Root (Energy Anthology) Read Free Page B

they simply stand there?
    What felt like hours passed as the five and the one faced each other under the darkening canopy of tree leaves. It seemed each side was stubbornly determined to overpower the other by sheer force of will.
    The spell was broken at last by a shout from behind the Others. One of the five turned and screeched a warbling call, which was returned again by the distant voice. The one that had responded to the call then abruptly came forward quicker than Lam expected, and grabbed his arm tightly. The other four parted and created a walk space for Lam to be dragged toward his village.
    They were not going to hurt him? What had that signal meant? What had they been waiting for?
    As they neared the village, a dull roaring sound and flickers of orange light on the trees soon showed Lam why the Others had acted as they had.
    They had only been stalling him.
    Their purpose had not been to hurt him, but to distract him, so other Others could set a home on fire. His home.
    Everywhere, Lam’s people were shouting and frantically rushing about trying to contain the flames lashing from his hut. Some inched as close as they dared, beating the flames with cloths and blankets. Some flung what little water they could find at it, clearly having no effect, but needing to assist by doing something. Some crouched between his house and the neighboring houses, as if to block the fire from spreading further with their very bodies.
    A wailing and screaming rose above the roar and chaos, and Lam recognized it as Ric’ua’s voice. He fought and kicked the Other who still gripped his arm. Twisting free, he charged for the hut his mother’s voice was coming from. He had nearly reached the dwelling when he was slammed hard in the chest and flattened to the ground. A foot pressed into his throat, pinning him down.
    “You will not enter our grounds again!” growled the menacing face that bent over Lam before spitting in his eye. “Next time, it will be the whole village,” he leaned in even closer. “And you will be dead, you worthless son of Ric’ua.” He released the pressure of his foot, and Lam gasped for air. “But what do you expect from the offspring of a mate-slave!”
    The man ran off, disappearing into the shadows of the forest.
    Lam coughed and wheezed as he fought his way back to his feet. Ric’ua’s howling had never stopped, yet cut off mid-wail when Lam burst into the home.
    “Pael!” she cried and threw her arms around him. “Pael! Oh Pael, I thought you were burned! Oh Pae—” She pulled back just enough to look into his eyes. A different sort of tears than they had cried only the night before streamed down their faces. “Lam…” she barely whispered. Her lips pressed into a tight, straight line as she shook her head.
    “No,” she spoke firmly, “You will always be my Pael.”

 
    • SIX •
    After their hut had completely collapsed to nothing but ashes, Lam and Ric’ua were gifted the home they had taken shelter in, which Lam found belonged to a man named Terlikk. He recognized him immediately from the grove field. The man merely bowed to them, gathered his mate and two children, and left the mother and son alone.
    Ric’ua had yet to let go of Lam, as if she were afraid he would be lost again if she released him. She pulled him to the floor with her and continued to hold him tight.
    “I thought you to be lost once,” she whispered to him finally. “When the messenger recognized you in the Gildok village and brought the word you had been caught, I feared the worst. Every bone in my body collapsed, and I fell as if dead.
    “Why did you go as far as their village? Had you not heard the many warnings I and others pressed upon you? It was foolish to enter their land. Oh, but you have always been a fearless one. Even the truth that few have returned from their land alive did not frighten you.
    “Yet I alone am to blame. If only I did not love the gurja fruit so much. If only I had not sent you