Their Deadliest Catches

JP with mdman and Cindy

"I was taught as a young child to use all the deer provided, most Helians do the same." At least as far as Islana had seen. The wealthy were likely the exception to the rule.

When he mentioned eating, she said, "Let's finsh butchering then go a little closer to the river."

Islana hadn't lost a step with her knife skills and the deer was butchered quickly and efficiently. Saving every usable part.

The two made their way back to the stream, Islana washed her hands and knife in the water. She found some flint rocks, and gave them to Ch'Truta. While the woman was more than capable of building a fire, so was he and so she just left it to him. Taking seat on the grounds Islana asked, "What is the most dangerous animal you have ever hunted?”

“You were taught right,” affirmed Ch’Truta.

Ch’Truta tooled the flint rocks she offered. He gathered some tinder and kindling, stacking the small twigs about the leaves. About the twigs, Ch’Trutra stacked small sticks, which would serve as fuel once the flames grew, leaving a small gap so sparks could reach the leaves. He placed larger branches next to the fire he would build. This would make the lasting fuel. Ch’Truta then gathered larger rocks from the stream, then placed them about where the flames would be contained.

Using the two flints, Ch’Truta struck them together, creating several sparks, which caught the leaves to begin to burn. Ch’Truta leaned his face down next to the smoking leaves and began to gently blow upon them. Soon, flames kept upward from the leaves, igniting the twigs.

He thought about her question. Most animals in the swamp were dangerous. All had strengths, most had weaknesses.

“I suppose p’aka m’weusi would be the answer to your question,” he provided, adding more fuel to the flame. “It was a black panther that attacked several of our female villagers as they gathered berries. He would drag them away, then eat them. With this cat, we felt as if we were the prey. He killed two of the hunters before we were able to corner him and d end his life.”

Ch’Truta’s mind was there in the swamp in that moment, reliving it. Fear came natural there. Ch’Truta had learned living in the swamp that courage and wisdom was what it took to overcome fear. Courage was good if you used wisdom. Without wisdom, courage could lead to death.

Her hand ran over the Skara knife, almost absent mindedly as Ch’Truta spoke. She certainly knew what it was like to feel like prey. "Smart animals are always harder to hunt, it seems. It is good you were able to stop it from any more attacks."

Islana hadn't told Ch'Truta about the Skara or spoken much about the pilgrimage to him. The opening was there but then sort of felt like it wasn't. Then again maybe it was, "Do you know what a Skara is?”

Ch’Truta glanced up from the flames. His mind went back to anything he might have heard about Skara. He remembered the information wasn’t firsthand, but passed down many times before it had reached Ch’Truta’s ears. He wasn’t sure if the information was accurate.

“I have heard it is some type of zombie,” he remembered. “I have no way of verifying that.”

"But you do," Islana almost whispered. She removed the knife from her side and handed it to him. "That knife is made from the stinger of a Skara, one which I killed, with help."

Islana had briefly, in other talks, mentioned Madaya, the young girl she had met on the pilgrimage, who had become like a little sister to her. The one that was painful to discuss because, as far as Islana knew, she still lie in world of her own mind. This story was always difficult to tell for many reasons, but Islana would tell Ch’Truta if he wanted to hear it.

Until now., Ch’Truta had only heard stories from those brave enough to venture into the swamp. They had not actually faced a Skara, but was passing on the stories that had heard from fellow travelers.

Now, he’s met someone with firsthand knowledge. And, he knew her to be truthful.

“It is true, then?” he asked.

"It does exist but I would not call it a zombie." Islana thought for a moment on how to start. "I should back up a little, because the Skelep was involved. I met the Skelep on the pilgrimage when I ended up in quicksand. The Skelep helped pull me out." Islana stuck two venison steaks and the heart on a few wooden skewers as she spoke. "I can't tell you how long I was on the pilgrimage, because time sort of gets lost in all of it. But one day I came across some small footprints, obviously belonging to a child, they were Madaya's, she was hiding from the Skara.
I thought the cost was clear so we started walking. We came to some ruins, of what had to be a village or small city.
It was there that we first heard it. If you are familiar with the chittering sound some insects male, it sounded like that but as there were a 1,000 of them, all making that noise at once." She paused to take a brief sip of water. "When I looked up, I could see it. A giant scorpion."

When it was time, she placed the skewers on top of the fire, the sat back down. "I tried to communicate with the Skara using my ability. It attacked my mind. It's not a zombie, it has a collective mind. Everything that has ever happened to the Skara as a group is stored in that mind and it bombarded mine with images which I still recall in detail. I could not break free from its hold, until it decided to let me go.”

“How did you defeat the Skara?” Ch’Truta probed, wondering how Islana had obtained the dagger. “What happens when one stings someone?”

Ch’Truta loved a good story. This one came from his Love, and he was all in, wondering how she handled the situation.

"It let my mind go. I think it could not hold on, while trying to attack us and that is what came next. It went after us, so, I attacked back. Kaithak and Madaya tried to help but there just wasn't much they could do." Islana thought for a moment. "We fought for a while. It was winning to be honest. I thought I was dead. Then, out of nowhere, the Skelep showed up. We both attacked the Skara together. The Skara had multiple eyes but I manged to hit the front two, which gave us an advantage. The Skelep tore of one of the Skara's legs, and gave it to me. I bounded the leg, with a sharp stick, slide underneath the Skara and stabbed it in its underbelly. When I got out from underneath the beast, the Skelep removed another leg. The Skara went crashing to the ground and then, after a few moments, died." Islana closed her eyes for a moment, before saying outloud. "I have never hated any creature before or since but I loathe the Skara." The memories weren't as fresh or raw but definitely still there and still painful.

Ch’Truta stood from his squatted position and came near Islana. Kneeling with her, he placed his hands upon her shoulders, gently squeezing them.

“You have come through several trials,” he observed. “It is no wonder the sisters have chosen one so courageous. Our enemy does not know the danger this small, beautiful woman presents.”

Islana softly nodded, "I do have to give credit to the Skelep, of it hadn’t shown up when it did....the outcome would, likely, have been very different."

For a long time even Islana underestimated herself, so the fact others did she was well aware of. She wondered for a moment what those of her past would say to her right now. "I believe you are probably correct. Except their were two of them who never underestimated me. If anyone would know what I was capable of it would be them." Would they say anything, or even be listened to and one didn't even know about her magik.

“If you hadn’t met these difficult trials,” Ch’Truta revealed his logic to Islana, “we may have never met.”

To him, everything they happened to each of them in their own separate pasts had worked together to bring them together. If any one thing had changed, they most likely would have missed each other.

"Yes, I too believe the journey of our individual selves brought us to be together." Islana had often contemplated how it was too much of a coincidence to be a chance that they found each other. For them things just fell into place.

Ch’Truta picked up two squarish rocks. These would easily surround the blade on his spear.

“Tell me more of your journey,” he requested, wanting to know as much about her as he could.