The Rescue (Caveman Chronicles)

The Index -|-

Thoka raged when she heard the news.

Kpleeb is gone, stolen from me by the filthy Xinti. And… the attack was probably instigated by Uuiit. Thoka’s blood boiled as she paced to and fro inside the hut. I will pay them back.

Thoka raised her chin and screamed angrily in a long and piercing cry that ended with a guttural growl deep in her throat.

Zara covered her ears with her tiny hands, and when Thoka finished, she looked up with wide and teary eyes.” Mama, is Dada alive?”

Thoka nodded her head. “He is alive, Zara, and we will find him and bring him back.”

“What can I do to help, Mama?” Zara tottered over to Thoka and raised her arms in request.

Thoka picked Zara up and cuddled her against her side. “You must learn to use the invisible forces. You must learn to protect yourself and Dada.”

Zara nodded solemnly. She waved her hand at one of the Ganix spears that leaned against the inner hut wall. The spear jumped and flew toward her outstretched hand.

Thoka flinched as it happened and thrust the spear away with a backhand motion. The spear clattered against the wall and ricocheted onto the floor. What shocked her most was that Zara did not have any of the devices made of yellow stone. Thoka herself could not use the invisible forces without a device to channel that power. “Where did you learn to do that, Zara?”

Zara shrugged slightly. “I use the golden thread, Mama.”

“You know I cannot see the invisible forces, Zara. What golden thread?”

Zara pointed at the air next to her. “There is a golden thread. I call it Qon. When I move it, the spear moves too.”

Thoka shook her head and set Zara down. Zara was growing so quickly, and Thoka knew that she would have to closely examine Zara’s abilities. But for now, it was time to assemble the warriors. “Zara, keep learning to use your Qon. Grow strong in that practice. I think you will need to rely on it in the future. Just remember, you are such a special girl, and I’m proud of you.”

Zara nodded again in a small way as if she was uncertain about the reasons for her Mama’s words. Thoka left the hut.

Soon the Ganix warriors were gathered and a plan was formed. The Ganix had never been aware of another Xinti village anywhere, and so they agreed that all of the Xinti were at Uuiit’s village. It was the logical place to hold prisoners. They moved to the village in two groups. One large group of warriors approached the village from the southeast, and Thoka’s group with a few warriors to watch her back approached from the northwest where the angle was located.

As they passed the angle, Thoka dropped off her improved seers and attached an invisible anchor to the angle itself. She wanted it to be halted should Uuiit attempt to move the device to another location.

When they approached the village, Thoka heard a distant clamor and knew that the Ganix warriors had entered into combat. The huts closest to her blocked the view of Uuiit’s larger building that rested in the center of the village, and she hoped that the main attack would give her time to stay out of sight and find Kpleeb. Thoka paused to scan the village for Kpleeb. In reality, she had no direct means of locating him. Instead, she focused on locating the yellow stone that made all of the devices he had carried with him.

The devices would have certainly been taken… Possibly taken to another hut. But… it has only been half a day since the Xinti took him and slaughtered Kilow’s villagers.

Her scan returned nothing. Thoka sighed with exasperation. There were so many complications. She turned to one of the Ganix warriors that stood nearby watching for incoming attacks.

“Xug, I cannot see where Kpleeb might be. Where do you think the Xinti would take him?”

Xug grunted. “Lak hut.” He pointed with his knuckle toward the left side of the village.

Thoka nodded at him. “Okay, lead the way.”

Xug trotted warily around the edges of the perimeter. Square huts were spaced out in a straight line about three paces apart. Thoka and two more warriors followed quietly. Finally, after skirting the entire side of the village, they came upon a new building that was larger and built of stone and thick logs. Not only were the walls sturdier, it had a unique roof made from long poles that angled from one high wall to the other shorter wall. At the center of one of the long sides stood a stout and wide door that was guarded by two Xinti warriors.

It was fortunate for Thoka that these warriors were not as disciplined as would normally be expected. They stood together and talked in low voices as they stared toward the noise of battle that came from the other side of the village.

Xug and the other warriors attacked immediately, and the two guards fell dead in a moment without more than a couple of muted grunts of pain. Their bodies were dragged behind the building before Thoka was ready to open the door.

She whispered. “There may be more guards inside. We must enter quickly. Xug lifted his chin in agreement, and the other warriors tensed in readiness.

Xug flung his shoulder against the door, and bounced back with a grunt. He braced himself and tried again. This time there was a noticeable cracking sound. On the third try, he was joined by another warrior, and the door caved in with a loud crash. Beyond the door in the dim light lay a large room inhabited by stacks upon stacks of crates in long rows. Each crate held lak. Thoka stepped inside and reached into one of the crates.

The lak was flaky, dull, and heavy. It was clearly metallic in nature. The structure was layered and Thoka’s fingers could easily pry a layer away from the chunk she held.

“Interesting stone…or whatever it is,” she said under her breath. Thoka analyzed what she held through the lens of the invisible power. This material was different, though she was not sure how. The invisible power curled around it in an unusual way, and at differing points, it appeared to spark and jump.

Just then, she heard a muffled knocking to her left and cocked her head. Xug took a step in that direction and Thoka followed after thrusting the lak she held into her front pocket. The group continued along the front wall of the lak house, at least twenty or thirty paces before they reached the end wall and turned right. The knocking was now a banging straight ahead that grew much louder as they approached. When they turned the corner, Kpleeb was there gagged and kicking at one of the lak crates.

“Oh, Kpleeb!” cried Thoka rushing to his side. She sliced the ropes that bound him with a silent flick of her fingers and then wrapped her arms around his neck. His face and torso were covered with caked blood from numerous slices as well as dirt.

“We must go,” Kpleeb muttered quietly shaking the feeling back into his hands. “There are always guards nearby.”

He winced with pain as Thoka helped him to his feet and waved toward the Ganix warriors. The group moved through the empty space, and toward the door. As it opened, there were ferocious cries from a handful of Xinti warriors. The Ganix stepped forward and met them with swirling spears and high kicks.

Thoka turned Kpleeb away from the fighting. She knew that he would need to reach the safety and cover of the nearby jungle in order to escape. As they reached the far corner of the lak house, Thoka looked back and saw that the Ganix were being beaten. Their skill matched the Xinti, as they were in fact Xinti previously, but the Ganix were far outnumbered.

“Can you make it to the trees?” Thoka asked, pointing. The tree line was but a handful of paces from the lak house. “I need to help the Ganix.”

Kpleeb nodded, and began to shuffle toward the trees.

Thoka jogged toward the three fighting Ganix and began picking off the Xinti warriors that were closest to the them. Her invisible bolts of power struck each warrior with a crackling whine. The warriors who were hit with a solid blow, mid-torso were hurled backward violently and never rose. The few who were not struck down immediately lay stunned.

Thoka mentally noted the surprisingly small amount of blood that appeared when she struck the warriors.

After a few seconds of fighting, a great boom sounded from behind the Xinti that remained standing. A cloud of grey fog roiled along the surface of the dirt pathways to a depth just about knee level. Thoka watched as it seemed to emanate from the center of the village. After another long moment, a figure appeared.

Uuiit strode into the pathway. His long, fine cloak flowed around him. To his cloak were attached many pieces of lak that fluttered in the wind and flickered glints of pale light. His eyes were a deep blue and they bore down on Thoka with curiosity and disdain. He smiled broadly, his teeth taunting her with their perfection.

“What are you?” He said calmly. Thought he was distant, his voice sounded as if it came from directly ahead of her. It was a plain voice, clear and without accent.

Odd, Thoka smiled back at Uuiit coldly and spoke. “I am the Pale One.” She pointed at Uuiit. “Kpleeb is mine. The Ganix are mine.”

Uuiit tilted its head back and laughed loudly. It was a mechanical laugh that appeared to Thoka to be designed only to mock her. “You had peace until you attacked the Xinti at the village by the river.”

“Chief Killow is my friend.”

“She was your friend.” Uuiit smiled mirthlessly. “They are all dead now.”

Thoka crouched and stared at Uuiit while she struggled to control her anger.

Uuiit waved nonchalantly and flipped his hand as he turned to leave. “You are nothing.”

Thoka blinked in fury at its dismissal of her. She stood, extended her arm and cast a dart of power at his back, but was surprised that there was a flash of light when it encountered his robe. Any other being would have been thrown down by that strike.

Uuiit laughed again and turned to face her.

Thoka struck again, this time with a slight change in the power’s frequency. The lak on Uuiit’s robe fluttered in the breeze and her dart’s demise flashed within the glints of light.

Uuiit raised his hand, and a blinding pain radiated through Thoka’s bones. Her ears were filled with a white noise hissing at the inside of her brain. She screamed hoarsely.

A Ganix warrior began to run and threw a spear directly at Uuiit. Though the spear flew straight and accurate, the wooden shaft burst into splintered wood chips before it ever reached Uuiit. The warrior, close behind the spear, leapt with a pair of short spears in his hand, but just as he was almost in range, Uuiit stepped aside. The warrior landed with a thud and grunted with pain.

Thoka’s pain subsided instantly as Uuiit swept his arm downward toward the fallen warrior. The warrior wailed, and there was a crunch of bones as his leg bent forward slowly until bones, ligaments, and skin broke.

Thoka crawled slowly and then faster as she noticed that Uuiit was distracted.

Uuiit twisted the warrior’s limbs and grinned, appearing to savor the suffering that he caused. But then, as Thoka drew near, he caught sight of her.

“You cave-dwellers are very weak,” Uuiit said with a laugh. He closed the distance to Thoka with two steps and placed his foot on her back. “This is why we conquer you.” He pressed down with his leg. “This is why we enslave you.”

Thoka lay with her face in the dirt and felt the air being squeezed out of her lungs. She turned her head and looked up. Uuiit’s legs were white and extended into an odd kind of black legging that she had never seen. The metallic lak shards fluttered and she moaned at the pain of Uuiit’s heel on her back. She laid her face back down into the dirt and exhaled loudly.

Uuiit lifted his head and laughed again.

This is it. Thoka flung her hand upward, the hilt of her knife gripped firmly.

A key point had come to her as she watched Uuiit fight in the last few moments. He excelled at winning from a distance. Everything thrown at him was sidestepped or exploded or handled by the lak cloak. She saw that his weakness, if one existed, would be at a close range.

The knife easily pierced the lak cloak. It was not hindered by the odd leggings. The tip of the stone penetrated skin, sinew, and stuck into bone. Uuiit shrieked in a way that Thoka had never heard. There was a dual-pitched screech, that started at the mid-range and escalated into a feverish howl that could shatter thin stone. His heel eased off of her back as his knees buckled.

Thoka rotated her torso, yanked the knife out and around. It entered near Uuiit’s neck. Again and again. Soon the cried diminished into a wheezing breath that slowed, gurgled and stopped. By the time Thoka rolled over onto her back in the pathway, she was breathing heavily.