The Wild Hunt (Part One)

Konayago Wapoto

"Ahh! Someone help! Help me!"

People were screaming all over the village as Tewase warriors set fire to huts and slaughtered people in their wake. I was huddled behind a large basket, peering over at the small hut a little ways ahead of me.

They already killed mama and Oaye. I found their necks with arrows through them inside our home. It scared me that their eyes were still open even in death. I ran. Now I hid, but someone cried out inside that hut. It sounded like a little boy. I saw smoke gathering atop it as flames burned through the thatched roof.

"Help me! Someone help! Da-Na! Da-Na!"

He cried for his father but no one seemed to notice. The Tewase must have killed his father like they killed mine.

I hurried over to the hut, stooping low behind the line of baskets against the tree line, until I made it to the front of the hut. I pushed against the branched door but it did not give.

"Help! Please! I can't breathe! Da-Na!" He sounded so scared and I felt bad for him. I knew his sadness and wanted to help.

Part of the roof caved in and I heard him scream. The walls of the hut bowed out and a sliver of space appeared beside the door. I slipped my fingers through and yanked it back. It gave a fraction and I yelled through the gap.

"Push against the door! Can you hear me? Push!"

"Da-Na!" He cried out again.

I pulled as hard as I could. I felt the heat from inside singe my knuckles but I wouldn't let him die like I let mama and Oaye die.

"If you can hear me, push!" I screamed.

"Hey!" I glanced over my shoulders and two Tewase men came running towards me, their bow and knife in hand.

"Hurry!" I yelled.

I yanked on the door again and it flung open, tearing of its hinges and falling partly on top of me. Smoke billowed out and the boy fell on top of the door, before rolling off to lie across from me on the ground.

We looked at each other, both of us panting. His head was shaven except for a thin patch of hair down the top of his head. Blue feathers hung from his ears and his face was covered in black soot.

"Yetae! Yetae!" A Tewase man kneeled down beside him, gathering him into his arms. He was a big man with matching feathers at his ears. He looked down at me and flung his arm out.

"No!"

I looked up and the the tip of a blade hovered over my head. The Tewase man sneered before sheathing it.

"Da-Na!" The boy cried, wrapping his arms around the man's neck. "I'm sorry. I failed you."

The man pressed his forehead against the boys. "Shhh. One mistake, Yetae. Only one mistake." He said, a little firmer.

The boy nodded and released his arms from around his father. He pointed down at me. I was still lying under the door. I had no clue what was going on. Was this boy part of the Tewase? It seemed like it. But how did he manage to close himself in that hut?

He spoke to his father in a tongue I was unfamiliar with and I felt the door lift off of me and strong hands clamp onto my shoulders before being pulled up.

"What's your name, Yapo?" The man with the blue feathers asked.

I fingered the hem of my shirt. "Kon... Konayago... Wa-Wapoto." Was he going to kill me like the others?

He looked towards his son who nodded his head.

"You belong to me now, Yapo. I will spare you your life for saving my sons. One time only. Just one time."