Page 35 of Gentle Giant

I watched in astonishment as the dozenpullshannascarried baskets forward and set them on the ground, then moved back to their previous positions. “Is this a trick?” I asked, recalling the violence that had ensued the last time trespassers had ventured onto our lands.

“It is no trick. May the Great Spirit strike me down if it is a trick. Please accept our gifts,” Squava said. “Please accept our gifts and agree to speak with us. We have come to humbly request your help.”

“Help? What could the Starblessed tribe possibly do for the Lonnis tribe? Our tribe numbers in the low hundreds, while it is said yours is the largest Montikaan tribe in existence.”

Squava spread his arms and gestured at his tribesmen, then his hands fell to his sides, and he appeared so exhausted, I thought he might fall over. But he remained upright as he said, “The males you see before you are the last living members of the Lonnis tribe. Our lands to the north have been destroyed by a great fire. We were on a fishing expedition when the blaze started, a blaze so powerful and fast that our combined healing energies couldn’t put it out.”

Disbelief swirled through me. “How could the combined energies of the largest Montikaan tribe fail to put out a fire?”

“As we tried to put the fire out, some of us felt an opposing force. An evil force. Members of another Montikaan tribe directing darkness onto our lands. The darkness fed the fire and canceled out our healing energies, and the blaze flourished. The males you see before you today, myself included, arrived at the height of the fire, and most of us felt the opposing force as we tried desperately to extinguish the blaze and save our brethren.”

I studied the faces of each Lonnis male in the clearing. They appeared weary and… empty. As though they’d lost everything that had mattered to them. Their fellow tribesmen, their females, their children.

“Do you know which tribe directed the darkness at you?” I asked, fearing the answer. There was one Montikaan tribe that was rarely talked about, a tribe that killed for blood sport, and it was said this tribe had turned their backs on the Great Spirit to instead worship a dark entity that walked the earth.

“I think you know the tribe we speak of.” Squava pressed his lips together and shuddered, clearly too afraid to utter the name of the tribe aloud.

“The Volmatt tribe?” I needed to be certain.

Squava sighed and said, “Yes. They took our families, our land, and we were lucky to escape with our lives. We struggled to find the gifts to bring you on the outskirts of our territory before we fled.”

I glanced at the filled baskets. “We will share the gifts you have brought, Chief Squava,” I said. I’d heard several of their stomachs growling as we stood in the clearing, and I would not see them go hungry. While I wanted nothing more than to tell them to keep all the food for themselves, to refuse to accept at least half of what they offered would be considered a grave insult. But I resolved that as long as they remained in Starblessed territory, they would be provided for.

Relief reflected on the chief’s face, and his shoulders sagged as he exhaled a long breath. “Thank you,” he said. “Thank you.”

“Let us sit and eat,” I said, “and we will discuss the threat of the Volmatt tribe and the dark entity.”

And so, for the first time in over one hundred years, my people sat and peacefully shared a meal with Montikaans from another tribe. We exchanged information, telling one another all we knew about the Volmatt tribe and the so-called dark entity. I had my doubts that a true spirit roamed the lands of the living and speculated that the dark entity was an unusually tall Montikaan from a faraway land, perhaps an outcast, who had taught the Volmatt tribe how to wield his particular darkness,the opposite of healing energy. I hoped I was right. I hoped we weren’t about to face an otherworldly beast in battle.

“Chief Squava,” I said, “I would like to invite you and the remaining members of your tribe to join the Starblessed until it is safe for you to return home. However, I would ask that you refrain from courting any of our females. We will organize ourselves and send out scouts to monitor the Volmatt tribe and perhaps locate the dark entity, and if we must fight for our lives and our land, we will fight side by side as though we are brethren.”

The chief of the Lonnis tribe quickly conferred with his males, then he turned back to me and gave a deep nod. “We agree to your terms,” he said in a relieved voice, “and we thank you for welcoming us into your tribe, Chief Brutus. I hope that even after the Volmatt threat is over that we can remain friends. You are young for a chief, but you are wise beyond your years.”

A light rain began to fall as we made our way north to the cavern. I longed to see Hailey and hold her in my arms. Pride swelled in my chest as I recalled how brave she’d appeared as I’d departed earlier in the day, how she’d held her face high, though I wouldn’t have faulted her for shedding a tear. I appreciated that she understood my responsibilities to my tribe.

I would do whatever it took to protect my fellow Starblessedandkeep her safe.

Whatever it took to preserve our way of life.

Even go to war.

Chapter 25

HAILEY

Night had fallen,though we remained in the cavern where the sun-moss kept all the rooms and corridors and alcoves so bright it might as well be daytime. I sat in a circle of women—young mothers—helping to grind hazelnuts into a paste that their babies would consume after being weaned from the breast. Harmonn was beside me, Karmm sleeping in a basket behind us.

I listened to the females as they talked about their mates and their families, and I appreciated that they were speaking in English for my sake. It was still a bit of a shock that the Starblessed were fluent in my language. From what I understood, other Montikaan tribes didn’t speak any human tongues.

“I hope our males return soon,” said Besha, an elderly female who sat beside me. “It saddens me that danger is visiting our mountainside again so soon after the gray bird stole so many of our brethren.”

“The gray bird?” I asked.

“A human air vessel, she means,” a woman seated across from me clarified. “It crashed near our cavern about a moon cycle ago and caused a large fire. We lost twenty-one females and four males that night.”

My stomach dropped, and suddenly Brutus’s occasional distant looks and long pauses as he spoke about his people made sense. Especially when he talked about missing the members of his tribe who’d passed on from this life. My heart went out to the entire Starblessed tribe as I struggled to comprehend the deep loss from which they were all obviously still reeling.

A long silence fell over the cavern, but two children playing together started humming a strange but beautiful tune, and eventually the adult females joined in and the mood became lighter, the dark turn our conversation had taken seemingly forgotten. I found myself joining in, and the tune reminded me of the ethereal music I played when I got stressed out. It was soothing and soulful with a positive vibe.

---