SABIS the SURVIVOR

Chapter 1: Around the Fire

Chapter 1: Around the Fire

Claris' jaw dropped while her shoulders and neck stiffened. These movements gave her the appearance of having a very short neck. She resembled a water lizard that just spotted a quick and easy prey: Her tongue hung out of her mouth and drooped so low, it almost touched her dimpled chin.

What in Mother Earth is this armour supposed to mean? She asked herself.

Then she spotted her answer. She pounced on the note that lay beside where she had found the wrapped bundle. She unrolled the tanned hide and read to herself: Your presence is requested in the Hall of the Ancients. Be prepared for a long journey.

Claris stared intently at the message carved into the thick hide which she held in her now trembling hand. Hall of the Ancients. This place honoured the legendary warriors of the UnderStrata─Tribal Elders and Ancient warriors who had performed such heroic feats that their names were carved into the pillar stones that support the Hall's passageways.

"It seems that whomever sent me this bundle, wants me to don this armour for my visit and perhaps for what is to come afterwards."

She racked her brain for recent memories that could explain this invitation.

Claris recalled a recent event where she triumphed over six other UnderStrata competitors for the coveted Stones and Bones award. This achievement recognizes the skill of the competitor in the fifteen to eighteen age group for stone wielding and deboning prey. In the stone wielding competition, each competitor would launch a small circular stone from a long stick attached to a webbed netting. This warrior stick called a 'wartis' allowed the wielder to launch a stone so fast that a well-thrown stone could shatter the skull of small prey.

For the bones portion of the competition, each competitor had to de-bone their killed prey. The tribe member who could first complete their deboning would win.

While sitting around the fire at one Stones and Bones event, Claris not only observed her competitors for the upcoming events but also the surrounding cave walls and greyish grounds for their characteristic striations. Certain igneous patterns marked the presence of particular stones that flew straighter and truer when launched from a wartis. In the lower caves, where Claris and the UnderStrata reside, a plethora of useful gemstones could be found if you knew where to look. As Claris watched the fire's yellow light dance off of the cave walls, she saw her reflection mirrored in the gemstone fragments that peppered the ground and the walls. She smoothed her dark hair back behind her ears, dusted off her warrior skirt and vest, and surveyed her curvy yet muscular frame. Then she stood up to announce to the other contestants that this would be her last competition as she wanted to leave cave life to pursue her other passion; that of botany, and in particular, how to sustain the cave's plant life in an extremely cold climate.

"Really Claris, you've told us that before ... about leaving the tribal competitions and pursuing the study of plant life. We all know that stone wielding and bone grinding is in your blood. Don't deny it."

Claris was tempted to spar verbally with Ravis, a boy somewhat younger than Claris, but with the nerve of a warrior. He would speak to his Elders with confidence, regardless of how the unpolished truth hurt or maimed its target.

"Ravis, you stunted stalagmite, come closer to me so I can run you in with this stone blade that I honed especially for you!"

Claris liked to humiliate the boys. It gave her the edge she needed entering into competitions.

"I will crush your puny head just like I am going to pulverize my prey."

Ravis bit his lip and let Claris win this verbal exchange. Her victories around the fire then carried forward her confidence to the actual tasks that followed. His naturally chiseled jawline matched his square head. He had recently celebrated his sixteenth ritual of fire and stood two hands taller than Claris. His lean muscle was covered by his extra-long red hair and tight warrior clothing. She felt a heat pass through her spine and a tingle down her legs when he started "jawing" with her.

"Ravis, make sure that you save some of that wilted wit for your competition. It may be the only quality that saves you from disgrace."

Ravis stood up and approached her with a sneer on his hairless face.

"Claris, the only thing that will save you from tasting defeat is if you start thinking like prey. Given your short height, you could squeeze yourself into one of their dens and pretend that you are one of their family members."

Raising her wartis above her shoulders, she retorted.

"Ha ha Ravis. I think Mother Earth must be missing a mouthy badger. And she sent you underground to get bludgeoned by my wartis stone." Ravis retreated. Claris grinned knowing that she had prevailed.

Claris also enjoyed the tribal rituals and would study the Elders' ways, mannerisms, and techniques. She adopted some of the pre-competition routines that she witnessed the Elders follow on multiple occasions. For example, before wielding a wartis, the Elders would pick up some ground and sift the earth through their hands, rubbing it on their palms and fingers. As well, the Elders would survey the terrain while walking in circles before they would commence tracking and killing.

One Elder noted Claris' savvy pre-competition routine and decided to further educate her in the ways of tracking and killing. Janis, one of the first female Elders to recommend that the Survivor tribe divide itself into the Over and Under Strata, so as to possibly limit the spread of the warrior affliction, split her time observing the ways of the younger warriors in both Strata. She scouted warriors with promise and took them under her wing. Along with other Elders, she trained them in the arduous survivor strategies and tactics that could best guarantee the continued survival of the tribes. She was among the dozen Elders who lived a spartan life of sacrifice and service. Their many sacrifices included not drinking from the Sea of Fertility, not having families of their own, spending six out of seven steam cycles educating young warriors, deliberating on how the tribes ought to allocate their resources, and dedicating their lives to improved communication, community, education, and patience.

When it was time for the competitors to begin their stones and bones contest, all six of them crouched around the fire, their muscles primed for action. As they faced away from each other, no one competitor possessed any advantage when one of the Elders blew a ram's horn to signal the onset of the race.

Claris and Ravis raced off to the south while Burlis, Doris, and Loris headed north. The sixth competitor, a smaller boy named Harris, stumbled out of his crouch as he tripped over his wartis. He was spared being impaled by his own bone blade due to it being sheathed. As he fell, Harris cried out which drew Ravis' attention and commentary, "With Harris in this race, we should change its name from Stones and Bones to Moans and Groans."

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Claris quickly spotted a pangolin scurrying away from the dust cloud that she kicked up around her. In the elapsed time of one relaxed heartbeat, Claris loaded and launched one of her wartis stones at one of the Pangolin's small eyes. In an instant, her sharp-edged stone had penetrated the jelly-like material that formed the Pangolin's anterior and posterior eye chambers and had wedged itself into the prey's brain. Dropping down from its perch against the cave wall, the now stiffened warm-blooded creature lay belly up and scales down.

Claris held her prey's long and scaly tail with her left hand while she deftly cut deep into the softer underbelly, exposing the innards and vital organs. She then let go of the tail, and with her now free left hand and her left knee she forcefully retracted the skin while slicing into the inner fascial and fatty connective layers. In less than ten breaths, she had de-boned her prey. With the pangolin's hide still fully intact, she wiped her bone blade clean on the outside of the carcass then resheathed it, slung the prey's limp but still warm body over her right shoulder, and carried her new bone collection back to the fire and the Elder official.