Chapter 81: The Old Curtain Falls

Chapter 81: Chapter 81: The Old Curtain Falls

Victor was chief, and his word was law, but he also stood for the people as much as for the ancestors.

If he pushed too hard, he’d lose them. His pulse hammered in his ears. Sweat ran down his back. His eyes darted from face to face, searching for any argument that hadn’t already been spent.

If this continued, I won’t be able to stop them from killing her. Also, why is every fucking thing in this barbaric culture sorted with death?

Then the ground moved.

A low rumble rolled under their feet, then a violent shudder. People stumbled. Someone fell. Hands grabbed for tent poles.

"Look!" someone screamed, pointing skyward.

Every head turned toward the horizon.

For hundreds of years, that faint green shimmer had hung over the edge of the sky, the light of the Boundary, so constant they’d stopped noticing it. Now it was cracking. Fine lines spread across it like a shattering mirror, and then the whole thing began to drop, slowly, like a curtain falling, until there was nothing left but open sky to the other side.

The Boundary was gone.

A wall of wind slammed into the village, roaring in from the horizon.

"TAKE COVER!" Victor roared. "Everyone, take cover!"

Barbarians scattered, diving into huts, behind stacked timber, flat against the ground. The wind tore through the village, hurling debris. A flying splinter cracked into one man’s skull. A shard of wood punched through another’s leg. Tents ripped from their stakes.

Foto had been caught in the open. She stumbled, lost her footing, and went down hard as a boulder the size of a hut tore loose from the ridge and came rolling toward her, flattening everything in its path.

She screamed.

Coco ran.

She threw herself between Foto and the boulder, arms raised. And then it happened.

A Shimmering light flared around them both, a thin, translucent shell, just as the boulder hit.

BOOM.

The barrier held for a single heartbeat. Then the boulder skidded sideways and shot past them, tearing a trench through the dirt. The shimmer vanished. Coco’s eyes rolled back, and she collapsed.

The wind died, and the world went still.

Slowly, people rose, coughing, dazed. The village was a ruin before, but now, it was far worse. Tents lay flattened, supplies scattered, but by some miracle, all of them were alive.

"The Boundary is gone," someone whispered. Then louder, wondering: "It’s gone. Just like the Chief said."

Foto sat frozen in the dirt, staring at the unconscious girl in front of her. Her breath came fast. Then her face twisted. Her eyes dropped to the knife lying near her hand, and she snatched it up, scrambling toward Coco.

She raised it high. And just when it fell—

A hand clamped around her wrist an inch before the blade would tear Coco’s throat.

Kiki.

"What are you doing?"

"What does it look like?" Foto spat, struggling. "I am removing an abomination."

"An abomination that just saved your life."

"So what?" Foto snarled. "A Spiritualist is a Spiritualist. Everyone knows that."

"Yes." Kiki twisted the knife out of her grip and flung it away. "But do you have no... HONOR?"

Those words struck deep. What Foto was about to do was a different kind of sin.

Betrayal.

Eyes fell on her. Foto noticed the others she stopped and wriggled her arm free. Before sge stood up and walked away, face carrying a certain focused expression.

kiki turned her head slowly toward Victor. The same thought was moving behind everyone’s eyes. Minutes ago, Coco had been the one marked for death and now, she’d suddenly saved a life.

"What if," Kiki said quietly, "this really is the will of the ancestors?"

Victor couldn’t hold it in any longer. A long breath left him, and he sank down onto the ground, his legs finally giving out.

"That was close," he whispered.

Victor then ordered that Coco be carried somewhere she could rest. But then he saw it. Absolutely nobody moved, not even Jaja she had taken care of when he was wounded.

Barbarians stood around with their arms at their sides, eyes on the ground or on each other. Nobody wanted to be the one to touch her.

She had saved Foto’s life in front of the whole tribe and of course, the Boundary had fallen exactly as Victor said it would. But none of that mattered before this fact.

A Spiritualist was a Spiritualist.

Barbarians had grown on stories about the outside world. Those stories had formed their minds, perception, and thought patterns.

Naturally, the miracle of one random afternoon was not going to replace all their lives.

Victor didn’t argue. He picked her up himself and carried her into his own tent.

He laid her on the furs, and stayed beside her while the camp settled back into its activities.

....

Night fell over the ruined village.

Later, a voice came from outside the tent flap.

"Chief. I need to speak with you."

It was Lego. Victor stepped out.

"I sent the brothers up into the hills, like you asked," Lego said.

"What did they see?"

"Torches. Far out, a day or two from here."

Victor’s grip tightened. "How many?"

"From what they could count, a hundred. Maybe two hundred."

Victor’s eyes widened. Two hundred? That many!

Lego studied his face, and his own expression sank. "Chief. Tell me the truth. I know you mean well by us. But are we about to go to war?"

Victor gave a slight nod. "Yes. Or rather, the war is coming to us."

Lego straightened, fist to his chest. "Then if they want war, we Barbarians will fight to the last breath."

"It’s not that simple." Victor kept his voice low. "It’s not about whether we’ll fight. It’s who."

"Who?"

"Orcs."

Lego’s eyes went wide. None of them had ever seen one. This had always been Barbarian land. But every child grew up on the legends. Orcs and Barbarians had never known peace. Both peoples wandered, hunting and scavenging, and wherever their paths crossed there was blood. The orcs hated Barbarians as much as Barbarians hated them. And two hundred were marching this way, with the Boundary gone to stop them. Even more, Orcs were naturally blessed for war, just as Barbarians were.

"Find Kiki and Jaja," Victor said. "Tell them to meet me in haste. We need to plan how we defend our home."

"Yes, Chief."

Lego turned to go.

"Lego." Victor stopped him. "Bring me some of the Lizard meat too."

Coco would need to eat something when she woke up.

"Yes, Chief."

Lego hurried off.

Victor turned back to his tent and pushed through the flap.

However, he noticed that it was... Empty?

The furs lay rumpled where she’d been. But Coco was gone. His stomach dropped. He ran back outside, scanning the camp. "Coco!"

No answer.

He grabbed the first barbarian he saw walking past. "Have you seen Coco?"

The man bowed his head. "Chief." Then he kept walking, saying nothing more.

Victor watched him go. He couldn’t force the man to speak. But the silence was an answer in itself. They hadn’t helped her, and they wouldn’t help him find her.

He dropped his eyes to the ground.

Footprints. They were smaller than most, leading away from the tents. Barbarians were hunters by blood, and tracking came naturally to him even in this body. He followed them at a run, past the last huts, around the back of the village, toward the river that ran through it. This was the location of their only source of water.

The prints led straight to the bank.

And there, in the moonlight, Victor finally saw her.

Coco stood at the water’s edge with a heavy stone tied to her legs. She didn’t look back. She didn’t hesitate.

She stepped off the bank and slipped under the surface.

Fuck.

(Author’s note: Please keep up with the love. Golden Tickets, Powerstones, and gifts. Yeah Reviews please, reviews?? )