Chapter Text
Chun glanced around, uneasy at Taka's long absence. He'd wanted to chase after him, but Ayagi's quiet words, spoken without apparent guile, stopped him.
"Let him be. I know you don't trust me, but Taka is used to dealing with problems alone. He's never had anyone to help him. He's upset. Leave him to think it through. He'll see he should stay here, safe."
It was what Chun believed and wanted, so he nodded grudgingly and sat beside Ayagi to wait.
He had no intention of freeing Ayagi from his bonds, but he allowed him to sit up and dangle his feet into the hot spring.
That wasn't a kindness; it made it difficult for Ayagi to stand quickly and Chun had learned caution around his enemies was never misplaced.
"These springs… I heard about places where the water is hot but I thought they were stories like the ones Taka tells around the fire. Women turning to hares, stars coming to the forest looking for a bride… Stories for the children."
Chun didn't reply, but he saw Taka in the flickering light of a fire, shadows leaping on the cave walls, his face intent , animated, as he spun a story in that expressive voice. He would have brought a chill of fear or a ripple of laughter to his audience, investing the most familiar of old tales with something new.
He ached for the years he'd lived without Taka by his side.
Ayagi sighed, kicking his feet and watching the spray fall. "You want to be left alone with him and never see us again. I understand that. It's not for me. I like being part of a tribe, lots going on, plenty of women to smile at me, hunters to watch out for me, safety and a big cave to shelter me…"
Chun stared at the trees. Straining his eyes to see Taka was pointless, but he did it anyway, always keeping part of his attention on Ayagi.
"Is your cave big? Is that where Taka's gone?"
That made Chun smile. "I will never let you inside it so what does it matter?"
"Oh, so you do speak."
Chun turned his head as if to answer, then let his gaze settle on a spot to the left of Ayagi's ear, staring through the man as if he were fog. Ayagi flushed angrily and muttered something Chun didn't bother to listen to.
Taka had been gone a long time…
Too long.
Chun dragged Ayagi from the water and hauled him, fighting, protesting to a tree. He had a long strip of leather around his waist as a belt and he sacrificed it to tie Ayagi to a tree with ruthlessly tight knots Ayagi couldn't reach. If he escaped, well, it would complicate matters, but he would stay where he was for long enough that Chun could get out of earshot.
Blindfolding him made it even safer to take a direct route to the cave, but Chun didn't want to risk that.
Ignoring Ayagi's increasingly wild demands to be freed, he headed back to the smaller cave, then veered away, running fast down to their home, making sure not to leave footprints, wading through a stream when he could, even if it slowed his pace.
The cave was empty. Taka had been here; Chun saw what was missing and felt the silence settle around him.
Taka had gone. The desolation, the loneliness was a blow. He doubled over, his breath coming in harsh, ragged gasps. Taka…captured, hurt, dying, dead…
For a moment, his thoughts were jumbled, panic taking them and scattering them. Then he struck his fist against the rock wall, letting the pain settle him. He licked bruised, split knuckles and then moved.
Water. Drink plenty, carry none. He shoved a chunk of dried meat into his mouth to chew on and searched out his sharpest flint knife, a bow, arrows, a spear, a slingshot, a pouch of pebbles…
A new belt to hang knife and slingshot from, the bow and quiver over one shoulder and the spear in his hand.
Ready.
He hesitated. Ayagi wouldn't last long tied to a tree. That didn't trouble him. He might be useful as a bargaining tool though and letting him die would win him no favors with Taka.
Well, the tree wasn't too far from the path he planned to take.
He reached Ayagi and pulled the blindfold away. "Choose. Come with me and help save Taka or die here."
"Oh, let me go and stop wasting time!" Ayagi snapped, eyes widening as he took in Chun's assortment of weapons.
Chun released him from the tree and then cut the tie binding his wrists. "Keep up with me. Betray me or slow me down and...well, there are plenty of trees and I have more rope."
Ayagi rubbed his hands. "I can move fast and I give you my word I won't betray you but when this is over, I will challenge you, Chun. I will fight and show you no mercy."
"When this is all over…" Chun echoed, wishing it were. He shrugged and prodded Ayagi in the shoulder with the blunt end of his spear. "If Taka's safe, I don't care what you try to do. Now, run."
***
Taka wriggled deeper into the bushes and peered over the edge of the cliff, studying the familiar sight of the tribe at work. He was tired, thirsty and he'd lost much of his enthusiasm for his plan on the way, still more after a cold night shivering under a skimpy fur blanket. He'd made good time, though and there'd been no sign of Chun and Ayagi behind him and they weren't here ahead of him.
He knew that because he saw Usa walking slowly from one group of people to another, still alive, still breathing.
He'd imagined himself striding into the cave, gathering all eyes to him, then daring Usa to strike him down. That seemed doomed. He'd walk in, get some indifferent, incurious looks and Usa would laugh off his accusations, or, worse, shrug, refusing to take him seriously.
Usa looked uneasy, though. Taka followed the man with his gaze, noting small signs of agitation, unusual for someone as calm as Usa. He kept touching the knife at his belt as though he needed the reassurance of a weapon close to hand and when Nana, laughing, got in his way as she chased after a playmate, he snarled and came close to shoving her to one side.
Close. Nana dodged his hand and Usa swerved away, pretending the incident hadn't happened, though he got some disapproving looks from a group of women scraping a hide clean.
A snapped twig, a scuffle—Taka twisted around, panicked, but it was too late. Hands grabbed him, hauled him out of his hiding place and he found himself staring up at cold eyes and grim faces, captured by three hunters from the tribe.
***
Usa watched Taka as he walked forward, the hunters urging him with rough shoves if he slowed or looked around.
The tribe was gathering, a gradual return to the cave as word spread. Soon, anyone close by would be here, watching, listening, but would Taka get the chance to speak?
He doubted Usa would listen, even if Taka talked all night.
Usa sat on the leader's chair, carved from part of a huge tree trunk that had fallen one stormy day, long, long ago, placed on a rock ledge running across the cave. Silver-grey wolf skins lay draped across it and Usa's eyes carried the spirit of the predators he'd killed in their depths.
"So you made it easy for me," Usa said softly. "Tired of running from retribution?"
A murmur rippled around the listening tribe, confused, shocked.
"Oh yes," Usa said, rising to make Taka crane his neck to look up at him. "This is not the gentle healer he pretended to be all this time. He's confessed to killing one who put his trust in those soft, useless hands. Then he fled, turning his back on you all, scared of what his fate would be. He was right to be scared. He's earned death for his actions and I intend to see to it myself since he's returned so brazenly."
Taka set his teeth, drew in a deep breath to steady himself and said calmly, without shouting, "Usa, you are lying to the people you lead and yourself. I have returned because you want to kill me and I will not live my life looking over my shoulder. Tell them all what I did. Let them decide my guilt." Anger rose and so did his voice. "Tell them also how you sent Ayagi to me, his mouth full of lies about an illness here to bring me back. How you planned to capture me and slay me in secret. Tell them—"
Usa nodded, a small dip of his head, and one of the hunters, Hasa, grinning, drove his fist into Taka's stomach, winding him, robbing him of the ability to speak as he doubled over, fighting for air.
Usa waved a hand dismissively. "Lies from a murderer. No one here believes them." It was an order, not a suggestion.
Takumi, Nana's father stood. "Taka is to be trusted. I would like to hear his words." He paused, then added with an edge of sarcasm, "Once he's recovered enough to speak them."
"Yes!" a woman called. "He saved my Kara when she lay sick of a fever. She has born me grandchildren because he sat with her, not sleeping, not eating, trying every remedy he could think of until she opened her eyes again."
More people spoke then, calling out their praise, recalling small kindnesses Taka had forgotten, deeds he'd performed and thought nothing of because it was his job.
The hunters glanced at Usa, then stepped back, merging with the onlookers as if distancing themselves after the show of support for Taka.
Taka sucked in a breath and straightened. "I thank you all," he croaked. He coughed, clearing his throat, and spoke more clearly. "Usa, spare the tribe this ordeal. I couldn't save the man you loved and you hate me for it. I made a mistake in telling you I eased him out of this life through mercy. You think I stole your chance to say farewell. I didn't. You returned too late for that whether I acted or not. Always too late."
Ari? That's what this—Ari… lion…so much blood…long ago…
The murmurs reached Taka through a fog of weariness. This was so sad and so pointless. Why couldn't Usa mourn his loss and honor Ari in so doing instead of plotting this useless revenge?
"I will kill you here and now if you speak his name again," Usa snarled.
Taka drew himself up. "He was my friend too! He never mocked me or teased me. I miss him. I wept for him. And I will speak his name! I will name him! He was Ari. He was my friend. Ari! Ari! Ari!" He broke free of his tiredness and strode toward Usa, pointing at him with a hand that didn't shake because he refused to let it. "I miss him but I am glad he's not alive to see you so lost to reason that you plot to destroy me as if my death would heal your wounds."
An eerie silence fell, as if everyone present had stopped breathing, then a sigh, a babble rose, as people turned to each other, whispering, talking.
No one was watching Usa, but Taka.
No one saw him snatch the knife from his belt or throw it.
No one saw but Taka. He cried out and turned away, instinct spurring his recoil, but the distance between them was too short to let him escape.
The flint knife sunk into his shoulder to the hilt and the pain brought him to his knees. It was all over. He'd lost. Usa would walk over, tear the knife free and finish him before anyone could stop him.
He'd never see Chun again. That realization hurt more than the blade. He put his hand to the hilt and tried to tug it free, not to use against Usa, but to get it out of his flesh, but the agony was too intense.
He wanted to stand; meet death on his feet, not kneeling, passive, weak, but his body had ceased to obey him.
Senses swimming, his blood oozing from the wound to trickle, warm, wet, down his arm, he waited for death.
There was a rush of air, a breeze, sweeping past him, bringing with it the scent of the forest and the ocean. He didn't close his eyes, but he remembered that first glimpse of blue, that endless, sparkling vastness with Chun beside him to anchor him to the earth, so he could look his fill without fear.
Chun had saved him twice now. From the water; from the bear.
Nothing could save him from the wolf. Usa took one step, two, his eyes glittering with anticipation.
Something passed overhead, cleaving the air, a slender shaft, flint-tipped, that struck the ground in front of Usa's feet and dug deep, quivering.
A voice rang out, commanding, cold. "You die today, Usa, leader of the Nitto tribe. By an arrow if you move closer to him or by my hand if you choose to fight me. Which will it be?"
Taka closed his eyes then, smiling.
Chun hadn't been far behind after all.
