Richard Tuttle - Web of Deceit

“All right,” conceded Rejji. “Being here doesn’t bother me all that much. I just feel bad for getting you two involved. It is me they are after.”

“Why are they after you?” posed Mistake. “I really can’t believe that the fourth bandit could see the mark on your palm. It was dark and you were holding your sword. Plus he was the farthest away from you. He was far enough away that my dagger missed its mark. It doesn’t make sense. Maybe this demon they are searching for has a mark like yours.”

“I don’t think they are after any demon,” Rejji responded. “That is just a tale to scare the villagers. They want me for killing Diakles.”

“I could agree with you,” nodded Bakhai, “except that Mistake has a point. How do they know about the mark?”

“Only two things I can think of,” frowned Rejji. “I lost my gloves At the Pikata estate when they took our clothes, so everyone in Fardale probably knows about the mark. We know that Grulak has spies in Khadora. Suppose one of them is in Fardale? If the Jiadin know I am gathering information for Lord Marak, they will want to kill me for that. They would not only know about the mark and my description, but they would also know where we are every night.”

“What is the other?” asked Bakhai.

“The other is Wyant,” continued Rejji. “He saw my mark the day I was captured and the Zaldoni have joined with the Jiadin. It could have been one of Wyant’s men wearing his new red scarf that got away the night Diakles was killed. He might have recognized me and told Wyant and Wyant knows about the mark.”

“I would go with the first,” offered Mistake. “The four Jiadin who attacked us appeared to already be looking for someone. I don’t think it was a chance encounter. It was like they knew approximately where to find us. I think they were looking for us, and I mean us. We are in this together Rejji.”

“This is making me dizzy,” complained Rejji. “Perhaps we should hold off on reports to Fardale for a while. Let’s get some sleep and talk more about this in the morning.”

Bakhai threw some more vines on the fire and the trio bedded down for the night. The sounds of the jungle were alien and sleep did not come easy for the Fakarans. Only the exhaustion of a long, hard day allowed them to eventually drift off.

Bakhai awoke to the feeling of something crawling across his arm. He bent his head and saw a large red spider crawling towards his shoulder. With his other hand, he swiftly knocked the spider off and rolled away from it. He managed to wake up Mistake and Rejji with his abrupt motions, but nobody spoke. Bakhai pointed to the spider, which was now slinking away. Mistake and Rejji nodded and closed their eyes again in an effort to return to sleep. Bakhai took the opportunity to grab some more vines and toss them on the smoldering fire. When he did so, there was a large crash and a scream in the jungle. The three Fakarans all sat up swiftly.

“My trip wire,” whispered Bakhai.

Rejji grabbed for his sword as Mistake rolled away and came up in a crouch, her hands filled with knives.

The three Fakarans stood motionless for a few moments waiting for another noise, but the jungle was silent of any nearby danger. Rejji reached down and retrieved a large vine section from the fire and held it aloft. The glow only extended out a few paces, but Rejji hesitantly stepped towards the area the noise had come from. Bakhai and Mistake followed him closely. They proceeded about twenty paces from the clearing when Rejji halted and held the vine-torch higher. There on the ground was a creature the size of Mistake. It had smooth leathery skin and an odd orange tuft on the top of its head. It had two legs and arms like a human, complete down to its toes and fingers. It appeared to be unconscious and Rejji raised his sword to finish it off before it woke up.

“No,” shouted Bakhai as he rushed forward. “What are you doing?”

“I was going to kill it before it wakes up and attacks us,” Rejji replied sheepishly.

“Why?” Bakhai asked rhetorically. “It hasn’t harmed us. You must learn not to go around killing things just because you don’t understand them. Help me get it back to the fire, Mistake. I think it might be hurt.”

“Are you sure, Bakhai?” questioned Mistake. “Can’t we just let it go?”

Bakhai glared at Mistake and she shoved her daggers into their sheaths and grabbed the feet of the creature. Bakhai carefully lifted under the arms and they carried it back into the clearing. Bakhai sat next to the fire and held the creature across his lap while he examined the head.

“It has quite a bruise,” frowned Bakhai. “I feel responsible for putting up that vine.”

“I don’t understand,” puzzled Rejji. “You kill animals every day. Why is this one special?”

“I kill to eat,” explained Bakhai. “As does every other animal. I don’t kill for pleasure or because I don’t understand another animal. If the animals reacted as you did tonight, I would not be here. I am sure I was strange and alien to them when they found me. They took me in and nurtured me. They taught me and raised me as one of their own. Why is that so hard to understand?”

“Oh, it is so cute,” chirped Mistake as she saw it in the firelight. “I wonder what it is?”

“Cute?” Rejji echoed, his eyebrows rising in disbelief. “It has orange hair, if that is what that is. And practically no mouth. Look how sharp those ears are.”

“Hand me a water flask,” ordered Bakhai. “I want to revive it.”

Bakhai took a water flask from Mistake and held it to the tiny mouth. When he tried to drip a little water into the mouth it rolled down the creature’s cheek.

“See if you can open its mouth a little, Rejji,” ordered Bakhai. “I can’t seem to get any water into it.”

Rejji sheathed his sword and returned the vine-torch to the fire. He moved around Bakhai and placed his fingers on the creature’s mouth. As he spread it open, Mistake screamed and Rejji jumped backwards.

“Oh no,” wailed Mistake. “Oh no. Get rid of it now. Get it out of here. Did you see those teeth? That thing doesn’t eat berries. Those teeth would rip through bone.”

Just then the jungle floor pounded as something huge approached. A loud growl ripped through the air and the trio was frozen in terror. The pounding came louder and closer and before they could recover, a huge creature stood at the edge of the clearing. The creature was twice the height of the little one in Bakhai’s lap and much, much wider. Its skin was also leathery, but tough and wrinkled. It had large ears that hung off at angles, like small flags, and a large bulbous nose. The most prominent feature of its face though was huge mouth that spanned almost the entire width of the face. The mouth was open like the entrance to a cave and its teeth were long and sharp. It didn’t appear happy.

“Still think bringing the small one back here was a good idea?” asked Rejji as he started to slowly slide his sword out of the sheath.

“It was hurt,” Bakhai said defensively. “And I wouldn’t react that way if I were you. It was my trip vine that caused it to get hurt. I should at least try to help it recover.”

“That’s the mother, isn’t it?” trembled Mistake. “Can you talk to it? Explain that we meant no harm. Tell her we were trying to help her young one? Can’t you do something?”

“I could try to explain,” nodded Bakhai as he stared at the large creature, which was just standing at the edge of the clearing glaring at them. “The problem is that I don’t know what species to imitate. I have never seen a creature like this. I don’t know where to begin. Maybe it can sense that we mean to help and not harm her young one. She hasn’t attacked us yet.”