Island of the Forgotten

In Which Saihb Loses a Friend & Gains an Enemy

It was a surprise to Saihb as a sudden gush of wind came up from the East and blew her loose chocolate locks into her face and stung her skin. The morning...if you could call it that...had begun nicely enough, and had almost assured her by shining down lemon-drop sun beams that it would continue to be so. However, like so many other things in her life, the weather was never a constant. She reached and flicked the tendrils of hair out of her face, and turned her head toward the door. Time to begin the day, for a second time. Rising from the pillow that she’d been sitting upon, she quickly changed directions, changed her thoughts entirely, and glanced out the window of the house. The shelter wasn’t really a normal ‘house’ as most would consider it. It was more of a tree-fort, really, though not just a singular fort. In the treetops of the island there was an entire community, living and thriving high above the ground. It was much safer off of the jungle floor, so the tribe had built their homes near the sky. Fewer of the dangers of the island could reach them there. Truthfully it was a pity that anyone ever had to set foot on the ground, for the only times that any of the group had ever been lost were when parties set off to do tasks on the unprotected soil.
Grey eyes glanced out over the thick of the treetops. Keenly she made out the members of the hunting party that had been sent out earlier in the day, just before sunrise. She had heard them before she had been able to pick them out by sight. The crashing in the underbrush had brought about her attention, and now she was wrapped in their plight. Apparently they were in quite a hurry to get back to their homes. Her heart beat slightly faster than it had been before and the hair stood up on her skin. She leapt up. It was only moments before she reached the bridge where she could see the small party, like ants on the ground far below, making haste to a hanging rope ladder.
At the head of the group ran Max, a member of the tribe that was just slightly older than herself. He was well muscled, like most of the hunters and runners, and his hair was bleached blonde from his time in the sun. Though the island didn’t have as many hours of sunlight as most had been accustomed to, the islanders soon became use to it and spent as much time in the light as they could possibly could catch.
Max was the very essence of what living a life on the island did to a person. He was calm and collected, but always seemed on-guard, making it almost painful to pass away an hour with him. For Max, there was no connection with anyone, no real attachment, care, or compassion felt. He had already learned that making such connections to anyone was a danger to the state of his mind. One could only lose so much.
He was the first to reach the ladder that led to the rope bridges of the ‘city’ in the trees. He began climbing fast as he could, a light sweat beginning to appear on his brow. The salt ran into his eyes, and, closing them tightly, he continued his ascent. There was danger behind him. He could still hear it, still feel its breath on the back of his neck. If he didn’t get up the ladder quickly, then the rest of the party wouldn’t either. That would mean their deaths on his shoulders, if not his own death as well.
Saihb had realized before that something was terribly wrong, but she’d not understood the extent of the danger. It was now that she began to hear the sound of those pursuing her kinsman, vicious catcalls and terrible bulk cascading through the forest and taking down anything in it’s path. She had rarely seen any emotion come from Max, but now there was a cold fear written all over his face. Her eyes widened and her breaths came quicker. She had to keep her collected look, so with great might she breathed deeply and stared with indifference at the plight below...but inside her stomach churned. Her voice cracked from disuse as she called forth her archers and commanded them to stand ready. Behind Max was a younger man, David, coming up the ladder. Once Max had gotten out of the way David had shot up with no trouble. The remaining two of the group, who had stood at the base of the ladder with weapons drawn, turned as David made a call upon reaching the top. One of them was Cinder, her closest acquaintance. If the ginger-haired girl on the forest floor was nervous at all she didn’t show it. She stood tall letting her bravery inspire the others on the bridge. She allowed the other female with the party to ascend first, but a snapping sound came from the forest. Cinder quickly turned, put her hands on the rope. She had no time to wait. Another crash in the brush caused Saihb’s heart to leap.
“Pull it up! Up!”
Yelled Saihb in almost distraught tones, the first bit of terror showing in her voice. With barely a nod from Cinder the rope ladder was tugged upward, just in time to allow a great gray blur to emerge a hairs breadth beneath the leg of the female. It was a great slobbering mass of fur and teeth, and it wasn’t the only one of its kind following the group. A pack of dire wolves, wolves slight bigger, braver, and more vicious than normal wild dogs, stood below the rope bridge, snapping at the sky as if they could still catch the heels of those few that they had been chasing. A few stood further back glaring up at the people in the trees with a malicious longing. Without a word, the archers raised their bows and let down a rain of arrows. They pack sent up howls of outrage and agony and soon disappeared into the jungle.
Slowly the people on the rope bridge went back to what they had been doing before the disturbance. None of them were scared, really. The members of the hunting party were a bit shaken but they had been through much more than wolf chases. After all, they were only wolves. Most felt quite comfortable going down to the jungle floor during the day. The problem was, there were such few hours of daylight, and the dangers increased when the sun was fading from the sky. The real terrors and monsters came out at night.
Cinder sat with her legs hanging over the edge of the rope bridge. Her dark eyes moved over the ground far beneath the village. Suddenly her gaze swept towards the forest and her eyes widened as if feeling the terror all over again. Saihb was uneasy. More than wolves had scared her comrade, for Cinder wasn’t easily miffed. A hand steadying her on the make-shift railing of the bridge, Saihb made her way to her friend, tilted her head to the side and watched her a minute more. She sat and pulled her legs toward her, giving Cinder a plastered-on smile.
“Eh...something more than a wolf chase?”
She said cautiously, brushing strands of hair out of her face and keeping her eyes tilted down at the ground in imitation of the female opposite her. She had already examined the lines of worry on Cinder’s face more closely, and it was obvious to her now. Something serious had occurred.
“We, ahh...We found Andrew.”
Said Cinder in soft tones equal to Saihb’s. Neither bothered to look up. It would be too painful to reveal emotions to the other. If you showed your emotions, you had to come to terms with what had happened. It was easier to forget. Saihb ran her fingers over the knots and dents in the wooden slats of the bridge.
Despite trying to conceal her grief, as well as her anxiety, a shiver passed down Saihb’s spine. Andrew had been lost on a hunt in the month prior, and no one had expected to see him or hear from him again after he’d been gone more than a night. That was the way things happened. People disappeared every so often, and they had a much greater chance of being lost forever than of coming back in one piece.
“Where was he?”
Asked Saihb in an off-handed way, eyes wandering towards the forest once again. Her mind moved towards the last time she had seen Andrew alive. He had wandered towards the east of the island, and her party had been moving west. He was a good tracker, to say the least, and he had always headed the second of the two parties. He was slightly older than Saihb herself, perhaps only twenty-five, and he’d been on the island longer than most of the tribe members. Tall, handsome Andrew. Shy, quiet, bright blue eyes, pale skin, near-white hair...
Her attention snapped back to reality as Cinder’s cutting voice, almost choked now, broke the silence that had been between them. It was nearly always silent on the island, and silence meant safety and peace...usually. Cinder’s next statements brought unrest to Saihb’s already weary mind.
“He was near the borders of Moira’s tribe...all strung up, like a warning or something. He was kind of torn up...I think...I think they let their dogs at him, maybe. I don’t know. They’d taken his amulet, torn it right off him. I could tell because he was all bruised around the neck. His hands were tied so he was spread out. He couldn’t have protected himself at all. And his eyes...swollen shut. He’d...crying. Horrible!”
The last was nearly shouted, stammered out between sobs and misery. Saihb knew that it was slightly in awe of what humans were capable of, partially sorrow for Andrew’s fate, but mostly fear for what might happen to her. Cinder gagged on her own sadness, trying not to shed tears in front of her leader. She knew that she was supposed to show strength. Strength meant cold indifference, an acceptance of anything that happened, and knowing when to run to your own secret corner so you could let out any grief in private.
Though Saihb was completely appalled, almost sick from the idea of what had happened to one of her clansmen, she wouldn’t, couldn’t show it. She stood, leaving the woman to collect her thoughts, solve her own problems, calm her mental state. She would return to her own house, sit on her pillow, stare out the window at the darkening sky. She’d sit and stare, blink away thoughts of remaining in her own personal hell forever. On semi-shaking legs she made her way back to the fort-like structure, entered, and pulled the blanket over the door. No one would see her. No one could hear her. No one must know. In the privacy of her own room, she cried. She threw herself upon the floor, pulled her legs up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, placing her forehead on her knees. The island was unfair, and so were some of its people.
The wolves howled, the bear emerged from their dens, and the people on the bridges continued their watch. They knew the island was an unfair place, and they knew they could only rely on themselves. However, more than anything, they longed for each other. They were each alone in a world of outcasts.