Silence in Sagas

16

Oliwa woke to a yell. She startled and her heard sped up. She shot up straight and hit her head. Hard. On the cave's ceiling.

That hurt. Her head was pointing. Oliwa felt faint and she lay down again. Would she ever wake up? Would her head ever function normally again?

One thing the pounding in her head made sure of: It eliminated all doubts that this was reality. Oliwa had kind of figured out that one for herself, but it was always okay to know for sure.

She saw stars: Black spots that flickered in her vision. "AAAAAAH!"

Oliwa's head pounded again, but it was mostly because of the scream. It subsided. Slowly but surely her head felt normal. Oliwa breathed in. A huge relief was what it was.

"AAAAIAIAIAAAAA!"

She opened her eyes. The chattering of birds she couldn't see filled her ears. It wasn't fully light yet outside. She sat up from her position, slower this time.

Oliwa could see Arlos two spaces away from her. Denevon and Ismina weren't here. Oliwa crept out of the cave-opening and was greeted by the sight of Ismina, running back and forth with her hands waving in the air, screaming "AAAAAIAIAIAIAIAAAAAAIAIAAAA..." at the top of her lungs.

"What the—" Arlos had one leg over the ledge of the cave, opening. He was rubbing the sleep out of his closed eyes. He slowly opened them and saw Ismina. "What the hell is she doing?" he asked Oliwa. Oliwa turned. "I have no idea."

Denevon came walking towards them. "Wait—" began Oliwa. A gnawing feeling settled in her gut. This was not good. She turned to Denevon, whose hair was sticking up in all places. Like a real hawks.

Did hawks have hair that could stick up in all places?—Oliwa creased a brow and worried that she might have permanently damaged some brain cells when she hit her head.

"She's attracting the wild animals!"—said Oliwa. Arlos eyes widened beside her. "Oh YTRI—! DAD, WHAT THE... We're gonna die!"

Denevon 'psk'-ed. It was a sound that was alien to someone with his looks. "What do you mean, son. We aren't dying." He held up a canteen of water and drank from it. A few drops escaped down his beard and puddles of water spread on his shirt. "And neither are we starving," he said.

"AIAIAIAAAAAIAIAIAAAAIAAAAAAIAIAIAAAAA...!" Ismina continued. Denevon had to shout so that they could hear him.

They all had had to shout so that they could hear each other. "She is attracting the food."

Something relaxed within Oliwa. It was not like anything had changed in the situation, but now she knew that this was planned and that they were expected to get attacked by what would become their food.

Honestly, it didn't calm her that much. Didn't calm her at all upon further thought. What was she supposed to do?—Oliwa didn't know how to hunt.

And creeping back into the cave certainly was not an option. She didn't have a death wish. She didn't want to get trapped there with an aggressive animal targeting her.

"AAAIAIAA—"

"ISMINA, HUSH!"

Ismina stopped screaming immediately. Oliwa's ears could breathe again. Ears didn't breathe, but she blamed that thought on the hitting-of-the-head as well.

There was a crackling sound in the woods.

What kind of animals hit here? A bear, a wolf—wild horses... something worse, bigger and with more teeth?
Denevon pulled a knife from his trousers.

Yes. From his trousers. Ytri knew how he'd gotten it there without stabbing himself. Oliwa saw no outlines that suggested that a sheathe was hiding in the fabric.