Of Fire and Fury (Book 1: Light-Born Series)

Chapter 10 - Rabid

Rabid took to wandering through the Omari village throughout the day. In Napuahom, she had spent most of her time foraging for food alongside the other women; but here, in Omarihom, no one seemed to want her help. On her first day, she attempted to help an older woman with thin grey hair with cleaning the roots she had gathered, and was greeted by a silent, sullen stare. She had retreated back to the safety of her own teepee and remained there for the rest of the day. After another full day hiding in her teepee, she could no longer take the boredom and began to wander through the maze of Omarihom once again.

Children were scampering through the streets, playing games with sticks and balls. Women sat together chatting and sewing, or cleaning their harvested food. The smell of cooking meat tickled her nose everywhere she went. Small, open fires were shared between several teepees, and as many as a dozen women at a time would gossip over the smoking of their communal dinner. For a moment, Rabid stopped to watch these women placing strips of bloody meat on top of green, smoking grasses. The women immediately fell silent, staring at her until she withdrew from their sight.

She was still the outsider. The women didn’t speak to her, the men didn’t even look in her direction: the only ones who acknowledged her presence were Stone, when he wasn’t working with his father or out in the forest hunting, and Black Bird when she stumbled upon him in the village. Rabid felt useless and more alone than ever.

On this particular morning, Stone had been called to a meeting with his father. Though all she wanted to do was stay hidden, Rabid preferred the angry stares to the silent boredom she found in her teepee. So, she braved the discomfort and tried to find pleasure in taking in the sights and smells of the bustling village. She wound her way along until she found herself standing in front of the large pile of ash in the center of the village, looking lonely and barren in the daylight, just like herself. She stared long into the blackened earth, thinking of the last time she saw her tribesman.

Just as she decided to return home, Rabid saw Stone stepping out of a teepee that was marked with a large red circle across the opening—this was Chief Blood Wolf’s mark. As he stepped out, he caught her eyes. Rabid smiled, but Stone’s face remained hard. Chief Blood Wolf stepped out beside him, looking her way. He clenched his jaw and returned to the shadows of his own skins. Rabid could see something was wrong by the way Stone strode over to her.

“What is it?” she asked.

“Let’s go back to the teepee.” He said, brushing past her. Rabid grabbed his arm to slow him, stepping in his way.

“Stone, what happened?” she asked, searching his face for answers. He took a deep breath and looked at the ground for a long moment.

“I don’t think we should talk about this here.” he said quietly, avoiding her eyes.

“Now you have to tell me.” Rabid said, smiling slightly. Stone clenched his jaw, silently thinking, before looking up at her.

“Broad Oak is here.” He said, slowly.

“Napua Broad Oak?” Rabid said, excitedly.

“Yes. He brings news.” His dark eyes flickered as he continued. “I’m so sorry Rabid, but… the Napua are gone.”

“What are you talking about?” Rabid scoffed in disbelief.

“The Hauks went to Napuahom. They burned it to the ground. Broad Oak is the only man who survived. Anyone who wasn’t killed was taken.”

Rabid took a shaky step away from him, and her hands trembled. Stone watched her, his brows furrowed in concern.

“No.” she whispered. “If Broad Oak came back others could have made it too, right? Maybe…” 

Her voice caught in her throat as tears sprang to her eyes. The words felt like a kick in the gut. Nausea and confusion began to well up inside her.

“No, Rabid. He saw it, they are all gone.” Stone said firmly, grabbing her shoulders to steady her.

“Then we can follow them. They always take the women, we… we can get them back!” she said, her eyes were wild.

“Rabid.” Stone said, his voice level but strong, forcing her to hear him. “You know that we cannot. We don’t have the army, we don’t know the way, we can’t even…”

“Take me to Broad Oak.” Rabid said, cutting him off. Stone hesitated, and so she raised her voice. “I need to see him!”

Stone nodded and led her to the red marked teepee. Her entire body was shaking as he she stepped inside the dimly lit room. Broad Oak lay on the bed against the floor near the far wall, his body streaked with black ash and lines of blood. Red Moon, the old medicine woman who had first welcomed Rabid to Omarihom, was wiping his face with a wet cloth. Broad Oak’s eyes fluttered open, and when they fell on Rabid his face cracked with grief.

“No.” Rabid whispered again, choking slightly as hot tears poured from her eyes. They stared at each other for a long moment, tears pouring from both their eyes as they grieved silently together. Finally, Broak Oak grimaced as he lifted his arm. 

“She gave this to me, for you.” he said. A thin twine was wrapped around his hand. Rabid stepped forward and snatched the necklace. On the end of the twine was a smooth river stone—one she had only ever seen around her mother’s neck.

When the stone touched her hand, it seemed that the truth came with it, barreling in to her like she was run over by a horse. Rabid turned slightly, as though she could run outside and escape from it, but her knees buckled and she fell to the floor. Stone grabbed her shoulders, attempting to be of use. But Rabid couldn’t calm her breathing. Her heart began to pound so hard that it drowned all his feeble attempts at comfort. She felt the swirling in her stomach come up her throat, and she threw up on the dirt and on her hands, bile stinging her throat. When she attempted to stand again, her vision blurred, and everything went black.