Shadowed by Moonlight (SAMPLE)

Chapter 2.a

Protocol meetings were canceled for the day.  Everyone in the chiefs' council agreed that trying to refocus after the morning's ordeal was unlikely.  We were fortunate no one was killed in the fight, but many had been injured and the village was in shambles after the rampage. 

Once Masina's triumphant parade was over, the high chiefs paired up with our doctors and architects, each separating into an area where they could provide the most assistance.  Puana and her mother administered medicinal herbs, Ori and his father repaired the meetinghouse. High chief Senidra, Alani's father, led a search party to find out where the demons had come from and whether any more were on their way.  Those not helping with repairs took charge of the feast that would be held tonight in Masina's honor.

Of the fifteen demons that attacked the village, Masina had really only beaten one. And she didn't even kill it. But apparently I was the only one who noticed that.

Unsure of where else to put me, my father asked Alani to accompany me as I walked through the village, ready to call for extra help where it was needed. He was to lead another search party that ran opposite of high chief Senidra's, and said he needed me more in the village.  He didn't say it out loud, but I understood it was his way of telling me I would only get in the way if I tried to go with him.

  Alani, who was about to leave with high chief Senidra, smiled politely and bowed at my father. The moment he was gone, however, she threw a snap kick to my shin.

"Ouch!" I yelped, the blow nearly knocking me over. What was really pathetic was I could tell Alani hadn't meant for that to hurt. She cocked an eyebrow at me and folded her arms.

"Why do I always get stuck with you?" she asked.

"Believe me, I'm not exactly crazy about it, either."

The pain smarted in my leg, and I knew it would bruise later on.  Still, I forced myself to stand up straight, shooting her a dirty look. Alani was two years younger than me, and was one of the few people in the future chiefs' council that I could look down on. While she didn't have Masina's height or strength, that didn't make her any less deadly. Her body slender and lithe, Alani moved with a nimble deftness that reminded me of a spider. Bone knives were her weapon of choice, but she was skilled with a patu, throwing clubs, and other close-range combat items. She held her buli in her hands and looked at me pointedly as she tied it back around her neck.

"Well?" she said, gesturing, "Lead the way, sun spot."

I gave her another withering look, but said nothing. That was the annoying thing about Alani. She might not be as strong or as fast as Masina, but she knew she could beat me in hand-to-hand combat. And unlike Masina, Alani didn't let me forget it.

We first checked on Puana and her mother, high chiefess Mailelauliʻi, in the healer's hut.  The high chiefess was in the middle of giving a massage to Orator Raʻi, who had hurt his knee. Puana knelt behind Uncle Logo, one of the master carvers in our village.  He was laying on his stomach and grimaced in pain as Puana squeezed the juice from the saina plant into the gashes raked across his back.  There were three of them, each one two fingers wide and so long they went from his right shoulder down to his left hip.  Puana had cleaned up most of the blood, but they still looked ugly.

"Sorry, uncle.  I know, it hurts," she said, dabbing at his wounds with a clean cloth, "But this will keep it from getting infected."

Uncle Logo gave a throaty laugh, "Of course. My muscles can't get infected if your devil juice burns them all away, eh?"

Puana smiled as she squeezed the pulp in her hands harder, dripping more juice onto Uncle Logo's back and evicting a hiss of pain from him.

"Uncle if I did that, who would build my wedding canoe when I come of age?" she teased.

Puana looked just like her mother.  She had the same round face, button nose, and dark eyes like two round pearls. Her flowing hair was held back by a haku lei made entirely of plumeria flowers, and she looked up cheerfully as we came in.

Alani greeted her with a kiss on the cheek as she knelt beside her. I bowed to Uncle Logo as I sat across from them.

"How are they?" Alani asked, looking out at the men and women being attended to.

"Surprisingly, not as bad as I thought they would be," Puana replied, "From what I can tell, none of those claws had poison on them. The only one we're worried about is Koa over there."

She pointed with her chin. Koa, the son of the high chief in the Fire Village, was lying on his back in the far corner of the hut. Three of the healers huddled around him. His eyes were closed, but his body twitched as though he were sleeping fitfully.  Sweat peppered his brow and his breathing came in labored gasps.

Alani looked disturbed. "What's wrong with him?" 

"It looks like one of those things bit him," Puana said with a grimace.

Her words shocked us into silence.  Demon bites were lethal. If left untreated, the victim would die overnight. And the scariest part about them is the bite marks never appeared until the victim was already dead. So unless the healers knew the person had been bitten, they could easily waste the night tending to a fever and chills, not realizing the true danger until it was too late.  

There was only one plant on the island that could cure them, a blood red leaf that grew in the shape of a heart up in the mountains. When heated and applied to the wound, the teeth marks not only became visible, but the symptoms disappeared within minutes.

"He'll need the red-heart leaf," I said, jumping to my feet, "I'll head inland to go find some.  I think there's a bush by--"

"Toa, it's okay," Puana interrupted. She motioned for me to sit back down, "Masina already grabbed some for us. Look, they're heating them up now."

She pointed. Outside of the healer's hut a couple of handmaidens that accompanied Puana's mother were turning a bushel of maroon red-heart leaves over a fire. Weighed down by a stone next to the fire were several more bushels just like it.

"Oh," I said, suddenly aware that all the healers were staring at me. I cleared my throat, "That's, that's good. I'm...glad."

Puana nodded. "We're lucky Masina came here first. Even if you were to go now, there's no telling what Koa would be like by the time you came back."  

My jaw stiffened, "Yes. Lucky Masina."

Puana busied herself with binding Uncle Logo's wounds, but Alani furrowed her brow at me. She looked like she wanted to ask me something.  Whatever it was, I didn't want to hear it.

"If you don't mind helping Puana," I said, "I can check on the rest of the village."

I waited for Alani to make a face or give a snarky comeback. Instead she gave a slight bow as she stood to go wash her hands.

"As you wish, future chief Toa," she muttered as she passed me.

For some reason, that irritated me more than the way she normally called me a walking stick or a dying sunspot. I wouldn't be surprised if that was one of her war tactics; using false humility to psyche out an opponent. Once she had left the healer's hut I went out the opposite direction.