Skybound

Adrin Holt crouched before a flickering campfire, gnawing on a chunk of meat skewered on a thin stick along with several mushrooms and a strange Anfealt plant that he couldn’t decide bore more resemblance to an onion or a clove of garlic. The strips of gaurox meat were quite tasty, in no small part because he had led the hunt himself for the first time. The giant creatures resembled oxen on steroids, with extra horns and bone spurs sprouting from shoulder and spine. Foul-tempered and far smarter than cow from home, they were not something a self-professed “gamer nerd” like Adrin would have gone near in his previous life.

He had landed on Anfealt, and it was much to his good fortune that it had been Tarag and Iroko’s small clan of Luparan that had found him. They had treated him like a cub at first; indeed, their own cubs were quite a bit stronger and more durable than the hapless human at first. Worldwalker traits had helped bridge that gap quite quickly, but after nearly two months in this new world he had long since realized a less friendly pack of beastkin would have been just as likely to kill and eat him as to tolerate a new runt becoming a burden on their food supplies.

Instead, Clan Ta’Roko had fed him and taught him, and their stern, but fair tutelage had paid dividends to the clan in short order as he levelled and gained strength and endurance. Now he could keep pace at a run; no longer was the family pack forced to slow to allow him to rest. Steady increases to his strength and stamina, as well as skills like [Second Wind], meant he could now keep up with all but the strongest of the pack’s runners. Even his class helped improve his new life with the clan.

Always a team player of computer games on Earth, Adrin’s online life had been as fulfilling and successful as his offline one had been disappointing and lonely. Grateful to have found a place with Tarag and Iroko’s family, he had been inclined to choose a class based on how much he believed it would benefit the pack, and the [Keenblade Ranger] had most certainly proven himself useful. He could keep up with the pack thanks to his skills and his new class abilities, and while he lacked the natural claws or partial shifting abilities of his clan brethren, the pair of knapped obsidian knives he acquired later brought his combat abilities up to par. While his skills with the blades were certainly nothing to scoff at, his time spent in his previous life organizing combat and raid groups for gaming had lent him a natural understanding of how best to fit into the group. 

Once I got over myself, anyway, he thought with self-deprecation: his attempts to acclimate to Anfealt had led him to embarrass himself with regularity in the beginning. Tarag seemed to sense the lay of his thoughts from across the campfire, his mis-healed broken leg propped up to ease the aches with the radiant warmth. The clan’s alpha grinned, tearing into his own skewer of meat, but with vicious snaps of his sharp teeth instead of the more delicate bites Adrin had to rely on.

“Good hunt,” grunted Tarag. “You didn’t go for the largest, but took the sure kill without the risk of burdening the pack with more wounded.”

“It was Rangan and Rokana as much as me, and we’ll all be happier when you’re back up to the job,” replied Adrin. “Ayina and the other archers did their part as well when we had to fall back.”

A hunt was thrilling, but not without risk, especially when hunting gaurox, which were far more nimble than their great size would lead one to think. Unlike deer and elk, which were dangerous when cornered but fairly simple to chase to exhaustion, the giant oxen-like beasts never tired. They had to be bled, by arrow or darting nips of fang or knife, opening wound after wound in the hopes of bringing them down before their own healing outpaced the stamina of the pack. Longer hunts led to weariness and injury, and Tarag’s crushed leg stood as evidence of that fact. The hunt prior to the one Adrin led had nearly ended in tragedy, the Alpha throwing a younger pack-brother out of the way just in time to take a blow from an enraged gaurox in his place.

Normally, a smaller pack like Clan Ta’Roko would never have taken on a herd of gaurox unless they had joined forces with other clans or even, in some cases, partnered with another Tribe like the Ursaran bear-men or the Ma’akan badgers. According to Iroko, they had even teamed up with Panthren before, although the Luparan got along with the cats about as well as Adrin would have expected of a people stuck halfway between human and wolf. They did tolerate each other though, when the need was great enough; while such a large hunt always came with risk, the rewards were considerable. A larger kill meant more time between hunts to rest and prepare, as well as the wealth of other resources harvested from the bodies: bone tools, horn tips for arrows or spears, bowstrings from guts, hand-stitched hide and leather clothing and armor, and more. Beyond their uses for the pack, these things also served as trade goods whenever the clan’s wanderings took them close to human lands.

Iroko, the clan matriarch, had argued against a gaurox hunt in the first place. Tarag was the alpha, however, and while his rule was not that of an iron-fisted tyrant, the alpha’s word was generally law. All the clans of all of the Five Tribes had been called to the Meet, which meant a large amount of time away from the hunt. Taking a gaurox meant extra food, more things to trade at the rare event, and more status for the clan among the rest of the Lupara. It was a risk, the Alpha had acknowledged, but with great gain to be had. 

Tarag’s injury, and more so the resultant failure, made for serious complications. Clan Ta’Roko stood to lose significant face with the other clans, enough so that Luparans from outside the pack might seek to challenge his position. This was something Adrin expressed grave concern over; Iroko assured him, however, that such primal savagery happened far less often than it used to in centuries past. She reluctantly admitted that the risk was there, and eventually agreed with Tarag that another attempt had to be made: a success to counter a failure, in addition to simply needing the resources.

They had arrived at the Meet only to learn more bad news, dampening the mood of the pack. Galtherex, a mighty Luparan and leader of the Five Tribes for decades, had finally succumbed to time and passed on to join the departed Spirits. Luparan tradition dictated that all of the clan Alphas would compete for Galtherex’s title in something Adrin had heard called the stone circle; when asked, however, Tarag and Iroko refused to elaborate. Adoptive family or not, there were still things Adrin was not privy to. Further complicating matters was the fact that Galtherex was Iroko’s father; as her life-mate, Tarag was even more strongly obligated to stand for the position.

“We will see,” rumbled Tarag after he finally finished his skewer. The broad-shouldered wolf-man eyed the now-meatless skewer almost mournfully before tossing it into the coals. “A battle of Alphas is no small thing.” He didn’t say it, but Adrin could hear that Tarag recognized that he might not survive the ordeal. Iroko, meanwhile, had gone to the Long House, a massive log cabin that stood to one side of the Meet, atop a cleared hill. She had sought to petition for the contest to be postponed until Tarag healed, but he and Adrin both knew she would likely be denied. “Sometimes,” he continued, “the fights are symbolic, without bloodshed, but...Kohtzan, another of the alphas, was my rival before I wed Iroko. I’ll have to kill him.” Tarag stared into the dancing flames. “He wants her more than he wants to rule.”

Adrin frowned. “What about the Eldest...Old Kamaga, you said her name was? Doesn’t she have any say?”

“Some,” nodded Tarag with a rumble. “That’s Old Kamaga heading up the hill to the stone circle now.” He pointed to the far side of the clearing between the forest and the cliffs, where a grey-muzzled Ma’akan was making her way up rough-hewn stone steps to a raised berm of earth. The cliffs behind it gave the impression of an amphitheater, and whether through magic, or just natural acoustics, the clacking impacts of her walking stick on the stones could be heard all across the Meet where sat the thousands of tents of the many tens of thousands of Beastkin that had gathered. 

Iroko melted out of the shadows then, her pinned-back ears conveying both the result of her petition and her opinion thereof. “Trust the spirits, she says!” she seethed, snatching up a skewer from the rock next to the fire and biting into it too quickly, scalding her tongue. Tarag raised an eyebrow, amusement plain on his face. “Kohtzan can go mate with an itch-thorn bush if he thinks to claim me!”

“Peace, my heart,” said Tarag soothingly. “If Old Kamaga said trust the spirits, then that’s what we shall do.”

“You’re up to something, too!” she snarled, jabbing the skewer towards him. “I know you talked to her when she was trying to heal your leg this morning; you’re both too calm and smug.”

“Only of dreams and portents,” answered Tarag, with a cryptic expression. After a moment he winked at Adrin. “Live or die, I still intend to win against that fool, crippled leg or no,” he said with a chuckle. The human didn’t quite understand how the wolf-man could be so nonchalant about his possible death, but he knew what it meant to be stoic in the presence of others to prevent the spread of worry. Tensions were already high in Clan Ta’Roko, and nothing would be gained by making it worse. The two youngest cubs of the clan snuggled up to their mother, Taniya and Kamoso sensing Iroko’s nervousness. As one, they looked to the hillside as the grey-furred Old Kamaga struck the rocks three times with her walking stick. Across the Meet, everyone else’s eyes turned to face her as well.

Iroko shot Tarag a stern look as Kamaga began to speak, the old badger’s voice carrying clear and strong across the bowl-shaped clearing where the tribes had gathered. “Come we to the Meet!” she said, spreading both arms wide in a sweeping gesture. “Dusk falls, and grim matters must be dealt with at first moon’s rise!”

She pointed at several different campfires in turn and beckoned towards her, her voice becoming less formal as she continued. “Ah, but the moons are not yet risen, and many here have never Met. Gather ye before the stone circle, and let Old Kamaga tell the tale! The Tribes cannot settle these lesser matters before all are reminded of our beginnings!”

Iroko stood, giving Tarag a smoldering glance that promised their conversation wasn’t over, and led her two youngest towards the cleared ground before the circle. Tarag stood as well, grasping Adrin’s shoulder. “Come,” he grunted. The human scrambled to his feet and made to follow, giving the alpha a questioning look. “Outsiders rarely witness the telling of our beginnings, Otherworlder, and it is never spoken of outside the Meet. You would do well to pay heed.”

As they made their way towards the circle, Adrin saw others leading their own young as well: Luparan and Ma’akan parents leading young wolf-children and badgers, while the Ursaran fathers and Panthren mothers strode without their mate. The birdlike Corovan preferred to remain in the trees rather than approach, resting lightly on their branches.

The evening had been filled with the murmuring background noise of thousands of conversations, which slowly died into silence as the shadows deepened. Adrin felt a change in the air, a prickling at the back of his neck that spoke to something deep within. The smoke rising from the campfires swayed seemingly of its own accord, indistinct shapes appearing and disappearing as it blurred into a haze that obscured the stars. He wasn’t the only one to notice: Tarag’s eyes met his for a moment before turning to the misty haze with a solemn nod.

“You can feel it, can’t you?” he asked quietly. “Yes, the spirits are with us. Not as much now as before, and maybe more so one day soon.” He closed his eyes and sat back, basking in the warmth of the fire as the Eldest continued speaking..

“Come, young ones!” Old Kamaga’s voice carried, amplified by whatever effect was held in place by the stone circle; the squeals, growls, yips, and other calls of the children, however, were too faint to Adrin’s merely human ears. “Do you know where we came from?” asked the badger. “Do you know of Ka’Na Oko, the First Beast, and Fair Hiyori, his mate from another world?” 

The assembled cubs squealed and laughed as Old Kamaga moved before them, shaking her stick and stamping her feet. “You know the names but not the story!” she cried, tone just this side of accusatory. “Shall I tell you the tale? I think I shall!”

“You know our names for the moons: Fair Hiyori, bright but pale!” Kamaga pointed upwards with one claw while leaning on her staff with the other paw, looking down at the young ones. “She races across the night skies, followed by Sad Ka’Na, never quite catching his mate!”

Oohs and ahs and chitters faded as the children picked up on the more serious tones of the Eldest. “Ka’Na Oko was a Druid, the greatest there ever was! He danced with the spirits of the wild places, ate supper with grumpy Bear, hunted deer with the Pack! He flew with the First Raven, and dug roots and grubs with Mama Badger herself!” Kamaga moved like a badger half her age, pantomiming the exploits of Ka’Na Oko in his youth. “He wrassled with the Panther! A friend of everyone in the forest, was Ka’Na Oko. He learned the Old Ways from the Elves, the long lost cousins of the Trees.”

Kamaga leaned on her staff, her ears drooping and her eyes becoming sad and mournful. “But Ka’Na Oko was lonely. He knew the wild things better than he knew his own people, the humans. Torn between two worlds was Ka’Na Oko, at home in neither one.” The Badger shook her head, wagging one finger at the children. “For while he could change into any beast he chose, he could stay that way for only a day, lest the man forget the man and the beast be all that remained.”

“You know of the ‘Walkers, those people who find their way to Anfealt from other worlds?” More excited yips were hushed by watchful parents, though Kamaga did not seem to mind the enthusiasm of the little ones. “Ka’Na Oko was lonely, and moping around the woods one day. Like a star, she fell from the sky: Fair Hiyori. Ka’Na saw her falling, and turned into a great raven!” The Corovan younglings laughed their approval at this turn in the tale, jeering down at the more ground-bound cubs of the other Tribes until a stern look and a shake of the Badger’s walking stick brought them to humble order once more.

“Ka’Na broke Hiyori’s fall from the sky, but she broke his wing on the way down! They both tumbled down!” Kamaga made a motion with her fist, bringing it down low and flattening open her hand. “Splat!” Cubs jumped. “They landed in the snow!”

“Ka’Na Oko was smitten! Fair Hiyori, with pale skin and dark hair! She walked the forest with Ka’Na Oko, and learned quickly, as all the ‘Walkers are wont to do! Her songs could call down the moon! Yes, there was only one moon back then!” Kamaga twitched an ear and winked, and despite the distance between their campfire and the stone circle, Adrin was certain she was looking his way. He was as enthralled as the cubs: Tarag and Iroko had never told the story -- in fact, they had avoided any and all conversation about the history of the Tribes.

“The druid wanted to keep her beauty for himself,” continued the badgeress with a growl, eliciting more shocked oohs and ahs and angry growls from the cubs. “Hiyori liked Ka’Na Oko just fine, but she longed for more people to talk to than one old druid and the trees!” Adrin could hear faint chitters and hushed laughter.

“So Ka’Na did what any smart man does -- exactly what his woman wants!” More laughter, this time from campfires spread around the Meet. More than just the cubs seemed to be enjoying the story. “They journeyed to the biggest village of the humans that Ka’Na knew, Arc’Tarenas. It has a different name now, but Tarenas it was then, thousands of winters ago.”

“How long is that?” Kamaga repeated a question from one of the cubs. “It’s a long long time! Many times many paws of winters! It was back before there were Kings and Queens in the human lands!”

She waited for the cubs to settle once more, leaning on her walking stick and grinning at the younglings. “Fair Hiyori loved Ka’Na Oko, she just wanted to visit other people from time to time. Aren’t men silly?” she asked, waggling her ears at the children with a toothy grin. “But all was not well for long, for our Fair Hiyori was not the only ‘Walker from another world!”

Kamaga’s expression turned grim, and she fell silent for a long while, long enough for the cubs to start shifting impatiently. “The Gray Man had come as well,” she intoned. “He who raised the dead, he who bound dark spirits to his will.” Fearful whimpers rose from the assembled cubs as the smoke swirled to lend Kamaga’s shadows an eerie ambience. “He took town after town, and all the tribes of Man banded together, along with the Elves, to stop his evil works.”

“Yes, the Elves helped too,” Kamaga said, in reply to further murmured questions. “I’m getting to that! Our Tribes didn’t exist yet!”

“The Gray Man had lost his war in the south, so he came north! While Fair Hiyori and Ka’Na Oko were visiting Arc’Terenas, the Gray Man came! And what did he do?”

The children were as eager to know as they were frightened, and Adrin couldn’t blame them. He was as drawn into the tale as any of the cubs.

“The Gray Man saw Fair Hiyori, who could sing down the Moon! He wanted her power as much as her beauty, and cursed the waters in all the wells and all the streams near Arc’Terenas. He told the humans there: ‘Give me Fair Hiyori, and I will give back your water!’ and so the people of the city argued with Ka’Na Oko that they should, for without water all life withers.”

The cubs wailed in shock, and fear of Kamaga’s menacing gaze, until she stood back upright. Shaking the charms on her walking stick she paced back and forth before the young audience. “Ka’Na Oko and the Elders of the city argued, but Fair Hiyori did not wait. While they yelled at each other --” the Eldest leaned down low with a conspiratorial grin, as if letting the cubs in on a secret -- “while they were all distracted, she snuck outside!”

“Fair Hiyori had her own magic, so she danced in the street and she sang at the moon, and the moon came down to visit!” Kamaga raised both hands to the sky, rattling the charms once more as the smoke swirled and danced. “And when it drew close, its light broke the Gray Man’s curse!”

Kamaga slammed her stick down onto the stones with a crack! Cubs flinched back, shocked into silence. “The Gray Man was furious! Weakened by the moonlight’s purest power, he cast his foulest curse on Fair Hiyori! It wasn’t enough to kill her, but her hair turned gray and her bones grew weak, and Ka’Na Oko saw her lying in the street before the Gray Man. Ka’Na Oko ran as fast as he could, but the Gray Man stabbed her in the heart when he saw his curse had failed!”

Whimpers and cries came from the cubs, and Adrin felt their grief as well, as drawn into the story as he had been by Old Kamaga’s power. He knew there was more to the story than the Eldest was telling, but the cadence of her words fit the simplified version, and left the details for his heart to fill. The Badger let the silence hang in the air until it was almost painful before continuing, much to the relief of both the Worldwalker and the waiting cubs.

“Ka’Na Oko was angry,” she said, cold and flat. “Angry, and hurt, and mad with grief. He was also a Druid, and so he called on the Spirits.” Ears perked up among the listening cubs. “He offered them everything: his service, his life; he even offered his Soul, if they would save Fair Hiyori.” She shook her head, sadness filling the Meet. “But Death is a part of Life, and all Stories must have an ending. And so ended Fair Hiyori’s Story, as the Moon wept and a Druid raged.”

“Ka’Na Oko fought the Gray Man at Arc’Terenas.” The walking stick cracked on the stones again. “He turned into a Mighty Northern Bear, as white and terrible as the frozen wastes! But the Gray Man was quick as a mouse!”

The stick cracked down again. “He turned into a Nightstride Panther, as quick as midnight itself! But the shades of the dead told the Gray Man where he was, and Ka’Na Oko could not bite him from the shadows!”

Crack! “He turned into a Wolf, but one Wolf is not a Pack, even for one such as Ka’Na Oko!”

Crack! “He turned into a Badger, and dug a hole as big as the town! The Gray Man fell down with Ka’Na Oko, and they fought and fought until the city was ruined! With every bite, Ka’Na Oko was weakened, because the bad magic of the Gray Man came from death, and a Druid’s power comes from life. The Gray Man finally got away from Ka’Na Oko when his dead shades carried him into the sky!”

Crack! “Ka’Na Oko turned into a Raven, and chased the Gray Man into the sky! But what did he see?”

The cubs and children made no sound whatsoever, enthralled completely by the Eldest. Adrin’s breath caught in his throat, as the human desperately wondered what Ka’Na Oko saw.

“The Moon itself grieved for Fair Hiyori, who once sang it closer in the night! And the Moon saw the Gray Man, riding the Shades of the Dead into the sky. What did the Moon do then?”

“The Moon ate the Shades! It grew bright,  as bright as day! As bright as summer’s noon! And it burned the Gray Man away!” The smoke above the Meet roiled and writhed, twisting low overhead with the dancing light from a thousand campfires. Adrin felt as if he could almost sense the Spirits that Tarag had spoken of, the patron beings all of the Tribes believed in. He had to admit, after gaining skills and a Class on Anfealt, he could not claim they did not exist. He had simply never actually felt such a presence before with his own senses, and found he could not look away as the Badger told the story.

“But the Moon could not save Fair Hiyori! Nor could Ka’Na Oko, not with all his magic! The Moon wept tears of twilight, and took Fair Hiyori into the sky, so high Ka’Na Oko could not fly no matter how he tried!”

“He could not fly as high as the Moon, but Ka’Na Oko did not care!” The stick cracked into the stones again. “He used his Druid magic, and ripped out a piece of himself, and sent it flying higher to follow Fair Hiyori!”

Kamaga paused, glancing at the assembled cubs with a grim expression. “In his grief, Ka’Na Oko had forgotten that Souls should not be messed with! When he gave up a part of himself to chase after Fair Hiyori, it took a piece of his Soul with it. The part that remembered the man.” Kamaga shook her head, eyes closed with sadness. “As a beast he was trapped, forgetting how to return to himself. So Ka’Na Oko flew away as a Raven!”

“The First Raven, the spirit of wind and sky took him in, not knowing his true nature. They flew together for many paws of seasons, until one day Momma Raven woke up and found a Wolf in her nest!” Eyes wide with the declaration, the cubs laughed at Kamaga’s antics as she made a shooing motion with her stick like a maid sweeping with a broom. “Out! Out she kicked him from her nest! For Wolves don’t belong in Trees!”

All the cubs, and many of the fully grown members of the Tribes laughed at that, the Corovan most of all as Kamaga continued the tale without pause. “So Ka’Na Oko ran with the wolves, for many paws of winters! Until one day, Momma Wolf woke up and what did she find?”

“That’s right! A big ol’ Panther in her den! So she chased him out!” The pantomime of sweeping with a broom using her walking stick drew more laughs from the cubs. “So he ran with Momma Panther for paws and paws of winters! Until one day Momma Panther woke up, and do you know what she found?” This time Kamaga grinned sharply down at the cubs with her teeth bared big with an eager smile.

“BADGER!” yelled the cubs as one.

“Yes! So Momma Panther chased Ka’Na Oko away! He went to live with Momma Badger, for paws and paws of winters. And one day Momma Badger woke up, and what did she see? Naught but a big ol’ Bear in her den! And you know what she did?”

Several cubs made sweeping gestures, but Kamaga interrupted them with a waggle of fingers. “No, she didn’t sweep him out of her cave, ‘cause Momma Badger is the meanest! Momma Badger bit him ‘cause that’s what badgers do!” The cubs were even more excited by that revelation, flopping back in a display of child-like shock that transcended species. Adrin couldn't help but laugh as well, and Kamaga let the noise settle before she resumed her story.

“So Ka’Na Oko, he was a grumpy bear with a badger-bite on his rump! He wandered the forests for paws and paws of winters, sometimes with Momma Bear but sometimes alone. We all know Bears can be grumpy don’t we? So one day the Grumpy Bear wandered closer to Human lands, and guess who found him?

“If you guessed the Silent Prophet, your parents taught you good, but she wasn’t silent back then. The one the Humans call the [Oracle], she’d been lookin’ for old Ka’Na Oko for a long, long time, ever since he fought the Gray Man. The Gray Man had been very, very bad before the Humans drove him away, and the [Oracle] wanted to thank Ka’Na Oko for helping the Moon get rid of him.

“Why couldn’t she find him? Why, because he wasn’t a man anymore! He’d forgotten all that when he sent a piece of himself into the sky to chase Fair Hiyori as the Sad Moon. She could see him when he was a man, but could not see him as a beast. But Ka’Na Oko had saved the world, him and Fair Hiyori who sang the Moon from the sky, and so the [Oracle] gave him a gift.”

“She made a Bargain with the Spirits of the Wild Places, and traded her Voice to let Ka’Na Oko remember how to be a man! So it was that she was Silent forever after. The Spirits thought she gave too much, but they couldn’t give it back because she refused!”

Kamaga sighed, looking up into the mists. “Yes, little ones, that is why we owe a Debt. The Gift from the Silent Prophet was too much for one man, so all of Ka’Na Oko’s children were given words, and the Children of the First Beast became the Tribes.”