[Eidlevice]: 521.Denebian Dream

This is a story of a young girl, about sixteen, who had a dream of a valley swimming with color and goodness. Growing up in a place where all the happy warm colors, like yellow, orange, green, don't exist. She is chosen, by their god, to lead her people into the land before a huge calamity strikes down all living thing.

"You may come in now, my child,” said the tribe’s shaman. T’litha pulled back the deer hide that was covering the doorway and looked into the tent. The many skins from the deer, bear and other animals’ hides covered the dirt floor. In one corner was the straw bed that Shaciera slept on. The room was lit up with oil lamps in every corner. To the right were shelves laden with old and ripping books with fading letters, telling of the tribe’s travels over the years.
The young apprentice nervously approached Shaciera and knelt down in front of the wizened woman. The shaman stood up off her chair and grasped for the wrinkled walking stick with many carvings of faces and chants. The shaman was so much shorter than T’litha, only coming up to T’litha’s bosom. T’litha was almost six feet tall and still growing. Shaciera was small like this in weight, compared to T’litha’s athletic fitness.
Shaciera ambled around the essence table, which was between she and T‘litha.
“What is it that troubles you, young apprentice?” Shaciera reached down and grabbed T’litha’s small, young hand with her own wrinkled hand. T’litha stood up on her bare feet. The hides felt soft and warm under T’litha’s cold feet.
“I had a dream,” breathed T’litha as she saw Shaciera raise her eyebrow in concern. T’litha became nervous but she decided to not rush it. “Not an ordinary dream.”
“Come, sit,” Shaciera guided T’litha over to the shaman’s bed. T’litha sat down and Shaciera sat beside T’litha. “Now, what was the dream?”
“I watched out of my own eyes as I beheld a glorious valley. All sorts of animals that I had no idea of what they were, flew through the air and grazed by water flows, catching beautiful swimming animals that shimmered in the sun. Deep colored plants as high as the clouds in the sky waved at me from afar with their powerful, thick arms.
“A vast, dense jumble of plants stretched as far as I could see. Out of the jumble, sounds too loud for comfort, exploded into my ears. Screeches, roars, and screams pounded my ears. I covered my ears in discomfort.
“I uncovered my ears and noticed a great serpent slithering in the air, coming towards the valley. Once it was above the valley it dove into a sky dive. I watched in horror as the valley changed into the village. People ran, screaming, as the snake glided, with its mouth open wide, devouring the tents and people. As the snake passed, I saw, to my horror, everything was gone.
“It wasn’t like ruins; I mean that there was nothing left. It was like the village had never existed. Suddenly, the snake appeared out of nowhere and flew towards me. It opened its mouth and I was devoured also, like the village.”
Shaciera’s eyes were closed for a second and when she opened her eyes, they shone with pride and wonder. Finally, the shaman spoke. “You have seen a vision of what I, an old, wizened shaman, could not see. You must seek out this friend of yours that was in your dream and bring her to me. Your life’s journey has just begun. This is only the beginning of a long quest to seek out your life story.”
T’litha thanked Shaciera and left the tent. One of T’litha’s friends met her outside the tent.
Gira turned to T’litha. “Is Shaciera awake yet?” With out waiting for an answer, Gira ran into Shaciera’s tent.
“Yes,” said T’litha quietly to herself as the tent’s flap closed and Gira’s form disappeared into the tent.
“Hey, T’litha,” called a boy’s voice from behind T’litha. T’litha didn’t hear him and kept on walking. “T’litha!”
This time T’litha heard the boy and turned around to see Hilam running towards her. He trotted to a stop beside his girlfriend, T’litha.
“Where were you today?” asked Hilam. He was a tall and scrawny boy of fifteen. His strawberry blonde hair cascaded down past his shoulder blades and he wore it in a low ponytail. Behind his long bangs, a perfect, heavenly face was concealed. As the two teenagers walked to the apprentice’s tent, Hilam turned to T’litha. “You and I were supposed to meet at the tribal crossroads for class.”
T’litha gasped. “That was today!” Hilam nodded and gave T’litha a ‘where-have-you-been’ look. “I went to see Shaciera- I mean the shaman- about something.” T’litha quickly corrected herself. The apprentices and lower class of the tribe weren’t supposed to call their shaman by his or her name until they became a warrior or a higher-class than a shaman, and the shaman was pretty high on the charts. If they did, whoever called the shaman by his or her name, they would have to be sent to the kitchen or somewhere else to do duty for a week.
“This was the fifth time you missed out on class. You shouldn’t do whatever you were doing those five times. Colon won’t be very happy. Remember the last time you skipped out?”
“I remember,” T’litha said. She remembered that event like the back of her hand.
T’litha had gone to see the tribe’s healer for an old pain in her shoulder she had gotten when she was training for a fire show. When she got back to the apprentice’s tent, all the apprentices were already back from training and Colon, T’litha, Hilam, and Gira’s trainer, came storming into the tent and grabbed T’litha by the same arm that was wounded. Colon yanked T’litha out of the tent and scolded her big time. She had never seen him that mad.
“Where were you?” Colon hissed at T’litha. “I specifically to be at the hill at first light!”
“I’m sorry,” T’litha squeaked as she cowered a bit at Colon’s strongly built form towering over her like a cat and mouse. T’litha felt like an ant right then. “I had to go see Élana about that burn.”
“You’ve got to have a better explanation than that,” T’litha started to walk away when Colon pulled her around. “Go see the Marji. Now!”

The next morning, T’litha awoke before first light and walked over to the water basin that all the female apprentices used. The boys were in a separate tent than the girls but the boys were allowed into the girls’ tent only during break or lunch and a master was sent to watch the two kids at the entrance. If the boys were to go into the girls’ tent, then they had to be with one of the girls. It was the same with the boys.
T’litha cupped her hands and dipped them into the water. She splashed her face and reached for the wool towel that was hanging beside the leather basin. As she was putting the towel back onto the hook, a face appeared in the water. T’litha was startled and she gasped. The towel was thrown through the air and T’litha tried to grab it but instead the towel splashed right into the basin. T’litha groaned and plucked the towel from the basin and went to get a new one.
“Nice catch,” a sarcastic voice said from behind the young girl. T’litha turned to see D’nyb smiling at her. D’nyb was a girl older than T’litha and was moving on to be a warrior sometime this week.
“Thanks,” T’litha organized her spread as she spoke, not looking up.
“Are you ready for class?” D’nyb cocked her head.
T’litha turned to D’nyb. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I dunno,” D’nyb looked down at her feet and shuffled them nervously. “I mean, you’ve missed a great deal of class this past week and Manoni wants us ready for the master warrior ceremony at the beginning of this next week. You know how mad he gets when his apprentices aren’t ready and not chosen to be a master in the ceremony.”
T’litha sighed and nodded. Just one month ago, D’nyb hadn’t been chosen to be a master for the apprentice’s ceremony and Manoni, the tribe’s Marji, or leader, turned on Colon and scolded him big time for not training his apprentices correctly so as they weren‘t chosen. D’nyb was moved to another teacher and Colon was sent on hunting duty.
Just then, Gira, who had woken T’litha up while leaving her cot, came in. “Hilam has made breakfast. Come eat.”
As the two girls left, D’nyb nudged T’litha and winked. “He even cooks,” D’nyb said playfully.
“You really have hit the jackpot. Mind if I steal him for a while?”
“Not on your life,” T’litha shook her head. “He’s mine.”
“Almost all the girls in the tent know that you and Hilam are together. You can’t hide that anymore.” T’litha rolled her eyes and playfully gave D’nyb a push. They both laughed and walked out the tent together.
There were only a few people out, along with the apprentices. Hilam and two of his other friends had a bowl in their hand and were talking in hushed tones so as not to disturb the other kids who were sleeping. Gira and another girl were sitting opposite the side of the fire of Hilam and his friends and another girl was just dishing up her breakfast.
Gira looked up and smiled. “So,” she said her eyes dancing with laughter. “You finally decided to wake up.”
Hilam saw T’litha out of the corner of his eye and smiled a bit but kept on talking. Gira gave the two girls each a bowl and sat back down. D’nyb and T’litha walked over to the steaming pot hanging above the fire. T’litha grabbed the serving spoon and dipped it into the pot. She brought out a huge spoonful of hot wheat cereal, one of the only four plants that grew in the soil they had. T’litha sat down on the empty log and poured some honey mixed with camel’s milk into the cereal to cool it off and make it sweeter. Soon after, D’nyb accompanied T’litha and they both talked while having a nice breakfast.
After everyone was done with their breakfast and had left to wait for their teachers to start class, the other kids awoke and were in a hurry to get dressed and have breakfast before classes started.

I hope you won’t mind me stealing Hilam,’ Madiera said coming up to T’litha and Hilam who were sitting and talking, waiting for Colon and the other master warriors. Madiera shoved T’litha hard into the dirt. Madiera looked at T’litha as if she were low class and stuck her nose into the air. T’litha quietly growled in frustration. Madiera wrapped her arm around Hilam’s and they both walked away. Hilam turned his head and with his free arm, Hilam blew a kiss to T’litha. She pretended to catch it and T’litha slapped her hand on her cheek. Hilam smiled as both he and Madiera walked out of T’litha’s line of vision.
T’litha got to her feet and brushed off the dust that had gathered on her split riding tunic. T’litha turned around and almost jumped out of her skin when she saw Gira looking straight at her. Gira’s hands were folded and she had a look on her face that told T’litha that Gira was not happy at all.
“You did it again,” Gira unfolded her arms and put them out in front of her.
T’litha pretended not to hear. “Are you even listening to me?” Gira was irritated. “Of course she’s not listening to me.”
“I’m listening,” T’litha looked at her friend. “I didn’t mean to let Madiera push me around but you know how I get when I’m around Hilam.”
“Yes, I know,’ Gira said. For a moment T’litha thought Gira was agreeing with her, for once. “Oh, whatever! That’s no excuse! You have to learn to not let people push you around like that.”
“I’m sorry,” T’litha was getting even madder. “It‘s almost time for class.”
T’litha stalked off, leaving Gira in the dust.
Gira scoffed at herself. She never meant to make T’litha mad, but T’litha had to understand that she shouldn’t let other people push her around.
“What was that all about?” asked a voice behind Gira. Gira turned and saw D’nyb.
Gira sighed. “T’litha was bullied by Madiera, again,”
D’nyb looked at Gira. “Did Madiera...”
“And T’litha let her,” Gira finished D’nyb’s question.
D’nyb sighed. “I’m sure T’litha won’t let Madiera push her around again.”
“I hope so. But don’t get your hopes up too high, my friend. Because sometimes things don’t work out like we would hope they would. Let’s just wait and in time, we will get to T’litha’s shy side and extract it out forever.”

T’litha,” Colon called to his apprentice. T’litha snapped her head out of daydream world and looked at her master. “You need to listen.”
T’litha sighed and nodded. Colon turned his attention off of T’litha and onto the six apprentices standing in front of him. “I expect for each of you to come back with the target tied and lying on the rump of our horse by mid-day. Each of you will have one target each.”
The teens were split into two groups. T’litha and Hilam were together. Gira and Madiera. Donnie and Armundo.
“I will need all your weapons. This assignment will be your last before you each become masters. Only your will and cunning will be needed to do the assignment.”
Everyone moaned and slipped their quiver of arrows off of their shoulder and placed them in a pile at Colon’s feet along with the bows. Then the apprentices mounted the horses that were given to each of the kids for the assignment only.
T’litha and Hilam rode east to the wheat farms to search for a target, while the other groups went farther north for the same reason. They all wanted to get a place in the Master’s quarters.

T’litha and Hilam dismounted their horses and crouched low in the wheat. They herd a rustling in the stalks behind them. Hilam turned his head slightly and was hit from the side. T’litha heard her opponent from behind her and T’litha jumped into the air, doing a back-flip and landing noiselessly on her feet behind the target. T’litha spun around and caught the target in her hands. T’litha flipped the target up onto the balls of her bare feet and threw the person out of her line of vision.
Hilam had his target pinned and sent the target flying in the same direction. T’litha and Hilam jumped onto their feet and ran through the wheat and to where the targets lay. The wheat was flat on the ground after the targets had landed in the wheat making the vegetation’s stalks break.
The two targets got up and ran at the two apprentices. T’litha grabbed two stalks of wheat and threw one to Hilam. T’litha held the wheat stalk firmly in her hand and whapped the target in the stomach. The man bent down and held his stomach as T’litha hit him on the back. The target collapsed under the weight. T’litha grabbed the arms of her victim and tied his hands and legs. Hilam had done the same and was already mounted on his black with the limp form of the woman whom had been his target lying on his legs.
“Hurry,” Hilam said to his girlfriend as T’litha finished tying the man. “We have to get back to Colon.”
T’litha looked up. The sky was beginning to turn orange and purple as mid-day drew nearer. T’litha threw the man up on her horse’s back and mounted. “Okay,” she sighed. “Let’s get back to Colon.”
T’litha kicked her horse’s sides and headed back to where Colon was waiting.

Colon,” T’litha called to her leader as she and Hilam approached the master warrior. The two teenagers dropped the man and woman at Colon’s feet. The targets both grunted as they hit the ground.
“Good work,” Colon told the two. “The both of you will become truly great warriors.”
T’litha beamed. She was getting appreciation from a warrior!

"So,” Gira asked as T’litha came out from behind the changing screen. The sunset was becoming a dark purple and orange. All classes had long been over and the apprentices were allowed to talk before going to bed.
T’litha looked at Gira with one eye as she grabbed her deer hide and walked out in her pajamas. “So...what?” T’litha hadn’t heard Gira’s reply; she was too busy looking for Hilam.
Gira groaned in frustration. “How did it go with Hilam?”
“Gira!” T’litha said and shoved her friend. T’litha hated people teasing her about she and Hilam.
Gira sat up and laughed. “I’m sorry, T’litha. I can’t help it.”
“Oh yes you can,” T’litha was mad.
“Okay, okay. I’ll stop.”
“Gira,” a girl called from a group. It was Donnie. Gira called back and turned to T’litha. “I’ll see ya, okay.”
T’litha nodded and watched Gira run over to Donnie’s group. T’litha sighed. She turned and ran right into Hilam’s lips. T’litha gasped and kissed him back. T’litha smiled and sighed. She wrapped her arms around Hilam’s neck and fell into a trance. Her eyes closed and she turned her head. Her lips curled into a smile.
Hilam gasped and pulled away. T’litha stumbled and Hilam caught her. T’litha looked up in his gray eyes. She smiled and Hilam returned the gesture but less willingly. T’litha stood. She reached up to touch his face but Hilam turned away. T’litha was baffled. Hilam had never rejected her. Hilam shook his head at her and walked away. T’litha still had her hand in the air and her mouth opened slightly. T’litha dropped her head and hand. She walked off and layed on her cot. She cried herself to sleep.

T’litha,” Gira was sitting next to T’litha. T’litha was lying on her stomach on her cot with her head buried deep in the pillow. “I know your upset, but why?”
“He-ditched me,” T’litha said between her tears.
“Hilam did not ditch you, T’litha.”
“Yes he did. Hilam has never walked away from me or pulled away.”
“That might be true. But Hilam must have had a reason to walk away from you.”
Gira tried to make her friend happy, but everything she said made things worse for T’litha. She cried harder than ever.
“Benzai,” Colon said crossly through the tent cover leading to the girls’ quarters. T’litha, hearing her name, rubbed clean her tears and opened the flap. Colon was standing outside by the fire pit that the apprentices used. Colon had hold of Hilam’s tunic and he reached out and grabbed T’litha’s arm. Colon pulled the two apprentices to his quarters and sat them down on the ground. Colon stood in front of the two, pacing angrily.
“I hope you two have a good enough explanation for what you did last night.”
T’litha and Hilam both stared at their teacher with blank expressions on their faces. Colon stared at them, his face raked with anger.
“S-sir,” stuttered Hilam. He was totally scared of the teacher. He always was. “I don’t know w-what your talking about.”
“What did we do?” T’litha asked. Her voice was more even but she had to fight it so she wouldn’t stutter.
“You both have broken nine rules and I intend to stop this from happening again.”

The next morning, Hilam wasn’t at the practice. As Colon spoke his directions, T’litha looked around at the faces of her fellow apprentices. Hilam was not with them. T’litha walked over to the group of young boys that Hilam usually hung out with.
“Have you seen Hilam,” T’litha asked the boys. They shook their head and walked away from her. T’litha sighed. Where was he? Hilam couldn’t just vanish.
Throughout the day, T’litha looked for her lover. Everyone who she asked or talked to about Hilam said they hadn’t seen him. T’litha looked everywhere for Hilam in his favorite hang outs, but he wasn’t there. Even his mom and dad hadn’t seen Hilam. They were his parents! Surely they would’ve seen their own son, or at least visited him.
T’litha couldn’t understand. Here she was, a girl who had lost her boyfriend to, who knows what. She hung her head and walked back to the apprentice’s tent.
As she passed Annatto’s tent, she could hear, from inside, Annatto screaming.
Annatto was the clan’s hermit and Hilam’s brother. Annatto had been outcast to the edge of the clan’s boundaries ever since he had almost killed one of his fellow apprentices in a fight that Annatto had started. Annatto was going to be outcast from the tribe forever but his parents pleaded with the tribe leader to let him live closer to the clan. All the Marji could do was let him live on the outskirts of the clan’s boundaries. He was forced to stay an outcast until he had fulfilled his sentence.
T’litha was curious and walked closer to the tent. She gasped as she saw the guards, who were supposed to be watching over Annatto, gone. They were nowhere in sight.
T’litha would’ve ran away right then, but she let her curiosity get the better of her. Maybe, this was the answer for Hilam’s disappearance.
T’litha got closer to the open flap to the entrance of the tent as her confidence and curiosity came back. She lay on the ground and inched closer. She could hear Annatto inside the tent.
I better get out of here. T’litha said to herself. As she got up to run and tell Shaciera, but someone bumped into her, knocking her into the dirt. T’litha raised her head just enough to see Annatto sprinting away from the village. He carried a triple-bladed knife that belonged to Hilam and it was caked with blood. T’litha gasped and ran into the tent.

To T’litha’s horror, the guards who were supposed to be watching Annatto, were the victims to his onslaught. They lay in a heap in the middle of the tent. T’litha screamed and stepped backward. She was in complete shock. Tears made T’litha’s eyes seem like glass in the firelight. Strong arms grabbed T’litha and she screamed. T’litha writhed out of the person’s grasp and turned to face him, fearing it was Annatto.
“T’litha,” Hilam said peering at his girlfriend with concern. T’litha stared at Hilam, tears falling from her eyes.
“Can’t you see,” T’litha cried. Hilam stared at T’litha. He sighed and approached T’litha. “Don’t! touch me,” T’litha screamed. She was terrified. Hilam lowered his arms and stared at T’litha. “How can you not see? Your snake of a brother killed these men! And now, he’s loose in the village in a tyrant of rage! He is lead by anger and probably has set fire to the village!”
“I know of my brother-”
“I stood right there when he killed them! I saw him do it! How can you stay calm and-” T’litha stopped short and stared at Annatto, her face expressionless. He smiled evilly.
Hilam spun on his heel as Annatto walked around his brother, keeping his dark eyes fixed on Hilam. He glared at Annatto as he followed him with his eyes.
“So,” Annatto said sneering. “Welcome home, brother.”
“This is not my home and you will never be my brother, Annatto.”
“Tsk, tsk,” Annatto said stopping in front of Hilam, his knife blade appearing underneath the folds of his cloak. “I thought that you would be willing to come live with me, brother.”
“Stop calling me your brother! Once you were my brother but since you killed our sister and her boyfriend, betrayed the family and set fire to half the village, you ceased to become whom I called brother!”
Annatto glared angrily at Hilam. “I thought you had changed, Hilam. I thought you loved me! You’re just like the rest of them! Prancing around, thinking you’re better than me and sending me away from you…I thought you were different from them.”
T’litha saw Annatto tighten his grip on the blade and shift it in his hand. She gasped and stepped in front of Annatto. “You can’t hurt him.”
Annatto scoffed and grabbed T’litha’s arm. She squealed in pain as Annatto tightened his grip and brought her to his face. Hilam jumped at his brother. Annatto turned to Hilam and brought his knife up to Hilam’s neck. Hilam stopped short as the cold blade touched his skin. Annatto smirked.
“Touch me, and you get a cold blade through your neck. Come after her,” Annatto lowered the blade and placed it up against T’litha’s back. Her eyes grew wide and she arched her back. “And she dies.”
T’litha turned to Hilam. “Hilam…”
Hilam lowered his head and Annatto put his blade to his neck. Hilam inhaled sharply and raised his head.
T’litha had to do something. She pulled out of his grip and plowed into Annatto. He cursed as Hilam grabbed his brother’s wrist and wrenched the blade out of Annatto’s hand. Hilam threw it to the ground and stood over the blade defiantly.
T’litha stood above Annatto, breathing hard. He had become a huge threat and was very frightening. T’litha turned to her boyfriend as he picked up the blade. She smiled as Hilam approached her.
Annatto suddenly got up and stood behind T’litha. She gasped and turned to Annatto. Hilam threw the blade to T’litha. As she caught it, Annatto wrapped his strong hands around her neck. She screamed but was cut off by Annatto’s hands tightening around her neck. T’litha’s fingers grew limp as her air was cut off. She began to gasp for air and the triple bladed knife fell from her grip. T’litha grabbed at Annatto’s hands around her neck and she turned to Hilam. Annatto bent down and grabbed the knife off the ground then raised T’litha higher off the ground.
“Help…me,” T’litha gasped. Her eyes began to water, tears streaming down her cheeks and soaking Annatto’s hand. T’litha was choking to death and Hilam couldn’t do anything.
T’litha began to black out and Hilam became tense. With a quick movement of his hand, Hilam grabbed his brother’s arm and bent it backwards. Annatto screamed in pain and let go of T’litha.
She gasped as she felt air coming back to her. She fell to the ground, coughing. T’litha wiped the water from her eyes and stared at the ground. A cascade of hair fell down to cover her face as she began to cry.
Hilam grabbed the knife out of Annatto’s hand. Annatto growled and jumped up to face his brother. Hilam glared at Annatto and slashed out with the knife. Annatto jumped backward and suffered a slight scratch that only ripped his clothes. Annatto chuckled as if tormenting his brother was fun. Annatto approached Hilam and came up to his face.
‘You really don’t want to kill me, do you,’ Annatto said. Hilam glared at Annatto.
‘Yes,’ Hilam said backing away from Annatto. ‘If you were my brother, that would be true.’
Annatto inched towards Hilam. ‘Then put the knife down.’
‘No,’ Hilam said still glaring at Annatto. ‘We have no relation what so ever. And for that, I am obliged.’
Annatto’s eyes went wide and Hilam knocked Annatto’s nose upward. Annatto screamed in pain and backed up, holding his nose. Annatto hit a beam and curled up beneath it. Breathing hard, Hilam walked away to see to T’litha.
He touched her shoulder and T’litha jerked up suddenly. He smiled at T’litha. She fell onto Hilam, crying into his shoulder. Hilam held her comfortingly.
T’litha looked up at him and smiled. There was a movement in the corner and Hilam spun around. Annatto was standing above the two. Hilam jumped up and knocked Annatto to the ground. Annatto jumped up, swinging his arms wildly. Hilam punched Annatto and he lost his blades into the fire. Annatto growled, watching the wood handle burn and the blades becoming unreachable.
Annatto stared wide-eyed as Hilam approached him. Annatto looked around wildly. Now that his only defense was gone, Annatto was helpless. Hilam held his hand out to his brother. Annatto grabbed a branding iron that he had in the fire. Annatto smiled slyly and swung it at Hilam. He jumped back out of the way of the hot iron.
T’litha watched the two brothers struggle, knowing that Hilam wouldn’t let her interfere. Even if she did help, Hilam would end up protecting her. If Hilam got hurt or died, she would never forgive herself.
Hilam was able to keep away from the hot iron by just a bit. Eventually, the iron would cool. But it still would take a long time.
Annatto had had enough. He knew that he couldn’t get Hilam now for he was too nimble and quick. Instead, Annatto went for T’litha.
She saw Annatto’s burning eyes as he approached T’litha. She gasped and stood up. He was scary and mad. T’litha wined and backed up. Annatto smiled devilishly and still came at T’litha.
“Hilam,” T’litha called to her boyfriend. “Help me. I’m so scared.”
Annatto laughed and turned to Hilam. “Hear that, brother,” Annatto spat. “Your brave girlfriend is scared.”