Beyond The Bounds of Zupolis

Chapter 1

All my life, I am used to one thing and one thing only; being careful. Well, at least that’s what I’ve been told to be all my life. Whether I am or not is a different context. Maybe it was because I was the child of a rebellious Siren, or maybe I have been used to seeing my father fighting in wars that has made me think fighting was the only righteous thing; either way, the rules do not always apply to me. In my village, it was I, who has seen most of the world in comparison to the others of my age. Never letting go of a chance to explore was kind of my motto; which was what was happening right now.

          My parents were out again, practising archery and sword-fighting and others likewise, while I was planning a voyage of my own. My hands were aching to feel the sharp pointy bark of the trees as I climb down on them and my feet was impatient to feel the land beyond the bounds of my village. I was usually my own pack, a lone wolf; quite literally, considering my father. I liked the company of myself, the single sound of just my feet and the footsteps of my running. On rare occasions, I’d take my sister who was usually talking me against it. This was one of those rare occasions.

    “I honestly don’t get why you have to do this every single time” she rolled her eyes.

     “What? Pack my archery kit? Obviously to protect myself. I am rebellious, not dumb” I rolled back at her.

      “You know that’s not what I meant.” She grumbled.

      Before she could finish what she was about to say, I cut her in “And, I know how bad you want to come; you always cave in the end. So why don’t we just cut to the chase?” I smirked at her.

       “I do not!” she scoffed at me.

        I slung the kit over my back and tied my hair with a kark. It was a hair tie made of the skin of an animal hunted by us. Every individual had to possess their own kark. That is how you become a member of the village.

     “You ready?” I asked as I extended by hand towards her.

      She was staring at it with a look of annoyance until she scoffed and gave in, obviously.

         Seconds later we were swinging through the branches of the Great Yziki Tree, a mythical heritage that marked the borders of our grounds. It was said to be an ancient incarnation of our goddess Siren, Xasuyah, who fell in love with a sailor and married him until she was shot dead by one of his own men. She was said to mark the strength and resilience of the Siren women who preached about her bravery.  The legends about her were quite frankly one of the most marvellous legends I have heard. But that is a story for another time.

      We continued to swing by clinging by the hair of the goddess while the screeching sound of my sister’s screams were equally exciting and deafening. So much so that I could not even hear the scuffling underneath us. I let go of the twigs and dropped to ground, landing upright on my hind limbs. That was when we heard the growl. My eyes started to sweep the entire place looking for a possible danger. Beyond the border of the goddess was a deep forest, which was mostly forbidden. I say mostly because that is the only route to scavenge outside the bounds of our village. It was said to be ‘forbidden’ just so the kids do not go about running around the woods. It’s not a surprise that I know the Dark Woods pretty well by now but maybe not as much as the devotes of Artemis. The woods were, not so surprisingly, where most of them resided.  They called themselves Latremis; devotees of Artemis, the goddess of the wilderness, the animals and hunting. The Latremis and I were not very chatty but we still had an unspoken civil relationship, an unspoken understanding. So we were no threat to each other and whatever happens in the Dark Woods stays there. The Dark Woods, however, was a very peculiar place, eerie even.  As peculiar as the woods, so were the people. They spoke a language that the rest of us never understood and communicated with us, although rare, through sign language. Their very presence was power stricken, carrying dignity and grace even through respiration. It was very difficult to come across a member of their clan, forget conversing with them in any way. The only time I did come across one of them was when I first entered the woods. I was a danger in their eyes that needs to be killed; hunted. They were part of the stories I have heard from my great grandma which made that an even more exciting encounter. Growing up, she kept feeding me all kinds of legendary myths and prophecies, evoking my curiosity. That was one of the main reasons I set out for voyages. My first voyage was when I was about eight years old. I started off with exploring within the bounds and set foot across when I was fourteen years old. That was when a wise old man, a Latremis, spotted me. Looking into his eyes, I could feel his own searching through my soul. But I could also feel his kindness spread through the air around us that we inhaled. And that was when I knew that this was not a characteristic of just this man, but the entire clan.

          He realised that I was not a threat and the entire clan let me be ever since then. And from the very first day, I have never been afraid of the woods, which was why this sudden threat of danger startled me. I knew it was not one of them and I was suddenly very aware of the fact that I had more than one company now; my sister and a foreign danger. My eyes switched to its supernatural self as I swept through the place. My body was alert and ready to pounce as I felt a change tingle through my body, waiting to emerge. From the corner of my eye, I could see my sister trying to provoke her inner self. Within seconds, I could see she was now as alert as I was too, all fears gone. For a long moment, there was silence; complete and absolute silence. There wasn’t even enough breeze to make the trees rustle, thus resulting in a deafening silence. By now, we were very aware of our surroundings, even the lightest movement caught our eyes instantly. I had a feeling that my sister was starting to regret agreeing to come with me. I do not blame her. We didn’t hear another sound until we let down our guard ever so slightly. We heard the trees rustle and we knew it wasn’t the wind. We kept frantically looking around, searching, and anticipating what was to come next. We heard the sound of kicking on the ground. It was a strange sound. We have never heard it before. My sister heard it too. She opened her mouth to sing, but I immediately covered her mouth. The danger was not to be drawn, it was no sailor. We sirens had a tendency to lure danger through our hypnotising singing. It was one of the main powers we possess, making us charming and irresistible. However, the sound we heard was very faint. We had to strain our ears to listen to it, focus all our might on it.

        I took out my bow and kept it ready to shoot, pulling at it while my sister did the same. The sound kept getting closer and closer, the tapping getting louder and more distinctly heard. The bushes started to rustle and now, we were ready to shoot at anything that came toward us. It kept getting closer and closer. It felt like an animal. I kept my bow pulled at anyways. It got closer and slowly the bushes parted. Our bodies tensed and our positions were rigid. Our eyes kept looking for movement, ready to shoot at the mere sight of a clear target. The sound of tapping kept inching closer and familiar, keeping us at the edge of our seats. The tension was making me sweat and fogged my vision which I wiped away frantically for the fear of losing sight of my target. I turned to look at my sister from the corner of my eye. She noticed me and nodded in acknowledgement, still not taking her eyes off the target. The sound was slow and careful, as if trying not to alarm the people on the other side. The sound got more familiar and I realised it sounded like a horse. But the rhythm of the riding was too slow to be ridden by someone. This felt unsettling to me. Something was not right. We were now on full alert. The bushes now fully parted and gave us the silhouette of something we have never laid our eyes on before. It was smaller than we expected it to be and was in an odd shape. We could not make out much due to the lack of light in this particular area but even with the limited light it was not difficult to tell that whatever this was, it was cautious and slow, contemplating its every move. It came towards us with its pale hairy arms stretched outwards at which the two of us screamed and shot at it. We aimed at its body and shot at its hind leg and upper torso.

   Although it was where we thought we shot. It was hard to tell from its body. What did we even shoot?