The Index -|-

“You saw another death white?!” Kpleeb slammed his hand on one of the wall posts. “And he saw you!? I can’t believe you did that!”

“Kpleeb, we were trying things out. How were we supposed to know what would happen? Anyway, it wasn’t actually there with us. It was… I don’t know, in a ball of light – sort of.”

“Da, the death white is scary. His name is Iitki. It’s a funny name, I think, but I stopped the red device from working, and he can’t speak to us anymore.”

Kpleeb shook his head. “That was so careless, Thoka. So careless! You saw what Uuiit was able to do to you, and you are the most powerful caveperson I have ever heard of! The death whites must be very, very powerful!”

“Calm down,” said Thoka. “We have to talk through this.

Kpleeb nodded and exhaled audibly. He felt his hands shaking slightly.

“Zara sees the device better than I do for sure, but the device has a lot of power in it. At first, I thought maybe the ball of light was a view of the past, another death white, but when it spoke to me and answered, I knew that it was in the current time. I’m not sure how that can be. It was not inside the red device or anywhere nearby that I could determine from my scouting.”

“The only other answer is that the device somehow allows the death white to speak and see faces over a distance.” Kpleeb paused and considered. “What distance I can’t begin to imagine. What if this Iitki comes over the mountain in the morning?” He sat on the woven, reed mat and leaned against the hut wall. “We could be in immediate danger. How can we protect ourselves?”

“It seems like the same question every time something happens, doesn’t it?” Thoka rubbed her eyes. “We’re always in danger, and there is always an unknown enemy just over the next rise.”

Kpleeb tilted his head. “It is true for every living thing. The difference with us in this moment is that we are aware of it. So we must not act in panic. We must determine how best to strengthen our defenses for now and then build on them if the death white does not come soon.”

“Or at all,” said Thoka. “It is possible that the device only allows me to talk to the death white.” She paused and shook her head. “No, that’s not logical. I have to assume that Iitki has a similar red device and he uses it to communicate with Uuiit. Or used to anyway, before I killed Uuiit.”

Zara looked back and forth at Kpleeb and Thoka. “The big, blue flow at the top. I think that was the communication.”

“Why, Zara?”

Zara paused and closed her eyes as if remembering what she had seen. “When Iitki was in the ball of light, the blue flow turned from a drifting haze to a much thicker flow. The power line went straight up through the roof and it squiggled when the strange voice spoke.”

Kpleeb put his head in his palms and scrunched his messy mop with his hairy fingers. “Wow.” He looked at Thoka. “Could you see this too?”

“No. I have to use the jewelry I made. You know I can’t see the colors.” Thoka looked at Zara. “Our daughter is one of a kind, Kpleeb. We should let her design some of our defenses.”

“Not just defenses,” said Kpleeb. “We seem to always be in danger, and I am tired of it. We must be the strongest ones.”

###

Iitki did not come the next day or the next week. The family worked each day to imagine how a death white might come and with what weapons it might attack them. They planned for the small things first and the built upward. In the first day, Kpleeb felt fairly certain that they could repel an attack of one death white on a rabid yak. By the end of the week, he was not worried about five death whites on giant fire belching tundra condors. He found that Zara’s imagination was not limited in the way that his was.

He understood caves, sticks, rocks, and animals, but he had to stretch himself to imagine flying death whites or even invisible projectiles. Zara pictured free-wheeling forms of tinted gas in multiple dimensions. Some of what she said, he could not see or really even picture in his head. He did trust her though, and in the hills around their village, the trees, rocks, and debris demonstrated her ability to deflect and destroy.

After a week, they returned to Uuiit’s house another time. This time, a group of Ganix warriors came with sleds to carry away whatever Zara thought might be useful. They returned to the village with the everything inside of Uuiit’s house that used or interacted with the invisible forces.

The next day, Kpleeb watched as Zara coaxed the stone in the nearest cliff to produce a cave.

“It’s to store Uuiit’s things, Da,” she said looking up at him sweetly.

“Why not just keep the things at the village?”

“Maybe Iitki will search for these things and destroy the village and hurt us.”

Kpleeb pondered the problem for a moment. “Won’t he destroy the cave instead?”

I hid the cave, Da. From the outside, the forces inside cannot be seen.”

“That’s great, Zara. Very clever! Maybe we are safe then.”

“Da, I want to bring Uuiit’s angle to the cave. Can we do that?”

Kpleeb nodded without thinking and then paused. “Well, we can try. You and Mama will have to figure out how to get it to move.”

Zara grinned. “Thanks, Da.”

The next day, Kpleeb was working on a new hut with the Ganix warriors when Kpleeb approached with Zara in tow. “We are going to bring the angle back. I’ll be taking a couple of the warriors as support.”

Kpleeb was surprised that it was happening so soon, but he knew that Thoka was very independent. “Great. How long do you think it will take?”

Thoka shrugged and looked at Zara. I think we will be back tomorrow with the angle. Before we leave, I will disable the defenses against flying objects and devices that use the invisible forces.”

“Why?” Kpleeb frowned. “We need those.”

“When we bring the angle back, we don’t want it to be destroyed!”

“Urh, yeah. Good point.” He thought about Thoka’s angle being crushed into the hillside with her inside of it. “Well….don’t be gone too long.” He gave Thoka a quick side hug and patted Zara on the head. He returned to his work and it was not long before he was lost in focus.

The Index -|-

Thoka closed her eyes, and carefully handled the stone that Zara had given her. It was crude in shape. A cavechild’s fist could envelope its rocky roundness, but it was no mere rock. The rough and uneven ridges scraped against her palm.

Just a day ago, when Thoka and Kpleeb had returned from Uuiit’s village, Zara had reached her tiny hand up at Thoka with the stone grasped in her chubby fingers, Thoka had smiled at Zara and taken the stone. Zara was not prone to present giving. Watching the exchange, Kpleeb had then recounted a story from what seemed like ages ago.

“Urh,” Kpleeb had said with a distant look of fondness, “my friend Pfftul gave me a stone like that once. I mean… it wasn’t nearly that round. He was still working on making seven sides. It was a beautiful stone though.” He paused and shuffled his feet. “I wonder where Pfftul is now?”

“Mama, look at Qon,” Zara had interrupted insistently. She had bounced on the balls of her feet and waved her hands at Thoka.

“Okay, Zara. Where is Qon?”

“In the stone, mama!”

Now, a day later, Thoka sat inside Uuiit’s house again holding the stone. She focused and rolled it around in her hand. During the trip back to Uuiit’s village, Zara had told her that she made the stone to help Thoka see Qon, and while Thoka believed that she was a special child, it seemed a bit far-fetched.

Zara sat in the corner on a small, bulbous trough that had been turned upside down. She had been there, silent, for an hour now staring around the room. At the door, one of the Ganix warriors rested on his haunches and carefully sharpened the tip of his spear with a river stone.

Shhhhhhhhhnk, shhhhhnk, shnnnk. Over and over, incessantly. Unerringly consistent.

Thoka sighed and opened her eyes. “Can you wait outside?”

The warrior nodded and stood in a single, smooth motion. “Pale One.”

Thoka closed her eyes again. She was not one to meditate. Her focus was absolutely singular at times, but it was when all of her senses were attuned to the movement of her hands. She longed for the days when she had been able to stand in the cave and feel the invisible forces swirl around her, but… she suspected that the experience had occurred only because she had been pregnant with Zara. The sense of closeness to the invisible forces had waned after Zara’s birth. To be sure, she used the forces, the yellow stone obeyed, and her devices functioned as designed. But the amazing sense of bathing in a varicolored whirlwind of tingling power was entirely gone.

Focus, Thoka.

The Qon stone was cool to the touch, and it resembled nothing she had ever designed. There were no rods or tips or tiny protrusions. It was not complex. She tried looking through it with her mind’s eye. She moved it around, held it against her head, her ear, her knee. Nothing changed. The flows that she could feel in her own designs simply skittered around the edges of the stone.

Maybe too much focus…?

She looked past the stone and then set it on the floor in front of her. It remained, unspeaking, untwitching. She ignored it.

The room was still flooded with invisible forces. Thoka looked around at the blank stone walls, and then repeated her scan using her bracelet in combination with her second ring. There was a green tinge to the air in the room. On the edges, lines of power wavered at the ceiling and floor level and sharper lines surrounded the door posts. All of the lines fed into the tiered structure in the corner. The bright red structure was some type of important interconnector for the invisible forces, but Thoka could not guess how it worked or what it might do. Before she was willing to touch the structure, she intended to let Zara analyze and produce her opinion about what it might be.

She sighed. “Zara, this Qon does nothing except prevent the forces from traveling through it.”

“Mama, watch.” Zara approached and took the stone. She held it and looked at it with her head slightly tilted. “See?”

Thoka saw nothing.

Zara placed both of her hands and the stone into Thoka’s hands and tilted her head again. This time, Thoka felt a powerful thread in each of her hands. It was stronger than she had ever felt, and it felt as if she had a tenuous grip on a thick, wriggling snake. Her eyes grew wide.

It’s Qon, mama.” Zara beamed at her. “Now you try to put the forces here and here.” She gestured at two sides of the stone that appeared to be just like any other sides.

Thoka grasped the stone alone and stared at it. She tilted her head and carefully fed thin streams of the invisible forces into the spots that Zara had pointed at.

“No Mama, here.” Zara pointed again, but this time at other spots.

“Why, Zara? That was where you pointed, right?”

“Yes, but it moved with the red lines.”

Thoka’s tried to keep her face from betraying her frustration as she carefully moved her fingers again. She looked at Zara for confirmation of placement.

Zara nodded.

The force in her palms thrust her hands away from each other and the stone with such force that Thoka’s wrists hurt. The stone thumped onto the floor.

Zara bent and picked up the stone. “That was great, Mama! You felt Qon!”

“It’s so powerful. How can you hold it, Zara?”

Zara’s face was puzzled and then turned proud. “It is strong, but not too much for me.”

Patting Zara’s curly head, Thoka smiled and stood. “You are an amazing girl, Zara. Can you tell me what this is?” She pointed at the red structure in the corner.

Zara turned and shrugged. “All of the flows enter this box. Some of them mix, the red and yellow, and they become very wide here.” She pointed at one of the larger protrusions on the top. It was a rectangle, more or less. Its top surface had a grid of many identical, rounded indentations on it that were as deep as the tip of Zara’s smallest finger. “It radiates,” she said simply.

“I think we should try the crystal with this device,” said Thoka.

Zara nodded. “Do it, Mama.”

Thoka held the crystal in her palm and waved it in front of the machine. Nothing happened, so she moved her hand closer and began to move the crystal around the front side, pausing at each of the smallish protrusions. When she reached the right side, a gap opened up and beneath it was a mold that was identical to the crystal. Thoka placed the crystal on the indention, and several points on the device brightened.

Zara gasped. “Mama, be careful.”

A bulbous protrusion near the top of the device, began to glow, and within a few seconds, a beam of light shot upward. The light stopped an arm’s length above the emitter and coalesced into the form of two almost perfectly round rocks moving around a larger sphere. The rocks orbited the sphere on different planes, and they were also different sizes and colors. One was a ruddy, brown color, and the other was a light grey mottled with golden swirls. The sphere they orbited was grey and white and covered with ridges and blocky shapes. Tall green rectangles were evenly spaced in a band around the center.

“What is that, Mama?”

Thoka blinked and reached out to touch the larger sphere. It was about the size of her fist, but her hand passed through it without any resistance. She wiggled her fingers and frowned. Well, that’s interesting.

All over the device, small bumps were lit up, and some were blinking. “What now, Mama?”

“I’m not sure, Zara. What do you see?”

Zara squinted and lifted her finger to point. “There are so many forces and colors. It’s everywhere… but I think I understand some of it.”

“That’s good. You’re a smart girl. What should I do?” Thoka’s eyes scanned the variety of options before she began to use her bracelet and ring combinations. The flows were truly everywhere and seemed to connect every single bump or protrusion. There were several larger flows of the invisible power that pulsed in a cadence. Every few seconds a tiny bit of power flowed straight up and out of the grid of indentations on the top.

“Mama, just try some of these things,” Zara said pointing at the device.

Thoka started pressing protrusions randomly. Usually, with each press several of the bumps would light up momentarily. After a moment, she pressed one on the far left, and the sphere of light started to fade.

“Mama, the top is emitting a big, blue flow with a bit of Qon in it.”

Abruptly. the sphere was replaced with the stern face of a death white.

Thoka raised her eyebrows.

The death white spoke in a garbled voice. “Binti o heno.” There was a pause. “Binti o heno.” The repeat was equally calm.

Thoka spoke. “Who are you?”

The head turned slightly to the right. “Heragut tuwilk.” After a moment, another voice spoke, though Thoka could not see another death white. This voice spoke in a very expressive and emotional series of tones that Thoka found to be odd. “I am Iitki. Who are you?” Thoka noticed that the death white’s mouth did not move.

“Ma-“

“I am Thoka.” She held her finger up to her mouth and waved her other hand gently in a shushing motion toward Zara who stood to her right.

“Where is Uuiit?”

It was then that Thoka realized she was not prepared to speak to what could be a series of serious questions about Uuiit, the village, herself, and everything else that she knew. Instead, she lied.

“Uuiit is on a journey and has left me in charge while… uh, Uuiit is gone.” She managed to keep a straight face, but not in the same absolute manner as the death white before her.

The death white head turned again and though the mouth moved, she heard nothing.

“Uuiit has assured me that he will return soon,” said Thoka with a nod. She then reached out her hand and pressed the same protrusion she had pressed when the sphere had changed. The floating death white head disappeared, and the sphere faded back into view. Thoka looked at the squarish protrusion and made a mental note to never accidentally touch it again.

“Who was that, Mama?” Zara then pointed at the top of the red device. “The big, blue flow is back!”

The floating sphere faded again and again it was replaced by the face of a death white. Whether it was the same one or different, Thoka could not say.

“Heno ji gutralit verralti ai, Thoka” a raspy voice barked. It was followed by the singsong voice. “You cannot evade my questions, Thoka.”

Thoka kept her calm and doubled down on the lie. “I will let Uuiit speak when he returns. Her hand twitched.

“Miult!”

Just then, Zara reached out her hand and pressed it against the side of the large, red device. There was a crackle of power as all signs of activity dissipated in an instant. Smoke wisped upward from the grid of indentations.

Thoka raised her voice without thinking. “Zara, what did you do?”

“I made him stop speaking Mama,” Zara said with tears in her eyes. “He was scary!”

“I’m sorry, Zara. I didn’t mean to scare you. I will always protect you, okay?” Thoka looked at the rising smoke and grimaced. “Do you think you can fix it?”

Zara shrugged. “Maybe, in time.” She paused and put her hand into Thoka’s. “I’m sorry, Mama.”

“It’s okay, Zara. We need to understand what this is and why there was the face of a death white inside of it.”

It could speak my language. It saw both of us. Thoka shuddered at the thought that the… it was able to see. She looked at the red device and realized that it was only able to see until Zara touched it.

“What did you do to this?” she asked gently.

“I… I just gave it more Qon,” sniffled Zara quietly.

“Hmmm… the death white could no longer see or talk to us without this device. I must think about what this means… and discuss with Kpleeb.” Thoka took the blue crystal out of its indentation and noticed that the gap did not change to hide itself again.

“Let’s go see Da.”

The Index -|-

Kpleeb limped out of the trees when everything went quiet in the street. There was an odd haze at ankle level that was slowly sinking into the ground. Several white-faced warriors lay in haphazard pools and splatters of blood, bones clearly shattered. Ahead lay Thoka on her back.

The bile rose in Kpleeb’s throat. She has to be alive. He began to run as best he could, but with his wounds, his ankle gave way, and he fell on his face with a muffled ooomph. He choked on the poof of dust and clambered to his knees and feet again to walk (hobble) slower this time.

When he arrived, he looked down and Thoka looked up at him. Her eyes opened and the corners crinkled. It was followed by a slight smile.

“Make sure he’s dead, Kpleeb.” Her head turned toward Uuiit.

Kpleeb turned and saw the trail of gray blood coming from beneath the body of Uuiit. The corpse was motionless. No breathing visible. No odd twitching or suspect movements. He nudged the body with his foot. It was solid at least. He bent and rolled it over. Uuiit’s face stared up at him with bright blue, open eyes. The mouth was slightly smaller than normal and open.

The teeth were sharp. On each side of Uuiit’s neck there were three parallel lines near the collar bones that were angled toward the rear shoulder. Kpleeb bent and looked closer. The lines were more than just markings, they were openings.

“Mmm,” grunted Kpleeb. Encircling the thin neck was a shiny cord that was very thin and almost dainty. Kpleeb wrapped his fingers around it and tugged, but it would not break. However, the remainder of the cord did pull itself out of Uuiit’s cloak. Attached to the end was an oddly shaped amulet. Kpleeb turned the shape over and looked at it from all angles. It was in fact, just like the angle that they had found resting in the nearby forest, but smaller. On one of the less angular sides, there was a blue crystal that was as perfect as anything that Kpleeb had ever seen. The deep blue was mesmerizing, and he blinked slowly once, twice… Kpleeb shook his head gently. Wha?

“Kpleeb?”

He felt a hand on his shoulder and twitched with surprise. Thoka stood next to him. She was a bit disheveled, but appeared to be otherwise okay. “You have to see this angle,” he said moving his head so she could see the amulet on the cord.

“We need to search Uuiit’s home as soon as we can,” said Thoka with a grimace. “If we have killed a death white, or whatever they call themselves, I am sure the Xinti will be unhappy.”

Kpleeb stood. “The center of the village is nearby. Are there any Ganix warriors left to help us? I will try to carry Uuiit’s body.” He reached down and grasped the arms. Uuiit’s body was surprisingly thin and light under the cloak, so Kpleeb grunted and heaved it over his shoulder and carefully tested his weak-legged balance. “You walk ahead and find his house.”

Kpleeb painstakingly followed Thoka through the grid of buildings, forward two and then right three, before he saw the stone porch that he had remembered seeing from the ridge. He paused occasionally to shrug the lightweight body inan attempt to achieve a more comfortable position and carried on. They arrived at the house in another few moments, and Thoka pushed on the door.

“It won’t open,” she said holding up one of her rings. “The door is entirely surrounded by the invisible forces.” She turned. “Let me see that blue crystal.” When she fished it out of Uuiit’s cloak, the crystal itself was slowly pulsating with an inner light.

Kpleeb set the body down and noticed that it weighed even less than it had before. “Something is going on, Thoka. Uuiit has become very light.”

Thoka ignored him and murmured something under her breath as she palmed the blue crystal. After a moment, she held it against the door, and then nodded as it swung open.

The space inside was musty, and Kpleeb saw the air swirl away from the door as it opened. The air was pale, but had a brownish tinge to it. There was a thin odor, sharp and nostril tickling. Kpleeb coughed slightly, and in response, Thoka waved her palm downward as if to shush him. The room ahead of them began to glow. Everything was oddly angular and light colored. There were shelves on the wall at a height that would prevent any cavechildren from accessing items stored on them. In the corner was a strangely tiered structure. It was the only part of the room that was not some shade of white, off-white, or yellow-white. It was a deep and brilliant red and covered with small protrusions.

“I think the light is triggered by movement,” said Thoka adjusting her bracelet. She had the faraway look in her eye, and Kpleeb knew she was using the invisible forces in some way.

He shrugged and pushed past her pulling Uuiit’s corpse. “We need to defend ourselves.” He closed the door behind them and dropped Uuiit’s ankle. “Are you okay?”

Thoka blinked and nodded. “This room is full of invisible forces. Absolutely full, Kpleeb. I have to study all of this, and Zara too. She will understand more of this than I will.”

“Do you think we’re safe here?” Kpleeb grabbed a piece of lak from the top shelf. It was hard and the edges were very sharp.

Just then, there was a loud banging on the door. Kpleeb placed his hands on the door panel and hissed at Thoka. “What do we do now?” The banging continued for a long moment and then stopped.

“Pale One? Pale One?” The voice was that of Xer, the Ganix warrior in charge of the larger company of attackers.

“Xer?” Kpleeb tapped on the door with his fingertips.

“Kpleeb. It safe. Many Ganix alive. Xinti dead.”

Kpleeb eyed Thoka and when she nodded at him, he opened the door slowly. Xer was there facing the door, and behind him stood a handful of Ganix warriors with faces stern and eyes darting toward in all directions.

“I’m glad you are here, Xer. We have Uuiit.” Kpleeb gestured behind him. He turned and approached the corpse on the floor.

Xer bowed slightly to Thoka and knelt next to Uuiit’s body. When he lifted the cloak, a fine, pale dust trickled out from the seams.

Kpleeb hissed, “Thoka, Uuiit’s body is gone.:”

Thoka quickly examined the cloak, the dust, and the whole surrounding area while Xer held the cloak up. “Hmm. There is nothing significantly different about this dust compared to the dirt outside. It has more silica in it, but… It is just dust. Xer, please bring the cloak, and some of this lak.”

“Pale One,” Xer said nodding.

Kpleeb noticed that the dust was not enough to account for Uuiit’s original size or weight.

“We need to get back to the village,” Thoka said to Kpleeb. “There is much to do, and this place is dangerous until I can understand it. I must return with Zara.”

Xer and a few Ganix warriors collected each item that Thoka pointed out, and they exited Uuiit’s house. The door latched behind them with a muted click.

Kpleeb and Xer walked together and talked about Kpleeb’s capture, the battle, and what might be the aftermath of killing Uuiit. Trailing them, Thoka walked in silence for many hours. Kpleeb could see that she was deep in thought, so he left her in peace to analyze the day’s many discoveries.

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.