The Hammer Unfalls

4.85 Shell of the Cave Cray

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Inside the primitive village of Hiehaven, Lhani stared at her father and tried not to laugh. Warm sunlight filtered through the everbrown trees that ringed the outer pallisade. Here inside the wall, soft grasses made sort of a matted carpet as the pallid yellow blades tried their best to flourish, but instead flopped over each other in wilted resignation.

“Can you picture it, though?” her father said. “Welcome back, son. We can initiate you as soon as you present the...” He trailed off, searching for the right word.

“Knotted branch,” one of the villagers called out.

“Shell of a cave cray,” another laughed. “We’ve all faced that elusive beast.”

“Only comes out during the new moon,” the first hunter said with a grin.

Her father seemed far too amused by the idea. “Arrad would have a heart attack.”

He might actually do it, Lhani worried.

“Don't you dare, Tom!” Lhani's mother swatted him on the arm. “Arrad will be nervous enough as it is when he gets back.”

Lhani looked around at the feast they’d been preparing. She and mother had been gathering quail eggs, mushrooms, and root vegetables from the fields. Her father had been pounding grain to make flatbreads. Arrad would bring game, and they would hold the ceremony to welcome him to adulthood, just as they’d done for her six moons ago. She’d been welcomed into the village council with open arms, as she’d quickly become a trusted scryer. Arrad would surely be welcomed by the hunters with equal zeal. He could outhunt anyone except her father. Lhani felt pride for her younger brother and smiled at her parent’s antics.

“You are wrong about one thing, mother,” Lhani said. “Arrad is rarely nervous.”

The feast could be ready at almost any time. Arrad and Tomyko weren’t due until next midday. But Lhani had urged them to be ready early. She knew Arrad, and the deeply disguised pride in his heart. He’d be early, just to prove the point beyond doubt.

Lhani tried to ignore the sticky heat of summer and fanned her tunic at her armpits. Movement in the sky drew her eye. A broken vee of geese flew haphazardly towards Hiehaven from the mountain.

Geese? Migrating now?

Her interest piqued, Lhani followed the flight. The line broke further apart and the geese flew in random directions. One of the birds loomed in her sight. It crashed against the palisade and fell to the ground, flopping in the dirt.

“Oh! Poor thing!” Lhani dropped the colorless root she'd been scrubbing and ran to the fallen goose. She could calm its mind at the very least, if she could get close enough to touch it.

At her approach the goose stopped flopping. Horror trickled through Lhani when she looked at the goose. It’s patchy feathers revealed scaly skin beneath. A lizard’s tail and claws curled beneath it; a twisted abomination she’d never seen the like of.

The lizard-goose hissed again. Lhani tripped and fell to the ground before it. The creature gave a strangled half-squawk, half hiss and whipped its reptilian tail around. Lhani lifted her arm to protect her head.

Her mother rushed past, hands extended. The goose flew into the air and crashed to the ground. Enraged, it extended its wings and buffeted them against the blast of wind it was caught in. Lhani watched mother focus the wind on the goose, pinning it and sending it tumbling along the ground.

“Move, Mhagi!” her father called, and slung a spear at the goose. His throw slanted slightly off target, but her mother guided it into the heart of the goose. It thrashed on the stave that impaled it. Her mother looked back at Lhani with concern etched into her brow.

Lhani scrambled to her feet. “What could have done this?” she asked.

Her mother didn't answer, but simply stared, dull and listless. Lhani felt a chill in the pit of her stomach. Of course. Her mother had become drained. As a seer, she hadn't used wind as a weapon in decades.

From outside the palisade Lhani heard rustling, then a low hiss, which became a chorus of hisses. Lhani looked up the path into the woods and saw three more lizard-geese clawing their way onto the path. Were they drawn by the scent of their sister's blood?

Her mother straightened. Lhani stopped her with a raised hand and a shake of her head. Lhani walked through the gap in the palisade and stood on the path.

Her father and the other hunters struggled beside her to close the palisade. Moss and muck refused to release the gate. She'd never seen the palisade closed. Hiehaven usually welcomed visitors. But not these.

Wind rose, whipping her tunic around her knees. It swirled around her ankles, waiting for her command.

The geese moved like a pack of predators towards her.

Lhani flicked her hand and sent a burst of wind at the closest goose. It dug its claws into the ground and snapped at her. She brought her other hand to bear and the goose was swept along the trail into another of the warped birds, who flung it's tail around and sent feathers flying. The first bird squawked in pain and clamped it's bill around the other's neck. It slashed its tail wildly, drawing bloody streaks, until both geese collapsed into a pile of red and gray feathers.

The third goose flapped its leathery wings and retreated into the woods.

Don't drop your guard just yet, Lhani told herself.

She peered into the deepening gloom of the forest. It teemed with unnatural sounds. Moans. Guttural cries. Rattles, which thrashed into silence. She felt her own heartbeat and tried to quell it.

“Wedge yourself in,” her father said. “Push with your legs. Watch your hands!”

The fear in her father's voice made Lhani even more nervous. She ran inside as the men heaved against the gate. Finally the ground gave way and the gate swung free.

With the palisade finally closed, Lhani unclenched her teeth and shuddered at the memory of the creatures she’d just seen, whose tortured bodies had been ripped asunder and reformed into something entirely new, and unknown to her.

Her mother rushed forth.

“The boys are still out there, Tom!”

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Lhani looked around for something to occupy her hands and distract her mind. Her father and the other hunters had been gathering spears and other weapons, continuing the debate about whether or not to send a search party out for her brothers. She didn’t need to scry to sense her father’s agitation. She knew, as everyone did, the only thing stopping him from setting out was the unknown. Arrad and Tomyko could be almost anywhere between here and the Avaunt Mountains.

Her mother sat sipping tea, with a couple of the women fussing over her. The others gathered linen scraps and boiled water in preparation for whatever might come.

Gerard the alchemist counted his inventory on the porch of his lodge. From the way his eyebrows knit together, and the movement of his lips as he counted silently to himself, Lhani guessed he would resent her interruption. She cast about for something else to do, but stopped when a piercing whistle came from outside. It had to be Tomyko. No one else could whistle that loud.

The men guarding the palisade admitted three horses, flanks splattered in blood, as were their riders. Her brothers seemed uninjured. But the cart horse fell to its knees, eyes rolling.

Tomyko leapt from his horse and kicked a pile of everbrown needles. Arrad carefully wiped blood from his stirrup before trusting his weight to it. He dismounted and walked directly to their father. Lhani noticed the trembling in his legs and the stiffness in his fingers, numb from clutching the reins.

Her father gripped Arrad on the shoulder. She saw his concern as her father checked Arrad for injury. “Glad to see you safe, son.”

Lhani's mother ran to Tomyko. She took his hands in hers and paused. A faint wisp of silver light flickered from her eye. Puzzlement clouded her face.

“Come with me, mother. I'll show him to you,” Tomyko said as she followed him to the cart horse.

Him who? Lhani wondered.

Lhani gave Arrad a moment to catch his breath. He needed it. His lips, which typically hovered just short of a smirk, drew back. Sharp breaths scraped over his teeth. His face, so colorless in comparison to her own, had color now. It did not suit him.

“Good travels? We on the council were worried about you.”

Arrad smiled at her subtle dig. Lhani had less than a year on him. Just old enough for her to pass into adulthood before him. One of the perks was reminding her brothers that she had the authority to order them around, as temporary as it would be.

Arrad didn't rise to the bait, but simply lifted his hands for her to take. “Just read my thoughts. It will be quicker.”

Lhani settled herself.

Focus. Be only a feather in this mind.

As the images fluttered into her mind, Lhani gasped.

It gets worse, Arrad said bitterly.