Chapter Five

Dedicated to Felina - Mwahahahaha.

The meeting house was dimly lit by tallow candles set on small flat stones.The stones rested on carved wooden sconces positioned every few feet around the room, slightly above head level.The light was dim but sufficient, casting a warm glow down upon the council table at the room's center.The room was filled with murmurs as thick as the tallow smoke that escaped through the thatched ceiling. 

Willa Munroe sat at the head of the long rectangular table, presiding over an assembly of more than a dozen women,seated together nearest those to whom their loyalty belonged.The council was abuzz over her capture of the gray-furred demon at the field.

Now the captive sat in a hut three trees away, under guard of Willa's two most trusted lieutenants, Mira and Cinder Blair.Twin sisters, friends to their leader since childhood, she trusted they could deal with this "Thundercat" should it become quarrelsome.

The question before them now was how to dispose of this demon.Willa allowed her gaze to wander around the table, absorbing the conversations of the assembly.

"It should be burnt, no question of it.Anything less invites a demonic retaliation from it's evil spirit."This came from Latana, the head priestess and Keeper of the Pool.She bore considerable power here, and her words had merit.Also Willa's friend, she had questioned her leader's decisions of late, but never before the council where it could undermine Willa's authority.

"It should be buried in an anthill," said Mariah."A torturous death would serve as a warning to others of it's kind."She was leader of Trades, who fashioned clothing and other necessities from the animals taken by the hunters, as well as earthenware and tools.She had the most to gain, politically speaking, if the field succeeded, since farming would fall under her care as well.She trusted Willa, although Willa sometimes wondered how steadfast Mariah would prove to be in a crisis at the table.

At the far end of the table sat Sarena, leader of the Hunters.Sarena said nothing, instead meeting her leader's gaze with an expression that mingled strength with contempt.Sarena viewed Willa's farming plan as an assault on her power base.Eventually, Willa knew, this would come to trouble.There had been leaders before who fell to an unmarked arrow during hunts...

"I think we should let him go."This pronouncement snapped Willa from her reverie.She looked to her right, at the young girl who had uttered it.

Nayda was Willa's sister.At sixteen she had the right to sit at council, but for one so young to speak in a matter of such import was practically unheard of.The table fell silent as all eyes turned to the newcomer, but Nayda was not one to be easily abashed.

"I've seen this Thundercat," Nayda offered by way of explanation."And he does not resemble the winged devils.He has been well-behaved and made no attempt to escape.I think if we win his favor, perhaps he and his brethren will be our allies."

The attention of the council turned to Willa.Willa addressed her sister, taking care to excise any condescension from her voice."I believe your idea has merit, and we will discuss it at length.Certainly there is no need to decide the creature's fate tonight."Willa slid back her stool, preparing to dismiss the group.

"Hold," came Sarena's voice from across the table.The huntress stood, the light of the tallow lamps giving her dark features a sinister glow.

Willa froze.It was an affront to address the leader of the council in a tone of command.

Then Latana said"You would speak to the council, Sarena?"

"I would," Sarena replied coolly.After a moment, Willa sat back down and nodded her assent.

"We are all familiar with the law," Sarena said."The perfect law handed down by our ancestors when they founded our nation.It is a law which has served our people well for tens of hundreds of years, providing us security and continuity."

Sarena paused, surveyed her audience.Willa felt her blood pressure rise, her pulse begin to beat in her temples.She knew where this was going.

"The law tells us of the demon lord Mumm-Ra, who struck our ancestors from the stars for their pride.It tells how he came to them seven summers later and for their courage gave them these woods for their own."

"'Save this'" she quoted from the Holy Texts "'You may dwell here and take of the creatures and fruit that dwell with you.But neither shall you keep herds to yourselves, nor shall you leave this place to follow the herds.Likewise you may not sow, nor shall you reap, but only take from the bounty the forest shall provide to you.'"

"'Should your people ever violate this holy law, then shall you incur the wrath of Mumm-Ra.And he shall visit curses upon your tribes, and send to you plagues of devils by night.'"

Sarena fell silent, her haughty, accusing eye swept the council as though daring one of them to speak.She nodded to herself, as though making a decision, then pressed on.

"Everyone here knows the dry seasons are hard, but have we hunters failed to provide?Yet we fall into sin, violate our sacred law by sowing seed and tending a crop.Even with the punishment of our iniquity at hand, still we persist in our error."

She focused her gaze on Willa as though drawing down on a cornered animal."How many more, Willa?How many more must die or be carried off in the night before you will repent and burn this accursed field of yours?"

Willa stared at Sarena, struggling to quell the rage that was drawing a red curtain across her eyes.She had known Sarena would challenge her before the council eventually.It was the damned opportunism of it, exploiting the suffering of their sisters for political advantage, that made Willa want to spring across the table and throttle the huntress.

But this was council; fighting was forbidden here.Neither could she ignore Sarena's remarks; that would mean losing face before the other leaders.Even now, as Sarena returned to her seat, they turned their faces towards her, to see how she would answer.

Finally, the leader of the Warrior Maidens stood and addressed her peers."I thank our esteemed huntress for her concern, and her courage to address the council in this time of crisis."

"I, too, am versed in the holy Law.I am familiar with the curse.As leader I have considered these things at length."

"I have also considered our plight before the field," she continued."Our hunters provide, but when the herds move on, there is little remaining for them to take."

"Who among us has not lost an elder or a little one to the lean season?Who cannot remember how our nursing mothers went dry from hunger so their little ones could eat, only to lose their infants for want of mother's milk?"

She paused now, drew a shuddering breath and said, "Who will ever forget this season past, when even the dead were prey for the living, lest we all perished in the famine?"

"The grain from our field may be ground, dried and stored, to give precious nourishment when the dry season comes.If this can save the life of even one of our children, then I will do battle with all the legions of hell to preserve it."

She looked around the group, saw them wavering.Inwardly she grimaced.Only decisive action would restore their resolve.

"As to this demon I captured, it's life is mine, as is the ending of it.Tomorrow, let the creature's head be severed and mounted on a pole in plain sight of the forest floor, to let the rest of these creatures know that the Warrior Maidens will never surrender!"

A cheer broke from the assembly, their fists raised high.Willa smiled magnanimously at them, noting the sullen glare from Sarena and her comrades.

The door to the meeting house flew open.In the entrance stood a stern-faced young woman, holding a bow in one hand and a lit torch in the other.

"They're coming," was all she said, and then she was gone.Willa felt her smile die on her lips as she turned to reach for her own weapons.

The council members left the meeting house and hastened to their positions along the skyways, those wood-and-rope paths suspended between the huts that formed the Maidens' village.They were joined moments later by the rest of the Warrior Maidens, until the platforms strained with the weight of the archers, standing only a few feet apart in places.

Runners raced among them, torches in hand, lighting the braziers set into the trunks of the great trees.Soon, only the great open area at the village's center remained in shadow.

Willa stood outside the meeting house, Nayda beside her.She watched her warriors form up into phalanxes with overlapping fields of fire, yet little chance of accidentally striking each other.Her heart filled with pride for her people, to face this terror with such indomitable spirit and courage.

Already she could hear the hum of the devils' approach.She knocked an arrow to her bow and drew the string back to her jaw.The evening was cool, yet sweat ran in rivulets down her face and body.Waves of adrenaline made her heart clench spasmodically in her chest.The muscles of her arms and shoulders burned with the strain of maintaining the draw, but she could not relax it, dared not relax it.One shot might be all she'd have.

The humming grew louder.She looked to her left, saw Nayda similarly arrayed, her jaw set in fierce determination.Willa loved her sister fiercely, had raised her since their mother had perished in the dry season famine.This is for you, little sister, she thought.All for you.

The hum filled the air all around the village, making it impossible to detect the direction from which the attack would come.All around the skyways wide eyes struggled to pierce the gloom, aided only by the dim light of the tree-tar torches, violating the cool, pure air of the forest canopy with their acrid smoke.

Something moved in the air, just beyond the light.Willa loosed her arrow at it.From the distant right, she heard a shriek of horror, saw two forms struggling on the skyway before both tumbled over the hand rope and fell into the darkness.

Now the air filled with darting, half-seen shapes.Across the tree-top village, the Warrior Maidens fired their bows at the shadowy figures.Three, then six of the quick-moving targets fell from the air with high-pitched, tinny cries.

Willa knocked and fired two shafts simultaneously.Her target juked out of the path of the first arrow and into the line of the second.Impaled, it struggled to stay airborne another moment before falling to the distant earth below.As she knocked another arrow she heard a scream from her left.She spun, raising her bow.

Nayda was under attack by a thing from out of a child's nightmare.Her bow lay on the skyway, dropped or knocked from her hand.The creature had seized her body with four black clawed limbs, tearing clothing and flesh as they dug into her.It's upper two legs slashed at the girl's face forcing her to raise her hands to ward off the blows, leaving her lower body exposed vulnerable.

The creature's long black, thickly-veined wings beat at the night air, pulling the girl off the platform.From the end of it's teardrop-shaped abdomen emerged a needle-like stinger, as long as man's finger.

The creature's lower body snapped forward, driving the sting into the center of the struggling girl's belly.Nayda's legs locked straight as arrow shafts, even as a gurgling scream tore itself from her lungs.The insect's nether region pulsed obscenely as it drained it venom gland into the screaming girl's abdomen.

"NAYDA!" Willa shrieked, and loosed her arrow at the monster.In the instant her fingers slid from the bowstring, the hum of the devils suddenly roared into her ear.The creature slammed into her, driving her back against the wall of the meeting house, knocking her bow from her grip.

"NO!" she screamed as she flailed her fists at the creature, tearing the skin from her hands against it's hard outer shell.She felt it's hook-like claws dig into the flesh of her sides as it pulled her into it's deadly embrace.

The demon struck at her face.She reached out and caught those failing limbs, and in that moment she locked eyes with the creature.In those eyes she saw a malevolence beyond that of any animal.She sensed this thing was aware, that intelligence dwelled within behind those black honeycomb eyes.This was not the clean battle of predator and prey, but murder, and this Godforsaken thing was going to enjoy killing her.

The demon reversed Willa’s grip, seizing her wrists.She cried out in pain as the cruel claws sank into the soft tissue of her arms.She looked down and saw the creature’s sting slide slowly, sensuously, from it’s nether region.A globule of syrupy white venom was suspended on the tip, as if in anticipation.

The sting snapped forward.

Willa screamed.

Continued...