Chapter 28 - Stone
1880 Words
Stone paced back and forth at the front of Reannihom’s wall, unable to still his body or his mind. Now that Rabid had awoken, the thoughts of her death that had been dominating his thoughts were released. Several new ones had space to skitter across his mind. The memory of Rabid’s small frame launching on top of a man twice her size, the way she cut through trained warriors—it was nothing he had ever seen.
Stalking back and forth in the darkness, he saw the flash of the moonlight against a bright smile. He squinted slightly, before he locked eyes with the smile’s owner: Fox. He turned away and stalked back to the corner where he had left Rabid and Kizi, hating how his body still reacted to that smile. Sighing heavily, he moved away from the crowd gathered before the gates and made his way onto the narrow forest path to his tent.
“Woah!” Black Bird gasped as Stone nearly ran him over, his hands launched into the air beside his face as if Stone was holding a knife to him. He grinned wildly.
“Sorry.” Stone muttered, taking a seat on his skins beside the small fire that burned between their campsites.
“Moody, huh? What’s wrong with you?” Black Bird asked, joining him on the ground. Mai poked her head out of their tent when she heard the men’s voices, tipping her head slightly in curiosity.
“I’m just worried about Rabid’s injuries.” Stone lied, avoiding Black Bird’s eyes. Mai raised an eyebrow at Black Bird, and they exchanged a long look.
“If you two have something on your minds, you’d best speak it.” Stone was in no mood for their games.
“Well…” Black Bird drew out the word, glancing at Mai as if looking for support before he continued. “We were just talking about how Rabid fought last night. You trained her really well.”
Stone sighed, snapping a twig between his fingers and tossing it away. He didn’t have the energy to fight Black Bird when he was fishing for information.
“I have no idea how she fought like that.”
“That’s what I thought!” Mai said, grinning and wriggling out of the cloth enclosure. She sat cross legged between the men. “I saw her in training. I mean, no offense, but she lost to the children.” Mai grimaced at the thought.
“I trained her just enough to survive or run, not… do that.” Stone continued. He found he was grateful for the opportunity to think out loud, and a friendship in which he could speak his mind plainly.
“And she was injured.” Mai cut in.
“Yeah, nearly passing out when I left her on the ground. Then in an instant she was up and tearing through men twice her size.”
“Even Akecheta couldn’t have done that.” Black Bird said, his eyes had a strange glow in them. Stone looked back and forth between Mai and Black Bird, both had a smirk plastered on their faces.
“What are you thinking?” Stone asked, not sure if he liked the wild look.
“Think about it Stone. When you saw her fight like that, didn’t it remind you of something?” he asked, dropping his voice to a whisper. Stone thought for a moment: the wild fighting, unexplainable skill, ignoring her own injury…
“No.” Stone’s throat was suddenly dry. “That’s impossible.” his eyes flicked back and forth between Mai’s smirk and Black Bird’s wild eyes.
“Think about it. The only story we’ve ever heard of someone fighting like that is from before Flecha, before the clans split apart, before the power was lost.” Black Bird’s whisper had raised to an excited hiss.
“She has to be a Ravener.” Mai said then, so only the three of them could hear, her excitement barely contained as she bit her lip, awaiting Stone’s confirmation.
“Mai, we lost that ability years ago. Plus, she’s a Napua. No Napua in history…” his voice trailed off as realization sank in. There was one person. One person in their history who was not born Omari, but was given the power of the Raveners. One leader of their people who had prayed for the ability to reunite the clans, and was gifted with the power of every single tribe. One queen who had appeared to Rabid in a vision.
Stone suddenly felt light-headed.
“How else do you explain it?” Black Bird had started talking again, but Stone couldn’t hear it, his mind was reeling. Mai and Black Bird fell silent, watching him with wide eyes.
“You’re right.” he said, though he knew they weren’t; at least, not completely. “She has to be a Ravener.”
Both Mai and Black Bird exploded into giddy laughter and excitement. They grabbed each other and started talking emphatically over each other.
“She must have some Omari blood in her ancestry! Mai exclaimed. “But, what does this mean for us?”
“How did it even return?”
“Why now?”
“Can you imagine what we’d be like with that power?” Black Bird said, gazing up at the sky as if the answer were written in the stars. “Do you think it will return to all of us?”
“You know you have to be chosen, right?” Mai said, raising an eyebrow at him as if to bring him back to earth. “The Great Spirit doesn’t just hand that kind of power out to everyone.”
“Hey,” Black Bird seemed to remember Stone was there. “what’s like to lay with a Ravener?” he laughed, rolling his eyes as if he were jealous. Mai smacked his thigh, and he let out a howl as her glare turned to a giggle.
When Stone didn’t answer, her calculating gaze fell on him. She squinted and studied him. And he, being the worst liar in history, swallowed and looked at the ground.
“Stone?” Mai pushed herself forward suddenly, leaning toward him. “Please tell me you two have solidified your union.”
“Woman, what are you talking about? Of course they have.” Black Bird laughed at his wife, but she wasn’t dissuaded.
“Don’t ‘woman’ me like I don’t know anything. I know more than you do. Do you know Fox says that he refused her?”
“Well he’s got a Ravener in his bed, I’d refuse Fox too.”
“Before Rabid.” she rolled her eyes.
“Well that’s because Fox is crazy, and he’s smart.” Black Bird retorted.
Stone watched the exchange with a clenched jaw, hoping they would leave it there. His stomach dropped when they both turned back to him, eyes piercing his.
“How could you let this happen?” Mai said, her voice had lost all of its previous excitement, dropping to a low whisper. “I mean… but… does your father know?”
“No.” he said, deciding on the truth. Despite their foolishness, Mai and Black Bird had always proved trustworthy. They, along with Red Moon, were closer to him than his own father had been.
“No one knows.” Stone said. “And what do you mean, how could I let this happen? I can’t force her.”
“Well…” Black Bird said, and Mai smacked him again, harder. “Ow! Okay, okay. You can’t force her.” he rolled his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest. Stone punched him.
“What? I was kidding…” he said sourly, rubbing his shoulder.
“Not funny.” Stone said darkly. Black Bird nodded and gave a small smile as an apology. Mai’s eyes snapped to his again.
“Do you not want her?” Mai said, still obviously confused. Stone sighed in discomfort.
“I…” he tried to find the words to explain, but they were knotted up in his chest.
“Does she not want you?” Black Bird said, his voice patronizing as he looked Stone up and down, as if trying to see what a woman would see.
“Oh trust me,” Mai cut in, nodding confidently. “she wants him.”
A flicker of some unknown emotion lit up in Stone’s chest when she said that. It didn’t help the wad of emotion piling up inside him.
“Excuse me, Mai, do you need me to leave you two alone?” Black Bird said, scowling at her. She laughed and rolled to her side, not answering but flashing Stone a grin. Black Bird was still scowling when they heard the pounding of drums in front of Reannihom.
Oh thank the spirits, Stone thought, getting to his feet.
“This is not over.” Mai called after him as he practically ran from their campsite. He walked as quickly as he could manage. His thoughts were already whirling with the thought of Rabid inside Reannihom, he didn’t need anything else clouding his mind.
“Get ready to move out.” Chief Blood Wolf was calling, tearing Stone from his thoughts. “We leave at daybreak.”
Stone pushed his way past several people to reach his father.
“Where are we going to go?” Stone asked. The Chief looked worn. His clothes were still caked in blood and dirt, and he looked like he hadn’t rested at all. The wrinkles on his brow seemed to have deepened overnight.
“We need to set up camp somewhere and begin to count our supplies and our dead. I will not do it under the eyes of the Reanni. We’ll travel a half day upriver and camp there.”
“Wait!” Stone called as he turned, trying to think of an excuse to stall him. Rabid hadn’t yet left the fortress. “Shouldn’t we let the men rest longer?”
Blood Wolf said nothing, scowling slightly as he shook his head. He left and walked back toward his horse.
Stone was left once again before the closed gates of Reannihom, worrying what would happen if she didn’t reappear by dawn. When he was sure no one was looking, he slipped around the corner of the wall and took a seat where Kizi and Rabid had disappeared earlier in the night. His back resting on the cool rock, and turned all his thoughts toward willing Rabid to leave the fortress in one piece.
- Writer
