Cali walked for the better part of an hour; her arms felt like molten lead. How long was she going to have to carry Fen anyways? Holding em before her was exhausting. A different position would be easier, but, in the event of a betrayal, was a recipe for a knife in the gut.
Aside from her arms, the walk had been pleasant, peaceful even. Fen chattered about the enclave, and probed her with questions, which she avoided answering. Another person might have found the experience exhausting, but Cali found it soothing. Despite the unfamiliar voice, the conversation reminded her of her father. He always used to speak with her while he worked, quizzing her about what she’d learned and sharing minutiae about his latest project.
Unfortunately, the serenity did not last. Cali felt the hair on the back of her neck stand on end. Something was watching her. She’d need time to figure out where her watcher, or watchers, were.
The pap pap of cysug shoes on the branch ceased, as Cali halted. “Fen, I need a break. My arms are killing me,” she said, her voice steady, but a little louder than necessary.
Feigning weariness was easy. The challenge was preparing for an ambush, without appearing to be preparing. As luck would have it, Gale had taught her a trick or two.
Cali shook out her left leg, as if relieving a muscle cramp. When she returned it to the branch, her stance had subtly shifted. From her new position, she could bolt at a moment’s notice. Her observers knew more than she did. In the case of an information disparity, the best plan was always to extract yourself from the situation and remedy the disparity.
If they attacked, fleeing while carrying Fen would be difficult. But if she abandoned em, she’d never find the enclave, which would make surviving in the jungle much, much more difficult. Her best escape plan was to jump and hope the side effects from using magic to slow their fall weren’t too severe.
While she considered her options, Cali’s eyes were on the jungle. Appearing too alert would be a dead giveaway; instead, she observed with her peripheral vision. The details weren’t important anyways. All she needed was to catch the distinctive flicker of movement to locate her watchers.
Her attempt to surreptitiously take in the surroundings was soon interrupted. “We ought ta move on. It cannot be a good rest, still carrying me. Asides, we are very close now.” Fen gestured towards the trunk of the cysug tree ahead of them. “Enclave is a much safer place to rest.”
The cysug tree which Fen had indicated was titanic, even amongst this forest of giants. Its trunk was nearly half a kilometre across. Short, polished, white sticks protruded from the colourful tree bark. These sticks were embedded horizontally in the trunk, and continued outwards for half a metre before arcing upwards.
The unusual protrusions formed a set of wooden stairs, complete with a handrail, which wound around tree trunk in long, lazy spirals.
“The enclave is up those stairs?”
Fen nodded. “Aye.”
She still needed to find her watchers. But if the enclave was up the stairs, that gave her another escape route. The question was, how far up the stairs?
Cali focused on the stairs, her eyes tracing their path up the trunk, until they disappeared into a mess of branches and leaves. Either the enclave was well hidden, or she’d be climbing for a while.
As she stared upwards looking for the enclave, Cali’s eyes caught movement in the foliage. Dozens of small yellow eyes stared back at her. She’d stumbled upon her watchers, but what where they? Spreiban?
“Kin are watching,” Fen declared.
The hell? The swore she hadn’t spoken her questions aloud. Maybe... e had noticed them too?
The timing of Fen’s declaration, coupled with the dozens of eyes peering through the foliage, gave her the creeps. She’d have to trust in Fen’s promise of safety, and hope these spreiban were just curious.
Cali strode to the base of the stairs, when Fen piped up, “Steps are not sticky. I can walk, give your arms rest.”
Cali groaned with relief and set down Fen. Even without the extra burden, climbing the stairs was not a welcome prospect. The lazy spiral around the trunk would make for a torturous ascent. Her calves would be burning before she got anywhere close to the enclave.
With a sigh, Cali started to ascend the stairs. Surely there had to be a better way to reach the enclave. With the spreiban’s short legs, climbing these would take forever.
Fen had stopped at the base of the stairs and completed a formulae. The steps beneath em shimmered, magic coursing upwards. Moments later a platform barrelled down the stairs. “Shit,” Cali cursed. Pressing herself against the trunk, she narrowly avoided the platform that whooshed past.
She fixed Fen, who was guffawing, with a glare. Kith were childish no matter the species. At least her scathing mental commentary made her feel better. Still, a warning before she started up the steps would have been appropriate.
Begrudgingly, Cali returned to the amused spreiban, and joined em on the platform. She was grateful that she wasn’t going to have to walk up all those stairs herself. Almost grateful enough to forgive em for making her the butt of es childish prank.
Once both passengers were aboard, the platform began to spiral upwards.
As they ascended, Cali noticed that some of the ‘branches’ overhead weren’t branches at all. Instead they were thick bundles of rope disguised with bark and leaves. Atop these ropes an entire village was suspended, hidden from the forest below: the enclave.
The platform faded away as the pair were deposited on large wooden landing carved into the side of the tree. The wood beneath her feet was firm, with colourful striations, and Fen stood on it without concern. Evidently, only the branches were traps.
The landing had but two exits: ahead, a single rope bridge, which led into the enclave, and behind, the stairs, which descended back into the jungle below.
Across the bridge, Cali could see the suspended buildings of the enclave. But, fifteen armed spreiban stood between Cali and the bridge. Hadn’t Fen promised her a warm welcome? This certainly wasn’t it. At least their spears weren’t pointed at her, yet.
The cluster of spreiban were staring at her, unmoving. This was... awkward. She needed to say something. Before Cali could open her mouth, a smaller spreiban pushed through the cluster of unmoving guards, and flung emself towards Fen. “Fen, you survived!”
“Old growth like me is hard to kill.” Fen patted the clinging Nog on the shoulder as tears rolled down Nog’s muzzle. “Easy there, pup.”
Fen continued to pat Nog’s shoulder for a few more moments, looking increasingly uncomfortable as Nog continued to cling.
At last, Nog released es partner and, with a sheepish look, glanced back at the other spreiban. They still hadn’t moved.
Free from Nog’s grasp, Fen bowed es head. “Enclave wardens.” Es gesture of respect completed, Fen straightened to es full height. “Cysug Warder Fen, returning from the branches. I’ve brought a kith with questions for the primeval ones. May we pass?”
Fen’s announcement broke the reverie of the enclave wardens. All at once, the wardens began to chatter amongst themselves. Cali heard several mutters of “kith”, and many more of “fheadhain”, which was spoken with tones of awe and reverence.
Fheadhain -
1) Loan word from the language of the ancients, used to refer to the ancients’ species.
Once again, she was grateful for the effort she’d sunk into her translation spell. Understanding the situation was vital, and her spell had just furnished her with a clue. Some of these spreiban believed she was a fheadhain, one of the ancients. Armed with this knowledge, she’d have to decide if she should correct that misapprehension or exploit it.
The chatter ceased, as the largest of the wardens turned to glare at es fellows. “That’s quite enough out of you lot.” E turned back towards Cali. “Fen, you and your charge may enter.”
In response, Fen lowered es head. “My thanks, Head Warden Aia.”
With the head warden’s declaration, the other wardens hurried to clear a path into the enclave. Several spears were dropped. A pair of wardens collided, and were sent sprawling. Cali suppressed laughter, if this was their guard, she needn’t fear the spreiban.
It took a few minutes for the disorder to clear. In the end, the wardens had gathered in two clumps, framing the bridge between them.
With their path clear, Fen led Cali and Nog towards the bridge. As they passed the wardens, Cali heard Aia lean in and whisper to Fen, “I’m glad you survived.”
The warden’s face as e spoke was tight, like e was holding back es emotions. Could e be sweet on Fen? If Cali could stay on Fen’s good side, she might be able to to use that connection, if the wardens ever became a problem.
Crossing the bridge was eerie. Behind her, Cali could feel the stares of the wardens, who watched in complete silence, cowed by their leader’s glare.
Before her were the colourful wooden buildings of the enclave. The architecture was rustic, but the buildings were well kept and gaily decorated, evidence that life in the enclave, while more primitive than Cali was used to, was safe.
Along the main bridge, side paths branched off like the threads of a spider’s web. Both the main bridge and these lesser paths were lined with buildings. At a glance these buildings all seemed to be houses. Cali could see no signs of businesses, or other such amenities that were common in a settlement. However, it was difficult to get a clear look at most of the buildings, as spreiban lined the thoroughfares.
The spreiban she passed stared at her in wide eyed wonder. From the onlookers she heard the words kith and fheadhain bandied about. That almost settled it. With this many ordinary folk convinced she was a ‘fheadhain,’ the safest option might be to go with the flow. Still, some of the onlookers seemed to prefer the term kith; it seemed they weren’t all convinced.
Whenever they passed the onlooking spreiban, their watchers fell in behind them, singing and cheering. She hated this. Being the centre of attention. She’d preferred quiet anonymity for as long as she could remember; it suited her profession better. No, not just that. It suited her better.
The phenomenon repeated itself as Cali was led deeper into the enclave. Every time they passed a group of onlooking spreiban, the group would join into the procession with great festivity.
As the procession grew, Fen’s bristles stiffened and rose. Was e as uncomfortable as she was? That gave her some small satisfaction. Misery did love company.
As they continued, laughter and merriment following them, Fen slowed es pace until e was walking beside her. Quietly e said, “I was expecting commotion, you’re the first kith anyone’s seen. But...” E paused, glancing around to make sure nobody else had drawn close enough to hear em over the din. “I was na’ expecting this fheadhain business. Bringing ya here may have been a mistake.”
Fen fell silent as e led her onwards. Maybe she did need to correct this fheadhain misapprehension. Could using it be dangerous? After all, it had Fen worried and e knew more of the enclave than she.
The bridge opened up onto a large platform. Around the edges of the platform, six bridges led off in various directions. One bridge in particular caught Cali’s attention. Unlike the others, it was decorated with extravagant, dyed carvings. Additionally, a greying spreiban, flanked by two-score others, blocked that path.
Fen stepped between Cali and this new group of spreiban. She could see es muscles tense under the bark-like skin. Were these new spreiban hostile to her presence?
If so, she’d stepped into a real mess. The unknown dangers of the jungle might have been preferable to getting enmeshed in an internal dispute.
After placing emself in front of her, Fen began to speak. “Passi, what is your meaning? You block the elder’s bridge.”
Cali surmised that Passi was likely the greying spreiban that led this new group.
Passi ignored Fen, es gaze remaining fixed on Cali. Passi spread es arms in a welcoming gesture and spoke. “Honoured fheadhain, we are blessed by your presence...”
Fen interjected, cutting off Passi’s speech. “The KITH has questions for the primeval ones; e will not be dragged into your delusions.” E spoke the word kith with particular emphasis, a direct repudiation of Passi’s use of the word fheadhain.
Passi’s eyes dropped from Cali onto Fen. Spreiban facial expressions were still foreign to her, but Cali swore that Passi looked like e was staring at a particular unpleasant piece of trash. “Fen of the warders, you should be silent before your elders. If I want your opinion, I shall ask for it.”
Fen let out a low growl, but said no more. Passi’s group weren’t hostile to her, but Cali had definitely stepped into an internal conflict. Getting information, and supplies followed by an immediate departure was a tempting proposition.
“As I was saying, before I was rudely interrupted, your presence is a blessing upon our enclave. I ask you to join with us in celebration. You can ask your questions of the primeval ones tomorrow.”
Behind her, Cali heard a roar from the crowd. A celebration. That explained why so many had followed her. This was what they were waiting for.
Fen shot her an apologetic look.
It would be difficult to decline the invitation, surrounded by so many spreiban buzzing with anticipation. So much for an imminent departure. Still, so long as she was careful not to get entangled in their politics, the celebration would give her an opportunity to gain information. Information that she could use to formulate better questions for these primeval ones.
Would accepting Passi’s invitation be used as a confirmation that she was fheadhain? Officially, perhaps not. But in the eyes of all the spreiban gathered her today? Cali had a sinking feeling that it might. Though with the crowd stirred up, she couldn’t really deny the invitation without practically starting a riot.
Hundreds of eager eyes were staring at her, blazing with fervour. She’d just have to find a way to use her status as a ‘fheadhain’ to her advantage. Cali smiled her best gracious smile at Passi, “I would be delighted to accept your hospitality.”
“Splendid, splendid!” Passi grinned, but the smile did not reach her eyes. Passi’s fake smile told Cali all she needed to know; this was going to get messy.
