Faydayo had chosen to lead the mo’huran northwest into the forested valley, in the direction of the flathead migrants. He thought that would be less risky, than hiking through the mountain with those Wolves.

  The trees were now almost entirely different from the plant life back home around the volcano. Yuliko couldn’t even remember the last time she saw a pappo tree. This area was filled with oaks, maples, and hickories. It smelt different to Yuliko. The rainforest air was always heavy with leafiness and wet soil. These woods had a dry woody smell to her.

  They moved cautiously. Jogen had warned that the flatheads were desperate and dangerous. Whatever had been driving them away from the north had made the migrants quick to violence. They were lucky that the flatheads they had encountered in the lava yard were weak and few in number. There are tales of flatheads tearing man kins apart with their bare hands.

  They walked in marching order, with Yuliko last, of course. They traveled most of the day uneventfully. But as the sun was beginning to set, Faydayo came to an abrupt halt, raising his fist in the air to signal the others. Silently, he pointed up into the trees to their side. It took Yuliko a moment to notice, but then she saw hidden in the tree branches a deadfall trap had been built out of a log with limbs sharpened to points. If they had continued further they would have set off the trap and had deadly spikes swinging upon them.

  Faydayo pointed out the trip wire barely visible strung along the forest floor between two bushes. Very slowly he stepped over the wire and signaled for the others to do the same. One by one they crossed the trap switch. Yuliko was the last to cross. The wire and the spiked log were remarkably well hidden. Yuliko was impressed and deeply thankful that Faydayo had noticed them.

  They’re pace slowed down to a snail crawl as they continued on, being mindful of more traps. They found another deadfall trap and a snare trap also farther into the woods. The flatheads were serious about protecting these woods.

  Eventually, the mo’huran came to a creek, not large, but wide enough that they couldn’t jump across. They would have to wade through. Compared to crossing the Sharp Tooth, this was no difficulty at all. They treaded through the stream in status order. The water went chest-deep to Yuliko. Minty, who was the shortest, was almost shoulder-deep.

  As they were in the midst of their crossing, suddenly a group of flatheads appeared from out of the treeline on their destination side. There were at least ten of them. They were mostly armed with spears, but two of the flatheads had leather slings they were whirling with bullets loaded.

  They had the Ibexes cornered. They stood helpless in the creek. If they resisted, the flatheads would kill them all before they could get out of the stream. The closest flathead, an older man with graying hair, signaled and grunted at Faydayo. They didn’t know what the gesture meant exactly, but Faydayo assumed it meant to exit the water.

  “Yuliko, quickly,” Kardan said as they moved out of the creek in a line. “Get a core out of my bag.”

  While they were still obscured by the water, Yuliko did so, and handed the obsidian to Kardan.

  As they emerged out the stream dripping wet, holding their hands up and away from their weapons, they were corralled together so the flatheads could surround them.

  Now that they were closer, Yuliko could see that several of the flatheads had burn scars across their body. One of them had nearly half their body covered over by pinkish scar tissue. Another had burned on their head so that hair only grew on one half now.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  Big fire. Fire serpent.

  The gray-haired flathead motioned and grunted something else they could not understand. Faydayo made the traveler’s sign for ‘passing through,’ but the gray-haired man shook his head. Then, he pointed to the war club on Faydayo’s belt, and pointed to the ground. Faydayo’s face was hardened stone. If they passed over their weapons and the flatheads intended to kill them, then they would all be slain right there or worse. The two leaders stared each other down like it were a blinking contest.

  “Hey, Chief,” Kardan muttered just loud enough to be heard by the mo’huran. “Can you trust me? I’ve got a plan. Everyone lay down your weapons together, okay?”

  Without taking his gaze from the gray-haired man, Faydayo ordered, “Weapons down.”

  Slowly, each of them unsheathed their weapons from their belts. Yuliko pulled out her antler pick and pledge knife. In unison they bent to the ground to drop their weapons. All the flatheads were ready to strike at the first sign of aggression. But what they did not expect was for Kardan to suddenly throw the obsidian core upward, and then he waved his arms as if he was wrangling an invisible bubble. The tingling of a static charge filled the air. As the obsidian core fell back down Kardan shouted, “Hyah!” and the obsidian shattered into thousands of tiny glass fragments, shooting out in all directions.

  “Run upstream! Now!” Faydayo yelled.

  The mo’huran dashed, bursting through the ring of flatheads, who were all now reeling from dozens cuts from the glass shards. Their surprise advantage was brief, but long enough to get away. A volley of sling bullets and throwing spears threw through the air after them, but no Ibexes were hit.

  They ran as fast and as long as their feet could carry them. Thankfully, flatheads did not have the endurance for running that man kin has, and the burned flatheads did not follow them long. They were extremely lucky that they did not run into another trap as they fled. However, now they were heading back in the direction of the mountains, where the Wolves prowled.

  #

  It rained in the mountains. Cold, uncomfortable rain.

  They couldn’t stay in the woods any longer. The flatheads would be searching for them. So Faydayo had led them through a rocky passageway deep into the steep hilly terrain where they were certain the flatheads would not follow.

  They had to move slowly to avoid sliding in the mud, which could easily send them crashing down a hillside. The rainy sky made navigating the hills a challenge. Their northward direction was constantly diverted east or west or sometimes back south so they could get over a hill or cross a trench.

  Then, as they were switchbacking their way up another slope, they stumbled upon a dead bear body laying on the ground. Just the body. The bear’s head had been hacked off. It was a big brown bear.. The evidence of whatever kind of fight had happened here had long since been washed away by the rain. They searched for the head but never found one.

  The trek had switched from just being rainy and miserable into an anxious terror.

  “Was this the Wolves, you think?” Zana asked.

  “Possibly,” Faydayo said.

  “It could be hobs,” Minty said. “Hobs cut off heads to bring back to their queen.”

  “We have to be prepared for either,” Faydayo said.

  They continued on their mountain crossing with renewed urgency. Faydayo wanted to find the Stargazer village Jogen had mentioned on the other side of the range.

  It wasn’t too much farther along that they discovered another headless body, though this one was a man kin, a male, physically fit, and wearing wolf pelt furs.

  “We’ll at least we know they’re not shape-shifters,” Pykor said.

  “We should keep moving,” Faydayo said.

  If it had been at all possible to travel faster they surely would have, however not long after finding the wolf man’s body, a torrential rain downpoured, making hiking nearly impossible. Just as it seemed their circumstances couldn’t get any worse, Yuliko spotted something ahead through the rain. A dark opening into the hillside.

  “Guys! A cave!” Yuliko said.