're the one that kills me, right Nikko?"

The woman nods her head, "It has to be done though, Souk's place in the world is coming to an end, and he needs you for his heir." I thought for a moment. Me? His heir? He always pushed me around and treated me like kid, and now he wanted me to be his legacy?

Souk grabbed my arm, "As you know…" he sighed, "Well you don't, that was one thing I didn't give you because I wanted to tell you myself. I was to be mated to your mother, Pagea. When that monster came and attacked her, and you were born, I swore to look after you." Tears were falling from his eyes, "You were meant to be my son."

"Souk…" I was at a loss of words, "what happens when someone mates with someone other than their mate?"

"The connection is lost forever… the soul that was forced is alone forever." It explained my mothers' lost eyes every time she looked at me, "There is no way for the connection to be brought back again. At least, there is one way, but the soul must die and come back again. The process is dangerous, and fatal."

"That's why I must protect her..." A heavy feeling suddenly swept over me, like all the dread in the world was concentrated and shot at me with a bow, "What was that?"

"You're powers…" Nikko smiled, "They're awakening." Her eyes filled with excitement, "You just felt your village falling."

"Wha-?"

"They're faster than I had thought…" Loryb stated, "They will be here soon." He looked out to nowhere, "We must start the ceremony." He sighed and smiled at me, "Take care of Joryn please." His eyes were sad and lost, "She's all I have. I would like to see her again."

I was at a loss of words, he loved his daughter very much and it was up to me to make sure they saw each other again. There was a lot of weight on my shoulders.

Nikko grabbed my arm and placed a vial in my hand, "Joryn will be harmed in the middle of the chaos." She squeezed my hand around it, "This will take the powder out of her wound and purify the flesh."

There were sounds of music and drums pounding outside, "I guess it's time." I sighed.

Souk grabbed me into a hug, "Do great things, my son."

….

There were so many people around me, the smells the music the laughter all took my troubles away. I danced and ate and laughed. The world was spinning, and all of my friends held me hand as we forgot all about the lives we had.

I felt a little dizzy later so I sat down on one of the drums. A few minutes after my resting, my father took stage, Tanrik followed him. There was strain in both their eyes. When my people saw my father, they all quieted down, and waited for him to speak.

He sighed sadly and looked at everyone, "My people, no, my friends. Soon, the Great Spirit will bring a great trial to our lives. Danger and sorrow will befall us, but there is only one thing we can do." Everyone mumbled in confusion and he continued, "We must thrive. No matter how badly our pride is tarnished, we will never loose it. Tanrik please, speak now."

"Tanrik stood before us and looked around, and then he looked at me. His eyes looked lonely and scared, "Everyone…" he took his eyes away from mine and looked at the crowd, "Please, listen to your leader. He is a wise man, and he only wants what's best for you." He moved his hair out of his eyes, "What is to come is a very bleak moment in our history. We must stay strong, and I promise, we will be freed."

Souk appeared and said, "We must begin the ritual."

Nikko walked up with a crystal glass with and she held water stones in her other hand, she handed Tanrik a knife, "You must pay your blood for your brother ship." He placed the jagged stone knife to his wrist and sliced his flesh. Nikko took his wound and let the blood fall into the glass.

He did the same with my father, he was accustomed to this. Nikko then placed the water stones into the glass and it filled, making the liquid a dark blue. "Now that the sacred water has been made, each chosen Chief must share the sacred liquid."

My father and Tanrik stood face to face, and Nikko handed my father the glass, "Drink half of it." She told him. He took and easily drank it, when he was done, he handed it to Tanrik. He took the glass and took a sip, he started coughing and choking.

"How can you drink this?" he laughed, my father smiled.

"You must finish it." Nikko sounded angry. Tanrik took her warning, pinched his nose with his other hand and drank it as fast as possible. He gasped when he finished and my father laughed with him. Nikko laughed along with them, and soon everyone was laughing.

The music started again, and we all started dancing again. We all moved in harmony, and I had many partners in the chaos. We sang our ancient songs, and moved along with the drum beats. I spun and spun until I was dizzy and almost falling over, but my family held me up and I held them in place.

I left the crowd again and the music moved to slower tempo, everyone swayed with exhaustion. I found a small patch of grass and lied down at the music started to die down and everyone sang lullabies. The stars were bright and they twinkled against the dark unknown.

"We've not had a chance to dance together yet." I looked up, and Tanrik stood over me, "Will you dance with me?" I had almost forgotten that he was supposed to be my mate. My heart said, dance with him! Then there was another part of my telling me to ignore him.

He reached for me, not caring what my answer was and he took my arm trying to get me up. He did this, and I tripped him down, and tackled him sending us into the snow. We struggled in the cold; he gave in and I ended up on top of him, my hands around his neck ready to strangle him.

He looked up at me, wonder filled his eyes, and he gazed deeply into me. We sat there for a good ten minutes just looking into each other's eyes. My hands still gripped around his neck, but they loosened, "Stop doing that!" I picked up his head and slammed it against the ground.

"Ow!" he growled, "Doing what?"

"Soul searching!" I yelled, but there was a loud bang in the horizon and barking of wild dogs, "What was that?" I looked over at the crowd of people; the all stopped and listened with wonder.

Tanrik sighed, and pushed me off of him, "They're here." He stated, "Please, get to safety."

"No!" I grabbed his arm, "We can still get the others out!"

"We can't." There was shouting, and it was getting closer. People around us started calling out to the sounds, asking who they were. The only thing that could be heard was a strange language. Others started crying out in fear, and soon they were visible. They held sticks of fire, and wore rough coats of leather and chain.

Tanrik picked me up by the waist and started to rush through the crowd, looking for something. There was yelling from people on the thrown. My father, Souk, Nikko and Tyran were all yelling for everyone to stand their ground and not fight back.

Soon screams and cries filled the air, and big bangs echoed in the sky. Cries of children, women and men, barks and howls and wolves, fires spread… it was all like the vision Nikko had showed me. Why didn't I believe her? Was I that pig headed?

Then men started grabbing my people and tying them up, and dragging them away. Tanrik used the cover of one of the burning tents to set me down, "I have to find Souk." He explained, "Please, go to the forest and wait for me. You know you must."

"What awaits us then?" I cried.

He nodded his head in dismay, "I don't know…" he grabbed my face and kissed me quickly on the lips sending chills up my spine, "I'll let you know when I figure it out." And he ran out into the smoke and chaos.

….

People fled from the bangs that echoed in their ears, the men who started this all had sticks that shot terrifying power, and brought down our warriors. I stepped over several bodies looking for Souk, I had no fear, and Nikko told me we would be safe.

I was running out of time.

Souk was laying in a ball next to the throne, holding his stomach. I flipped him over onto his back, and blood seeped through the heavy furs her wore, "Souk…" he coughed blood and smiled at me.

"Thank you…" he grabbed my hand, "Are you ready?" he squeezed my palm, and the transfer took place all over again. I could sense his energies slowly fading away as he joined the Great Spirit. "See you in a better place."

He was gone.

The merge of knowledge hit me hard making me dizzy. I tried to recover, but it made my head spin. Then through the blur of screams and cries, there was one that stood out from all of them. Joryn's voice echoed in my head as she cried in pain.

I left Souk to rest, and followed her voice, wondering why I felt so desperate to find her.

….

A man from the bad people had shot one of their fire sticks at me and it hit my thigh. I tried to keep running, but the pain was unbearable. Crawling was the only thing I could do, but I started to feel light headed from the blood loss. The man grabbed me by my hair, and started dragging my off in the opposite direction.

I pleaded with him to let me go, but he didn't understand me. He said some harsh words and raised his fist, and my world went black.

"…n…ryn…p…wa…ease…" I was slowly coming back to consciousness, and there was a throbbing in my head, "Joyrn…" this person was almost crying, "Nikko said you would live…" my vision returned, and Tanrik held me in his arms, covered in blood.

"Tanrik?" I manage to say, "Wha…? Why are you covered in blood?"

"Shhh…" he placed his finger on my lips; it was very cold, "I'm so glad you're okay…"

"Why?" I asked again.

"I killed him…" his eyes looked full of shame.

"Who?"

"The one who had taken you." He brushed one of my hairs away from my face, "I'm sorry… it was the only thing I could do." He looked on the verge of tears, "Look." He pointed over the bushes.

I looked up over the bushes to see what had happened to my village, and the sight sent a pain to my heart. Everything was in flames, and the last of the men were walking away, tripping over bodies. I looked away, it was too much.

"Why did this happen?" I asked him, why did this happen?"

"You knew it would…" he said.

"I know…" I could feel tears starting, "I just never knew it would hurt so much…"

All I could do from crying was bury my face in Tanrik's chest. He held me, and rubbed the back of my head. We stayed there for a long time, and time seemed to stop. We lied in the snow together, our only source of light was the fires of my home.

I must've fallen into a trance, because Tanrik was shaking me awake again, "Joyrn, you're leg." He pulled up my leather skirt, to reveal my thigh. The wound was so bad; it had bled through my thickest skirt. The flesh was ragged and bruised, and black dust mixed with the blood.

Tanrik stared at it, anger filled his eyes and I placed my hand on his face, "It's okay." I tried to convince him, "It can't be that bad." He reached into his pocket of his pants and pulled out a vial with clear liquid in it, "what's that?"

"Nikko gave it to me." He looked at it, "I'm not sure if this stuff really works."

"Anything she makes works." I tried to encourage him; he looked so lost, "We'll never know until we try. Go ahead."

He opened the vile and a sharp smell filled the air, it was so strong it over powered the smell of burning and death. When he lifted my leg, I almost cried, but I bit my lip instead. Tanrik looked at me one more time, and I nodded at him to continue.

One drop and it sizzled on the wound. Two more drops, pain. Four drops; burning. The whole bottle; fire. I screamed, the pain threw me back into the snow, "Joyrn!" Tanrik picked me up, "I'll get water! Maybe we can get it out." He stood to leave, but I grabbed his leg.

"Don't leave me here!" I screamed, "You better not! I'll kill you if you do!"

….

I looked at Joyrn as she slept of the frozen ground, her hair was a mess, and she was covered in blood and smoke dust. She looked so beautiful. The potion Nikko had given me had finally stopped hurting her, and she drifted off into sleep.

She moved around and shivered. We needed to leave this place, so I picked her up and walked away from the massacre. Joryn couldn't wake to this; she needed to be in a beauty when she woke. I hoped taking her away would make things better for her.

The cold started to get to me, and I tried to stop shivering, but it was no use. My teeth clattered, and I could feel my feet going numb. "Foolish Chieftain, do I have to do everything?" The familiar voice of Jamz called to me, "keep walking where you are, I'm almost there. I can smell the girls' blood."

Within a few minutes, my friend stood before me, covered in soot and blood, "Hey…" I said, "Come here often?" he barked at me, and started walking away from me. "Wait!" I followed after him "You can't just leave!"

"Fine, follow me and I shall help you… blah, blah, blah!" He laughed at me, and started walking again. We seemed to be going for a long time, when we came to river. There was a small waterfall at the head of it, and Jamz walked through it.

Joryn looked cold enough, so I shifted her under me and used my back to protect her from the water. When I made it through, there was cave with a fire burning next to a make-shift fur bed. "Sleep." Jamz commanded.

"But we have to-"

He barked at me again, "Tomorrow! Joryn looks like she isn't doing well." Joryn stared up at me, tears falling from her blood-shot eyes. Jamz was right, she needed rest. I went over to the blankets and laid her down in them, she grabbed my arm and tried to force me down and I listened.

I held her as cuddled against my chest and soon her shivering ended.

Sleep fell over me, and I dreamt of fire.