Xilo's escape from Tokaru
Xilocoth had slept on the beach with his parents and sister in the shadow of mangroves. He was barely past his 20th Moontide and struggled to keep up with the adults. Instead he slept while his Kithma Tunlachi made the raft they all hoped would take them across the sea to the island of the Motu.
They had managed a number fitful sleeps while on the run from their village, the one they called Shakumir, but only in whispers. For as long as Xilo could remember, it was called Omberstad, a different name depending on who was listening.
They had broken out with others from The Icepen at the start of the Dead Moons, long before the Twin Moon rise that would have made everything far too bright to hide. They had scrambled up the steepest parts of the cliffs above the town as the alarms were raised. Many of the others fell afoul of the guards in those first few bells, but Xilocoth's family had been lucky.
They had furtively scrambled across the treacherous peaks of Hela's Crest, beset by the sleet storms coming in from the Sea of Black Ice. But after they had crested the mountain and the peaks sheltered them from the darkness, the sun broke through the tumbling clouds and warmed their bones. Below them and for as far as Xilo could see, stretched the vastness of Wala's Tears - the sea that his mothers taught him was the source of their life and the reason for their vigil. From up here it was a pathwork of turquose and deep green, and beneath the waters, vast gemoetric shapes could be see darkening the sea floor.
Far beyond the mist-shrouded gyre that churned at the centre of the sea, Kinma Uruna had pointed out the billowing of soft pink clouds on the horizon, framed by the rays of the sun like fingers.
"There is Motu, over the horizon, in the grasp of Kofu's hands." she held her hand on his shoulder, "That is where the free people remain. "
It took another two sleeps down the forested slopes to get to the beach. Kithma Tunlachi and his sister Kuraki had used the stolen axe upon the branches of the mangroves for the materials to make the raft. Xilo had pleaded to help but Kuraki kept pushing him away, telling him he wasn't big enough.
The raft was nearly completed when he heard shouts in the distance. He looked up in alarm and spotted the Protectorate soldiers charging down the beach. Only 3 or 4 of the iron-clad devils, slowed by the sand, but they would be on them soon.
His sister had the axe in her hand and was shouting they could take them. But Kinma Uruna was saying they had to leave, now.
Uruna bundled Xilo up. He could sense the tension in her wiry arms. She was shaking when she was usually so calm. He smelt her sweat, and felt her haggard breathing on his neck. She was afraid. She was never afraid.
Kuraki stood guard and while Xilo had always thought of her as strong, she looked so skinny and small compared to the soldiers running toward them.
Tunlachi tried to get the makeshift raft into the water, but Xilo could see her struggling to drag it across the sand.
And still the soldiers were getting closer. Xilo could almost make out their faces beneath their helmets now.
Uruna lifted Xilo onto the raft, and Kuraki had to put down her axe as they both helped Tunlachi drag the raft into the water. The first of the waves broke across the raft and drenched him with salt water, stinging his eyes. He felt helpless as the waves buffeted them all.
Two of the soldiers stopped running and unslung their bows. Xilo squeaked out a warning just as they let loose, but too late. An arrow thudded into the deck of the raft, just inches from his hand. With a shriek he rolled back into the water, tumbling into the froth and churn until he felt the rough sand against his back.
He pushed against the sand and his head broke the surface, gulping for air. Just in time to see another arrow slam through his sister's neck, blood spraying as she fell into the waves.
It was all over so quick.
The soldiers circled them, the two with arrows nocked once more and trained at both his mothers. Xilo watched as Tunlachi raised her hands in supplication as she knelt down in the water. Uruna grabbed Xilo to her, and did the same. They were both quiet, and silence descended upon the beach. All he could hear was the sound of the waves crashing about them and a strange ringing in his ears.
He could not take his eyes off the gently bobbing form of Kuraki, face down in the water, the foam pink with her blood.
A seagull cawed in the distance.
One of the soldiers grunted something he couldn't make out and rough hands pulled him from Kinma Uruna's hands. She finally let out an anguished sob and feebly tried to keep hold of him. He was thrown on the sand to the laughter of the soldiers as they dragged both mothers up onto the wet sand beside him.
Xilo watched as one of them stood above Kithma Tunlachi, sword raised high against the harsh sky, and he closed his eyes against the sight.
In the throbbing darkness he heard the cry of the seagull again, but it was drowned out by something else, something deeper. it was a more powerful screech that reverberated in his chest. It was followed by a blasting whoosh of air that buffeted him as he lay there with his eyes clenched, and the scream of the soldier was moving fast, and away from him.
Xilo opened his eyes. The soldier was gone and Kithma Tunlachi had rolled over and was looking at something above them. The other soldiers were shouting and scrabbling backwards up the beach. Xilo followed Tunlachi's gaze just as the body of the soldier fell heavy and thick upon the sand beside them, unmoving.
Something flew across the low sun and Xilo could see the silhouette of a bird bigger than anything he had ever seen before, its wings blotting the light, and atop it a warrior in feathered robes and a spear held high. The bird opened its huge beak and let out another screetch as it dove upon one of the fleeing soldiers, its talons ripping through it.
The fight was a blur, and within moments the soldiers were all dead upon the sand.
in the quiet, the bird landed and its rider jumped softly onto the sand, his coralglass armor tinkling like music. Kithma Tunlachi knelt before him sobbing, and Kinma Uruna slowly crawled to the floating body of Kuraki.
"You are safe. The Talons have you now."
Xilo would learn the name of this warrior much later, but forever this would be etched in his memory: his first meeting of Aktaca Galerider, when his path to becoming a Talon of Aetora was set out before him like the bloody sand at his feet.
Comments