Evaluations of the Tribe Page 19

  Given she was outnumbered and surrounded, she knew her only chance for survival was to take her predators where she wanted. Aly noticed the sticks and twigs weren’t as dense on the right as they were on her left. She tightened the cloth in her ponytail before leaping for a tree two meters away.

  When she landed on the designated branch, her stomach’s growl made her entire body shake. She squatted down and rubbed her belly, wondering how long it had been since she last ate a decent meal. She checked what little sunlight was coming through the old leaves and swore; it was lunchtime back in Kutenbrya. The mastra eyed a healthy tree with large orange fruits about the size of her head right across from her.

  She sniffed, and the stench made her spit. Back home, the air was filled with the aroma of flower petals and fresh fruit seeds. Kutenbrya smelled of Shanvi’s oven, families baking fresh bread, warmth and comfort. Here, there was nothing beyond the pungency of what used to be – rotten wood, an animal decaying several stories beneath her, feces – they overpowered everything. Still, Aly’s mouth salivated at the richness in the food’s color, and every bit of her wanted to forget about caution and take the risk.

  The Little One knew whoever was tracking her was thinking the same thing and probably using the tree as bait. That didn’t take away her appetite, though. She was so hungry, and the food was just a hop away. She cursed herself for being weak-minded, took two steps back, and jumped over to the tree bearing fruit.

  She landed on a branch that even a five-year-old wouldn’t have tried hopping onto. The wood snapped, and Aly immediately grabbed the nearest branch as she fell. The broken one crackled all the way down before it hit the ground.

  Stupid. Jumping like that with an estimated twenty meters separating her from the ground could have been fatal, even for a Goolian. Basic bodily desires were making her irrational, and now her silence was broken. If they weren’t onto her before, they definitely were now.

  A prickle in the back of the mastra’s neck got more intense as she looked at the nearest fruit dangling across from her. The Little One thought it was only an arm’s distance away, but growled when her fingertips were only close enough to graze the food. She shot her tongue out instead, wrapped it around the fruit, and pulled it to her lips.

  She then dropped down to a lower branch and sunk her teeth into the food as she squatted. She didn’t wipe the juice from her chin or spit out the seeds. Even then, she couldn’t enjoy the sweet-and-sourness of the fruit, since she kept glancing from left to right. And just when she looked to the left for the fourth time, Aly dove off the branch.

  A yellow beam struck where she had been squatting, smashing into the tree and disintegrating wood the second it struck. Aly didn’t look back, but took off at full speed, changing her altitude and direction with every leap. She heard one of the predators close in on her, aim, and punch a tree when she didn’t have a clear shot.

  “No good,” she heard a voice say. “Get her!”

  Aly didn’t care who was chasing her, or who the message was for. Her heart felt like it was pumping thrice as fast and her sense receptors were on full alert. The other feet chasing after her sounded like hooves galloping closer. The strong and musty smell of the moss on the trees was now overpowered by her own body odor.

  Before now, Aly wondered how many others were left, but at that very instant, the only thing that mattered was making it out. Her spine tingled again, and when she shifted to the right, another yellow beam zipped by. She couldn’t tell if she was going north or northwest anymore, but that didn’t matter at the moment. She just needed to make sure she’d still be around to analyze her course later.

  Aly kept switching between all fours and bipedal as she swung, flipped, and soared across the trees, not caring about the scratches her bare arms and thighs were getting as she ran into thicker terrain.

  She moved so blindly and desperately, she almost ran right into another female Goolian. Aly stopped breathing and time slowed to a halt as Catty, the one she bumped into, raised her hand and aimed at her head. Spine still tingling, Aly dove off the tree to the right.

  “Fire,” she yelled as she fell into some vines. “Be damned, fire!”

  Catty shot two beams and Aly didn’t move another muscle as she watched another pair of shots go the same direction. Seconds later, a shriek, and then another shriek filled the thick air. The two stared at each other, not saying a word, too fearful of the possible consequences in breaking silence.

  Aly stood back up and got behind a tree. Catty charged her hand again and waited. They stood still for an entire minute until Catty held her hand up.

  “Hold,” the orange-tented mastra whispered. “Two are still engaged.”

  Aly switched her vision to infrared, and saw Requai and Glani’s forms perched on branches a few meters ahead, as expected. She then pulled herself out of the vines and unsheathed the two sparring sticks she was allowed to take with her. When she was about to search the remaining pair out, Catty shook her head at her. Aly, however, shrugged and went ahead.

  “Pache,” Catty said through her teeth. “Get back here this instant, fool.”

  Aly held up a finger, indicating she’d be right back. Glani covered her eyes and sat up on her branch.

  “She goes at it again, for the second time,” she whispered to Requai. “Reckless.”

  “The dummy shall be the end of us,” Requai added. “We should have known better than to bring an ill-tempered Sungstra along. They best include ‘irrational’ as being another symptom. Come; we best not linger behind for long.”

  Two Young Ones had Catty’s team in their sights, thanks to infrared. From what they could tell, two Little Ones in the back were moving to the side while another one was moving straight toward them. They figured the latter one must’ve been homesick and wanted to go home for being so careless. The lone Goolian coming straight for them hopped out of cover, and one of the Young One switched her vision to normal so she could see who the idiot...

  “Uh oh.” She stepped back. “Quickly! The one that approaches directly is to be Aly!”

  Before she could say anything else, Aly switched to quad form and charged. The mastra fired two rounds, and Aly zigzagged around them like dankerballs. Ten meters.

  “I cannot hit her,” the Young One said with a trembling voice. “Help!”

  Her partner, a master, squatted down beside her on the same branch and fired with her. Even with twice the amount of firing coming, Aly kept closing in. Five meters.

  “Be damned, she be quick!” the master said. “This be unfair! How are we to––”

  Aly tossed one of her sticks into the air. She leapt off a branch, tucked her arms in, and spun. The Young Ones panicked, and without thinking, shielded their faces. Aly kicked her stick mid-air and the end of it rammed into the lad’s side. He bent over, mouth gaped open, and then fell off the tree.

  “Bewi!” the other Young One cried.

  She fired crazily at Aly, who still moved around the shots like water. Before the Young One knew it, Aly was looking her right in the face, her pupils widening, the corner of her mouth smirking deviously. She raised the one stick over her head in both hands, and swung.

  “I yield!”

  Aly stopped, the entire front of her stick only a breath away from breaking the mastra’s nose. “What?”

  “I-I yield. I know when I am bettered. I am outnumbered four to one and outmatched by your skill. With that, I yield.”

  “Aw, be damned. Truly!” Aly sheathed her weapon and pulled what looked like a notepad out of a pouch wrapped around her waist.

  The other mastra did the same, taking the time to jot down the same information. As the two wrote, Catty, Requai, and Glani approached them, Catty looking just as irritated as Aly.

  “Um, if I may, who were the other two we took out in your group, Pavuia?” Aly asked.

  “Havi and Kunkai.” The Young One tossed her pad to Catty to confirm the information given was legitimate. She then pulled out a pouch
of what looked like white paint, dipped her hand in it, and slapped her arm, leaving her print around it.

  “Joquin was on our team as well. I suppose the coward set tail when he realized who the lot of you were. And thus we are out of the Evaluations. I shall make sure the others mark themselves.”

  Catty copied the info given into her own notepad. “Ah, the others. I think I saw Bewi take a fall. Is he well?”

  “Help!” a voice cried out. “I beg, I am stuck!”

  The mastras looked at each other and shrugged. Catty leaned over and cupped her hands in front of her mouth.

  “Perhaps we should leave him be,” she hollered. “It may very well be a trap, yes?”

  “Just shut up and relieve me of this wretched pache, Catty. Now!”

  The girls laughed as they followed the lad’s voice.

  Aly whistled. “He seems upset.”

  “Would you not be as well, if you just lost to a group of younger folk?” Catty asked. “Ah, there he be.”

  Bewi was tangled in some vines and dangling above the ground. Everyone had to swat away moss and mosquitoes before reaching him. After a minute of pulling and tugging, the master was able to squirm onto a nearby branch. Catty examined his side. Aly’s weapons weren’t meant to be lethal, but they could still do some damage.

  The Sungstra leaned in to examine her handiwork. “Does it hurt to breathe?”

  “I shall say.” Bewi coughed. “I fear you may have broken a rib.”

  “Oh. Apologies.” She turned around so she could straighten her face.

  Requai and Glani saw the grin, however. Glani shook her head at the other mastra, and Requai crossed her arms and tightened her lips.

  Catty pulled out some ointment and rubbed the master’s side with it. “She got you good, yes?” She slapped Bewi’s sore spot.

  “Stop it. It aches.”

  The six turned around and looked up when they heard movement overhead. Aly and Glani climbed up so the other two Young Ones wouldn’t have to move more than they had to. One fell right into Aly’s arms the second she got close enough, while the other hobbled over to Glani. Aly unwrapped the bandage the mastra had made around her left thigh and covered her mouth as she sat her down.

  “I fear you may have put an excessive amount of being in one of your shots, Catty,” Aly hollered. “Kunkai has a burn on the thigh that seems a little severe.”

  Catty hopped up to the branch and made Aly squat down so she could inspect the injury herself.

  “Ooh,” she said, cringing. “Apologies, Mastra. Does it hurt badly?”

  “Only when I am to move too much. Thus I doubt I shall be able to travel quickly through the trees.”

  Before she could say anything else, Catty hopped back and aimed over Kunkai’s shoulder. The Young One ducked and gave the Little One a clear shot at Joquin.

  “Truth’s Grace!” He leapt off the branch and ran away.

  “Why, of all the spineless acts,” Bewi said as he slung his arm around Puvuia’s shoulder. “Apologies, Mastras. We shall catch him and bring him home prior to him troubling you anymore. And thus, here’s to a long trip back to the tribe, yes? You four did well in bettering us. Thus I would appreciate it if one of you in the group makes it the entire way. Truly, I would not feel so bad in losing, then.”

  “We shall try, Master,” Catty said. “Come, Mastras. We best be off.”

  When they got a good distance away, Catty rubbed her cheek to see if the cut she got before the last confrontation was still running. It was deep, and she didn’t have enough time to mend it properly when she heard Aly running through the trees. Her face was dirtier than Aly’s, but her clothing wasn’t as torn as Glani and Requai’s. That was what they got for wearing lighter attire.

  Glani pulled out her pad and checked her numbers. “So, if we are to tally up, I have gotten four so far. What about the rest of you lot?”

  “Eight,” Aly said. She paused and checked her own records. “Goodness. It seems we are now down to half!” She pounded fists with Catty before pointing a finger in the mastra’s face. “I told you that my playing as bait was to be a grand idea. Thus you owe me two coins once we return home.”

  Catty swatted the finger away. “Whatever. Be that as it may, I must insist that what you did was reckless, Aly.”

  Requai and Glani both slowed down on cue, placing more distance between themselves and the debate that was about to ensue. Aly’s ears were already shooting straight up, ready to protest.

  “Pardon, yet I saw easy openings, and thus I took them. Surely you would have done the same.”

  “Nay, I would have held back and maintained a safe distance and awaited––”

  “I cannot maintain a ‘safe distance,’ as you lot do, Cattalice. For I cannot control my being. Thus is why I closed in. Truly, it was not my wish to have the rest of you expose yourselves too greatly and jeopardize your well-beings.”

  “Yet you should not have jeopardized your own on our account. There be three more who fight alongside you. We could have at least offered you support by cover fire.”

  “I had it under control!”

  Requai broke the two up. “Have you two imbeciles lost your wits? We must already make distance due to the confrontation we had with the other group, yet you would direct the entire remaining half of people to this direction due to your bickering. And should I remind you that the remaining number of contestants is thirty and two?”

  “She speaks well,” Glani said, looking around the area via infrared. “For the moment being, why not enjoy the fact that there be one less group to trouble over?”

  Aly hopped down to the ground level and marched off.

  Glani rubbed her forehead before dropping down as well. “Truth’s Grace. Alytchai, I beg, do not be so sensitive. Wait for me!”

  Catty was so fumed with anger, she did all her breathing through her nose. Still, that didn’t stop Requai from giving her a maternal look.

  “I already know what this one is to say,” Catty said as she hopped across the branches. “And I am in no mood to hear such.”

  “Then suffer. You know her better than any of us, thus why are you the one to provoke her temper? Do you desire to have her go berserk and end us all? And it was you who insisted that she be on our team when she was deemed safe enough for the task! Thus, why am I, of all people, to defend her? You know she cannot help it, especially since she has no idea of her condition.”

  Catty stopped and spun around. “That be a load of pache, Requai. Aly is merely a Sungstra, not some crazed idiot. The tribe expects nothing less from her, thus why should we? While you try to play nice and ‘sympathize’ with her, she needs to be treated equally and scolded for misdoings, just as the rest of us. Anything else?”

  “If this one wishes to play the noble leader, why not spare the hypocrisy, show-off?”

  Catty sighed, not wanting to argue anymore. She shivered when a breeze brushed through the forest.

  “It gets late, thus we best set camp...if you think it best.”

  Requai grinned. “Indeed, I do. I shall talk to her as well during her watch.”

  * * *

  Catty found Aly near the treetops, stuffing her mouth with dets, yellow fruits about the size of an acorn, while watching the single moon brighten over the mountains that evening. She sat behind her cross-legged.

  “Hungry?” Aly held out a det as she turned around.

  “Nay, not really. My thanks.”

  “We can go without sustenance for days, yet you best have something on the stomach prior to the morrow.”

  “So says the one who skipped breakfast this very morning, yes?”

  “We were on a trail providing little food, and you lot were in need of what we managed to scavenge more than I. That be all.”

  Aly was about to pop another det in her mouth, but jolted when Catty snapped the fruit out of her hand with her tongue, eating it for herself.

  “And what manners you have.” Aly rested her head agains
t the tree. “Thus I take it you have arrived for my apology.”

  Catty sat up. “I stand by what I said, Mastra. You be my best friend, and thus I see it as an obligation to tell you what you need to hear, even if it does not appease your ears. Be that as it may, if this one is confident in her stance, then I respect––”

  “By Truth’s Grace, I apologize, very good? Enough of the guilt trip from the three of you, I beg! You were in the right. Happy?”

  Catty leaned back and grinned. “Very.”

  “Hate you dearly.”

  “I know.” The mastra blew and watched her breath float across the chilled air. “So, what crosses your mind today? This one gazes upon the moon as if she has not ever seen it before.”

  “Nay, I merely wonder about the usual. Nothing more.”

  “We are milos away from home in unknown territory, finally taking part in what was to be your obsession for years, and even now, this one daydreams about aliens.”

  Aly just shrugged.

  “Then I suppose I can, at most, enlighten you.” Catty got on her knees and rubbed her bare arms. “Surely you have not heard this one, nay? Do you know that many people think we are related to some of the aliens? Seems bizarre, does it not?”

  “As most rumors be. It would be nice to verify some of them.”

  “Nay, I am content in living in fact. I merely fancy gossip to pass the time. Beyond this, we are ten and four years old, Aly. I think it be time for us to think of our worth to the tribe. After all, is that not what this task is all about?”

  “Hah! You speak as if we are a hundred and ten!”

  “Nay, I simply imply that our concerns of yesteryears should not be those of people that shall be Young Ones in within months. That be all. Thus is why this contest is so important to me as well. It be real, not illusioned.”

  Aly studied the moon, an object she knew she’d never be able to physically touch in her lifetime. But then there was the tree she rested against, its wood graying and smoothed in age. The det smelled fresh and ripe with juices. The moss that was safe to eat had dew on it every morning. She listened to the cold breeze, shivering as it rushed over her ears. As she lost herself to her senses, Aly wondered if other people on a different planet called such feelings “paradise.” Yes, she still wondered.