Incarnation: Wandering Stars Volume One (7 page)

Several adult women could be seen in the distance, but Sariel’s attention was immediately drawn to a commotion on his right.  The woman who’d seen him by the stream was now talking to a man and pointing in his direction.  Within seconds, two more males appeared,
each
carrying
a
k
hafar
—a
crude
digging instrument that could function as a short
spear
in times of necessity
.

“Children,” he said, letting go of the boy’s hand.  “
I think this is as far as I should go.  Thank you for playing with me.  I
had fun.”

The children looked across the meeting area at the approaching men and instinctively backed away.

Sariel held his hands out to either side and waited, trying to look as non-threatening as possible.

“
Shulek
!
  Shulek
!
”
one young man
shouted
,
approaching at a brisk pace.
  He looked much like a male version of Sheyir, with short, black hair and
earthen
skin. 
His thin frame was covered at the waist with a
dull, brown
loincloth. 
His eyes had the inte
nse look of a frightened animal, as he commanded Sariel to be gone.

“I mean you no harm,” Sariel offered.

“You are not welcome here. 
Shulek
!” said another, louder than the first.  Three young men now stood in front of Sariel,
k
hafar
s
held at their sides
.

Sariel noted that they weren’t yet holding their
building
implements
in a two-handed grip, indicating that, although they were wary, the situation hadn’t yet escalated to the point of violence. 
The
Chatsiyram
were
a peaceful people by upbringing,
abhorring
aggression
in every circumstance except defense of their homes or families. 
The short spears were actually little more than
arm-length
sticks
with a flattened spade end for digging.  They looked much more innocent than the weapons Sariel usu
a
lly faced, but he kept an eye on them anyway.

“Why have you come?” they persisted.

Sariel looked past them, scanning the gathering crowd
for Sheyir’s
face, but he didn’t see her.  Neither did he see her father.  “I’ve come on a journey from far away
.
”

One of the men grabbed his spear with both hands and tightened his grip.

There aren’t enough of them.  This isn’t going to work.
  It needs to be bigger.

Seeing his strategy beginning to disintegrate, Sariel took a step backward, still keeping his hands out and visible.

“
You are
not
welcome here!” one of the men repeated.

Sariel nodded and continued to step backward.  When
the men lowered their weapons, he
turned
his back to them
and walked away.

From his home city of
Sedekiyr
,
Enoch
had
traveled
due north. 
Somewhere beyond the eastern horizon lay the
mountains of
Nagah
, but Enoch kept
the shores of
Da-Mayim
visible on his western side as
he picked his way carefully through the grassy plains
.  T
raveling at a pace that he knew would be sustainable for quite some time
, he moved
only by the light of day,
continu
ing
on a straight route for three weeks until he reached a body of water that spread to the north, east, and west as far as
his
eye could see.  Turning westward, he kept the shoreline on his right side for another three days until the land narrowed between it and another body of water to the west.  Across this strip of land, which he named
Ad-Banyim
, he traveled with relative ease until the shorelines on either side began to widen and the terrain began to slope upward.  In his mind, he could still see clearly the path that had been laid out before him.  And with confidence, he kept to the
right-hand
shoreline as it gradually swung north, then east again, over the course of the following week.  The land here sloped sharply from the mountains to the water, and passage was difficult and slow across the rocky terrain.
1
1
  Having long ago used up his provisions, he was now grazing as he moved,
collecting fruit
and anything else edible along the way.

His breathing was coming in ragged gasps now, as he expended precious energy to reach the bush growing in the dark soil between the jagged rocks of the slope.

It looked bigger from below,
he thought as he slumped to the ground beside it.
  Within minutes, he had picked all the bright red clumps from the leaves and put most of them away in his bag. 
After eating a handful of the tart berries, he loosened the ties and removed the skins covering the bottoms of his feet.  The soft grasses that had been stuffed inside were matted and wet with blood.

He hissed softly as he probed the sensitive skin with his fingers. 
His feet
had toughened considerably over the past weeks, but the cut on his left heel seemed to be getting worse.

Too much walking.  Holy One, please protect the feet of the one who goes to deliver your message.

Reclining against the rocks, Enoch looked out over the terrain ahead.  The shoreline below continued to swing eastward and it appeared that the
steep
slopes would lessen in the coming days. 
Already, dense
groupings
of trees were becoming more common in the spaces between the crags of stone. 
Far ahead, a group of dark shapes were clustered together in a
flat
clearing before the water
—a
herd grazing on the thick grass. 
Enoch watched their lazy movements and it reminded him of the
animals of the plains
near
Sedekiyr
.

Suddenly, a massive shape burst from the wall of trees to the north.  It ran on two powerful hind legs and kept its enormous head low to the ground.  Even in this posture,
the dull green creature
was roughly four times taller than any of the grazing animals.

The herd scattered immediately.  Loud, mournful bellows escaped the frightened
animals as
they ran in all directions.  A few
hobbled awkwardly for the water and plunged in without hesitating. 
When
the predator reached them,
they
were floundering
wildly
and unable to escape.

Enoch crouched low and held his stomach as he watched the attacker rush into the shallow water with its jaws open, its head
tilted
to the side.

The creature clamped down on the nearest animal and shook its head violently from side to side.  The water foamed white, then red
.  A harsh growl cut through the panicked splashing.  Seconds later, the smaller animal was nothing more than a limp shape hanging from the jaws of the predator that carried it back into the trees.

Enoch
crawled backward on his hands and knees
and
lowered himself to the ground when he was out of sight.  His heart pounded in his chest.  The rock felt cold against his face
and the smell of wet soil filled his nostrils.

I was headed there!  And
I
still
have to walk through
that place
!
  How am I going to survive this
terrible
land?

At once, his heart slowed and the tension left his muscles.  He felt the presence of the Holy One.  Beyond his hand lying flat against the moss-covered rocks, he saw the bush that he’d picked bare of its fruit—the bush that had seemed so important only a few minutes ago, but turned out to be not worth the effort.  He smiled
when he realized what had just happened.

Holy One, it is Your guidance which sustains me.  Not my own.
  Forgive my fearful heart.

*   *   *   *

“What did he say?”

“I mean you no harm,” the young man answered.

Another leaned forward.  “He said he came on a journey from far away.”

The conversation of the males was almost too faint to hear. 
Sheyir
picked up a bundle of wide-bladed strands of grass and submerged them in water, pretending to be occupied by the work at hand.  But she listened intently to the discussion taking place nearby.

“He was very big, like
the stories of
the murderers
from
the east.  But his skin was pale and his hair was white.”

“His eyes were like the deep waters,” another young man pointed out.

Sheyir’s father
crossed his arms and leaned back from the circle.  As the elder of the tribe, it was his responsibility to interpret the signs and give direction to his people.

Like the other
Chatsiyram
, Sheyir’s fate rested solely on the wisdom of her father. 
With the exception
of
his choice of husband for his daughter, he usually made good decisions.  But Sheyir already knew what her father’s reaction would be to a visitation by such a strange and intimidating man.  What surprised her, however, was the way her heart began to beat faster when she thought of him.  And though he wasn’t human and could fly away at any moment, she nevertheless feared that the
Chatsiyr
males would somehow hurt him.

“I do not like the words you tell me,” her father responded finally.

Sheyir pushed another bundle beneath the water and kept her eyes down.  But her ears strained to hear her father’s judgment.

“You will take the young men and find where he went.  You will kill him so he cannot bring trouble to our people.”

Sheyir suddenly turned her head in the opposite direction and
squeezed
her eyes
shut
. 
She imagined the stranger again and the melody he sang.
  She remembered his words.

Please don’t go, Sheyir.  I’ve come a long way to see you.

“Fly away,” she whispered to the stranger.  “Wherever you are, fly far away.”

*   *   *   *

Sariel
waited
patiently
on
a flat rock in the center of shallow
water, downstream
from the
Chatsiyr
village
. 
In the fading light of dusk, he sat motionless, listening. 
He wondered how long it would take for the men of the village to discuss the matter, reach a consensus, and decide to track the strange man who had show
n
up unannounced and invaded their privacy. 
With his eyes closed, his ears became attuned to the concert of sounds—insects buzzing, water trickling, birds chirping. 
Then
he heard it
—a
faint sound that was out of place amid the
persistent
noises
of the jungle
.  A
swish of grass that didn’t follow the rhythm of the breeze drifting through the stream bed.

Sariel
rose to his feet and readied himself for the coming confrontation. 
Somewhere, out in the darkness, the
Chatsiyr
men were closing in to eliminate a threat. 
Even though he was
expecting them, it was still quite
startling
to see the empty riverbed gently reflecting the
last of the
daylight,
suddenly
populated with dozens of
silhouettes
. 
Though they weren’t hunters, they certainly would have been up to the challenge.  They moved quietly for a group of herbivores.

M
ore
young
m
en
appeared
in the grass
along
the
opposite bank of the stream.  And he knew that if he were to turn around, he’d see still more behind him.  Casually crossing his arms, Sariel waited as the men moved closer, now only a hundred feet away.