Cradle of Sea and Soil by Bernie Anés Paz

Author:Bernie Anés Paz [Paz, Bernie Anés]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The Story Shrine
Published: 2020-06-22T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 20

Narune crouched on the beach, twig in hand, and drew warden-marks on the ground. He mouthed them to himself as he wrote, forming deeper and increasingly complex meanings by grouping them together in different ways. Fatigue itched at his mind and his muscles ached.

An island coyote watched him from a crouch a short distance away. It slowly inched closer.

His mother thought he was pushing himself too hard. But I’m only pushing myself as much as she is. He grunted. Not that telling her that would have made a difference. Well, they could both breathe for a while now, at least. He hadn’t managed to learn anything useful from the foreigners—thought he admitted it had still been pleasant talking to them—but his mother had possibly found a way to hunt down Stillness without depending on luck or the forest’s ability to guide them.

Now, all they had to do was ward and wait until they could find out if it actually worked. Until then, Narune should be stuffing his belly and sleeping.

Instead, he had asked Sanemoro to deliver a message to Ixchel.

He sighed in sudden irritation and swiped at the island coyote as it licked his face. The dark-furred canine leaped away and rolled with exaggerated movements. It didn’t stop until it almost made an entire semicircle around him, and ended up with its head low and rump waggling.

“Could you stop?”

The coyote barked and tilted its head, then suddenly rose and looked north, toward the village. The rest of its pack, which had been playing in the tide, paused and turned, too. The one besides Narune made a short series of howls, slow and menacing, and then the group bounded away, down the beach. Probably to swim to another island, or maybe they would dive into the forest.

He rose and dusted himself. A large group was making their way toward him, most of them wearing spiritseer ponchos in the colors matching the Flows. Narune recognized all of them; Ixchel was at the lead, but the rest were the other youths from the Ritual of Fang and Feather, including Ikenna.

Narune’s eyes narrowed at them. He hadn’t asked Ixchel to come alone, but he’d hoped that would have been obvious. And why bring such a large group to begin with?

All Narune wore was a breechcloth and all he had was his knife; he had left his spear and Blade back in their bohío further down the beach. He held his ground anyway, feet spread, and waited.

They took their time reaching him, but he refused to show them any impatience. When they finally stopped before him, where the sand gave way to grass, grinning smugly, he offered them a formal bow. “Sea and soil,” he said.

None of them returned the greeting. Many of their grins grew wider.

Narune glanced at Ixchel. It hadn’t been all that long since the Duels, but so much had happened since then that Narune felt many Cycles older. His friend, on the other hand, didn’t look any different at all.

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