Page 7 of Fog of War
She simulated tossing powder on me and jerked her spires towards the exit. When we left, she hid me under her arm like the best wingwoman ever, blocking the view of the Ignarian men as we made our way towards the smell of roasting sweet meats.
"Thanks," I said with a grin.
She shrugged. "You're under Satoris protection now. The whole clan knows you're here. So if you ever feel like you're in trouble or uncomfortable, just look for one of us bronzies."
We passed a venandi that towered over most of the others, even leaning against a thick post at the fork in the path. He was copper and grey with gold eyes that felt familiar. When he caught my eye, he fluttered his mandibles in greeting and bobbed his head. I tried it back, testing if he was a Satoris. Could I really pick them out from the crowd?
"Muru grace us," he gruffed. Then punched Leopha's shoulder. "Sup, shorty."
"Fuck off, cuz! But, you know, drinks after we get dusted!" I laughed into my hand and she grinned. "See? You're in good hands."
I beamed, in total agreement.
04
Gabbie
I sacrificed my sweater and adventure pants to the Muru with great solemnity...
By letting a gaggle of venandi paint strokes of sticky gel all over me and then having a powder fight with Leopha in the middle of a pit that looked like ground zero for a paintball bomb. I attacked her with oranges, blacks, and yellows, and she came at me with pinks and purples and greens. It was pandemonium, and by the end we smeared all our colors together in a giggling mess in the middle of the pit, barely able to contain our laughter as we slipped in the wet, pasty grass.
When we crawled our way up the embankment, the sun was setting and the mood had shifted. Growls and rattles replaced the laughter and banter of the day. Every venandi glowed with powder now, long skeletal brushstrokes across their ribs, necks, limbs, and faces. Their mandibles vibrated, and the powder would bloom around them, perfumed with masculine scents that reminded me of campfires and wheat.
A symbol of convergence, maybe.
They stalked the alleys and observed passersby like hunters.Predators.All vying to be the ultimate winner, to gain territory through their champions. Fires crackled and the tinkleand snap of coins, totems, and flags died with the wind. A thick fog tinged pink with the last rays of the sun crept along the ground and swallowed us all to our knees. Well, me to my thighs.
The air was electric as everyone waited. I felt like a spirit walking among grim reapers.
Leopha pointed to the mountain range along the edge of the valley where the sun was setting in an already blackened sky. Like an eclipse, its edges warbled and sputtered.
"Watch."
It sank behind the mountain.
Everyone held their breath, faces painted with fangs and skulls and human eyes upturned to the coming darkness.
Then columns of neon pink light lanced the sky, breaking apart into a spectrum of color as if the crystal veins of the mountains were a thousand prisms. Someone in the crowd ululated, and then an eruption of voices and fists exploded into the air. The deafening roar vibrated through my chest and into my teeth. I clapped my hands over my ears but laughed with exhilaration. Leopha raised her face to the sky, jumping up and down like she was in a mosh pit, her palms clamped on my shoulders with excitement.
A horn rolled through the cacophony and every face snapped towards the sound.
"Come on! We gotta get there fast!" Leopha insisted, pulling me behind her. We took off running down a narrow alley riddled with tent stakes in the Ignarian quadrant. Leopha got frustrated and picked me up like I was a sack of flour.
"Hey!" I yelled, winded.
"Too slow!"
Then she barreled out into an open field with more than a hundred other venandi, right at the front of the pack. She looked around, then jostled me sideways when she found what she was running for. Though I couldn't see anything but the grass andher heels as she ran, the glow of a massive holoscreen hovered in the air above us, illuminating the metallic sheen of the golden grass.
"MURU GRACE YOUUUUU." A deep voice boomed across the valley like a Superbowl commentator. He said more, but half of it echoed too much for me to hear. And then I spun in the air and was on my feet, my head struggling to keep up, nails clinging to Leopha's fringe to keep the world upright. Her breathless smile was a thousand watts as she handed me a pot of powder.
"I don't know which color that is, but it'll have to do!" she said, ushering me forward.
Then I finallylookedforward.
Twelve venandi stood in groups of threes in the field as the grass brushed their silent, still shadows. Their eyes pierced the darkness as we got closer, ignoring the fog as it bathed the field. Tall black stands were rising out of the fog in silent intervals like monolithic tombstones at their backs. And we marched towards them with enough excitement in Leopha's chittering mouth parts that I wasn't nervous.
In fact, I felt like I was the newest recruit in a cult. Unquestioning. Breathless. Expecting something that would alter my life on a fundamental level.
