The Omega Eclipse (Book Two of the Omega Game Series)

Chapter 5

Salita’s Story

    “Alright boys, this is the plan,” said Balt while he scratched his beard and studied the map, “we ride into the canyon until the paths grow too thin to move with the horses. Then we separate into two groups. I’m taking Kun with me and Noctis you take Aros.”

    “But I want to go with Noctis!” whined Kun and all the other Alphas only smirked at the baby of the group. Aros patted Kun on the shoulder and gave him an expression of superiority. Going with Noctis equaled being independent from Baltus, which only meant you were old enough to fix your own problems. Kun had been dying to be placed under Noctis’s orders but Balt hadn’t agreed on leaving him alone in any mission yet. 

    Noctis- who was cleaning his nails with the tip of a dagger while resting his shoulder on a boulder- looked skeptically at the map that Balt had flattened over a rock. They were all standing at the very top of the Descer mountains. It had taken them an entire week to climb to the  top of  Descer and reach the small village of Jakur. 

     They had only been visiting to buy medicinal herbs from the Jakur people, but Balt had heard the sad story of a shepherd who was saddened by the loss of his wife Salita. The poor woman had been carried away by the strong current of the Abusha river and pushed to the dangerous path of the Death Canyon. Salita was now missing and as any good samaritan, Balt had offered the shepherd to go to the Death Canyon and rescue his wife.

    “Are we entirely sure Salita is not the name of a goat?” asked Noctis with a frown and Balt rolled his eyes at his grandson.

    “I’m telling you, I was the best interpreter of the Jakur tongue in my time as the King of the Dark Desert,” rebuked Balt and then poked a thumb against his chest, “I was so good at understanding them that their last chief gifted me this for my service to their community.”

    Balt took out a rounded object from his pocket and showed it to the boys with a lopsided grin. The object didn’t look functional in any way. It looked like a leather disc with a hole in the middle. Aros took the strange object from Balt’s hands, looked at it, bit it with his fangs, then shrugged unimpressed and passed it over to Kun. Kun sat down with the object and tried to understand its functionality for a while, spinning it around and then weighing it before giving up and offering it to Noctis. 

    Noctis only pushed his hand up and shook his head at Kun.

    “I’m not touching that. Only the Heavens know where that had been,” Balt scoffed at Noctis and then crossed his massive arms over his chest.

    “This was a token of respect from the chief, because I deserved that respect for my services” said Balt, taking the rounded object in his hand and pushing it back into his pocket, “I heard what the shepherd said clearly. He said he lost his wife and that was the reason why he was sad and crying. It’s our duty to find his wife and bring her back to him.” 

    Balt puffed his chest out while looking at his grandchildren, “this would be an honorable mission. A mission that would prove how respectful, admirable and decent a true Alpha like us can be.”

    “And I think we are saving a goat,” said Noctis and Balt only shook his head at him.

    “You still have much to learn young pup.”

    They discussed the logistics of the mission while they ate. In theory it was supposed to be easy to search for Salita. Divided into two groups it would be easier to cover more terrain and reach the river mouth by the mountainside that collided with Naccanash. The next morning they started their mission. Balt and Kun parted to the west while Noctis and Aros moved to the east, following the small river connections that connected to a system of caverns. It was possible that Salita had reached the caverns and being a thorough Alpha, Baltus had ordered his grandsons to search every nook and crevice where Salita could be.

    For three days and three nights they searched everywhere around the Death Canyon. There was no sign of Salita. What was even weirder was that there were no signs of goats either. They tracked the riverside, the caverns, the mountains and nothing. By the time they all got together at the same spot over the Descer mountain Balt was baffled. As one of the best trackers from the Dark Desert he couldn’t understand how he hadn't been able to find any trace of a woman’s dress, or hair, or the footprints of her steps at the river bank.

     He was still feeling confused by the time they heard a group of Dark Riders approaching their firecamp. They were messengers on their way to meet Mako in the city of Naccara, friendly enough for Balt to let them share their fire. When the Riders offered to play a game of Angiras to pass the night everyone accepted at once. 

    Angiras was played by rolling two stone dice with marks on the sides. A person called the name of one of the marks before rolling the dice and if the same marks appeared on the upper side of the dice when they landed, then the person won. All the men started checking their bags to offer an object to bet with. The youngest Dark Rider of the group was the last to open his bag and offer a leather disc that looked much alike Baltus’s disc. The same disc the chief of the Jakur village had given him. 

    “Look at that! A token of respect!” exclaimed Baltus eyeing the new leather disc and then the young Rider, “see boys, this rider is just a couple of years older than you and already received a token of respect granted by the people of Jakur.”

    “Given no. I found not by the riverside this morning,” said the soldier, speaking in lies as every Dark Rider tended to do, “it is not mine and it can’t be yours if you don’t win this game.”

    “I plan to win it then and return to the village,” said Baltus to the rider, “that’s a token of respect and someone might have lost it.”

    The young Dark Rider only shrugged without any real interest for the disc and sat down to play by the fire. After two rounds of  playing Agiras Baltus was finally able to win the leather token and retire for the night. The boys stayed awake while they drank ale and Coscus, a drink made out of fermented roots that was preferred among the Dark Riders. By the morning both groups parted ways and Baltus led the boys back to the Jakur village.

    It was easy to find the shepherd by the main road of the village. The man was scrawny and small, barely reaching Kun’s chest, who was the shortest of their group. Baltus reached the man with an expression of sadness in his face. The shepherd started crying while he rested his weight on his staff, already anticipating the bad news.

    “I’m sorry,” said Baltus gravelly, “we did everything we could.”

    The man was disconsolate, crying and moaning in sadness while hitting his chest in a gesture of deep pain. At the sight of the poor shepherd Baltus seemed to grow sympathetic and with a sigh he opened his bag and extracted the leather token he had won at the Agiras game. 

    “This can’t replace your loss, but I hope you can accept this token of respect from us to you,” murmured Baltus and offered the poor man the token. At the sight of the leather token the shepherd stopped crying at once.

    “Salita?” asked the shepherd, eyeing the object warily. Noctis was the first one to step back and lift an eyebrow in suspicion. Aros looked between the shepherd, Baltus and Noctis. The shepherd moved closer to Baltus, taking the token of respect and gripping it hard between his hands before bawling in happiness and jumping up and down, “Salita!”

    “What is happening?” asked Kun, narrowing his grey eyes.

     “Shh,” said Noctis with a smile, “let me enjoy this.”

    “Salita? That’s not Salita,” said Baltus, stopping the shepherd by his shoulders and shaking his head, “No, that’s not your wife. That’s a token of respect. Not Salita.”

    “This is Salita!” exclaimed the shepherd and then proceeded to place the leather circle over his clothed groin and humped it. The movement was pretty self-explanatory. Aros had one look at the exchange and started spitting, making a face of disgust.

    “I took a bite out of a Salita!” 

    “Baltus thought a Salita was a token of respect!” quipped Kun, doubling himself over from how hard he was laughing. Noctis just stood back, enjoying everything silently while the truth unfolded and finally Baltus realized what had just happened. With three fast steps Baltus left the happy shepherd by the road and joined his grandchildren.

    “I invoke the code,” murmured Baltus, looking around and checking if anyone had seen the exchange.

    “What...what code?”wheezed Kun, out of air from laughing so hard.

    “The Alpha Code, of course,” said Baltus, furrowing his brows and threatening everyone with a finger, “if this story gets out of this circle of trust I would tell everyone of that time you all thought the only way to mate a woman was doing it like the horses did.”

    That sobered the entire group.

    “Deal,” said Noctis with a nod.

    “Now let’s get the hell out of here,” barked Baltus and everyone moved after him.