17th of Spring 507
Several hours before dawn, Keres was tending to the meager assignments his Zith owner family gave him for the day. He had now been with them for more than a year, and was finding Zithanese easier to understand and speak, although his vocal range was certainly not that of a full-blooded Zith. He worked as he was instructed to, but on this day he was treating some small hides from wild boar that had been recently been hunted.
He had assisted in leather tanning before, when in Wind Reach, but the Zith way was very different. They didn't have access to the same chemicals, so they used what was available. After the hide had been cut away from the carcass it was pulled taught, but not stretched, so someone could scrape all the hair and fur off the body. After than the animal's brains would be cut into strips and smeared across both sides of the hide until the entire thing was coated. At that point, the hide would be removed from the rack and rolled with whatever preserving ingredients were available (salt, ash, dried bone, etc.). Sometimes, if it was a thick leather, it would be suspended a distance above a fire to hasten the drying process, or if the leather needed to be very soft it would be submerged in water for several days before drying.
This task is what Keres was busying himself with when a commotion at the mouth of their cave drew his attention away.
One of the younger males, younger than Keres, flew into the mouth of the cave shouting rapidly. Keres could not make out the sentences because of the excited change in tone, but he did understand enough of the words to put together that the hunting party had encountered trouble. Two of the family instantly lept up from where they were sitting and darted out the mouth of the cave as quickly as they could followed by the youth.
Keres abandoned his work and ran to the cave entrance. He peered out into the darkness: he could see that nothing was in the clearing, and nothing moved among the trees,, but he heard the cries of the family. They were not screaming in terror or fright, but a mixture of rage and concern.
After a moment he could see them coming through the trees, but they were walking, not flying. As they got nearer, he could make out that one was leaning on another for support, and behind them two were carrying one. Something had gone very wrong. Keres wanted very much to run to them, to help them into the protection of the cave, but leaving the cave was expressly forbidden without being told to do so.
As the group entered the cave, everyone began shouting back and forth over the top of one another, and Keres could understand why. The Zith hunter that had been carried in had the shaft of an arrow sticking out of the right side of his chest and the other injured hunter had several significant cuts that were bleeding badly. More than that though, the hunting party had left with six and only five had returned.
One of the young hunters flew to the fire that lit the cave and began pushing dirt over it so as to shrink it and the lite it put off while the family's matriarch examined the two injured family members. Her silent way of looking them over could almost be heard over the others shouting, but when she raised up they all fell silent. She looked directly at Keres, and a shiver went through him, but she spoke with a firm warmness that he hadn't expected.
“Go. Take a sack and gather a handful of moon flowers, some nettle blossom bulbs, and any spider's webs you see.” With that she turned and began giving the family members orders as well. Keres snatched up a small satchel without hesitation and ran out of the cave into the night air.
Due had already settled on all the surfaces like moonlight paint. The air was cool unlike in the cave where the fire had kept the darkness at bay. This was a very unusual experience for Keres. In his time with this family, he had never been unsupervised for even a moment, but now he had been sent out alone.
Moonflowers, he thought, those are easy. They grow up the rocks a ways up the hill from the cave mouth. Thus he set off in that direction with his mind dancing wildly.
An arrow? So there is someone else very near, and that's why the fire was dimmed. So does that mean that someone was out looking for their cave, or was it just a precaution. Shot in the chest? And where's the other? Was he killed?
He was at the rocks and could easily see the white moonflowers open as big as the span of a hand stretched up at the night sky. He quickly broke several of them off at the vine, careful not to overly damage the flowers themselves.
Nettle, that's a bit further off, in one of the nearer fields maybe. He began walking towards the nearest large field. Wait. What if there is someone out looking for the cave? Wouldn't they be more likely to see me in the field? He slowed with this thought. He was already near enough to the field that he could see the first part of the clearing through the trees. He stopped to look around very carefully.
The moon is out, but it not full and it's already low on its descent, so the light is good for my eyes, but maybe it's not good enough for whoever might be out there to see. At least, not under the cover of the trees, but in that field. He crept to the edge of the field, as far out from under the last tree as he was comfortable. I have to. They are relying on me. Then he stopped. He was alone away from the family for the first time since he was captured by them. I can get away.
The thought invigorated him, but just as quickly he lost his breath. He remembered how he had always been treated as something strange in Wind Reach. Who ever is out there will think the same of me. If they looked, they would see my claws and my eyes and see a Zith. The image of the blood and the arrow chilled him. No, this is my family. Not anyone out there
Keres stood halfway up keeping himself as low to the ground as he could and still walk. He crept out into the field watching the tree line for any movement or any light from torches or lanterns while also glancing around for the clumps of nettle. After a few minutes he spotted a batch near to him. He moved closer to it then sat down, so as to remain mostly concealed from what seemed like nothing all around him. He broke the weeds stems near the root and pushed them into the bag before slowly moving back out of the field.
Spider webs, that might be more tricky.
Being back under the cover of the trees he began to move more quickly. This area has wolf spiders, plenty of them. He darted from tree trunk to tree trunk looking at the roots for the flat portion of their funnel shaped webs that were often hiding in a nook near the ground. There!
He knelt down so he could see it better. In a small hole in a tree formed where two large roots dug into the ground, was the large web with the tiny glint of the many eyes in the very center at the back. These spiders were basically harmless, but he was careful anyways. He plucked at the web and made it collapse in on itself, forcing the spider to retreat deeper into the hole. After he had completely freed the spiderweb, he rolled it into a tube as he had seen done before, then went back to the cave.
Upon reentering, he could tell that the excitement had not diminished in the least. The two injured family members were now laid on bedding and were being wiped down with wet cloths by two other family members. The matriarch stood in the back of the cave silently while those not otherwise occupied were busily shouting back and forth.
“We must strike now while the blood is hot!” “No, they are readied and dawn approaches.” “They'll be more readied when the sun next setts!” and so on.
Keres quickly brought the herbs and web to the matriarch, who took them from him immediately, “Now, boil water and render an ounce of fat. And hurry.”
Without thinking, Keres snatched up a kettle, filled it with water, and set it on the fire. He then took a small pan and placed it near enough to the fire so that it would be well heated. He took a large piece of fat that they had salted and wrapped in a cloth and cut the fat into small cubes, then he deposited the cubes into the pan so it would begin to melt.
After a few moments, the kettle began to show obvious steam from its spout. Keres looked up towards the matriarch who looked back at him when she noticed. She spoke more instructions down to him and he tried to follow them as quickly as he could.
He took a cup and filled it half way with some of the near boiling water. He then, using a fire poker, maneuvered a cinder out from the fire. Using the flat of a knife, he lifted the cinder off the ground and blew on it to remove any dirt and loose ash before dropping it into the cup of water. It hissed and popped loudly, but he simply placed it to the side while working with the other ingredients.
He plucked the petals off the moonflowers and placed them in the rendering fat to simmer. The he took the nettle and ground it. By then, enough time had passed, so he took the cup of water that he had dropped the cinder in and another empty cup. He placed the spiderweb in the empty cup and poured the hot ash laden water into it. As he did so, he noticed that the water had changed in some way. Not only did it now smelled acrid, but it also move as if it were slightly more thin that regular water. Taking note of this to think about later, he set the cup aside to cool then returned his attention to the nettle. Once it was ground, he removed the rendering fat solution from the heat of the fire and spooned some of it into a third cup before adding the nettle to the cup as well.
Now his tasks were complete and he turned to see that the situation had changed little. The matriarch was crouched between the two injured family members who were now both clean except for fresh blood that continued to spread. The one with the cuts was writing and moaning complaints about pain while the other was still except for his shallow breathing. The shaft of the arrow had been cut just under the feathers so there was nothing except the straight shaft. Also, the others had settled down, having seemed to settle of a course of action.
The matriarch saw Keres looking towards her and motioned for him to bring two cups over to her. When she took them, she smelled the contents of each cup carefully, before calling two others over. One she gave the cup of cinder-water and spiderweb to and instructed her to coat the cuts of the one. She then slowly and carefully poured the greasy moonflower-nettle mixture on the shaft of the arrow close to where it entered the other's body. She began to speak as she did so, not so much to anyone, but more to calm her family's concern.
“The cinder makes the water an acid to clean infection from the wounds. The spiderweb keeps the flesh alive after it's damaged. The rendered fat will lubricate the arrow so we may remove it without more damage. The nettle stings the flesh making the blood set better. The moonflower deadens the pain of the sting.”
As she finished speaking, she also finished pouring the mixture into the wound. She then gripped the shaft between two fingers and slowly twisted it. Feeling that it had turned without resistance, she spoke again, “Lucky, bird hunting arrow. It will come out easily.” With this, she wrapped a patch of soft leather around the base of the shaft and pushed down into the chest wall. The hunter's fists clenched, but he made no other move as the matriarch slowly withdrew the arrow from his chest.
Another family member knelt down opposite the matriarch, he gentely packed the hole left by the arrow with what looked to be bundles of moist moss, then reapplied the leather.
Keres picked up the arrow from where it had been cast down. He held it up in the light where he could see it better. It was coated in a mixture of the rendered fat and blood, but its shape was clear. It was a hunting tip on the arrow but the tip was much smaller, and less broad.
“Not the arrow of warriors. Simple hunters using what they had available. We will make them pay, but not today.”
End of Thread
Story may be continued
