Evaluations of the Tribe Read online

  Shanvi chuckled as he placed a bowl of water and some leaves with bread on the counter. “Perhaps so. I fear Aly’s singing may have spoiled many of the customers. They miss her, indeed.”

  He looked out the window and frowned. Some parents outside were embracing a child who just returned from the Evaluations.

  “Yet not nearly as much as I,” he added. Shanvi took the seat adjacent to Quongun. He fiddled his thumbs before tapping the countertop.

  “Truly, I share your burden,” Quongun said. “I try more than usual to keep my mind preoccupied with the numbers the tribe has made in the fields. Hah! Cattalice and I even count over them ten times now, just so my mind does not lose itself in worrying. Ah, and I must say, the store seems extra clean than it usually be.”

  “So, this one has noticed. I sweep and wipe the floor for hours. I wash the pots and pans in the back until my fingers cramp. I spend my evenings at the temple until the suns set, and yet, I still despair.” The master rubbed his mouth as he eyed the empty bedroom behind the kitchen. “I just want her home, Quongun.”

  “And they shall be, in due time, Master.” Quongun held his drink out to Shanvi before finishing it off. He then spun around on the stool and leaned back against the counter, taking the time to admire how well-kept the wood in the hut was. “I was told two more groups arrived this afternoon.”

  “Oh? And how did they fare?”

  “Well enough, I suppose. Shuai had a broken clavicle and Cunvice apparently impaled her arm due to a fall.”

  “Truth’s Grace. When I was to take my part in the assessment, such reports did not sound as dire. Yet I suppose the ears of a father are more sensitive.”

  “I suppose.”

  Shanvi turned around and stroked his tentacle beard. Quongun rubbed his chin as well, feeling the skin puffing to what were the beginnings of new tents.

  “You never told me,” Shanvi said. “Is this one concerned about his Little One fighting alongside a Sungstra, all alone in the deepest parts of the forest?”

  “She be not alone. Requai and Glani are with her as well.”

  “You know what I mean, lad.”

  Quongun grabbed the bowl of food off the counter and offered some to Shanvi. The older master shook his head and waited patiently for the honest answer. He’d have to wait, since Quongun ate two leaves and took his time chewing and swallowing. When he finished, Shanvi was still looking at him.

  “Would you not worry if Catty were the Sungstra and Aly was not, Master?” Quongun said. “Truly, for the most part, her issue has been well-monitored and in check due to our keeping of a watchful eye. Yet they be both out of our reach now. Surely you cannot judge me for having such thoughts, nay?”

  Shanvi patted him on the back. “Apologies. It was not my intent to find a reason to misplace your logic. Nay, I think quite the opposite. I find comfort in knowing Aly is perhaps climbing a tree right beside Catty as we speak. Your Little One be the only true friend my child has. If, Truth’s Grace forbid, any issue was to happen, I feel if I was to want anyone to be with Aly, it would be her. For that, you have my thanks for raising such a noble mastra. She shall be a fine field lord when she is to come of age.”

  Quongun smiled before he placed the bowl back behind him. “Nay, Elder Cattalice and I can only take so much credit, yes? We can only express our values to her, yet she has decided to make them her own. And why praise me when Aly be such a proper soul herself?”

  “Look at the two of us. Bragging over our children. The years are growing on us.”

  “What nonsense. You may speak for yourself in that regards, Teacher. For I have yet to hit my eighties, while you turned a hundred and ten the prior year!”

  The two laughed, and Shanvi got off the stool so he could get Quongun another drink.

  * * *

  Three weeks later, Requai was lunging in with a charged fist at one of four Young Ones the team had just confronted. She shifted to the side, jabbing the female Young One in the ribs before firing a beam into her back.

  Even Aly made a face after the brutal blow when she looked overhead to check on her comrade. Still, she was too preoccupied to give a hand. She did a back walkover, avoiding a beam from another Young One, placing five meters between them.

  Catty shot a wave of energy into her opponent’s chest. The hit made the other mastra lose her balance and Catty ran in to take her down. The other Goolian, however, used her target’s own momentum as she fell onto her back and flipped Catty over with her legs.

  The lively mastra landed hard on her left thigh. When she got up, she shuffled back and squinted an eye, fighting off the pain.

  “Aly, a momentary hand!” Glani hollered as she provided cover fire. “Two levels above.”

  When Aly looked up, Catty was ducking underneath a beam. When it struck the trunk, the shot blew off the first two layers of the tree’s wood, sending burning specks into the air. Aly got two steps up the bark before leaping for the branch underneath Catty.

  With her own opponent chasing her, she managed to grab Catty’s adversary by the ankle and tug. She tumbled off the tree before she could see how effective her trick was, but heard the other mastra swear as she fell forward, straight into Catty’s heel. When she fell out of the tree, Glani was on top of the downed Goolian before she could even blink.

  “Bang,” she said, playfully aiming a finger at the mastra’s head.

  Aly still had her opponent pursuing her, now firing more aggressively. She got a good running speed before jumping back up to Catty’s branch, knowing the master chasing her was too blind with anger to see the trap.

  “Hello!” Catty sang when the lad hopped in front of her. With hand already charged, she struck him in the chest, knocking him into the base of the tree.

  “Nice,” Aly said before running off.

  She watched Requai use a limber branch like a trampoline, bouncing off it twice before it launched her across the ground and onto another tree. Another Young One hopped right after her. Aly nodded approvingly when Requai hopped back and shot the part of the branch she landed on with a being sphere. The Young One screamed as she fell alongside the dismembered wood. Aly closed her eyes and waited until the ground shook with a thud.

  Requai leaned over to examine the outcome of her strategy firsthand. “Secured.”

  “As are we,” Catty hollered across from her.

  The Young Ones grumbled as they pulled out their pads from below, documenting their defeat.

  The second mastra that Requai fought hissed. “Dirty cheating is what I call your methods. That goes for the entire lot of you.”

  Catty hopped down to their level. “Whoever said this was to be a formal confrontation? Truly, does this one think other tribes would play fair if they attacked us? If one does not fight with even a hint of malicious intent, then one does not want to survive hard enough.”

  The Young One still shoved her pad into Catty’s chest when the smaller Goolian extended her hand for it.

  When Catty finished updating the numbers, Aly snatched it away, humming as she jotted down the notes for herself. Things couldn’t have gone any better over the past few weeks. People kept coming and dropping, one by one. She then counted how many were left since the last roster update, and stopped singing when she finished. She counted again to make sure she was right, and the numbers slapped the smile off her face.

  “Enjoy your silly game,” another Young One said. “And you best realize your luck since we did not fire lethal shots, Little Brats.”

  Requai yawned. “Uh huh. Had that been the case, you lot surely would have met your ends prior to you even blinking. Now, away with you, silly things. For we have people of greater significance to deal with.”

  The master was about to storm up to Requai and pound her face into a tree, but the mastras in his team held him back.

  “We can show some decency, all the same, Requai,” Catty said as she extended a hand to the Young Ones. “Our thanks for a skilled fight.”

&n
bsp; The older Goolians looked at one another, bewildered. Requai and Glani held their peace as they awaited the response. Aly, on the other hand, checked her numbers for the fifth time, not making a peep.

  The lad shook Catty’s hand. “Perhaps this one’s nobility is not a mere title.”

  The three mastras bowed, and Catty nodded in gratitude before the four left.

  Glani looked over Aly’s shoulder. “Alytchai, why does this one have a quiet lip? Truly, you are to be a shy one, yet you ended your typical victory hum.”

  Aly lifted her notes closer to Glani so she could get a better look. She wasn’t surprised when the mastra stopped smiling as well. Requai snatched the paper away from her, but Aly didn’t even fuss over it.

  Requai checked the numbers, and then she checked again. “Oh pache.”

  Catty growled and rolled her eyes. “By Truth’s Grace, what troubles you fools?”

  Aly pointed at Catty’s paper as she eyed Glani, who stood on her left, and then Requai, positioned on her right. When Catty finished going over the numbers, she folded the pad, placed it back into her pouch, cleared her throat, and turned around.

  “Pardon,” she hollered at the four departing Young Ones. “If I may, I am to confirm you took three out the prior day, yes?”

  “Truly, we did. Yet fret not over them. They have marked themselves in white as accordingly so. Do you lot not have bigger concerns?”

  Catty rubbed her hands. “Indeed we do.”

  The Little Ones didn’t say another word, and watched the other Goolians head back home. Even then, they didn’t move for another minute.

  Aly peered down at the tiny notepad made out of leaves another time. It was too good to be true, and too horrid. She looked up and locked eyes with Catty. And as she looked into her fiery yellow irises, her spine tingled.

  “We be the only ones left, yes?” Catty said, almost whispering. “And I suppose we shall not return as a victorious team, Aly?”

  Aly shook her head. “Apologies, yet I can’t...”

  She soared back, unsheathing her weapons. Glani and Requai were too surprised to do anything. They looked at each other, and immediately fired at the other’s head. The blasts of two evenly charged particles made the fusion explode, sending all four flying into the air.

  Aly scrambled to her feet and got into cover the second her rear hit the ground. She heard the other ones running away into the trees, but didn’t go after them, since she knew it’d be better to live today and fight tomorrow. As her heartbeat settled, she slid down against a tree. She covered her mouth, but couldn’t hold her laughter and crying from coming out.

  Catty stopped running when she covered half a milo-worth of ground. She fell into the ground face first, exhausted. She then rolled over and peered into an opening the leaves provided. Moments later, she heard the happiest sound in her life. A Goolian was singing, so content with the way the world was. Catty couldn’t deny her wanting to fall into the hypnosis, and gave in. Her body went numb as she listened to Aly’s song, all the while hearing the whisper of logic telling her she’d make Aly sing a different tune tomorrow, if it was the last thing she ever did.

  * * *

  Chapter 15

  The afternoon was dry but comfortably warm as Catty walked across the forest. It sounded more alive than usual with the different bugs buzzing nearby. She looked at the cleaned bandage wrapped around her hand, wondering if it was past time to get rid of it. Truth be told, her burn had healed a while ago, but she liked the fashionable look.

  Her thoughts were cancelled when she heard Aly sigh right over her. She spun around and aimed, but Aly simply sat on branch, cross-legged.

  “You interrupted my prayer and meditation,” the Sungstra said. “Could you not creep along more quietly?”

  Catty chuckled and placed her hands on her hips. “Perhaps you should have taken your chance to strike while I was off guard. You are a silly one, Mastra. I fear it may cost you.”

  “Nay. I told myself if I came across you, I would give you the decency of confronting you directly. I suppose I have become too sentimental for my own good.”

  “I fear I suffer from the same notion, then. Truly, when Requai and Glani’s blast cleared, I had a clear shot at you. Yet I figured you, at the very least, deserved better, as well. Such travesties we be.”

  The two laughed. Aly hopped down from her tree, bowed, and Catty did the same.

  “Tell me,” Aly said. “Do you not know what this all means?”

  “It means you shall silence yourself once I am to place your face into the gravel. Such is all I need.”

  “As I thought. I cannot let you take this from me.”

  “Then you shall have to try very hard in order to do so, Aly.”

  The two froze when a twig above them snapped. “She be not your only concern, Catty.” Requai landed on Aly’s left and Catty’s right.

  Aly wiped her nose. “Be damned, and I was to hope you and Glani would cancel each other out.”

  Requai covered her mouth, acting offended. “This one has gained a sharper tongue over the years, Alytchai. Someone best put you in your place, for I do not fancy being taken lightly.”

  “Neither do I.” Glani walked over to the group.

  The mastras just looked at one another until Catty clapped her hands. “Ah, how poetic, yes? The final four are to have a standoff then.”

  “Not for long,” Aly said as she unsheathed her sticks, twirling them between her fingers.

  Requai sighed. “Whatever. I shall not lie. I never fancied the worth of being the final one standing. Yet, it would be nice to snatch the prize away from the likes of you overachievers.”

  Catty got into a fighting form. “Then let me see what you lot be made of. On the count of three?”

  “On the count of three,” the others agreed.

  “Three!”

  Aly saw every eye lock onto her in less than a second. Still, it felt like she had to wait forever as the three mastra’s markings glowed across their faces and aimed their hands at her head.

  She heard the shots crackle when they erupted, ducking under the first, spinning around the second, and flipping over the last.

  Glani be the nearest – try to finish – delay Catty – attempt to finish Requai. Her muscle memory’s plan zapped through her body before she could blink, and before Glani could prepare for a counter.

  When Aly landed, she swept-kicked the mastra and front-kicked her into a tree before she could even hit the ground. She then rolled over to Catty and swung her left stick for her knee. And when Catty grabbed the weapon and ruined her entire forethought, everything in that instant went back to typical speed.

  The other three knew the truth, even if she didn’t. Aly was the real threat, but that didn’t keep Catty or Requai from throwing punches, shots, or kicks at each other.

  Glani got up slowly but hopped back into the fight, sooner than the others hoped or expected. The Goolians’ moves were synchronized with the one on the left, right, or front of them. No matter what they did, the attacks wouldn’t let up. When somebody landed a hit, another mastra saw the opening and countered on the other’s behalf, just so they’d have the right of getting credit for the “kill” instead. If one blocked, someone else threw a leg to get the hit in first.

  Aly struck Requai in the jaw by swinging her right stick, while trying to roundhouse Catty. Catty swatted away the roundhouse, while she shot a quick beam at Glani’s chest. Glani twirled around the beam and fired at Requai, who she hoped was still recovering from Aly’s blow. Requai leaned to the left of Glani’s beam and fired her own beam at Aly. The strikes and counters looked relentless. It was pure art.

  And even when somebody moved to the left, the other three seemed obligated to follow the path by their own movements. Aly shifted to the right and Catty went left. Requai hopped forward and Glani backflipped.

  The only opportunity for a change came when Catty hopped right into the “kill zone” raised her arms to the sid
es. Glani and Requai were ready to counter, but they didn’t expect her to cross her arms and fire at their ankles. When both somersaulted back onto trees, Catty lunged at Aly, charged hand ready to strike. Aly jumped, wrapped her legs around the opponent’s extended arm and pulled it in. She struck Catty on the top of the head with an overhead swing, making her drop instantly.

  That didn’t keep Catty from firing a warning shot, however, and Aly rolled back to get some distance. She took cover behind a tree, knowing the fight was now conditioned to the other three’s favor. Chunks of wood chipped away with every shot the other three fired before she swung off to another trunk.

  Requai leaned off a branch and caught herself by wrapping her legs around it. Hanging upside down, she fired three shots, all of them missing the mastra flying up another tree by the aid of branches.

  Catty, however, leapt and rammed her knees into Requai’s stomach, without warning. She then shoved her body off by planting her feet into the mastra’s chin as they both fell. Catty landed gracefully, while the other mastra slammed into the ground along with the debris from the tree. She strolled over to the mastra with one hand on her hip and another one aimed at her head.

  “Oh, whatever it be,” Requai said, still lying on her back. She then pulled out her white ink and confirmed her defeat by slapping her arm. “Enough of this. I yield. Satisfied?”

  Catty shrugged and hopped right back into the trees. She only made it to the second level when Glani crashed to the ground, hard; she was out cold.

  Requai scrambled to her feet, ran over to the mastra, and knelt beside her. She slapped her in the cheek until she squirmed.

  Aly hopped down and picked up the sparring stick she apparently struck Glani with. Catty also noticed the bloodied knuckles on the mastra’s left hand before wrapping them with a final roll of bandages.

  “Is she well?” Aly asked.

  Glani slapped Requai’s hand away, sitting up and rubbing the side of her head. “Truly, I believe that be quite enough for me.”

  “Fine enough.” Requai patted Glani’s shoulder with the leftover ink on her arm. “Then I suppose it comes down to the two of you, yes?”