“Launch the sleds!” Elder Quilqi called, as the four of them, Lugopo on Silluka’s shoulder, ran toward the elder’s building in the center of town. Lugopo leapt down as they passed the Allwiya district, waving tentacles and their circlet translating a hasty “I shall return victorious!” She spared glances over her shoulder, watching turtlemen jumping from their island, falling the distance between the wall of storms and the coast like tiny dolls, though she suspected each of them was taller than Ichu. They were out farther than the farm, at the very edge of the land, and would take time to get here. But turtlemen moved fast. Silluka wanted to be away from here, undesirable or not, before any more turtlemen entered the town.
Elder Papaki and another she thought was called Kuchiki were directing the launch, sending Huaca running this way and that. She spied Tamaya in the crowd but had no chance for even a word. The tall, pretty girl had been receptive while she explained using different stances in the chayus, but when she did them, she complained the ampuka seemed weaker, not stronger. Hufi’s crew had been dispersed to other patrols after his death. She hoped she would have time to get to know Tamaya better, once they were traveling. If citizens were allowed to leave the migration and speak with undesirables following them, that was.
It was likely a lost cause.
As Silluka, running next to her brother, reached the sleds, the jakua handlers stopped performing Sleeping Beast and assumed their places at the head of the vehicles. The massive sleds were designed to run on land and water. As citizens of the Huaca climbed aboard, the handers began Running Beast to get the jakaus ready to pull. They would take the nearby river to start, until it dried up in the desert.
Huaca citizens ran to take their places on the four giant sleds, but Silluka watched the greater part of the village, gathered and watching with their belongings on their backs. Undesirables weren’t allowed on the sleds, nor to use the jakuas, though some families had made their own sleds from trees or even sewn-together leaves. They were piecemeal affairs and Silluka could see some wouldn’t survive past the first day.
“What about them?” she asked Ichu.
“I would try to help them, but I’m not certain if even the citizens will have time to escape. Let me talk to the elders. I can get you a seat with me.” He began towing her to one of the jakua-pulled sleds, but Silluka slid out of his grip.
“I’ve got my own sled.”
She ran to a familiar blotchy green and blue form, no bigger than her hand, perched on a contraption that rumbled toward them, puffing clouds of steam. Muola and several other Allwiya were perched alongside and hanging off the back. They Allwiya carried no possessions except bags of tools and of dried fish. Lugopo’s sled rumbled forward on many tiny, segmented legs, like a centipede.
“There is no room for your immense size here!” Lugopo called out. “But we brought the turtle-sled. It is ready to crush the bones of your enemies!”
The sled made from the turtleman’s armor was roped to Lugopo’s centipede contraption, and Silluka ran to it. Ichu came up beside her.
“I can travel with you.”
“No,” she told him. She watched the families of the undesirables. Over half the village was being left behind. The strong survived in the Huaca, but that didn’t mean the weak couldn’t as well. “Take your place on the jakua sleds. I have another plan.”
She kept an eye on the turtlemen, still falling from their island. The storm warriors had followed them, leaving the disintegrating wall of storms, and were flying down to the coast to presumably do battle. She hoped they could hold off the attack for a time.
“Who has children who can’t keep up?” she called to the undesirable families. She could see children from toddlers to those six or seven years old. Past that, they would be able to run on their own.
Several families pushed their children forward and she began settling them into the sled, Ichu helping.
“Save a space for yourself,” he said.
“I can run as well as any of them,” Silluka returned.
“But your…” Ichu trailed off.
“Lacking an arm doesn’t have anything to do with running,” Silluka said coldly. Her brother had always underestimated her. She had been planning to use the sled herself, but there was no way she was taking that space when most of the village would be slaughtered by the turtlemen. She would be in the same situation if Elder Quilqi hadn’t shown her how the elders’ traditional ways of using the chayu were complete jakua droppings. She still couldn’t hold the ampuka for more than a few moments—only a partial “Tortoise” in Lugopo’s terms—but she had more than these people did.
Ichu was still standing there, looking like he would rather dig a hole in the ground and cover himself up. They were wasting time.
“Go! Get to a sled. I can protect myself now.” She held up her stump and shook it at Ichu. “This never slowed me down as much as you thought it did. Protect yourself.”
Ichu finally nodded, then ran to her and hugged her fiercely. “Be safe,” he whispered, and ran to the largest sled, in the front of the procession, where he had a reserved space as the strongest bodycaster in the village. She saw several other bodycasters welcoming him in, patting him on the back, and asking him questions. He would be fine there among his peers.
Silluka turned back to the turtle-sled, where families were busy arranging their young children as safely as possible. There was no fighting, simply solemn discussion between the undesirable families about who would go. It was a sad contrast to the celebration around Ichu.
“Can you take them safely down the river?” she asked Lugopo.
“You wish to keep your conquest secret. I see!” Lugopo clambered around the mechanical centipede, still puffing steam, and pulled at the knots attaching the sled to it. “These young protégés of destruction shall follow your lead and grow to mighty warriors, ready to crush all enemies beneath their might!” Muola gestured a sharp rebuke at them and they absently tapped their translation circlet. “That is, I shall keep the spawn as safe as I would my own.”
“Don’t Allwiya birth thousands of spawn at once and let them fight until the last few living grow up?” Silluka asked.
“I shall keep them as safe as your people’s spawn.”
That was likely as good as she would get from the strange little creature. The lead sleds were already being pulled into the waterway that funneled the constant rain away from the Huaca and farther inland. The rivers had swollen the past weeks, surging their banks and creating a wide, shallow slide of water, perfect for the sleds, but terrible for the banks of irrigating patties terraced next to the river. They Huaca had harvested what crops were ready, much of which was stacked in great piles on the sleds and covered in oiled canvas. The jakuas growled and spit, but pranced through the shallow water, flicking wetness from their paws.
Silluka went to the undesirable families—those with disabilities like hers, or ones who had fallen out of favor with the elders, or simply ones not talented or coordinated enough to summon the ampuka.
“All together. We may not have the jakuas, but we can push the sleds ourselves. We’ll follow the rest of the village as they blaze a path for us.” It was always easier to go second, when you could see the dangers the one in front had avoided or defeated. Silluka would turn her placement to an advantage.
Lugopo and the Allwiya led the undesirables, pulling the turtle-sled with the children on it laughing and crying at the adventure. Those families who had crafted sleds came next, their family members who couldn’t move as fast loaded on the sleds with their belongings.
Silluka followed them on foot with the last of the undesirables. The two homeless men who had pushed her out of her last nest in the village were there, looking hopeless. She nodded in greeting to them, smiling to show there were no hard feelings. That felt like years ago, now.
She kept an eye on the island looming behind them as they followed the sleds, slogging through the mud and water beside the riverbank. The land here sloped down, made even steeper in the last few years. The mountains behind them would eventually collide with the mass of the island, then be ground down into a new mountain range between the Huaca’s land and the new island as the two became one. She had heard the stories in the village and from the Allwiya about the last time this had happened. It was a time of even worse upheaval. Massive storms and earthquakes would happen. Volcanoes would rise to the south and without the elders continually calling on the Tiyus, Tiyas, and Tiyes to protect them, the disasters would quickly destroy their village. It had served them well while the Huaca lived there, but like anything in this land, it was transitory. Perhaps the new home they found in the desert would last them longer, now the turtleman’s island had made contact with theirs. They elders said it had been approaching for a hundred years or more, while the wall of storms shielded them.
But now they were falling behind the rest of the village. That meant when the turtlemen got here—when, not if—they undesirables would be the first ones attacked. Surely the strong of the Huaca should protect them? Or would that mean the entire village would be decimated? Maybe it was better for the few strong to survive after all, to make certain the Huaca would continue? Silluka gritted her teeth and walked faster.
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She wouldn’t fall behind. And she would bring the rest of the undesirables with her. Surely if she could summon the ampuka, anyone could.
She turned to the two homeless men, who flinched away as if she might beat them.
“Do you know Flock Of Starlings?” she asked.
“I was never any good at chayus, young mistress,” one said. “I was ever clumsy in my movement.”
“I thought I was hopeless too.” She raised her stump. “But I didn’t let that stop me. We’re going to fall behind if we don’t do something. Get everyone who isn’t on a sled close together.”
The older men ran off, looking like they would rather be anywhere else, but Silluka and the two rounded up the rest of the undesirables. The village was maybe a thousand people all together, and over half were undesirables. Excluding the ones on the sleds and the children, that left maybe a hundred people fleeing on foot.
Silluka shouted to them as they milled around, obviously wanting to be moving.
“We’re going to perform Flock Of Starlings. Don’t worry about getting it right. You don’t even all need to use Dexterity stance.” There were murmurings through the group, but Silluka raised both arms, her disability clear.
“Hey! Pay attention! I’ve done this chayu before with my brother and it worked. You can do it too.”
That quieted most of the complaints.
“Now, who knows Dexterity stance?” About half raised hands. Silluka looked past their heads. There were strange lights coming from the mountains near the coast. Was that the storm warriors fighting the turtlemen? If so, they were approaching fast. She considered the crowd.
“Who knows Dexterity or Reflex stance?” More hands went up.
“Speed stance? Basic stance?” Silluka thought those four would be the most helpful for the chayu, based on what she’d learned from Elder Quiqi. Flock Of Starlings was about movement. Basic stance was the most restrictive of the four but it at least allowed for movement.
Almost everyone had a hand raised by now.
“Good. Follow my movements. Don’t worry about being exact. Since this is a group chayu, the placement of your body doesn’t need to be as precise as the elders keep telling us. Do the stance you know best out of the four I named. There are so many of us here, the chayu can’t help but work!” She hoped her enthusiasm would make up for any lack of ability, but some of the crowd still looked uncertain.
“What have the elders done for you? It’s obvious their teachings haven’t worked for you, or you’d be up on those sleds, getting away.” She flung her arm out behind her, pointing at the departing vehicles. There was nervous muttering. “I’m showing you a different way—one that works for us undesirables!”
There were fewer sounds of disagreement, and the lights on the mountains were gaining ground fast. She had to start now.
“Arms first, then legs.” She demonstrated what she had learned from her brother, finding she could remember the chayu clearly. Maybe because she’d been practicing so much lately, she could feel how the chayu was built, what shape it would draw.
“See what I do with my left hand? Do that with both your hands, mirror images.” She picked up one leg. Some of the undesirables only had one leg, or had crutches, or another problem with their legs, just like her and her arm.
“Those who can, raise your foot like this.” Silluka demonstrated, and that was when the glow began about her, immediately expanding to the nearest undesirables, and growing brighter. There were gasps of amazement from the crowd. Silluka swallowed her own cry of triumph. She hadn’t been certain at all that this would work.
“See? Don’t stop!” she called. “You can do it! This is what the elders have kept from you. We can keep up with them.”
The glow was spreading as she continued the chayu, and as more joined in. She could feel the power in this chayu. With two it was useful. With one hundred, it was an actual Flock Of Starlings. A great wave of light rose around them, stronger, more reactive, and faster than when she’d performed it with Ichu. The other stances were adding to the power, not taking away—even Basic stance. Like a true group of birds there were many parts. Not all of them had to be perfect.
“Now run!” she said, and took off. The others followed, speeding through ankle-deep water, splashing and limping and whooping as they moved faster than they had ever before. They caught up with the sleds and people started pushing them, speeding them along.
Silluka caught up to Lugopo and the other Allwiya, running alongside. Lugopo stared, goggle-eyed, then pulled several levers in an arcane order. The puffs of smoke increased into a belch of steam and the centipede crawled faster, multiple feet stabbing the ground as it pulled itself forward. The children in the sled were all laughing now as it skimmed across the water, leaving spray in it’s wake.
Ahead, the river branched into three mighty sections, with narrow strips of land between them. The sleds of the Huaca sped along the river, jakuas leaping and pulling to get away from the danger they must sense behind them. But the undesirables were moving faster, buoyed by Flock Of Starlings, pushing their sleds, or even swimming in some cases. The ampuka glowed around them in the shape of hundreds of birds, all flying in the same direction, shifting and turning as one to avoid dangers and obstacles.
They would make it. The entire village would escape.
And then the earth shook, hard enough to throw sleds twenty paces to one side.
A great rent opened up, nearly beneath Silluka’s feet, and she threw herself to one side, stump tucked under her to roll to a crouch, facing back toward the undesirables. One of the undesirables’ sleds and its people disappeared into the crack in the ground, the river turning into an instant waterfall. Screams and pleas to Tiyu Tiksimuyu filled the air, and the ampuka of many flying birds shattered and dissipated, leaving only undesirables again. The uncle must have had his eye elsewhere, perhaps on the colliding islands, for no divine help came.
Lugopo and Muola came alongside her, the centipede pinging and popping with heat, all the children and Allwiya safe, thanks to the gods.
“Your great conquest continues!” Lugopo chirped, and Silluka nodded, shouting back to be heard over the sudden torrent of water.
“I’m fine. Help the rest of the village!” She stumbled to her feet, weaving as the ground tried to shake her apart, suddenly exhausted from the effort she’d expended. She stared forward. They had almost caught up with the main raft of sleds. She could see people looking back toward them, and even a few climbing down to help, but there was no chance. The earthquake had split the ground across the rivers, creating a great vent that sucked all the flow from the coastal mountains. Not only could Silluka and the undesirables not get to the rest of the Huaca, the main four sleds would be hampered as their river drained off. They had to press forward, or they would be sucked back into the chasm. She could just see the jakuas straining to pull the sleds forward, and she was almost certain Ichu was on the ground, performing a chayu to help out.
She turned back to the undesirables. The sleds that could be saved had been, the people regrouping. But there was no way across. Not without the ampuka.
The ground rattled again, almost knocking her sideways, and Silluka began Tree in the Wind, from Strength stance rather than basic, feet lifting and planting. Her arms moved through the starting circle and for once she didn’t even think of her stump as anything other than a natural extension of herself.
Intent, was what Elder Quilqi told her. That mattered more for chayu than perfect position and muscle movement. What could you do when the earth heaved and shook? The chayu would never be perfect.
The ampuka rose around her again, her feet gaining stability. The shaking of the earth meant nothing, and her feet gripped the ground as she strode to the undesirables.
“We’re getting across that chasm!” She shouted to the group. Many had fallen to the ground, and only a few held their feet against the shaking. A few of them cheered, but most only looked frightened, stealing glances back the way they’d come. They were barely able to walk, but the flashes of light were coming closer, like the aurora during the day. The turtlemen were coming, and the storm warriors weren’t holding them back.
There had to be a way to get these people across the chasm. To go around would take time they didn’t have, and most of these people could barely walk. Silluka herself would have fallen over except for Elder Quilqi’s training. They had to get from here, to there, but the ground itself was against them.
An idea came to her, full formed in the moment. The scroll Elder Quilqi had given her. She’d never said exactly what it did, but Silluka had her suspicions. Why would the elders have buried that scroll in the archives unless it was something so impossible to them they thought it wasn’t even worth considering?
Something impossible like moving without touching the ground. Like the storm warriors.
Silluka started Flying Quirra.
She planted both feet, still stable even against the aftershocks and unstable earth around the chasm with the help of Tree In The Wind, then raised her whole, left arm out to the left, hand splayed out as if stretching out a wing. She did as close as she was able with her right arm. She raised her left leg to her right calf, creating a circle of energy as Ichu had taught her.
The first real move of the Flying Quirra was not a physical one, but simply settling the mind, a translation that had taken her weeks to comprehend from the scroll. It made sense now, if the effect was as she suspected. Standing like this was not one of strength or movement, but of readiness. Roughly translated, it meant something like “Mental stance.”
She still felt the ampuka from Tree In The Wind, but now the feeling intensified. Silluka closed her eyes, envisioning how the energy would cycle through her, marking her intent for this chayu. More than any other time, she had a purpose. She had to get across the chasm, and she was taking the undesirables with her.
The only physical moves to the chayu were small changes in her arm position, and switching the stance from left leg on right, to right leg on left, halfway through. The ampuka was like a pressure within her, trying to get out. Silluka eased her breathing to a constant rhythm, even as the heat surging within her felt like she had been laying in the sun for hours.
The last move of the chayu was to drop her arms, and lift her legs. Both of them.
Silluka opened her eyes as the ground dropped away from beneath her. She was floating. Above the ground. A fierce yellow aura surrounded her, showing the connection with Uncle Sky. She couldn’t let her intent go, her reason, or the ampuka would leave her. She was tapped directly into a well of energy, and it was burning her up without acting. She stared at the nearest sled, willing herself there, and she floated forward, quick as a swooping bird. The eyes of those around it were wide, fingers pointing at her, but she had no portion of her concentration to devote to responding.
One touch and the sled was weightless, the undesirables on it crying out it fear and joy. She pushed it and it slid, light as a feather, across the chasm. She knew it would make it because she could feel every part of it. It was her whole reason for existing in this moment.
Lugopo and the Allwiya were next. Lugopo’s circlet shouted something at her, brandishing some tool, as she made the centipede weightless, but she had no room to process what they said. The children whooped and clung to each other as the turtle-sled slid over the chasm.
She went to another sled and did the same, then another, and another, her vision narrowing to a tube, then a pinprick. Those standing were crowding on to each one, hanging off the sides as they floated away. She could not lose focus.
There was one sled left, and the last few undesirables jumped aboard as she approached, touched it, and then grabbed hold herself, directing it over the new waterfall and into open air. She could barely see, her vision narrowing to nothing. She stared down and saw light and steam, far below. The chasm must reach into the magma under the ground, the water instantly boiling.
The other side of the chasm approached in a haze, people’s shouts like ringing in her ears. All her senses were on fire. Her skin was burning. Her mind was being drilled out from the inside.
She collapsed on wet earth, rivulets of water running past her into the jagged gash in the ground. There were people coming for her. Huaca? Elders?
She couldn’t tell.
Darkness took her.