Octubae
Chapter 3
The vision keeps repeating itself in my mind; every time I close my eyes I see those ghastly faces. Sitting around the fire, staring into its light, I’m afraid to look into any dark space. Reinas is standing by the wall, his eyes cast at the floor, he doesn’t notice me as I look back at him. Facing the fire again, the heat feels pleasant after the cold.
“Here Kiitern, drink this.” Nuglek says as she walks around the fire and hands me a cup.
“What is it?”
“Goat milk with honey, it will help ease your mind.”
I drink, it is warm and sweet. Laying the empty cup on the ground I close my eyes, the faces are gone and only darkness remains. As I open my eyes I see Nuglek searching in one of her bags. She pulls out a small bundle of clean deer hide and comes back to stand near the fire.
“Icto, Reinas come here and sit, there are things that need to be told and plans that must be made.”
As they walk over I notice that Reinas keeps his eyes toward the floor. He sits on the far side of the fire and turns his eyes to Nuglek. Does he know?
“It seems like our notion about the paw print in the dirt is indeed true. There is an Octubae around and it will come for Kiitern in a few days time. Now we must make some arrangements before she leaves, we do not want the people of the village to know anything about this. What I am thinking is that we will burn her hut; it will look like an accident.”
“Are you absolutely sure this is going to happen, Nuglek?” Icto asks. “I had thought that Hookta and Toblen had stopped this from happening.”
“It appears that they had just delayed it a few years.”
“What do you mean?” I ask. “What do my parents have to do with this?”
Nuglek lets out a sigh, she locks eyes with Icto and they share a nod.
“Kiitern, it is time for you to learn what happened to your parents.”
She runs a hand through her long silver hair while letting out another sigh.
“When you were born you had the birthmark that looked like a wolf. I knew what the future had for you. When I told your parents they didn’t want to believe me. They said I was wrong, that it was just a mark. I wouldn’t argue with them but I told them that the mark also signified that you were an outcast. They could accept that easier and led them to teach you what you needed to know at a young age. Around the time of your seventh year they saw the large tracks around their hut and remembered what I had told them at your birth. Hookta and Toblen came to me to ask if there was any way to stop this from happening. I had heard from my own mother and wise woman before me that there was a possibility to prevent this but that it was unlikely to be successful. They decided that they would do whatever they could to keep you with them. I think they thought that it would be better to have an outcast that they could see rather than a child that would be gone from their lives forever. ”
Joining us on the ground she continues.
“I told your parents that if they searched out the Octubae and found them that they would be given some sort of task and depending on the outcome then the Octubae would give them something that would keep you from changing. Of course we all knew that this would be very dangerous, being as these wolf people are only born every one hundred and fifty years or so. This meant that they would not be willing to let one go and would try to trick your parents. While you were on the Moons of Life rite of passage, they thought it best to leave without telling you in case anything happened. Before leaving your mother gave me this,” She says while handing me the small bundle.
Untying the sinew that keeps it closed and unfolding the hide I find a necklace that has two claws, feathers and beads on either side of a flat carved dark stone. It resembles the upper part of a wolf with the paws up by its chest, the way the dog will do when you hold a scrap of meat above its head, in the center is a heart.
“Why didn’t you give me this before?” I ask while tying the leather around my neck.
“Hookta told me to give it to you only if there was no doubt that they were unsuccessful in what they had set out to do. She said it would be something to remind you of home. I could never be sure but I do believe that your mother always knew that they would not come back.”
“What I don’t understand,” Icto cuts in. “is how it has taken so long for anything to show up. I was sure that Hookta and Toblen had been successful. I thought that the girl would have turned around her fifteenth year if it had been otherwise.”
“I had thought that too but it seems that they had only delayed it. Kiitern, now you know what happened to your parents.”
“I had no idea,” I reply while running my fingers over the carved pendant. “I had just assumed that they died from a sickness and were taken away before I got back. Other children’s parents had died while they were away.”
“No, but now we must make our plans for what is to happen over the next few days. Kiitern you will need to continue acting as if nothing has happened. We will all continue our usual habits and duties. None of us are to speak of this during the day; if anything new comes about we will meet here in the night. Reinas you will guard her at night if your father will allow it. We cannot let anything happen to her before she is taken.”
“That will be fine with me; I will have someone take over your position while you do this.”
“Yes father.” Reinas replies, nodding his head, as he turns back to Nuglek our eyes meet for a moment. He gives me flash of a smile before quickly turning away. My cheeks flush red.
“All right, on the final night that Kiitern shall be here we will tie the dog in my hut with a rope around its mouth to keep from waking anyone, then gather at her hut. We must present her to the Octubae willingly, they will take her if we do or not but if she were to just be taken then that could bring bad luck to our village. We will need to collect the pale Gatshie flowers for when we present her, this will signify peace between us and them. After she is gone, Icto, you and Reinas will place a bundle of the flowers in the center of the hut then set fire to it. I will wait until it is fully engulfed before I wake the village.”
A yawn escapes from Icto. “Very well Nuglek but I do believe that we should all get some rest as it seems we will have some work cut out for us in the days ahead.”
“True, let us call it a night. Reinas, you will start guarding tonight.”
He gives her a short nod and stands; I stand and bow to Icto and Nuglek. There is a tingling in my legs as the blood fills the veins after having been sitting for so long. Limping a little and shaking my legs as I walk out of Nuglek’s hut I hear a quiet chuckle behind me. Turning my head I notice Reinas is doing the same thing but not quite as much as I am. Continuing up the path, passing by the sleeping villagers in there huts, remembering that the last time I walked past them I knew nothing about what my future truly held, wishing I could go back to that time. Dust is in the air around my feet while I walk, my legs back to their normal feeling. I turn off onto the path to my hut, reaching my hands out I feel the grass in my fingers, soft, smooth, cool. Up ahead I see the place where we entered this morning. Who knew so much could happen in such a short time? Reinas catches up to me.
“Well, we are almost at your hut.”
“Yeah, I know.”
“It’s a nice night, so many stars.” He puts an arm around my shoulder. “The moon is almost full, it’s beautiful when it is.”
“Yeah.” Why is he acting so weird? Am I in a trance? Looking down at my hand I remember. No, that was real but this is very strange, perhaps Nuglek gave him something. We continue up the path together. Before today this would have been something I would have welcomed. So many times I had wished for any sort of embrace from him but now it just feels all wrong.
“Here we are,” He takes his arm off of me. Walking to the hut he leans back against the wall. “I’ll just sit out here, nothing is going to get past me.”
“Okay I’ll see you around tomorrow.” I say as I am about to pull back the hide covering the entrance. Making a quick bow and looking up I see him smiling at me.
“Don’t bow to me, I find it too formal for friends.”
Walking into my hut I let the cover fall over the opening and shiver, remembering my dream. I push the thoughts from my mind as I lie down on my mat and pull the fur covering over myself. So many thoughts race through my mind, what happened to my parents, what will happen to me, the sudden change in Reinas. I am unsure how I will get any sleep.