Salo is playing matje (a strategic board game that never really gets described) with a younger boy, Monti, who he sees as almost a little brother, when they both hear a horrible shriek from outside the little shed they're sitting in. Salo looks out the window, but doesn't see anything unusual; he tells Monti that he's going to walk him home anyway. Monti agrees with unusual alacrity, and the two of them lock up the shed and go outside.
Immediately, they both spot a writhing mass of inky darkness in the sky above the kraal -- a mystic's hypnotic Seal, presenting the image of an infinitely black sphere with a prismatic corona. The Seal imparts the knowledge of its owner -- a terrible warlord with one red-burning eye, seated on a throne of shadows, whose army has plundered far and wide. Monti asks Salo who it is, and why he's here, but Salo tells him to hurry and not think about it. They've almost reached the gravel road that winds through the kraal when dust begins to rise from the earth in front of them.
The dust forms a twisted human skeleton, with grotesquely elongated arms and talon-like fingers, seven feet tall and shrouded by dust. White flames burn in its skull and lick out its eye sockets. Salo recognizes it from stories -- a tikoloshe, summoned by black magic from one of the realms of the underworld. The tikoloshe turns to the boys, and Salo grabs Monti and runs.
They run into the heart of the kraal, pursued by the same horrible shriek that first alerted them that something was wrong. Another tikoloshe manifests itself in front of a woman on her way back from drawing water and rips her apart; Salo is overwhelmed by horror, but manages to keep running with Monti until the younger boy trips and drops his matje case. Salo picks him up bodily, despite his protests, and keeps running until they encounter three spear-wielding men in red loincloths: Ajaha rangers.
Salo asks their leader, who he calls Aba D, what's going on, and learns that a Umadi witch bypassed their defenses and is responsible for the creatures. The rangers assure the boys that they'll handle her, and Aba D orders Salo to get Monti to safety despite his questions. The boys don't run, though; they watch as the three rangers fan out, looking for their enemy.
A swarm of flies, moving with a single purpose, hovers above them, and Salo shouts a warning too late; the swarm smashes into one of the rangers, hurling him into a tree. Aba D shouts for the boys to run, which they do, but the swarm follows them, reconstituting itself into a naked woman -- tattooed on every inch of skin, cosmic shards blazing, eyes burning red and teeth filed to points. Salo switches to the Umadi language and asks why she's doing this, what they've done to her, but she doesn't respond before Aba D slams into her with his shield, the power bestowed on him by the queen of the Yerezi making him far faster and stronger than any mortal man.
It's not enough. The witch toys with him, hurling a spear of distorted space as she drifts around half-corporeal, then summoning more tikoloshe, but Aba D is undeterred. He charges his enemy as Salo and Monti finally run.
With warriors battling tikoloshe and worse everywhere around them, the two boys make it to the heavily warded chieftan's hut, which Salo seals. Safe for now, the boys listen fearfully to the sounds of carnage outside. Monti is understandably traumatized, and Salo fails to reassure him. Eventually Monti asks Salo why he isn't out there, fighting; why he isn't a ranger like his brothers. Salo's answer is weak; it's a question that hurts him, and his explanation that some people have other talents than fighting rings hollow. Monti calls him a siratata, a really nasty gendered insult, and Salo tries to reason with him; it only makes the boy more determined, and he says that he's going outside to fight.
Salo grabs his temper with both hands and tries to talk him out of it, claiming that he'd be a bad friend if he let Monti go. Monti seems to accept this, but tricks Salo into leaving him unwatched and slips out through a window. Salo runs after him, through a dozen scenes of murder, past the bodies of people he's known all his life, and just as he's nearly to Monti's hut, he hears a shriek and sees a tikoloshe disembowel a young boy.
It throws Monti's body aside, and Salo runs to him, cradling the boy's ruined body in his arms. The tikoloshe approaches, raising a talon to strike again, but he doesn't move.
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timeasmymeasure
The attack on the kraal
Date: 2024-05-30 02:21 am (UTC)Immediately, they both spot a writhing mass of inky darkness in the sky above the kraal -- a mystic's hypnotic Seal, presenting the image of an infinitely black sphere with a prismatic corona. The Seal imparts the knowledge of its owner -- a terrible warlord with one red-burning eye, seated on a throne of shadows, whose army has plundered far and wide. Monti asks Salo who it is, and why he's here, but Salo tells him to hurry and not think about it. They've almost reached the gravel road that winds through the kraal when dust begins to rise from the earth in front of them.
The dust forms a twisted human skeleton, with grotesquely elongated arms and talon-like fingers, seven feet tall and shrouded by dust. White flames burn in its skull and lick out its eye sockets. Salo recognizes it from stories -- a tikoloshe, summoned by black magic from one of the realms of the underworld. The tikoloshe turns to the boys, and Salo grabs Monti and runs.
They run into the heart of the kraal, pursued by the same horrible shriek that first alerted them that something was wrong. Another tikoloshe manifests itself in front of a woman on her way back from drawing water and rips her apart; Salo is overwhelmed by horror, but manages to keep running with Monti until the younger boy trips and drops his matje case. Salo picks him up bodily, despite his protests, and keeps running until they encounter three spear-wielding men in red loincloths: Ajaha rangers.
Salo asks their leader, who he calls Aba D, what's going on, and learns that a Umadi witch bypassed their defenses and is responsible for the creatures. The rangers assure the boys that they'll handle her, and Aba D orders Salo to get Monti to safety despite his questions. The boys don't run, though; they watch as the three rangers fan out, looking for their enemy.
A swarm of flies, moving with a single purpose, hovers above them, and Salo shouts a warning too late; the swarm smashes into one of the rangers, hurling him into a tree. Aba D shouts for the boys to run, which they do, but the swarm follows them, reconstituting itself into a naked woman -- tattooed on every inch of skin, cosmic shards blazing, eyes burning red and teeth filed to points. Salo switches to the Umadi language and asks why she's doing this, what they've done to her, but she doesn't respond before Aba D slams into her with his shield, the power bestowed on him by the queen of the Yerezi making him far faster and stronger than any mortal man.
It's not enough. The witch toys with him, hurling a spear of distorted space as she drifts around half-corporeal, then summoning more tikoloshe, but Aba D is undeterred. He charges his enemy as Salo and Monti finally run.
With warriors battling tikoloshe and worse everywhere around them, the two boys make it to the heavily warded chieftan's hut, which Salo seals. Safe for now, the boys listen fearfully to the sounds of carnage outside. Monti is understandably traumatized, and Salo fails to reassure him. Eventually Monti asks Salo why he isn't out there, fighting; why he isn't a ranger like his brothers. Salo's answer is weak; it's a question that hurts him, and his explanation that some people have other talents than fighting rings hollow. Monti calls him a siratata, a really nasty gendered insult, and Salo tries to reason with him; it only makes the boy more determined, and he says that he's going outside to fight.
Salo grabs his temper with both hands and tries to talk him out of it, claiming that he'd be a bad friend if he let Monti go. Monti seems to accept this, but tricks Salo into leaving him unwatched and slips out through a window. Salo runs after him, through a dozen scenes of murder, past the bodies of people he's known all his life, and just as he's nearly to Monti's hut, he hears a shriek and sees a tikoloshe disembowel a young boy.
It throws Monti's body aside, and Salo runs to him, cradling the boy's ruined body in his arms. The tikoloshe approaches, raising a talon to strike again, but he doesn't move.
Monti is dead, and it's his fault.