Chapter 6: The ever-shifting fortunes of predators and prey

Six days passed since Sala and Jakal returned to the settlement. Although they remained wary, to their surprise the Spiritwalker had taken no threatening actions, made no unfriendly overtures at all. Largely he ignored them, and for now they were more than happy to reciprocate.

Life, given the circumstances, was beginning to return to normal.

With one exception; Sedon, the Wolf Clan's Lead Tracker, had yet to find his way home.

Technically, given Jakal and Sala's circuitous route, his arrival might yet be delayed for another day or so, presuming he had traced their path and rested at Fox Camp for a time before moving on. Nevertheless, Keta could not quite shake the sense that something had gone awry.

Because of the great anxiety his long absence stirred among her people, she hesitated to send the Light-Eyed One back into the wild so soon. At the same time, if Sedon had indeed encountered trouble, who better to locate him than a man with the same chosen skill, the very man the other had been charged with tracking down.

Keta invited Jakal and his mate to share the evening meal at her dwelling. In addition to discussing the Lead Tracker's missing status, she intended to probe further into the matter of their tense relationship with the Spiritwalker. She noticed no further conflicts such as the one the night of the gathering celebrating the young couple's return and recent joining; if anything they appeared to avoid him, and he, them. But again, she felt uneasy.

The Clan Leader frowned. The calm stability of her Camp upended, as a woman who greatly valued normality and order, she found the irregularity of the last moon cycle unsettling. This all started when Sala decided to run away rather than fulfill her obligation. Her stubbornness set off all this disarray.

Actually, that was not altogether true. The young woman left because of her selection as the Spiritwalker's future mate. He was the one who instructed the Light-Eye to find her, and then Sedon to go after them both.

Sala possessing the talisman belonging to the Fox Clan's spiritual leader also proved a disturbing twist, and one she could not simply overlook. Giving an important, powerful object to one outside the spiritual caste, the memory of it last occurring existing only in the Elders' stories, could not have been done lightly. The old woman was very close to the old Spiritwalker, and much like him in many ways.

Keta wanted to question the shaman further, but he had been spending more and more time in the Ceremonial Hut. As an individual who primarily dealt with concrete matters of reason, the Spirit World unsettled her, and she was satisfied to leave such matters in the hands of their spiritual leaders. The Spiritwalker did not like to be disturbed when he communed with the Spirits, and she was not particularly inclined to interrupt him, so normally it worked out well enough. But now that she had many questions ... Was he evading her?

Sala, Essa, Nefa and Yaja sat in the sunshine just outside the settlement. Large leather hides were spread out on the ground, with an assortment of edible plants lined up in neat rows according to type, drying in the heat of the summer sun. They talked as they worked and fussed over Yaja's baby, taking turns holding her.

Essa and Nefa were discussing the meal they were sharing this evening. "Would you like to join us?" Ritol's mate offered.

"I appreciate the offer, Essa, but Jakal and I are sharing the evening meal with Keta and Mifir."

"What about you, Yaja?"

"Thank you for asking, Essa, but Belak and I have already made other plans as well. We have arranged to share pleasures with Letan this evening," she confided with a smile.

Her friends twittered knowingly.

"That should be very pleasurable. He is exceptionally ... well endowed," Nefa remarked, unintentionally releasing a sigh. The man's prodigious organ made him a novelty that nearly every woman in the Camp, and a great many outside of it, had to sample at least once.

Yaja nodded, blushing. "That is one of the reasons I asked him to share our furs this night."

The other women giggled.

"Oh, I do not know," Essa dissented. "It is true the Spirits gifted him with a manhood the size of two men. Before Ritol and I were joined, I coupled with Letan once. He was far too large for me; it was uncomfortable and not very pleasurable."

"It would be too much to be mated to him," Yaja conceded, "but it is fun to be pleasured with such a tool once in a while."

"And you, Sala? Would you and Jakal bring Letan to your furs?" Nefa inquired.

"I do not think so. I appreciate a well-sized manhood, but I agree with Essa; Letan's is too long. It kept bumping the back of my womanhood which caused much discomfort. Jakal fits my body perfectly." She sighed, her skin tingling as she recalled the snug fullness, the completeness she felt whenever their bodies joined together. "Besides, my mate and I have agreed to share bodies only with each other."

The others looked at her with some surprise.

"Whose idea was it, if you do not mind my asking?" Yaja wanted to know.

"Jakal's. But I do not mind," she told them. "He brings me greater pleasure than anyone else so it was not a difficult decision to make."

"I am surprised by that," Essa commented. "Jakal has coupled with a great many women. Why would he wish to be with only one now?"

"It is ... complicated. I am not sure I feel comfortable discussing it, Essa. It was a very private conversation."

"Apologies, Sala. I know that sometimes mates are exclusive with each other. I just was surprised that someone who has been with so many would wish to stop."

"Sometimes other things matter more than sharing furs with a variety of people," Sala replied somewhat cryptically.

"Well, if you are not going to share bodies with a third perhaps you should get a ... carving," Yaja suggested.

"A carving?"

"When Belak returned from a trade mission once," she revealed, leaning forward, "he brought home a carving made of an antler. It was smoothed and shaped to look very much like a manhood."

Gasping, her friends laughed.

"He gave it to me to use if I wished while he was away on his missions." She smiled, flushing. "Well, one night when we were sharing pleasures, he used it while he entered me ... as if we had a third. It felt highly pleasurable."

A surge streaked between Sala's legs at Yaja's description. "So he entered you and put it in your ... back entrance?" she asked tentatively, seeking confirmation. She had been with two males a couple of times before, but they never entered her at the same time; it was too difficult to coordinate.

Grinning, her friend responded, "Actually, Sala, it was the other way around."

The women burst out laughing.

"If you are interested perhaps I could ask Belak to talk to Ditil about making you one."

"I, I do not know if I feel comfortable with Ditil knowing what it is for. He is too much of a gossip."

Giggling, the others nodded in agreement.

"Perhaps it does not need to be shaped perfectly like a manhood," Nefa proposed. "If the tip is rounded I am sure it would still work the same without needing to smooth the surface and add extra details; that way its purpose would not be so obvious. Belak could tell him it's ... something requested for the next time he trades with, say, Aurochs Camp."

"That is a good idea, Nefa," Yaja praised. "What say you Sala? Do you wish me to speak to my mate about getting you a carving?"

Blushing shyly, she nodded her head to her friends' beaming smiles. As she imagined Jakal plunging it in and out of one of her entrances while he filled the other her sex pulled and twisted.

"You will enjoy it Sala, and so will Jakal," the woman promised. "I think you both will be pleasantly surprised by how much pleasure it can bring between the furs."

"Keta, that was a truly outstanding meal," Sala complimented as they sat around the hearth drinking tea.

"Thank Mifir," the Clan Leader replied. "He is the one skilled at food preparation in this union."

The couple thanked the man, who simply smiled and nodded. A rather restrained individual of few words, Mifir enjoyed working behind the scenes, doing what he could to make his mate's burden a little lighter. He knew she carried the weight of a great many responsibilities; the least he could do was take care of some of their day-to-day matters. Besides, his tireless efforts were always more than rewarded amongst the furs, where she was free to be his woman and not the Leader of their people.

Now that they had eaten, Keta decided it was time to move on to more serious subjects.

"As you know, Sedon still has not made his way home. Given what the two of you told me about the route you took, I recognize it is possible his arrival may yet be delayed another day or two. However, I think it may be prudent to consider he may be in need of assistance."

Sala and Jakal nodded.

"Do you wish us to locate him?" the Light-Eyed One inquired.

Us? Rather than voice her thought, the Leader continued. "Yes. Assuming the Lead Tracker followed your trail, I think it wise if you retrace your steps, starting here and working your way back toward Fox Clan's settlement. I do not believe you will need to travel that far; most likely he simply chose to rest for a few days at Tejed's Camp before resuming his journey, thereby delaying his arrival."

The man doubted it; when he was on a mission he would never be diverted from his target. Staying overnight was one thing, but a layover of several days was unlikely. Then again, given his own behavior during his last assignment, he supposed anything was possible.

"Understood. My mate and I will leave first thing in the morning."

"Good. Now that that is settled, there is another matter I wish to discuss with..."

Crack! Crack! Crack!

The two couples jumped, startled by the unexpected intrusion into their private conversation. Keta looked at Mifir and nodded.

"I must speak with the Clan Leader. It is most urgent," a male voice insisted when the man disappeared behind the flap.

"It is all right, Mifir," Keta called. "Dosat may enter."

Lifting the leather hide, the Hunter rushed inside, his face pale.

"Keta, please, you must come quickly. It is about Sedon. Traders have just arrived from Horse Clan. They came upon him this morning on their way here. Clan Leader... Sedon is dead."

The woman and her guests sprang to their feet, hurrying outside to engage the visitors.

A woman and man with heavy packs at their feet stood near the dwelling as a small crowd of people began to form around them.

Exchanging swift greetings, Sala and Jakal learned the pair was Asra and Lomal, Traders from the Light-Eyed One's mother's current home.

"Asra and Lomal, please, come to my dwelling," the Clan Leader urged. Though they had not been explicitly invited, since the news concerned the Tracker's colleague, he and his mate followed the group back inside.

Settling around the hearth, Mifir offered the travelers cups of hot tea.

"My mate and I had been traveling for several days in order to trade with your people," Asra began. "We did not keep up the brisk pace we usually do, and we soon realized our journey was taking us far longer than we had intended. In order to shorten the distance, we decided to divert from our normal route this morning, cutting across the forest about half a day's distance from here."

"As we picked our way through the trees, we quickly learned why this 'short cut' was not highly utilized," Lomal continued. "The ground was rocky and covered with slick vegetation; several times we nearly lost our footing. Just as we were considering turning around to resume our original path, Asra slipped and almost fell into a ravine."

"Some items we wished to trade had fallen from my pack," the Lead Trader explained, "so we had no choice but to hike to the bottom to retrieve them."

"Almost as soon as we arrived we discovered the body of a man," her mate went on. "He was obviously one of our people, though we did not personally recognize him. We found the contents of his haversack spread all over the area, but we eventually located something which identified to which Clan the man belonged." Lomal handed an object to Keta.

In the Leader's palm lay the tracking talisman of Sedon.

Despite previously knowing the outcome of this tale, nonetheless Sala gasped in horror at the sight of the charm. He and his mate Jila had four children at their hearth; his family would be devastated.

After sitting in stunned silence, Keta slowly closed her fist around the carving. She looked soberly at her mate. "Mifir, please summon Nerin. After I speak with him, I will need to inform Jila of this tragedy. Asra, Lomal, Jakal, please remain. What I wish to discuss with the Lead Hunter concerns you as well. Sala, if you will excuse us at this time," she concluded, nodding at the young woman.

Sala gave her mate's shoulder a comforting squeeze as she stood up, giving him one last glance as she left the somber dwelling, haunted by the look in his eyes.

Despite her arrangement with Jakal to be accompanied at all times by at least one other, Sala instead headed straight for his dwelling, not in the mood to talk about what she had just learned. Putting herself in Jila's position, she understood that upon discovering others had received news of her mate's death before she herself would only deepen an already gaping wound. The young woman did not want to add to the woman's grief.

When some time had passed and Jakal still had not come, Sala decided to heat some water to make a relaxing infusion for the two of them. Just as the water began to steam he entered.

Quickly scanning the room, he asked sharply, "Sala, why are you alone?"

Taken aback by his harsh tone, she looked up into his blue eyes. "I, I did not wish to speak to the others about Sedon. I was thinking about how I would feel if I were Jila..."

Grasping her arms firmly, he captured his mate's gaze in his. "Sala, do not ever do that again. We agreed you would not be left alone until," the man lowered his pitch to an urgent whisper, "until we defeat the Spiritwalker." The volume of his voice increased as he began speaking ever more rapidly. "How can I trust you will remain safe if you cannot follow a simple agreement? Do you not think your life important? Do you not think what it would do to me if..."

The Light-Eyed One suddenly dropped his hands as his eyes finally registered the stunned expression on the woman's face.

"I, I am sorry," he stumbled. "It is just ... I ... I never expected this to happen."

Sala wrapped her arms around him. "No one could have foreseen this, Jakal."

"Sedon was probably trying to cut across the forest to save time, just like Asra and Lomal," he speculated numbly, staring into space as his mate held him tight. "If I had not tried to divert him by crossing the river, he probably would not have felt such haste to overtake us."

Pulling away, she looked him in the eye. "You cannot know that. You do not know why he chose the path he did. It may have had nothing to do with us."

She could see he was not convinced.

"Jakal..."

"Keta has asked the Traders to lead Nerin, some of his Hunters and me to Sedon's body so that we may bring him home for burial," he went on flatly, as if he had not heard her. "We leave in the morning. We should not be gone longer than the day after this next one."

"I wish to go with you," Sala told him.

"No," he replied firmly. "That forest is too dangerous, and I will not subject you to seeing his ... body in such a manner. The Traders said that it was badly broken in the fall."

"But I thought we were going to try to stay together as much as possible."

"We are. But this is something I need to do on my own, Sala. It is my burden, my responsibility. Besides, I have already made arrangements for you to stay with Belak and Yaja. Please remain in their company until I return."

"But..."

"Sala, please. I do not wish to argue with you about this."

The woman studied the man for a moment; she could not understand why he seemed to be placing blame onto himself. The Spiritwalker is the one who sent Sedon on this mission, she thought, not Jakal. Nevertheless, it was clear he was still in shock. She hugged him again.

"Very well, my mate. I will do as you ask."

Despite her overtures that night to engage him in pleasures of the body, Jakal was unresponsive and could not be coaxed into changing his mind. Understanding her mate was preoccupied by the shocking news of his mentor's demise, Sala pressed her warm naked body against his, hoping her touch provided him at least some small comfort as they lay nestled in the furs.

"Jakal," she started in a small voice, "I, I hope you do not blame yourself for what happened to Sedon. The Spiritwalker is the one who sent him on this mission, not you."

He sighed heavily. "I do not blame myself ... Well, that is not totally true. I know I should not blame myself. It is not so much that I feel guilty because he was sent to find us, Sala. It is more about the circumstances under which he died."

Disengaging his body from hers, Jakal slid down to look into his woman's eyes. "When Sedon trained me to become a Tracker, he told me I had natural instincts which, with proper training, would help me become highly proficient in my chosen skill. Once, he even admitted I had the potential to surpass his abilities one day.

"The thing was, I already knew that my abilities outshined his. When we engaged in training exercises, at first I would ... let him think he had located the target first. But after a time, he figured out that I was purposefully holding back to spare his feelings, and he insisted that I work to my fullest capacity, even if it injured his pride a little.

"After he had given me permission to show off what I could do, over time I grew increasingly competitive. In my arrogance I began to wonder why he should be the Lead Tracker when I was clearly the superior of the two of us in our chosen skill.

"One of our training exercises involved us taking turns as 'predator' or 'prey'. When it was my turn to be the Tracker, or the 'predator', I found Sedon very quickly, so quickly I actually startled him when I came upon him. I even growled, and I swear his spirit nearly left his body he was so frightened for a moment. I thought myself quite clever.

"The next day I was to be the 'prey'. Part of the reason for playing both roles was to sharpen one's awareness of the signs all individuals, person or beast, leave behind, signs which either assist in, or impede, one's discovery. I thought it would be amusing to play another joke on my mentor, this time by sending him on all sorts of false starts, making it much more difficult to find me.

"The ultimate prank I had planned led him straight into a marsh where he would get all wet and muddy. I hid nearby, waiting for him to arrive. What I did not know was that there was quicksand; I am still not certain how I managed to avoid it myself, given that Sedon followed my trail almost precisely.

"He became mired in it and was sinking fast. Thankfully I was nearby and could pull him free. He never said anything about it, but I think Sedon knew I had led him into a trap; not that I had intentionally tried to get him stuck in quicksand, but that I repeatedly attempted to throw him off my trail, simply because I could. I suspected he never confronted me about setting him up because I was a Light-Eye, and I was so ashamed of my actions that I hid behind my status in order to avoid having to admit what I had done.

"After that incident, and the humble way he acknowledged I had bested him, suddenly the drive to prove myself better than the man lost its appeal. I accepted my position as his subordinate and grew to admire him a great deal. Even if he did not possess the same proclivity for tracking as I did, he was nonetheless quite skilled.

"When we were at the river and the Spirits warned me in the dream, all I could think of was putting as much space between us and him as possible. When I thought of crossing the river using the log, and then hiking through the forest to throw him off some more, I suddenly experienced that same rush I did all those years ago, the determination that not only was I going to beat him, but in the end he would feel foolish falling for the same old tricks. Only this time, I was not there to rescue him. And Sedon may have died because I had to prove just one more time that I was superior."

Sala reached out her hand, resting her palm on the tight muscles of his clenched jaw.

"I think I understand now why you believe you must do this without me," she responded softly. "You made those choices back at the river to protect me, but you also recall making similar decisions when your motives were less altruistic; in that context I think I can understand why you might be feeling conflicted about your actions right now."

He nodded. "I do not regret doing what was necessary to protect you, Sala. I just ... I just wish I had apologized to Sedon for what I did to him years ago, that I had truly thanked him for his patience and given him the respect he deserved.

"I told you before that I do not think being a Light-Eyed One makes me special, that I never wanted the privileges my status provides me. But the truth is, whenever it has suited me I have taken advantage of what people imagined me to be. I did it just recently when I traded for your bonding tunic. I have done these kinds of things my whole life, all the while thinking I was so enlightened to recognize the mass delusion held by the others. But in the end, it was I who was deluded."

"Jakal..." Sala protested, caressing his face. "Do not do this to yourself, my mate. You are grieving, and it is natural to experience regret, especially when the loss is so unexpected.

"You chastise yourself for occasionally using your status as a Light-Eye to gain certain advantages. I ask you, what person does not employ the resources available to them in order to accomplish similar goals? Your choices do not make you worse than the rest of us, my love; it simply makes you human."

Not long after the Traders departed with Jakal, Nerin and the others the next morning to retrieve Sedon's body for his final journey home, gossip blazed through the settlement like wildfire on a parched summer day. Though normally impolite to speak of such matters in public, many began piecing together the connection of their people's spiritual leader with the recent upheaval in the Wolf Clan's peaceful way of life. Though no one would go so far as to openly speculate, whispers spread from one person to the next about the strangeness of the Spiritwalker's behavior for the last moon cycle or so.

Though it proved difficult to restrain themselves as the tide seemed to drift out of the shaman's favor, Kitad, Belak, Nefa and the others respected Sala and Jakal's wishes that they remain silent at this time regarding the full extent of the man's deviance. Nevertheless, they took advantage of the sea change to plant seeds of doubt here and there about his frame of mind, agreeing readily with others' hesitant conjectures or hinting at possible, as-yet unconsidered theories.

As she observed the Spiritwalker's reaction to the quiet tension filling the Camp, a tension which only intensified in his presence, Sala felt a certain perverse enjoyment at his increasing discomfort. She knew their friends worked behind the scenes on their behalf, and though she and Jakal had not officially sanctioned their actions, she was not at all displeased by their initiative. She rather welcomed the notion of their spiritual leader experiencing firsthand what it was like to lose control over those to whom he considered himself far superior.

The young woman was not the only individual to notice the shift in public opinion. Both Keta and the Spiritwalker were acutely aware of the mood of their people, and both were highly concerned, albeit for wholly different reasons. That afternoon the two sat in the Clan Leader's dwelling discussing Sedon's funeral service and the best way to address the Clan's unease.

"I believe it may be helpful to host a special 'healing ritual' immediately after guiding Sedon's spirit to the Other World," the shaman suggested. "The Lead Tracker's passing has clearly upset the balance of our people's peaceful existence, and it may be useful to the stability of the settlement to dispel any ... malingering darkness which can often take root when such catastrophes strike."

"I agree. Please make the necessary preparations for such a ceremony."

"It is such a shame..."

"A shame?"

"Oh, I was just thinking it is such a pity that Sala's spirit became gripped with a powerful sickness. It is clear the effects of her illness remain among us."

"How so?"

"Well, I cannot help but wonder if, had she not been possessed by a rebellious spirit, perhaps Sedon might yet be alive. Even now, though it was her disobedience which set off the events leading to this tragedy, some among our people actually seem to blame me because I was forced to send the Lead Tracker after her. I can only conclude such whispers are a result of that errant spirit still dwelling among us."

That is an interesting way of looking at it, Keta thought. It almost seemed to her that the man was attempting to deflect attention from his own role in all this. She was not so certain she agreed with his theory; the woman had been thinking much in recent days about the privilege of mate selection afforded only to those of the spiritual caste.

"That is one way of looking at it," she acknowledged, nodding. Hesitating for only a moment, she posed an alternative theory. "One might also consider whether such sicknesses of spirit would be less likely to strike were the Intendeds of our spiritual leaders given the freedom to accept or reject a union as they may in every other proposed mating. Had the young woman been permitted to say 'no' perhaps she would not have been possessed to run, and had she not run it would have been unnecessary to send either Tracker after her."

The Spiritwalker's eyes bulged as his face flushed dark red, struck dumb by her presumptuousness. How dare she! If she were not the Clan Leader she would surely pay for such an insult.

"I did not realize we were discussing the merits of our most revered customs, Clan Leader," he responded through gritted teeth, struggling to keep his tone respectful.

"My apologies, Spiritwalker," she replied calmly. "Recent events have caused me to spend much time reflecting on the way one idea or action can set off a series of reactions, the end result of which cannot always be predicted. I was merely thinking aloud. I meant no offense."

"Of course," he returned, his tone brighter. "None was taken. The loss of Sedon has been difficult on all of us. Now, if you will excuse me, I have many preparations to attend to before the others return."

Though the sun had yet to reach its zenith when Jakal and the others arrived at the place in the forest where Sedon lost his footing, tumbling to his death, finding a safe route down the ravine to where his body lay proved far more challenging. The narrow valley was steep and blanketed with slippery vegetation, the ground beneath riddled with pockets of loose stone.

Time after time individuals stumbled, on the verge of plunging themselves, and sometimes one or more of their companions as well, to the bottom in an instant. But slowly and carefully, bodies covered in sweat from the exertion, they eventually reached their destination.

With great sorrow the party approached the body of their fallen Brother. An arm bent where there was no joint, and a bone protruded grotesquely from one of his shins; from the angle of his head it was obvious he had died instantly. Given the extent of his injuries, knowing he had not suffered long provided some consolation, bitter though it may be.

Jakal squatted near his mentor's figure, studying for signs indicating when the accident might have occurred. Sedon's body was only beginning decay, suggesting the accident was quite recent; it may have even happened the previous morning, not long before Asra and Lomal entered the forest themselves.

Detecting the coolness of the air, a result of the stream at the valley's bottom as well as from its shaded, protected location, he considered how these factors might also slow the degradation. Noting the disturbance of the earth around the body and the absence of scavengers, however, the Light-Eyed One quickly returned to his initial assessment; Sedon had most likely died only the day before, or the evening prior to it at the very earliest.