He reached out his hand, and she took it.
“How is our leader doing?” he asked with a smile, gazing at the clouds.
“Anarungu is strong. He is a good chief,” she replied.
“That is good, good. We need a strong leader now more than ever,” Elder nodded. “And how are you doing?”
He smiled and turned his head to Gnelsey, squeezing her hand.
“I’m fine, father,” she met that gaze with consternation and looked down.
“Is something bothering you, dear? Did something happen? You know you can tell me.”
“I’m just… We need different ways to pick a chief. The Tribal Hunt failed the Blood Bird. How did we end up with my son being my chief and husband? Sometimes I feel like I’m losing my mind.”
Elder sighed meaningfully, his nostrils dilating with mute anger.
“There was nothing between us! I would never let my son behave like my husband in any way. My womb is sacred.”
“Heavy trials have fallen upon your shoulders,” the Elder said, looking straight ahead as his slightly blurred pupils widened. “I think Gansaya would find the right words to comfort you, but as your father, I will speak the harsh truth. We have all faced hardships, and with the death of Anaragwan, a great threat has come upon us. Anarungu becoming chief was an accident, an accident that could destroy our tribe. We should get rid of him.”
“Get rid of him?” Gnelsey wrenched her hand away.
Elder made a step closer, adjusting the staff. “You’ll find a new strong husband, a hunter, dear. And you will bear many more new children when the curse of the tribe is lifted. I was silent when you mentioned not wanting more kids after Anarungu was born. But that was before the Tribal Curse! I know it’s hard to accept the loss of one son, dear, but imagine how many other children can you bear? Don’t they deserve the right to live? You body is still capable of producing more strong progeny. You can’t be Anarungu’s wife and Anarungu can’t be your chief. Sweetheart, either you or him should go.”
Gnelsey watched the movements of his old lips in shock. “Anarungu is my son! He’s our family! We are not animals to kill our own kind, Elder. There should be another way. I’ll convince him to renounce his chieftaincy! I almost…”
“Those who renounce their chieftaincy are sent into an exile. Anarungu will never agree to that. Or you disagree with me?”
“Are you saying…” Gnelsey felt like she was suffocating. “Are you saying that I should exchange my son’s life for the prosperity of our tribe?”
“I’m old, dear. Time passes, sometimes I feel like I stopped understanding some things. And perhaps I’ve been wrong about many other things.” He looked at the sky again, jabbing the staff into the ground. “But in all this time while I have lived and watched, I have realised one truth. There is nothing stronger in this world than my daughter’s loyalty to the Blood Bird. And I know she will make any sacrifice to ensure that the tribe thrives.”
Gnelsey breathed, her chest heaving. Only the light reflected from her tear-filled, beautiful brown eyes.
===
Anarungu fixed his knife on his belt. Tatar’Atu, sitting in a nearby tree, did the same. His friend grabbed a branch and glanced down in dismay. It wasn’t too far to fall, but if you landed wrong, you could easily break something vital.
Anarungu dangled his feet, checking to see if the paint on his face has dried. On the tree across from them, two more hunters settled down. Their whole appearance indicated that hiding in the vines was not to their liking.
“We’ve been waiting for a long time. Could Jarkish have been mistaken about the Lynx scouts? Maybe they attacked our hunters and returned? Are we sure they should be here?”
Anarungu just nodded.
He fondly recalled the night he spent with his mother. The feeling of his hot seed flooding his birthplace was like nothing else.
And then today’s morning. Her hot tender mouth was amazing. It was the same mouth that kissed him throughout his whole life, his birth and childhood.
But he still had doubts. Will his seed sprout inside her? He twirled one of the berries in his hand. Tribe Devours.
Maybe he had eaten those berries before but didn’t remember. Just one or two. It might not have seemed important then, but even eating one berry would mean that he can’t have children. “If I can’t have children then I’ll have to do what I promised. I have to stop being chief and go into an exile.”
Tatar’Atu patted him on the shoulder and pointed down.
They are here.
Ten hunters, faces and bodies carelessly painted with red smear lines that tried to mimic the drawings of the Blood Bird tribe. But anyone from the Bird tribe would have realised at once that they were enemies.
Five men and four women were led by a very tall huntress with curly short hair. A short hunter with a bow behind her quietly said something An couldn’t hear.
They were just below them.
Anarungu signaled.
A makeshift net-like trap closed in on several Blue Lynx hunters, lifting them up.
“I can’t believe it worked!” exclaimed Tat.
“Trap!” yelled the tall huntress. A spear thrown from the branches killed a hunter standing next to her.
The Blood Bird Hunters on the other tree attacked first, followed by Tatar’Atu and Anarungu.
Anarungu’s hands trembled, but he pulled out a knife and hurled it straight at the bowman’s throat. The man fell as the blade did not go in, but grazed his neck.
The sounds of battle echoed through the jungle. The next moment with a loud shout, the female leader huntress rushed at Anarungu to attack. Her spear narrowly missed his head as he moved back.
“You wounded my husband!” roared the woman while behind her back Tatar’Atu slit the throat of one of the Lynx hunters.
“I could have sworn I didn’t wound, but killed your husband.”
She attacked with renewed vigour. Anarungu fought back with his spear, retreating further back. Her spear sliced through the skin on his ribs. She knocked Anarungu down and grabbed him by the throat.
Death was so close that he could feel its breath at his ear.
The dying bowman’s screams stopped.
“Your husband…is dead,” growled Anarungu. Hearing this stunned the huntress for a moment. Her grip loosened just a little, and she looked at Anarungu strangely, as if assessing him.
A bird-like whistle swept through the forest and a dozen hunters, led by Jarkish, jumped out of the trees. Peacock jumped out after them. The animal ran up and leapt at the huntress’ leg.
As the creature’s teeth dug into her skin she held back a groan of pain, and Anarungu kicked her in the stomach. The woman bent over in pain and Anarungu delivered another kick to the head.
He tied leader’s hands. She was unconscious.
Soon after, all the men were killed. Only one woman, besides tall huntress, was captured.
Limping Tatar’Atu ran up to his chief. “Are you all right?” and without waiting for an answer asked again. “What is to be done with the women? Execute them?”
“No,” Taking a breath, Anarungu said. “Bring them to the settlement. Are all of ours alive?”
“Karish is badly wounded.” Jarkish said.
Peacock, whose small face was covered with blood, jumped back and ran between Anarungu’s legs. After that it jumped away into the jungles, emitting a childish cat-like growl.
“Let’s get back to the settlement,” said Anarungu, feeling the wound in his ribs rumbling. “Let Karish be seen by the healers.”
At that moment one of the Lynx men, mortally wounded, stood up. He wasn’t noticed in time, and to the surprise of the other hunters, he quickly moved towards the captured woman and killed her, snapping her head.
Bird hunters finished him off.
“Why did he do that?” Jarkish asked.
“Perhaps the Blue Lynx have customs we don’t know about.” Anarungu threw the tall huntress onto his shoulder.
She was their only prisoner.
===
Gnelsey rushed into the chief’s hut, anxiously searching for Anarungu. He was applying healing ointment to the wound.
“Anarungu,” Gnelsey hugged her son, her body pressed against his back. “My nestling, they told me you were seriously hurt. I was so worried.”
“I’m alive, Mother, but we lost three men today.”
“What were you thinking?” She slapped him in the face. “You can’t just wander through the jungle and wield a spear whenever you want! You’re the leader of our tribe, and you have duties!”
She kissed his wound delicately, bending forward a bit. The muscles on her neck twitched with every warm kiss.
“I know, Mama.”
“You should be here with me, not there. Why didn’t you ask me first? This is all Jarkish’s fault. He knows you’re a very young chief. I’ll talk to him and he’ll answer to me for having you almost kiiled!”
“You’re so pretty when you worry about me instead of trying to stab me with a knife.”
She squinted angrily and folded her arms, shaking her breasts.
“Just so you know, that knife has saved me many times. The best weapon against a man who wants to mate is a knife! You think I’ve never used it on your father? Well, you’re wrong. I said I didn’t want more children after you, but I never said you father didn’t want more.”
He approached her, savouring the scent of Mama’s black hair. Gnelsey hugged him.
“Just be careful, my nestling.”
Her tense dark nipples rested precisely against his chest.
“I won’t let them take you and my child from me.”
Jarkish appeared on the doorstep. He lowered his head and stepped back, waiting for the chief to be free.
“I have to go, Mother.” Anarungu slipped out of her arms and followed Jarkish. A stunned and confused Gnelsey fell onto the bed, holding her stomach.
“The woman,” said Jarkish. “She wants to see you. Says you’re her new husband now.”
They approached the half-empty hut. A few hunters let them pass. A huntress from the Lynx tribe sat on the floor and smiled. Her hair fell over her face, her hands bound.
“My name is Khaleana,” she examined him from head to toe.
Anarungu stood against the wall, holding a sharpened stone knife.
“I’m sorry, sweetheart, for injuring you,” said Khaleana with a chuckle noticing how he had touched his ribs. Gnelsey’s kiss eased half of the pain.
He squinted and levelled himself as if nothing happened.
“Why did you attack?”
She scrutinized his face like a female lynx preparing to mate. “Our messenger did not return. Our leader, the great Gharcha Sharp Fang suggested that Naragasa refused the offer and betrayed his masters. Or am I wrong?”
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