Kree

You might look at me and think I was insane for thinking over things while men waited for a chance to finish me off. But aside from watching and squinting against the light there wasn't much for me to do at the moment and my mind just never stopped. I had a few hours to wait until Lar Torvis was in their eyes. If they didn't rush me before that ... and I wasn't moving until then.

I suppose a more experienced warrior would not have rushed headlong into something he didn't understand fully. I suppose I wasn't thinking of ... well I just wasn't thinking.

I had been riding all morning. Pushing Kree but not too much for I did not intend to run him to death. It was easy now to follow the wagon tracks through the grass and over the gentle rolling hills. I was jumpy ... but jumpy about things I didn't have set in stone yet. Jumpy about dreams, visions and words of the Spex but they weren't real. They were like mists and they caused me to worry but I didn't know exactly what to expect ... if anything.

It wasn't long after dawn that I saw the smoke. Fire is a thing most feared by Tuchuk. Not only can it over take and kill people and animals but it destroys the grass. Where there is grass ... there is life. Now perhaps it was that I was keyed up anyway or that I just lost the brains the Sky blessed me with but I kicked Kree into a run and we made strait for that smoke. Somewhere in the back of my mind there was the realization that there was dark black smoke in there ... the kind of smoke you get when you torch a wagon ... with grease. All I know is that my stomach was up in my throat and we were at a full run when up out of the grass there rose at least five men and they were shooting arrows as fast as they could draw and aim. I felt Kree stumble, lose the rhythm of his stride and I knew he was hit but I didn't know how bad. I grabbed weapons and I kicked free of the saddle and hit the ground running and I dove into this hollow I was trapped in.

Now... if it had been Kai or Rocca they would have dropped like a rock. But Kree wasn't trained fully yet and he just stood there. I closed my eyes and groaned and he went down kicking and screaming looking like a pin cushion. There was just no need for that. Killing a kaiila. Except for one. They were set on making sure I never left this hollow.