Ageless

Chapter 28

Start of Act II

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3 weeks later: Beach Village of Ku'tana

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Ko'sa's bare feet pattered down the red clay path, past the dunes to the west of her village, inland towards the woods. The leather sheath holding her knife rubbed against her skin as she ran, clapping against her thigh with each stride. She loved running; its rhythm, her steady breath, the way her leg muscles recoiled and sprung against the ground.

After a couple of miles she realized that someone was following her; from behind came the sounds of foot-falls on clay and deep breathing. She opened her stride and tried to lose them, but each time she did, the pursuer increased their speed to match, until she was running so fast that her legs grew heavy and her sides knotted with cramps. The red clay ended and gave way to white sand streaked with black, slowing the speed and turning her efforts to a heavy slog.

A mile later, she gave up, pulling up sharply and placing her palms to rest on her knees, panting. In front of her lay the forest, an expansive green maze stretching out at the edge of the sand. She began to walk towards the tree line as the follower surged forward, smiling, his breath still easy. There was only one other person in the village that could match strides with her at such a speed.

"What do you want Jae?" she called, as the follower closed the remaining distance, kicking up sand behind him with each step.

"Just to talk," her brother replied, easing into a trot. Although the boy was a couple years older than Ko'sa, most assumed them to be twins, with their matching sandy hair and similar features.

He was short and sturdy like a rock, with the freckled face of a boy but the muscled body of one coming into adulthood, a fact not unnoticed by many of the girls in the village. His stomach was slick with sweat, and he wore only a pair of leather shorts, still damp from his fishing expedition earlier. A sharpened metal harpoon was tied to his back, approximately his height in length, still stained at the tip with the blood of his catch for the day.

Ko'sa eyed the harpoon. "How do you run with that bloody thing anyways?"

"Natural talent." He untied the harpoon from his back and plunged its butt into the sand so he could lean against it. "You weren't at the funeral today. Pa noticed."

Ko'sa looked down at her feet. "Yeah, so what? I'm sick of funerals."

"Reb and you were close. And his parents were good to us when Pa was sick."

"I didn't want to see his body again, his skull all caved-in like that. I can't make my peace with anything lookin' that way."

"His parents asked about you."

"Yeah, well I'm doing something else for 'em. Something more important." She looked into the woods. "The other boys think the beast that did it to Reb is still in there, near the clearing where they found his body."

Jae shook his head. "Whatever it is Ko'sa, it's dangerous, so don't go chasin' after it. The crater in that boy's head was the size of a coconut." He pointed to the trail of smoke rising from the funeral pyre back in the village. "Come back with me, before Pa gets any more angry. The chief is holding a hog roast, and the Gods know you could stand to put some meat on those scrawny little arms of yours."

Ko'sa remained planted in the sand. "I owe it to Reb to hunt it down. And the chief put twenty gold on the head of that beast. " She ran a finger down the wooden hilt of her knife, feeling the carved grooves of its pattern. "I still owe that much to you and Pa to fix up the boat...after I came up short last month."