The morning sun broke through the branches overhead and struck Vyka’s eyes as he lay happily within the boughs of his tree. “Alright, alright, I’m up.” He said to the warmth as he stretched and grabbed the limbs nearest to him. The thin bark crinkled under his strong grip as he swung himself out of his favorite resting place, then dropped from one to the next with practiced ease until he landed with both feet, bouncing off his heels when he hit the ground.

With the early morning sun at his back, he looked around the tree. “I know you’re around here somewhere you delicious little bastards.” He said with a clever grin on his face as he took up a stick and began to poke. He turned over the earth again and again as he probed the places he thought to find his breakfast. “Ah ha!” he chirped eagerly as he neared a small bush, he got down and dug with the stick, scratching away at the earth as he went deeper and deeper, it took two or three hand depths, but there they were. Countless ants with small bodies but enormous shiny yellow back ends, each several times the size of the actual body of the little creatures, and all filled with honey. His hands darted out and he began to grab the bodies and bring them up to his mouth.

One after another he brought the rounded ends to his mouth and bit them off before casting the bodies of the ants into a little pile. The nest of them seemed to be confused as they scurried without aim around their disturbed nest. ‘I guess I’d be confused too, it must be like a wrathful god coming down to bring destruction on you. Oh well, I’ve got to eat, soooo... too bad for you, I suppose?’ He thought with a shrug, and after he consumed many manies, he stood up and cracked his knees and stretched his legs and arms.

The little water source he relied on was his next stop, he consumed as much of it as he could using his little trick with the leaf, but before the sun had moved two fingers, he was ready to go.

His arms pumped as he ran at the same steady, loping pace as before. Over the open landscape, grass beneath and sky above, the wind was pleasant on his skin, and luckily enough, it came at his back, making it easier to run.

Hours passed like that, twice he paused to relieve himself and once to hide from a predator, but in time he began to see the markings of red lines at an angle, drawn in blood over large boulders that cropped out of the ground. “The horse’s mane, I got here even faster than I thought.” Vyka said to himself with the kind of smug confidence that only the fastest runner of the tribe was entitled to have.

He found a small hill easily enough and climbed to the top, from out of that hill a large rectangular rock was jutting, it gave a clear view for many a stone’s throw in every direction. He scanned the horizon, looking for smoke that would tell of the Spirit Horse tribe’s cook fires. A smile formed on his face when he saw the thin tendrils reaching skyward in the distance.

“Found you.” He said to the slowly blowing wind as he wiped the sweat from his brow. He pursed his lips, and blew a long, low whistle, it carried on the wind with ease. He took another breath, and did it again, and then once more. The grass below bent with the wind, and told him that his whistle would almost certainly carry to them in the low places that they tended to prefer.

He then sat down on the rock, letting his legs dangle over the edge and his heels bounce off the stone with light and gentle kicks. He relaxed his body completely as he waited, no reason came to mind to rush any of it. ‘They’ll be here soon enough.’ He thought to himself.

He was not disappointed, six tanned men with long black hair and sharp spears were approaching fast, Vyka did not move an inch. He waved to them to ensure they saw where he sat. “Hello!” He shouted as if seeing an old friend for the first time in many seasons.

The six slowed down, and though they kept their spears ready, they did not act to strike. “Vyka of the Cave Children comes to speak with Acosta and Mira of the Spirit Horse Tribe! I come with good words, if you will let me speak them, if not, I will leave!” He called out, remaining seated so as to not alarm the burly hunters.

It proved needless, they began to visibly relax, especially as the largest of them laughed. “Vyka! Get down here you two legged horse!” The largest of them said happily and cast aside his spear.

Vyka jumped off the rock and landed on the low rise of the hill, he stumbled forward a bit and embraced the man he knew. “Sukish! I haven’t seen you in forever!”

Sukish had arms the size of tree trunks and a body as hard as mountain stone beneath a chiseled and good looking face with coal dark eyes and a squared, large jaw, the opposite of Vyka in every way save for one thing they had in common. A missing pinky finger.

“You can all relax, I promise.” Vyka said to the people around him, “He knows me very well, how else could he know I’ve got a horse cock?!” He laughed uproariously at his own humor, and Sukish drew him out of the brotherly embrace.

Sukish joined in the laughter, “Baby horse.” He said, holding up two fingers and drawing them very close together.

Vyka rolled his eyes. The rest of the band relaxed more thoroughly and began to laugh on their own.

“He ‘actually’ gets his nickname because he runs like one... nobody better tell me otherwise, because then he’s just a waste.” Sukish laughed and made a fist at them as he turned away from Vyka toward where they had been spreading out, but he could not make a straight face through his laughter.

“How do you know him?” A hunter asked curiously.

Sukish and Vyka held up their left hands side by side, showing missing pinky fingers. “This two legged horse came to steal a woman from our tribe for himself, but instead he saved one. My sister fell in the long waters by accident as he hid nearby, and he jumped in to save her. They were attacked by a water snake while he tried to take her to shore, and it bit off his finger as he shielded her. I took off my own finger and cast it into the waters where his would float, so that a part of me would always remain with the one who risked himself for my sister.”

Vyka grinned, “I still say that letting her go back with me was gratitude enough. You Spirit Horse fuckers are always so dramatic!”

Sukish chuckled and wrapped his arm around Vyka’s back and squeezed his shoulder tight, “Anyone who fucks horses...

”Vyka slapped his own face and blushed, “Oh by the caves... not what I meant. Your sister is fine by the way, she’s pregnant. You’re going to be an uncle.”

Sukish let go and slapped him hard on the back, “Good, about time, that was two years ago you took her with you, what took you so long?”

“Better late than never.” Vyka said faux defensively, “But who are these men, I know it has been a long time, but... I should at least recognize those of your tribe, and they are not at all familiar.” He waved his arm out before him to encompass the now relaxed group of men.

“New, their tribe...” Sukish raised his eyes to the sky, as did the rest of them for a moment, “was wiped out. A tribe of elves drove them from the forest with a strange new weapon that killed their people from afar, and as they fled, they had the unhappy fate of crossing land near the caves ruled by dwarves. These were the only survivors, they joined us last season, and exacted the blood price by fighting beside us against the Long Water people over the plains.”

“You won, I take it?” Vyka asked optimistically.

“We did.” Sukish said with a predatory smile that was mimicked by his companions. “They will eat only snakes, frogs, and other animals of the Long Waters, our horses are now well beyond their range.”

“Good, your sister will be glad to know you are well, I will pass the word to her of you when I return home.” Vyka said pleasantly, “But for now, may we go to your people, I come with words of importance, and all your tribe should know of what I speak. My chief requires your help, and he is prepared to offer trade in exchange for it.”

Sukish raised an eyebrow with interest, “Then yes, we go now, come, come to my tribe, share our fire, it is yours until you leave. But... I would not hold out hope, neither the chief nor his wife much care for Makine.”

“Well, people generally don’t try to kill those they care much for, but what I say is true, were this any other thing, I would not be here, nor would he send me, yet I must violate the great ranges of our peoples to come to you precisely because it is just that important.” Vyka said with a serious voice and a solemn expression, his eyes clear and unblinking, Sukish shifted uncomfortably.

“Then we should delay no more.” He said and went to where he’d dropped his spear. He took it up and pointed with it back toward the distant smoke. “Come, we go.”

Vyka went and took up his weapons, and fell into step beside his wife’s brother, as the rest of the group fell in behind them both.

When Archos ceased his laughter and stilled her inquiries, he went towards the brackish waters, “Wait here, first I will see if there are rocks you can use, if there are, then I will bring them up, if there are none... well we will cross that bridge when we come to it.”

“Ibto?” [What?] She asked in abject confusion. He waved his massive hand dismissively without looking behind him as he walked into the waters.

‘I guess I’ll have to explain what a bridge is, too.’ He thought to himself as he felt the cool water rising over his scales, his feet sank deep into thick, dark mud. Foot by foot he went deeper and deeper into the water until it was up to his chest, still his feet sank. Only when he was forced to start swimming did he dive.

The water was thick with debris, and his actions had not made it clearer, yet dark as it was, he found his way down. ‘How deep does this go?’ He wondered as he swam lower and lower, his tail snaking behind him to accelerate his descent, until after several minutes he found that he was touching bottom. His talons moved over the bottom, plunging and tearing into the mud, making the already thick cloudiness worse.

Finally he knew he needed to rise, and so he turned and shot toward the surface as fast as he could, he broke the surface with an enormous splash and saw Ayente on the shore, she wasn’t standing and looking out, rather she was prostrate with her face down where he had entered the waters and facing toward him, with her hands out far in front of her, much as her tribe had been before their shaman. ‘Why... no, I can ask this later. For now... there must be ‘something’ I can use.’ He thought, and after a deep breath, he dove beneath the water again

Twice more he went down, twice he came up with nothing in different parts of the water. ‘One more try.’ He thought to himself, took a deep breath, gritted his teeth, and dove as fast as he could, he drew himself down with the power of his tail and his strong limbs, reaching bottom as fast as he could, he dug in a frenzy until he felt his talons scrape something. He touched more slowly and widened his eyes in surprise. He reached behind his back, grabbed his sword, and then thrust it down, he felt the telltale shattering, and with some effort, put his sword back where it belonged on his back.

He then went down further, so that his legs were in the muck at the bottom and his talons went under the breaking point, he felt his muscles tense as he struggled to find purchase, but the object gave way to his will, and it grew easier when his feet hit a solid surface beneath the muck, the broken piece began to get even easier when the weight of the muck on top of it began to slide off in a great mass. He got his arm firmly around the bulk of it, and using it as a stabilizing anchor, he began to walk his way to shore.

‘It can’t be, how could I possibly, or they possibly, be this lucky?’ He wondered to himself as he moved along the bottom, and his eyes, turned up, saw the faint hints of light begin as he got ever closer to the edge, and the pressure of the water over him began to greatly lessen.

As he neared the point where his head would break the surface, the sound of muffled shouting was reaching him, a nasty suspicion settled in the pit of his stomach, and he walked as fast as he could, slowed by the heavy weight of his prize, he struggled to raise one foot and bring it forward.

But as he progressed, the shouting became more clear. ‘Malach. There could be only one here that he shouts at.’

“Eyapal datowa oos ibar! [Your family is in danger!] “Gyop’kita maloa sto los oni!” [The monster is bad, he will kill us all!] “Beelonio lopba aya!” [The gods speak so to me!]

A low growl created bubbles in the water as anger built within Archos, he did not hear any answering shouts, but as he broke the surface, he heard only a repeated answer with every sentence, a feminine voice that could only belong to one. “Archos ya’eyapal ibar.”

The sound of water falling off his body as he came out, turned Malach’s eyes to him. Archos followed the sound, and saw that Malach was holding Ayente’s hair, he was obviously pulling, hard, trying to drag her up from her prostrate position facing the water, but she was clearly not of a mind to move.

The growl that was coming from his clenched maw grew louder as understanding began to dawn. ‘Whatever she was saying, he must not have liked, but I do not like what he’s doing.’ Malach saw the fury rising in the eyes of the black scaled dragon, and he released his grip and slowly backed away, he staggered, fell, then turned over and pushed off and ran as fast as he could back into the area occupied by the huts.

With his grip gone and the sound of Archos’s approach, Ayente raised her face and sat up where she prostrated herself before the waters.

He tossed the enormous stone to one side, and asked, “What was that?” His anger thick in the growl of his voice, she rose slowly to her feet to answer.

“When I saw you, you came from the water, as you descended into them again, I feared you would be taken from us, so I was praying to the gods that it would not be so. Malach saw me, he is the voice of the gods, I must answer when he speaks. He grew angry, said... things, tried to pull me away, make me leave. I told him I believe in you.” She said as she bit her lip, and reached up to touch the white scale on his chest. “You are not bad to us, you are not a monster, no matter what he says of you. He says to me that the gods tell him you are a danger, I believe he lies this time. I felt his eyes behind me as I prayed, a woman knows that look, even when she does not see it. He did not seek after the gods in that moment, only his lust.”

She let her hand lower over his dark scales, and her eyes lowered and her head bowed low, “Thank you for coming back to us.”

“I promised to seek for you, I need not be thanked for keeping my word, that is just to be expected, all oaths must be kept, or they are of no value.” He said firmly, and he reached out and brushed her hair down with one talon.

‘Yes, all...’ She thought with a heart of conviction, blinking away the welling in her eyes as he reminded her, intentionally or not, of her promise to him.

“What did you find?” She asked eagerly as she looked at the enormous mass he had brought up from the bottom.

Archos turned and slapped his tail happily up and down, splashing a bit of muck about as he turned to the material he’d brought up and began to wipe the muck away from it. “Something marvelously useful to you, I am amazed to find it here of all places, there must have been a volcano or at least a path for lava here at some point.”

Ayente looked at the lump, it was as long as the dragon and almost as wide. “Useful?” She asked curiously.

“Yes, very much so. This is called ‘obsidian’, a kind of glass... don’t ask, just know that glass is a word we have, and it applies to this.” He patted the lump enthusiastically. “It is incredibly sharp, brittle enough that you can break it easily, and its edges are very sharp, better than any of your stone axes, we can take your weaker stones, break pieces, and I will show you how to make spears that will bring an animal down in a single thrust. I will also show you how to make weapons that will tear the flesh of your kind apart as easily as you tear leaves into shreds.”

“Armed with these things, and trained with my ways, I will make your tribe unbeatable.” Archos said proudly, and brought his fist down hard on the obsidian, creating a thunderous boom as it shattered into pieces to work with. “What is more, this is only a piece, there is ‘much’ more down there, how much I do not know, but enough for many many uses. Now go, gather your tribe, and we will begin.” He said as he began to gather up the many shattered fragments, and pile them on somewhat drier ground.

Ayente’s relief morphed into an enormous, ear to ear smile and she bared her teeth as a predator would, as he explained his intentions. “I go, great one, and will return with what many we have!”

She turned on her heel, and jogged back into the village, where abundant shouting was beginning to rise even as she drew closer to them, and more distant from himself.