Untitled - Chapter 3 - Above the Clouds - Seg.2

{segment 2 of chapter 3 - Avalia}1

I kneel in the dirt by the fire next to Nragath listening to this horrible conversation. The enemy leader is explaining to everyone that he let us live for various reasons. For Sasher, Nrag and most of the others, it was because he wanted their strength among his troops. I was disappointed for some reason when I was told all they wanted me for was because I was pretty, and not because I could help their gang in any way. But what am I thinking? I’m grateful to be alive no matter what the reason. Besides, it’s a better reason than my father is getting; he is only alive now because no one wants to eat him.2

“Old meat is dry and tough,” the thin man explains pleasantly. “Rest assured, if you get to be a hindrance we can always kill you later.”3

A cry leaps unbidden to my lips. I feel many eyes on me. The enemy leader sends me a curious smirk and I lower my head so as to avoid any prolonged interest. Thankfully he continues his victory speech after only a moment. I exhale silently and look over at Nrag’s chained wrists. If only I’d filed them faster before these people came, perhaps he would have fought better and we wouldn’t be in this position at all. I just didn’t see the need to hurry before. There is never any reason to hurry in this still, slow world. Guilt pulls at my heart. Was this my fault? 4

I suddenly realise that the long hanging end of Nrag’s chain is resting in the fire, beginning to glow with the heat. I quickly look away so as not draw attention. I won’t hinder him again.5

The thin man behind the fire is telling us how he succeeded so easily, just like a typical clichéd villain. Do all arse holes have loose tongues? I think wryly. I wish I were brave enough to say it out loud. But I’m actually surprised at what he says. He reveals to us that for some time now, one of the twins was feeding them information. The woman leaps to her feet at the sight of our hateful looks. “You lot should be grateful! I made sure all of you would be spared! Nragath, especially, is lucky he drew so much attention to himself because I was never able to tell this gang he was here.”6

I don’t think these people really payed much mind to whom she said to save; I think we’re only alive because of our own doing. I blink as I notice that the other twin isn’t in the line of surrenders. Ah. The body is behind us. “You didn’t even save your own sister…?” I ask quietly.7

“No!” she spits. “I didn’t want her to die.” She jabs a finger in the general direction of the enemy. “They killed her!”8

“How were we supposed to know which one was her?” a tall man yawns indifferently. 9

The one remaining twin’s eyes bulge disbelievingly. “She looks exactly like me!! Come to think of it, what if she were me? You wouldn’t have known the difference. Would you have cared?” she demands the leader. He stares coldly back at her for a long, long time. Horrified, she sinks back to the ground. 10

The leader releases her from his stare to examine his nails. “Yes… Well I’m afraid there is something else you should know. If we’re to keep all these people in our gang, we can’t have a traitor in our midst, can we?” The twin looks up suddenly, fear distorting her features for the first time I’ve ever witnessed. “It’s your own fault, you know.” A strong-looking man with a dirty beard approaches her calmly from behind with a wide, rounded blade. “You brought this upon yourself.” The man stabs her in the back. She dies instantly, bending face-first in the dirt. 11

So now there are 12 of us left. The enemy leader turns back to his prisoners. “Welcome to our troop. If you want to live, you’ll be cooperative. I’m sure you’ll detest eating human flesh at first but in time, when you realise there’s nothing else to eat, I’m equally sure you’ll come to like it.”12

Out of the silence, everyone is surprised to hear a laugh from Nragath. He looks the leader in the eye, making his confidence falter. “You’d think so, but…” He leaps to his feet and turns, throwing the by now red-hot end of his chain in the eyes of the man behind him and kicking him in the head as he screams. He looks back at the leader while the man collapses behind him. “I for one refuse to become a cannibal.”13

The shocked gang surges into motion and runs at him. Before they get to him he reaches down, takes a knife from the body behind him and throws it to Sasher. The moment the group comes near him he swings the chain in their faces, making sure the metal doesn’t touch him, and flits out of the way before attacking again. The leader stands contemptuously behind the fire while his gang fights. Sasher stands up suddenly and stabs one of the unsuspecting men in the back, pulling the knife back out and heading into the throng. I watch the frenzy from where I am, wide-eyed like a child. 14

The enemy leader rolls his eyes, mutters something inaudible and before I know it, he’s hauling me to my feet. He holds me by the neck with his arm and holds his gun to my head. I gasp a mouthful of his body-odour. 15

“Hey, idiots,” he shouts. No one notices him. “HEY!” At this, everyone stops to look. Sasher and Nrag push their way to the front of the pack, and stop when they see what has happened.16

“Avi,” Sasher blinks stupidly.17

“Avi, huh?” my captor asks. “That’s her name? Well now. Aren’t we in a bit of a pickle then? I can’t shoot both of you, and the truth is I’d rather not kill you. But I can kill poor Avi here. Don’t think I won’t do it.” The two men exchange a glance, as if the other is supposed to know what to do. “So now I have the upper hand once more,” the enemy leader continues. “I’ll let her live if you two surrender properly and come peacefully. Our gang really isn’t that bad, you know. The way you struggle, you’d think we were devils.”18

“You are devils,” Sasher mutters.19

“Pass me your knife,” Nrag says to him after considering the sky for a moment.20

“Why?”21

The arm around my neck tightens its grip. “Hey. What are you planning?”22

Nrag frowns. “What do you…? Where I come from, in order to surrender officially the one who starts the fight must lay down a weapon to signify this.”23

“Where DO you come from?” Sasher asks suddenly.24

“WAY beyond the mountains.”25

“Where I come from,” my captor interrupts, “you don’t need to hold a knife to surrender.”26

“Without surrendering officially, I won’t be your inferior and I’ll consider this battle still on,” Nrag argues. “Don’t be paranoid; it’s a sign of weakness.” Without waiting for a reply he takes the knife from Sasher, holds it up harmlessly between two fingers, and the arm around my neck relaxes somewhat. Nrag bends to put down the knife and pauses to look at the leader. Faster than my eyes can follow, he flicks the knife at us. I scream and close my eyes. Specks of warm liquid spray the back of my hair, and the heavy arm around me drags me down with it.27

We hit the ground and I pull out of the thin man’s grasp. A knife sticks out of the side of his forehead above two frozen eyes. Sasher takes the gun out of his hand and points it at the group of listless cannibals behind us. “Good shot mate,” he tells Nrag as the man helps me up and supports me. I’m not hurt, but I feel weaker than ever.28

Sasher is mildly irritated to find that the troop of about twenty enemies still hasn’t left. “I have the upper hand now,” he says. “My advice to you is to leave us the hell alone. Even with just us we can beat you and I won’t hesitate to use every one of these bullets; I’ve survived quite well without a gun all my life and I don’t think I’ll become dependant on one now.” The group looks around uncertainly. “That means get lost!”29

Finally they run back over the hill and away from us. Sasher lowers the weapon.30

“I wonder if that’s the last we’ve seen of them,” Nrag says to no one in particular. I gently push him away and stand up on my own. I feel like an idiot now for being so pathetic. Nrag finds a knife on another body and moves to cut everyone’s ropes. So there are just twelve of us now. Only two women have survived including me, and ten men. If we looked pathetic before, we look pitiful now. The area is littered with bodies though some of the enemies are just unconscious. I can’t wait to get out of here.31

“Are you ok?” Sasher interrupts my thoughts.32

“Oh. Yes. I’m alive, aren’t I?” I step through the mess until I find where I left my coat. It’s even dirtier than before, but at least there’s no blood on it. I shake it out and put it on. Then Sasher and I search for food and supplies, and everything else dropped. My knife is old so I discard it and take a sharper-looking one from the ground. The sun is setting by the time we’re all ready to leave, and I ask if we’re going to bury the dead.33

“Of course not,” Sasher laughs. The gun is now safely in his belt. “Who has the time?”34

“But the moment we leave, those people are going to come back and eat all these people. Would you want that to happen to your body after you die?”35

He's considering what I've said when Nrag pipes up. “There are plenty of things that we disagree with, but it’s not always our choice. Those people chose to be cannibals in the knowledge that if they ever died, they too would be eaten. If we must, let’s save our own dead. What do you think?”36

It’s a good compromise. We don’t have time to bury so many people singularly, so instead we dig a shallow grave, pile them all in there and cover them in dirt. Hopefully the cannibals won’t notice.37

After all that, we pick up our belongings and are on our way again, to the mountains.38