earthboungexile

EARTHBOUND EXILE

In the throat of the cave, Aerynn jabbed at a diminutive fire with her fire-stick, its end blackened and tempered by repeated use. The pathetic pyramid of wood collapsed in on itself, and the fire nearly snuffed out.

Swearing under her breath, Aerynn scrambled closer and rearranged the sticks. She blew gently on the dying flames, and the fire flared to life. With a sigh of relief, she shuffled back to her rock seat and its heavy goat-hide pad. Her stew of rock gopher and bitter orange roots could finally get cooked in the shallow stone bowl she'd chipped out, and she'd have enough energy to go out hunting again tomorrow.

If she was lucky, she might find another mountain goat and get another pelt. She wondered how one went about making boots from goat hide. The calluses on her feet were incredibly thick now, but there was no way she wanted to walk further than her usual hunting grounds without boots. A sigh escaped her lips as she yet again realized there was so much she didn't know.

And there was no one here to teach her.

For the thirtieth time that day, Aerynn's eyes flicked to the wall, to what hung there. It was a cruel torture and a balm to her soul at the same time, to gaze on her chosen decoration for this cave she called home.

No. Never home. This cave is my prison.

Aerynn's home, her heart insisted, was far away, hundreds of leagues perhaps, a balmy island in the middle of the turquoise Sea of Dawn, to the east. Aerynn had no idea how to get there anymore.

Not since her final encounter with Shayel.

The challenge had been foolish in the highest degree, but only now, with the clarity of time, did Aerynn realize it. Her eyes traveled down from the object hung on her wall to the rough floor of the cave. The rock all around her was a pale gray, in some places stained with spilled stews or the blood of the kills she'd butchered and skinned here in the cave's mouth. Rock gophers, mountain goats, and once even a mangled ridge cat that had slipped and fallen onto rocky terrain.

This rock was not at all like the fine golden sands of Glairwyn Beach, where the contest's final stage had begun. If she closed her eyes and didn't breathe the smells from this cave, Aerynn could faintly remember the feel of the sand between her bare toes.

That day had been bright and clear, cool in the morning, yet warming perfectly as noon approached. Shayel had arrived with a thud, spraying sand around her feet on purpose. Arms akimbo, golden hair, skin and translucent wings aglow in the noon sun, Shayel had exuded a lazy confidence. She had believed the challenge would easily be hers.

And the prize as well.

Said prize, known to both girls as Sembrin, had smiled smugly from his perch in the X of a pair of crossed palm trees, his blue-green wings reminiscent of the sea. Looking back, Aerynn knew his smug look that day stemmed from knowledge that no matter who won the final stage of the challenge, he was going to come out ahead, for he would get one of the girls either way.

Knowing the shame Sembrin endured from the unexpected outcome of that contest brought a satisfied smile to Aerynn's lips. He deserved it, she thought, for goading the women until they were at each other's throats.

Oh, the games they had played. And not just the ill-fated challenge, but all the rivalries and contests that suffused the island culture she had grown up in.

Aerynn wondered now, how many others like her existed out here somewhere, stranded far from home, unable to return.

She shivered in the cold mountain air, and knew that the sun was going to set soon. If there were more wood that she could gather barefoot, she could be more certain of her fire lasting the night. She really could use those boots. Maybe she could cut up her seat pad.

The shiver set off a phantom twinge; Aerynn unconsciously shrugged her left shoulder to ease it away. The twinges came far less often now than they did soon after she was stranded here. It had been several months now, at least. But this land was arid and warm; the seasons here did not alter much at all, not even at her high altitude. It could have easily been a year.

A year since she fell.

Again, she relived the last few minutes of the challenge, when Shayel had dived at her out of the clouds, slamming into Aerynn's back with her feet. Aerynn had felt an agonizing crack as one of her wings broke clean through, and had lost her equilibrium in a full-body scream. Falling, tumbling madly, dizziness amplifying her agony, Aerynn had not even been able to pray for death.

And then Shayel had started rocketing past, wings abuzz, taunting her as she tumbled helplessly toward the distant rocks below. By a combination of sheer luck and furious rage, Aerynn had managed to reach out and grab one of Shayel's legs, and the two were flung together in a tangle of limbs and sheeting hair.

Raging curses and violent clawing had ensued, as Shayel struggled mightily to pull free of the falling Aerynn before they both hit the ground. Hoping to incapacitate Aerynn with agony, Shayel had forcibly wrenched on Aerynn's wounded wing until she separated it bodily; it had lifted up into the air as if flying on its own.

Aerynn shuddered with nausea at the mere memory of losing a part of her body that day.

But she had not been incapacitated; instead a deathly mindset had settled over her, and she had used all her remaining limbs to aid her in clinging immovably to Shayel, determined to bring her down to die with her.

Aerynn could recall Shayel's horrified scream as she realized she was going to suffer the same fate as her enemy. Aerynn's hatred had been all-consuming, her triumph complete as she drove Shayel's body into the rocky mountain scree.

Imagine my surprise , Aerynn thought, when I woke up and found myself alive.

The two of them had landed on a steeply angled rocky slope that gave way as they struck it, and Aerynn had landed on Shayel, who became a crumpled, bloody mess. Aerynn's other wing had broken as well, though, and had dragged sadly over the rocks as Aerynn crawled achingly to the treeline.

The single wing unbalanced her; eventually she'd had to wrench it off as well. Just remembering the anticipation of maiming herself was enough to make her palms sweat again, but in truth, the nerves had been damaged severely, and there wasn't nearly as much pain as she'd been expecting.

Aerynn rubbed her hands on her knee-length catskin tunic and reached for her carved wooden spoon. The rich aroma of her stew let her know it was nearly done. Maybe in another month or so, I'll get the hang of this hunting thing, and I can stockpile some food and supplies. If I can gather enough for a few weeks, I'll try to walk out of these dry, lonely mountains. And for walking, I'll definitely need some good boots. Maybe two pair, just to be safe.

For the thirty-first time that day, Aerynn's eyes flicked to the decoration on her wall, her final link with the life she'd once had: her remaining silvery-orange wing.