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Stephanie
“Man, I am so full,”I groaned, patting my stomach. Tilly and Nasrin nodded in agreement, breathing out heavily.
Fiona rolled her eyes. “You guys are wimps. You can’t be giving up now! They just brought out more moonbark!”
Moonbark was our new favourite thing. Some of the Deep Sky women had brought it out on our second night here, and when Gahn Thaleo had seen how we’d inhaled the sweet stuff, he’d commanded more to be made. Much more. More than we could ever hope to eat.
I eyed the platter of dessert that had just been brought into the Sky Hall and placed in front of us.
“Thank you,” I said to the Deep Sky woman who’d brought it over. She was a young, pretty woman named Zaria. She’d been the last single woman recently paired off by the Vrika. “It’s so good,” I told her, “but I truly cannot eat anymore.”
“I’ll have hers!” Fiona said, practically falling over my lap to snatch one of the bars of moonbark from the platter. The moonbark bars were soft, fudgy white rectangles made from the sweet mountain valok plants, called valikir, mixed with brolka milk. I hadn’t seen a brolka yet, but from what I understood, they were something like a mountain goat. The fuzzy grey hides in our beds were made from brolka wool.
“Be my guest,” I said with a laugh as Fiona chomped into a fresh bar. Zaria smiled, too, before hurrying back to her place beside her mate. Some of the awkwardness of our first evening meal here had faded as the Deep Sky people had gotten used to us, and us them.
At least, I’d thought it had...
But a sudden tension descended. The chattering ceased, and, apart from Fiona and her beloved moonbark bar, everyone stopped eating. I swivelled my head, frowning, trying to find the source of the weird atmosphere.
Warrek had just entered the Sky Hall, his expression furious.
“Every warrior must report to the aguir circle!”
Valeria jumped up, as did all the warriors in the hall - both our warriors and the Deep Sky ones.
“What’s happening?” Valeria asked, fighting through the suddenly chaotic crowd to Warrek’s side. All around us, Deep Sky warriors sprinted out of the hall and down the tunnel.
I jumped to my feet and started to run, too.
But I didn’t run to the tunnel. I ran to the clear wall. Panting, I slammed my palms to its cool surface and stared down. If Warrek needed all the warriors down in the aguir circle at the base of the mountain, there had to be something happening down there.
And there was.
It took me a long moment to make sense of what I was seeing.
A few warriors were spread out in a circle, all of them with arrows aimed inward. As the warriors from the hall streamed outside, they joined the circle, caging in a pair of figures in the centre.
And those two figures wereshooting at each other.
“Holy shit,” Fiona said around her last mouthful of moonbark as she reached me. “Is that Gahn Thaleo?”
“It is,” Nasrin said, following close behind with Tilly.
And the one shooting at him...
“Gahn Errok,” I breathed.
“What’s going on?” I asked, my question echoing Valeria’s. I spun around, searching for Warrek. But I only caught his broad back as he charged out of the hall, following the other warriors outside.
“He said Gahn Errok initiated something called a taklok,” Valeria said, jogging over to us. “No fucking idea what that means.”
Many of the Deep Sky women had disappeared from the Sky Hall, taking their children deeper into the safety of the mountain. But a few, including Zaria, remained.
“A taklok is a mighty duel,” she said, her dark blue eyes wide. She reached up and smoothed her elaborately braided updo nervously. “Two warriors shoot arrows at each other as quickly as they can. They are not allowed to dodge their opponent’s arrows. They may knock the opponent’s arrows away, though that slows them down and means they cannot shoot back.”
“So... Wait... Who wins, then?” I asked.
She looked at me with something that almost seemed like pity. Pity for my human ignorance.
