The One Who Dances on Shadowed Feet

ONE (a)

"And the great Ajewu, the crowned King of gods, said to the man, Rekla, 'You have found favor in my eyes. Name your wish and you shall have it.'

Rekla fell prostrate to the ground and said, 'If you will it to be, Great King, lend me your strength when I call upon you, for there are evils I can not conquer.'

'There is nothing human that requires a god's power to overcome.' Ajewu said, 'But I perceive that there are other forces meddling in the human realm.'

And Ajewu blessed Rekla then and there."

- Excerpt from the Epic of Rekla

* * *

The people of the Mountain Clan were hospitable. That, Ichtaka knew well enough, having wandered from one dwelling to another for the past three months. It was tradition to pass along orphans each fortnight until they could support themselves— or until a family was willing to take them in.

So far, Ichtaka had no such luck, and he frankly didn't mind. He sat on the grassy ground, overlooking the freckled plains. They were high up on the mountains, and the scene below was breathtaking.

"You know, I had the strangest dream last night." Cadmael was saying, slightly breathless. His inky, braided hair was beaded with sweat. K'iinu training had just finished, and they were resting beneath the shade of Gambel oaks. The evening sun glowed orange and gold, its rays of light scattered across the ground. "I was facing a warrior from the Cave Clan, and my head hurt so much I couldn't breathe properly. And he was just standing there with that frightening bird mask and this knife pointed at me..."

Ichtaka shifted, if only slightly.

Cadmael winced, "Ah, my bad, elak, friend, I shouldn't have mentioned it."

Ichtaka waved it away, "I don't remember a thing."

That was a lie. He remembered the owl mask. The angry splashes of red paint, the beady eyes, the hooked beak and braided feathers hanging down. He remembered the bone knife, finely sharpened and stained with blood. Most of all, he remembered the fresh corpses littered around them. And the pain. Warm and sticky, it pulsed in his side.

When the Mountain People had found him, he was at death's door. There were also strange spells, finely woven K'iinu, around him. Upon waking, he had no recollection of who he was other than that gruesome memory and one thing— a voice of the past that echoed through his head. Ichtaka. You are Ichtaka now.

"Anyway, weird dream aside, Honorable Ixcel is going to be the death of me." Cadmael said, smoothly switching topics. It was a well known fact that Ixcel was a strict priestess. In this sector of the Mountain Clan, she oversaw the training of all children from fourteen years of age to eighteen in the art of bending K'iinu. At the ripe age of sixteen, Cadmael was perhaps the most troublesome of the trainees. "All the way down to the rice fields then back up! That's halfway down the mountain! I bet that idiot Hadwin was laughing himself silly the entire time."

"You are hardly shrewd enough to get away with such acts."

Cadmael rounded on Ichtaka, though only in mock anger, "And who am I to thank for that?"

He swallowed a smile, "It was only a suggestion. Besides, I'd say that Hadwin was humiliated for a lifetime."

"Huh? How?"

"Who did he accidentally drop a river on?"

Ichtaka watched as realization registered in Cadmael's gold-flecked eyes. "Ooh, right on Akna, huh? Accidentally drenched the subject of his admiration." The boy practically squirmed in glee. "No wonder he made that face! That was totally worth it."

"I'm right here, you murda, piece of crap." They turned to see that Akna had been behind them the whole time, having decided, for whatever reason, to not accompany her usual group of friends. The girl was tall and lean, with eyes that were like pools of honey. High cheekbones further accentuated her features, giving her a regal appearance. She glowered down at Cadmael, unamused by the way he had described Hadwin's infatuation with her.

The one in question offered her a lopsided grin, "Come on, you must admit that the expression he made was worth getting a faceful of stream water for."

Akna was just beginning to roll her eyes, but those amber orbs focused on something over Cadmael's shoulder. "Well, qytch." She cursed, "I'll deal with you later."

Ichtaka felt it before he saw it. The rush of heat that made his skin crawl as Akna drew on K'iinu. It came so strongly that it stung his eyes before he could block it out. Akna, being the granddaughter of the Chief, naturally had an affinity for wielding K'iinu. The favor of the spirits was on her, and her patron god, Caaso, blessed her exceptionally.

In a flash, Akna disappeared. Her speed was unmatched by any of the other trainees of the Mountain Clan. To one not especially skilled, they would only see a blur of movement— a hint of her glossy raven hair and vibrant beaded necklace— then proceed to attribute it to a trick of light.

"Wow." Cadmael shot Ichtaka a look that said he was clearly impressed, if not a little envious. "I call partiality on the gods. I can't wrangle that much out of my patron even if I tried."

"I think you have bigger things to worry about right now."

Hadwin had arrived.