Veiled (Caveman Chronicles)

The Index -|-

Zara woke slowly, her senses awakening in fits and starts to what could only be described as a blur of sensation.

The first thing she noticed was the pain. She probed and found that it was centered on the back of her head and at her wrists and ankles. It was not unbearable. The second thing she noticed was a warm tickling sensation that covered her whole body.

Then she opened her eyes.

The space around her was awash in darkness. There were pinpoints of light or…. something… in an arc running left to right. She sniffed and smelled almost nothing. There was some scent, but it was faint and very foreign to her. When she turned her head, she could sense no movement at all.

In the background, as if on another layer of vision, the forces – what the Xi called the aji – pulsed in their pathways. The pathways led to the pinpoints, and then into the distance from all sides. She turned her head again and nothing changed.

Zara closed her eyes.

There had been a time like this in the past. In fact, everything had been like this at one point, though she found it difficult to know exactly what that time entailed. All she knew was that her eyes truly opened when she was born. Then, the concept of perspective, distance, and space had formed and changed her whole world.

She could now feel her neck move, feel the joints and muscles and weight of her head. Each of her fingers, the sense of her breath leaving her nostril, the filling of her lungs.

[My eyes, ears, and sense of the aji forces are veiled.]

Zara closed her eyes and focused on following the pathways. They were miniscule and she found that they easily faded if they were in her peripheral. Then it hit her.

[There is no Qon! Why? I always see the Qon thread but not now.]

Slowly her bright, young mind began to ponder the implications and possibilities of Qon missing.

[Can Qon be veiled? The other aji forces are not veiled, why Qon?] She checked the pathways and counted at least 14 colors. [If the Xi would veil Qon, wouldn’t they veil all of the other aji forces?]

Though she could not see the golden thread, Zara reached out and felt for Qon. It was not near the pathways, but she finally found it. Its surface, thin and trembling brushed her mind. She felt reassured and smiled slightly.

[Qon is here, but veiled somehow by the Xi. Kiipo was shocked when I severed the lutu’s power, and he called me Ixant. Perhaps they simply don’t see Qon. Maybe the knowledge of Qon is what makes someone an Ixant. If they don’t see Qon, they won’t know to mimic it in this facade.]

With a sigh, Zara recounted her capture… She had returned to the cave to make sure that Kiipo was secure, and he had been.

###

In the distance, Zara could hear the cracks and whines from the attacking lutu. Kiipo’s eyes followed her as she entered the main room of the cave. Zara examined its bonds, and found nothing amiss. The mesh of aji forces were intact, and the physical cords that bound its hands, feet, and knees were still tight.

“I am hungry,” Kiipo said quietly.

“Even now, your friends attack our village.” Zara shook her head slightly. “They want you back. I guess you should feel very valuable.”

Kiipo’s neck slits fluttered quickly, and its eyes closed for a moment. “I would like to go home.”

“I want to live here, in peace, with my Da and my cave-family,” said Zara in a matter-of-fact tone. She sighed. and turned toward the red-tiered device. “I will get you some poda to eat.” She began by pressing the bottom, right, second button three times. She then pushed the center triangle. It was then that she felt the air shift.

Turning, Zara saw Kiipo standing only two paces away. In its hand was a device that wrapped around its forearm and rested snugly in its palm. The device glowed with the aji.

Kiipo’s mouth parted to show rows of razor-sharp teeth. “I told you that they would come back for me.”

Zara shrugged. “I believed you. Why are you still here?”

“You must come with me.”

A chill passed through Zara, and she shook her head. “Why? It’s bad enough that you came here, you killed my Mama, and destroyed half of the Ganix village. You want me to go with you as well?”

“I do not make the rules. As a simple Jariit, I only follow.” Kiipo tilted its head slightly. “You must come with me. Please.”

Zara identified the powerline on the weapon that Kiipo held. Then she smiled. “I don’t think you can make me come with you. I’m Ixant, remember?”

Kiipo’s face remained expressionless, but Zara did notice that its neck slits fluttered more rapidly, and its palm gripped the weapon more tightly. “I have no choice.”

Zara nodded. “A scenario without choice is only for the blind.” Without moving, she severed the powerline, and she could see the aji forces disperse.

Kiipo looked at the inert weapon, and its shoulders slumped slightly before its wrist raised to cast the device in her direction.

Zara blasted Kiipo backward with a powerful swipe. Its body impacted with cave wall with an awkward crunching sound, and Kiipo began to wail at a low volume.

“Be quiet,” said Zara. “You made your decision, and I made mine.”

Kiipo’s wail continued, but it became more and more quiet over the next few moments. Finally, its head dropped to rest on its neck, and the neck slits stopped moving.

Zara stepped closer and carefully prodded Kiipo’s torso with her foot. There was no response, no twitches or reanimation. She was shocked. It had died so easily. Yes, she had thrown its body against the wall quite forcefully, but even in her short lifetime, she had seen cavepeople endure more severe wounds with only marginally lasting effects.

[When will its body turn into silica dust?] She prodded the body again and recalled how her Ma had told her about the death of Uuiit, the Xi overseer of Phaedro. Uuiit’s body did not dissolve immediately, but it had not taken even a tenth of a day.

Zara heard a few large crackle-thumps from the direction of the cave entrance and walked toward the outside so that she could see how the village was faring. The sky was still dark, and in the distance, she could see the purple orbs of the lutu being unleashed against the landscape below. In response, the lightning spears spattered the lutu with smaller bolts.

She shook her head. [Come on Ganix you’ll have to combine forces.]

To her right, she saw a quiet glow began to emanate from underneath the trees on the mountain slope. Her adrenaline edged upward and she turned to investigate.

A dozen thin shapes emerged from the treeline, and Zara crouched. With a twist of her bracelet and a touch on Thoka’s grey amulet that hung around her neck, she activated her shield. The amulet had been given to her by her Mama, and Zara had spent only a little time improving its strength and coverage. [Thank you for the shield, mama.]

Her skin tingled with a light breeze as the Xi raised their hands and released a torrent of purple light in her direction. Tiny shards flooded the air like sideways raindrops and beat against her shield with a quiet fizzling sound that made a mockery of the actual power they imparted. Zara felt the battering as the shield absorbed and deflected the attack.

With a backward flip of her hand, Zara returned their attack with one of her own. The ground at their feet erupted in a shower of dirt and rocks. She knew that it wouldn’t distract them for more than a few moments. She jumped toward the group and broke into an all-out run. By the time the Xi recovered, Zara was among them.

She danced among their knees and ankles, jabbing with her spear. Her Mama had told her about how she had killed her first Xi, a single upward thrust from her knife into its bowels. These Xi received the same fate.

With odd howls, the Xi reacted to her ferocious attack by jumping and stomping with their knees high. One fired a blast of purple shards, and randomly shredded the leg of one of its compatriots. One by one they dropped to the ground to lay on the rubble amongst their dead.

Without a warning, Zara was hit on the side of her head. The world spun, and a sharp pain echoed in her skull. Her knees buckled, and she fell to her hands and knees. Her vision swam, and she saw black legs surrounding her. She was lifted roughly by very strong hands and carried through the trees to a nearby clearing where she was unceremoniously dropped to the ground at a pair of feet.

Zara raised her head slowly, and saw a Xi dressed in a deep brown close-fitting tunic. In its hands it held a staff that stretched upward to twice its height. The Xi’s teeth were sharp and gleamed with perfect order as it smiled down on her.

“You will come with us, Zara.”

Zara gritted her teeth and lashed out in defiance. The air around her shimmered as it drew in nearby moisture. With a cry of exertion, the moisture froze and then shattered. The Xi were mutilated by a shower of icy shards. She bent her head to breathe, and a deep pain immediately pierced her skull.

She couldn’t see. There was nothing around her, only pain. Her muscles rebelled and contorted in any way they could so as to find an escape from their suffering. Something struck Zara in the head, and she blacked out.

###

[And now I’m here. If this is a sense trap, the only way to escape is to see and feel. I must be able to sense my surroundings.]

“Hello?” she called. She could hear her voice, but it sounded strange and muted. There was no response.

“Are you there?” Then, careful to sound like someone her age, frail and helpless, “Da? Mama?”

After some time with no answer, Zara stopped calling. She was tired, and her throat hurt. She drifted into sleep.

Zara blinked and awoke quickly. Her lungs felt as if they were on fire, and she coughed violently for several moments. Nothing had changed. There was no smell, no sight, no sound except for her subsiding cough.

“Hello? If the Xi have captured me, let me see your face.”

For as long as Zara could maintain focus and ask questions. There was no response.

Zara lost complete track of time. She slept, awoke, called out questions, felt nothing, and slept again. It was seemingly endless. Until finally there was a slight shift in the air.

“Now you are ready to speak?

“You are an interesting specimen, and I will relish dissecting you.” The voice that spoke was soft-edged and silvery with too little enunciation of hard sounds.

Zara paused to consider her response, but time seemed to stop… and she slept.