To the Clans of the Redstone, taking in the flesh and blood of their Totem animals was an important act- it connected them on an intimate and personal level. Not only did it create a symbolic bond between them, those of the Clans found their bodies changing, taking on some of the characteristics of their Totems.
In the strictest sense, those from the Clans were something more than human, and the more they ate, the more they changed, deviating further and further from humanity. An unspoken but emphatic rule existed in cautionary tales told in each Clan: that you only hunted one adult in your lifetime, lest you lose your humanity. There was a Dragon Clan story, a man who had eaten from the flesh of several dragons. He’d grown wings himself. He’d also lost his sense of humanity and disappeared; more dragon than man.
Sheilah’s flame blazed white-hot, lighting up the evening glow of the city into daylight. It seared across the street, melting the stone in a glassy streak.
Fialla’s eyes widened at the molten stream of fire that blasted out from Sheilah. It punched through the building housing the women, melting stone like candle-wax, turning the giants she could see into ash as they were caught in the wake of her flame.
The collapsing building still burned, its stone melting and puddling, a furious heat baking off of it like the sun in noontime summer.
Fialla was both in awe and jealous of Sheilah’s blast. She herself could only produce a jet like Sheilah’s father had demonstrated- a short-ranged jet of flame- something that could likely kill one of the giants if it was aimed directly at the monster’s face.
Such power came at a price, however: Sheilah immediately collapsed, emaciated and trembling.
Fialla grabbed her friend, feeling the weak and thready pulse in the girl’s wrist as she went completely limp.
What did Sheilah need? Food? Water? Air? Rest?
What she needed was to get out of there. Fialla wasn’t certain how many giants were left, but the two of them needed to leave, and quickly. She shouldered Sheilah’s bow briskly as she heard the howls and strange, thunderous tongue of the giants as they rushed towards the conflagration, and got her shoulder under Sheilah’s and pulled her away in the shadows.
She took a scant second to take in Sheilah’s condition; the girl was limp, unconscious, stick-thin as if she hadn’t eaten well in months. Fialla tried to get Sheilah to her feet, but the human girl couldn’t stand on her own. Sheilah was much too big to carry in her arms. It was possible Fialla could carry Sheilah on her back, but for her to do that, she wouldn’t be able to use either Sheilah’s bow or her own spear.
You live and die by your own strength.
Will you catch me if I fall, sister?
You live and die by your own strength.
Will you catch me if I fall, sister?
Fialla’s expression twisted in anguish.
So much of the lifestyle of the Clans revolved around independence. Self-reliance. The certainty that if you got in over your head, you were on your own. If you fell down, it fell to no one but yourself to pick yourself up.
By all rights, Fialla should abandon Sheilah, walk away and not look back. There was no reason to not just walk away. If she did, she could use her spear. If she did, she could use Sheilah’s bow, take the other girl’s quiver. Fialla’s chances of survival would be more realistic.
But Sheilah had asked. She’d asked.
Fialla, after several moments in agonized reflection carefully propped Sheilah against the side of one of the giant’s buildings, and then hefted her spear, and climbed the side of the building, nimble as a cat.
She peeked out at the swarm of giants that roared and jabbered in their incomprehensible tongue. There was a scalding hiss and a burst of steam as one of them tossed a bucket of water, trying to douse the flames. More giants appeared with buckets, each trying to quench the blaze that burned stone.
Fialla slid back down, propped Sheilah up, hoisted the taller girl onto her back, and scuttled into an alley that was dim and shadowy.
Sheilah had asked, after all.
Fialla took a break- Sheilah was larger than her and unwieldy, but not heavy enough to cause the smaller girl concern- and went through the girl’s pouches. She found a small sack of honey candies- She had no idea how Sheilah had come by them- tucked one in Sheilah’s mouth and one in her own, hoisted the girl up, and continued moving towards the outer edges of the city, specifically to the food store the girls had claimed as their own.
Sweat trickled down Fialla’s face as she marched grimly, moving from shadow to shadow, building to building. She ignored the burning in her arms and legs, the ache in her back as she carried Sheilah.
When Fialla arrived at the warehouse, Neera eyed Fialla with wide eyes. “What happened out there? What’s with that fire?!”
“What do you think?” Fialla replied. “The Dragon Clan happened.” She replied as she rested Sheilah on the floor of the warehouse. “I thought you were supposed to take the cart out of the city?” She prompted.
Neera let out a breath that sounded more like a hiss. “The giants were on the move, so I couldn’t. I was just about to, when you arrived.”
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Fialla nodded. “Help me get her on the cart, then.”
The two girls got Sheilah into the cart, who still hadn’t woken up.
“I’ll take one of the cart grips, you take the other.” Fialla offered as she jumped down beside the Horned Snake Girl.
Neera immediately frowned. “Night’s nearly here. I’m not going out there at nighttime. If you want to try, I’ll wish you well, but...”
Fialla sighed. Each Clan’s gifts were different. Dragons had no problem seeing at night, but it might not be easy for the Horned Snakes.
“Is it because you can’t see, or is it because you’re tired?” Fialla asked directly. Neera immediately looked away from Fialla. “I’m tired.” She complained.
Fialla eyed the contents of the cart: A barrel of water, a barrel of some type of alcohol, some boxes of fruits and vegetables, meats and cheeses, cloth, and the materials Fialla, Neera, and Sheilah had collected from their Ashlands hunt.
She pulled out the fabrics from the boxes, and wrapped Sheilah up in them to keep her warm. She broke off a piece of cheese and stuffed it into her mouth and jolted. It tasted completely different from the sharp goat cheese she was used to. It seemed richer, somehow. Tastier.
She ran her finger through Sheilah’s mouth; it seemed the girl had eaten the candy at some point. Fialla nodded. Good, she was still alive. She trickled a little water into the girl’s mouth and watched as she reflexively swallowed.
She nodded again, and grabbed the great handholds on the cart experimentally. It would be difficult to drag it. The thing was made for someone much, much taller than she was.
...if only Sheilah was awake. She’d find a way. Sheilah could do anything.
Fialla grabbed one of the handholds on the cart and began to drag it out of the city. With the fire to keep the giants busy, there was no problem at all getting out of the city. There was a sense of irritation with Neera, who had decided she was either unwilling or unable to pull the cart herself, but Fialla focused her attentions to putting one foot in front of the other, dragging the giant cart forward, step by step.
Fialla was young, strong, well-fed and well-rested. More, she carried the blood of a Dragon in her veins. She heaved and struggled, dragged and hauled the cart up the mountain. Sweat gushed from every pore. Her limbs throbbed, ached, burned. She refused to give up in front of a Horned Snake.
Once they were on the path, Neera sighed, earning a particularly barbed look from Fialla, since the girl had done nothing at all to help.
“Finally. We can have a campfire and some real food.” Neera offered.
“Did your wits escape you?” Fialla argued, and then pointed down at the giant’s city, which still burned.
“They’re probably very pissed off about what we did. The moment a campfire goes up where they can see-” She let it go. Neera probably knew it, too.
She climbed up on the handcart, gave Sheilah more food and water, and then lay down next to the girl and fell asleep, her knife close at hand, her spear within reach.
When Fialla woke up, Neera was gone. She expected as much. Neera wanted to get home as quickly as possible, to craft her own weapons, to show her proof of adulthood.
Fialla kindled a small fire, and cooked a broth made of meat and vegetables they’d liberated. After it had cooled, she fed Sheilah, who was able to swallow, which was a relief to the half-elven girl. Really, Fialla wanted to pump her as full of food and drink as quickly as possible so that Sheilah could at least be up and around and able to talk.
She ate her own meal and drank some broth, resolutely not thinking about the immeasurably long journey home. She made water, buried the fire, and began dragging the cart along the path the giants had created. The ground would be rocky and probably untenable further along, but she could at least hope that Sheilah would be up and about by then.
It was midday when Neera reappeared, looking bashful and ashamed.
“I’m sorry. I thought I’d...” She shook her head. “I’m sorry. Let me help.”
Fialla nodded, and the two of them dragged the cart around the mountain.
Neera pointed at a slope that looked like an easy downward grade. “I think that would work, if we turned the cart around and then held on to it as it went down. What do you think?”
Fialla nodded. “I’m going to feed Sheilah first, and drink some water.”
Neera nodded.
Sheilah’s eyes were cracked open when Fialla climbed up on the cart. “Decided to wake up?” Fialla asked her, but got no response. She poked some food and broth into her, drank some herself, nodded to Neera, and eased the cart down the mountain.
There was still the plains, which was littered with volcanic jets, but she figured that they could get through it if they were careful. If they could get through it, then all that was left was the narrow passes into the Redstone Valley.
As they started planning their trip across the valley, a few of the kids- young adults- from the other clans caught up to them. Naturally, the story on everyones’ lips was the burning city of the giants.
“Will you help us get the cart to the Redstone Valley?” Fialla asked, and they nodded.
With their help, they were able to get through the passes and into the Redstone. The others decided that their duty to the Clan of the Dragon had been discharged, so they left, including Neera.
Fialla sat on the cart for a while, trying to sort out her feelings; a hot, jumbled mess of anger, frustration, disappointment and despair.
There was no way she would be able to wrestle the cart all the way back to the Dragon Terrace by herself. There were places in the Redstone that were much too narrow. There was no smooth, even ground. In retrospect, the cart had been a terrible idea, more trouble than it was worth.
She was suddenly filled with a spiteful hatred towards Sheilah. How could she just burden her like this? Force her to care for the stupid girl that didn’t even know how to use her power correctly?
Stupid, spiteful bitch.
Fialla tried to squash the feelings in her heart, but she suddenly realized she couldn’t. Suddenly everything pissed her off. All of her emotions were erupting, all at once, and each one flowered into anger and fury. She petulantly punched the cart, and a hard, splintery delight erupted in her, hot and savage, and she vented her spleen on it, punching, kicking and clawing at it with her long black nails while she panted and growled.
She came back to herself as she realized she was trying to bite one of the slats on the cart- what was she doing?- and then she threw her head back and screamed out her frustrated rage, letting out a jet of fire that soared to the heavens before shivering apart into sparks and embers.
She stumbled back away from the cart, feeling weak and numb, limbs rubbery, her head feeling hot, loose and empty, as if it might detach itself from her body and drift away.
She stumbled and sat down abruptly, all the strength gone from her limbs.
“Oh.” She muttered through numb lips. “I made a mistake.”