Kai Ch1: Morning Routines

This is the first chapter of the Kai project, as I call it. The prologue is titled "Abigail's Faith," and it might help to read that first, although it's not entirely necessary at this point in the story. Please enjoy!

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Chapter 1:
Morning Routines


There is much that you can tell about a man by his morning routine. One who gets up early and is rested is in no hurry, ready to see the world at his own pace. One who eats a healthy breakfast and makes an effort to be well-stretched has respect for his body and understands that it has needs that must be met before he can find its full potential. One who takes the time for meditation and reflection will have greater wisdom and understanding of his world.

Kai Rieh Set, a member of the Des Rein community, did all of these things, but he did all of them with the haste and hurry of an impatient teenager.

The first step of the morning routine was rising. Kai rose early, but he did so with groans and complaints: out of hunger more than out of the desire to rise early and be prepared. It was a longish walk to check the traps that he had set; he was alone in the wilderness and those traps were his chief supply of meat.

Checking under the broad leaves of the plant that he’d used as bait, Kai found that no rodents or birds had found their way into the thin cages. Previously, Kai had discovered the location of a small bush filled with nearly ripe purple berries. He gathered a few handfuls and tossed them into his mouth as he hiked back to his small encampment. “This is no way for a Set to eat,” he said to himself, but he found that it didn’t take many of the juicy berries to fill his stomach and to leave him satisfied.

The next step in his routine was to stretch. As a young man of nineteen, physicality was something that he thoroughly understood. He had participated in many of the idle sports that were played back in his community, and he appreciated the feeling of the stretches he had been taught. It was a good way to prepare his muscles.

Kai rolled out a blue mat that he carried with him, woven from a brightly colored plant found in the north. He closed his eyes and set one knee on the ground and the other leg supported his weight at a sharp angle outward. His arms were put directly behind him, with the fingers interlaced. Pushing the position just a bit, he felt the burn in his muscles and sinews. It was good. He continued through another few stretches, working different places on his body.

When he was finished, Kai picked up his Seti-Rieh, the weapon of his family, and began his practices. The weapon of the Rieh community had a long haft, stretching nearly four feet. It had an equally long blade. This was made from a gray alloy and had a black stone that had been set at the hilt, demarking the place that Kai held within his community. The haft was wrapped in soft white leather that was rough against his hand but provided a sure grip.

He wound the weapon in a complicated ritual, snapping the blade back and forth before spiraling it around his toned body. The ritual practice was comfortable, familiar, and Kai focused on the motions. He let everything else slide from his mind.

When he was finished with his practice, Kai sat down on the blue mat and began his meditation, leaning his back against the tree. He cleared his mind, which was not hard to do after the mindset that his exercises had put him into, and relaxed.

It wasn’t long until he had fallen asleep.

He woke up an hour and a half later with a stiff neck and a sore back. Something in the back of his mind told him that the nap had wasted whatever edge he had gained through his morning exercises and stretches, but he pushed the thought away as he stood. Stretching once more, he leaned down and picked up his weapon. “That’s enough preparation for the day,” he said to himself as he reached into his small bag to munch on another couple berries.

The air warmed considerably as the morning drove on, turning the comfortable air temperature into a sweltering and damp afternoon. Kai decided that it would be best to stay relatively close to his campsite as he began his day’s activities. Trudging through the lush greens around him, he made his way westward, searching for game trails or water sources that he could use to find some better food.

His search yielded results as he found traces of a small stream that came down the back side of a long and thickly vegetated hill. “There ought to be a spring up higher,” Kai thought aloud, and he began the climb while swatting the occasional mosquito or other water-based insects. “I’ll fill my canteen before I start waiting for game.”

The spring water, when he found it, was fresh and cool on his throat, and he was in the process of filling his container when he saw a very slight motion to his right. Kai didn’t move quickly, he merely rolled back to sit next to the water, laying his weapon on his knees and then holding very still.

It was nearly a half an hour before he saw it again. The animal had waited, its thirst slowly egging it onward, until it pushed its head out to investigate the water that had gathered around the small spring. “Good morning Khava,” he said softly, nodding slowly toward the beast so that it would know that he was there.

The Khava, a muscular four-legged animal with a thick and soft fur looked at him from between a pair of heavily curling horns. It considered him carefully, nearly bolting away from the water, and patiently waited another few moments before stepping forward.

“Come get your day’s water,” Kai said softly again. It wasn’t long before the animal was perfectly comfortable in Kai’s presence. He sat and watched the beast as it drank its fill. When it was done it let out a low bleating noise, and Kai’s eyes widened when another Khava came in to drink, and the first stepped away to nibble at some of the greenery. The second animal was a female, lacking the heavy horns, and she ignored Kai entirely. The female was heavy, and Kai suspected that she was halfway through her pregnancy, fostering a litter of the wild creatures.

Following the female, a group of nearly ten younger Khava all came to drink. They lacked the caution of their guardian parents, but made up for it in sport. Once they realized that their parents were at ease, they set to playing and scuffling with one another, churning up the water while they pushed one other around. It was enjoyable for Kai to watch, and he almost regretted that he would later be hunting one of these younger beasts to feed himself, and possibly to make himself a new coat that he could use when the colder months and the rainy season came.

While he was watching them, Kai felt the earth shake. The male Khava let out a warning sound, and the others began to scatter, but not fast enough. Looking up to a sudden screeching sound, as high pitched as it was deafening, Kai saw the source of the trembling.

A many-legged creature reared twenty paces above them. Its bristly body was the color of burned paper, a mottled brown and black, while its heavy jaws stretched nearly five paces from tip to tip. A myriad of eyes, standing out on its head like tiny jewels, surveyed below as its head crashed down heavily. It closed the heavy pincers on the female Khava, not ten feet away. Lifting the docile creature above itself, it dropped the body down its gullet, silencing it’s frantic bleating. The great scavenger, having made its meal, pushed off with its many-legged body and scuttled across the small stream that the spring had made. It headed in a north-westerly direction.

Throughout all of this Kai had remained seated in a cross-legged position and had not moved a muscle.

“Dheista, the mammoth worm,” he said. Kai’s mouth curved into a slow and cocky smile, and he forgot about the small herd of Khava and their possible source of food. With luck, Kai wouldn’t need to be here as long as the cold months. “He will be my test of bravery.” Kai used his weapon to push himself to his feet and he began to walk calmly down the swath of crushed plants that the mammoth worm had carved through the brush.

The path wound its way up the hillside, meandering to the west, until it gave out over a rocky ridge. Kai looked down to see the great expanse of the ocean, and he nearly fell forward from the vertigo. The wind that came over the Cliffside smelled of salt, and Kai didn’t think he had ever seen so much of that blue-green color in all his life. There was more than a hundred paces of rocky cliff side between himself and the rocks below, where the great waves crashed around even larger boulders.

Kai watched the water, stunned for a few moments before he gained control of himself and set to the task at hand. There was only one hole in the rock large enough to fit the great creature, and it was obviously the correct one, as it had been borrowed directly into the cliff face. There was an unnatural material that lined the edges around the burrow which looked hard, although it wetly reflected the light from the afternoon sun.

Kai undid his belt and used it to tie his weapon securely on his back. It was a steep climb, and he could feel a tingling sensation in the tips of his fingers as he began to lower himself down the cliff face. The rocks were rough and dark, which meant that they were hot to the touch and abrasive against his palms. Kai did his best to ignore those sensations, however, moving steadily as he looked for holds. He almost lost his grip once, when an exceptionally strong gust of wind pushed its way across the face of the cliff, pulling at his loose clothing.

Shortly afterwards he swung his way under the open lip of the Dheista’s burrow, grateful to be on more solid ground. The shiny material with which the creature had lined its burrow with was hard to the touch, and a little slippery. The air moved around the mouth of the cave with a quiet whistle. The tunnel ran downward at a shallow angle, wandering to the left and right just a bit as it descended.

I’m going to need some light, Kai thought to himself, and he wished that he’d brought a candle. Then he looked over his shoulder, at the ocean again, and up into the western sky. Or, I could wait until later in the afternoon, when the light will shine down the tunnel. He smiled at his own cleverness and sat himself down to rest and wait inside the burrow.

He watched out over the ocean, marveling at how the deep blue color farther out faded into a lighter green, and then developed white caps as the waves pushed further in, just before crashing with a massive spray up against the rocks. Kai wondered why he had never been more curious about the ocean before. He had heard stories when he was smaller, about water so great that no man could walk across it and no boats ever came back once they had set out. He had always been more curious about the great beasts and monsters which lived here in the wilderness near the sea, such as the Dheista he was chasing now.

A muted buzzing noise interrupted his musings, and Kai looked back into the burrow, wondering what other crawling things might have made a home out of this dark hole. He was disappointed. As soon as his head moved the buzzing stopped, and Kai saw nothing. He returned to watching the ocean.

There was nothing to see for a very long time. Kai set himself to meditate again, keeping his eyes open and sitting patiently to watch the light slowly fill the interior of the burrow. His teenage mind grew bored after the first few minutes, and he had to exert a strict discipline to maintain his posture and position, but he managed to reign in his mind, concentrating on thinking nothing, just experiencing the wind and the light and the sounds around him.

A glimmer of light on the right-hand side of the cave brought him out of his meditation. He only caught sight of it for a moment, before it was gone, but Kai had definitely seen something small and shiny move further within the burrow. There should be enough light for now, Kai thought. He stood up, and went to investigate.

When he followed further in, Kai found something strange. A shaft had been carved out of the side of the burrow, much more carefully crafted than the burrow itself had been. Inside this secondary shaft there were a myriad of tiny lights, small glowing embers that hung on the sides of the short shaft. The miniscule points of fire were contained in ornately carved stone lamps, which had been laid out in decorative spiral patterns. They illuminated a round structure that hung on the back of the enclave. This was made from carefully sewn leaves, which had been cured and dried and treated with a substance that made them look a deeper shade of green. It was a domain that didn’t have the randomness of an insect’s dwelling, but would have taken a great deal of effort for someone to build and to decorate.

“Hello?” Kai whispered. “Is anyone there?” Having seen such an ornately crafted house, he was curious to see if there was anybody that he could see to take credit for the construction. They would have to be small, no larger than a rodent, if they were going to fit inside.

Nobody answered, and although he waited another few minutes to get a better look at it there was no sign of any living creatures. Kai looked back down the burrow, and either from his eyes having adjusted to the dim cave or from a better angle of the sun, he could see much better. Kai made a mental note to memorize where the enclave was located so that he could visit it again later.

Kai stalked his way further down the tunnel, listening cautiously for any sign of the Dheista. An animal like that only comes out to feed, Kai thought. He’ll be sleeping, now that he’s gotten something to eat. Kai untied the blade on his back, fixing his belt and readying his body and mind for a hunt. The tunnel extended nearly eighty feet down into the hillside before its first open space. It smelled cleaner than he had thought it would, this deep into the hillside. The lining that had been laid across the walls was dry and nearly odorless. When he reached the first cavern, however, he could tell that the walls had changed somewhat.

“Spawn of dark gods,” he whispered to himself, his widening. Set into the hard lining of the walls were small spherical objects, slightly translucent in the light that made it this far into the burrow. Some were still and some had dark and spindly figures inside that moved just a little bit, but they were all obviously eggs. “There are only eight of them, but they will all have to be destroyed.” Kai nodded to himself and readied his weapon.

The first one that he stabbed open erupted with a viscous material that flopped onto the floor as much as it poured out. Most of the rest of them were similarly sterile, too underdeveloped to move much. Kai hesitated just a bit before stabbing the last one, which seemed to be wiggling more than the others had done.

The last one poured more than it flopped, and the creature inside was almost completely formed. It writhed on the ground and let out a low screech, little more than a wet hissing noise. Kai quickly put his weapon across its neck and pushed down with his foot on the back, silencing the creature.

Kai held his breath and waited, looking up at the tunnel that continued further down the burrow. It wasn’t long before he heard an answering noise, much like the small one’s hiss, but with the force of wind that could only be provided by a much, much larger creature.

“Not good.” Kai took a step back toward the tunnel, and set himself into a defensive stance.

The Dheista skittered into the opening of the burrow, coiling once as it looked over the damage which had been done. The hunter stood still and waited for the much larger beast to make his move.

The thing settled itself so that it’s head nearly pressed against the ceiling of the burrow. It looked exactly as it had done before striking out at the Khava earlier.

“Ready when you are,” Kai said up to it. His grip was loose on his weapon, and he was as relaxed as he’d been during his morning exercises. When the Dheista struck, Kai was ready for it. The beast used all the force of its coiled body to lunge forward and down, and Kai used all the force of his collected body, his muscles snapping tight and sending him directly up. He dodged the creature’s attack and thrust his weapon down with a roar, biting it deep into one of the many eyes that the shone on the top of its head.

The screech that the Dheista made then was loud enough to shake the walls of the burrow and cause bits of the wall-lining to fall from the ceiling. It was certainly loud enough to leave a heavy ringing noise in Kai’s ears. He felt the air whistle through his loose clothing as it thrust upward, and the impact that was made, between the hard carapace of the Dheista and the slightly softer substance lining the ceiling was enough to blacken Kai’s vision. The Dheista only shrieked louder as the impact also drove Kai’s weapon further into its head, leaving only a foot of the haft out in the air.

Showing a grit that Kai didn’t know that he had possessed, he held onto that foot and a half of his weapon despite that pounding, and continued to hold when the creature began making a sprinting dash for the tunnel that led out to the cliff.

Gathering what little intelligent thought he could, it occurred to Kai that he wouldn’t survive if the Dheista threw him off of the cliff. Kai looked over his shoulder and set his feet beneath himself, watching for the small cleft that he had found in the burrow on his way in. Kai thrust his legs and prayed to all of the gods that he knew about that he would be able to make the tiny gap, with the Dheista charging as fast as it was.

Kai hit one wall and ricocheted off of it, rolling twice before his shoulder hit something crunchy, which only slightly broke the impact. Kai used the arm that hadn’t struck the wall to push himself out of the ruined structure and roll himself onto his back.

He had never hurt so badly in his entire life. After groaning for a moment and almost regretting the decision to hunt the Dheista, he heard a chaotic garble of vocal sounds. Kai pried open one eye, and he could see the remains of what had once been a beautiful, if miniature, house. The gibberish that was being sprouted at him was coming from a tiny creature that could have looked like one of his own people, if it weren’t for the fact that it was just under four inches tall.

It leapt from its perch near the house, and extended a buzzing set of insect-like wings, which were moving too quickly for him to see well in the dim glowing light of the tiny symbols that decorated the walls. The thing landed on his arm, which was laying limp just under his face, and continued jabbering at him. It was a female creature, dressed in loose fitting black clothing, and had dark hair to match.

After a few seconds the thing must have realized that he couldn’t understand what he was saying, because it stopped talking. Instead it leaned forward and put one hand against his forehead. Kai felt a pressure at his temples, and then his vision blurred, and then there was a sharp pain in the back of his head.

“Ouch!” Kai swatted at it. He knocked it up into the air and away from his head.

“Good, you’re alive. You know, I think that you’re a real idiot for attacking that thing,” the sprite said, flitting around and landing on his shoulder, not far from his left ear.

“What did you do to me?” Kai asked.

“I just crossed some of your neural paths, writing bits of my own language into your brain and writing yours into mine. If you concentrate, you’ll figure out that you’re speaking my language right now, and not your own. I’m speaking yours right now.”

Kai stopped, blinking. “I suppose you’re right. How-“

“You look really funny with that confused expression on your face.”

His eyes widened. “You’re a pixie, the demon child of the god of deception.”

“Well, we have nothing to do with any god of deception, and we are most certainly not demons. We actually call ourselves sprites, but that’s just a tangent, and not important at the moment. The better question is, what are you doing up here?”

“I’m hunting the Dheista.” Kai laid his head back down. The pixie had made no real attack against him, and he thought it would be best to relax a moment and recuperate his senses.

“The big bug. Ah. That would make sense, but no, there’s no reason why that would make any sense. What were you doing that for?”

“I was hunting it as a test of bravery, to prove to my people that I can take my place within the Rieh family in the warrior’s caste. I needed to find a kill worthy of my position and training.”

“How odd,” the pixie commented.

“Traditions say that the Dheista contain the sleeping wrath of a dark god, who can awaken and stretch his hand only to cause destruction and decay amongst the people. It would be doing well by my people if I could kill the hand of a dark god.”

“You’re serious?” she asked, but didn’t wait for him to answer. “I knew you big ones were thick, but I didn’t think you were downright suicidal. Have you noticed that that thing is big enough to tear you apart?” She shrugged. “Not that it would matter to me, I was just curious. I was wondering if you knew that you were going to die, and how you felt about that. As long as you’re okay with that then I’ll let you go merrily on your way and get eaten.”

“Well, if I die then I won’t have to return home and tell them that I never found my test,” Kai said. “Or tell them that I had to find something less intimidating. I don’t know that I’ll ever be able to settle for something less now that I’ve seen the Dheista.”

“Ah. See, that’s really dumb, because if they were really as wise as you make them out to be, they wouldn’t expect you to kill yourself to prove you’re tough.”

“You’re really not helping me any, did you know that?”

“Yes. I know that I’m not helping you. See, I answered your question, but you didn’t answer mine. Do you know that you’re going to die? That thing down there could probably fit ten of you in one of its stomachs, and I think that it has four. It could fit three of you in its mouth, and another two of you just to be held in its jaws. It could use one of you to pick its teeth after having eaten the other forty-five of you.”

“No, I don’t think I am going to be eaten today.” Kai shrugged. “I suppose it could happen, but what better way to end my quest than to die fighting against a dark god’s wrath.”

“See, that’s where you’re stupid again. That thing is not a dark god, nor is it the disembodied appendage of any dark god, nor is there any hope of it having a superstitious presence connected to a greater spiritual being. That thing right there is a giant insect.” She stopped and put one hand against her miniscule chin. “Well, it’s not a giant insect per se, because it doesn’t have six legs. It’s got lots more than that, and an insect is supposed to have six legs. An arachnid has eight, but this thing has somewhere around three hundred and fourteen. What did they call that?”

“I honestly don’t know.”

“Then never mind. My point is that it’s not a spiritual being, it’s a great big dumb bug, with an intelligence that rates at a negative two—on a scale of one to ten, that is—and it’s going to eat you if you don’t leave it alone. It’s big, and it’s scary. What more do you need to know? One could accurately call it a big scary, and disregard entirely how many legs it has, but the point is the same.”

“You had a point?” Kai raised an eyebrow. The small creatures increasingly rapid speech made him dizzy, and the combination of that with the blows he had taken and with the tinkering that she had done in his brain was giving him a major headache.

“Yes! You’re an idiot! That’s my point. Leave the thing alone, and consider running for your life, like a sensible big person. And while you’re at it, stop wrecking people’s nests.”

Kai did consider something. He considered ignoring the flighty little being as he looked past the small cave that the sprite had used for its nest. The Dheista was gone, probably outside. Kai hoped that he could find it again, and recover his weapon. “I’m sorry about that,” he said, changing the subject and closing his eyes as he laid back down.

“Don’t worry about it, it’s not my nest. I was house-sitting for an uncle anyway. He went on vacation to an island somewhere. He said that there was a fruit there that he could use to make some killer punches, and he asked me to stay here so nothing could happen to his house.” She looked at the crushed network of leaves and twigs, which had once been carefully sewn together inside the cave. “So much for that. I think that I’d like to be gone before he gets back. I’ll probably never talk to the old man again, which is sad, because I was kind of looking forward to trying the punch he was going to bring. Anyway, so are you going to chase after that thing or not?”

“I thought you said I should run away?” Kai rolled one shoulder around twice, testing the bruised impact. His arm was working just fine, if with a little—or a lot—of bruising.

“You should, but if you don’t, then it would at least be entertaining to watch you get eaten. Do you want any help with that?”

“Help with what?”

“With your shoulder. I can make it feel better if you’d like.”

“Ahuh,” Kai said skeptically. “How?”

“Well, I have some herbs inside my uncle’s house that can kill the pain. I suppose you’d have to eat a lot of them to get the same effect as a bite would give one of us sprites, but you could try. The old man had a ton of the stuff in here.

“Couldn’t hurt,” Kai thought aloud, and she flitted back to the nest to retrieve an armload of leaves that were dark red in color.

“Well, yes it could. Eating strange plants could kill you, but luckily for you I know enough about comparative anatomy and medicine that you don’t have much to worry about. I’m convinced it will give you indigestion, but that won’t kick in for a few hours at least.” She dropped the load of leaves into his open palm. “Enjoy.”

“Thanks.” Kai popped the leaves into his mouth and was surprised at how quickly they worked. It only took a few seconds for the loosening sensation to hit his bruised muscles and for the pain to slide away. “Wow,” he said.

“Okay, so are you going after the giant centipede?”

“Now is as good a time as ever, and I want my Rieh back.”

“Right, your pointy thing. Well I’m going to follow you, if you don’t mind.”

“Go ahead.” Kai pulled himself to his feet and stretched a little bit again, working the knots out of his shoulders. He made his way out to the cliff face, the edge of the burrow, and stopped just before reaching out. He could hear the thing’s slow breathing noises just outside, waiting in ambush.

This is going to be tough, Kai thought to himself. He mentally tried to pinpoint the location of the breathing noises, making sure he knew exactly where his opponent was, and he tried to formulate a plan.

“So she’s waiting outside for you?” the pixie said.

Kai nodded, and put a finger to his lips, silently asking her to be quiet.

This is going to be some test of bravery, Kai thought. If I live through this, then they’re going to be telling stories about it for the next hundred years. He relished the idea of gaining such prestige for killing the Dheista, and he started bobbing his weight up and down, bouncing on the balls of his feet. He was mentally working himself up to the idiotic stunt that he was about to attempt.

“Now,” he whispered, and he ran up against the opposite side from where the insect was located. He pushed off of the wall with his legs and leapt out, directly toward where the Dheista was waiting.

As he had hoped, the insect lunged too far, and as it had intended to catch him directly between the widely hung pincers, it over-extended and caught him just inside, where he wouldn’t be pierced through.

Kai scrambled with his hands, trying to find some purchase on the thing’s mandibles, and he was lucky enough to grab onto the bristles of one before he started to fall. The thing screeched in pain, Kai’s weight pulling on the soft part of its mouth, and began to thrash.

Kai felt his heart drop into his stomach, and despite the dizzying motion, he kept his grip on the thing’s mandible, pulling himself up. The Dheista discovered that its thrashing strategy wasn’t working, and so it instead tried to reach its face with some of its legs. “One more jump,” Kai whispered to himself, and he swung himself upward, snapping his muscles and propelling him again into the air, over the Dheista’s eyes.

“You’re really are the luckiest creature that I’ve ever laid my eyes on,” the sprite said in awe. Kai heard her voice, but didn’t reply to the comment, as he was too busy trying not to fall off of the Dheista’s shell. He half-fell, half scrambled toward where he had buried his weapon, and with a great pull, he ripped the blade out of the thing. He dove one hand into the hole that it had left behind, using that grip to steady himself.

“So what are you going to do now?” The sprite flitted nearby him, and he gave her a glare.

“I’m a little busy, pixie.” Kai called, and he used his free hand to again lash his weapon onto his back. Once he had his second hand free, he thrust it in with his first and set his weight against the thing’s carapace. Straining the muscles in his arms, legs, and back, he let out a roar until the carapace gave way with an audible SNAP.

Kai had cracked the whole upper portion of the Dheista’s shell.

The giant centipede let out an ear shattering squeal, and its muscles spasmed. Kai again felt gravity go to work as it released its hold on the cliff and began to fall.

Kai couldn’t see the rocks below him, but he smiled amidst the ill smelling fluids of the Dheista’s insides because he knew that it could not possibly survive the fall onto the jagged rocks below.

Kai was pretty sure that his chances were slim as well.

“I told you so.” The sprite matched his downward velocity long enough to relay the brief message and then veered upward.

---

Firsts officer Luis had been on a ship for the last three months solid, and although his cabin was much more comfortable than most of the crews had been, he was suffering from all of the maladies common to long sea-voyages. He’d kill a man for an apple, a beer, or an evening with any girl who was even half-way decent to look at. As it was, he felt the illnesses common from eating overly-salted foods and too much hard bread.

When they’d sighted land, Luis had immediately volunteered to be on the first boat that went ashore. He wanted to find a pomegranate or a banana before the sun went down, and there wasn’t much he wasn’t willing to do to get that.

There were six rowers in the longboat and they arched their backs repeatedly, each stroke bringing them that much closer to dry land and a change of pace.

“Excellent, boys. We’ll be there in no time. Keep it up. Think of the money we’ll make when we get back, bringing back seeds and a few of the strange animals that live on this side of the world.

“Speaking of, sir, what in the name of all that’s holy is that thing!?” The rifle-man, who was sitting in the rear of the boat and watching the shore, pointed up to a set of cliffs that made up the coastline to the south of them. It was hard to see at first, but when it moved, the sailor could see its outline clearly. A long creature the color of the dark rock was wound halfway up the face of the cliff.

“It looks like a centipede. Sharp eyes, man.”

“Sir, it’s got to be twice the length of the boat.”

“I would wager it was longer than that. Keep a lookout. With any luck the thing won’t notice us, or it won’t leave the cliff side. There are stranger things in this new world, and most of them aren’t as intimidating or as unmanageable as that. Don’t worry, that one isn’t what we’re looking for.”

“Sir?”

“What is it?”

“The thing is acting a little wildly. It makes me nervous.”

First Officer Luis turned to see what the man was talking about, and he could clearly see the gargantuan vermin coiling and spasming.

“There’s someone up there, I’m sure of it,” the rifleman added.

“What?” The first officer reached down for a spyglass that he had in the front of the boat, and peered through it to see more closely.

Sure enough, he could see a man crouched on top of the thing’s head, pulling at it. Even from that distance, he could hear the sharp sound of the cracking exoskeleton, and he then saw the great thing fall.

“That man just killed the thing.” It only took a second for it to crash into the rocks, making a
sickening spray as it was impaled upon the rocks. “Boys, take us over there, near those rocks. We’re going to see this a little bit closer.”

-----

“It would be a shame for someone so stupid to die so easily,” she mumbled to herself. Christine, as that was the sprite’s name, worked her tired wings like flippers and kept Kai’s head above water as she pulled his unconscious body to shore. The impact had left him with numerous bruises, but she had already done a thorough examination and he would most definitely live through the encounter.

“That is assuming he doesn’t drown,” she said, but was silent as something disturbed the water near her. She heard shouting noises, in a foreign tongue.

“Vultures!” She said to herself, and she dove deeper into the water, letting Kai sink just a little bit. From her vantage point she could see the bottom of their boat, and the rough hands that hauled Kai inside. “They’re going to steal him!” she said, muted by the ocean water.

“I might as well follow them,” the sprite shrugged underwater. “This one might be able to help.”

You know that he can’t save you, not from me. A taunting voice played in the back of her mind.

“Be quiet, Kane.”

I will be quiet when I choose to be quiet, little one. You have not the control to command me.

“I said be quiet, Kane!” Christine buzzed underneath the boat, waiting for a good time to surface and find some air.

It is almost time to feed, little one. Take me to the stranger’s ship.

Christine shuddered violently. She was terrified inside, but she knew that she needed to go to the ship, the stranger that had the strength to kill the giant centipede may be her last chance.

Kane merely laughed inside her mind, thrilled by her terror.