Final Fieretsi: Part I of the Fabula Fereganae Cycle

  Chapter IV: Fly by Night

  In the last hour of the day, once the blue moon had risen to the top of the sphere of heaven, a cold, wet nose roused Stefi from her sleep. She grumbled and opened her eyes to find Rhaka before her, his blue glow nearly as bright as the moonlight.

  “What is it?” she said, not yet realizing it had to be something important for him to risk detection.

  “The Furosan has been sighted. Many men from the inn are now pursuing it, clamoring for its blood. If you still wish to see a Furosan, we ought hasten.”

  “What?” She bolted upright, now fully awake. Gemmie stirred in her lap and Maya awoke muttering something quite unrepeatable. Stefi still didn’t know where he had learnt such language, but he did used to keep company with her father.

  “You heard correctly. We must leave now. Quick, onto my back.”

  She removed the ferrets’ harnesses. “Can you hold me?” she asked as she eyed him up. He wasn’t very large, but the muscles in his legs were certainly bigger than a regular dog’s, and his back broader. “And the ferrets?”

  “Yes,” he said. “It is the only way we could possibly catch up.”

  Just as he finished speaking, a shout came from down the road and several humans approached. The glowing beacon of Rhaka’s aura had alerted them to his presence.

  Without hesitation Stefi forced her blanket into her pack and leapt onto the Otsukuné’s back. She clutched her ferrets in her left hand and grasped the fur on Rhaka’s back with her right. “Go!”

  Rhaka took off straight towards their pursuers.

  “Maybe we should avoid them!” Stefi shouted.

  Rhaka did just that. Without slowing, the Otsukuné cleared them with one great leap. Stefi caught a glimpse of their amazed faces as they sailed over. She laughed at the sheer weirdness of the situation, though whether excitement or fear fueled her laughter she couldn’t tell.

  Within seconds Rhaka had borne them to the shadowy embrace of the forest. Even so, the night echoed with shouts and cries as more people joined the chase. They were accompanied by the eerie glows of torches even though both moons shone brightly.

  “Are you fine up there?” Rhaka asked, not slowing in his stride as he dodged nimbly through the trees that seemed to rush headlong towards them.

  “Yes,” Stefi called breathlessly. “This is the most excitement I’ve had in my life!”

  “Hold on tightly. I have found the Furosan’s scent, but it is trailed by that of a human.” He broke into a gallop and Stefi ducked her head to keep her balance.

  Maya, caught up in the moment, squirmed his way from Stefi’s grasp and clambered onto Rhaka’s neck. This brings back memories! he whooped, delighting in the rush of the night air on his masked face as he waved his open mouth back and forth.

  “Maya, get back here!”

  Maya ignored his human friend, too charged by the night flashing by to listen. Gemmie, somewhat more wisely, sought the safety of Stefi’s arms.

  Within half an hour they had left their pursuers behind completely, and Rhaka skidded to a halt. Maya’s grip wasn’t as strong as he thought it to be and he somersaulted, swearing, into the grass.

  “What is it?” Stefi asked. She laughed as the stunned ferret composed himself. “Something wrong?”

  “Yes.” Rhaka’s nose skimmed across the grass, divining the scent of two from many. “The human scent. It is that of a Kalkic. Sansonis, perhaps. It has been long, yet the scent brings with it a sense of familiarity across the years.”

  “Are you sure? Why would he want to go after a Furosan?”

  “I do not know. I thought more of him than to stoop this low for monetary gain, but he must be desperate. It is my fault for not seeking him out sooner.”

  “Don’t say that,” Stefi said. “He hasn’t done anything. Not yet, anyway.”

  After a short pause he sped once more into the night. And again Maya rode upon his neck. In truth, the ferret hoped to go flying again.

  “How far to go?” Sansonis asked his new self-appointed companion.

  Ifaut twitched her ears and replied without looking at him. “Hmm... We’re at least a day’s walk away from home. But it’s getting late. Do you need to rest? I’m getting tired,” she said and emphasized it with a yawn. “I’ve been upside for too long and all the tiredness ran from my feet to my head…”

  The odd pair had been fleeing for an hour now. All signs of other humans had long since vanished into the night.

  “How long were you hanging there before I found you?” Sansonis asked.

  “Only a wee while,” she said matter-of-factly. “Since a little before lunchtime. But is it still called lunchtime if you didn’t eat lunch? Anyway, why do you ask?”

  “Never mind.”

  As she started to make her odd throaty noise again, Sansonis interrupted her. “I feel awkward asking this, but what’s that noise you keep making?”

  “Oh…” A red flush crept into her cheeks and she turned away for a second. “It’s called dooking. Ferrets do it too and we can’t really control it. We just do it when we’re happy or excited. Our faces can lie, but that always reveals our true feelings. But now you have to answer me something, m’kay?”

  “Anything, I guess.” He sensed that she desperately wanted to change the subject and hide her reddening face.

  “Why did that man call you a dog?”

  Sansonis remained silent for a minute, staring at the ground, and Ifaut wondered if he had heard her. The only sounds were their footsteps and the occasional bird somewhere in the night calling forlornly to the darkness.

  “Why did that man-”

  “I heard you the first time,” he said. “It’s just that I don’t know how to answer. Can we sit first?”

  With utmost care Ifaut lowered him to the ground at the base of a tree and leaned up against him. Warm, she thought, and suddenly felt very sleepy.

  “I was raised by Otsukuné,” he continued.

  “Otsukuné? But aren’t they all dead?” she said, all feelings of sleep at once gone. Despite her favorite school lessons being lunch and nap time, even she knew the Otsukuné were all but gone from Feregana.

  “They are now,” he said as a bitter splinter of sadness lodged in his throat. “When I was a child, an Otsukuné named Rhaka found me alongside my dead parents. He said they looked like they’d been murdered. We never found out why. Although I was human and could have made an easy meal, he took me home with him to Shangara and raised me like his own son. He was the only father I knew, and his mate Mido, his own daughters Stafi and Mursa, were my family. Not your typical upbringing, but it was a home at least.”

  Ifaut stared at him through clouded eyes, blinking away the tears. “I think I can figure out the end,” she said. “Even I know the humans came and killed the Otsukuné. But do you know why they did it? I certainly don’t.”

  “No,” Sansonis said and shook his head. “That question keeps me awake most nights. I still don’t have the slightest idea why. I’ve tried to find out but all I can gather is that it was for some sort of religious reason. There has to be something more, something beyond just petty religious teachings, something I’m missing…”

  “I know!” Ifaut squeaked, her tears suddenly forgotten. “We can ask Lady Cédes! She might know something.”

  “I hope so. Look, I need to get some sleep, but there’s something I have to ask you first. When you helped me out back there, was your debt repaid?”

  “When I helped you? I’m sorry, I didn’t see anything,” she said and giggled. “My eyes were closed.”

  As Sansonis made himself as comfortable as he could on the cold ground with the warm Furosan girl at his side, he heard her whisper something in his ear. “I’ve been searching for you for a very long time. You can’t get rid of me that easily.” She started singing a soft, soothing song in her own language, and again the words, although in another tongue, meant more to him than anything he had heard before. She stopped for a moment and added,
“Looks like I still owe you one.”

  “They are very close,” Rhaka said and slowed to a brisk trot. “You had best be prepared if the worst has happened, if he seeks to harm her.”

  “Then why do they both flee away from town?” Stefi asked as she relaxed her grip on his fur.

  Rhaka didn’t answer and Stefi, holding the two ferrets, jumped from his back.

  An excited Gemmie wriggled her way from Stefi’s grasp and perched on her shoulder. She quivered in excitement. I can’t wait to see the Furosan! Do you think they’ll let me play with them? And give me cuddles? And semlai Calopis quercansas…

  “Gemmie, settle down,” Stefi said and stroked the over-excited ferret. “You know I can’t understand you when you get all hyped up. You stop thinking in real words and start thinking in raw emotions. It’s confusing.”

  I’m sorry, she said as her nonsensical thoughts faded. I’m calm now.

  Even though Stefi didn’t really believe Sansonis would be trying to capture the Furosan, given they were both heading deeper into the forest, she took her knife from her belt and squeezed the handle tightly in her sweaty hand. Too many strange things had already happened for her to let her guard down. And, perhaps, it was time to be a little less trusting of others.

  “Stand back,” Rhaka said. “I shall go first.” The Otsukuné slunk silently away and Stefi waited, as nervous and excited as Gemmie had just been.

  A short way off Sansonis awoke to Ifaut hissing his name. “Is something wrong?” he asked, still half asleep.

  She slapped her hand over his mouth to silence him. “I hear voices. Someone’s coming.” She tried to sound confident, like any reputedly vicious creature should. Her wavering voice betrayed her. She grabbed a sizeable branch from the ground and readied it like a sword in front of her, wringing it nervously with both hands.

  A glowing, dog-like creature seemed to melt from the trees in front of her. Instead of moving she stood firm. “If you want to hurt Sansonis you’ll have to come through me first,” she said, her gaze never wavering.

  “Only if he intends to harm you.”

  At the sound of its voice Ifaut dropped the stick and took a step back. “What did you just say? Wait… you talked?”

  “Yes, your ears do not deceive you, young Furosan.”

  Overhearing them, Sansonis stood up. “I know that voice,” he said, a flicker of recognition on his face. “Is it really you?” Stunned, he walked forward and the moonlight revealed the familiar face from his past. But instead of the loving father figure from years ago he saw one full of anger.

  “Get away from her!” the Otsukuné growled at him. “Even though you were my son I shan’t hesitate to protect the Furosan if you are here to harm her. She seems intent on protecting you, yet I know how easily humans may manipulate the emotions of others.”

  “B-but,” Sansonis stammered, confused at Rhaka’s sudden outburst, “I saved her life. I’m not trying to kill her!”

  “How can I put my trust in you? How do I know you that have not changed in the past ten years?” he said, still failing to see past his own preconceptions. “You were my son. Yet the current circumstances are stacked against you.”

  Ifaut planted her hands firmly on her hips. “Don’t I get a say in this, dog-face?” she shouted, now more annoyed than frightened.

  The aggressive look of bared teeth melted from Rhaka’s face and was replaced by one of slack-mouthed shock.

  “That’s right. He saved my life,” she continued. “He even admitted he had the chance to turn me in for a reward. He chose not to. And if you have a problem with that you can just leave us alone. It’s not like you were there for him during the last ten years, anyway.”

  “I…I…”

  “That’s what I thought! Besides, if he had tried to hurt me I could have taken him out easily!” She smiled and elbowed Sansonis in the stomach perhaps a little too hard. He staggered backwards, momentarily winded.

  Rhaka stood in shocked silence. After a moment he managed to compose himself. “I am truly sorry, my son,” he said. “I assumed the worst from you, and for no reason. Ten years is a long time, and one can change much in that course. Even those thought dead.”

  Sansonis felt tears forming in his eyes, and not from Ifaut’s elbow. But all the years of loneliness had taught him to repress them, not to let others see signs of his distress, to force sadness and anger deep down inside. “It’s all right,” he said and clenched his fists. “You’re still my father… All the same, this is damn sudden. I don’t know if I can just forgive you for leaving me alone and letting me think you were dead all these years. Not yet, anyway. I hope you understand, even if I don’t myself.”

  Ifaut seized his arm and, unmindful of her sharp claws, hauled him aside. “He’s your daddy!” she hissed. “Look, I know he was just mean and he abandoned you, but I’m sure you can forgive him. And just look at that sad face!”

  “There’s no need to whisper,” Sansonis said. “He can hear everything you’re saying.”

  “Yes, I can,” Rhaka said. “I have my reasons for leaving you alone for so long. Now… now you would not understand. Please trust me that what I did was right.”

  Behind Rhaka, Ifaut noticed a girl peering timidly from behind a tree. Her attention immediately fell upon the two ferrets she was holding. She released her vice-like grip on Sansonis’s arm and with a few lithe bounds landed in front of a very confused Stefi.

  “Wow!” she squeaked and seized Gemmie and Maya from Stefi’s arms. Her face beamed with a lopsided grin, one sharp tooth hanging over her bottom lip, and she danced in clumsy circles, dooking happily with a ferret in each hand.

  “Hey! Give them back!” Suddenly Stefi fell to her knees and clutched her head. Her mind churned, feeling as if it was turning itself inside out as the raw emotional thoughts of her two ferrets and the Furosan girl buzzed about, swarming incomprehensibly. The emotions of one ferret were confusing at best, but two and a Furosan’s were crippling.

  “Settle… down… ferts…” she managed to say through clenched teeth, and as they calmed she felt her consciousness returning to normal.

  Visfdtehjr taudfeost Merek… okay, Stefi? Gemmie’s voice gradually came into focus, chaotic noise becoming words.

  “Yeah, too many emotions, and you two got so hyped up over something.”

  Sorry, Maya said. We couldn’t help it. It’s a Furosan! We found one!

  During her mental tumult Stefi had barely even registered the Furosan’s presence. Now, as her mind cleared, she saw Ifaut peering wide-eyed with worry at her. She shot her a reassuring smile. “I’m okay, Furosan.” She stood up shook her head. “My name’s Stefi. The two ferrets you’re holding are Gemmie, the smaller one, and Maya, the bigger, more obnoxious one. And you are?”

  “Oh! I didn’t think playing with your ferrets would make you so upset! Here you go.” She handed Gemmie and Maya back. “I’m Ifaut Mafouras, and as you just noticed so clearly, I’m a Furosan. And this,” she said, hauling Sansonis to her side “is Sansonis. He saved my life.”

  Sansonis offered a simple, “Hello,” something he wished he really could’ve said upon first meeting Ifaut.

  “I hope you don’t mind me asking,” Stefi continued, “but why are you two together? You’re Rhaka’s son, aren’t you? And I bet you’re the Furosan everyone in Joven’s looking for.”

  Sansonis spoke up. “I see we’re well known already.”

  “Well,” Stefi said, “Rhaka’s told me all about you already. And in Albana I heard about the Furosan, I mean Ifaut, and everyone in the Joven inn looked set on killing her. Feregana’s a small world, huh?” Throughout the introductions Rhaka sat motionless, only twitching his ear occasionally to hear what was said.

  Aren’t you forgetting something, Stefi? Maya asked. Why we’ve been wandering around lately?

  “Huh? You’re right!” Stefi said a little too loudly, causing Ifaut to jump in surprise.

  The Furosan cocked her head curio
usly. “Just who’re you talking to? More friends we can’t see?”

  “Oh, I forgot. You might think this is weird, but I can understand what ferrets say. Maya was just reminding me of something.”

  Ifaut gasped and began pacing frantically, her tail twitching nervously. “We have to get you to Lady Cédes at once!” she said and flapped her hands in urgency. “Quickly!”

  “To whom? But why?”

  Sansonis sighed. “She wants to take me to see this Cédes, too. I think it’s an Ifaut thing.”

  “It is not an Ifaut thing!” She stopped her pacing and pouted. “Only Cédes can confirm if Sansonis and me are kamaes, and Stefi’s gift is something very important to ferrets, Furosans, and most importantly, Feregana. But maybe we should start at the beginning first. I don’t know anything about you yet. Or old dog-face over there.”

  Rhaka tried to growl threateningly at her, but after the argument before, the terror that once lurked in his throat had dimmed. Ifaut merely poked her tongue out at him.

  She sat down and motioned for the others to join her, and after Sansonis had lit a fire the unusual group updated each other on what had already happened: about Stefi leaving home, her meeting with Rhaka, and Sansonis saving Ifaut and the strange events afterwards.

  Eventually sleep started to cloud Stefi’s eyes, and the ferrets had long since fallen asleep. An occasional word entered her mind from their dreams; not that they were particularly telling. She yawned.

  Rhaka said his first words since the fire was lit. “Perhaps now it is time for sleep. Young Furosan, how long will it take to reach your home?”

  “It’s Ifaut, old dog-face.” She yawned widely, revealing her very sharp canines. “If we leave early tomorrow…” She contorted her face in concentration. “…take a shortcut, walk quickly, stop for no more than two naps, we’ll make it by tomorrow afternoon. Or is it tomorrow now? But that would make it today, not tomorrow? Anyway, as long as we get there for the festival of Lidae. But now,” she said and curled up on the ground, “it’s time for sleep, in case you hadn’t noticed.”

  Stefi couldn’t have been as tired as she thought she was, since she awoke as dawn first spread her warm caress across the land. Even the birds had yet to wake and start their chorus. Careful not to wake the ferrets, she stood and stretched her aching body, longing for a real bed again. Luckily for Ifaut, she noticed, she had chosen to use Sansonis’s chest as a pillow sometime during the night and slept soundly.

  Ifaut’s last words the previous night–or was it this morning? Now she was starting to think like Ifaut–rang in her head. If they wanted to reach the Furosan’s home today then they would have to leave early. It was time to wake the others.

  She started with Ifaut, mindful of the fact that she’d likely cause enough unintentional commotion to wake the others.

  “Ifaut, Ifaut,” Stefi hissed as she nudged the sleeping Furosan with her foot.

  “Waah!” Ifaut awoke with a start and dug her claws into Sansonis’s chest, her tail puffed and eyes wide. Not surprisingly, Sansonis jerked upright and his resulting yell of pain roused Rhaka and the ferrets. At least Stefi was right about Ifaut waking everybody.

  After many apologies, everyone’s thoughts turned to breakfast, while the ferrets, their energy overflowing after sleeping, tumbled about in the grass, open mouths waving in mock combat.

  “Does anyone have food?” Ifaut asked and mumbled something about protecting Sansonis and not hurting him.

  “Sorry,” Stefi said as she rummaged through her pack, “I’ve only got a few ferret biscuits left.” She was suddenly glad that they’d soon be reaching somewhere with more food, realizing she’d vastly underestimated how much was needed for her journey.

  Ifaut’s eyes shone and she crawled towards Stefi.

  Stefi hid the pack behind her back. “Only enough for the ferrets.”

  The happiness fell from Ifaut’s face. It was the same look Stefi had seen all too often on her ferrets, especially when she didn’t feel like playing when they did, or when she’d reclaimed some of their ill-acquired treasures.

  Ifaut sighed. “It’s okay. We’ll get something to eat when I get home. Should we leave now?” She hauled Sansonis from the ground as he frowned and rubbed the red spots that freckled his shirt.

  Stefi called the two ferrets to her and placed them carefully on her shoulders. As they quivered with excitement, she felt the strange sensation in her mind again, though it wasn’t as bad as the last time. The murky floodwaters had subsided into a pleasant trickle.

  Play hdeetty Furosan fiddrad fun, Gemmie’s voice bubbled and Stefi saw a brief flash of Gemmie picturing herself playing with several Furosans. All she kept getting from Maya were not words but images of him surrounded by meat and looking very pleased with himself. Maybe he was trying to tell her something.

  “You can finish the biscuits in my bag if you’re hungry,” she told them.

  I’ll wait, Maya said. I’m saving my appetite for when we get there.

  “For lots of meat?”

  How did…?

  “I finally managed to make sense of some of those thoughts of yours. You were surrounded by food. No surprises there.” She laughed as the others watched her seemingly one-way conversation in wonder. Maybe, she thought, it was because of Ifaut, an intermediary between their two races, that she could now see through the emotions to the pictures underneath.

  Rhaka interrupted, speaking more quietly than gruffly. “Come. Let us leave now. Young Furosan, lead,” he said.

  “Okay, dog-fa- I mean, Rhaka,” she said. During the night she had been thinking. Perhaps she’d hurt Rhaka’s feelings when she yelled at him and accused him of abandoning Sansonis. And maybe he didn’t really have a choice in the matter. Besides, he was perhaps the last of his kind and didn’t need to be called something as rude as dog-face. Was that why that man had called Sansonis a dog with such hatred in his voice? Dog was an insult? She’d have to try to watch what she said from now on. Especially if it might hurt Sansonis too.

  Ifaut, acting as a guide and strangely distancing herself from Sansonis, led everyone through the forest while muttering and following a path only she could see. Even Rhaka had no inkling of their current whereabouts despite being a denizen of the forest. After following the Furosan’s seemingly aimless meanderings for hours, fording several rivers, and climbing many rises, Stefi and Sansonis weren’t surprised that no other human had found their home for many years.

  Towards mid afternoon they followed Ifaut over a small rise where she stopped suddenly in front of a sheer, impassable rock face that towered high above their heads.

  “Ifaut,” an exhausted Sansonis said, his voice drained, “we’re lost, aren’t we?”

  Stefi sighed and leaned her hands on her knees. In her whole life she had never walked as much as in the last few days. She felt as if she would collapse at any moment.

  “No, no, no,” Ifaut said and shook her head. Her hair flared about her and seemed to glow as it caught the late sunlight. “Far from it. Watch. Watch!”

  And they did. Ifaut raised her hand, placed it against the cold wall of rock, and spoke in the same language she was accustomed to singing in around Sansonis. For a minute a section of the rock seemed to waver like a far off object on a hot day. Then it vanished into a tunnel-like opening.

  “Ta da!” she said and smiled, looking very pleased with herself. “Now quickly, hurry inside before it closes.” She clasped Sansonis’s hand and pulled him through first, followed by an awed Stefi, Gemmie, Maya, and at last Rhaka.

  Although Rhaka wouldn’t admit it, he was fascinated by the trick. If only the Otsukuné had had the skill to conceal themselves like this, he thought.