Journey to Yesod

Art drawn by: Bintang Hamal

Written by: Hunter Ake

Edited by: Lilliana Steele and Dee Dee Davis

Chapter 3 (Part 1)

          Dulani and Zenebe were thrown in a cage together, still restrained, but Sook was locked in a pillory in the center of camp. Dulani was already awake and working her ropes with a small hidden blade in her gloves. She called out to one of the men, “Hey! What are you doing with Sook?!” 

          The poacher turned and met her steely gaze directly, unsettling her. He was giddy, “We’ve been making chump change around here but then a diamond in the rough throws herself into our laps. We’re going to be rich! Do you have any idea how much a Varanian sells for in the slave trade?!” 

           Zenebe and Dulani just glanced at each other; their blood ran cold. One poacher, dressed quite a bit differently from the others, walked up to Sook who was bent over in the pillory. The woman kneeled down and inspected Sook’s visage with meticulous scrutiny. Sook grimaced at her but kept her lips zipped shut. “Hello Varanian, my name is Aahira and you, oh you are going to be my new test subject!” 

          One of the poachers nearby suddenly jerked up, “Hey! We ain’t wasting this payday on your little experiments! She’s too valuable a product and we’re not crossing that Dakuou fox. We’d be on the run for the rest of our lives.” 

          The two began to argue. Everything made sense now. The large number of reinforcements conveniently placed behind Zenebe was too coincidental. Sook was the target all along. Mali was just serving her up on a silver platter to these slavers. The reality of her situation began to set in and she began to cry. She thought of how these people taunted her, how they dehumanized her; referring to her as a product, treating her like a wild animal. Is this what Yeong went through?

          The argument between Aahira and the other poachers intensified. Nobody was paying attention to Zenebe and Dulani. The latter of whom already undid her ropes and was halfway through Zenebe’s.

          Aahira shouted, “I won’t do anything to her that will lessen her value! My experiment would only make her MORE valuable. You’ve seen the fruits of my labor already!” 

          Dulani cut Zenebe’s ropes and took out his gag. 

          “This is a perfect opportunity to get out of here, but only Sook would be strong enough to rip this cage door off its hinges,” Zenebe whispered. 

          “No need, while you were busy being a liability, again, I lifted some keys off the peons I killed earlier,” Dulani replied with a mixture of self-adulation and contempt for her friend. “Here’s the plan. We sneak out and get my weapons before taking out as many of them as we can. If they try to use Sook as a hostage, don’t buy it, they would never give up their payday.” Dulani quickly produced the key from her cloak and unlocked the cage. The pair eased open the door when it suddenly let out a piercing creak, silencing the arguing poachers immediately. 

          “Shit! Zenebe, cover me while I retrieve my weapons!” Dulani urged. Zenebe made a running dive toward the water pail the poachers hung on the far side of the cage,skinning his palms in the process, and began channeling his magic. The water snaked out in a column as if it were alive. Dulani vaulted over a row of animal cages to the weapons bench. Zenebe manipulated the water into a wall, blocking off the entire walkway between rows of cages. The water was filled with summoned carnivorous fish who swarmed their targets. One bold poacher attempted to lunge forward but was so badly lacerated by the time he got through the water wall that he collapsed, bloody and broken at Zenebe's feet.

          The other poachers maneuvered around the row of cages to flank Zenebe while others stood their ground in front of him, waiting for their chance.  A couple of poachers ran after Dulani. The sound of shouts was heard to Zenebe’s right as Dulani made quick work of her pair of pursuers. Zenebe then switched to offense, pushing the wall of water with carnivorous fish into a large wave. It washed over the oncoming assailants. The poachers screamed and scattered as the fish zealously rendered flesh from bones. Zenebe ran toward Sook while Dulani rushed to cover his rear from the assailants who had made it around the cages full of agitated animals. In all the excitement of battle, the various bound creatures had started screeching and rattling their restraints. Zenebe focused through the tempestuous cacophony and saw Aahira with a bag of herbs, trying to force Sook’s mouth open. 

          “Dulani! Chakram now!” Zenebe shouted as he ran forward, moving out of the line of fire. Dulani had just cut a woman down as she turned and zeroed in on the bag instantly; without hesitation, she threw a chakram right into Aahira’s arm carrying the herbs. Dulani turned her attention back to her opponents just in time to block an axe swing with her katar. Aahira used her other hand to grabbed the herbs off the ground and stumbled away. 

          Zenebe reached Sook’s pillory and once again used his magic to bring the water snaking toward him, forming it into circular pools. After a few seconds, massive, sucker-covered, tentacles sprung out of the pools and wrapped themselves around the columns of the pillory. Sook gritted her teeth and strained against the metal and wood as the tentacles pulled from their end. The thick wood splintered and cracked apart her neck as she burst out of the bonds with a grunt of freedom and relief. 

          Sook hugged Zenebe tightly and whispered while she held back tears, “Thank you.” 

          Zenebe closed his eyes and accepted the hug before snapping back to the situation. “I will go after the herbalist; you help Dulani out!” Sook nodded and transformed into her lizard form before barreling back toward Dulani who was being forced to retreat due to being grossly outnumbered. 

          “Move!” Sook hissed. Dulani dove out of the way just in time for Sook to charge through a plentiful mob of poachers, launching them into cages and over crates with tremendous force. Zenebe saw Aahira duck into a shack and ran off after her. As he reached the door, an otherworldly shrieking howl pierced the air and shook him to his core. Dulani, Sook, and the remnants of the poachers all stopped dead in their tracks and looked toward the shack.

          “That crazy bitch didn’t- Get out of here!” one of the poachers shouted to the others and they ran for the hole in the encampment courtesy of Zenebe. The young hydrosophist froze in place. He collected himself and began sprinting away from the shack as fast as he could. Seconds later a massive canid tore open the front-facing wall of the structure, sending splintered wood flying like shrapnel.