Ruki swallowed hard.He clasped Saer’s palm.
“I swear.”
The tempest turned deadly enough that the hunting duo didn’t further delay their return.Fighting the wind, they fell silent, struggling through the torrential downpour and taking twice as long to get back to their settlement as it took to leave.
As they crested the final hill to view their village, lightning struck at the settlement’s center.Once.
Twice.
Fire sparked on the reedy rooftop of the largest building.The wind swept it, fed it, spread it quicker than a hummingbird’s heartbeat.
Chaos.
Ruki’s eyes widened.He scrambled down the hill with Saer following close behind.“Father!”
Far off, other voices shouted the chief’s name.“Asheda!Asheda, are you well?”
“Ruki.”Saer gripped the boy’s elbow, pointing him in the direction of those calling to his father.By heat sense, he confirmed the chief was surrounded by a handful of villagers, collapsed on the ground.A monstrous, broken tree branch lay next to him.
Asheda bled from a wound on his temple, streaks of red flowing down his face, curling off his chin.
Further away, someone screamed.A woman.Shouts beyond.Whistling wind.Crackling and hissing fire.But above it all, always, that high, keening scream.
Saer’s jaw tensed as he turned towards the shriek in time to hear it abruptly stop.Mayhem surrounded them.
Fire engulfed the meeting hut.
He froze, staring for too long—it was where they left Ruki’s mother and her unborn child, and a sudden fear and urgency leapt into his throat.
heat sense focusing, Saer could only detect the blaze.But something else...
Transitioning his vision, wisps of spirit energy dissipated.
The father and son didn’t know they’d died—Donanni and the babe.Ruki and Asheda would be devastated, and it punched him in the guts, a sensation he didn’t expect.Why should he care when that energy was what he sought?
But he knew them.
Ruki loved them.
Saer growled before turning away and rushing to Ruki’s side.
“Donanni.”Asheda struggled to say his wife’s name.Villagers’ arms helped him turn while he vomited on the ground.
“Father!”
The breathless cry found Asheda’s ears.The chief’s eyes opened to slits to see his son kneeling, covered in mud, and reaching for his father.Saer loomed over the boy’s shoulder.
“Ruki…Oh, Ruki.”The chief tried to speak, but someone yelled above him and pointed towards the orange light, jerking the young boy around.
The villager yelled at Asheda’s son, “Your mother is inside!”
Crying out, Ruki jerked away from his father and made to bolt towards the inferno, though Saer snatched him before he could rush into the deadly blaze.“Ruki, they’re—” The words hitched, an unexpected mix of emotions roiling in his guts, but he forced the words out.“They’re both dead.”
“No!”
Ruki swung out of Saer’s grip and sprinted into the meeting hut just as the roof collapsed.
“Ruki!”
