Nectar was life. Nectar was all.
And peace was just a dream.
The village was a collection of egg-shaped structures perched on the dewy columns of an elU glade. Up above, the elU-flowers’ massive petals hung over the scene, resplendent and full, red as fresh blood, and rich with dulcet nectar. The maze of wooden catwalks strung across the village creaked beneath lightweight footsteps and the starry night. Globes of light floated over the maze, like children of the moon.
Birdsong filled the forest’s night with words of wrath and glory. The battle-song crested like waves over the thrum of warriors’ wings.
Chief hU-U-te screamed as he leapt off his nest’s roof. “Scatter, you Sapphire bastards!”
One of the Sapphire clans’ raiding parties had come again, intent on claiming the village’s nectar for themselves. The great Ela-tU had spoken to hU-U-te in a dream, telling him of a chance to despoil the Sapphires and claim their nectar-hoards for his clan.
But not like this.
hU-U-te’s scaly hand clutched tightly around the haft of his flint-tipped spear. His heartbeats were barely a blur against the thrum of his wings on his back.
“Protect the nectar!”
He didn’t need to remind himself of the stakes. They were constant, and merciless.
One day without food, and the children would die; two days, the elderly; three, everyone else.
hU-U-te hated his people’s weakness. If only the Ruby Clan had been stronger, then none of the other twEfE races would have ever dared to attack them, least of all the Sapphires.
He soared upward, joining the battle. He hoped he wasn’t too late. As the strongest shaman in the village, the tide of battle could turn on his deeds.
The air was a swarm of spears and wings. The Sapphires had come to claim the Rubies’ nectar for themselves. Shrill war-songs shrieked over the battlefield.
twEfE were dying—but better to die in honorable combat than spend life as a wingless amputee, enslaved by those blue-throated bastards. But hU-U-te’s clan would not go down without a fight. A Ruby victory was still within reach.
Ela-tU willing, their cups would be filled with the Sapphires’ sweet, steaming blood before the night was done.
All the more reason to hurry, then; battle-wine didn’t keep for long.
hU-U-te closed his translucent second eyelids as he rose into the fray, blocking the wind and opening his spiritual sight. Not-light writhed across the battlefield, lashing like serpents and hurtling like spears.
An invisible wave of force streaked toward him, and he managed to spy it and dodge just in time, rushing up and out of its way. Below, a warrior screamed as the wave tore through him, ripping one of the wings right off his back. The Ruby brave plummeted toward the ground, landing impaled on an enemy spear.
A shaman’s magic!
But where was the Sapphire that had launched it?
hU-U-te rallied his people. “Kill their shamans!” he yelled. “Find them! Find them!”
The Rubies roared: “For the nectar!”
Ela-tU, great god of glory and war, give us strength!
hU-U-te rushed forward. A Sapphire brave came diving at him, but the Ruby’s chieftain dodged by swerving underneath a swaying catwalk. The wind whipped through his feathers as he rose up, regaining his lost altitude.
It was time to strike.
He raised his arm.
Uehea, Princess of Day, he prayed, shine your might.
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hU-U-te summoned a disk of not-light and willed his prayer to be inscribed with it. As he rose, he watched through his second eyelids as the disk twitched and spun.
The world was the dream of Gods beyond number, and its truths—its lE—were anchored in the Gods’ eternity. To beseech a god for communion was to bid that god to wake and lend you power over their lE.
The Goddess accepted his prayer. She entered communion with him, lending hU-U-te her power.
Uehea’s lE was light and sunlight. She was the anchor of brightness and the day’s luminous warmth. In communion with her, he felt as if sunshine had lit up in his veins.
Channeling the Goddess’ power, hU-U-te raised his hand at a cluster of Sapphires overhead. He acted quickly, lest they see and hope to dodge.
Warmth blossomed in his palm. hU-U-te closed his eyes right as the light flared bright, lighting his vision red. The Sapphires shrieked at the blinding light.
Relishing their screams, hU-U-te readied his spear as he opened his eyes, just in time to dodge another polearm, dropped from above.
And then he struck.
The knapped flint at the head of hU-U-te’s spear burst through two of the stunned warriors, impaling one through his gU-lUte hide armor, and pinning the wing of the Sapphire behind him. Surging his wings, hU-U-te hovered backward, ripping the spear out from the enemies’ flesh.
The two Sapphires dropped like broken clams.
The muscles in hU-U-te’s chest burned for sugar. Extending his tongue, he darted down. One of the Sapphires he’d killed had landed on a nearby rooftop. The blood from the warrior’s mortal wound spewed onto the thatch.
Fresh battle-wine was a poor substitute for nectar, but it was better than nothing.
How many hours had it been since he’d last eaten? Three? Four?
“hU-U-te, behind you!”
He changed his wing-rhythm, spinning around just in time.
A shrieking Sapphire dove right at him, spear and beak piercing through the air, but hU-U-te was swifter. Ignoring his screaming flight muscles, he zipped around his foe, making the hunter into the hunted. He was relentless, setting off stunning flashes and bursts of bright heat with Uehea’s lE still flowing through his veins, driving the Sapphire lower and lower, right into the planks of a catwalk. The Sapphire’s bones crunched on impact.
“You Ruby savages!”
hU-U-te looked up to see another Sapphire warrior.
No, not a warrior.
Through his second eyelids, hU-U-te could see not-light wrapped around the Sapphire’s body in ropes and wreaths.
A Sapphire shaman!
hU-U-te prayed.
eOeOan, Prince of the Skies, speed my wings!
Uehea returned to slumber as the Prince of air and flight granted hU-U-te his boon. Even without looking, hU-U-te could sense the not-light streaming off his wings. The energies roared at his back, rocketing him toward his foe.
The Sapphire shaman spread his arms to summon a forcefield. hU-U-te swerved around it, to stab him between the wings, but the shaman spun around and pulled his barrier with him, enclosing himself on all sides.
“Ela-tU is with us!” the Sapphire yelled. “The Golden Herald blessed this raid!” The Sapphire scowled, the brilliant blue feathers on his throat iridescent in the moonlight. “We will drink your blood and steal your nectar! We’ll wipe all Ruby-kind from earth and sky!” He raised his arms high and roared. “Now, die!”
Bracelets of not-light revved around the shaman’s arms. A storm god’s ire erupted from the Sapphire’s body, branching out in crackling lightning.
hU-U-te dodged the attack effortlessly, flying upward out of harm’s way. He chirruped in amusement.
The God of Flight favored Rubies over all other twEfE. As a Ruby shaman, hU-U-te could fly as fast as the wind itself. But as he looked down, his confidence turned to horror.
The Sapphire let out a dread laugh. “I wasn’t aiming at you, you blood-necked fool!”
Down below, lightning bolts rained onto the thatch and clay of the village’s nests. Sparks leapt, sowing embers in the wood.
The nests!
“No!” hU-U-te screamed.
He dove down as fast as he could, but a flock of Sapphires swarmed in front of him, blocking his path. The Ruby darted around, stabbing his spear through their necks, driving them back with blasts of force straight from Ela-tU himself.
But it wasn’t enough.
No wonder the Rubies hadn’t been able to find the Sapphires’ shamans. The shamans had stayed low, like cowards—kwekek!—hiding from the mêlée.
Until now.
The pitched combat in the village’s skies had been a ruse.
“No!” hU-U-te screamed. “It’s a trap!”
The Sapphires’ lurking shamans joined together in communion with a God of Fire, perhaps Oka-anan, herself, the Queen of undying blazes. Rivers of not-light flowed through the village, weaving around the walkways and in between trees and tall elU stalks. The stray sparks of the Sapphire’s lightning flared, swelling bigger and brighter. Fire roared in corybantic dance, leaping from nest to nest, cracking clay wherever it touched down, casting inferno’s seeds across the glade.
One of the bolts crashed into hU-U-te’s nest. The base of the elU stalk to which it was mounted exploded in flaming flax. The great stalk fell, crashing into the sea of fire, shattering his nest to pieces. Smoke swept out like the tide, and like the tide, it cast him away.