FicWad

No one moved after everything has settled. It was as though everyone was uncertain as to what to do now. It was one of those moments were all could hear was the crickets and the lone guy coughing in the background.

Again Barkoo seemed unfazed, I was gathering that he was a go with the flow type of guy. Nothing wrong with it but they can be predictably unpredictable. As though on cue, Barkoo gave a chuckle and walked through the crowd over to the tree and collapsed against it, his arms went over his eyes and you would have thought he had been sound asleep for hours.

“Barkoo!” came out from somewhere in tent.

Barkoo shifted his hands, his eyes only slightly visible and his eyebrow raised in query.

“Yeah?”

The crowd of men and women parted as though Moses was among them. A man came striding through them to stand in front of Barkoo. All I could see was long blonde hair with a hint of something else, but I couldn’t make it out from this distance. The sea of people had come together again and all I could see was what was above the crowd.

“What do you think you’re doing?” I heard the man say.

“Well ah, I’m relaxin’ Koba, thought it was obvious. I’m knackered after all that walkin’ and you know creatin’ a tree out of nothin’ and all. Just restin’ me eyes for a tick,” Barkoo replied.

I could have sworn I had heard Ray laugh under his breath but when I looked at him, his face was completely neutral. But I would have bet my mother on it had been him.

I had the smack of flesh hitting flesh and then an ummpff sound. The next thing I saw was Barkoo and the unknown man walking towards us. Now that no one was in the way I could see the man properly.

He was tall but not the tallest there, Ray was slightly taller than him, but compared to me everyone really was considered tall. I had been right about the before, he had long blonde hair that hung all the down to his elbows in a plait. The something else that had confused me before was splashes of blue throughout his hair. And by splashes I don’t mean figuratively, I mean literally. He had flawless pale skin, except for one tiny thing. It looked as though someone has gotten a bucket of water and chucked it into his face, like an unwanted tattoo across his skin. The right side of his face had the most of it covering his eye completely while spreading out like fingers onto the left side. His sea blue eyes glared out of us with contempt.

Now standing in front of us, he crossed his arms showing more patterns of blue across his body. I could now tell as he took a defiance stance against us that his muscles were tightly packed as they contracted. He wore blue tinged leather pants that stretched against his things. A white shirt hang loosely off his chest, gaping slightly revealing even more blue.
As I took him in I could feel his eyes evaluating every inch of me as well. It sent shivers crawling down my neck.

“So you dare bring the likes of her onto our land?” the man said, disgust clear in his voice.
“Shikoba, it’s nice to see you again,” Ray replied.

This seemed to anger Shikoba as he went to advance on Ray, but his blue eyes shifted to the crowd watching and stopped himself. I gazed on as he weighed up the situation. Could he risk attacking Ray and have someone step in to stop him? Could he fight them all? It didn’t take long for his eyes to rest on Barkoo, who stood silently next to Shikoba his eyebrows raised quietly daring him to try it.

It was then that I realised Barkoo had finally come together in front of my eyes. I had to blink a few times before he became completely clear. But once he did I could see why Shikoba was so wary.

Barkoo was a friggin’ tank. I have met some tanks in my life but they would shudder in Barkoo’s shadow. He was easily 7”10 foot tall with dark brown skin, it appeared almost black. His head was bald drawing his attention to his unusual honey gold eyes, as well as the huge gold plugs in his ears. He wore nothing but black leather pants which was the only indication that his skin wasn’t in fact black. A sword hung on his back, the leather strap hanging across his bare chest which was covered in gold tinged scars.

There was no other was to put it. He was built like a brick shit house.

“There is no need for male testosterone to turn this into a pissing match,” came another voice from within the crowd.

Everybody’s attention shifted to the woman now coming up to us. She was a pretty girl was ginger hair and pale skin covered in freckles. Her green eyes smiled at me. She was the first one not to show any contempt, wariness or disgust towards me. I liked her, so far. She was skinny as a stick and wore a green folly dress which showed off her arms that had tightly compacted muscles moving every time she waved her arms around.

She came and stood near me, a nice four inches taller. I was starting to really get a complex about my height.

“Honi, this doesn’t concern you,” Shikoba snapped.

Honi rested a hand on his arm, “Now, now Koba there is no need to be rude. We have a guest-.”

“An intruder,” Shikoba interrupted.

“-A guest,” Honi continued as though Shikoba wasn’t even there, “and Ray has made her walk all this way without a drink. Why don’t you be nice and help-,” Honi stopped and looked at me with a question written all over her face.

I had lost my words, as she had taken me by surprise with her kindness.

“Roe,” Ray said.

“Yeah?” I turned to look at him and he was smiling, “her name is Roe, Honi,” Ray laughed.

Honi smiled back, “Well that’s pretty, Koba why don’t get Roe a drink of water.”

Shikoba just stared at me, than nearly fell flat on his face when Barkoo slapped him on the back.

“Don’t worry about it Koba I’ll get it,” Barkoo said, turning back towards the crowd.
Honi just smiled some more at me, “I guess you’re a little confused and shocked about everything and I doubt whether Ray has explained anything properly to you.”

I opened my mouth to something stupid surely but I wasn’t given the chance, when Shikoba cut in again.

“Why are you here? And why did you bring her?” he demanded.

“Come on Koba, give it a rest,” Honi pleaded.

“Silence!” Shikoba yelled, his focus never wavering from the pair of us.

Honi shock her head, “I’ll see what is taking Barkoo so long.”

“Well?” Shikoba snapped, ignoring her.

“Well what Shikoba? I don’t have to report to you, I am here to see Paleo and Nahsii,” Ray said, his voice tightening at the end.

“You have no right to see the Paleo and I doubt whether he would wish to see you anyway. You disgraced our tribe, for as long as our people have lived not one Saqui Warrior has ever chosen exile over completing the tasks. Not one person till you!” Shikoba sneered.

I felt like I should have been saying something, anything but I was lost as to what would be appropriate to say. I mean what would you say to a bunch of supernatural tree sprouting strangers who are arguing with your partner about see some Paleo thingo. I had no clue!

I was openly staring back and forth the two men when Honi returned with Barkoo and two glasses of water. Honi passed on to me smiling sweetly at me, remaining silent for the first time. She just looked at the glass, asking me with her eyes to drink up while she sipped her.

She had been only nice one so far, so I followed her lead. I put the glass to my nose and sniffed, it smelled like water well actually it smelled like rain. I was a little reluctant still, but I took a sip. It had to have been the nicest tasting water I had ever drunk, so I did the only thing I could do I swallowed the whole thing. When the glass was empty I looked at the bottom longingly, I wanted more. I could feel my mouth start to dry, then my throat. I could imagine the taste of the water and it made the carvings stronger. My head began to feel numb, it was a weird sensation it was like pins and needles in my brain.

I turned daggers on Honi, I had been drugged again. Honi was avoiding my gaze with a sympathetic look on her face. My eyes wanted to close, and my body felt compelled to comply. They wanted sleep and there was nothing I could do to stop them, they were going to close I knew that with absolute certainty. For some reason I knew I had a few more minutes before I would pass out, so I turned to Ray who was still staring at Shikoba. Once again he was completely oblivious to me and my troubles.

“Some warrior he is,” I thought, as I felt the end of my tether dropped heavily to the ground. It took me a couple of seconds before I realised it had been me falling heavily to the ground not my metaphoric tether. I could hear the buzz of voices, Ray shouting angrily, Barkoo trying to calm him and Honi explaining what she’d done. Apparently it was not right to argue about tribe issues in front of outsiders. That wasn’t right, but drugging someone was!

I couldn’t move, I couldn’t talk, my body felt like lead or cement. It was something incredibly heavy and I couldn’t move anything, not an arm or a leg, nothing.

The sound of voices died suddenly, I couldn’t see anything except a light switch hanging in mid-air surrounded in darkness and just like before I just knew that the moment that switch was flicked I would be gone, lost in snooze land.

If things couldn’t get any more bizarre, a crippled old man with a bent spine appeared a little off in the distance. He wobbled closer over to the switch, I could see him cleared now. He looked like a stereotypical old man. He had this wise-ness about it him that was emphasized by a long grey beard that hit the ground tripping the man as he walked, as well as grey hair just as long running down his back. His eyes squinted out at me in between the grey fuzz. He wore a white shawl that covered his entire body, draping along the floor as he shuffled slowly to the switch.

Once he reached it, he stared long and hard at the switch before turning back to look at me. All I could pay attention to were his tri-coloured eyes of green, silver and blue. His eyes reached into my soul and spoke the words I had for some reason been waiting to hear since I had stepped foot onto their blasted land.

Those words rang out into the darkness as though he had shouted them, echoing a louder and louder each time as the old man turned and flicked the switch. The last thing I remember was hearing those words ring in my ears, the sound of them deafening.

“Say goodbye to the world you thought you lived in.”